Choosing sides

 James began to slowly wake up, wiggling around trying to figure out where he was and why his limbs felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds.

“He’s waking up, quick, stick him again. We are still too close to the center of town to risk waking him up. We have to get outside the gates first."An unfamiliar voice growled from somewhere above James. It wasn't Dr. Anderson.

James felt small prick on the side of his neck before he slipped back into the darkness.

He slowly began to come to consciousness, trying his best to keep his breathing even so they wouldn’t realise that he was awake. He very carefully opened his left eye and took a quick peek at his surroundings. They had stopped moving and it looked like they may be right outside of the East gate, surrounded by trees on all sides. They were resting in an open field.

One of Dr.Anderson’s little minions walked by and James desperately tried to remain calm and act as if he was still under when the man stopped and bent down toward him. Just as the man reached into his pocket, James sprang up and grabbed for the tranquilizer darts that he could see poking out of the man’s pocket. 

“Whaaaa!” The man stumbled backwards, spilling the remaining tranquilizer darts haphazardly on the ground around them. “Hey, he’s awake. I need some help over here!” The man yelled out to the rest of the group as he grabbed for James, who had just narrowly missed the man’s head with the dart he had thrown.

James lounged for the man and tackled him to the ground, spinning him around as they fell so that he was on top and jammed the tip of a tranquilizer dart into the side of the man’s leg.

“Hey!” One of the other men came running up on James. He took a few seconds to take in the whole scene before he pulled out one of his tranquilizer darts and threw it straight at James. The dart hit his in his left shoulder and he fell instantly to the ground, his whole body feeling like it had just turned into jello.

“You better not try anything like that again, or I’ll make sure to report it back to the doctor. You and me both know what he would love to do to your precious little gifted girl. He’ll make sure that she never has the chance to fall into the hands of the resistance.” 

James went to make some sarcastic remark, but couldn’t get his mouth open. The world started to swirl into darkness and the last thing he thought about was Iris. I left you there, alone. I have to find a way to get away from these people and sneak back into the laboratory.

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Iris frantically called out to James, but she knew he wasn’t there. She had heard them drag him out of his cell and they must be long gone by now. The little sliver of hope that JAmes had brought to her in the last few weeks was now gone. And she knew that he would never be back. But, more importantly, she knew that her a timer had been set on her life, and her time is about to run out. 

“If he was willing to kill me just to get you to play along, then who knows what else would make him resort to such drastic measures.” She spoke out loud to her empty cell. “And if I’m so important to this resistance they keep talking about, what’s to keep him from simply walking in here and terminating me now, destroy all possible opportunity for them to get their hands on me?” Because he gets drunk off power, and you’re the most powerful thing to ever come into contact with his life. The thought whispered inside of her head. She had always had thoughts, little thoughts, the ones that told her that the only reason she was still alive was because they must have found something, must have seen something in one of the tests that peaked their interest. She just didn’t want to believe it.

She felt around the room until the tips of her fingers slid over the edge of the grate in the center of the floor. Once she found it, she slipped her pinky finger into the third hole from the left. She fished around for a moment and feared that it may have slipped and fallen to the bottom, but her finger finally made contact with the small piece of silk and she started to pull it up and out of the grate.Tied to the very end of the silk, dangled a very small, very sharp knife. A scalpel, one she had taken from lab one day when she was young and they didn’t watch her as closely.Her hands clasped around the cold metal handle as she worked to untie the stripps of silk.

“Yes.” She whispered under her breath as she slipped the knife free from the silk. She threaded the silks back down into the grate, tying the end of it to the tiny slivered piece of metal on the inner corner of the rebar, using it as a hook to secure the small stripps tightly and completly out of sight. 

She rocked back onto her heels and held the scalpel tightly in her hand. It was her last little bit of hope and she knew that now was the time to put it to good use. Carefully, she removed her left shoe and slipped the scalpel, blade side down, into her sock, making sure to cover the entire thing up with the edge of her sock. Next time he came for her, she would have to find the perfect moment to use her hidden weapon.

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“Where are they?” The Doctor's assistant, Niles, hit James across the face again, asking the same question. Demanding the same answers.

JAmes just sat up straighter and said nothing.

“Boy, if you don’t start giving me some answers, I’ll be sure to have that little girl friend of yours killed. Don’t try me.” He raised his hand as if to strike James again. James just sat there, unflinching, waiting for the hit that was sure to come. He closed his eyes and waited.But it never came.

Instead, he heard a scream. Not one caused by terror, but one of battle. He threw his eyes open and looked around franticly, letting hope seek deeply into his bones.

