Keep Running

Chapter 6 - Ben

Caroline bonds to the menace in perhaps two hours. After a good night's sleep and with an unearthly amount of pain killers and anti biotics, our new mutant is up and bouncing around the motel room, humming Lady Gaga songs, and eating ginger snaps, the only vegan food we had as apparently he doesn't eat animal products at all.
"Meat is great," I inform him.
"It had feelings."
"So do I. About meat."
He grins. He has a sly, messy grin and big brown eyes like a rabbit or something Caroline is equally likely to adopt. The telepath is dangerous. The telepath has killed probably hundreds of people. The telepath is a kitten for us politely asking for food and water and curling up cuddling a pillow. In the morning he is well enough to shower and I give him shaving things, and a clean set of clothes. We brought generic things in a few sizes, so he finds a pair of jeans to struggle into and a too big t-shirt, followed by a carhartt jacket. 
I don't trust anyone, but the kid is admittedly quite open with us.
"You can ask me anything, always. Because I can see your thoughts. And I'll always answer honestly, those are the rules, only fair," he explains, eating the ginger snaps and sitting up in bed.
"How did you know our father?" I ask.
"He was sent to mind me—it's a very long story short story is that he minded me because I'm me, dangerous, and we eventually realized his memory had been stolen. And he was—dying, he escaped to die I broke us out," Dano explains.
"What's the long story?" I ask.
"You'll find out when I tell you? It takes a while, I promise that's the end of it," he says.
Caroline nods, "We should get going."
"Yeah, if you're strong enough," I say.
"I need to get across the border I agree, I can walk," Dano nods. He's still clearly exhausted but I too want to get out of this godforsaken country.
He smiles, clearly hearing my thought, "Can I call Sunny I want to—I need to talk to her."
"Here," I hand him the burner phone I was using, "First number, quick while we pack up." I'm naturally going to listen.
He stares at me, putting it on speaker.
"We can go," Caroline says.
Dano shakes his head.
"Hello?" The woman answers.
"It's me—it's Dano—um, are you two all right?" He asks.
"Yes we're fine, we weren't followed how are you?"
"Better our mutual friends picked me up. Look I'm not out of the US yet," he sighs, "Do you need to come are you two all right—?"
"We're fine, go, and just call me it's fine. I promise we're good."
Caroline tries to tug me to leave and give him privacy. I stand there.  Caroline shakes her head and starts carrying a bag out to the SUV.
"I'll call you—tell—is Lydia okay?"
"She's fine, we are good just for god's sake don't get caught."
"Okay. I'll call you, I'll talk to you I promise."
"Okay bye."
"Bye," he hangs up, looking at the phone sadly,
"You're not keeping that," I say, holding out a hand.
"No fear," he frowns, well aware that most people would be skittish at best around a telepath.
"Nope," I say, hand still out.
He half smiles, handing the phone over.
"That was intense," I say, not moving.
"She had my kid," he says, flatly.
"Ah," hazard of sleeping around.
"I was on a fucking leash. And I was nineteen and a pretty girl smiled at me," he says, "I didn't know until whatever, yesterday when they came to find me."
"Tough," I say. Probably why he should not have been sneaking off to have mutant kids.
"Yeah I don't make good decisions, you should know that about me, also her decision to keep it," he says.
"Not my problem," I say.
"She's not a problem. Girl didn't ask to be here anymore than I did," Dano says, going to help me get bags. I take them from him. Caroline comes in at the end of that.
"Sunny, the woman who contacted you is the mother of my child," Dano says, nearly bitterly, "That's why I have to help them get across the boarder too. I'll be damned if my child has to live like I did."
"We'll get them across," Caroline says, "It's what we do. Don't worry."
"Or worry. Come on, let's go before first light," I say.
Dano nods, following us obedient as a puppy, climbing in the back and fiddling with the seat belt like a child.
"I've spent my whole life being shepherded places yes I'm good with commands. My handlers probably wouldn't agree," he says, continuing to fiddle with the seatbelt. He has the odd mannerisms of a child who never properly grew up. Ready to be fed or cared for yet resenting it. Riding in a car is still fun and he plays with the window as well. 
And what's worse is I find myself slipping into the familiar rhythm I had with my father. A decades old pattern. I can give two word answers and he'll respond to the rest of my thoughts. I think something and he'll answer it without me having to talk. Caroline I know is a little more unnerved by it or at least not accustomed to telepath antics of finishing your thought or replying to an unspoken question. She remembers our father but not like me. And she grew up with me to talk to. For years it was me and our father calmly in my every waking thought.
