The Doomsday Device (Teen Superheroes Book 2) (12 page)

His good humor seemed to have recovered.

“Can we make a time?” Brodie asked.

“How about after lunch?”

“That would be fine.” Brodie stood. “I better go and check on my friend Dan. I want to make certain he’s feeling better.”

Jason nodded and gave her a wave as she left.

Brodie gave a long sigh as soon as she was out of sight. That didn’t go very well. Not well at all. If Jason was any indication of the way people thought here, then changing their minds would be almost impossible.

When she arrived back at their room on one of the lower levels she found Ebony sitting in the chamber alone.

“Where’s Dan?” Brodie asked.

“Gone.”

“Where?”

“I have no idea. The room was empty when I arrived.”

Brodie left and found Susan.

“That’s right,” Susan confirmed. “He has been moved to another room.”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Jeremiah or Jason.”

Brodie went storming through the complex looking for them. By the time she found Jeremiah she had reminded herself how important it was to remain calm. She and Ebony had the run of the complex so far. It would be a mistake to jeopardize all that by flying off the handle.

The compound leader and Donna were in deep discussion as she approached.

“Jeremiah!” she called. 

“Ah,” he said. “It’s one of our newest members.”

“Where is Dan? It looks like he’s been moved.”

“He has,” Jeremiah confirmed. “Now that we are in the final days it is important to plan for the future.”

Which meant…?

“He is now sharing a dormitory with some of our members who are closer in age,” Jeremiah said. “It’s more appropriate.”

“Can I see him?”

“That wouldn’t be a good idea.”

A hundred responses went through Brodie’s head. She felt like punching the man in the head and turning every room upside down until she found Dan. But where would that get them? They still had to find Ferdy and he could be anywhere. She had to do the hardest thing now and that was to remain silent. Try to gain their trust. Wait for the right moment to arrive.

“Alright,” Brodie said.

“Jason tells me he’s showing you around the compound after lunch.”

“Yes he is.”

Brodie expected him to forbid the tour.

“Have a nice time,” Jeremiah said.

Brodie turned to leave.

“Just one thing,” Jeremiah continued.

“Yes?”

“Welcome to the family.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

The serving of breakfast bore more resemblance to feeding time at a farm than a presentation of food for inmates in a jail. Although I doubted I would sleep at all, I found myself dead to the world until the lights flickered on at some ungodly hour. It was impossible to determine the time and we had relinquished our watches before embarking on the mission.

Chad made some inarticulate sounds as he struggled into wakefulness. Drink was off the bench immediately and warily crouched near the entrance to the chamber peering out into the main area.

I stood near him.

“What are you waiting for?” I asked.

He looked like he didn’t want to answer me. Finally he said, “You see those enclosures in the ceiling?”

I did. They were at regular intervals about ten feet apart.

“Food drops out of them,” Drink said.

I could see the immediate problem. “How do you know which one?”

“You don’t know. The guards place bets on who isn’t going to make it and then draw lots on where to drop the food. If it lands near us we’re lucky. If it doesn’t…”

He looked over towards the darkened alcoves on the opposite side of the enclosure.

“Are they dangerous?” I asked.

“Everyone’s dangerous,” he answered. “If you’re hungry enough.”

A sound came from behind us.

“What’s up, people?” Chad asked.

I grabbed his arm. “Wake up, you idiot. Food’s on its way.”

“Food? Great, I’ll start with bacon and eggs, then some pancakes -.”

Three slots opened up in the ceiling. They were all close to the middle of the room. A pile of food fell through. It looked more like a heap of garbage. No sooner had it hit the floor than Drink started towards it. At the same time a creature that looked like a cross between a tiger and a lizard leapt out of one of the alcoves.

“What the hell -!” Chad started.

“We need to get some of this,” I told him.

“Are you mad?”

I activated my air powers, using it to drag some of the refuse towards us. Drink tried fighting with the cat man over a loaf of bread. Mods appeared from everywhere. Fist fights started. A man about three times the width of a normal person started punching into a very tall, thin man who fired electricity from his hands. Another guy seemed to be fighting with thin air; then I realized I could faintly see a mist. Obviously he could transform himself into a porous gas.

