Kinetics (4 page)

I stood and did as the voice ordered.

The wall beside the door hissed loudly,
and the gears creaked loudly as it moved into the wall.  I could feel the floor
shake as the massive door moved. 

The man grabbed my hands, wrapped a zip
tie around my wrists, and pulled it tight.  He pushed me out of the room with a
great deal of force.  “This way.” He barked.

“Where are you taking me?” I knew that
each and every word was a waste of time and energy. 

“Dr. Cid wants to make you show.”
Someone said behind me.  It didn’t sound like the guard.  I turned to look, and
try to see who had spoken, but the guard forced my head forward.

A skinny man wearing a black silk shirt
and pressed pants came out of nowhere and walked right beside me.

“He can’t see me or hear me.” The skinny
man smiled.

“Wha…” I started, but he shook his head.

“You don’t want them digging around in
your head.”

I nodded.

“Don’t worry about who I am, just
listen.”

Nod.

“This oaf is going to take you into a
room and lock a door behind you.  There is a device built into the ceiling
called a Kinetic brain wave inducer.  I don’t know how it works, but it’s
painful.  On top of that, the walls and the floor of the room are electrified. 
They will be using this combination to force you to show.          

My advice to you is to react as quickly
as possible but hold back your power.  This will end the procedure and label
you as low tiered.”

We arrived at the door.  The guard slid
a keycard into the lock and waited for a click.  He opened the door and pushed
me into the room.  There was no light at all in the room.  He cut the zip ties
and pulled the door shut.

I was plunged into almost complete
darkness.

The skinny man was in the room with me
but he began to fade. 

“What are you?” I hissed under my
breath.

“Remember!” he said as he completely
disappeared.

I paced around the room.  I knew that I
had lost my mind, or this was some way that it was trying to cope with what was
happening.  The only thing that poked holes in that theory was that most
people, who are crazy, think that they are sane.

“New cell, huh?” I yelled at the walls.

All of the lights in the room ignited at
once scorching my retinas.  The walls were lined with bay windows that housed
several people varying from scientists to businessmen. 

Dr. Cid sat at the center.

“Here we have Subject 297.  I am her
mentor.  This product has great potential.  Once behavior modification is
complete she could fetch a premium.” He kept his eyes locked on one particular
man desperately searching for approval.

“I’m not a damn product!”

“And on that note, let us begin.”

Above my head a disk like device began
to glow blue.  Pulsating hums filled the room as the back of my brain began to
burn with a searing pain. 

My mind began to race with what I should
do.  I was torn between two strangers or delusions, one begged me to lose
control, and the other advised me to contain myself. 

I fell to my knees and yelled, trying to
tear at the back of my skull.  It felt as if a knife had slid into my brain
just between my eyes. 

Two meters on the walls began to fill
with red light.  Once full, my entire body locked up every muscle contracting
at once as an electric pulse ripped through me. 

“What do you want me to do?  I’ll do
anything, just make it stop!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, as more and
more electricity blasted through my flesh.

I closed my eyes and rested my head on
the ground unable to hold it up any longer. 

All of the noise was gone.

I was sure that I was dead.

I opened my eyes to blinding white
sunlight.  The ground below me was sand.  I was kneeling in a desert.  I slowly
and painfully pushed myself up onto my feet. 

When my eyes adjusted, someone stood at
the edge of my vision just far enough away to be a blurry figure. 

I took a few steps toward the figure,
but it just moved away, each movement matching mine.  I began to run at the
figure, and the figure began to run. 

Heat seared all around me.  My skin felt
like it was melting away.

Suddenly the figure stopped running and
turned towards me.  I stopped in my tracks and just watched; waiting to see
what was going to happen.  As it came closer I could see her long, flowing red
hair, the wind blowing it around like flames flowing from the back of her
head. 

She came closer; but still she remained
blurred.

She slowed and walked to within inches
of where I stood.  As if someone had flipped a switch, she became crystal
clear. 

It was me.

I was standing inches from my own face
and I was on fire.  My head and my hands burned with yellow/orange flames.  I
looked down at my own hands and they too were on fire.

I freaked out and started trying to pat
out the fire on my legs. 

I opened my eyes once again when I
realized that the fire didn’t hurt.  I was back in the room.  My hands were
still ablaze and I panicked once again. 

I screamed, but realized that it was
like putting my hands into warm water.  I walked over to the window and placed
my hand on the window that Dr. Cid sat behind. 

“Is this what you want?” I yelled as the
glass began to melt.  I didn’t let my emotions take over like the girl had
asked me to.  I was afraid of what was going to happen. 

Before I could do anymore damage, fire
extinguishers put out my flames. I began to feel sleepy.  I fell against the
wall and slid down to the floor blacking out.

~//~

When I woke I slammed my head into the
bench and sighed loudly.  I was getting fed up with the constant black outs.  I
had more questions and fewer answers.  My head was buzzing like never before.

Rachel was sitting on the floor beside
the bed.  She looked disappointed, “You didn’t let your emotions take over.”

“To be honest I don’t know what I should
do.  Someone else told me to hold back.”

“I told her to hold back.” The skinny
man was leaning against the door.

“Why did you tell her to hold back?”
Rachel stood got into his face.

