Brave Fear (boyxboy)

Chapter 31

Wawrzynski was one of them. A younger, newly adult Wawrzynski was conversing with a short woman who held a tablet and typed frantically. Fourteen year-old Zane didn't notice. He was fixated on the information being taught. But present Zane noticed, and he seethed with anger. Why this memory was coming back to him, he did not know.

They were watching him. Wawrzynski's gaze was fixed on his younger self, the regulation blond hair, the bright green eyes. Zane felt violated as the man's gaze swept over him again and again, analyzing patterns and personalities.

He leaned to the woman next to him, and Zane heard every word spoken as if it were a stage whisper. "I think he's the one," Wawrzynski said confidently. "Paired with the Romanson boy, it'll be the perfect balance. It'll be their best shot at surviving the procedure." The woman nodded but never looked up from her tablet. Wawrzynski continued. "He looks like a perfectly obedient teenager. If that Romanson boy doesn't pass on his prejudicial qualities, he'll be the perfect weapon."

Zane screamed in frustration, but nobody could hear him. The woman grunted her agreement. "In that case, we better use the acid-induced serum. It's the deadliest ability we can give. The Romanson boy could never be trusted with something so destructive."

"We'll choose him for the division at the ceremony, inject them both, and then introduce them to the other subjects," Wawrzynski said. "Knowing them, they'll try and escape. We will do everything in our power to hold them, but if they manage to slip through our grasp, we'll track them down and kill them. I have no qualms."

"Me neither,"

Zane snapped from the memory, thoroughly convinced now in his pure hatred of Wawrzynski. His participation in the experiment had been assured years ago, as well as Joseph's. Wawrzynski had predicted what they would do nearly three years ago, in a middle school in New Vancouver. He truly was a monster if he'd planned out their fates in advance.

He bounced from the memory to shocking sunshine, which had begun to peek through the bleak clouds outside the dusty window. It shone directly into his eyes and he squinted.

"Dude, you zoned out hard," Mallory said, pacing across the worn wooden floor. She never looked at him. He must have jerked when his mind was released from the harsh remembrance. He rubbed at his eyes, struggling to disperse the horrible images of Wawrzynski pondering his fate.

"How long?" he asked.

"Ten seconds," she responded, shrugging.

He calmed himself. He didn't know why the memories were coming back to him or if it was a consequence of Wawrzynski's serum, but they couldn't dominate his fears. Joseph had told him he overthought everything, and he knew he did, but he couldn't stop. Everything was so monumental now. His actions may have lasting consequences on the world he lived in. It was terrifying. But again, it was that brave fear, that longing to be scared, to confront it.

A shout echoed from outside the window, sparing him from overthinking.

He ran to the window, Mallory hot on his heels. A dark shadow flitted over the street below, drawing his gaze upward. A flash of memory swept over him, but it was not a dangerous one. It was one of an hour before, inside a jet, looking down at London.

A dark military plane, identical to the one Jonas had landed just hours earlier, was flying low over the city, its shadow sweeping over small houses and shops, drawing eyes upward. Jaws were dropped and eyes were widened as the citizens experienced the second military jet in less than a day. London's police forces would be scrambling to mobilize, to combat this new and unexpected development.

But Zane was worried. What did it mean that Wawrzynski was only sending one jet into London? Was it possible it was a scout plane, analyzing the future battleground or surveying Wawrzynski's expected kingdom? Zane didn't know, but he wasn't sure he wanted to find out.