"Found us breakfast with rabbit food," I say, showing Caroline the map. She drives.
"Do you want me to get the whiskey or were you just thinking about it?" Dano asks, fussing in the back like a kid. "Also would it bother anyone if we had car music?"
"No we can turn the radio on," Caroline says nicely yeah she's bonded to it. Great. We have seven dogs.
"We have seven dogs," I say, generally.
"Shut up," Caroline hits my arm.
Dano doesn't comment, staring out the window with glassy eyes.
Breakfast is some fucked up rabbit food for him, and actual food for us.
"You know that could be what's wrong with you," I point out.
"It has hummus," he says, eating some rabbit burrito, "But please keep thinking of me as the 'rabbit' it's really —you have to be in your head but it's funny."
We eat and I give him more pills, have to keep the anti biotics as well as more fever reducers. I'm aware it's completely terrible policy to hike a man this sick through the freezing woods. I'm also aware we have little choice.
We park the car well off the road. A private lot we own, that we use on these trips. We've camped here some, but usually we just hike to the car. Caroline and I each have backpacks. Normally I'd arm the transport with one to look like a family hiking, but Dano's burned all over and still feverish I'm hoping I don't have to carry him.
"It's three hours to the boarder," I say, "One more hour after that to a car."
"Great," Dano nods, "I've never hiked before. How bad can it be—oh it is awful." He nearly trips.
"There's a trail, we can stop and rest when you need it, after the border we can really slow down," Caroline says.
"It's freedom, I'm ready," Dano nods.
Once we set out we decide to start to talk. Well in the safety of the woods. Dano is nearly cheerful, spinning around and apparently being shocked in the lack of minds.
"I am—I've never been somewhere so quiet," he says, tipping his head this way and that.
"They never took you out of the city?" Caroline probes, gently, rubbing her head.
"You getting a headache? Cut that the fuck out," I warn Dano.
He withers a little, "I'm not doing anything!"
"I'm fine, he's fine," Carline says, tugging my arm, "Let's just talk."
"Yeah, you have quite the story for us?" I say.
"All right," Dano sighs, "So this is going to sound weird, and you won't believe me, but Gwen will back me up and has proof—,"
"We believe you," Caroline says. She probably does.
"Like I said. I was bought by the US as an asset. Transferred here and there, iron cages, they kept me alive with feeding tubes. I was a mess and no one could get close to me. Finally when I was probably three, we don't know my real age because records were purged."
"So you have no birthdate or anything for us to help track it by?" Caroline asks.
"No, my name isn't—well it's Dano now but I don't know what my mother named me if she bothered. That was someone who transferred my case was named that so they just took the name to have something to call me. Anyway—toughest handler in the US is assigned to me. Maeve. She's worked with telepaths so she's savvy enough to say be able to pick me up or coax me to eat," I say.
"Happy thoughts," I say. Worked on my father, worked on Rowan when I did hold him. Think about good things and the telepath will settle down.
"Exactly," Dano nods in acknowledgment of my thoughts, "Easy enough, but not enough for handling a baby who hadn't ever been properly held. I had tantrums every minute— sorry—,"
"Institution syndrome," Caroline says, she looks pained, "I've read about it."
"Precisely. So they needed someone to contain me. Someone I couldn't hurt. That's where your father came in," Dano says.
"You said he had no memories? You know for a fact?" Caroline asks.
"Yes. I couldn't read his mind though," Dano admits.
"What, another telepath to contain a telepath? How does that even work?" I ask, "Why did they trust him even with amnesia?"
"Because—it wasn't—completely him. They—turned him into some sort of supersolider. We—I—we all thought, he was a robot," Dano winces at the reaction of our minds.
"What?" Caroline and I both stop nearly staring at him, minds probably equally reeling.
"They didn't kill him," I realize.
"They salvaged, part of him as far as we that is I and the other handlers can guess, brain tissue. Presumably because he was a telepath it worked? We don't know. But all I knew was he was built to be something capable of watching me. Something I couldn't break," Dano says, quietly.
"They—turned him into a robot?" Caroline asks.
"Where is he?" I ask, flatly.
"Gwen took his body, he—powered off, willingly, after getting the significant memory of your names with the idea Gwen or I could contact you and at least let you know what happened, see if you were alive. He didn't know if you were," I say.
"You take me to him," I say.
"I will. I will. Or Gwen will? I don't know she has him though. Hidden, she buried him she said so that they wouldn't turn him back on again," Dano says, "I only found out all this a few weeks, ago, by chance, and warned your father spiraling to, us escaping finally."
