Destruction - The Oasis Project Book 2 (Complete)

Ten - Ira

Doctor Nita took me down about five floors to the carpark, giving me strange looks as I pulled my jacket tighter around me. "I'm telling you, Ira, it's boiling outside." She had changed into a pair of denim shorts instead of the tight-fitting black pants that matched her combat boots.

It certainly wasn't indoors with the air conditioning on full blast, and even though Nita kept stressing that we were on a tropical island yet again, a part of me didn't want to believe her. She led me to a black sedan and unlocked it, making the car let out a small beep.

I automatically went to the back door, assuming that I couldn't be close enough to any of the doctors to sit in the front. Nita gave me another look and a smile was bursting through her angular cheeks. She waved me over to the front, her door hanging open. "Come on, Ira. You don't think I'm going to hurt you, am I?" When I gave her an expression equally as quizzical, she gasped. "You thought I might think you'd hurt me?"

"Don't you?" I shrugged and let myself into the passenger seat.

"It would be a risk I'd have to take, Ira." Nita started up the engine and moved out of the parking space with squealing tires. "There's no way to live in this world without trust." She paused, pursing her lips. "Stuart taught me that, you know. He was young but he knew so much."

Nita took the car up several ramps, and at the top of each ramp, we had to wait at a checkpoint for a guard to process our departure. The doctor looked extremely irritated by all the red tape and was visibly more relaxed when she turned towards the sunlit exit. The sky was a duller blue than I was expecting, but seeing the sun again was delightful even though it hurt my brain. I noticed the dust in the air, but I wasn't complaining. We were surrounded by forest, and I could make out some buildings in the distance. Nita opened the windows and she was right - the air was hot and humid. I awkwardly took off my jacket, careful not to bump my head on any part of the car as Nita took on the winding road.

"So, Ira, what kind of music do you like?"

"Uh..." I was stunned. This wasn't a question I heard often, or ever. "Soft rock?"

"Press four," she said without taking her eyes off the road. I cautiously followed her instruction and pressed four on the CD player. A mellow guitar riff came through the speakers and I instantly felt calmer. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nita smile and take one hand off the wheel.

My wild hair blew everywhere in the car and I laughed; I really needed a haircut. But watching the trees rush by the window gave me the exhilaration of freedom, no matter how false the impression was. The music was the perfect backdrop to a drive.

"Not a bad place, huh?" Nita shouted slightly over the song, her golden braid still resting over the front of her left shoulder. "There's something for everyone. You know Keshav. He comes out here during the day for rock climbing." She pointed to somewhere deep in the forest, but I couldn't see through the trees. "He probably hasn't shown you what he can do yet. He's shy."

"What can he do?" Might as well ask if Nita was open to talking.

"Right now, he's learning camouflage. His skin can replicate the materials he touches to a certain degree," she said. With a chuckle, Doctor Nita added, "He scared Desmond once. It was gold. But unfortunately, never again, because Desmond had one of his temper tantrums and he's even more terrible to the people who are close to him in rank."

My heart lurched at the mention of ranks. I'd seen the death stare that Desmond gave me every time I was in the same room as him. "Nita, is being One a good thing?" I didn't realize how stupid that sounded until I asked the question out loud.

"Of course," she replied. "It means that you're the most gifted out of everyone. Don't worry, I know you might have heard that the ranks get challenged, but I don't see you moving any time soon."

I gulped, then realized that my throat was parched. "What do you mean?"

"There was a space left for you long before you were found." Nita stole a glance at me when we turned right. "We knew that you were going to be One for a long time. Desmond - boy is he insecure - he just doesn't like the fact that One is actually here in the flesh now."

"So what made you all so sure that I would be... this number?" My heart was hammering against my ribs.

"Oasis has its personnel ranked for service - you all go beyond what a normal human being can do, and only everyone who is numbered can bring about drastic improvements to the world." Nita sighed and slowed down the car - we were the only ones on the road anyway. "The plan didn't come from China or the US, although we pushed for a far more humane program. Everyone knew about you for a long time; we were counting on you to survive Dell Island because we knew you would be the best. You're a survivor, Ira. You have such a spirit that even Liana admires. You've been through so much, and yet you still hold your head high and proud. You are a natural soldier."

I stared at the empty road ahead, every single one of my muscles frozen. There was something that she was delaying to tell me; I could see it on her strained cheeks. "Ira, when Oasis started in Russia, it was unregulated and... horrifying." Nita cleared her throat uncomfortably before continuing, "We knew about you because we had on file a child named Irina who broke out of the Russian program and disappeared."

I was about to be sick.

"The people who kidnapped you back home weren't slave traders, Ira. They were working for the Russian government. We couldn't believe that you were the same Irina when you told your story on Dell Island, that you'd come to be under our care. Russia never expected you to survive."