The Institute (29 page)

I finish my
exam, read over it one more time, as I’m not entirely sure of a few
of the answers and then press the little red button on my
remote.

After waiting a
few minutes, Lynch walks in and looks at my test. “Good work,” she
says. She puts another piece of paper down in front of me. This one
is not another multiple choice quiz, it is an essay. At the top of
the page, it has one sentence:

THE HISTORY OF
THE INSTITUTE AND THE VITAL ROLE IT PLAYS IN TODAY’S SOCIETY

I’ve got
this
, I smile. That terrible assignment with Ebbodine has come
through for me. I start writing before Lynch has even left the
room. I figure I should chop and change it just a tad though, I add
the fact that while not every Defective person is outwardly
dangerous, it is still important to ensure we track everyone who is
Defective and bring them in for treatment. I know they won’t be
happy with me saying that not every one of us is dangerous, but on
some level they have to believe that as well or they wouldn’t be
sending us back into the world.

I think it
takes me less time to write out a whole page essay than it did to
finish the twenty question test. I press the red button again and
Lynch enters. She takes my essay off me but doesn’t read it like
she did the first exam.

“Okay, last
part of the test. We need you to get dressed, you’re going for a
fitness test.”

Here
goes
, I think. I hope I don’t fail this last part of the
test.

I get changed
in the girls’ locker room of my fitness class. I take a deep breath
and walk out to where I am met by Lynch and Jack. I’m actually glad
when I see Jack is here with me, I might stand a chance with him
here. I never thought I would see the day where I am happy to see
him. I wonder what his real name is, I’ve spent so much time with
him in training but I’ve never actually cared enough to ask.

They walk me
down halls I have yet to explore, I don’t know where we are headed.
We get to a door and Lynch turns to me, “Are you ready?” she asks.
I nod, I think I’m ready. She opens the door and my eyes start
stinging so bad I have to close them. I put my hand up to block the
light.

“What … is
that?” I ask.

“Oh come on,
you haven’t been here that long to forget what sunlight is have
you?” Lynch asks.

It takes a
while for my eyes to adjust, the sun is just so blinding. When they
finally stop stinging, I am able to see where I am. I am outside,
for the first time in months, I am outside. I breathe in, my lungs
fill with fresh, un-recycled air. My skin soaks in the sunlight, it
feels amazing beating down on me. I think all this time of spending
all day, every day inside has made my body starved of vitamin D. It
feels euphoric to be outside, it pumps me up and it energises me. I
know what passing this test will mean, it will mean I can have this
feeling always.

It’s amazing
how you can take something for granted for so long, even forget
what you are missing out on after a while. Now that I’ve had a
taste of it, I can’t fail, I have to be released, I have to pass
this test.

“Okay, first up
you have a timed five kilometre run,” Lynch says. Wow, way to ease
me into it. “Eugene here will be running with you, to show you the
way and ensure there’s no shortcuts taken.”

No wonder Jack
has muscles that big, I bet he had to beat up a lot of kids at
school when he was younger to over compensate for the fact his real
name is Eugene.

Lynch has a
stop watch. She gets me and Eugene to … nope, there’s no way I can
call him that.
Jack
and I line up behind a starting line,
which is just two poles sticking out of the ground.

Lynch counts us
down, “Three, two, one, go,” and Jack and I start running. It’s
hard to get used to running on uneven ground again, my body is used
to the flat conveyer belt of the treadmill but it doesn’t take me
long to get my rhythm back. It’s liberating being able to run for
real, the sound of my feet beating against the ground is
therapeutic. I feel a smile cross my face and I realise I haven’t
even had to borrow any energy from Jack, all of this working out
must have improved my stamina after all.

I make it the
five kilometres without any help from Jack. I have confidence I may
pass this test all on my own. That is, until I see my next test: an
obstacle course.

I see that Chad
is just about to finish his go. The last obstacle on the test is to
scale a wall and drop to the other side. The wall is massive and he
makes it look easy. I look over and see his advisor and someone who
looks familiar but I can’t pinpoint who he is, standing to the side
and writing things down. The unknown man is wearing glasses and …
oh wait, he was at my first interrogation, before Jack took
over.

