Authors: Brian Terenna
More gas blew into the room. It smelled fresh, like clean air. I tried to rise, but my muscles were limp and useless; the drug was already in my system. Through blurred vision, I saw four men enter the room. Three of them wore dark gray uniforms and black berets. They lined up along the wall. The fourth man, dressed in a blue worker’s uniform, lifted me back on the bed, then gathered up the corpse before dragging it from the room.
“Begin,” said the warden.
One of the three men stepped forward. I instantly felt telepathic talent flood my mind. Despite the strength of it, I repelled the attack, even with drugs dulling me. The telepath stumbled, grabbing his head. They didn’t know who they were messing with.
The telepath regained his balance and shook his head. “Sir, this man’s talent defense is a brick wall. I’m unable to breach it at this time. We’ll have to proceed to phase two.”
My heart sank, wondering what phase two entailed before I steeled myself to further attacks. I wouldn’t give up the Coalition. It was all I had left.
The telepath wobbled over to his companions. He motioned his head to the door and all three left. A moment later the guard who recovered the body returned with a black box and metal clamps. He approached and placed the box on a table near my head, then re-clamped me down, ensuring that I was immobile. He sat in the chair next to me and opened the box with a smile. I tried to twist my head for a better view, but it wouldn’t move. Instead, I strained my eyes to the side. He removed a wired device with a crank attached. I didn’t like the look of it.
I tried to focus my talent, but only managed weak pushes at the device. The man laughed as he untangled the wires before fastened them to my temples. He tossed the empty box in the corner and began twisting the crank. My muscles seized as electricity surged through them. The smell of burning flesh invaded my nose. Pain racked my body until darkness overtook me.
☼☼☼
A month later, I lay on my stone slab, gaunt and hollow eyed, unable to wake from my nightmare. Bright lights assailed my vision, shining on me for countless hours at a time. If exhaustion took me, loud sirens rang through the speakers. During the month of pain, I was asked no questions. My only visitor was the electrocutioner. Every day, he injected me with talent inhibitor, then tortured me. They were trying to break down my talent defense. Between the drugs, days without sleep, and the daily electrocution, it was working.
The door swung open. Although I expected the electrocutioner, the three men in berets walked in. The telepath stepped up to my side. His dull gray eyes glowed with confidence. Could I hold him off again? I wasn’t sure after the month of torture. His talent bombarded me, making thought impossible. I gritted my teeth and strained against his telepathy. The man probed and prodded with sweat streaming down his face.
Eventually, he breathed out sharply while shaking his head. “Sir, this man’s defenses cannot be breached. I recommend phase three. Perhaps a more
indirect
approach will work.” He looked at me and smiled.
The loud speaker sparked to life again. “Ripper, Reminder. Show him true pain.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. The second and third men in the line came to attention. One was short and pudgy with a noticeable eye twitch. The other had sharp angular features, bright blue eyes, and wore a thick gold chain around his neck.
The telepath left the room while the pudgy man walked up alongside my bed. He was certainly no one that I would be physically afraid of. His twitching eye demanded my attention. I wanted to look away but couldn’t.
His bio talent jolted into me. Unlike the careful pinpoint probing of the telepath, his attack was a broad full out assault. Attempting to block his power in my state was like trying to hold back a river with your hand. My body exploded in agony. The pain from electrocution paled in comparison to what this man unleashed. My eyes filled with tears, and my jaw clenched tight, my body convulsing. I screamed until my throat was raw. The attack didn’t destroy my nerves, so my pain could continue forever. At some point in my nightmare, I lost consciousness.
☼☼☼
I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling. Where was I? I looked around the room. Of course, I was in my dorm-room at advanced training. I must have passed out last night from drinking too much with Ben. That happened from time to time, but we always had fun. It was the mornings that sucked. I groaned at the pain in my head and tried to moisten my dry mouth. Hangovers were the worst.
Suddenly, a cold chill ran up my spine. Wait... that can't be right, drinking with Ben? No... Ben was dead. How could I have forgotten that? I really missed him. The door to my room opened, startling me. Lilly entered with a big dimpled smile on her face. She looked as beautiful as ever.
