Battlefield (18 page)

“They're taking people down into this mysterious tunnel for something called an interview.”

“Interesting,” Orlando said.

“They want you. Sprout wants you.”

“Well, I could have told you that. She was practically begging for more the last time I saw her.” He rolled his eyes.

“You know what I mean.”

“She'll just have to be disappointed,” Orlando said.

JD sighed. “We need to find out what this interview thing is.”

“Have fun.”

“Dude,” JD said and scowled, but the scowl soon turned into a face of complete dread as he once more saw the masked teen from the hallway. He was with JD's sister.

“No way.” He made a move to follow them, to grab his little sister's arm and punch this kid's lights out. Orlando stopped him.

“What?”

“Angela!” JD watched as her head searched for him. She recognized his voice, but she soon blew it off and continued following her escort. “They're taking her down there. You better let go of me or I'll—”

Orlando snorted, but he let go anyway. “Good luck. You wouldn't last five minutes in a fight against Sprout. Plus it seems like your darling li'l sis wants to go.”

“This isn't funny.” She was now out of his sight.

JD wasn't going to waste any more time. He'd seen what happens to kids who fall into a trap. It wasn't going to happen to her, too. He didn't stick around long enough to listen to anymore of Orlando's snarky comments. He pushed his way back through the crowd, into the hallway, and then stopped. How did he get to the tunnel? First he checked the door to his left. Closet. The door to his right was an office, and two teens were in there making out on a chair. All that was left was a door leading outside, and one at the end of the hallway.

He peeked out the window, hoping for some kind of a sign or a direction to go, but he could hardly see a thing—only woods. He'd try the other door first, and he prayed silently it would only be another closet and not some kind of sick and strange secret passage. After all, Orlando's house was connected to the tunnels. Who was to say his was the only one?

When he opened the door and saw a set of stairs leading down, he swallowed. The lights were on, and JD could have sworn he heard a door close somewhere in the distance.

“Why are you so stupid, Angela?” JD whispered. A hand touched his shoulder, and if anyone had been measuring, he would swear JD had jumped at least a foot off the ground. He half expected to see Bean or Sprout and was fully prepared to fight either one.

“Chill,” Orlando said.

“What are you doing? I thought you weren't into this?” JD asked.

“I'm not into dying. I'm only backing you up until Cadence and Alan pop in.” Which was taking them forever to get there. Where were they?

Orlando then added, “My conscience wouldn't allow me to let you go alone. Besides, if they want me, then I can distract them or—”

“I'm not letting you do that. Put on your mask. We're doing this together.”

“Stop wasting time. Are you sure you don't want to look like one of them and—” Orlando motioned for JD to go down the stairs. All the while, his hands dug into his pockets. The door closed behind them.

JD nodded. He wasn't a coward. Orlando put on his mask.

 

“I'm here, but I can't stay long.”
Orlando sent the text to Tait right before he went after JD. Not like it mattered. She hadn't been answering any of his messages at all tonight. It annoyed him, and it also gave him a lot of doubts. Why would she blow him off? He wondered briefly if this was all part of some kind of obscure hazing ritual for Lunar Falls. Cute cheerleader leads the loner on, and then some form of public humiliation would follow. That sounded too much like a bad teen movie. Maybe she was in trouble. Did someone bring her down to be “interviewed”?

What was he doing following JD into a dark hallway to follow a vague lead for something that scared the snot out of him? His curiosity was getting the better of him though. Why did Sprout specifically request him?

The stairway was lit by a few hanging light bulbs. It reminded him of a number of horror movies. He subconsciously found himself staying closer to JD than he would have normally preferred, or was it the other way around? Either way, his fears were getting the better of him.

At the foot of the stairs was a large storage space. Towards the back was another door. JD opened it with a shaking hand. Before them was the tunnel. They exchanged a look, and each raised an eyebrow as Cadence walked toward them from inside. She, too, was in her mask.

“Took you long enough to get here. Where's Alan?” JD said.

“He found something and told me I should get you. There's another entrance, but I didn't realize it was so far away from the party. The door we came in was in the woods. I mean, we could see the house and everything. I got a little lost. Oddly enough, I found my way here because I heard Angela chatting and followed the sound of her voice.” She motioned for them to follow her inside.

JD rubbed at his forehead. “So dumb.”

Orlando thought of a lot of fun things he could say in response to that, but instead he went for the most obvious. “Why didn't you two just enter in through the front door like everyone else?”

“Alona is here,” Cadence said.

“Oh, snap,” JD gasped.

“Tell me about it.”

“Got it,” Orlando said. Of course Alan would ditch them for a girl. They began their trek through the tunnels. They were neatly carved through the ground, well-lit, and supported with concrete walls and floors. They were not as narrow as he had originally thought they would be. In fact, they were wide enough for the three of them to walk side-by-side. JD was in the middle and leading the way, Cadence to his right, and Orlando to his left, lingering back slightly.

