Chapter 11: New Friends

Meeting the group behind the escape.

            Kye lay curled on the ground with a blanket spread over him and Shadow, steadying his breathing and taking stock of everything that had happened in the past few hours, which to him had felt no longer than a few minutes in time �" mere blinks of an eye. He had still not recuperated from his short fainting spell, and he had yet to say a word to anyone else in the room. Connor sat cross-legged next to Kye, a blanket drawn over his shoulders as well; he held a mug of hot tea in his hands. A tray of food lay in between him and Kye, which as yet remained untouched.

            “You boys need to eat,” said a female voice in a slight Welsh accent. Kye barely scooted his head on the floor so he could look at her. She sat in a chair against one wall of the room and appeared to be drawing something in a sketchbook; Kye’s stomach twisted as he was reminded of Chernoff’s drawing. Her blue eyes narrowed as Kye stared at her; she flicked her hair out of her eye. “I’m serious, you know? You two have been through a lot, and from what he said--,” she indicated Connor with her pencil, “�"you haven’t eaten in quite some time. We don’t need anyone fainting during tomorrow’s raid.”

            “A raid? Already?”

            Kye recognized Cat’s voice.

            “Well, yeah,” the girl with the accent replied. “You couldn’t have been expecting us to make it very long on what you got last time!”

            “I did my best…” Cat murmured, grudgingly.

            “And besides, you’ve just brought two more people in here, and that means more food, more clothing, more bedding, more everything. Provisions will run out even faster now.”

            “Yes, two people who are, I might add, upsetting the balance,” said an unfamiliar voice.

            Kye looked up and saw Connor’s eyes looking behind Kye.

            “The balance?” Connor repeated; his voice sounded strained and unusual, giving Kye the impression that he was still recovering from his vomiting accident.

            “Yes,” the voice shot back, “before you showed up we had three girls and three boys. It was the only fact that was keeping me from going crazy. But adding you two makes FIVE boys to three girls. My poor sanity is doomed.”

            Kye couldn’t tell if the girl was joking or not.

            “Be nice, Amber!” Cat chided her.

            “I’m just saying!” Amber exclaimed before she walked into Kye’s view. She bent down and picked up a piece of bread and a slice of cheese from the platter on the floor, shoving them both into her mouth before continuing to talk. “Ve only fing vis means in ve long run is vat we’ve got two more mouvs to feed.” A little crumb of bread flew from her mouth on the last word.

            “Amber, please do not talk when your mouth is full, good lord!” a recognizable male voice entered the room. It was Eddie, only his voice wasn’t interrupted by static as it had been over the walkie-talkie.

            “Oh, shut up,” Amber mumbled before plopping down in the chair next to the girl with the sketchbook.

            Eddie walked over to Cat and unfolded a large piece of paper.

            “I made some revisions to the map based on the new knowledge you gave me. It seems awfully convoluted, but I did my best.”

            Cat studied it for a moment before assuring him that it looked perfect. Eddie was silent for a moment, as if thinking, before speaking again.

            “You really could’ve been killed today. All three of you. I said this was stupid and I asked you to be careful!” he spat out almost all in one breath.

            “Excuse me? I followed the plan, Eddie! The one you and you brother helped draw up!” Cat retaliated.

            “HE�",” Eddie waggled his finger at Connor, “was NOT part of the plan! You almost got caught because you had to save him.”

            Kye saw Connor’s eyes move to stare at the floor.

            “Stop it, Ed!” the Welsh girl said. Amber remarked her agreement.

            “You were saying the same thing not two seconds ago, Rosie!” Eddie shot back.

            “WHY IS EVERYONE IN A BAD MOOD?!” Cat threw her hands into the air, exasperated. She stood, grabbed some apple slices from the platter, and walked to the opposite side of the room before sitting down and eating moodily.

            Yet another unfamiliar voice spoke up. “Who’s in a bad mood?”

            “Rosie has been ticking everybody off,” Eddie lied before anyone else could respond. Rosie sneered at him before putting her attention back on her art.

            “I think everyone is just trying to settle down from the stress of the mission,” Amber shrugged.