"What—so he—was he okay?" Caroline asks.
"Ish. I mean he had to deal with me," Dano mutters, walking on, "He didn't want to."
"Why?" I ask.
"I think he knew I wasn't you. Deep down I think he knew he was missing his own son," Dano admits, "I don't know."
"Yeah you do," I say.
"I—when I was little I'd always insist he was a real person. That he wasn't a machine. When we, when I probed and discovered he was more man, than, not, well he was angry. Swore I'd always known," Dano says, "I was a little kid. I always called him my dad. I wanted to have a dad. He was called 29, the project number I suppose."
"Fuck," I say, walking on. Well didn't have money on that happening to him.
"We'll see the—body I guess," Caroline says.
"We'll turn it back on," I say.
"What?" Dano looks at me nervously.
"To see him. Fuck that. If he's still there somehow? I want to talk to him. How do you know this ended him for good? We don't," I say.
"I can't find his mind—after he had his memories I could," Dano says, "He barley remembered being a telepath."
Caroline and I say, "Oh DIDN'T he?" In the exact same tone of voice.
"He genuinely assumed you were both dead. And Gwen has been trying to track you down but last time I checked in with her getting nowhere because you're not using your real names," Dano says, quickly.
"Correct," I say.
"Understandably but still," Dano shrugs, hanging his head a bit, "He'd hate that I'm here with you now putting you in danger."
"I am the danger," I say, at the same time Caroline says, "We chose to come and get you. It's what we do."
"I can try to help you find your son," Dano offers, likely responding to something she thought, "My old handler, might be able to look if you knew a date he was seized or something. Or I can try probe for where other telepaths are housed."
"Thank you," Caroline says.
Dano wipes sweat from his brow, walking on.
"Your fever coming back?" I ask.
"A little," he admits.
"Take it slow. No one's following us. We're good," Caroline encourages, squeezing his arm. He leans against her a little.
"How'd you get those scars?" I ask, to make conversation while Caroline glares at me.
"Electrical burns. They put me—" he hesitates.
"Go on," I growl.
"—they have a table. To electrocute me. If I was—misbehaving only form of punishment that'd work. Tase me, while I'm out throw me on the table. Rubber block in my mouth. Shock me till they were satisfied," he says.
"That's awful," Caroline shudders.
"I mean I only went on there if I—fucked up, which I do. A lot. Because I'm me. If it makes you feel better apparently they didn't use it so much till they got me or what have you—they didn't expect to have to use it. As it was, well, I was on there a few times," he admits.
"What happened that time?" I ask.
"Oh I'll tell you about the memorable ones. It's fine. Usually it was if I messed up a job. Tried to run away. Messed up a job being I killed the perpetrator rather than help arrest them, that type of thing. The first really bad time—all right this is an example of why your kid was probably not in this situation? Usually it's just tasers I'm a class A idiot," he says.
Caroline nods like anyone related to us would not be an idiot. I roll my eyes.
"Yeah, well, point being—okay anyway. I was nineteen. Job was finding someone human trafficking. But they took us to the wrong club. No one was there. So I do what any shithead nineteen year old would do. I act like I need more time, and start swiping drinks," I say.
Caroline and I say nothing because we're not better than that.
"Fair right? Stupid but I never got out of my cage it was a bit of fun. I hadn't been properly drunk before of course. Anyway. That's where I met Sunny. We are both completely trashed. Talk a minute. She thinks I'm handsome and I know it— so I do what she wants. Whatever she's hoping I do or makes her happier I do it. It's—being in someone's mind seeing their arousal and pleasure? Hell of a stimulant, I get any partner's pleasure and my own, I'd never felt it before take my word for it, it's great. That winds up us hiding in the women's bathroom to have sex, because we're drunk and I was way too far gone to think about the issues with that not very well thought out plan. Well, my handlers burst in. I'm tased on the floor. Sunny's screaming has no clue who these men are, I try to plead with them to let her go claim I was forcing her so they'll debrief her and let her go and not fine her. They did apparently, she kept insisting I'd done nothing wrong she didn't know better, anyway. A couple days ago she sees my picture, tries to find me. I find her mind because you know, memorable, turns out she had my kid, after the entire incident was not about to get caught or let anyone know the mutant knocked her up," Dano explains, waving a hand to illustrate what a shitty set of choices that was, "And while she was undergoing a full interrogation I was getting thrown on the table."
