Destroyer - The Death Cure (Book 3)

Chapter 4: Going Rogue

"Oh, what you heard about me is all a lie." Alex frowned at her.

"What?" The doctor whispered confused. 

"I'm so much worse." Alex whispered sisterly. 

"I know how much Subject A7 means to you!" The Doctor tried one last attempt to unnerve her, trying to hold something over Alex.  

"Then you know how far I'm willing to go to get him back. You claim to know me so well, then you know very well Doctor Anna Smith I will destroy you and WICKED one dead employee at a time."  Alex whispered with a deadly sweetness, trailing the knife tip down her other side of her face.

Alex had to work really hard to keep her anger under control, she knew Minho was being used, and it hurt her so much that she couldn't get to him sooner. She could feel a slow twisting knife in her heart every day they had to wait. Alex was furious and could probably kill a whole army, but right now, she was under control, barely.

"So tell me the time, Doctor Anna Smith. What time are they being transported?" Alex stood up straight.

"Noon." She whimpered.

"How do I know you're telling me the truth?" Alex cocked an eyebrow at her, "I've been lied to many many times before. Especially from WICKED." Alex placed the knife under her chin, using the point to lift her chin, waiting for an answer.

The doctor's lower lip trembled and her eyes filled with tears. Alex saw her chest heave, stifling a sob.

"Because you said I could live if I told you what you wanted to know." She choked out.

Alex withdrew her knife and paced in front of her.

"Interesting. So you value your life? ...but not the lives of all the kids you are torturing and draining? Your life is more important than a 12 year old child who you shot and stood by, watching as his sweet innocent life was drained out of him. Your shucking life is more important than the 4 year old little girl I rescued from a WICKED truck last month on her way to a death sentence? Your one single twisted life is more important than an entire generation of children you are sacrificing?" Alex asked evenly. An unnatural calmness took over her body and mind.

The doctor trembled, her eyes wide, her mouth opening and closing.

"Hmm. I thought so. And for the record, Doctor Anna...I do believe you. I just like to see my WICKED victims squirm. I just needed to know how much you value your own life. You killed so many children. It's best to put a stop to that, don't you?"

"Wait!' she screamed, "I thought you said I could live if I told you what you wanted to know!" The Doctor was crying now, tears ran down her face, ruining her perfect makeup.

"I lied." Alex said flatly. She watched for a moment as the doctor panicked.  "What's the problem? You should be used to that. WICKED lies all the time." Alex replied, very bored of this conversation. The electricity rush had worn off, and she was craving another rush. She got the information, the doctor wasn't needed anymore. Alex clenched the handle of her knife, she stood over the doctor tied to the chair. She tried to plead and beg for her miserable life.

"Doctor." Alex cut her off, "I don't care."

Alex slit her throat. The bright red blood flowed over her crisp white suit, staining it. She choked on her own blood, her head slumped forwards. She was dead. Alex stepped back and watched, not blinking.

Another Monster gone.

Alex cleaned her blade on the doctor's suit, and sheathed it. She turned to the small bag on the table and pulled out the small scalpel knife, pushing her jacket sleeve up. All along her forearm were little white scar lines. A line for every life she was responsible for ending. She was a horrible person and she knew it. Alex was a failure, a screw up, a promise breaker and a murderer. She could feel the emotions trying to claw their way out of the stone box she kept them locked in. She hated it. Feeling numbness was better, feeling a sharp sting of pain, a rush of adrenaline from something dangerous; anything but the bitter hurt and anguish of losing everyone in the Glade, scorch and Teresa, Sonya and Minho. Alex needed Minho. She needed his comfort and support. Alex wasn't just drifting out to sea anymore, she was drowning in a storm; being pulled under and she couldn't find her way back to the surface. Alex could feel the knife in her heart twisting again.

Before she could let a sob out she made a quick line across her wrist for the soldier she shot with an arrow. She hissed at the sting. She made another cut across her forearm above the last one, for the soldier she pinned to the truck. She took in a deep breath, she could feel the stinging numbness, and the release of emotions. She watched her blood trickle down her wrist over her hand.

What's so special about my blood? It looks the same as the doctor's, as the soldiers, as anyone's. Why am I special? Why do I have abilities others don't?

"Because you are a mistake!" Cackled a deranged voice.

"Shut up." Alex whispered.

The voice crackled even louder.

"You know there's nothing special about you. You were a mistake! A science experiment. A joke! Everything about you is a mistake!" The voice was louder now, almost screaming in her head.

She screamed as she made the last cut. She made it deeper and did it slower, for the doctor she just killed. Three dead WICKED employees. Three bloody cuts across her arm, adding to her long line of scars and dead bodies. The sting of pain drowned out the crank voice in her head. She watched the blood drip for a minute. Exhaling slowly. 

Alex pulled the gauze out and wrapped her forearm up. Pulled her jacket sleeve down, angry with herself. Grabbed the pain meds and swallowed them down with a few swigs of the alcohol. It burnt her throat on the way down. She packed her backpack up and swung it onto her shoulders.

Alex pulled the com out of her pocket, stuck it back into her ear.

"I got the information. June. Next month, 3rd Thursday at Noon."

"ALEX! We have been trying to reach you for 10 minutes! Captain and I have been kicking in doors trying to find you! Where are you? Where is the Doctor? Alex, this was not the plan!" Vince yelled in her ear.

"ALEX?! What happened?? Are you okay?" Thomas's concerned voice crackled into her ear too.

"I'm fine Tommy.  Vince, you have your information. Why do you care how I get it? I did your dirty work, again. You're shucken welcome by the way. The trucks are drivable. You can drive 'em back, they're full of supplies. I'll see you back at camp."

She pulled the com out of her ear, she could hear Vince cursing and yelling at her. She ignored it and put it back into her pocket. She took one last scathing look at the dead Doctor, blood still seeped out of the gaping wound in her throat. The bright red was quite the contrast on her crisp white suit.

"That was for Minho." Alex choked back a sob. 

She finished the bottle and smashed it on the ground by the dead Doctors feet. Alex spun on her heel and left. She closed the door and walked down the empty streets, alone. She wasn't scared. Nothing scared her anymore. Except her nightmares and the voice of the deranged crank in her head. Those terrified her. But she found a way to keep them quieter. She got back to their vehicles, and threw her bow and arrows into the driver's seat of the Right Arm truck. Jammed her helmet on, slapping the tinted visor closed, and left the abandoned mountain city with a squeal of her tires, her head slightly fuzzy.