“Because, if she had lost control on her
first time it could have killed her.”  He leaned to look at me over Rachel’s
shoulder, “I’m Zach by the way.”

“But Zach, she has so much power! I
don’t think that this is her first time.”

“Does anyone feel that I should be clued
in on what is going on?” I sat up on the bench.

“The world as you know it… it’s a
front.” Zach sat down next to me.

“What do you mean a front?”

There was a noise just outside of the
door.

“Got to go.” They both vanished into
thin air.

The food door slid open and the normal
was placed on the shelf.  I reached up, took the water, and chugged every last
drop.

I laid back down and closed my eyes.

~//~

I didn’t see Rachel or Zach again before
a guard returned to take me away.  He took me to the same room and practically
shoved me onto my face into the testing room.

Dr. Cid was there again and they hadn’t
fixed my hand print that I had melted into the glass. 

“And today we have 297, this is the
second time you have seen her.  She is tier two.  We might be able to sell her
as foot soldier.” He took a deep breath.  “Frankly I am baffled as to why you
would want to see her use her abilities again.”

“Enough Doctor Cid; begin the
procedure.” One of the onlookers said very calmly. 

“Yes, sir.”

Everything happened as it had before. 
It took a while longer for the pain to reach the same height as it had the
first time. 

When I opened my eyes I was back in the
desert.  The light was still searing, but the heat didn’t bother me.  The
reflection of me was much closer this time.  I had a distinct feeling of
creepiness as I looked at myself. 

She reached out for me.  She was quickly
being consumed by flame. 

I reached out my hands, but there was a
resistance like opposing magnets pushing against me.  I thought about what
Rachel had said about everything being better for everyone if I let my emotions
take over. 

I let the hatred for the pain flow into
my veins.

The resistance disappeared and I fell
forward into the reflection of myself.  We became one and the flames spread
across my body.  The flames changed from dark orange, yellow, to bright blue,
then to white. 

I closed my eyes.

I was completely engulfed in white
flames.  I felt nothing but a warm rushing sensation over my skin. 

I ran, yelling towards the window in
front of me.  Dr. Cid was my target, and he jumped as the white flames blasted
through the glass.  The floor disintegrated beneath me as I rose into the air
letting the flames pour from my body. 

The ceiling dissolved as I flew higher
and then I was outside in the night breathing the fresh air that I hadn’t in so
long.  I watched as the fire, which almost looked like magma, flowed from my
skin like water from a fresh spring. I was completely helpless to slow the
movement nor could I stop the destruction that my flames were causing. 

I screamed in anger as the flames
blasted into a pillar above me as high as I could see. 

The flames vanished and I fell to the ground
like a stone.  My body crumpled in a heap in the dirt below. 

As the world went dark around me, I felt
something warm wrap around my body as my mind began to go blank. 

“You did well.” I heard as the darkness
took over.

The truck seat was very comfortable
compared to the benches in the cells.  I didn't open my eyes because my head
was killing me.  Searing pain burned between my eyes.  The sun in front of the
truck was shining through my eye lids forcing me to turn over in the seat.  I
decided that it was time to face the music.

I opened my eyes.

Ronnie was driving the truck and I was
in the passenger seat.  Sandy and Kenny where sitting in the seats just behind
us; a wave of relief flooded over me to see that they were relatively unharmed. 
Behind them sat Rachel and two children who were unknown to me. 

"Where are we?" My voice was
scratchy and my throat was dry.  I suddenly became aware that I was wearing
only a lab coat and a blanket. 

"We haven't stopped to check yet,
but according to the signs we are heading north. I saw a sign thanking us for
leaving Las Vegas and to come back soon." Ronnie stole a glance but
quickly returned his eyes to the road.

 "So what is the plan?" my
skin stuck to the seat with the heat from the sun.

"Well now that you are awake, I
think we will stop at the next gas station and fuel up.  Oh, and try and get
you some clothes." He smiled. 

I was willing to bet he was as happy as
a pig in slop that moment.

"So are you a real person, or are
you just following me in my head?" I looked at Rachel in the mirror. 

"I am a real person.  I
promise." She leaned forward to speak.

"How did you know that was going to
happen?" I turned around to look at her.

"I didn't know that was exactly
what would happen.  But I could see in your mind.  I could see the power
building inside.  More power than I have ever felt before." She smiled.

"You could see into my mind?"
I said sarcastically.

"Ah, yeah it's one of my
abilities." she said, "We all have them now."

I looked to Ronnie and he nodded.  He turned
the blinker on to exit the highway.  The travel center that we pulled into was
bustling with traffic, it seemed like the only place for miles to stop and get
fuel, among other things. 

"We'll talk about all of this
later." He pulled into a line for a gas pump.

"How do you expect to pay for all
of this?" I double checked that I was covered as he pulled up to an
available pump. 

"I took the wallets from the guys
that we borrowed the truck from.  Between them, we got eight hundred bucks cash
and a few credit cards." Kenny’s voice rang from the back seat.  I was
happy to hear his voice again. 

Everyone but me filed out of the truck
pretending we were one big happy family on vacation.  I rolled down the window
and stuck my head out.  Ronnie stood next to the pump sliding one of the credit
cards from the stack into the card reader.