Subject #013 | ✓

Chapter 39

"Let's get out of here." I mutter, rubbing my hands up and down my arms repeatedly. "This place gives me the creeps."

~

"You did what?" Drake's voice is disbelieving and strangely high pitched for a man who holds himself like Drake does. I wince. Our footsteps are already loud on the tiled floors of the building, and we can't afford to get caught on our way from sneaking me out of what was supposed to be efficient prison cell. 

"I kinda became friends with the two. The girl goes through drama just like normal teenage girls do, and it's fun to be the one she looks to for help. As for the thief, he's the quirkiest, most interesting person I have ever met. They're normal in their own way, which is something that is hard to find."

"That's the thing, L. They're normal and you're not. You have to stop blaming yourself for what happened in the past. It's done. It's over. You're with us now."

I tense momentarily before changing the subject. "So how have things been going on your end?"

Drake easily picks up my unease about our earlier subject but lets it go. He'll probably bother me about it later. As long as it's not now. "Not terrible. I've taken your place momentarily."

I smile tightly. "I wouldn't expect anything less of you."

"Ha-ha. Hadley's been my second in command. We've been keeping careful eyes out, scouting around for anything out of the ordinary. But for the month that you've been gone things have stayed remarkably the same, except for the doctors' sudden shift in interest."

This causes me to stop in my tracks. "Shift in interest? In what way?"

Drake pauses beside me and tilts his head to the side to think. "It seems that Darrin has found himself a pawn to busy himself with."

"What do you mean?" I inquire.

"Just that. He's gotten out his chess game, and he's about to call checkmate."

"In English, please."

Drake sighs. "Fine. One of Darrin's minions brought in her son, who turns out to be incredibly close to the thirteenth subject." My heart stops. "If I'm not mistaken, he plans on using him to lure her into the trap he has set."

"Dammit," I mutter under my breath. I recall the conversation I had with Jess after the dance. She mentioned another boy, someone she'd loved before she met Alix. He must be who Drake is talking about.

"What?" Drake asks, his eyes staring into mine with concern.  

"What kinds of things have the doctors been testing?" I ask, biting the edge of my lip. Drake looks as if he wants to argue and ask me again why I was freaking out, but he stays silent and answers my question. One of the things I like about Drake: he doesn't push when he knows he's not welcome.

"Oh, various things. Oxygen levels, emotion trackers, like anger, sadness, and happiness running through the brain. There has also been talk of physical and mental challenges to worry the subject and test her internal workings, and currently there has been gossip about the matter of a lost tracker system."

"A lost tracker system?"

"Yeah. Apparently one of the doctors failed to get the tracker to a vehicle or something, and he got sent to the smoke room for telling Darrin he didn't know how to fix it."

I gasp, eyes widening. "What? The smoke room? That's it." My fists clench at my sides. "We're ending this."

"Agreed. But we've been trying to figure out how to stop it, to shut down the systems all at once, but the computer database is simply too complicated, even for Hadley."

"Have there been any other ideas about how to cease the operations?" 

"No. But now that you're here," he pauses to look over at me. "That might change."

Drake is my right hand man and not afraid to get his hands dirty. And though we work well together, we've never been attached to each other as more than friends. For one simple reason.

My heart was stolen a year ago, and the captor never gave it back.

It's because of that that I'm here today, involved in this with Drake. It won't happen again. I won't stand for it. Especially not to the two people I would go as far as to call my friends.

"I sure hope so."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are the home stretch, y'all! One last chapter to go! Do you feel like you know what's going on? Do you know how this will end? And, it's okay to be confused because you're supposed to be. Nothing is obvious yet. Don't assume anything, because if there's one thing you've learned from this book, it's to always expect surprise. 

As always, comment thoughts and feels below and vote if you loved it =D

Are you ready for the finale? 

I sure hope so. 

Stay awesome!

~trebleclef18