“Quick!” One of the guards yelled. “Hide the prisoner, don’t let him escape! They are attacking!” The guard drew his gun and began to aim at the woods all around, wildly swinging the barrel in every direction that made a sound.

Suddenly, just when they had begun to creep towards the woods, arrows rained down from the tree tops, striking anything in their path.

JAmes looked into the stunned face of Niles above him. “Well, looks like you’ve had your men walking underneath mine for quite some time now.” He looked up at him with a bloodied smile.“You walts your men right into our trap.”

Just then, a young girl came running out of the woods and impaled the guard standing over him with her sword. She sliced the ropes that bound his hand and offered hers to help him up.

“Nice to see you again Lily.” He gripped her hand and pulled himself off the ground, steadying himself against her shoulder before he felt confident enough on his own feet to pull away from her. All around them, others had jumped from the trees and were taking care of the few guards that were still left from the onslaught of arrows.

“I wish I could say the same to you.” She looked at him sternly, a hint of concern slipping through her steely facade. “Where is she? Did they kill her?” Her voice filled with dread.

“No, when I left she was still in the lab. But that’s not our biggest problem.” He whent to take a step away form her but stumbled on his feet. HIs body was beginning to really feel the effects of dehydration and malnourishment.

“Here, let me help you.” Lilly grabbed his arm and slung it around her shoulder.”So, what’s our big problem then?”

“Just get me to Caroline. I must speak with her now. It is of utmost importance.”

“No, James. First, we get you to a healer. Then I’ll take you to meet with Caroline.” She looked over at him and continued to walk forward, pulling him in the same direction.

“A healer can wait, but this information cannot.” He looked over at her, his eyes glared with bright determination.

“You always were the stubborn one.” She murmured under her breath but kept on walking in the same direction anyway.

James dug his heels into the ground, forcing her to stop walking unless she wanted him to end up face down on the ground. “If I don’t speak with her now, Iris is going to be a lost cause. They will surely kill her or lock her away in the deepest, darkest catacombs of the labs.”

Lily looked at him, a mix of fear and concern written all over her face. “Okay.” It came out as barely a whisper. “Let's go.” She turned them around and headed for the entrance to the hidden elevator in the trunk of the tallest tree in sight.

“Lily,” He began as they approached the door.

“Don’t James, just, don’t. I’m going in there with you. I’m going to be a part of this conversation whether you like it or not. I’m sixteen, you can stop treating me like a child.” She started touching the different patterns on the bark surrounding the hidden entrance, tracing out the intricate patterns to unlock the door.

“Lily, please. I don’t want to see you get hurt.” He looked at her with desperation, begging her not to put herself through this with his eyes.

“James, everything’s different now. Things have changed, I have changed. You don’t need to protect me anymore, I can do just fine taking care of myself. If you didn’t want me to get hurt, then you never should have taken on this stupid mission. No one else wanted her to come back, so you never should have had to take on this stupid thing, you never should have left.” She yanked the door open and roughly shoved him inside, taking no care for his weakened state. He could tell that she was upset with him.

“That statement right there is all I need to hear to know that you really have changed. What happened to the innocent little girl that I left, the girl that encouraged this mission, encouraged me to go on and bring her back. You knew that this was the only way to ensure that we are successful in our attempts to attack the city. Now, I don’t even know you. You are this jealous creature, someone who has lost all heart. What could have possibly happened to you while I was gone to make you loose all your heart? She’s your own sister for crying out loud!”

“She’s not my sister.” She whispered, looking him right in the eyes, dead serious.

James stumbled backwards and fell into the wall of the small elevator. Lily reached to steady him, thinking that it was because of the contraption lurching upward. He shied away from her grip.

“Lily, how could you say that? How could you just abandoned her when she needs you the most. DO you not understand what goes on in those labs? DO you not realise just how many times she came close to death, just in the few weeks I was there. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like being stuck in there for sixteen years. Having people almost kill you over and over again just to try and figure out if they can siphon the power and strength from you, to see if they can use you and your dna to create the next generation of humans? Can you even imagine that, what that would feel like?” He looked at her with disgust as the door opened and he stumbled out.

“James! They told me that you had been returned to us, I have been waiting for you. Are you quite all right?” She hurriedly walked toward him and grabbed hold of his arm, allowing him to lean against her. “COme, rest a little while while I go and fetch you a healer.”

“No, Caroline, we must speak.”

“Now? SHe looked at him with deep concern, now it was not just for him, but for the news that he may bring.

“Yes, now.” Caroline helped him sit in a chair in her sitting room and turned to grab a cup of water.

