Outside the Box - Chapter 19

19 

The sounds of the moving jeep having a calming effect on me, but my mind is still racing a while later. Aspen and Miguel haven’t moved, but I suppose that’s kind of obvious. 

Because I’ve never really been conscious a whole drive to and from the bunker and the Box, I have no way to gouge the distance we’ve travelled and how close we actually are. But when we stop moving it ultimately does feel too soon. 

Or maybe that’s just me thinking I’m too young to die. 

Either way, my pulse picks up speed even with the glasses on. And then all of the sudden I feel them ripped off my head. 

My first thought is that imminent death has found me and I’m either going to be killed on the spot or some harm will come to me. I brace for a bullet or some sort of pain, but I don’t feel anything until someone slaps my cheek. 

“Jake,” a voice I now know as Gretchen’s hisses. “Wake up, you idiot.” 

“Gretchen?” I ask, opening my eyes to see the girl staring down at me, face blotchy and a cut on her forehead. “What’s going…” 

“I knocked out the guards to give you a chance to escape - but hurry. Take the glasses off Miguel and Aspen while I make sure everyone is still asleep. If you hear me scream, assume the worst and run,” Gretchen orders before taking off. 

I follow her orders, hands shaking as I tear the glasses off of Miguel and Aspen. Both of them bolt upright, but don’t say anything I just grab them and pull them to their feet. 

Aspen is a bit wobbly and leans on me, but Miguel simply stands there clenching and unclenching his fists, spitting between his teeth. I can tell he’s livid. Gretchen returns a moment later, shaking her head. 

“There’s three awake, and they’re contacting base before coming to get us. They don’t think we can run far, and they’re issuing orders to shoot everyone but Aspen on sight.” 

“The one time someone wants me more than you guys,” Aspen mumbles to herself, balanced now. She curses once and glares at Gretchen. I still don’t feel comfortable trusting her, but if she was willing to knock out the guards that was nice - unless it was a ploy. 

I’m not sure of anything right now. “Margot helped me knock out the guards,” Gretchen informs us. “She’s the same way as me. We were spies for the Box together.” 

“Very useful,” Miguel grumbles. “Because when we’re on the run, weaponless, and fugitives we want to know about the time you betrayed us and nearly had us killed. That’ll definitely help us.” 

Once again, I see the trace of guilt in Gretchen’s eyes as she stares at the ground. Miguel doesn’t apologise and neither Aspen or I try to comfort her. 

“Is there any way we can run?” I ask quietly. Miguel and Aspen sigh, I know they’ve given up hope. 

Gretchen thinks for a moment. “There is one way, and now I think you guys won’t mind it. Follow me.” She walks around the back of the jeep without saying anything and Miguel and I share a look. Aspen follows Gretchen. 

“Are you going to tell us the…” Before Aspen even finishes, Gretchen darts around the side of the jeep and begins to yell. 

“Hey, you guys, over here!” Gretchen screams. 

Miguel is about to attack her when suddenly Gretchen’s plan makes sense to me. I yank Aspen and Miguel back. “She wants us to run,” I whisper to them. 

“She’s …” Aspen doesn’t finish before choking back a sob. “I can’t let her do this in vain. Jake’s right, we need to run.” 

Miguel shakes his head. “She might be a traitor but she’s still my friend.” 

Then he runs around the side of the jeep, throwing open the doors and grabbing the guns off the guards in the front. He hands one to Aspen and they immediately both begin shooting around the front of the jeep. 

The three guards Aspen mentioned fall to the ground, blood blossoming on their chests and falling into the water below. There were real bullets in these. 

Miguel and Aspen check to make sure no one else is alive, but I immediately run to Gretchen, who is lying in the pooling water. Her eyes are beginning to glaze over and I spot the blood coming from her stomach. 

Gretchen whispers something and I lean close. “Get … Miguel,” she whispers, coughing. 

I call for Miguel and Aspen, who hurry over, tears in their eyes. “I’m here, Gretchen.” 

Gretchen doesn’t respond, she presses a small piece of paper into Miguel’s hands, her fingers stained scarlet. 

Gretchen coughs again, blood spilling from the corners of her mouth. Then her chest stills and her eyes stare unmoving at the sky. Aspen breaks down, falling against me as her body heaves with sobs. 

I feel my own eyes water and try to push away the tears. I need to be strong - strong for Aspen and Miguel. We don’t have time to mourn right now, not with reinforcements on the way. But instead, I feel a single tear drip down my face. Gretchen’s hair is floating eerily in the water, her face nearly under. The water out here is shallower, only about three inches. 

Miguel is crying too, something I never expected from the by older boy. And in his hands is the note. 

He sees me looking and hands me the note. 

