The 17 (7 page)

Harness heaved and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Jesus!”

Before he could say another word, a figure bolted out from a darkened corner and smashed Harness in the back of the head with a pipe. Harness fell to the floor. He dropped his pipe and it rolled away loudly, echoing throughout the warehouse. He grasped at the back of his head and moaned before another swing from the humanoid silenced him. The humanoid muttered something in a language Zack did not know —it sounded a lot like German—and swung the pipe again. It connected with a disturbing crunch across Harness’ jaw.

A few teeth flew out.

Zack slipped deeper into the shadows and cowered. He watched the humanoid—a boy himself really, skinny with mussed black hair and a few whiskers on his chin—slam the pipe into Harness over and over again.

Zack felt a tug on his shirt and he swung around wildly. He cocked his pipe behind his ear and Jenai put her hands up to cover her face.

“Whoa,” she said in a whispered yell. “Follow me.”

Jenai bolted off and Zack followed the best he could. His legs quaked at the sights he had just seen and he felt his stomach churn and cramp.

Jenai led him to a door that was propped open by brass knuckles. She opened it slowly and quietly and slipped through it; Zack followed closely behind.

It smelled of cigarette smoke and papers littered a metal desk. Zack picked one up and it was a thick stock paper, the kind resumes were usually printed on, but it was blank. There were small hooks fastened to a two-by-four nailed to a wall. Jenai hid behind the desk, pressing her knees into her chest and rocked. A few tears escaped her eyes and she brushed them away with a trembling hand.

She whispered, “They’re all dead. Except for us.”

Zack sat next to her and threw his arm around her. She leaned into him, putting her head on his shoulder and sobbed, sniffing the snot back into her nose so loudly he feared the humanoids would hear her.

“They are vicious,” she said, hushed. “They hung Zill on a hook, and then beat Cass and Brock to death. I hid, and then saw you and Harness, but before I could get to you that guy beat the bejesus out of Harness. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Where’s Mizuki?”

“The last time I saw her, she didn’t look good. Her face was pale and her eyes were bloodshot. She was sweating. I can’t imagine she made it, as sick as she was.”

Zack held her even more tightly. “They look … normal.”

“They are. They’re speaking German. I could understand them.”

“You speak German?”

“A little bit. My grandma lived there when she was young. She came over when she was a teenager. She taught me some German. I’m a bit rusty, but I can understand most of it.”

Zack didn’t know what to make of this latest revelation. If they really were German, then that meant their captors had taken at least another group from Earth, not just he and The Six.

“Are you sure they are speaking German?” Zack had to be certain.

Jenai whispered “Yes. They’re German.”

What are the odds of an alien race developing the same language that was spoken on Earth, presumably light years away? Probably minuscule, if not zero.

Zack was encouraged by this development. “Maybe we can reason with them, then. Work together. Maybe if we both refuse to participate, it will get our captor’s attention.”

Jenai scoffed. “They didn’t look in a talking mood.”

“How many of them are left?”

“Harness went all Rambo on most of them. Two are left.”

Two against two
—
at least the odds were even. At least they had a chance.

Zack heard the muffled voices of a male and a female coming from behind the door. The more closely he listened, the more he could tell they were indeed speaking German. Jenai listened intently as well; He could tell she was translating in her head.

The door knob jiggled and Jenai scooted away in fear. Zack motioned for her to be still. The knob jiggled again, but it was locked. The voices became loud and increasingly terse.

The Germans were arguing.

The voices faded.

“What were they saying?” Zack asked.

“They are looking for us. The German dude is not happy. He said something like, ‘Where could they have gone?’ The German chick was like, ‘I didn’t see where they went.’ Then the German dude said something to the effect that they were screwed if they didn’t find us, that he didn’t want to go back to that cell. I think we’re safe here for now.”

Zack knew they could not hide in here forever. Eventually they would need food and water. Eventually the Germans would cycle back to the door and break it down. Eventually there would have to be a winner and a loser.

That’s how these contests worked. There were no draws in these arenas.

Zack sensed Jenai was well aware of that fact as well. She rocked sullenly and stared straight ahead. She no longer cried. She no longer whimpered. She was stoic.

