Chapter 8: A Plan Lost and a Plan Learned

Things are getting ready to go insane. Buckle up for a wild ride.

           Kye’s head was still reeling when he woke up the next morning; sleep had evaded him for almost the entire night. He had been lying awake and staring at the ceiling for some time before his alarm clock rang. Now, standing to his feet, he felt dizzy with fatigue, and had no hope that sleep would soon swoop down to eradicate this feeling. The fact that he had not had any liquids in over a day only served to worsen his condition.

            Nevertheless, he willed himself to go to breakfast. Besides, Connor would start to worry if he did not…

            With Shadow in his arms, and moving slower than people far older than him usually do, Kye set out along the already deserted corridor towards the Dining Hall. He was moving so sluggishly that he was sure he was the only person left who had not made it to breakfast; all of the open doors confirmed his thoughts. Except for one. As he neared the spot where he and Connor had encountered Genevieve the night before, he noticed that the same door which had been closed last night remained shut now.

            Did the person not want breakfast? Kye had no idea that you were allowed to remain in your room instead of going to mealtime.

            Nevertheless, he was too tired to dwell on these thoughts.

            The noisy clamor of all the kids eating and talking filled Kye’s ears as he walked through the archway. The sounds bounced around in his head, giving him a headache. His emotions had been through every extreme on the emotional spectrum in the past few days, and this was now manifesting itself in a physical way which, he thought, must be what a hangover feels like.

            He saw Connor sitting at a table near the middle of the room, looking much better than Kye was feeling. Kye wondered how Connor always managed to look so awake and content �" even happy.

            “Did you sleep as badly as I did last night?” Kye said as he sat down and placed Shadow on the seat next to him.

            “Do you feel as bad as you look?” Connor joked, and then threw his head back with laughter at the sour expression on Kye’s face. “I’m only kidding! You look just the same as you always do.”

            “And how’s that?” Kye asked, narrowing his eyes at Connor.

            “What?”

            “You didn’t say that I looked alright you just said that I look ‘as good as I always do.’ What’s that supposed to mean?” Kye demanded indignantly.

            Connor simply smirked, yet somehow, that said it all.

            “Oh, shut up!” Kye said, though he couldn’t prevent a smile from stealing across his face as he looked for something to throw across the table at his friend who was laughing hysterically.

            “I’m kidding, I’m kidding,” Connor said when he had stopped laughing. “You look great.”

            “Yeah, right!” Kye scoffed.

            “Okay, whoa! You can’t be upset when I say you look like a wreck, if when I tell you that you look good, you’re just going to say you look like a wreck.”

            “This conversation is over,” Kye said with a feeble laugh as he put his hand on his still pounding forehead. Connor took notice.

            “Come on. Some food will help get rid of that headache,” he said as he stood up.

            Just then, a voice came over the loud speakers.

            “Hello, guests. For your continuing safety, a search will now be conducted of each person within the Dining Hall. This is a formality; please do not resist.”

            All of the children in the hall looked around at each other, murmuring questions back and forth.

            “Formality…” Connor repeated thoughtfully. “But this has never been done before, at least not while we’ve been here. You don’t think�"“

            Connor stopped himself before going any further, but Kye knew exactly what he was thinking. Genevieve. The papers. But why would she report something so simple?

            Before he had time to think it over, a realization hit him like truck. He held his breath as he reached down and placed his hand on his thigh. A crinkling sound reached his ears. The papers were still in his pocket.

            His heart thumped loudly in his chest as suited men walked through the archway and into the dining hall. A few people quickly rose out of their seats, only to sink back into them when one of the four men shouted for them to remain seated. Those closest to the entrance fell victim to the body search first, but Connor and Kye were not far off.

            “Connor,” Kye hissed across the table.

            “What?” Connor whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

            “The papers.”

            “What?”

            “The papers. They’re still in my pocket,” Kye whispered desperately.

            “For God’s sake, why?” Connor’s face twisted with panic as he looked back at the men. They were getting dangerously close.

