Secrets

Prolouge

My twelfth birthday was the same as all the rest. Boring. It was a Tuesday afternoon, late August. Drake had come home just for me. He was the only person I could trust and I think he knew it. He skipped a day of classes at the university just for this.

He walked down from his room, said good morning to Mom and grabbed an apple. Walking back into the living room he sat down next to me. As far from Dad as we could get. We weren't scared of him or anything, at least Drake wasn't.

Most kids get beat up at school. I was different. I got beat up at home. Mom tried to stop it but Dad never listened. When I cried Dad just laughed. Finally Drake stood up for me. Dad was the only one who could beat Drake in a fight. No one could in a fair one.

But he never gave up. Always stood up for what he believed in.

The day passed like usual; breakfast, chores, lunch, house cleaning, dinner, bed. Walking back to the kitchen after dinner, with a plate in hand, I ducked under a swing my dad took at my head. I stood up, to hit him with the plate, and as he got ready for another shot there was a loud smack. Drake stood between us and Dad fell to the ground with a shout.

Dad tried to push himself back up but Drake swept his arms from under him.

Finally, when Drake kept him down, he gave up on hitting me that night. I rinsed my plate and went to bed. As I crawled under the blankets Drake came up. He said that he had a friend who could help and handed me a little device. He pressed the button and told me to leave it on my nightstand.

I woke up late that night. I heard a knocking from my window. I walked over to it and threw it open. Looking out I saw no one. But as I pulled my head back in a boy about Drake's age hissed at me to wait. He introduced himself as Sam. A friend of Drake's.

I exclaimed about him being the person Drake told me about. That was a tracking device he told me to leave on my nightstand. Sam motioned for silence and then smashed the device. Can't have anyone else following the signal.

He said he wanted to show me something. We went and woke Drake and the three of us snuck out. As we walked along we came to an old abandoned building. Its windows were boarded up, and there was a 'no trespassing' sign on the door.

Sam pulled a key from his pocket and unlocked the door. We stepped inside and a computer voice assured us that if we were unauthorized we would be exterminated.

We were apparently found to be the authority on the situation and the wall in front of us slid aside to reveal an elevator. Inside were two buttons. Up, and down.

Sam pushed down and the older bous grabbed a hand hold. As we started down I felt myself start to lift off the ground we were going so fast. Without looking Sam put a firm hand on my shoulder, holding me in place.

At the bottom the doors opened to reveal a massive chamber. Two miles below ground people, between my age and twenty five, moved about the facility to do whatever secret-agenty stuff they did in a place like this. In the middle of the room was a large pit. People in lab coats performed all sorts of odd tests at the bottom.

"Welcome. To Section 5." Sam said dramatically.

We moved on. Through hallways, past various labeled and unlabeled doors, and finally to an office. We stepped inside. The man at the desk was a short gruff fellow. Bald headed and wearing a military class B uniform, the man had a glare that could kill a cat. All nine times.

"What do you want?" He half yelled half asked.

Sam explained that I wanted a tour. The man's attitude changed. He smiled and introduced himself as General Hamond. Getting up he showed me the operation.