The Hero Effect

(8) In Which Kyle Believes in Miracles

I've learned to believe in miracles, not because I seen many of them, but because the few that I have experienced have changed my life.

What you must understand about the lab is that it is emotionally, mentally, and physically traumatizing. I remember one hallucination, it must have been a hallucination, where I broke free of the table by breaking the straps and beating the steel door down. I ran through at least a dozen white hallways before I realized I was running on the ceiling and the only reason I hadn't been caught yet was because the guards had no idea how to reach high enough to get me down again.

The point is, the whole thing felt real. And then I would wake up and be strapped to a table again and I would have to struggle and wonder if the table was just the hallucination and my real body was somewhere else. Some things felt unreal, some more real. The room with the canisters...the needles...the injections. That was real. You can't fake pain like that.

You'll understand my hesitation, then, when they first burst through the door. I was sure it was all a lie. All in my head. Just like the dinosaur had been and being an astronaut on Mars and walking on ceilings. They were never real.

"Carter! Wake him up!" A girl's voice, high pitched and blurred with panic.

"He's awake." A pause. "He doesn't think he is, though. He thinks he's hallucinating." Another pause. There was a weird kind of pressure on my scalp, kind of like my head was lying on a pillow made of air. "Damn. What'd they do to him? He's completely out. I don't even think he's conscious."

"Well...can you....do something?" The girl's voice had reached a new level of panic.

"Maybe...I dunno. He's in so deep. Kaya?"

"Yes?" Another girl's voice, this one a bit farther away.

"Is anybody coming?"

"No. All appears to be clear."

"Yell if something happens. You'll have to shake me to get my attention. I won't be able to hear you for a few minutes."

"Minutes? Carter, we don't have minutes!" The first girl's voice, even more panicked than the previous two times.

"We'll have to make minutes. Just let me know if something happens."

Silence. And suddenly more pressure on my scalp, more than before. I felt like I was swimming far underwater where the pressure is heavier. My reoccurring headache was returning. I moaned in discomfort.

"Carter! Hurry up! We've already been in here way too long!"

I don't think he heard, but I did. I was a little bit worried for them even though I had no idea why they all seemed so panicked.

"Jade! The men! They come!" The second girl's voice. I heard the door slam.

"Carter! We have to leave!"

"Can't," he replied in a strained voice. "Almost...there."

Suddenly a sharp pain spiked in my head and crawled up and down my spine. I cried out. There was a sensation like being pushed into a bathtub of ice water and I gasped for breath.

Light filtered through the darkness and the world became painfully clear. I heaved for breath.

"Thanks goodness," said a tiny red haired girl on my right. "We have to leave now!"

There was a tall guy with copper colored hair standing on my left. He had a hand on either side of his head, as if trying to hold something in and his eyes were squeezed shut. The other girl was standing at the open steel door peering both ways down the hallway. Somewhere in the depths of my mind I registered that her hair was purple.

"Crap..." he muttered. "That hurt."

"Carter! We have got to go now!" The red haired girl named Jade cried. She had pulled out a pocket knife and was slashing the bonds on my arms and ankles. "If they get their hands on Kaya, we're finished. Take her and go! Where are the men? Can you check?"

"Just..." he said. "Just gimme a sec."

"Just check!," she demanded, urgently. "We don't have time!"

He closed his eyes and concentrated. "They're not coming for us."

"What?" Jade asked as she cut my last strap. "Well, what the hay are they doing?"

"What..." I tried to say, but I choked and coughed on the word.

"Shh." Jade said to me, in a much calmer voice. "We're here to help. Here. Drink some of this." She handed me a bottle of water. My hand trembled as I tried my best to keep a hold of it.

"They're...doing something. I can't tell..." he paused, looking as if he was thinking very hard. "Dammit..." he said finally. "Jade, they...they have a kid."

"What? Are you kidding me right now?" her face had paled. "Have they already...I mean, did he already get an injection?"

"I think so. He's in a lot of pain."

Jade closed her eyes and breathed a pained sigh. "Do they know we're here?"

"Yeah," Carter replied. "But they don't seem to care."

"How many?"

"Three, plus an escort, so four." He opened his eyes. "I think they're going to send guards to take care of us."

"Why don't they just come their selves?" Jade started helping me slide of the table and stand. I was so weak. I could've fell asleep right then. She was whispering to me, "Easy, easy. You're not going to be very strong. Can you tell me your name?"

"Kyle," I said, my throat still hoarse.

"Jade? What should we do? I fear...I fear we will not..." Kaya had started tearing up.

"Hey now," Carter said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'll have none of that. You are too brave for that."

"But...we are trapped. I do not..." she sobbed violently and put her face in Carter's shoulder. "I do not want to return to those bad men."

"Jade," Carter looked at her solemnly. "We have to do something."

"We will," she said, suddenly determined. She turned to me. "Can you stand?"

"Think so..." I said, blearily. "I'm so tired."

"Drink more water," she said, slipping her shoulder out from underneath me. I teetered for a moment before finding my balance.

"Open the door, Kaya."

"Yes," Kaya said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"Carter? Do you have the taser?"

He pulled it out of his pocket, "Always."

"You shoot the first guy. I'll take the next. Can you do something to immobilize the others while Kaya takes the kid?"

"No. I have my limits, Jade."

"That's fine. We'll handle it. We got this."

I believe in miracles. They were my miracle that day.

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Like I said in the previous AN, this is a FlyOn chappie. Personally, I think the boy did a fine job, just a fine, fine job..... Tell us your thoughts on the chapter. If you want to tell us your thoughts on other things (i.e. your favorite ice cream and why, what you plan on calling your firstborn child, etc..) feel free to do that also; however, note that this isn't really the place... 

--TMC