Chapter 6
When I woke up, I wasn’t sure where I was. I slowly cracked my eyes open to see stark white walls. Medical equipment surrounded the bed I was laying on. That’s when the memories came flying back to me. The horn sounded and the truck’s brakes squealed trying to stop in time. I’d frozen in the street like a deer in the headlights, and the metal had crashed into my body, smashing all the air from my lungs. I remember hitting the ground and being gone, every memory after that, nothing but pain and blackness. I sat up in bed, and a blond headed nurse that appeared to be in her mid-forties came into the room.
“Harry,” she said, smiling. “You’re awake!” She walked over to the foot of the bed and retrieved my patient chart. She scribbled on it furiously before looking up at me again.
“Forgive me,” I said, “but do I know you?” Her smile faded away as she comprehended what I’d said.
“You don’t know who I am?” I shook my head. Was I supposed to know who she was? Why was she important? “Well,” she said, mostly to herself, “I guess you were only half conscious.” Her voice trailed off. “My name is Molly Mead.”
“It’s nice to formally meet you, Molly,” I said, and I smiled. I reached up to pull at the gauze around the top of my head. My head itched furiously, and couldn’t stand having my hair smashed against my head like this. As my hand pulled at the bandages, I realized that my hair wasn’t flopping against my hands like it usually did. “Could you, um, hand me a mirror please?” My voice cracked, despite how hard I tried to keep it steady. Molly walked out to the nurse’s station and retrieved a small pocket mirror from her purse.
“Here,” she said, handing it to me. I unlatched it and pointed the reflective surface at my face. I gasped as I saw the hair on the right side of my head had been shaved entirely off. My mouth dropped open as my fingers grazed the air where my hair should’ve been. Molly just watched as I pieced together what happened. “They had to shave it for surgery, Harry," she said finally, taking the mirror from my hand.
“Do you know where my cell phone is?” I had to try to get ahold of Louis; he was going to be worried sick about me since I didn’t come home. Molly nodded, her blond hair swishing, and she walked out to retrieve it. A few moments later, she returned again, my cell phone in hand. I thanked her before unlocking it. I had two messages from Kate. I opened them, deciding that Louis could wait.
Saturday May 3
From: Kate
I've been kidnapped. Get the police. He's already killed someone else.
The other message was from location services. My heart raced in my chest. I knew it had been her. I had to get out of here. Kate needed my help. It was already May sixth. What if she was really hurt, or even dead? What if I was already too late?
No. Kate’s too strong to be done for that easily.
She had to be out there somewhere. I opened up the location services message. It was somewhere in northern England, but there was no specific town anywhere near where she was. I didn’t know what I could do. I felt so helpless, stuck in the hospital and not able to help anything. I sent a message to Louis.
To: Louis
I need to talk to you. I’m in Accident and Emergency downtown. Hurry.
I closed my eyes, and laid my head back on the pillows of the bed. I wish I hadn’t gotten off of the phone with her that night. I should’ve stayed on the phone, and this might not have happened. A lone tear slipped out of my closed eye, and streaked down my cheek.
I should’ve been there.
There was a knock at the door. I opened my eyes hoping to see Louis standing in the doorway, ready to give me an earful about how I was so crazy and stupid. Instead, a tall man with fair skin and dark brown hair stood in his place.
“Harry,” he said in a low, gruff voice, “how are you?” I could see a smirk playing at the edges of his mouth. Something about his demeanor wasn’t sincere in the least.
“Who are you?” I said, my voice quivering slightly. Man up, damn it! I yelled at myself. I straightened up in the hospital bed.
“The name’s Havener,” he almost growled. I wanted to stay strong, but I was quite scared. I knew he couldn’t hurt me, not in the middle of a hospital with all these people around, but still something about his whole persona was terrifying. Stay strong, I commanded myself. What would Kate do?
“Do I know you?” I questioned, finally finding the strength in my voice. Havener walked closer to the bed, putting his hands on the bed rails.
“You might want to,” he said without looking up at me. I didn’t understand it. Who was this creep? “Have you ever heard of nanite technology, Harry?” I gave him a confused shake of the head in response. He pulled a little vial of silver looking liquid out of his jacket pocket and held it up to the light, giving it a shake. “These,” he said, pointing at the silver stuff, “are nanites. They’re tiny little robots that can do just about anything, and survive in just about any conditions, even the human body. They’re very hard to kill.” Havener started to pace back and forth slightly, looking at his feet while he talked.
