Outside the Box - Chapter 17

17 

Immediately there’s a flurry of action and most of the Hidden drop to the ground, unconscious. Aspen clutches my arm tightly, and then I spot Ezra among the few still standing. He doesn’t last long before a Ninja takes him down. Aspen bites her lip. 

Quinn manages to steal a gun and knock out a few Ninjas, but a quick hit to the back of the head throws her down enough for a shot to occur. 

One of the Ninjas calls for backup and within minutes the place is cleared. The same Ninja makes another call on his walkie-talkie a few minutes later. “Yes, yes… we have everyone we could find … a total of 34, according to my men … we have not checked for them yet, no … in a minute, we’re still trying to attack a few more buildings … yes, I will make sure the message is recieved.” 

Aspen and I share a look, and Miguel waits until the final Ninja leaves before saying anything. 

“Keep quiet for a bit,” he instructs us. “Wait a little and see if he comes back. If not, we’ll be free to go. He was looking for us though, so be extra quiet.” The little Hiddens nod and Aspen begins to count. 

“There are nine of us,” she whispers. 

One is Liliya, she’s the only Hidden I recognize. Two of the others are younger girls - they appear to be twins because I can’t tell them apart. They both have jet black hair and sky blue eyes. One of the others is an older male - maybe twenty. The other two boys look like relatives of Quinn, with thick muscled arms and the same brown hair. Cousins? 

Miguel waits ten minutes before unlocking the hatch door and climbing out. 

The rest of us emerge into the room after, an air of silence filling the cavernous area. Aspen looks like she’s about to cry, but she holds it in. Perhaps for the younger Hidden. 

Miguel searches the room, but most of our stuff is gone with the other Hidden. Everything else was left at the bunker, so all we have is what Miguel, Aspen, and I grabbed - and that’s not much. We have some food and water, a few extra changes of clothing, and a singular dagger. 

“What do we do?” one of the twin girls asks. 

“We’re going to see Dr. Sybil, and ask her for refuge or something,” I say softly, sharing a look with Miguel. 

But surprisingly it’s Aspen who steps in. “We’re going to see Dr. Sybil and ask her when she wants us to go to the Box. We have to get the Hidden and Ezra back, and Dr. Sybil will have a plan and a place for us.” 

“Opal, Amber,” Liliya orders, addressing the twin girls. “You two gather what you can find in here - search everywhere while we work some things out.” She turns to the young man. “Theo, take Caleb and Chase to the roof and scout out the city. See if there’s anyone from the Box left, and see if Dr. Sybil’s building is still unharmed.” 

Opal and Amber nod and immediately begin tearing apart the room. Theo takes the two boys that look like Quinn into the elevator. 

“I’m going to try and contact Gretchen, just to let her know what happened,” Aspen tells us before hurrying off somewhere. 

“Jake, you and I should go find a car,” Miguel says. Liliya wanders off to go find Amber and Opal and check their progress while Miguel and I climb into the elevator. 

Luckily enough, the streets are empty. Unfortunately, Miguel and I can’t find any vehicles which means we’ll have to walk. We return to the hidden room empty-handed, and everyone else has returned by now as well. 

There’s nine of us - so Miguel explains that it might be a bit suspicious if we’re all walking together. 

Aspen counters that by saying that we shouldn’t split up, especially with no weapons. 

Liliya tells us we can decide once we leave this room, because at any moment a Ninja could return and look for us. 

When we emerge outside thick clouds have covered the sky. Tiny drops of rain begin t pelt the ground. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen rain,” Aspen tells me with a smile. I shrug as the others begin to turn in circles, amazed by it. 

In the city it rained a good amount, but here it rarely rains due to the heat. Opal and Amber have seen rain once, before and they’re amazed by the puddles on the ground. 

After everyone except Miguel and I spend a few minutes admiring the precipitation, we move on through the streets at a brisk pace. Opal and Amber grew up in Mental, and they make pretty good tour guides. Kind of. 

“This is the school building,” Opal points to a tall skyscraper. 

“This is where the bad people go,” Amber shows us a shorter, blockier building. 

“That is Ruby’s house,” Opal says. 

“No, that’s where Tanya lives, dummy,” Amber argues. 

And with that our tour ends and the two girls glare at each other. Fortunately, Aspen thought to find a map of Mental while contacting Gretchen and is able to lead us to Dr. Sybil. 

It’s the middle of the night so the streets are empty and dark. The rain comes down in sheets, soaking us to the bone. I shiver, but I keep walking knowing that complaining will only make the journey worse. 

Aspen sidles up beside me, and her hand reaches for mine but Opal grabs it instead. “The shadows are scary,” she whines as she pulls Aspen away from me. 

Miguel smirks to himself as we continue, occasionally stopping to investigate trash on the ground or an odd colored puddle. Part of me thinks he’s a bit paranoid but then I remember how tricky the Box is and let him keep doing it without another thought. 

Dr. Sybil’s guards are unwilling to let us enter at first, until Aspen pushes me forward. 

