Ethan
Regan sat at her desk, smirk firmly in place when Max dragged me through.
"Sorry," he muttered, as he tossed me into the chair across from Oversight. He squeezed my shoulder on his way out. The guard, Nick, from the elevator, stood in front of the door.
It slammed closed, and the room fell into silence. I shifted, zip-ties grating against my skin. They were already bleeding. Evidently, Regan wanted to make sure I couldn't get them off if I wanted to.
Oversight seemed to materialize out of nowhere. She sat across from me, completely at ease. She had all the cards, and she knew it. "Ethan, you've made quite the mess, haven't you?"
I remained silent.
She continued, nonplussed. "What would you do in my shoes? One of my most trusted employees betrayed me."
"Betrayed you? How did I betray you? You've had my whole life since I was 18."
She slammed her fist down on the desk, knocking off some of her files. "You betrayed me the moment you brought that vixen into our lives!"
She was jealous?
Oversight regained her composure. "I made you. You owe me."
The last 7 years weren't enough?
"Don't forget I have your precious Ms. Turner."
I stiffened. Alex was fine. All I had to do was get us out. Oversight may have been the one pulling the strings, but I was the one with all the connections. I could get us into England or Myanmar, or even West Africa, all places The Collective refused to go because they had no sway.
I just had to play along a little bit longer. Find an opportunity to get out.
Oversight stood up. "Have you figured out who the mole was?"
I nodded, playing a hunch. "I have everything. If you don't let me walk out of here, it's all going to release. The whole world will know it was you."
She laughed, the sound completely unnatural. "You've been in the field for two years. You've had endless resources at your disposal, and you come to me with that? I'm the mole? In the organization I've spent my life trying to build. You have nothing. Regan will take care of it."
I was afraid of that. "Think about it. You taught me well. I have hard copies and emails with their locations ready to be sent out. If I'm not there to stop them, then..." I had nothing of the sort. Up until a couple days ago, I thought it was Max.
Her smile faded. She flicked her wrist towards the door. "Maybe a few days in the Hole will change your mind."
Nick froze mid-step. "Are you sure that's necessary? I'm sure I can make him talk."
Oversight stiffened. "Would you like to join him?"
Nope. Time to go. I moved, forcing Nick to come with me. I didn't stop pulling until we were in the elevators. He was young, bright-eyed, naïve. Oversight would break him of that soon enough.
I slumped against the wall, focusing on breathing. The Hole was reserved for the worst of the worst. It was made to break people, and 90% of the time, it did. As for those that didn't... they became the conductors.
"Can we go by the infirmary?"
Nick nodded, paling. He'd only been here for a few months. He wasn't completely calloused yet. Telling him this wasn't his fault wouldn't help, even though I didn't blame him. We all made choices here, and some of them haunted us for the rest of our lives.
We stopped outside the infirmary. Something was wrong. People in white coats rushed by. Alarms in the infirmary screamed. The monitors connected to Alex flatlined.
Something in me shattered. My knees gave out. Nick struggled to keep me upright and moving away from her.
A doctor with pale, blue hair stepped away from Alex. He pulled the stethoscope out of his ears, shaking his head gravely. They all backed off. She was gone.
The blue haired menace rolled her towards the doors. A blanket covered her face.
"She can't breathe under there. She can't breathe!" I struggled towards her. Why wasn't he helping her? She couldn't breathe!
Nick wrestled me back. "Stop. Please. Don't make this worse. She's gone, okay? There's nothing you can do for her. She's gone. I'm sorry."
He wasn't wrong. I stopped. He led me towards the Hole. I didn't fight it. Didn't care when he left the door open. Didn't care when he cut my hands free. Didn't care when the lights started flashing on and off and the bass heavy noise that was probably music before they turned it up to ear shattering levels blared through the speakers.
I sank down in the middle of the room. I dragged my knees up close to my chest, putting my head down and covering my ears. It didn't matter what they did to me. Alex was already gone.
"Ethan!"
Two, rough, calloused hands jerked me away from the soldering iron. A burly man snatched off my gloves, which were smoldering. There was a glowing plane behind him. He dumped them into a bucket of water. He snatched his goggles off, propping them on top of his head. "What were you thinking?! You were about to burn your hands! Look at your wrists."