            “What stress were you under?” Eddie asked incredulously. “You didn’t do anything!”

            “Uh, one of my friend’s was attempting to rescue someone from out of the hands of the most dangerous person on Earth in the most dangerous place on Earth!” Amber said in a tone as if that should have been obvious. “That’s extremely stressful. Besides, I did plenty for the mission.”

            “Oh, like what?” Eddie asked.

            “Just drop it, Eddie,” the new voice spoke again.

            “Thank you, Andy!” Cat cried. “Finally, someone who has some sense.”

            Kye, who felt that it would now be rude to lay in the middle of the floor in a room full of people, sat up. He was overwhelmed with dizziness, and so picked up some crackers and cheese and ate them heartily, leaning his back against Connor to prop himself up. This being his first taste of food in quite a while, Kye was overcome with a need for more, and now ate with such voracity that half the platter might have disappeared into Kye’s mouth at once had it not been for Connor’s insistence that he take it slow. Kye took large swigs of Connor’s tea while he ate �" Connor did not seem to mind -- and steadily began to feel more lively and energized.

            When he had had his fill, Kye scooted across the floor until he sat next to Cat with his back against the wall so that he could gain a better view of the whole group. The room was dark, owing to the lack of electricity in the decrepit building, and was lit only by a few candles which were scattered here and there, casting their feeble, dancing rays on the faces of the inhabitants. The windows were covered, presumably for protection, so that not even the moonlight could make its way into the room.

            Despite the darkness, Kye stared around and studied the faces of his new acquaintances and rescuers.

The girl named Rosie was pale, with blonde hair that fell past her shoulders and had a nasty habit of falling before her face, shielding one eye from the world. Her exposed eye, even in this lighting, was seen to be of the brightest and purest blue. She seemed to be skillful in her art, because her hand was still working tirelessly on the paper in her lap.

Next to her sat Amber. She was dark-skinned and round-faced with long, curly, black hair that puffed out rather largely around her head. Her eyes looked to be green, though Kye had trouble seeing them as Amber seemed to be fading in and out of sleep and consciousness.

To their left, Eddie stood, still studying his drawing and making minor improvements with his pencil, periodically holding the paper up to the candlelight. He wore glasses �" big, square, ones with thick lenses �" which seemed to slightly magnify his light blue eyes. His short hair was dark brown, and the sides were shaved short. His brow was furrowed in concentration, and he was murmuring inaudibly to himself as he made corrections: “No, no, this line is all wrong”; “The perspective looks off right here”; “If I just add a few more trees.”

Sitting on the floor near Eddie’s feet was Andy, who was currently tasting one of everything that was to be had from the food tray. Kye thought for a moment that Andy had a nervous twitch, but realized that flicking his head to the side was Andy’s way of moving his long, black locks out of his eyes. Kye noticed the muscular build of Andy’s body, which stood in contrast to Eddie’s slimmer frame next to him. He reminded Kye of Connor in some odd way.

Kye looked to Connor who was now making his way over to the wall to sit next to Kye. Shadow, having laid in the middle of the floor this entire time, stretched and got up, only to lay back down again after he had positioned himself in between Kye and Connor.

From the corner of his eye, Kye could see Connor staring around the room as well. He looked it many times over and then suddenly furrowed his brow. He leaned down to whisper to Kye.

“Remember what Amber said about ‘disrupting the balance’?”

“Yeah…” Kye nodded, recalling the memory. “That was a bit awkward.”

“No, I mean…look around,” Connor insisted. Kye did, but he did not see what Connor was suggesting.

            “What’s wrong?” Kye asked.

            “She said that now that we were here, there were five boys and three girls. But look around.”

            Kye counted silently. “Four boys,” he concluded.

            “Exactly,” Connor confirmed. “So, where is--”

            At exactly this moment, the door to the outside swung open and collided with the wall. Everyone in the room jumped, and Rosie screamed. A short, boyish figure stood in the doorway holding a flashlight, his silhouette illuminated by the moonlight behind him.