            “What do I do??” Kye’s hands were shaking.

            “Get rid of them!” Connor barked.

            Kye whipped his head back and forth, ignoring the pain, looking around for some way to hide them, to stuff them out of sight. There was nowhere to be found. They would surely be within the next few people to be examined.

            Desperately, he reached over to the table behind them and stole a cup of water. He thrust the pages into the full glass, sloshing water all over the table as Connor cursed under his breath. Kye mashed the pages around inside the cup and then tipped the cup over so that the pages landed in a heap on the corner of the table. It was all that could be done.

            A suited man stepped up next to Kye.

            “Stand,” the man ordered. Kye obeyed.

            As the man patted down the length of Kye’s body, he noticed the water dripping from Kye’s hands. The man peered around Kye at the table, which was covered in water with a brown blob sitting on the corner.

            “What have you been doing?” the man asked. Kye was sure his thumping heart could be heard all around the hall now. Connor, who was being searched next to him, turned his head slightly towards Kye.

            “I…uh…” Kye stammered. “I…spilled my glass of water. And I was trying to wipe it up with those napkins.” He motioned towards the brown blob.

            Kye held his breath and prayed silently that the man would take no notice of the fact that words could still be seen on the “napkins” or that the actual napkins in the Dining Hall were white. Kye’s hasty cover-up was not enough to completely hide the fact that those were, in fact, book pages.

            “You were just having water for breakfast? That’s it?” the man asked suspiciously.

            “Yes, sir,” Kye lied. He knew there was no way the man could be believing his story. Yet, the man also did not seem keenly interested in the weird ways of a teenage boy. He looked into Kye’s face for a moment before responding.

            “Okay. You can sit,” he said.

            The man who had been searching Connor told him to sit as well, and both men continued to other tables.

            Connor and Kye remained fixed to the spot for a few seconds, dumbfounded. They slowly looked at each other before snapping back into reality. They hastily took their seats and dropped their eyes to the table, avoiding looking at the rest of the teens in the hall. They sat in unmoving silence until the four men had finished their search and left the hall. Then the room erupted once again into indistinguishable chatter.

            “What were you thinking??” Connor growled.

            “It wasn’t my fault!” Kye snapped, as he made lame attempts at cleaning up the mess on the table.

            “You almost got us taken! Or killed! Or worse!” Connor gasped. He was still in shock.

            “What’s worse than dying, you idiot?!”

            “Here?!” Connor cried indignantly. “There are many things worse than dying!”

v   

Kye’s anxiety attack had not yet faded as he left the Dining Hall with Connor, who was carrying Shadow for him since Kye’s hands would not stop shaking. They had not eaten; after the incident with the pages, Kye had lost all appetite. He now felt sick to his stomach as the world seemed to be crashing down around him. Connor could not speak sense into him as they walked down the deserted corridor to Kye’s room.

“It’s okay, Kye,” he cooed. “It happened, and it’s over. They didn’t do anything. Honestly, I think those men were too oblivious to realize what was happening.”

“No, no,” Kye shook his head. “They suspected something. You could see it.”

“What would they have suspected?”

“If Genevieve told them about the pages, then�"oh my gosh, everything is ruined,” Kye felt his heart rate quicken, if that were possible at this point.

“Everything is not ruined,” Connor said in a firm voice.

“It is. I ruined it. Those stupid pages! Those men know. I can feel it. Genevieve told them that we were up to something. That’s what the search was for. They saw that I had tried to get rid of the pages and that was the evidence that they needed. Now, they’re just waiting for the right moment to take us away.” Kye nearly spoke it all in one terrified breath. He felt his chest heave and his eyes begin to burn as he thought of what this meant for him and Connor. “I’m going to lose you.”

He had spoken so softly that Connor had almost missed what he had said.

“Kye.” Connor was clearly at a loss for words. “That’s insane. You�"“

But even as he said this, four suited men appeared at the end of the corridor, blocking their progression. The two boys halted where they stood as the four men drew nearer. Connor could hear Kye’s strained breathing next to him as tears began to fall from his eyes. The men stopped a few feet from them.

