The Executioner at the Institute for Contaminated Children (17 page)

I didn’t know Eva much more than Donna, but I had heard rumors of her abilities. That explained her moodiness. She must have been seriously depressed.

“Her sister, you know, died at one of the Institutes.” Donna looked at me with a peculiar gaze and my hands turned cold. I shoved them in my pockets.

“Oh? How did she die?” My voice nearly broke.

“In the explosion. The bombing, whatever you want to call it. And after what happened at the event, Eva told me she wouldn’t rest until she caught the Executioner. She had a feeling the school was behind it, and I felt it even stronger. Together, we were convinced.”

“So that’s why…” She had patrolled that night. She was looking for the Executioner. I clamped my mouth shut.

“Why what?” said Donna. Her eyes narrowed.

I smiled. “Nothing. Just thinking out loud.” She nodded, but I had messed up pretty bad. Donna might catch on, especially if it happened again. And if she jumped to conclusions before I had a chance to explain, the whole thing might crash to pieces. 

“I had a dream last night,” she said, staring into space. “More like a nightmare, actually. I was running down the stairs…and there was blood.” I stopped and so did she. “I kept running…and there was more blood…and more blood… And at the base of the stairs lay a body. When I flipped it over…it…it was Eva.”

I stared at her in disbelief. Her dreaded tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

“Donna… Are you saying…your dreams hinted at what happened the next day?”

She shook her head and swallowed mid-breath. “I don’t know…maybe it’s my ability growing. It’s all just…so messed up.”

I nodded, all I could do, my hands in my pockets. Thunder rolled ahead.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” I mumbled.

“What?”

“No, nothing.” It was now or never. “There’s something I have to—”

The thunder interrupted me and I cursed as a sheet of rain approached. I grabbed her wrist. “Come on, this way!”

“Where are we going?”

“Just after me.”

“How do I know you’re not controlling me?”

I paused and veered to stare at her with an intense glare, which then softened at her determined expression. “If I were, you wouldn’t be asking questions, now let’s go. Hurry!”

“Dan, what are you—?” We headed straight for the waterfall and I jumped on one of the rocks that led up to it. Todd, Hailie and I had come here many times to hang out, though we quickly grew bored of it.

We skipped rock to rock until we came under the waterfall from the side, staying dry. Donna gasped behind me at the small cave under it. I climbed the rocks and offered her a hand up.

“It’s totally safe here, don’t worry.”

She gave me a skeptic glance and looked back, but just then the rain had finally reached and sounded like a standing ovation. She pursed her lips and climbed up without my aid. I rolled my eyes.

She sat next to me, a few feet away. Our legs dangled toward the water while the waterfall contended with the sound of the rain.

“It’s so c-cold.” She breathed into her hands and rubbed them together. Goose bumps crawled up her legs and my eyes followed with a smirk.

“All the more reason to do this—” I put an arm around her shoulders and she shoved me away with a laugh.

“Not that cold! Get back in the friend zone.”

“Ouch. Gotta admit, that’s the first time a girl’s said that to me.”

“There’s always a first.”

I smiled. The ice between us seemed to have thinned pretty quickly. Good.

“So tell me how this works,” I said, with a bit of my mischievous flare.

“What?”

“I mean, I dated Hailie for three years and I still have no clue. Do you like me?”

She burst out laughing and it echoed through the rocks. That’s right, Tyrell, warm up to her. Show her your human side.

She blushed slightly and fumbled with her fingers. Damn, girls were adorable when embarrassed. “I guess…I admire that you always rise to the challenge. Like you have something to prove or justify. It makes me a bit anxious and self-conscious since I like to win too. But…I don’t particularly like you
that
way.”

I nodded. Her honesty impressed me, and also rubbed a bit of salt on my wounds, but I wouldn’t let it show. “Fair enough.” I looked out at the water and said, “So are you anxious right now?”

She chuckled and shook her head no.

I scooted closer. “How about now?”

She laughed and moved away. “No.”

This time I scooted so close we touched shoulder to shoulder. She looked me straight in the eye, flushed, and said, “Yes.” The word came out in a puff of hot air.