Becker tried using his powers to mesmerize another one of the inmates – a well built, black man with extra arms – but the man simply punched him in the face, smashing him to the ground.

I had the loaf of bread in my hands by the time Chad started out of the cell. For a second I thought he was going for more food. Then I realized he was going to help Drink. The water man was fighting a losing battle. His ability to change into water was also his weakness. He could not grasp any of the food without reverting back to human. Every time he tried, the cat man took another swipe at him.

Finally Drink’s head hit the ground. Momentarily dazed, the cat man pulled a clawed hand back to deliver the fatal blow.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

Three icy rocks hit the creature in the head and it went flying. Chad followed up with a blast of fire that singed its hairs. It leapt out of the way. I wondered if I should try for more food, but Drink used the opportunity to rouse himself and grab some pieces of fruit. He staggered back to the enclosure.

“This is easy,” Chad said, turning to me. “Once I’ve had my bacon -.”

A blast of energy struck Chad across the back of the head. He went flying. It was like a rock, but it was a shade of clear red light and dissipated as soon as it struck Chad. Another blast flew at him, but this time I threw up a shield and blocked it. Keeping my shield in position, I dropped the loaf of bread and grabbed Chad. I dragged him back to our enclosure.

By now the fighting had come to an end. All the food was gone. Anyone that could move was back in their alcove. Two people were motionless. One of them was Becker. The other was a thin man who, out of the corner of my eye, I had seen climbing the walls like a spider. It had not helped him.

Someone had knocked him unconscious and he lay unmoving.

By now Chad was regaining consciousness.

“What hit me?” he groaned.

“An energy blast,” I said. “Someone out there packs quite a punch.”

“I’ll say,” he groaned. “Did we get some food?”

I looked around for my loaf of bread, but it was gone. I looked up at Drink, but he was sitting back on the bench gnawing on a piece of fruit.

“Where did our bread go?” I asked.

He shrugged, but his eyes subtly shifted to his left. The man on the bench, the man who had not moved since we had arrived, was sitting on the bench gnawing on the loaf.

“That’s our bread!” I yelled.

He looked at me impassively.

“So?” he said.

“So I want it back.”

The man simply stared and said nothing. He just continued to eat the bread.

Chad had recovered by now and glared at the quiet man on the bench.

“Didn’t you hear my friend?” he said. “We want our bread back.”

“Maybe you should come and take it,” he suggested.

I didn’t like the way he said that. Before I could say anything, Chad raised a hand and blasted ice balls towards him. The man raised his hand and the balls flew back and slammed Chad in the face. They hit him so hard this time his head flew back and he hit the ground unconscious.

“Didn’t they teach you kids at school?” the man asked mildly. “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” He took another bite of the bread. “By the way, they call me Recoil.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

Dan had been sitting in the room alone for about an hour when a knock sounded at the door.

“Come in,” he said.

A young girl appeared. She looked to be about his age. Fourteen or fifteen. She had a friendly, good natured face, brown hair and eyes and dimples in her cheeks. She gave Dan a pleasant smile.

“I’m Sally,” she said. “How are you feeling?”

“Okay, I guess.”

Actually
okay
was a rather inaccurate description of how he felt. He didn’t remember very much about the last few days. He remembered the fire. Their house had been alight. He remembered the vampires. One of them – a woman – had come into his room and before he had a chance to even climb out of bed, she had fired a dart gun at him.

Within seconds he had passed out.

After that everything was confusion. He could remember waking up in a truck, but everything was moving around him. He could see Brodie’s and then Ebony’s face coming into view, but could not recall anything they were saying to him. He recalled wanting to vomit and his head spinning so badly the world seemed to be on an axis.

Then night seemed to have fallen, a deep endless night from which he had only just awoken.

Now he found himself looking at a pretty face with a disarming smile.

Still, he had to be careful.

“Are you a vampire?” he asked. “I have powers if you are.”