“Hello, boys,” said the tallest.

The features of the four men were unnaturally chiseled, and they appeared to be fairly muscular beneath their suits. Kye could feel all hope draining from him at the sight of these men.

“Hello,” Connor said quietly. He clutched Shadow close to his chest.

“I’m sure you know why we’re here,” a second man said after a period of silence, broken only by Kye’s soft, uneven sobs.

“N-no…” Connor stammered. He had no idea why he was lying. This situation was hopeless.

“Really?” the second man raised his eyebrow, then turned to look at Kye. His firm mouth curled into a smirk before looking back at Connor. “He certainly does.”

Connor could think of no way out of this mess. He turned to look at Kye, who barely met his eyes.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Kye almost silently whispered. He was apologizing for something that, in Connor’s opinion, was not his fault. Yet, he blamed himself. He was broken, and Connor could not help.

Connor’s face screwed up into a look of pain as he dropped his eyes from his miserable friend and onto the floor.

“It’s okay,” the tall man said, though he obviously felt no sympathy at all. “This’ll be over soon.”

He motioned to each of the three men in turn, and gave them all orders.

“You,” he pointed at the first. “Grab him.” He pointed at Kye.

“No! Wait!” Connor protested. He moved himself in front of Kye. The tall man merely rolled his eyes and continued handing out orders.

“You grab the taller boy, and you take the stupid cat,” he told the second and third men.

“No!” Connor shouted. He set Shadow quickly on the floor and pushed him down the corridor in the opposite direction of the men. “Go, Shadow! Go on! Run!”

The cat obeyed as if he could understand the boy, and the four men stood frozen, slightly baffled.

“What are you doing??” the tall man roared at one of the men. “Go after it!”

One of the men started off for the cat, but Shadow was already far around the corner.

Another man walked forward and grabbed Connor by the wrists; Connor struggled with all his might to pull away, but it was no use. He watched as the shorter man walked forward and grabbed Kye, who did not struggle; he seemed paralyzed with fear, as though he had given up.

“Kye, please!” Connor screamed at him as the man attempted to pull him farther away from Kye. “Fight! DO SOMETHING!”

Kye merely looked at Connor as the short man dragged his body by the arm pits down a separate corridor. “I’m so sorry.”

Through blurry eyes, Kye saw Connor’s struggle; his legs kicking the air, his arms fighting wildly against the man. He heard his best friend scream for help, before it was cut short by the sound of the tall man’s hand coming in contact with Connor’s face. He saw one last glimpse of his friend’s tear filled eyes before the short man turned a corner, and Kye was dragged out of sight.

v   

The room that Kye had been placed in was dark and cold. He hugged himself as he rocked back and forth on a stiff metal chair. The man had not bothered to tie him up since Kye was in no condition to resist anything.

He only sat alone for a short time before the door to the room was swung open. A tall man walked through. He stared at Kye through eyes as dark and cold as the surrounding room. Kye noticed Brevyn outside the open door; he spoke quietly and hurriedly into a walkie-talkie before stuffing it out of sight into his coat. Then, he walked into the room and closed the metal door with a loud clash.

“He’s secure, Mr. Chernoff,” Brevyn said to the man with the dark eyes.

“Good,” Mr. Chernoff responded.

Kye felt a surge of panic; he knew that they must be speaking of Connor. Where was he? What were they doing to him? Then, he felt another rush of horror as he realized that the infamous Mr. Chernoff was standing before him.

“So,” Mr. Chernoff began in a harsh, crisp voice as he walked nearer to Kye. “We meet again.”

“Again--?”

“Silence!” Mr. Chernoff slapped Kye quick across the face. Kye nearly fell out of his chair. “Speak only when I ask direct questions of you.”

Mr. Chernoff resumed his calm composure before continuing.

“You have some nerve. Sneaking around under my very nose. Yet, you’re also incredibly thick to think you wouldn’t be discovered. I run a very tight ship here, boy, and you and your friend are nothing more than foolish children.” He stopped, and leaned down so that he was face-to-face with Kye. “So, tell me: what were you two planning? What were those pages for?”