“Morning, Honey. I wanted to see how my love was doing,” she said.
No cute pet name? “Not great, but you could make it better by lying down with me. I do recall something about a rain check.” I winked.
She smiled, tilting her head, her blond hair cascading off her shoulder. “I'd love to.” She walked toward my bed.
The door behind her exploded inward as a rough, bearded man burst into the room. “Here you are.” He darted forward before slamming Lilly to the ground. His sword hissed out of his scabbard, and he held it over her chest.
She struggled to rise as she cried out to me, “Help me.”
I went to rush to her, but couldn't; something held my arms and legs immobilized. I strained at my bonds before throwing my body around in an attempt to reach her.
“Jaden, please. Why won't you help me?”
“I'll save you, hold on.”
I reached for my talent, but couldn’t wield it. Something was wrong. The filthy man looked up from his prey, meeting my eyes and smiling.
“Don't hurt her,” I said. I had to protect her. I couldn't lose Ben
and
Lilly. Again I threw myself forward with all my strength, tears pouring from my eyes. Screaming with frustration and fear, I strained again and again against my bonds. “Please don't hurt her, please, please. I can't lose her.”
The man giggled, but his vivid, blue eyes were humorless. “You will lose her forever.”
His sword shot down into her chest. She screamed with pained, wide eyes, then fell still. Dark blood flooded from her, staining her shirt and coating the floor.
“Nooo,” I yelled. “You bastard! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!”
Eyes shut in rage, I threw myself against my bonds until fatigue sized my muscles and my entire body ached. When I could move no more, I looked toward Lilly...
She was gone. So was the man. Memories, painful and real, flooded back into me. They had already killed Lilly. How could I have forgotten that? An illusionist! Damn. The experience was so real, so unimaginable perfect, like living in another world entirely. Anger boiled in my chest, and I reached for my talent. I’d show them. My fiery mind slammed against the talent inhibitor wall. It didn’t budge. I growled and hissed, straining to wield my talent, forcing my entire will to the act, but it was useless. The drugs permeated my system and dominated me.
I lay limp, my muscles weakened and my mind imprisoned. Damn the warden’s cruel torture. He had no limits. How could they put me through her death again? The hopelessness of my situation enveloped and suffocated me, as if I had sunk below the surface of a tar pit. Anger drained from my body, and despondency poured in.
☼☼☼
Days, weeks, or even months had passed while my mind was clouded with uncertainty. I relived Lilly’s death hundreds or even thousands of times, and each one I failed to save her. In my nightmare, time lost all meaning; there was only pain and death. Whenever I saw her, the Reminder’s talent convinced me she was real. Every time she was killed, it destroyed me just like when she first died.
When not living in his illusions, I gritted my teeth and screamed as the Ripper unleashed talent agony on me. The telepath occasionally appeared to extract information, but somehow through all the torture, I held onto my secrets. My will protected thousands of lives at great personal cost. I saw myself as a martyr with nothing left except the sanctity of my knowledge.
At this point, I realized that the Coalition wasn't going to rescue me. For some reason, despite their promise to the contrary, I had believed that they'd save me. I would break soon. I knew it. Not because I wanted to, but because no one could hold out in the face of their onslaught. The physical pain made focus impossible; the emotional pain drained my will. If I wanted to protect the Coalition, I’d have to take drastic measures.
☼☼☼
I waited a long time after I was given an injection, hoping that the talent wall was weaker. I concentrated all of my muddled will, using every relaxation and focus technique I’d been taught. For what could have been an hour, I wore away at the wall, like water shaping rock.
After maybe another hour, I nearly gave up when thin streams of talent embraced me. I smiled, amazed but a little sad. I manipulated the power, tentatively at first, but then with more confidence. I reached for my feeding tube and detached it. Glowing, it wrapped around my neck and tied itself tight.
After a few minutes, my body convulsed as it sought air. My head began to pound, and my vision darkened. Despite my decision to kill myself, my mouth reflexively gaped as it strained to pull in air. I had to die, but the act was still horrible. My spasms slowed, and the world blanked out. I’d won.