I can’t live with the guilt, and I hope that you accept the fact that I never wanted to hurt any of you - even Jake. I’m so sorry it had to be this way, but I couldn’t live knowing I had condemned you to death. So I gave you a chance to escape. If you’re reading this it means I’m dead, but I don’t want you to cry. It’s not worth it. So please forgive me. And if this letter finds Miguel, I want him to know that I’ve always felt strongly about him, just too cowardly to admit it. I’m sorry again. - Gretchen. 

Aspen peers at the note over my hands, crying harder now. 

“We have to go,” Miguel says suddenly.  “It’s what Gretchen wanted.” 

Aspen nods, getting up and I follow her. Miguel stands too, wiping the tears from his face. And just as we’re about to run I hear the sound of another jeep approaching. 

All this, all what Gretchen did - and we still ended up caught. I can’t believe it. 

“Hands up,” someone in the jeep yells.

“What’s with the formalities?” someone else asks, and a gun pokes out of the window. “Now we can do this the hard way or …” 

There’s a crackle of static and I feel like my entire body was stuck in a toaster. It hurts all over, and I realize the water is a terrible thing - not just for the fact that I can drown. But it also conducts electricity. 

The world goes dark and I feel my body hit the ground. Hard. 

I am almost 100% sure that this is hurting more than the last time I died. But then I remember that I didn’t actually die and I still have to at one point and time. 

Then I sit up and stop talking to myself in my head because it’s giving me a headache. 

Deja vu hits me and I groan in pain and confusion. I’m in the same cell I was before when I was in the Box. Miguel, Aspen, and Ezra all in the same place as they were before. 

Aspen’s eyes are red, and she’s all curled up in a ball. Miguel is facing the wall, and Ezra is staring at me like he wants answers. I want to talk to him, to tell him about Gretchen, to tell him we’ll be rescued. But my voice fails me and even I’m not sure that we’ll be rescued. 

The room goes dark for a second, just like before. This time, Dr. Barron isn’t there. Instead, it’s a man I immediately recognize before my mouth goes sour. 

Dr. Marks stands before me - the very man who looked me in the eyes and told me when I would die. He’s here, and I should have known it all along. Of course he was in leagues with the Box. 

Aspen looks up at his arrival and Miguel turns around. “You’re all awake, which is marvelous, I must say.” Dr. Marks begins with a smile. “I am…” 

“Dr. Marks,” I interrupt, voice bitter. “The man who delivered my death date. Are you surprised to see me alive?” 

Dr. Marks shrugs. “Not really, I’ve known since the very day that you ‘died’ and left no body. I hope you know that your jump changed nothing. Everyone there had their memories altered so it appeared your Date was that day.” 

I don’t respond, I don’t want to talk. I’m done with the Box. I’m done pretending they had a good reason for everything. 

“I suppose you’re wondering why you’re here,” Dr. Marks sighs. “Let’s just say we knew the Box wasn’t supposed to last this long. But we didn’t know it was engineered to break after 50 years of use. I suppose it was a way to free the subjects, but we don’t exactly want it that way. The world isn’t ready for these people yet and…” 

“You do realize the entire outside world is flooding, right?” Miguel interjects. “The Box will be underwater.” 

“We can seal the facility, possibly,” Dr. Marks says, although he doesn’t sound sure. “Anyways, as I was saying, the city must remain intact, and for that we need the coding altered. There’s one person we ultimately need, someone with the skill for that…” Dr. Marks turns to Aspen, who is still rubbing her eyes. 

“I’m not helping you again,” Aspen says boldly. “Last time I ‘helped’ you I was stabbed in the stomach and I watched Jake get his throat slit. So there’s no way I’m helping you.” 

“I’m afraid this moment is going to seem a bit … cliche. But Ms. Foster, I have three people here that I know at least one of them you care deeply about. As incentive for your help, each of these boys will be placed in the city. I tell you this because if you don’t fix the city, there is a chance - a high chance - that everyone in the city will die when it breaks. We also have the ability to kill all three of them if the city doesn’t.” Dr. Marls looks at Aspen like he expects her to say yes immediately. 

I send Aspen a look, hoping she’ll understand. We don’t need to survive. Miguel and I are ready to risk our lives so she can take the Hidden and escape. 

But I know Aspen too well. She’ll help the Box if it means Miguel, Ezra, and I survive. 

“I’ll do it,” Aspen says at last. “On one condition: you let the Hidden go.” 

“You are in no position to negotiate,” Dr. Marks reminds her. “Give me reasons why we should let the Hidden go.” 

Aspen thinks for a moment. “You stole how many people from each of the Clans, I assume for the city since it’s failing. You want backup. Well you have more than enough people for that. And we’re here now, so there’s no point in using them to try to get us to come. The Hidden also have no chance of surviving in the outside world due to the flood. Therefore, they would die soon enough.” 

“You seem eager for your friends to die,” Dr. Marks comments.
“They’d rather die than be prisoners,” Aspen responds quietly. Miguel sends her a questioning look and Aspen shakes her head. She’ll explain later - if there is a later. 