Since the attacks occurred, new signs have been appearing around Mental advertising us as fugitives - especially me. 

The guards recognize me immediately and let us inside.

Dr. Sybil is hiding away right now, so it takes a while for her to be introduced to us. Until then, we’re lead to a study on the bottom floor and a guard is assigned to watch the door. 

Because of the late time, Opal, Amber, Caleb, and Chase lay down on the couches and immediately fall asleep. Theo watches over them protectively, especially the two boys. I watch his muscles twitch at every sound. 

“Rain,” Aspen giggles again as her, Miguel, and I take seats at the desk in the corner. She spins around on her chair a few times, hair still dripping on the floor. 

“Yes, Aspen,” Miguel sighs, rolling his eyes. “It’s raining. We know.” 

Aspen rolls her eyes back, still smiling. At least she’s happy, she’s probably forgotten about Ezra for a moment. That’s good, we all need sleep too. 

About an hour into sitting in the room, the guard opens the door to announce that Dr Sybil won’t be available until tomorrow morning. She has meetings with council people and businesses all night. He advises us to get some sleep, and we nod our thanks. 

Theo leans back in a recliner, still watching over the children. 

Miguel stretches out over another couch, yawning once before snoring rather loudly. Aspen laughs at him quietly. 

Soon it seems that only Aspen and I are left awake. I can feel my eyes growing heavy and I yawn too. Because of so many nights sleeping on the floor of the maze, it almost feels comfortable when I curl up in the corner. Aspen joins me not long after, leaning against me. 

Even though we’re still damp from the rain, the heat generated between the too of us makes me warm and comfortable. Before I know it I’m asleep. 

The boy is older now, but not by much. Parts of his past are foggy. He overhears his mother saying it will take him a little bit to forget, and the boy does not know what that means. 

All he knows is that the mysterious dark haired girl left a note in his shoe yesterday. He barely remembers seeing her before, and he knows he has little information on her. He can only assume the note came from her. Maybe it was one of the adults, the boy thinks. Then he shakes his head. 

No one can see him, his room is dark. If the lights were on they would see his tied shoes, slipped on his feet. They would see his tiny sweater, wrapped around his chest. They would see the tiny stuffed bear shoved in the crack of his arm for comfort. But why would grown-ups bother with a boy like him? They seem to be all over him lately. 

The note said to wait until ten. And when the boy’s tiny, electric clock strikes ten there’s a knock on his door. The boy opens it without hesitation. 

The girl has dark hair, just like the boy remembered seeing a few times before. She has long eyelashes too - the boy remembers studying eyelashes in his genetics unit. The girl is bigger than he expected, however. Certainly not the age for a good friend. 

“Where are we going?” the boy asks as he notices her dark clothing and her sneakers. Maybe she will play hide and seek with him. 

“You’ll see,” the girl smiles. “The adults are making us forget - tiny drops of serum every night. But at least we’ll know each other when they put us in the city. Or at least, I hope we will. I’ve always wanted a friend.” 

“I want a friend too,” the boy smiles too. 

“We’re not just friends, we’re technically cousins,” the girl informs him. The words register with the boy and his smile grows wider. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” the boy adds politely. The girl blushes in the dim light. 

“C’mon, we should hurry,” the girl darts away. The boy follows closely behind her. The girl leads him to a window, and the boy’s veins fill with anticipation. 

“I’m Leah, by the way,” the girl smiles before shattering the glass with a flashlight. “Are you coming or what?” 

The dream fades to darkness. 

I wake with a start, Aspen already up. Opal and Amber woke earlier and convinced the guard outside to get us breakfast. A woman returned a while later with a whole feast and more food then I’ve ever seen together before. 

I don’t tell anyone about Leah and my dream. I can only assume it’s a memory, resurfacing after all these years. But apparently Leah is my cousin too, which means she probably has a genetic mutation of some sort too. I still don’t know what my weakness is - hopefully we don’t find out. 

Opal and Amber have eaten an entire plate of biscuits, and I manage to steal one before they’re all gone. Before long, all of the food is gone. 

Miguel is still asleep on the couch, snoring away. Aspen and I don’t have the heart to wake him, but Theo has no problem slamming two metal trays into each other until he jumps to his feet. He glares at Theo and grumbles as he sits up. 

Surprisingly, we don’t receive news of Dr. Sybil until almost noon. She invites all of us to her makeshift office for a lunch. 

The guard takes us up the building instead of down into the ground, explaining that the Box would assume we would hide everyone important in basements. Dr. Sybil is on the top floor now. 

When we reach the office, I notice Dr. Sybil looks paler than before, dark circles under her eyes. She hands Theo, Chase, and Caleb large plates of food to split with Opal and Amber. Then she invites Miguel, Aspen, and I inside her office. She instructs the guard to shut the door, and he obeys without a word. 

“Would you like any food?” Dr. Sybil asks, showing us a tray of delectable goodness. But my stomach isn’t really hungry. 