“The good news is I know where they're going. It's not too far, and between here and the river. You know, where we were last time,” she said.

Things were all starting to connect, and Orlando felt a chill run over him, and it must have showed.

“You can go now. My backup is here,” JD said.

Orlando shook his head. “I'm too intrigued.”

Which was sort of the truth, but he also knew he couldn't turn away. They'd already ventured too far into the tunnel. He felt committed to the adventure.

“Do you hear that?” Orlando asked. His ears were picking up yelling somewhere off in the distance. It sounded like teens, but he couldn't make out what the commotion was all about. Cadence nodded. The closer they ventured to the source, the easier they could make out what the voices were saying.

“What's going on? You take us down here and then ditch us?” one yelled.

“Let us out,” cried a girl.

“I told you I wanted in,” yelled another.

The three followed the sound and stepped into a room connecting to several other tunnels. In here was a group of teens being confined in a cell of sorts. The walls were made of light, all too much like a sci-fi movie. There were seven captives: five girls and two boys. One girl kept poking at the wall of light surrounding them, as if inspecting it for some kind of way out, while the others sat on the floor. All seven had their eyes on the three when they entered.

“Finally, someone's back. We thought you forgot about us,” a girl said. Orlando recognized her from school, but he couldn't remember her name.

“Does this mean we're in?” a different girl asked.

JD shook his head. “We're not with them.”

“But you're wearing—”

“We're good guys. Trust me, they're bad. We're going to figure out how to get you free.”

Orlando stared at the teens while JD and Cadence searched for something in the room controlling the cell. There had to be a button or a lever or a switch of some kind in there. Outside of a few chairs and the concrete walls, though, it was empty.

“What's the interview?” Orlando asked.

“We were told it was part of a test to join a club. Anyone who passed was taken to another spot, and we never saw them again. They just took another group away and said they'd be back for us,” one of the girls said.

“What was the interview?” JD asked.

“I'm not sure. This girl said we didn't pass just by looking at us, and then said a few did without having to take the test or whatever, and there were some taken away to be asked questions and never seen again.”

“Doesn't it sound like such a cool secret club? I hope they come back and decide to let me in,” another girl said.

“No, you don't. Trust me,” Cadence said.

“Oh yeah? Because you're good guys? How do we know this isn't part of the test?”

“This is what happens to people who run with this crowd,” Cadence said and pulled out her phone to show the pictures she had of Bean and Sprout's latest victim.

One of the guys gagged. “You people are sick. Get me out of here. I want to go home.”

This made Orlando snort and roll his eyes. “We're working on it. We just need to—”

“Find a way to unlock them?” a cheerful female voice sang from the other side of the room. Sprout. “Miss me, sweetie?”

“How did you know I can't live without you?” Orlando said.

“It was a lucky guess, and lucky me because maybe I'll accomplish two things tonight,” she said and walked toward them, Bean close behind.

So many replies, and not enough time to decide on the best one. Instead, Orlando only smirked. He would take care of her. He wanted his revenge—and his pride back. Besides, there were no trees for her to use against him this time. He had the upper hand.

“You can let them go, or I can make you let them go. Which would you prefer?” he said. The trick was to distract her with banter.

“I can let them go. They aren't worth anything to me. I have what I want,” she said with a shrug. She pressed a button on something resembling a remote control.

“I'm glad I can complete your life so easily just by breathing the same air as you.” Orlando gave a dreamy sigh.

She walked right up to him, standing on her toes to be at eye-level with him. “Maybe I'll take you to a dark corner after I beat you up again, and show you some mercy.”

“Kiss my boo-boos all better?”

“I didn't say I was feeling that generous. Sorry guys, but you didn't pass. I have a consolation prize for you though.” Sprout stepped back and made a gesture with her hand at the teens.

“Don't—” Cadence said, but in a flash a vine shot out and smacked her across the face. She cradled her cheek. It didn't look like she had been hit too hard, but she would have a nice red mark for a little while.

“No,
you
don't,” Sprout warned. Everyone was stunned into silence except for JD.

“You hit her,” he seethed.

Sprout returned her attention to the teens who were now free from their cell of light. “As for you, this is your prize.” She held out a pack of gum. At least, it looked like gum, but something didn't feel right about the gesture. Or maybe Orlando was on edge and suspicious for no reason. He wasn't the only one. Every one of the teens took her gift, but not without hesitation.

“Thanks?” one guy said.

“You're welcome, so polite. Now leave. You can chew it on the way out.” Sprout folded her arms in front of her. She tensed up until every last one of the seven opened up a stick, chewed it, and quickly left the room to return to the party.

Orlando raised an eyebrow. “Poisoning more innocent kids?”

“It's harmless. It'll make them forget any of this even happened. We're not the bad guys,” Bean said, stepping forward.