Kye had no idea what to say. He could not give up the escape plan, no matter how unlikely escape seemed now, and he could not bring any more harm to Connor. He remained silent.

“It doesn’t matter,” Chernoff continued at length. “This will all be obsolete soon. The pages are gone. The compound is on lockdown. And your friend doesn’t have much longer.”

Kye looked up at Chernoff.

“Oh, yes,” Chernoff continued, nodding. “You’ve seen him for the last time. He’s always been trouble. Don’t worry, though. You won’t remember any of this.”

Chernoff smiled cruelly, then motioned to Brevyn who wheeled a cart around behind Kye. A large, glowing contraption was sitting on top.

Just then, the door to the room opened and the tall man from the corridor stepped through. Kye noted the blood caked on his knuckles.

Kye began to cry again.

“You’re weak,” Chernoff spat. “This will be over in a few moments. Then you can go back to following orders; you can be a great addition to my team. You might even reach the Top Tier and help me with my project, if you only do as I say!”

“Project?”

Chernoff slapped Kye again. Kye thought that he had spoken inside his head, but the words were slipping out before he had a chance to stop them.

“What project?” Slap. “What’s going on?” Slap. “JUST--” SLAP. Kye fell to the ground on the last slap; his ears were ringing. He just needed answers.

“Sir,” a voice said. “Sir, it wouldn’t hurt to explain things to him.” The voice was Brevyn’s. “He won’t remember any of it.”

“Yes, so why would I waste my breath explaining it to him?!” Chernoff hissed.

“Well…” Brevyn paused. “It would make him miserable. He’d suffer knowing that he was about to go back to forgetting.”

Kye couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Brevyn sounded like a completely different person from the man that had conversed with him in his room not two days earlier.

Chernoff considered this suggestion.

“I like the way you think,” Chernoff concluded at last. “It’s horrible when you think about it. A sad little boy, losing his friend, hearing the truth, and then forgetting it all.” He chuckled slightly. Kye could feel the pride in his voice. “Alright then. What do you want to know?” He smiled at Kye.

Kye looked at him, and silently climbed back onto his chair. He thought for a moment before speaking.

“What are you doing with all these kids here?”

“They’re going to help me with a project. As soon as they learn to comply, that is.”

“What project?”

“I need something. Something powerful.”

“What is it?”

Chernoff hesitated. “You will not know.”

“Why do you need the help of kids? Why can’t you do it yourself?”

“You know nothing of the difficult path that one must travel before reaching the prize. I need an army. A compliant one. One willing to do anything I say. People unlike you, I mean.”

“The kids here won’t listen to you,” Kye said.

“Oh, but many do. You don’t understand, boy, the convoluted schemes I’ve had to execute, the people I’ve had to subdue, the struggle I’ve endured to maintain power and order. The world is huge, but you will never see nor understand that world.” Chernoff was pacing the room as he answered Kye’s questions.

“And you don’t know what Connor and I were planning?” Kye asked, suspicious.

“Stupid boy,” Chernoff laughed. “I don’t have to know. I only have to put a stop to it. Any free thinking on your part is a threat to my regime! I’ve put down more possible uprisings than you’d ever be able to count. I have ways of dealing with smart people like you, as you’re about to find out.” He motioned to the mind wipe machine.

“You just wipe peoples’ minds all the time then?”

“Oh, I do much more than that. You see, no matter what you do to children, they won’t always listen, and, as I’ve said, I need a completely compliant army. That ‘water’ you drink isn’t water at all. It’s laced with a serum that is designed to gradually change the structure of your brain. Eventually, free thinking is dissolved, and I’m free to give orders as I please, and they will be immediately followed.”

“That’s insane.” Kye couldn’t make sense of anything. Any lines he tried to connect faltered and failed. Chernoff’s plan still remained a mystery.

“Of course it takes longer than is ideal, but there is no other way,” Chernoff nodded. “Mere children would never agree to go through what is necessary to retrieve what I need.”

