Lost Horizons

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-One

"A monster, a monster, I've turned into a monster,"- Imagine Dragons

The plan was playing out smoothly. The alarm had caused a big enough distraction. The guards were on a mission, the patients were dispersed around school grounds and the gym was empty. The faculty and the nurses were preoccupied with the difficult task of trying to round everyone up and get things back in order. Lucian would go unnoticed in the middle of all this chaos. It was the perfect timing. He had left the basement a while ago and had observed the events unfold after the alarm had disrupted everything. His son had done well. He'd followed his instructions properly and now things were on their way to being accomplished.

Lucian had watched from the sidelines as the patients had rushed out in a frenzy from the gym, how the nurses had gone after them, he'd even seen Tristan find the girl. He had hoped Tristan would've stayed up in the control room longer to cause a distraction for the guards once they arrived but the girl had gotten in the way.

It didn't matter now. He was so close to the original goal now. Once everyone was out of the gym and it was clear of people, he slipped in unnoticed. His eyes zeroed in on the grey boxes that contained exactly what he was after. He jogged over to one of the stations where the nurses had been injecting the patients and bent down to retrieve a box. He lifted the cover with anticipation and sighed in happiness once he revealed its contents.

There they were. Dozens of clear vials containing the medication. All untouched and full to the brim.

Now all he needed to do was get the boxes into the vehicle and everything would be set. He quickly took out his cellphone and dialed the number of his assistant. A moment of sadness filled him as he remember Breen. 'This should have been him I was calling', he thought to himself. After Breen's death, Lucian had had to replace his partner in crime. He'd found a young man who was in need of some money and was willing to do anything the doctor instructed. This same man was the person who'd driven him to the school and was currently sitting in the car a few blocks away as he awaited further instructions.

'I will avenge your death, Breen', Lucian thought to himself.

"Yes sir?" the man picked up on the second ring.

"Bring the car closer. I've got the boxes and I need help loading them. Hurry up," he said into the phone.

"I'll be right there, sir." They hung up the phone and Lucian proceeded to stack and lift up the boxes two at a time. Each individual vial weighed next to nothing but twenty four vials together proved to be heavy.

There was a back door in the gym that led to the back patio that was close to the teacher's parking lot. Lucian had taken care of the guard at the door and so now the entrance was free of disturbance for his assistant to enter through. He would park close to the back door of the gym, they would load up the vehicle and everything would be set. That was the plan.

He knew no one would be coming back to the gym for a while. It would give him enough time to do what he had to.

Tristan never would've thought of going back to the gym to search for his father. He had no reason to think he would be there. Instead, they headed to the cafeteria. They searched around but only found the employees. Then they went to the administrative building where the school offices were. Nothing there either. Finally, Sienna suggested the library and even though Tristan thought that made no sense he went along with it. The doctor was nowhere to be found. Tristan didn't have a cellphone to contact him.