            “Sorry! Sorry. I’m sorry,” the figure apologized, closing the door gingerly behind him and flicking off his flashlight. The room erupted; everyone talked at once.

            “Good grief, Jack!” Eddie roared.

            “You nearly gave me a heart attack!” Rosie panted with her hand over her chest.

            “I was finally about to fall asleep! What do you mean by coming in here and slamming doors all around?!” Amber chimed in.

            “UGH! Everyone was finally being quiet!” Cat whined.

            Andy simply rolled on the floor laughing hysterically at everyone’s reactions.

            “I said I was sorry!” Jack threw his hands up in surrender as everyone quieted down. “The wind caught it! Yeesh.”

            “What does it look like out there?” Eddie asked him.

            “Well, there’s no sign of anyone else,” Jack explained. “I don’t think they were being followed.” He turned to Cat. “Perhaps Mr. Chernoff assumes you’re dead?”

            “It’s possible,” Cat said thoughtfully. “But it won’t be long before he realizes we escaped. I mean, we did send a PRT with a shattered window off to an unknown location…”

            “This is true,” Jack conceded. “Which is why I’m suggesting that we don’t stay here.”

            “You’ve got to be kidding,” Amber said flatly.

            “I’m not,” Jack shook his head.

            “We just got here!” Rosie argued.

            “Yes, I know, but under the circumstances it doesn’t seem wise to stay in one place. If we move we’ll be less detectable.”

            “This cannot become a regular thing,” Amber complained. “It’s not easy to hop up and haul everything we own to a different location.”

            “Yeah, well, that’s how things are now and--” Jack was cut off by Eddie.

            “I think Jack is right,” Eddie declared. “You couldn’t have expected us to stay here after the mission, especially not now that it had so many complications. We’re not very far from where Cat left the PRT line, which means we’re more easily found. If you ask me, we need to get as far away from here as we can tomorrow…”

            “Tomorrow?!” Amber groaned.

            “…after the raid, that is,” Eddie finished.

            “Where will we go?” Rosie said quietly.

            “We can’t know for sure,” Jack admitted. “Somewhere functional and secretive…and far away.”

            Everyone fell silent once again. There was a strange feeling of unidentified tension between everyone. Kye was apt to blame it on everyone’s high stress levels and fatigue.

            Jack yawned grandly.

            “Well,” he said, attempting to change the subject, “I know we all must be tired. We could try sleeping and just decide in the morning, I guess.”

            “I don’t think I’ll be able to do much sleeping,” Kye chuckled. It was the first thing he had said since he arrived; everyone looked at him, and Kye suddenly felt insecure again now that all eyes were on him. “I…I just mean…a lot happened, you know? A lot to think about. Uh…a lot that I don’t understand.”

            Jack looked at Eddie, who shrugged. Jack grabbed a chair, swung it around, and sat so that he was sitting backwards on it, facing Kye.

            “Kye,” Jack said seriously, “would you mind telling us everything that happened, from your perspective, over the past few days?”

            Kye stared at Jack’s eyes, and then broke the contact to look at the ground. He pulled his blanket tighter around him.

            “It’s alright if not,” Jack assured him soothingly.

            “No, no, it’s alright,” Kye lied.

            The truth was that Kye did not want to relive any of the awful events. He did not even want to think about them. Although he wanted answers, and felt sure that these people were ready to provide him with some, there was so much pain and horror involved in such a short period of time. It was extraordinary to even assess the emotions that Kye had entertained within the past few hours alone.

            Nevertheless, Kye attempted to recount the events to the best of his ability and memory. He told them of the escape; of the pages he found in Moby Dick; of Genevieve and the Empty; of his fight with Chernoff’s men and what Cat had done to one of them; of the Lookout and the fake windows they had smashed through; of the room full of books that looked like his own; of the monster that had chased them; and of their walk through the woods until they ended up here. Nobody interrupted. Nobody moved. Everyone listened with the faces of a captivated audience; even Rosie’s pencil had ceased its endless scribble across the page.

            “Then I passed out, obviously,” Kye said with a blush. “And that’s it.”

