Chapter 30: Enemy inside
Early one morning, before most of the facility was awake or had come to work yet, I was looking out of our fake window again. It was too early for sunshine, but I still saw the bird that flew over to the same tree over and over, and I knew it was just a screen, but it was still beautiful. I knew that we were far underground, but didn’t know where. I guess the military like their secrets.
As I lay there by myself I thought I heard a high pitched screeching sound. At first it was very faint and I wondered if my ears were ringing again from all the gunshots I had heard on the island, but then it got louder. I heard a grinding noise on top of it now. I wondered what was going on. The room started to vibrate a little and that’s when I started to worry. The wall, where the image of the lawn and trees were projected, started to crack, and then dust fell through the cracks. I tried to back away.
Rolling off my bed, I landed on the ground just as a giant set of metal teeth came through the wall. When it broke all the way through, I saw it was some kind giant machine made to burrow through rock and dirt. Once through, a metallic bubble on top opened up and out stepped the general, our betrayer. He had a small square remote in his hand. Once he saw me, he paused as though distracted for a moment.
I lay on the ground, starting to get up when he pressed a button on the remote and a side compartment in the machine opened up. Then the strangest thing happened. Out hopped this toad! Only it wasn’t an ordinary sized toad. This toad was a burnt brown color and probably a foot and a half high and three feet wide and for some reason, smoke was coming from its back.
It lashed out its tongue at me which wrapped around my legs. As soon as it did this, I felt hot, searing pain. I screamed and the toad let go with its tongue. I had been wearing sweatpants, but now they were burned off in strips and red blisters were underneath.
“That’s for taking away our island facility,” said General Garcia. “Now it’s crawling with military! Why couldn’t you give in to Abe like you were supposed to? But you’re not worth my trouble. Not this time. I’ve got a list to find.” He pressed a different button and another compartment of the ship opened up. This time two robots hopped out. These were not like the ones we fought earlier. They were boxy and small. They flanked the general, one on each side, as he left my room at a quick pace. The toad hopped just behind him.
I stood, stunned for a few seconds, then I remembered that there was a way for me to call the nurse by pressing a button on the wall near my bed. I walked to it, but my legs felt like fire. I pressed the button and waited. Within twenty seconds, a nurse came in, “What can I do for you?” She took a look at the hole in the wall and my legs, “What happened?”
“First thing’s first,” I said. “General Garcia is here and he says he’s looking for a list.”
“Oh no,” she said. She grabbed a radio she had on her hip, “Captain. . .I mean General, Garcia is here and he’s after a list. Does he mean the list of gifted kids from Research?”
Brock’s voice came back, “Right. On my way.” The nurse looked worried and rushed from the room.
This struck a chord with me. That’s how they got me. That’s how Tracy was almost taken and her family killed. The general had been sending information about kids from the list we were making. If they had the whole list, they could kidnap more kids!
The nurse had just walked out when the thought came to me that Research was just down the hall from where I was, but even if Brock was on base, it would probably take him several minutes to get here.
I knew what I had to do. I ran to the machine and grabbed what I needed. Then I ran like a wildman out of the room and down the hallway. My adrenaline was pumping so hard I could barely feel the throbbing in my unsteady legs. The general was an expert in martial arts and I had only taken beginning classes in combat, but somehow he had to be stopped, and I was closer than anyone else.
I heard a tearing of metal around the corner and then an alarm went off. It was very loud. When I rounded the corner, I saw the research facility. The door to the lab had been torn through, probably by the robots.
When I got there the only lights were red emergency lights from the alarm. I stepped inside. Computers and various experiments lay scattered all over the room on tables and desks. I had never been here.
The emergency lights revealed the general was leaning over a computer desk, yanking open the top drawer. He pulled out a small USB drive. “That’s the one,” he said. His robots and toad were standing behind him.
I tried to run toward him, but fell on the way. My legs were too weak and felt like lava. I stood back up. “You think you can stop me?” he said with a mocking tone. He walked toward me, and on the way past, kicked me in the ribs, doubling me over, and as I fell, he struck me with an uppercut in the face.
I heard him walking away from me. I could not let him leave with that list! I used the table nearest me to pull myself up. It took me a few seconds before I could get onto my feet. Once I did, I saw the general running away with a robot on each side and the toad still behind him.
I hobbled over to the entrance, now with blood dripping from my chin. I knew kids would be kidnapped or even die if I didn’t stop him.
The general was running down to a “T” in the hall not far away and took the turn. I ran in spite of the pain, and by the time I got there, he was already down the other hallway. I ran a bit further and just before he entered my room, I yelled, “Hey, Garcia!”
He stopped and turned around. Then he sneered. “So you think you’re going to save the day? Didn’t I tell you you’re no leader? You have no training, no real skill, and no head for strategy. Why, in the grand scheme of things, you’re nothing!” He turned and walked with his frog and his two robots into the room where his digging machine rested. In great pain, I ran to the doorway. As I did, I saw Brock coming like a train from the far end of the hall.