I sigh. Idiot kids. He's still a dumb kid from where I'm standing.
"Dano, that wasn't your fault," Caroline says, gently.
"I should have known I'd get caught. And I hardly told her before hand," he says.
"You were as you said drunk and so was she. She's clearly worried about you she doesn't blame you either. You were both having a good time and in a better world hopefully you'd have gotten each other's names. I had my own son after—well also being drunk and having a good time. I don't hold it against whoever his father is, I knew what I was doing and I chose to keep the baby," she says.
He nods a little bit, wiping his sweaty face with the back of his sleeve.
"She is fine, now, you were hardly fine either," Caroline says.
I shrug. It was idiotic but not malicious and the girl seemed pretty tough.
"All right, the next story where I got the scars other significant time I was on the table is going to make Ben view me negatively. But to preface this story I'm aware that I'm a dumbass and an 'idiot kid' and have not once claimed to make good decisions," Dano says.
"What?" I ask.
"So, years pass since that incident. Enough to make the torture seem worth it."
"You idiot," I sigh. It's not safe to be out.
"Correct I am not—safe to be out—thank you so much for helping me escape! Anyway, my handlers get to take me out for training cases the like. I'm very very charming and for the most part we fucking live together. I start having the odd passing—affair with them. It's only a bit of fun we're all adults and I'm a very good time," he says, hand on chest.
"Oh god," I mutter.
"Ignore Ben," Caroline says.
"It's fine he's right—anyway. Not like I had much to do or anyone else to talk to. But. Significantly I have an ongoing relationship, a woman named Mel. We like each other. She's not creeped out by the telepathy bit. She got to take me out a lot. She'd let me listen to music, get us a hotel room if she could manage and she'd let me sleep with the cuffs off. Treated me like a person. And I could always make her laugh," he smiles a little. Aw he likes her she's probably going to wind up dead. "She's perfectly fine, Ben—going on. She and I are having an extended fling. The other handlers know and enable because you know she's cool and by then most of them feel a bit bad. They know why I'm locked but they know I'm a person. In retrospect probably the only people who don't know this is going on is your dad and hers."
"He couldn't read minds so he's utterly oblivious?" I ask, surprised it's just girls this one is after.
"It's not just girls Benny, I don't discriminate based on gender," he says, hand on his chest.
Caroline tries not to laugh at the incredibly sickly, flamboyant creature who is now walking backwards and just holding some branch he found.
"Anyway, we're grown ups enough to be careful but not that careful. She gets pregnant. She's been vigilant like, less than a month gone, we know contraceptives failed. Odds of the baby being a mutant are astronomical and if she winds up pregnant there's a zero percent chance the powers that be won't guess I'm the father. So, she's going to have an abortion. Practical choice obviously loose yeah I could contain a telepath child or mutant, but me locked up and she has nowhere to go? It's impossible," he says.
"Fair, we knew my son could be one of us but I'm a mutant too so," Caroline shrugs.
"Right and you can stop—knives from flying through the air or walls from falling in. Anyway, she takes leave, goes to have the abortion. It's one of those illegal places because, America, and she gets sick. I tell her, telepathically, to go to the hospital fuck it, I'll be fine. She gives in and does. She's got mutant blood in her bloodstream, baby was going to be one of us, which basically means I'm probably the father it was obvious we had plenty of opportunity. But fucking me would have cost her her job, so, they come to interrogate me and I just confess figuring they'll go better if I admit it. To save her job and so she won't get charged with shit for having a relationship with me I tell them I raped her. I thought. If I asked forgiveness they'd at least just throw me in solitary. Not quite," he taps his face, "Back on the table. Twice till my heart stopped, both times revived me, right back at it—oh however disgusted you are imagine how Mel felt when she found out...like, she was mad. And how mad your father was he believed I'd hurt her because again no mind reading he just figured I'd do that."
"You could have acted stupid. They didn't know it was you," I point out.
"I didn't want them firing her," he sighs, "But the moral of that tale is those are Dano specific situations other mutants are probably better off."
"Does this Mel know you made it out?" Caroline asks.
"Yeah I left—cryptic notes for her and the other handlers who were nice to me. They can't be exposed under interrogation and imprisoned or something awful on account of me—does that make Mel my ex if we broke up because I had to fake my death and flee the country?" He nearly laughs.
"Yes," I say.
"No," Caroline says.
We look at each other. I shrug.
"Your dad I thought I was a waste of space by the way. Or that's what he said. Our dad, I called him my dad I talk all the time so I'll probably slip I called him my dad I didn't have another one."