That concerned Zack more than if she were still weeping.

“Hey,” Zack said abruptly. Jenai flinched as if torn out of a trance and looked at Zack. “Tell me about your grandma.”

Jenai smiled and pressed her chin into the gap between her knees. “She is so cool. When I go visit her around Christmas, we bake together all day. We make this pastry called a Bethmannchen. It’s so delish. She lets me do things my parents would never let me do, like drive. I drove her car once even though I don’t have a license. It was incredible. I hope I get a chance to drive a car again.”

Zack thought clinging to such mundane things helped her cope. Zack had hoped to see Caroline again, to go fishing at the lake with her and to watch stupid movies and make fun of them with her.

It was those little memories that meant so much to him now. He supposed they meant as much to Jenai.

Zack found it troubling that he had no grandma to pine for. “I wish I had a close family.”

“Are your grandparents alive?”

“Yes. But one set lives in California, about the furthest they can be away from us. The other set lives in Texas. It’s quite the drama around the holidays. The rest of the time they call maybe once a month. My parents go through the motions. They go through the motions on a lot of things.”

“I wish mine did. They are so overprotective. I can’t do anything.”

“Mine are the opposite. I don’t think they really care what I do sometimes. Maybe it’s because they know I won’t do anything crazy or stupid. I never do anything crazy or stupid.”

“I don’t either. I’m just a loser.”

Zack protested. “No, you’re not.”

“Yes, I am. I’ve never done anything extraordinary. I don’t play sports. I don’t belong to any clubs. I just exist. I just take up space.”

Zack searched for something comforting to say, but came up empty. “I’m sorry.”

Jenai lifted her chin from the crack between her knees and eyed Zack oddly. “What are you sorry about?”

“I don’t know. This. You being stuck here. You know, everything.”

She reached out her hand and grabbed his, squeezing it. Zack was amazed at how small it was, how thin her fingers were and how perfect her nails were. He was also amazed at how good it felt clasped in his.

Jenai smiled and chuckled. “You know, I hate to say it, but this is the most alive I’ve felt, being here in whatever this sick game is. My life was so boring back home. I was so ordinary and average. No one gave me a second look. But now I feel kinda special. They picked me. I’m special.”

Zack understood her reasoning. He, too, was ordinary and average. No one gave him a first look, let alone a second. For some reason, he and Jenai were chosen. He couldn’t think of one reason why.

“You know what I mean?” Jenai asked. Zack nodded. “I’ve been thinking about why? Maybe it is because we are so boring and average. Maybe we are like the control group. Maybe they want to see what we do and compare it to what another group is doing.”

Zack thought it an intriguing hypothesis. “What
do
we do?”

Jenai shrugged. “I guess we just have to be true to ourselves. I mean, you and me, we’ve never even hit anyone with malice. We are meek and that’s okay. That’s who we are.”

She rested her head on his shoulder again. “The others, though, why do they have to suck so much?”

Zack thought about it, and then laughed. “Well, Brock isn’t so bad.”

“No. He’s all right. But Harness is a big, stupid jerk. Cass just wants his D and Zill is just crazy. I guess Mizuki isn’t so bad, either, but I don’t think she likes me much.”

“She’s jealous of you.”

Jenai lifted her head quickly off his shoulder and made an O with her mouth. “Jealous of me? Why?”

“Because you and I have bonded I guess.”

Jenai smacked him on the shoulder. “You dog. You have two chicks pining for you.” Her voice raised into a shrieking mock. “Mizuki wants your D. Mizuki wants your D.”

Zack didn’t know how to react to that. He felt his face flush.

“What’s wrong?” Jenai said, obviously noticing Zack’s shyness. “Did I embarrass you?”

“A little,” Zack said, meekly.

“It’s okay, you know. It’s obvious. We’re not like the others. We’re the weakest two. We’re the outcasts. We have to stick together.”

“Like buds?”

Jenai frowned, and then turned it quickly into a smile. “Yeah. Sure. Like buds.”

She punched him on the shoulder, scooted away and folded her arms on her lap.