I swallowed and moved away. “All right, I think I got the hang of this ‘zone’ you were talking about.”

She scoffed. “Ever the observer.” Donna then looked out at the water too and said, “Good thinking, by the way, we would have been soaked on our way back to LeJeune. Guess we have to wait it out. Hopefully it’s not too long a shower.” She yawned and then suddenly perked up. “Wait, we’re not breaking the rules by being out here, are we? Cuz, if so, we’re dead. Legit.”

I groaned. “Don’t tell me you’ve still yet to read the manual.”

“Hell no, I read it! I just…don’t recall if I skimmed over some details, that’s all.” Her foot kicked against the rock and bounced back.

I laughed. “I told you…you’re safe here. That wasn’t a lie.”

“Mmm.” She said nothing else. Hopefully, a sign of trust.

I gnawed on my lip, not looking at her. This was going well. Too well. How could I transition from teasing to telling the truth? I wound my hands together and recited it in my mind. It all sounded damn awful.

“I’m the Executioner…but I’m also not!… I killed a man…but I didn’t want to!…”

I shut my eyes in frustration and turned to look at her, only to be taken aback. Donna had curled up on the inner side of the cave, her eyes closed. I leaned my cheek into my palm. Her dark hair fell over her shoulder and exposed her neck, which stirred with her steady breaths, her hands curled at both sides. The V-neck of her uniform exposed a bit more of her tender skin. I was a big fan of the design. Was she…asleep?

Oh, yeah. She probably hadn’t slept well because of the nightmare. I sighed. No lie, she did look very vulnerable, and very tempting. Maybe that meant she started to trust me. At the least, it’d give me time to prepare my speech…whatever that would be. But the rain had a drowsing effect, and before I knew it, my eyes were shutting down, the sentences in my thoughts slurring and going on repeat, until I lay back on the damp rock for just a few minutes…

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX—Captive

I
woke to a god-awful soreness in my right shoulder, probably due to the rock wedged right under my collar bone. My position was way too weird, with my cheek pressed against the rock. The waterfall hummed in the background, but the strong rain seemed to have stopped. An earthy smell completely filled my lungs. I rose to sit on the rock ledge, my vision dizzy, until I realized my hands were behind my back, restrained. I couldn’t believe it. They were tuff-tied. Nearly impossible to break, unless you were Edward Scissorhands. I tugged at them once before red flashed in front of my eyes and my bandana choked my mouth, tied roughly behind my head. “Mmmph!” I gagged and scrambled backwards. Donna walked around me and I stared up at her, livid.

Her light blue uniform shirt had gotten damp from the humidity and clung to her torso. I groaned through my disabled mouth. Gimme a break. I wanted to bang my head against the rock behind me. Maybe then I’d pass out.

She crossed her arms. “Do you really think I’m that stupid, Dan?” Her eyes narrowed in scorn. I looked at her like I had no idea what she was talking about, when in reality I was pretty sure she had me all figured out. Even her flirting earlier had been an act. How could I have been so naïve? Donna had grown sharp in her intuition. I shouldn’t have let my guard down for an instant.

Her brow rose. “Know that dream I told you about earlier? Turns out it wasn’t the only dream I had that night.”

My eyes turned discerning.

“I had another one. You were in it.” I gulped. Oh, here we go. “You had a gun. You raised it to your mouth. And then you shot yourself.” I swallowed, either from the cloth that made me gag or her words.

She crouched down so our eyes were level. “That happened just before Lauraline and her friends were found with bullet holes in their heads. Tell me, what do you think I was supposed to get from that when my other dream proved to bear some premonition? My mind is trying to tell me something about you. And I have a pretty good idea of what it is. You feel guilty, and the only reason you feel guilty…is because while you may not be the Executioner, you know who is, don’t you?”

I released a long-held breath. She got part of it right. The good part, at least.

My head tilted side to side in a “maybe” gesture. She scowled.

“This is how it’s gonna work.” Donna pulled out a deck of cards from her skirt pocket. She fanned them out in her hand and I recognized them as the cards we had used in one of her training sessions, with one letter printed on each card. “We’ll communicate using these, since I get the feeling the way you control people has something to do with them hearing your voice, am I right? Hah. As if I need the confirmation. Of course, it’ll take time, but let’s do the brief version. We only have until sundown, although I have no problem leaving you here and coming back tomorrow.”