            “Don’t be embarrassed,” Jack said, noticing that Kye was uncomfortable. “Anyone would’ve fainted after going through what you did. Heck, Eddie nearly passed out the other day because a lady bug landed on his nose.”

            “It fell out of nowhere,” Eddie grumbled, but laughed with the whole room nonetheless.

            The tension in the room thus broken, Jack pushed on.

            “Now, it would be best if we ran through things and pooled together exactly what we know,” he said. “Let’s start with the pages in Moby Dick. I’m sure you were wondering about that, Kye?”

            Kye nodded. Cat was the one who spoke up.

            “Yes. That was my brother. Brevyn, remember? He works at the facility; he’s been working there for almost a year now. But he used to be a cook. He would go in to work, straight to the kitchen, cook the food, and head home again. He was told it was a classified facility, and that he was just cooking food for the workers. They paid him well, so he didn’t see any reason to object. He was a great worker, and I guess he got noticed, because Chernoff promoted him not too long ago. It was then that he was let in on the secret; he was told what they do to�"…anyways. Brev couldn’t believe it; it sickened him, and he was about to quit…”

            Cat paused and stared at her fingers, picking her nails.

            “What happened?” Kye pressed.

            “You showed up,” Cat replied. “One day, you and I were playing outside. We were the best of friends. And then the next, you didn’t show up at our usual time. I went to your house and your parents said you had gone off to boarding school. I was shocked. This was the same thing that had happened to me little brother, and he�"”

            Cat’s bottom lip quivered. She breathed heavily as if trying to control herself, but then dropped her head between her knees and sobbed uncontrollably. The others in the room looked down and away, as if they had heard the story before and the pain was too much for them too. Kye scooted up to Cat and she placed her head on his shoulder, and he squeezed her hand.

            She slowly gathered herself, and then continued softly.

            “I went home and told my parents that you went to the same school that my brother went to. They didn’t care. They said all children went to school eventually; that what had happened to my brother was an accident. I didn’t like it.

And it wasn’t until Brevyn came home from work that night and saw the state I was in that I got answers. Brevyn broke his contract and vow of silence with the company, and put himself in grave danger; he told me everything. He said that some children are taken from their parents when they reach 18 and placed in the facilities where they’re tortured and forced into submission. He didn’t know everything obviously, but he said that the children were to be part of some army for Chernoff, to get something for him.

Then, he told me that you had just showed up there--,” she squeezed Kye’s hand as her voice became more choked, “�"and I knew I had to do something. I couldn’t lose you. So Brevyn continued working there to keep an eye on you and to gain information. He told me everything he learned whenever he came home; he told me what they were doing to you.”

“Chernoff didn’t learn about what you and your brother were doing?” Connor asked, half shocked that Chernoff could be so careless. Cat shook her head.

“He viewed Brevyn’s careful watch over the children and his interest in the workings of the facility as initiative and dedication to the cause. Chernoff promoted Brevyn again, so now he works even more closely with Chernoff, which is good for us.”

“It was unbelievably helpful for figuring out how to best infiltrate the facility,” Eddie broke in.

“But it still took too long,” Cat said sadly. “I worried every day over what they were doing to you in there. I could hardly sleep. I wanted to just bust into the facility one day and take my chances.”

“It took everything we had to convince her to wait just a bit longer,” Rosie added.

“So, how did you all get involved?” Kye asked the others.

“You weren’t the only friend Cat had,” Amber chuckled. “She hung out with me and Rosie whenever she wasn’t with you. Once you were gone, she leaned onto us even more and naturally told us everything. Of course, we decided to help, and vowed to tell our parents nothing.”

“I was in a coffee shop one day,” Andy piped up, “and I saw a girl sitting all alone at a table, staring at something inside the locket around her neck; she was crying softly, and I couldn’t just sit there. So, I asked what was wrong and she spilled her guts to me right then and there.” Andy winked at Cat.

“Yeah, that was a bit reckless on my part,” Cat giggled awkwardly. Kye noticed that she had the locket open right now, but he could not see what was inside. Andy continued before he could inquire of it.