She sighed and peered around the room. She wiped her finger on the dusty floor and grimaced. “This place is disgusting.”

“It’s home for now. Eventually, though, we have to make some tough decisions.”

Jenai nodded and looked solemnly at the grimy floor. “We can’t be true to ourselves, can we? We’re going to have to kill them, aren’t we?”

Zack wanted to say no. He wanted to say there was another way, that they could negotiate a peace. But he knew that to be an untruth. “I think so.”

“Then,” Jenai lifted her head and showed him the spark in her eye. It was one Zack had never seen before. “Let’s do it.”

†††

Zack had never hunted before. Many of his classmates in Maine had gone out with their fathers—and even some with their mothers—to stalk such animals as deer, moose, bear, pheasant and wild turkey.

He had never fired a gun. He had never killed a living thing, save for the stink bugs that invaded their home in the spring and summer months.

Such vile things, those stink bugs. They look alien.

Zack began to wonder if they really were aliens. Anything was possible. This place had proven that.

He and Jenai had no plan of attack. Neither was experienced in the art of ruthlessness. Jenai had warned, though, the two living Germans were indeed skilled in such things. That only caused the angst to blossom inside Zack.

It rumbled in his gut and made him queasy.

As soon as the light became bright from behind the foggy windows, they set out. Zack held the pipe in his fist so firmly, his fingers throbbed.

Jenai walked behind him, peering about with eyes big and round. He could hear her heavy breaths as she followed.

They heard the sound of a pipe hitting the floor—at least it rattled like one—coming from behind them. Zack looked at Jenai fearfully. She had a frightened look on her face as well.

They crept in the direction of the noise. Zack knew full well the rattle could have been made to draw them into an ambush, but deep down he just wanted it to be over one way or another.

Jenai followed closely as Zack ducked under a row of hooks and through an arch into a wide open room, much brighter than any other in the warehouse. In the middle of the cement floor was a pipe, smeared with blood. Zack thought it could have been the one Harness carried, but was unsure.

Zack motioned for Jenai to stay put and she grudgingly agreed. Zack slinked into the room, looking to his left and then to his right and to his left and then to his right again, not wanting to be waylaid as Harness was.

He reached the pipe and then heard a rustling from behind him. The German boy emerged, his left arm tucked under Jenai’s chin so tightly she gasped for air. He held a pipe high over her head in a threat to bring it down and crack her skull.

He shouted something in German. Zack just held his arms up.

“We don’t have to do this,” Zack pleaded.

Just then he heard a shriek and felt a whack on the back of his leg from a pipe. He let out an “argh” and fell to the dirty cement floor. He grasped for his throbbing leg as pain snaked up it into his groin. Standing over him was a German girl, not much bigger than Jenai, with long blond hair tied back in a ribbon, a tank top much like what Zack wore, and a snarl on her lips.

She, too, yelled something in German as she brought the pipe down on him again, crushing the ribs on the left side of his torso. He could hear them crack.

Zack writhed in pain and looked back at Jenai, who whimpered and struggled. To his amazement, she broke free with a swift donkey kick to the German boy’s crotch. He fell to both knees and looked up at Jenai with pleading eyes.

Jenai wasn’t in the mood. She brought her pipe down on his head with all her strength. The first blow was enough to cause blood to stream down his face. The second blow knocked him to his back.

The German girl howled and began to sprint toward Jenai, but Zack was able to trip her. She plummeted face down onto the cement floor and broke her nose. Jenai held her pipe high and rushed toward the fallen German, but as she began to swing it down upon her, the German girl grabbed Jenai’s stubby legs and pulled her down.

They wrestled, throwing punches and grabbing handfuls of hair. Finally, The German girl was able to snatch the pipe and swung it violently. It connected with Jenai’s jaw and Zack could hear the sound of bones cracking. Jenai lay there, unconscious, and at the German girl’s mercy.

“No! Don’t do it!” Zack pled. He could barely speak from the pain in his leg and ribs. He crawled toward Jenai. The German girl straddled her, raised the pipe clutched tightly in both hands and muttered something in German before she thrust it down viciously and with such brutal force it caved in Jenai’s face.