“No, but thanks,” Aspen replies curtly with a smile. “Is everything okay in Mental? Did anyone die in the attacks?” 

Dr. Sybil laughs to herself. “So many questions in so little time. Everything is fine in Mental, I’ve arranged shelters all over the city in case something like this happens again. No one is dead - yet. But several people here were injured and a few from Social and Emotional are dead. All four Clans were attacked at the same time.” 

“Why?” Miguel asks, echoing my thoughts. 

“We don’t know. Maybe to show how strong they are - the Box suffered no casualties at all. Maybe they were searching for something,” Dr. Sybil answers with a shrug. 

“They were searching for us,” I realize. “They took all of our friends.” 

Dr. Sybil nods in acknowledgment. “We are aware of that matter. Four expecting mothers were taken from each Clan, and we don’t know why either.” 

“Genetic mutations,” Aspen mumbles. “Just like they did with Jake - but this time they’ll succeed in making them perfect.” 

“Hey, I am perfect,” I smile, and Aspen rolls her eyes. 

“You’re a mutant,” Dr. Sybil says, obviously intrigued. “How interesting. I’ve always wanted to study one, but I didn’t know for sure that they existed. And I heard they were all failures and were put inside the city.” 

“I’m not a failure or a mutant, okay? I don’t like those terms,” I grumble. “I’m perfect.” 

“Actually, I think I might’ve figured out your weakness,” Aspen interjects. “It became clear to me when I pieced everything together. The dart from the day Ezra and I rescued you. The hallucinogen stuff in the fight for Social. The spider venom in the maze. It all makes sense now.” 

“What? I don’t understand,” Miguel groans. I agree with him, not sure what Aspen is getting at. 

“Don’t you see?” Aspen asks, exasperated. Dr. Sybil nods to herself. 

“I believe Ms. Foster has a point,” Dr. Sybil says. “From what I understand, poison is your weakness.” 

Aspen nods frantically. “Think about it, Jake. Every time you’re injected with a serum or in some way chemicals are released into your body, it has a devastating effect. I was out for a few hours with the spiders in the maze - you were out for three days. With your strength, speed, reflexes, and whatnot you had to have a weakness somewhere. And it’s chemicals and poison!” 

Aspen’s conclusion makes sense, as much as it pains me to admit it. 

“Strength, speed, reflexes,” Dr. Sybil mumbles to herself. “If the circumstances were better, I would love to see what your genetic makeup is in a lab setting. But that’s not our main focus, although it does improve our chances.”

“Have you fixed up the plan?” I ask excitedly, itching to do something. 

Dr. Sybil shrugs. “Not entirely. My scientists have done plenty of extensive research on the tech in the Box. We believe that the only way in is to hack - as my records tell me Ms. Foster has done before, several times actually.” Aspen blushes. “If we can hack in unnoticed, it’ll give us enough information to sneak Jake in and possibly open the doors so we can take the boats.” 

“Sounds like a lot of work,” Aspen comments. “Besides, we don’t have any computers on us. Does Mental have something we can use?” 

“Unfortunately, no,” Dr. Sybil frowns. “Our tech is in no way able to compete with the Box. However, I was able to track down some stolen tech from the Box and it should be in a bunker not far from here.” 

“The Forgotten Site,” Miguel breathes. “We used to live there before the Ninjas raided it. By now, Aspen’s software is probably gone by now.” 

“Nope,” Dr. Sybil smiles. “I checked the locator last night, and the computer is still at the bunker, fully operational. All you need is to go there and I can give Aspen the full list of what she needs to do.” 

Aspen nods. Dr. Sybil winks at her. “You’ll be fine, Ms. Foster. With your skills we can rescue your brother in no time.” 

“You really think this will work?” Miguel asks her. 

“It has to,” Dr. Sybil sighs. “I’m officially out of ideas, which might sound bad for a leader of Mental. But everything just got ten times tougher. 

“What do you mean?” I ask in confusion. 

“The rain last night,” Dr. Sybil explains. “It rained a lot. And by a lot, I mean we’re in danger. The dam is close to overflowing. We have monitor tech up at the top of the dam, and it is extremely close to overflowing. An overflow would be the end of us all.” 

The dam is going to fail and everything is going to flood. 

Well that’s a comforting fact. Aspen and Miguel seem to think so too. “How long do we have?” Miguel asks quietly. “Until the dam breaks, I mean?” 

“It won’t break, not yet,” Dr. Sybil says. “The engineering is marvelous. But the overflow rate depends on the next storm. It could be an hour from now, two years, or it could never occur. We have no idea.” 

“And you didn’t think to tell us that earlier,” Aspen asks. 

Dr. Sybil shakes her head. “No, I didn’t want to tell you earlier. Panic will make you lose all source of logic. Which is why I also waited to tell you something else.”

“What?” The question comes from me. 

“I want Jake to stay here so I can study him while Miguel and Aspen go to the bunker.”