My eyes widened. She wouldn’t dare. Yet the determined look in her eyes told me she would. I winced. Eva’s departure hurt Donna more than I imagined. This was personal. Of course she wouldn’t back down until she knew who was responsible.

She paced in a leisurely stride and said, “First I’m going to ask you a few yes-no questions. You’ll reply with a nod or shake of the head. If you lie, I’ll know. Simple probability. When we’re done and you have something to add, or if I need you to spell out a name, I’ll spread out the cards and you’ll point to the letters. It’ll go something like this: first half or second half of the alphabet, then vowel or consonant. I’ll break the deck in that manner so it takes less time. So—” She stopped and faced me. I had no idea any woman other than my sister could ever intimidate me to such a degree. “—let’s get this over with.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN—Interrogation

O
f all the scenarios that had played out in my mind before, this was definitely nowhere near how I thought this revelation would go. My mouth was completely dry, water right before my eyes yet out of reach.

Donna’s stern expression stared me down. “Do all the Institutes have an Executioner?”

For that to be her first question, it definitely stopped my heart for a second. Damn, she was good.

I nodded. Her features relaxed; she had suspected it.

“Would you just let me go?” I wanted to say, but so long as Donna thought I might control her, no chance. It’d be pointless to even try. I’d have to earn her trust first, somehow.

If I just answered her every question without lying, that might do it. I could hope.

Donna paced and then said, “Were you exempt from using points because you knew who the Executioner was?”

She definitely got warmer, but I feared this might take a turn for the worse. And it did.

“Do you know who killed the first victim?”

I had no choice. I nodded.

Donna leaned in slightly to stare into my eyes. “Did you have anything to do with it?”

The rock behind my head felt very tempting again. I shut my eyes and nodded. When they opened, Donna had pulled back, a stricken look on her face. There went my chance of getting her to help me. Forget trust. Forget everything else.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, with head bowed and eyes clouded, she said, “Did you tell him to drown himself?”

I stared at her for what seemed to be an eternity. Donna already knew the answer, my expression completely miserable, so why bother? My head turned away from her, my face sunken, eyes full of remorse.

“Did you shoot them? Lauraline, Aaron, and Tasia. Your classmates. Your friends!” My head snapped back to look at her, eyes startled. Her own bore thick disgust, her hands barricading her body. I shook my head no. At least I was innocent of that much.

She chewed on her lip. “But they were killed.”

I shook my head again and her brow unknotted. Maybe there was still hope. Maybe I could redeem myself if I made her curious enough to find out what really happened. Knowing Donna, though, she’d find out everything she wanted to know before we got done with the yes-no questions.

Donna appeared deep in thought, nibbling on her thumb, and then said, “If they weren’t killed…they must have been taken somewhere.” Her eyes brightened. “Were they taken to the same place as Eva?”

This time, I shrugged. Wish I knew.

Donna scowled. “If
you
don’t know where they were taken, then you must know someone who does.”

I nodded, even though this time it wasn’t a question. She shot me a scrutinizing look. This was it. She contemplated letting me go. Or maybe an even more cruel plan.

No, she wouldn’t. Not safe yet.

“One last question,” she said, and I gazed at her in confusion. Only one?

“Are the bombings at the other institutes related to the student disappearances and our abilities?”

I nodded twice.

Donna’s lip curled. She sat down cross-legged and sectioned the cards on the stone. “Good. Now you’re going to spell out the name of the person you work for.”

To this, I squirmed, mainly because my wrists were nearly raw, since I had been rubbing the tuff-tie against the rock behind me, and it was about to break loose.

She raised the two halves of the deck in each hand. “So what will it be? First or second?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT—Comfort

I
stared between the two halves of the deck like at two great evils. I couldn’t give her Lenora’s name. It’d be suicide for Donna to confront her. And if I so much as uttered the first letter of her name, she’d know. But I couldn’t lie either. So I’d give her the name of someone higher up. Someone above even Lenora.