“Your boyfriend is pretty feisty,” Orlando observed.

“She's not my girlfriend. She's my sis—”

“Bean, I think you should shut up now. And you,” Sprout said sharply. She pointed at Orlando and his two friends. “You guys should have stayed away. You are outnumbered.”

“Yes, I noticed you had a few groupies. Where are the kids who did pass your test?” Orlando said. He hoped those weren't the dead ones, and that was assuming the two were telling the truth about the gum not being dangerous. Something about Bean though suggested the boy couldn't tell a lie if his life depended on it.

Sprout shook her head. “They're fine, too, which is more than I can say for you.”

He glanced back at the rest of his team. JD still fumed, and he stood protectively over Cadence, almost as if daring Bean and Sprout to try attacking her again. She, on the other hand, was far too calm. Then she nodded at Orlando.

With a small flick of his fingers, a chair hurtled across the room and right into Sprout with such force she landed fifteen feet away and nearly hit the wall behind her. Bean immediately went to her side. With her out of commission, he was harmless.

“Come on, let's get Alan,” Cadence said.

“Fine, I guess this will occupy them enough,” Orlando sighed dramatically. He felt better, but he wasn't sure if the score was settled yet between Sprout and him.

This time, Cadence led the way through the tunnels. She held something in front of her. A bracelet, and it glowed a soft blue color. The further they moved through the tunnels, the brighter it became.

“Are you okay? What is that?” JD asked, looking over at her.

“I'm fine. Alan gave this to me. He said it would help me find him later,” Cadence said.

“That's the same bracelet Alan used to find his woman,” JD said. His body tensed a little.

She didn't say anything more and turned sharply through a door before stopping. Both of the boys nearly ran her over as they followed. All three stood with slack jaws at the sight before them.

In front of them was a laboratory. A desk completely covered in paper, another with two laptops, and yet another with beakers upon beakers of different chemicals. Even more amazing, though, were the rows of sleeping teens in cots on the floor. He counted twelve teenagers in all, Angela being among them.

“What is this?” JD asked horrified. He moved to his sister and put a hand on her pulse to make sure she was, in fact, still alive. “What did they do to her?”

Cadence walked to the desk with the laptops, and dared to touch the mouse. She clicked a few times before rolling her eyes. “Password protected.”

Meanwhile, Orlando went to the desk with all of the papers. No doubt the information on those pages was a hardcopy of everything found on the computer. Or maybe not, because all Orlando could find were pages of numbers and furious chicken scratch. He took a handful of papers from the top and folded them into as many pockets as he could fill. Between Alan and Cadence, someone would figure something out.

Each became engrossed with their own distraction. While JD frantically tried to rouse his sister, Cadence explored the computer, and Orlando moved on to the chemical table. He wasn't dumb enough to actually touch the contents, but it intrigued him all the same. There were vials with different colored liquids and powders in jars. It was all too reminiscent of chemistry class. Only instead of harmless materials meant for exploring, Orlando got the feeling that these chemicals, these concoctions, were dangerous. In particular, his eyes caught sight of a thick, black-looking liquid. It was in several vials—in fact, there were twenty different ones, each with a numbered label.

“Oh, wow,” Cadence breathed, finally breaking the silence. “Listen to this. ‘November 5: I only lost one test subject this time. This is making me feel less frustrated, but I'm not happy my theory of age was proven incorrect. It doesn't make any difference. It's something in the test subjects' genetic make-up. I even put less of X into this batch, which I thought would help with making the drug not lethal. Again, I was wrong.'”

“‘I feel like I'm making progress, but the other two are not exhibiting any powers like I had originally expected. I'll have to try yet another formula. I'm going to give them another week to show some sort of change, and if nothing comes of it, I will have to make sure they don't remember any of these tests, so they can return to their normal lives. Hopefully this will be an acceptable solution for my superiors. They don't seem to understand my desire to not kill as many of these kids as possible. After all, we are only pawns for this war.'”

Orlando raised an eyebrow. “Okay, you've got my attention.”

“‘October 24:'” Cadence continued. “‘I've been instructed to administer the drug to youth volunteers instead of adult ones. My superiors seem to believe the drug will be more effective with teenagers, and there won't be as many casualties. The hardest part is finding volunteers. Teenagers aren't interested in intergalactic politics or in being warriors.'”

“‘Still, I believe in this, and I promised I'd try. My research has shown younger test subjects show more positive results. Their abilities are stronger, and they have a higher survival rate from the drugs' side effects, something I need to work the kinks out of. Maybe I won't lose as many of them? I shouldn't be so optimistic lest I deceive myself.'”

She stopped and read silently for a while. “‘May 7: I think I've discovered something that will help with the cause. I've only been tapped by the Gelandrosymbol for about a month—almost two actually—and I've been struggling with how I can be useful to them. I don't have any aggressive powers, just my brain.'” She paused.