“We’ll see, but I make no promises,” Dr. Marks says at last. “Now that everything’s all cleared up, it’s time for your prep and then the mission to begin. Say your last goodbyes, my friends.” 

The room goes dark again and this time I can hear the hiss of white mist entering the room. It makes my mind go foggy until I enter the darkness again. 

The boy doesn’t even know who he is anymore. There is a woman who visits him every day, but he is pretty sure the woman is not his mother. The girl who visits him at night told him that the woman might pretend to be his mother but she is not. The boy doesn’t remember who the girl is anymore, but he knows to trust her. Something about her eyes makes him trust her, she seems familiar. 

The boy overheard the woman talking to someone else about “placement” and a “family”. He doesn’t know what the words are supposed to mean, nor does he care. The boy only wants his memories back. 

The boy has been in his room for several hours now, staring at the blank wall. He wishes he knew what was happening. There’s a knock on his door, and although the boy is not expecting it something about the knock seems routine. The door opens and the dark-haired girl strides in, looking worried. “Jake, what are you doing? Did you forget?” 

The boy doesn’t answer, his voice failing him. The girl takes a seat beside him on the bed, understanding his silence. “We’re not alone, y’know.” 

Silence again. The boy doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Is there someone else in the room? He scans it with his eyes but no one is there. He looks to the girl, confused, but she doesn’t see him looking around. She appears to be lost in thought. 

“There are others like us,” the girl continues. “Some of them are dead. Some of them are … I don’t know how to explain it, but they don’t look okay. And some of them are just like you and me. I wonder what their powers are?” 

“Powers?” the boy finally speaks up, hearing a word that sparks his interest. “We have powers?” 

The girl shakes her head with a laugh, but she looks happy that the boy finally spoke. “I forgot that you’re smaller and the memory serum works faster on you. We don’t have powers, per say. More of a genetic altercation that makes us better.” 

“If we were better, we could’ve stopped them from taking my memories,” the boy says quietly, unsure of what exactly he’s talking about. “I don’t even remember who you are, but I know I trust you.” 

The girl frowns. “You’re almost ready, Jake. They might wait until I’m ready too. And the others. But you’re not going to remember me and I’m not going to remember you. It’ll all be okay, I think. The safest place for us is in the Box.” 

“Are you sure?” the boy asks. “The people are taking me away.” 

“For the right reasons,” the girl shrugs. “I don’t know for sure. But I know that in the city we’ll know each other. We can be best friends.” 

Suddenly, there’s someone else outside the boy’s room. “She’s in here, and she’s talking with the subject.” The door swings open again and several big men the boy hasn’t seen before burst in with weird handheld devices. The boy closes his eyes, clutching the girl tight. 

The men don’t go for him, however. The grab for the girl, wrapping their meaty hands around her arms and dragging her away. The girl goes without protest. 

“Goodbye, cuz,” she calls out from the hallway. 

A memory surfaces in the boy. The girl has a name. Leah. 

And then the boy becomes very, very sleepy. He lays down on the bed, curling up in a ball as a final man tucks the blanket over his head. He whispers something into the boy’s ear. “Goodnight, son.” 

The boy wants to say goodnight too, but he has already sunk into a deep sleep. 

I rip open my eyes and immediately a sense of panic overwhelms me. This can’t be happening. But it is, and the world does not look well. 

Miguel and Ezra are lying beside me, still unconscious. Their bodies probably haven’t adjusted to the serums and stuff yet. But I think they should probably remain unconscious for as long as possible. The world doesn’t look so good. 

I knew the city was failing and I knew that it wasn’t going to make it unless Aspen fixed it. 

But I didn’t expect the entire world to be literally falling apart. 

There are buildings falling. Buildings burning. People screaming and running, maybe even dying. 

I recognize our location as the center of the park. The very park where I told Laura and Andrew I was going to die in a week. 

Except this time the park is in ruins. Trees are uprooted, some are cracked and broken. The grass is dead and brown, hard under my body. Miguel and Ezra are beginning to stir, which I guess is a good sign. 

There are terrified screams coming from everywhere. I shiver, getting to my feet. It’s all come down to Aspen. There’s no way to escape the city now… 

Of course there’s a way out. If we die, we leave. And maybe that is the Box’s weakness. They didn’t wipe any of our minds, maybe they assumed it would take too long. Which means if Miguel, Ezra, and I kill ourselves, we’ll be sent back to the Box. 

Unless we convince the others to do it too. We could help the whole city escape… 

It seems too convenient that the one thing I could do to help Aspen, the Clans, and the Hidden is so easy right now. I just have to convince everyone to take a leap of faith and jump. 

I can’t start with my family - odds are I’ve probably already been wiped from their minds. 

But there is someone who wasn’t really there for my death. Someone who I can trust and someone who trusts me. I shake Miguel and Ezra awake and their eyes widen as they take in the destruction around us. 

“We need to go,” I say. “I’ll explain on the way. But we have to find Leah.”