I looked. They were bright red and a bit swollen, but they didn't hurt.
He rubbed his hands over his face, muttering under his breath. He sighed. "Are you okay?"
I shook away the fog in my head. I nodded. "I'm fine." The ticking faded as I focused on my surroundings.
Dad nodded. "I'm gonna go grab a shower. Finish up here and we can get dinner on the way to the airport." He hung a towel on the Beech Baron 58.
"Wait!" I grabbed him. Pulled him into a hug.
He stiffened. We weren't a touchy family. He tapped my back. "Okay. I gotta go. We're gonna be late."
Something was wrong. He wasn't supposed to be here.
I stomped it down. Who cared?
I stood by the plane, which was still glowing. I double-checked all the work he just did. It was half done. He always started one thing and got distracted before he could finish. If we ever wanted to be ready to fly around the world, I'd have to start doing this every night. Not that I minded. I loved it there.
"Where's there?"
I stumbled away from the plane, staring at it. The light around it pulsed.
A woman who was all angles and points stood in front of it, hands clasped behind her back. She had blood on her lips.
My chest tightened. The plane faded, but there was something important about the plane. I reached for it, hands burning. If I could just touch the plane, it'd go away.
The woman glided over. She covered my hands, preventing them from reaching the plane. She forced me to stare at her. "Where are we?"
"My dad's garage. The plane! We have to get the plane." It flew out of reach.
The ticking stopped. Regan's new office came violently into focus. I was tied to a green, pleather chair. She sat across from me in a cold, metal one. A glass coffee table sat between us.
She let go of my hands. "Was that so hard?"
That was the day my parents died. For a second, losing them felt like it did the first time. The anger. The disbelief. The guilt. I slumped forward, failing to hold back a sob.
Regan's tone hardened. "Do you remember why you came here?"
I didn't trust myself to speak.
"Answer me," she growled.
She didn't get to have this, not like this. Not here. I shook my head, shoving my hands forward. The blood built up under the zip-ties leeched out.
She scrambled around the back of her chair. She snagged the hand sanitizer from her desk. She dumped it into her hands, rubbing it in. "Get him out! Now! Take care of his hands. Go!"
Nick from the elevator rushed up behind me. He hauled me to my feet, dragging me back towards the Hole.
Something in me rebelled. I couldn't be back there. I didn't want to go. I couldn't go back there.
Nick dug his heels in. He wrestled me into the elevator.
"Please." It was all I could manage.
He avoided my gaze, staring to the side. The elevator stopped. He led me back to the Hole.
He cut my hands free. He sat down, waiting for me to join him.
I stared at him. He was small, ill-prepared. I didn't trust myself. "Get out."
"Ethan, I have to—"
"Get. Out."
He scrambled to his feet, leaving the plastic first-aid kit. I kicked it, scattering the contents. If she was so damned put out by the sight of my blood, she could deal with it herself.
The lights shut off. I couldn't see my hand inches from my face. I froze. Lights and sound I could deal with. Being alone in my head was the last place I ever wanted to be. I sank down, heart pounding against my chest. I scraped my hands along the concrete, sliding until I felt the wall pressing in my back. I put my head down. I figured I had 13 minutes until I lost it. That was about how long I lasted in training. At least, that was what Max had told me. I didn't remember anything until I woke up with a goose-egg in the infirmary a couple days later.
I scratched my arms, dislodging the insects marching along my skin. My chest constricted. I lied on the ground. I couldn't breathe. I wriggled out of my shirt, tossing it aside. I got up, scrambling for a door, or a window, or something.
"Nick?!" Damn it. "Max?" My legs dropped out from under me. I backed myself into a wall. I drew my knees up to my chest, hands smashed over my ears.
I screamed.
Chase upgraded since the last time I'd been here. None of the passwords I had worked. I leaned against the wall, rubbing my knee. I tried one last thing. The panel flashed, informing me I could try again in 9,999,999 years.
The door hissed as it opened. I slid down the ladder.
Chase waited for me at the bottom. He slurped on an Orange Crush, sliding in front of the monitors. He poured a bag of skittles down his throat.