“Here, take slow sips of this.” SHe turned to the door where Lily was standing patiently, waiting for Caroline to invite her in, as it was considered rude to barge into their leader's orders without invitation.

“Lily, will you please excuse us. This is a very private conversation.” SHe caught sight of the short flash of betrayal that flashed across Lily’s face before she shut the door, slipping her fingers into the specially crafted notches and turned, locking the door from the inside.

“James, please tell me what has happened.”She rushed over to the side of his chair, waiting for him to confirm her worst fears. BUt e didn’t. INstead, he gave her more hope than she could have asked fro.

“She is alive. They have kept her alive this whole time.” Caroline’s eyes brimmed with tears as she took in this new information.

“So, you're telling me that she is alive, and yet you are here, without her?” ANger shown in her eyes by the time she had finished saying this.

“Yes, and I am terribly sorry that this is how it played out, but I had no other choice. He was about to kill her, I had to go with his little minions and travel back into the forest. I had to leave, or they would have killed her and all would have been lost. I. Had. No. Other. Choice.” He punctuated the last sentence, placing the emphasis on the fact that if he would not be here right now, then she would be dead, and he would still be locked up.

“But that’s not all.” He started explaining again before she had time to interrupt him. “SHe is coming of age. It will be anytime now.”

Caroline gasped,”BUt that means….”

“Yes. It is time to prepare the troops, we must march out by the end of this week. We have to get too her before they realise what is about to happen, before they have time to get rid of her before she destroys them all."

“JAmes, just how long exactly do we have?” It came out almost as a whisper, barely audible.

“Caroline,”he reached out and took hold of one of her limp, clammy hands. “She has already lost her sight. It will be within forty eight hours that she will embrace her full potential. Forty eight hours before she becomes the ticking time bomb and destroys the whole city. Only forty eight hours for us to reach her and make sure that she can control it, make sure that she doesn’t burn herself out, or worse, burn everything and everyone until she has burned herself out.”

“JAmes, what are we going to do? This is my daughter we are talking about. My beautiful baby girl. We can’t let her go through this alone.”

“Caroline, I understand your connection to her because she is your child, but you must also remember the point of this whole mission. The point is to retrieve her and use her to destroy the rest of the remaining cities that are spread throughout the western US. Even if she burns herself out, we are to make sure that she has completed this mission before then. It is not about rescuing her. It is about rescuing the power, retrieving it and taking over control. It has always been about control. Do not forget that Caroline. I am forgiving and understanding, but most of us are not. They will see you as weak and unfit to be our leader, they will get rid of you.”

“I know James, I know.” With that she straightened her self, and walked over to the door, working at unlocking it. “I will call a healer for you, you can stay and rest in these guest quarters for tonight. I want to keep you close to me.” SHe walked out the door, not giving him the chance to object.

-----------------------

Iris sat on her bed, waiting for Dr. Anderson to walk through her door any minute. She had been listening for quite a while, trying to discern the different sounds she was hearing. So far, the only thing she knew for sure was that one of the lab hands had stayed late and was busy cleaning. She could hear the swishing of the mop and scrapping of the glass beakers and vials being washed and sterilized. 

Click. Iris heard the distinctive sound of the door being unlocked and opened. 

“Iris. I’m glad to see that you're awake. You had me a little bit worried for a minute there when we came back and you had such a high fever.Dr. ANderson came closer to her, holding the thermo scanner in his hand, ready to point it in her ear and take her body temperature.

Iris instinctively scooted away from him but he grabbed hold of her upper arm and held her firm. She took this moment to stop and think through what he had just told her. Awake? Wait, was I out of it earlier? How much time has really passed since they took James? Fever? I had a fever, why would something as small as that be such a concern to him. He has never held any sort of concern for her safety or health before.

The scanner beeps two times, alerting Dr. Anderson to the fact that it had registered her body temperature. “Hmmm.” Dr. ANderson backed up and looked her up and down. Before calling for one of his assistants to come in.

“Wha.. What do you want this time?” HEr voice was weak and began to crack, she didn't understand what was happening, what was going on.

“Iris, my dear, it appears that you have picked up a little something from here in the lab and you’ve been running a high fever for several days now. I think it’s time that we have you taken downstairs, where we have more equipment readily available.” He was lying, she could hear the slight change in pitch of his voice.

“Tell me the truth.” She hissed at him as she heard the sounds of approaching guards, preparing to take her downstairs.