“I jumped on board right away. It sounded fun.”

“And he knew my brains and expertise would come in handy, so I enlisted as well,” Eddie explained rather haughtily.

“And I was friends with Andy and Eddie,” Jack interjected. “Once I heard that they were skirting off every day to hang out with three girls I signed on.” He and Andy laughed loudly; the girls rolled their eyes, but smiled nonetheless.

“And so, here we are,” Cat concluded. “We made a plan with Brevyn’s help. He wrote a warning to you in Moby Dick, unbeknownst to Chernoff, and tried to subtly press you to read it.”

“He almost failed,” Kye chuckled. “I almost let Shadow eat it.”

“I’m not sure that it did much good anyways,” Connor broke it. “We were both still very confused.”

“But it did make you trust me,” Cat pointed out. “Neither of you questioned me, or doubted that I was there to help you, because you knew that someone was on the way.”

Kye and Connor both conceded that this was true.

“And the plan was going off without a hitch,” Eddie said to Kye, “until you decided that you HAD to bring Connor�"”

“BUT,” Andy spoke over Eddie, “it all worked out in the end.”

Connor smiled gratefully at Andy.

Rosie spoke up. “Eddie, those trees look all wrong!” she said, pointing to his map.

“And you think you could do better?” Eddie shot back.

“Yes I do! I’m an artist! Come into this room and I’ll show you.” Rosie stood up and Eddie did the same. He walked into the next room grumpily. Rosie looked back and winked at Jack who mouthed ‘thank you.’

Jack turned back to Connor and shrugged. “He’s not usually this hard to deal with.”

“So, yes, the warning was from Brevyn,” Amber brought the group back to the topic at hand.

“You don’t know anything else about what Chernoff is up to?” Kye asked.

“Nothing more than what we’ve told you, unfortunately,” Jack responded. “And I’m sure we’ll lose contact with Brevyn for a few days owing to what happened.”

Cat buried her face farther into Kye’s shoulder and Kye quickly changed the subject.

“So, the windows I smashed through, what were they?”

“Well,” Jack thought, “you can ask Eddie for his theories later, but my guess is they must’ve been some kind of fancy screens or something. Like a television designed to look like outside. Maybe to decrease suspicions and fear, and hide what actually lay beyond? I can’t be sure.”

“And the monster that came out of the book?” Kye continued.

“I’m afraid I have no answer for that. I’ve never seen anything like that. You said Brevyn gave you one of the books?”

Kye rummaged through Cat’s bag and handed the book to Jack.

Jack studied the book. “And there were more?”

“Hundreds,” Kye nodded.

“Can we try it?!” Andy blurted out, as if he had been waiting forever to ask.

“Try what?” Jack asked.

“Making something!” Andy jumped up excitedly. “With the book! I want to see what it does!”

“Oh. No, I don’t think so…not tonight, anyways. Maybe another time.”

Jack handed the book back to Kye while Andy sat down and groaned loudly.

“Any other questions?” Amber yawned. “I’m tired.”

“Yeah, I’m sure we all are,” Jack agreed. “So let’s just have one more question for tonight.”

“Okay…” Kye thought for a moment. “Well, what’s next?”

“Next?” Jack seemed puzzled.

“Yeah. What’s our next mission? Our next plan?”

“The plan for what?”

“Well, to take down Chernoff, of course,” Kye said as though it were obvious.

Jack looked at Kye, and Cat lifted her head off his shoulder. Amber coughed loudly.

“You were the only plan, Kye,” Cat said softly.

“What do you mean?” Kye demanded.

“We never intended to take down Chernoff,” Amber spoke up. “We were to rescue you, and that’s it. We did that.”

“Yes, but…all those children! They’re still there.” Kye was incredulous. He looked to Connor, who averted his gaze.

“Kye, you can’t just go after Chernoff. It’s suicide,” Jack said quietly.

“We can’t just leave innocent people in his hands either!” Kye shot back. “We have to finish him!”

“That’s not possible,” Amber said.

“And why not?!” Kye yelled at her.

“You don’t know the full picture,” Jack tried to calm him.