I look at these
people and it feels like a million years ago that they dragged me
into that room. I guess it has been a few months, and by that, I
literally am guessing. I couldn’t even tell you what day of the
week it is, let alone what month.

Next to them,
sitting on a wooden barricade is Zircon, a woman I don’t know, and
Paxton. I guess the woman must be Zircon’s adviser. I wonder if he
has had his go at the course yet or not. Chad finishes and runs
over to his advisor. How does he still have energy to run when he
has just completed that? They are all smiles as they shake hands
and point in Zircon’s direction. Zircon gets up and starts walking
over to the starting position while we all go over to the wooden
barricades and we all sit. Lynch, Jack, myself and Chad and his two
escorts watch as Zircon begins his obstacle course. I watch him
intently and watch how he moves, how I’m going to have to move. As
he nears the end of the course, I begin to get nervous.

“You’ve got
this,” Chad whispers to me. I look at him and he signals to Jack,
“No sweat.”

“Piece of
cake,” I say, even though right now I feel like this won’t be an
easy task at all.

Chad leans in
and embraces me, which takes me off guard. It’s not until he
whispers in my ear that I realise that he needs to be close enough
so no one else can hear, “and if you get really stuck, the guy with
the glasses – you can pull energy from him to slow your heart rate
down. Tate told me about him, he was in his interrogation.” With
Chad’s breath in my ear, I think that ability will come in handy
right now, forget the obstacle course.

With Zircon
almost finished, Jack, Lynch and I get up and go to the start of
the obstacle. I look over at Chad, still sitting there watching and
look at the others on the field. My sudden confidence I had during
my run is being overshadowed by my fear of failure. I really hope I
am strong enough to pull energy from them, but even more, I really
hope I’m not about to learn a lesson about cheaters never
prospering.

Lynch counts me
down again and I’m off. It’s an easy task to start with, running
through car tyres, lifting my legs as high as I can so I don’t
trip. I move on to a short balance beam, all of the exercising I
have been doing lately must have improved my balance also because
this too, is quite easy. The next task is crawling in mud, under a
net that is trying to push me down. This is getting harder because
I can’t see where I am going and I’m trying to not get mud in my
face. I almost feel claustrophobic, like I may never reach the end
but I do. I’m a little puffed but I make it. I move along to the
next thing which is to climb a single knotted rope to the top and
ring a bell. I could really use some of Jack’s arm power here.
After all, they are as big as my entire head. I try to pull energy
from Jack but nothing is coming, it’s not helping. I start to
falter, I’m half way up and I need to desperately catch my breath.
I close my eyes, breathe in, hang on for dear life and focus. I
pull the energy from the guy with the glasses and slow my heart
rate, and as I am able to do that, I focus back on Jack. I pull
myself up the rest of the way, ring the bell and jump back
down.

I’m almost
finished. My muscles are burning like they always do when I work
out, all I have to do now is crawl through a long tunnel and then
scale the wall … the really tall wall. I make it through the tunnel
with ease but now I’m looking at the wall in front of me. The
wooden wall has a rope mesh overlay so I have places to put my feet
while climbing it, I go to start running towards it but have to
brace myself first. I jump up and down on the spot a couple of
times, crack my neck and stretch; I know it’s wasting time but I
need to psych myself up for it.
I can do this
, I tell
myself. I run towards the wall but as soon as I put my feet in the
holes, the whole mesh part pulls away from the wall and I almost
fall. How did Chad and Zircon make this look so easy? I remind
myself to stay calm, place my feet gently and pull myself up. I get
near the top and I slip, my feet falling out from underneath me and
only hanging by my arms. I hear everyone watching gasp in unison.
Pull yourself together, Allira!
I breathe deep and summon
all the strength I can. I throw the lower half of my body out and
swing my legs in to get a good grip on my feet. My right foot slips
again, but my left has found a hole. I am able to regain my balance
and climb the rest of the way up. I swing my legs over and I sit at
the top for a moment, taking in the view, looking over at my
spectators who have started clapping. I feel victorious, not only
because I managed to finish but the fact I just climbed that wall
without any help from Jack. I jump down with aid from the rope
attached to the wall and land on my feet, more graceful than I
thought I ever could be.