“Well, if you insist. The fact that your body is currently handling temperatures of above 110 degrees and you are able to stay conscious, alert and have no signs of brain damage, means, my dear, that you are embracing your true self. You are going to show us just what the next generation of the human species can do. You Are going to be kept as far away from your little friends as [possible.” With that, Iris leaped up and grabbed the handle of her scalpel at the same time, swinging wildly in the direction she thought Dr. Anderson to be standing.

Dr. Anderson jumped out of the way and began to laugh at her feeble attempts to defend herself. “Oh, somebody’s rubbed off on our little Iris here.” He spoke to one of the guards that were in the room as he pinned her wrists and apprehended her weapon. The guards laughed alongside him.

“Let me go! You’re a monster!” She swung wildly, trying to free herself from his grip.

“Iris, it is no use. You will never be able to get away from me. You don’t think that I really didn’t know that you had that pathetic little knife now did you? I have been waiting quite a long time to see when you would actually use it. I was beginning to believe that you would never have the guts to.” Dr. Anderson began to drag her out of the room. Iris’s please and flailing movements became more frantic.

“Now, if you don’t calm down,” He was struggling to keep her in his grip and get her to the elevator so he could transport her downstairs.

Iris suddenly went limp, causing him to be knocked off guard. In the split second that he let his guard down, she was able to bring her knee up and connected with his groin. He instinctively let her go and doubled over in pain.

“Guards! Get her!” He yelled as she made a run for it.

The guards came barreling around the corner as she stumbled along the wall, searching desperately for the doorway so she could get out. Just as her fingers began to fall into open air, telling her that she had found the door, she was grabbed from behind.

“Got you.” A rough guard's voice came from behind her head just as she felt the familiar prick of a tranquilizing gun needle stick her neck.

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“James, if you would please lie down and stay still!” Anna, one of the best healers the resistance had to offer, was getting pretty frustrated with James’s inability to remain still, or listen to anything she had to say.

“If you don’t quit squirming around, I’m going to call Matt in here and have him put you out.” She looked at him with firm, very serious eyes.

“Fine.” He murmured as he watched her pull more and more equipment from her bag. She just didn't understand, he couldn’t look at any of those things without a horrible chill racing up his spine and reminding him of the labs.

“Ready?” Anna asked as she finished preparing the needled to put his I.V in.

“Sure, whatever.” He turned away from her and her long needles and tried to focus on a spot on the wall, trying to keep his breathing even and normal. He didn’t want her asking any questions.

“James, are you okay?” SHe turned his face to meet hers after his breathing became uneven when she put the needle in his arm.

He didn’t answer, just nodded once and continued to look at the wall. She finished hooking up the fluid bag and sat down in the chair beside the bed he was lying in.

“James,” She began and placed a hand on his shoulder, “what did they do to you in there? What are they doing to her?”

He ignored her question and she didn’t push it. They went like this for a little while, until he looked up to meet her eyes after her started shaking. He was shivering and his teeth had begun to chatter when Anna got up and grabbed him a blanket.

“It’s normal, don’t worry about it. When you get fluids through an I.V it dropped your body temperature because the fluids themselves are much cooler than your internal temperature. You should feel slightly better after it’s at least half way done. And you’ll probably be pretty hungry once it’s finished, so I’ll make sure someone brings you something to eat latter. Are you going to be okay?” 

James simply nodded and burrowed further down into the covers. With that, she opened the doors and left, glancing back once or twice to make sure he hadn’t killed over while she was on her way out.

Having been left alone, he laid his head fall back on the pillow and closed his eyes, hoping to be able to get some sleep before the meeting he knew would take place in a few hours at sunset.

James jumped awake at the sound of footsteps pounding outside of his room. He pushed himself off of the bed, swaying with a dizzying dizziness as his head spun. When he felt confident enough that eh wouldn’t fall flat on his face, he got up and stumbled to the door, taking out a vase and a few side tables on his way.

HE reached for the handled on the door, but it wouldn’t turn. Locked? Why am I locked in here? This has to be some kind of mistake.

HE pounded on the door and called out for someone, anyone to let him out.

“JAmes,” A breathless voice came from the other side. “I’m so sorry James, she made me do it she didn’t want you coming. SHe doesn’t trust you, she thinks you’ve become a spy for them. I tried to talk her out of it, I really did. I’m sorry JAmes.” He heard footsteps fade away further down the hall.

“Anna!” He yelled through the door. “She made you do what? Lock me in here or drug me? You didn’t have to listen.” He yelled, even though her knew she was long gone. “No One else knows the inner map of the laboratories. She’s going to get all of you killed!” He sunk to the floor, holding his head in his hands. Why would she ever believe that I would side with that monster.