“THEN TELL ME!” Kye roared. “Tell me why you want to just leave Chernoff alone so that more people can die!”

Connor pleaded with Kye. “Kye, please--”

“NO!” Kye shouted at Connor. “I want to know!”

Rosie reentered the room.

“Everything okay in here?” she said tentatively.

“It’s fine” Jack assured her.

“IT IS NOT FINE,” Kye bellowed.

Jack reached his breaking point. “STOP IT, WOULD YOU?” he stood up so quickly that his chair tipped forward and his the ground with a crash. The candlelight only revealed glimpses of the anger on his face as he paced and gesticulated. “I’ve told you everything that I can right now! You don’t know the way things are! There’s too much to explain; too much that we still don’t understand! WE RESCUED YOU. You ought to be grateful! Just accept it, be happy that you’re even alive, and stay quiet! We all know it’s unjust, but it’s simply the way things are.”

Jack finished, breathing heavily. The room was silent and stunned. Cat started crying quietly again.

Kye opened his mouth to say something, but Connor placed a hand on Kye’s arm and shook his head.

Jack collected himself and then reached down and put his chair back against the wall. “Get some sleep everyone,” he said without looking at anyone. “Big day tomorrow.” Then, he rushed past Rosie and out of the room. Rosie said a small ‘Goodnight’ and then quickly followed him.

Silence prevailed again until Amber stood up.

“I had better sleep too,” she said, walking over to Cat. She bent down and gave Cat a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Glad you guys made it out safe.” She looked to Andy. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Oh, yeah! I’ve got first watch covered. I’m not even tired,” Andy chuckled. He stood up and positioned himself with his back against the door.

“Alright then,” Amber nodded. “Goodnight.”

Everyone murmured goodnight as she walked out of the room.

“There’s all sorts of other rooms here if you want to find one to sleep in,” Andy addressed the other three left in the room. “Or you can stay in here if you like.”

Cat stood up. “I think I’ll go sleep somewhere else for the night.”

Kye stood and the two hugged tightly. As Kye sat back down, Cat met eyes with Connor, who nodded, and she smiled. Kye was in good hands. Cat walked from the room.

Connor scooted closer to Kye, who was petting Shadow.

“Are you alright?” he asked in a low whisper, so as not to be overheard by Andy.

“I’m fine. I just…got carried away,” Kye admitted. “It’s not right.”

“No, it’s not. But they did rescue us.”

“I know. I shouldn’t have gotten worked up. I’m sorry.” Kye whispered.

“You don’t have to apologize to me. Without you, I’d still be in that facility.”

“Well, I couldn’t just leave you there.”

“You could have. But you didn’t.” Connor breathed gratefully.

Kye looked up at Connor and smiled slightly. “Without you, I would’ve had no one. I’m not letting you go anywhere,” he chuckled.

“I wouldn’t dream of going anywhere,” Connor said seriously. “I’ll always be here.”

“Thank you.” Kye looked at Connor intensely and then looked away.

They sat in silence for a few minutes; the only sound was Shadow’s purring. Andy had taken Rosie’s sketchpad from the chair that she had once occupied and, judging by the expression on his face, was drawing something rather amusing in it.

Eventually, Shadow curled up and fell into sleep. Kye realized that he too was feeling tired. He yawned, and left the wall to stretch out on the ground next to Shadow and pulled his blanket over him. Connor did the same next to him.

As Kye lay there, he realized that, although this wasn’t the best situation, he had Connor, he had Shadow, they were all free from the facility, and they were safe and surrounded by new friends. The more Kye thought about how good they had it right now, the sorrier and more embarrassed he felt for what he had said to Jack. He wasn’t ungrateful. He was just scared, and angry at Chernoff, and that anger had come out on his new friends, and even on Connor.

He turned over and looked at Connor. Connor’s face was placid and his eyes were closed in slumber. Kye turned back over and stared at the dark wall. He made a silent promise to himself to apologize to Jack and to control himself from here on out. Then, in the silence of the night, his body and mind still suffering from exhaustion, and his best friend asleep at his side, Kye drifted off.