"No it's fine of course he raised you," Caroline says.
"He missed you. Both of you. In the end when he had his memory," Dano shrugs, "It's a mess."
"And we're going to talk to him," if we can. I bet I can. I need to know. I need him to know what he did.
"You're angry with him?" Dano turns and frowns at me.
"A little," I mutter.
Caroline looks at me. She didn't know that.
"Sorry," Dano winces.
"I am now aware he was more than a little paranoid.  I was ten, she was five, when he died—when he got caught I guess. I think the adult in the situation could have had a better plan," than turn me into his ever vigilant little soldier. Which is what he did.
"If it makes you feel any better I'm probably a nice, sort, of, hell for that," Dano says, now he's just touching a tree curiously, putting his face against it.
"Have you—ever—been outside ? Like the woods?" Caroline asks, gently.
"A couple times. First time we were trying to find someone who —he'd been murdering girls we thought he'd fled into like this forest I don't know where it was. Anyway. I found his mind right away it was easy no one out there, but, I wanted to have fun I knew they'd take me back. So I just killed the man and then I started walking off claiming I thought I could see something. I wanted to see rabbits," he says, laughing, "All right this is funny in retrospect—I feel like your dad figured me out first but wanted to see how long it took them to realize I was clearly having the time of my little mutant life. I was ten that's significant—and about six hours in I had nearly found some bunnies I wanted to look at and your dad got sick of me and he just picked me up by the back of my little prisoner shirt and shook me saying 'is there anything you want to tell us'? Till I confessed."
"Used to do that to me," I laugh.
"Did he?" Caroline asks.
"Couple times. I was usually good."
"I wasn't usually good," Dano puts in.
"I'm surprised he let you go a couple of hours, well he was reading my mind so," I shrug. "He was just making me confess."
"I think he knew me. I also think he was trying to see how long they'd actually trust this psychotic hyperactive ten year old who's tripping about in cuffs trying to look at birds and things," Dano says.
"That does sound like him," I agree, "Is the—telepath is that hereditary?"
"Yes," they both say but I think he's seeing it Caroline's mind and answering. We all look at each other for a moment.
"I'm so sorry in advance if you are related to me. But. I think. We should briefly let your dad think he's related to me because if we do wake him he's going to try to kill me on impulse especially if he can see my mind and gets proof I'm as much of an idiot as he always thought and that might stop him," Dano babbles, hopefully.
"We don't know your correct age. But. Telepathy being hereditary, but we can't do a DNA test," Caroline says. She wants it to be him if only to know he's safe. I know her.
"The standard story was I was a surrender I don't know if that was to get me not to wonder but my handler Maeve had to know if someone was coming after me and I assume ManWithTenThousandWeapons, who—oh just shot people in the hospital—would have warranted some sort of warning," Dano points out, gesturing to me.
"True," Caroline concedes.
"I can try to figure out a way to do a DNA test if I can establish a convincing false identity for him," I say, "Whoever your mother is, she may at least want to know you're safe, and we may find a father."
"Father probably doesn't know I exist."
"You wanted to meet your kid," I say.
He nods, lowering his eyes, clearly still upset about the idea he's had a child he was unaware of despite having done relatively little to prevent that.
"There's plenty to be done. Later. First we'll meet with Gwen and find out what they did to our father," Caroline says.
"Yeah I'd like to make sure those people can't get their hands on him. And ensure he's—actually dead if that's what he wants and he's not just in a coma or something," Dano points out, "And get Sunny and Lydia—out of the country I suppose? I don't know not like I can help them."
"We can get them out," Caroline says, "Also you need to feel better before we do any of this. Is that fever coming back?"
"A bit," he says.
An hour later he collapses. I pick him up and sling him onto my back immediately, Caroline takes my backpack. He comes to after a while but only enough to take more drugs and stumble at our sides.
"Where are we?" He mumbles.
"Border, almost," I say, arm under his. He lays his head on my shoulder placidly.
The border is somewhere underneath the snow. He is only coherent of crossing it through our minds. Nothing more. His fever is making him nearly delirious by the time we get to the car. Caroline drives. I start him on an IV and give another round of penicillin. He's dangerously dehydrated from the fever and the infections are still raging.
Caroline looks back as I strip Dano's shirt off to clean the wounds. Yellow pus is staining through the bandages. Damn.
"It might be him,"  I say, quietly.
"You're only saying that because he confessed to being a dumbass with no self control, and is enough of a threat to have an APB about him across the continent."
"Correct."
"Damn so did I."