☼☼☼
A loud bang followed by shouts tore me back to consciousness. I opened my eyes, but couldn’t see. I couldn’t let them save me. An unseen force pulled at the tube around my neck. My talent strained against them, trying to hold the tension. My efforts were useless against the pull. The weeks of drugs and torture had dwindled away my power. After the tube was removed from my neck, my vision brightened, and I felt more despondent than ever.
☼☼☼
I woke up later not realizing that I’d fallen asleep. I cursed at seeing the tube bracketed down. Scanning the room, I saw nothing that I could use to end my suffering. I was to live as a prisoner until they stole my secrets. I couldn't escape; I couldn't die. There was nothing that I could do, so I did nothing. I lay on my stone slab, helpless and hopeless.
☼☼☼
The sound of the door creaking open woke me to a man ducking to enter the room. Even some of the tallest men would envy his height. His chiseled jaw and cleft chin were clean-shaven. His full commanding eyebrows shaded cold blue eyes under his perfectly positioned, side-parted hair. He had a barrel chest, and a gold lined cape lay on his broad, muscular shoulders. Based on size alone one could only assume that he was a torturer; however, his pressed, white suit and ten gold rings led me to think otherwise. In a time where most people of Liberty wore rags, the man’s fine clothing and blatant display of wealth disgusted me. What kind of man could afford such luxury? Was he a military officer... no, still too finely dressed. He must have been a duke. How I would love to kill him.
“I’ve been watching you for some time,” he said. His deep voice reverberated around my cell.
A shiver ran through my body leaving me icy cold. Watching me? What did he mean? Could he be working with the warden? “Who are you?”
He took a step closer. “You don’t know yet? I’m hurt. I thought we might have a connection after all I’ve put you through.”
I squinted. What did he mean? “You oversaw my torture here?”
He stepped forward again and seemed to grow larger and more imposing. “I’ve overseen your torture long before now.”
My stomach sank, and my eyes went wide. No. My heart hammered into my chest like an attacking army’s battering ram. No. My body trembled as I clenched my fists. He couldn’t be, but he must be.
I spit the word out like poison, “Goldwater.”
He was darkness and all that was evil. He was the man who’d killed my parents, the man who killed Ben and Lilly. He had stalked me for years, dismantling my life along the way. He held me captive and tortured me for months with unbearable pain and terrible memories.
My breathing accelerated as visions flashed before my eyes. Blood spouted from Lilly’s chest. Her dark eyes held pain and sorrow. She begged again and again for me to save her, but I always failed. Ben lay next to me, his stomach bleeding, begging for his life. I held my parents’ death letter, tears in my eyes and pain in my heart. Goldwater was responsible for all their deaths.
“You’ve destroyed my whole life.”
“Not all of it yet.”
“The explosion at the advanced training Facilities was meant to kill me.”
He squinted, shaking his head. “No, that wasn’t me.”
What? Was he lying? If not him, then who? “You sent the scarred man after me.”
His toothy smile broadened. “There you go. You got one right. What makes the Coalition think it’s a good idea to publicly reveal your talent potential? My spies know exactly which of you to go after.”
I thought back to the TAT and remembered the man with gray eyes and a fleshy nose. He had creeped me out at the time. Could he have been a spy? If not him, then someone else. I ground my teeth, clenching my fists and strained against the steel bars. “You killed Ben.”
He shook his head, pursing his lips. “Who? Oh that other kid. He was nothing but a chance casualty. His death is on you. Had you simply surrendered, he’d be alive right now.”
“Lies.” I growled, lurching toward him. My stone bed scraped against the ground, sliding a few inches. “It was you. You killed him.”
“I merely put you both in the position. You made your choice. You chose yourself over him.”
My cheeks burned hotly, knowing that he was right.
“You chose correctly though. It shows that you’re one of the elite, one of us.”
My body trembled. “I’m nothing like you.”
“The second your talent developed you were like me. It changes you, corrupts you. You’ll see. The more you use it, the more power you’ll want. It will turn you into a monster. No one can resist it.”
“I fight tyranny,” I said. “It disgusts me.”
He laughed. “Maybe now, but eventually you’ll see the advantages your talent gives you. Then you’ll break a few rules.”