The girl laughed. “That’s silly. No, I’m just a girl. Someone wants to see you.”

“Who?”

“Jeremiah. He’s the leader of the Sanctuary compound.”

“Is that where I am? The Sanctuary compound?”

She nodded.

“Where are my friends?” Dan asked.

“Jeremiah will answer all your questions,” Sally said. “He’s a very wise man.” She left the room. A moment later she stuck her head back in. “Hey silly, are you coming?”

It looks like I am
, Dan thought.

He followed the girl into the passageway and found himself in an underground building. It reminded him a lot of The Agency. A man and woman passed him in the hallway. They gave him a friendly smile and said hello. Dan tried to appear confident, but beneath the surface he felt quite nervous.

“You didn’t tell me your name,” Sally said.

“My name is Dan.”

“Dan? As in Dan the Man?” Sally said. “That’s a cool name.”

“Thanks.”

“I was named after Sally Fields. The actress.”

“I don’t know her.”

“She was pretty famous.”

Dan had pretty much made up his mind that he wasn’t in the vampire’s lair. He carefully felt around his neck and found it free of bite marks. That was a good start. He had mentioned his powers to the girl. Maybe he shouldn’t have done that, but this girl – Sally – didn’t seem nervous or confused.

At least he had his powers. Of course, he appeared to be deep inside some enormous underground structure. He didn’t relish the idea of trying to fight his way out of here. Sally pushed a door open and led him into a large meeting room containing an oval table surrounded by chairs. A man sat at one of the chairs reading a book. Dan could not make out the words on the cover.

“Ah, welcome,” the man said. “I’m glad you’re doing better now.”

“H-hello,” Dan said. He didn’t want to sound nervous, so he lowered his voice to sound older.

“I understand your name is Dan,” the man said.

“Yes. It is.”

“My name is Jeremiah Stead,” the man said, placing the book down. “Sally, would you be so kind as to sit with Dan while I explain how he ended up in this crazy situation?”

Dan sat down as Sally took the chair next to him. He was certain this was the man behind his kidnapping. Looking around, he tried to look for objects made from metal. The chairs seemed to have a metal base. If he had to escape he could probably use them as a weapon.

“Where are my friends?” Dan asked.

“They’re close by,” Jeremiah said. “First of all, I want to apologize for bringing you here under these circumstances. These are desperate times and I had to resort to desperate measures.”

“Okay,” Dan said, although he had no idea to what he was agreeing.

“I see you’ve already made one friend,” Jeremiah said. “Sally is a lovely girl. She had already told me how handsome you were.”

Sally gave an embarrassed laugh. Dan looked at her and was pleasantly surprised to see her blushing.

“Your friends – Ferdy in particular – are helping me in a project I’m working on.”

“What kind of project?” Dan asked suspiciously.

“I have a particular code I’m trying to decipher,” Jeremiah said. “I believe your friend Ferdy can help me.”

Dan decided he didn’t believe a word of what this man was saying. There were ways to go about asking for help. They did not include using vampires to kidnap a bunch of kids from their home and locking them in an underground bunker.

“I understand you’re an orphan, Dan,” Jeremiah suddenly changed tact.

“Uh, yes.” Dan felt a bit self conscious. He had barely spoken to the others about being an orphan, but almost every night he thought about his parents. Axel had mentioned dreams he had about a wheat field and a farm, but for Dan there had been no similar memories. Like the others, he could remember his life after being experimented on by The Agency. Everything before that was a blank.

Thinking about his parents always made him feel a bit empty.

“I’m an orphan too,” Jeremiah said. “My parents passed away when I was very young. There’s nothing like that terrible feeling of being ultimately alone.”

Jeremiah seemed to be speaking almost to Dan’s heart. He could feel a choking sensation in his throat.

The man gave his shoulder a squeeze. “We want to treat you like a member of our family, Dan.”

“When can I see my friends?” Dan asked.

“Soon,” Jeremiah promised. “Very soon. In the meantime I’d like you to get to know some of the people here at Sanctuary. Sally?”