Standing in the doorway I peered in at the general who was leaning over his machine. A confused look came over his face. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a set of keys, jiggling them. “Looking for these?”
“What?” He turned, taking quick angry steps toward me. I stayed in the hallway and backed up against the wall. “You give me those right now you little. . .” The general took one step into the hallway and Brock hit him with a flying tackle. He hit him so hard I thought I heard the crunch of bones. So hard the general didn’t even fight back after that. He had been knocked unconscious.
As Brock got up, two other men came with handcuffs and guns, but neither of us stayed to see what was going to happen. Brock and I started walking down the hallway. He put his arm around me like my dad used to do. “Andy, now that was thinking on your feet.”
“Thanks,” I said. “But if you don’t mind, I’d like to get off my feet for a while. My legs are killing me!”
“Of course.” He led me to another room with a bed. One without a gaping hole in the wall.
“So I’ve heard you play chess,” he said. “A good game for strategy.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Guido got me started.”
“I’ve been known to play a game or two,” said Brock, smiling.
“Let’s play sometime,” I said.
“Yes, let’s do that,” he said.
Chapter 31: Saying goodbye
Once I was back in bed, I was treated for second degree burns on both legs, some bruised ribs, and some facial cuts. After a few sleepless nights, the pain in my legs subsided, though the ribs took longer, and I was able to go back to daily exercise. Two weeks later I was jogging half a mile with little pain and at the end of the third week, I could jog two.
Some of the skin on my leg peeled off and itched, but at least it didn’t hurt anymore.
Brock visited me at least once a week to play chess, and I saw Han, Tracy, and Guido sometimes too. Tracy often talked about the animals in the zoo. I guess she was a real animal lover.
One day Guido and Tracy came to visit. I was hav
ing kind of a hard time finding either of them unless I concentrated on their voices. Shared gifts.
“Hey, want to see something?” asked Guido.
“Sure,” I said.
He held up a piece of paper in his hand the size and shape of a bookmark. Suddenly it burst into flames. He smiled.
“That’s great!” I said. “Now I’ll need to watch my back with you as well.”
A nurse came into the room and announced, “Andy, you are being released. If you like, we can have your things moved to your room in the compound.”
“That would be great,” I said. “Thanks.”
I got up from the chair I was sitting in and walked out of the room with my friends.
***
Over the next couple of days we talked a lot more together. Han was excited about showing us some new origami animals he had created and Guido was always practicing with fire. For Tracy, her new gift came naturally and without effort.
One night, just after dinner, a messenger came to our common room, knowing that’s where we would be, and told us we were being shipped home in the morning.
Tracy’s voice sounded small, “But what if you don’t have a home?”
The man stammered, “Yes. . .well. You will hear more about that in the morning, I suppose.” He turned and left.
That night I didn’t sleep much because I couldn’t get over the excitement and the anxiety of going back home. This time in my dream a troll appeared with Abe Lincoln and the burritos were especially good.
***
We all packed up quietly the following morning. Afterwards we stood out in the hallway waiting for a golf cart to come get us.
The cart arrived, driven by Brock and one other man we didn’t know. They drove us to the upper entrance to the facility.
“Hi son,” said Dad. He and Mom gave me a bear hug, along with my brother who almost never hugged me before. He was stronger now, and taller. I had to wipe tears from my eyes.
For the next few minutes we all introduced our families to each other. I could see Guido since he put on a fresh shirt, Hawaiian, of course. His dad was there, dressed in a polo shirt and he smiled a lot.
Han introduced me to his mother and one of his sisters. He said his dad and other sister couldn’t make it. They were all quite talkative, which was a surprise to me. At the same time, they had that slow, calm way of talking like Han.
I turned to Tracy who tried to act happy, but I know it must have hurt that she didn’t have any family there. I didn’t really know what to say to her. I gave her a hug and now she had tears in her eyes, and she couldn’t stop crying. Then Guido came over and she hugged him and cried even harder. I stepped away, not really sure what to do.
“Excuse me, Tracy?” it was Brock who stepped up. “Tracy, we have an offer. You know, the training facility on the island was unlike anything we have ever seen. We’ve had some recent meetings.” Tracy looked up confused. “We would like to start something here, not really military training, but so kids can learn to cope with these gifts, and learn to use them.”
“What?” Tracy said.
“We are asking you to stay here. To help the other kids. The list is getting bigger every day. This place is my home, will you make it yours?”
She stared at the floor for a minute. I could tell she was thinking. “Sure,” she said, looking unsure. Then she smiled with more confidence, “I’d like that.”
After that we all said our goodbye’s and dispersed.
Chapter 32: A new beginning
Once home, I was told I needed to go back to school. It was April and I had missed most of the year. The government made up some reason for why I was gone so long and everyone seemed to believe them. I appreciated school more now than I used to and was actually glad to be back. I had some catching up to do, so I was busy right until the end.
That summer was one of the warmest we had had for years. The hills turned brown except near the ocean. I did a lot of swimming in a neighborhood pool and played with old friends. But most of all, I did things with my younger brother.