I pulled up a chair. I froze. "How'd you get these?" He had all of my files pulled up on his computer. I wrote down the password, sliding it over.
He threw it away without looking at it. He shot me a look. "But wait, there's more." He hit a few keys on his keyboard. He had it all. Everything I hadn't been able to get. There was a vaccine for the virus. A list of everyone Oversight contacted. Trial dates. Participants. Everything. "Chase, this is... amazing." My phone buzzed. "Hello?"
"Ethan," Sarah's voice cracked.
"Sarah? What's wrong?"
Chase reached for the phone. I batted his hand away.
"I need you. Now."
She was crying. Sarah never cried.
"Okay. Where are you?" No response. "Sarah?"
Something warm and tacky gripped my shoulder. "I'm right here."
I whipped around, twisting our from under her hand. Blood dripped from a hole in her head.
Her eyes were bloodshot. "She tried to tell you." She crumbled into a heap at my feet.
"Sarah..." my voice broke. I stared at her, at my hands, which were coated in her blood.
Chase screamed. He jerked me away. He hit his knees, gathering her in his arms. "Sarah?! Ethan, help me! Sarah..." his voice broke. "Sarah, please. Honey, come on. Look at me. Open your eyes. Sarah!"
"Chase?" I blew out a tight breath. "We can't stay here. We gotta go." Someone shot her. They were probably still here.
He froze. "You." He stood up, and somehow, he had a knife. He stepped over his sister.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." I held my arms up.
"No, you never do."
"Chase, we have to go."
"Shut up, Ethan. Just shut up!"
I stepped back as he stepped towards me. "You know I would never do anything to hurt Sarah."
"Don't! Don't you say her name. She is dead because of you." He laughed incredulously. "From the time we were kids, Ethan, this was always all about you. We left the bonfire because you wanted to. I took my job because you said it was the opportunity of a lifetime. Sarah went marauding and pillaging with you because I trusted you. Because you know best, don't you?"
I was backed into a corner. He was right. I shouldn't have stayed. I shouldn't have taken Sarah away from her brother. I knew what I was doing, what I was risking, and I did it anyway. "I'm sorry. I am so sorry."
He rushed up and shoved the knife into my chest. He drew me closer, whispering in my ear. "You should be."
Nick knelt in front of me, shaking my shoulders. The lights were back on. He dabbed gauze against my head.
"Sarah!" I jerked away from him, reaching for the knife that wasn't there.
He shot me a strange look. He kept poking at my head. "It's Monday. It's been two days."
I... what? I'd been here for two days?
He grabbed the discarded first-aid kit. He blotted the blood on my head, frowning. "This probably needed stitches." He clipped butterfly bandages along it.
"It itches."
He shook his head. "I'm sorry." He dragged me to my feet.
I stumbled along, staring at my feet. The ground wavered. I looked up. Those moved, too.
Regan waited for me in her new office. She tapped her fingers against the arm of her chair. There was plastic under the metal chair I'd been in last time.
She stood up as Nick finished double-checking the restraints. She dismissed him with a look. "Are you ready to tell me where my files are?"
"There aren't any. I made it all up." If she was here, focused on me, she wasn't out there, ruining people's lives.
She stalked towards me, pulling her arm back. Her hand collided with my jaw. My head snapped to the side.
She shook her hand out. "Do you know how much time you wasted? You've put us behind schedule." She sighed heavily, regaining her composure. "Now, let's discuss next steps." She perched in the cushy green chair. She sipped her tea. She put it back on the plate. "You killed Alex."
"It wasn't my fault."
"Don't. You left. You stopped for her. You came after Oversight. You got her killed the same way you got your parents killed. Because you are nothing without the Collective, without me. We have a chance to change the world here, Ethan."
"I didn't kill Alex." And I didn't kill my parents. There was a truck driver who'd been on the road too long and he t-boned us. My parents died instantly. And I didn't.
"You got them killed because you were helpless. I can guarantee that no one has to die ever again. We can fix all of this."
Alex was dead. My parents were dead. I had nothing left. "Okay."
"Good. We're going on a field trip."