“So, you’re creating an army of robots to do the tough stuff for you.”

“And you’re one of them,” Chernoff smiled.

Kye stared straight into Chernoff’s eyes. “I haven’t been drinking your serum. Those pages I had told me not to.”

Chernoff stopped pacing and his smile dissolved. He looked at Kye.

“It doesn’t matter,” he resumed walking. “You’ll forget, and you won’t have your useless friend to incite insubordination in you�"“

“He’s not useless, and he didn’t cause this!” Kye roared. “It was me who found the book and showed him the plan!”

“Nevertheless, he’s always been a troublemaker. We should have wiped his mind too; should’ve kept you two separated. But we just thought that in the end you’d be brought into submission by the serum. I guess we were wrong.”

“You were,” Kye spat. Chernoff merely looked at him.

“Course we thought it was enough to just wipe your mind repeatedly. How does it feel to not be able to remember your best friend? Or to know that you’ve forgotten him time and time again?” Chernoff sneered at Kye’s face twisted in pain. “Yes, we wiped your memory before every test.”

“Why?”

“Just as an extra precaution. To ensure the best compliance results, unhindered by whatever that filthy child had been planting in your head.”

“What are the tests for?”

“Various things. They test compliance, willingness to follow orders, problem-solving skills, creativity, levels of fear, etcetera.” Chernoff paused. I can’t get what I need by using just anybody. I need the best of the best to make it through the trials.”

“Trials?” Kye asked. Chernoff merely stared at him. “And The Empty. Are they part of your army?”

“The Top Tier,” Chernoff corrected, “is made up of the best boys and girls in the facility. They are the elite; the most fearless, clever, and obedient. They will have the pleasure of aiding me in my quest.”

“And your plan is to use the serum to make everybody into a member of The Em�"The Top Tier.”

“Precisely. Of course, you have always been particularly apt to fail. You’re fear levels during every test have been through the roof. You’re unfit for use. But continued dosage of serum will change that.”

There was a long period of silence as Kye attempted to piece information together. It’s as if certain pieces of a puzzle were falling into place. Yet, there were so many gaps, so many holes.

“You won’t get away with anything,” Kye said quietly. “Someone from the outside will find out, and they’ll put a stop to this.”

Chernoff laughed a high, grating laugh. “The ignorance! You really know nothing of this world, and yet you act as though you know all. As I’ve said before, I’ve thought of everything. There is no help for you.”

Kye had so many questions, yet could not form any of them in his mind. Chernoff cut the interview off.

“Enough. You’ve heard enough.” He moved into a squatting positon next to Kye’s chair and began whispering close to his face. Kye could feel his breath in his ear as Chernoff ripped apart Kye’s hope. “Now, listen to this, boy. You’re stuck here. You found hope, you made a friend, you made ‘plans’. Now the plans are gone, as is your hope, and so your friend will be soon. I’ll make sure he dies a most painful death. Now wallow in the fact that you’ve killed him; the fact that you learned my secrets and now you’ll lose them; the fact that you’ll never amount to anything other than what you were created to be: my soldier.”

Chernoff’s speech was having the desired effect. The tears once more flowed down Kye’s face as he thought about Connor, and the plan that they would never get to carry out, and the secrets of Mr. Chernoff that he would forget. There would be no stopping him anymore. Brevyn was hooking the small, white pads to Kye’s temples and arms. Chernoff continued.

“I do hope you’ll be more willing from now on. I don’t want to have to kill you too, though I have no problem with it if it is necessary. You’re dispensable. As is your friend and everyone else in this facility. Now, as for the knowledge that I’ve just given you…forget.”

He nodded towards Brevyn and the machine on the cart whirred to life. Brevyn placed his finger at the ready on a small trigger.

Kye pushed his thoughts towards Connor, and his heart felt at the breaking point as he thought about what he was seconds from losing.

Chernoff scream the command, but instead of blacking out, Kye heard the sound of an alarm cut across his ears.