Superior

Chapter 50

A/N: I made more covers... which are in a slideshow at the side. My mother says she likes the b&w one...thoughts? I'll probably change it to one of those three regardless, just for the sake of trying something new. Oh, and the reason this author's note is at the beginning...well, you'll see at the end.

Chapter Fifty

Delaney

I watched as Caleb was overtaken by Mason and twisted into a headlock. I watched as Jeanette was dragged away, kicking and screaming, toward the rush of other candidates, who stared at her curiously. I watched, powerless, dying, as everything crumbled around me.

Leary was going to take the candidates—all one hundred of them—away, and turn them into Superiors, leaving his old set to die. It was cruel and heartless, it was totally insane—it was nothing unexpected, not from Dr. Leary. Even now, as he watched Caleb fight with Mason, his expression cold and blank, I wasn't surprised. He wouldn't have cared if Caleb had been hurt, or even if Mason had been hurt, for that matter; all he wanted was to succeed at his sick little goal, regardless of whether that meant sacrificing some of his men.

Caleb had managed to remove himself from Mason's death grip, and was now showering the other Superior with a series of powerful punches. The remaining candidates stared at the fight with doe eyes before be hurried on by a harried Superior.

I watched Caleb move, deadly and quick, beating Mason down, and couldn't find a single similarity to the collected Popular I'd met all those weeks ago. He was angry now, really angry; angry enough to injure someone, if not kill them. His body was stronger, more durable, and with it he could do terrible things.

Had he always been that way? Had this ordeal brought out a violent alternate personality from within him that had always been there, dormant? Maybe calm, cool Caleb had never been the real Caleb; maybe this—whatever this was—was the real Caleb.

It began to seem more and more likely as he forced Mason to his knees, grasping the Superior's arm and flipping him over onto his back. A gun, the same Merit Z100 model that Dr. Leary had used, skittered from his pocket and across the concrete floor and came to a rest at our feet.

Trai and I were staring at the weapon, unsure whether or not to pick it up, when a voice cut through the noises echoing through the station. I tensed at the sound and felt Trai stiffen beside me. Even Abby, a few feet away, looked suddenly anxious.

Trai pivoted slightly, enough so that I could see the pretty girl who was standing at the end of the flow of kids, her familiar face a picture of disbelief.

"Delaney?" she said, repeating her words from moments before. "Is that you?"

Caleb

I froze mid-kick at the sound of her voice. Mason was on the ground, clutching his ribs where my foot had already connected. I'd found a burst of strength somewhere, but it was now forgotten.

"Trai?" continued the voice, somehow familiar. "And, wait, A—"

I stepped down on Mason's face as she continued, the crunching of it drowning out whatever she said next. Mason howled; his nose was flattened. It was hardly a killing blow, but it would suffice while I dealt with the girl.

I spun around slowly until I saw her, the girl with long, honey-blonde hair and blue-gray eyes. She wore a tight blue dress, formal like all the other candidates, and a pair of silver high-heels were clutched in her fist. Her eyes were wide and doe-like as she stared at Delaney, looking nothing like the cunning girl that Nessa had described to me.