“What does this have to do with me?”
“These nanites aren’t very stable, you see,” he looked up at me from the foot of the bed. “You’re little girlfriend, Kate, is it? Her father invented these types of bots. He came up with a good string of code to make them viable for medical research, but he kept it under lock and key while it was being developed. Wouldn’t want a powerful bit of code like that to fall in the wrong hands, now would we?” Havener turned and stared right at me, as if waiting for a response. I stayed silent.
“We tried to get him to work with us, for the betterment of the planet, and when he refused we were forced to take action.” Everything was beginning to click in my head. This is the man that killed Kate’s parents. This is the man that kidnapped her. But if he kidnapped her, then why does he need me? Something must’ve gone wrong.
She got away.
A smile crept up on my face at the thought of a seventeen-year-old girl outsmarting the man who thought he was too smart for everyone. I had to contain my laughter.
“…The only other person who knew this code is Kate,” Havener continued, ignoring my outburst. “She had helped him develop bits of it.” He stared at me now, his blue eyes burning into mine.
“What do you mean for the betterment of the planet? What does the code do?” I had so many questions. Clearly, if he was kidnapping people trying to get his hands on it, it couldn’t be good, but I was too curious.
“That’s the beauty of it,” Havener laughed loudly, a sound that made my deeply uneasy. “It can do almost anything with different parameters set in it. We,” he placed a hand upon his own chest adding extra emphasis to the ‘e’, “intend to use it to wipe out half the human race.” My mouth dropped open.
“Based on what, exactly?” I asked, prying for more information.
“The people who help us get to live,” he hissed. “The people who are strong enough to do manual labor get to work for us, and the feeble are killed.” I shot backwards as far as the bed would allow trying to get away from him.
“I don’t know anything about the code,” I spit at him. “I didn’t even know what Kate’s parents did.”
“It doesn’t matter you ignorant little shit,” he fired back, seething now. He gripped the bed rails so tightly that his knuckles started to turn white. “She escaped from us, and she trusts you. We know she’ll come here, and that means that she’ll find you. All you have to do is return her to us, and your safety is guaranteed.”
“And what happens if I say no?” I said after acting like I was weighing my options for a moment and crossing my arms over my chest.
“Why don’t we ask your friend Louis what he has to say.” I felt all the blood turn to ice in my veins. How did they get Louis? Havener pulled out a black iPhone from his pocket and hit the screen a couple of times before handing it to me. I carefully took it from his hand, avoiding his touch at all costs. The phone rang several times in my ear before anyone picked up.
“Hello? Louis?” I yelled into the phone without meaning to. If they had Louis, and they were after Kate, they were attacking everyone I cared about. I wasn’t sure who was in more danger, Louis because they actually had him, or Kate because they were after her, and no place was safe.
“Harry?” A weak voice spoke through the phone. I could tell it was Louis, but he sounded like he’d been beaten roughly. His voice sounded shaky like he’d been crying for a long time. “Don’t do it, mate. Whatever it is, just don’t, okay? You can’t let them hurt Kate, or anyone else.” He said that trying to convince me, but he didn’t sound like he even had himself convinced. Before I had a chance to say anything back, Havener snatched the phone out of my hand.
“There you have it,” he said, abruptly ending the call, much to my dismay. “So what’ll it be?”
“I have such lovely options,” I said sarcastically. As much as I didn’t want to, I had no choice. I had to consort with the enemy in order to save the person who was in the most eminent danger: Louis. “I’ll only help if you let Louis go this instant, and promise to leave all of my other friends out of it,” I said finally. A look of surprise flashed across Havener’s face like he didn’t expect it to be that easy. I was stuck. I had to save my friends. He nodded slightly, agreeing to my terms before messaging someone briefly, and pulling out a pair of binoculars.
“Take a look,” he said, handing them to me. I adjusted them to my eyes, and aimed them out the window. I saw a large black van open its doors in a parking lot, and a flustered looking Louis was tossed from the back. He stumbled onto the pavement before running off to his own car. Good, I thought. Get out of here, Louis. Warn the others.
“Alright,” I said finally. I looked down at my hands, still holding the binoculars. What had I gotten myself into? I was going to have to betray Kate’s trust for my own survival. I had moral and emotional afflictions to that. I loved her, betraying her was the last thing I wanted to do.
I didn’t want to lose her, but I didn’t have a choice.