My dad and I played catch a lot and sometimes we would get together with enough friends to play an actual baseball game. Of course, I was always picked as the team captain, but often I asked that someone else be captain.
I played chess with my mom a lot, and now found that I could beat her more often than not. All that practice with Guido and Brock had really paid off.
I didn’t see the other kids from the facility, but I got email or letters from them. Once I got an invitation for a birthday party for Guido. The invitation had a picture of him with a birthday hat. I saw him in the picture, but only when I looked carefully.
I wasn’t able to go to the party because he lived in South Carolina and I lived in California, a distance of over 2,800 miles. One time I calculated that if I drove, it would take me over 43 hours, and if I walked it would take about 900 hours. I decided to send him a gift in the mail instead.
I also got mail from Han. He said he was doing a lot of reading and swimming this summer. His family had just come back from a trip to Korea to visit relatives. It was weird, he said, but also cool seeing Korea for the first time. He said the people there were a lot like him, but also totally different. I’m sure that made sense to him.
I got emails from Tracy a little more often. She was doing well at the training facility and said so far she had a chance to see the island twice. I could tell she was excited about it, but she could not tell me what she saw because it was top secret and she could go to prison just for telling anyone.
She also said that she had been learning a lot and that some exciting things were going to happen soon, but that I would find out about it a little later. I wondered what that meant.
Han lived the closest to me. He lived in Los Angeles, whereas I lived up by Santa Cruz. One time he came out to visit me. I figured my small town was quiet compared to what Han was used to.
His mom and sisters were talkative, as I said before, but his dad was more quiet like him. He showed me some cool origami books he had checked out from the library and one book he had just bought. My brother and I hung out with him and he taught us how to make different things out of paper. My favorite was the paper balloon that we could actually blow up!
He and his family stayed for a week, and I learned a lot of origami from him. I also taught him something I had learned about smiling. Han did not smile often, so I said that smiling took fewer muscles than frowning. I also said that it is a fact that if you smile at someone, usually they will smile back. Even without my gift, that works. Then like goofs we walked out to the sidewalk and as people we didn’t know walked by, we smiled at them to see how many would smile back. My brother had a piece of paper and he wrote down how many smiled and how many did not. We were very scientific about it. We found about nine out of ten people would smile. I had to hide behind a tree while they did this so that I did not affect the results with my gift.
Once Han and his family left, I felt kind of lonely. That may seem funny, because I had my family, but I also missed Han, Guido, and Tracy. I even missed Brock.
***
About a week later I was outside our house trying to climb a big oak tree, when my mom called my name. My brother, who was a better climber, was already at the top of the tree, so I waited until he was down safely before we went inside.
“There’s a call for you,” my mom said.
I picked up the phone. “Hey Andy!” said the voice of a girl I recognized. It was Tracy. “I’m so excited! You’re going to get a surprise soon. I can’t wait to see you!”
“Huh?” I said.
“See you later,” she said and hung up.
“What was that about?” asked my mom. “She certainly is an excitable girl.”
“Yes,” I said. “That would be Tracy. Only watch your back if you’re ever around her.”
A little later, our family sat down to eat dinner. We pray before our meals, so right after we were do
ne praying, and before I had eaten any spaghetti, I heard something really loud and rumbling outside. It was deafening!
I dropped my fork and ran outside with my brother right behind me. There, right outside my door, parked next to the family van, was an MQ-27 Hummingbird Rescue helicopter. The rotors were loud and swept over the roof of our van and almost hit the side of our house.
My brother stayed behind, but I advanced forward as the door opened. The smiling face of Tracy greeted me, and next to her was Brock! “We have a job for you,” he said. “And we need your help.”
“Hi, Andy,” I heard Han say. I looked in the back seats and saw Han and a faint glimmer of Guido.
“You ready for an adventure?” said Guido.
“What do you have in mind?” I said.
“How about saving the world,” said Brock. “Or something like that. We already talked to your parents, so now you get to decide.”
I turned back to Mom and Dad, who nodded their heads and waved goodbye. “So where do we go from here?” I said.
“It’s a surprise,” said Brock with a smile.
A note from the author
If you have enjoyed reading The Gifted, please consider leaving a review. As an independently published author, the best way for my books to succeed is through reviews from readers like you.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank my beta readers, Michelle, Emilie, and Susan for going beyond my wildest expectations. Your advice and remarks were immensely helpful.
Thanks to Doc, who encouraged me to publish; New Hope Church where I serve; Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells, Howard Taylor, and Mary Robinette Kowal for the insights and encouragement in their podcast Writing Excuses, as well as Hugh Howey who wrote many helpful blogs about the triumphs and hard work of self-publishing.
More titles by this author
Assault from Space (The Gifted Series Book 2)
Han, Tracy, Andy, and Guido have been called upon again because of their special gifts. This time the threat comes from a space station that has control of a weapon that can destroy any city at the press of a button, and the city up next is Han's home. They race the clock as they hurl through space to try to stop this weapon and those who control it.