I now know how
Chad could run after he was finished; the adrenalin I am feeling
pumping through me is keeping me going. I feel so accomplished, so
happy, I have passed my field test. And then all of it goes away
when I realise, I’m going to be a field agent.

Chapter
Eighteen

They throw a
party for us, which I find quite weird. It’s in the training centre
cafeteria. Some really sad looking decorations are put out and
everyone from our classes are here. All Chad and I want to do is go
and see Tate, we won’t be able to while we’re out in the field so I
want to spend as much time with him as possible. But we are stuck
in here, being congratulated by everyone and being toasted by Mr.
Brookfield; he has actually made an appearance. I haven’t seen him
since that first day of training when Lynch and him … I shudder at
the memory.

I see Shilah
across the room, standing with some other kids. I think he is
avoiding me on purpose, for here we are celebrating the fact that I
am doing what I would not allow him to choose to do. I don’t know
why he’s angry at me though, he got his way. He’s still being
trained and he has his own apartment thanks to me but I can’t get
into that with him again, we’ll just go around in circles again. I
should talk to him. But here? In front of everyone? He’ll kill me
if I embarrass him.

No. I have to
do it. I’m going to swallow my pride and make nice with Shilah.

“I really wish
someone here had a bravery ability,” I say to Chad.

He gestures at
Shilah with a head nod, “You going to go talk to him?”

“I was thinking
about it.”

“You probably
should. Once we get sent out, who knows when we will be back.”

I make my way
over there and I can feel my eyes tearing up before I even reach
him. What is wrong with me? I hope I’m not reverting to the
blubbering mess I was before I was arrested.

Shilah and I
don’t exchange words, we just hug.

I have to
apologise, “I’m sorry—”

“Don’t, don’t
say it,” Shilah interrupts, “You don’t need to.” He pulls away from
me. “Do you know when you’re leaving yet?”

“Not yet. It
could be a couple of days, maybe a few weeks. They haven’t really
told us anything yet.”

“They’re good
at that aren’t they?” I smile when he says this, maybe there is
hope for him yet. “What about him?” He points to Chad. “Are you
going to be close when you’re out?”

“Don’t know
that yet either. I doubt it, I think we’ll be teamed up with
experienced partners.”

“That’s a
shame, I like you with him a lot better than with Drew. That guy is
such an ass.”

“That’s for
sure, but I can tell you with complete honesty, Chad and I are just
friends.”

“Ha, if you say
so. I’ve seen the way he looks at you,” says Shilah. “I see the way
he’s looking at you right now.” He’s looking at me? I turn to look,
and Chad is looking in the complete opposite direction. “Nothing
may be happening between you two, but you just proved you want it
to,” he smirks.

I turn back and
punch him in the arm, “You’re an ass,” but this just makes him
laugh even more.

“Oh, he’s
coming over here,” he says.

“Yeah, I’m
going to believe that,” I say sarcastically. I know he’s just
teasing again, I’m not going to look.

“No really, he
is.”

“Uh huh, sure.
You just want me to turn around so you can rub it in that I like
him, which I don’t.”

I feel a hand
on my hip and a breath in my ear, I can feel the heat from his body
on my back. It’s Chad. “Do you think anyone will notice if we
escape? I want to go see Tate, do you want to come?”

I’m absolutely
mortified. Shilah is laughing and my face is burning.

“Umm, sure.” We
start to walk out but as I pass Shilah, I kick him in his shin.
He’s still laughing even though he’s jumping around in pain now.
“So the talk went well then?” Chad says as we get into the
elevator.

“Oh the whole
kicking him thing? He deserved it.” I really hope he doesn’t ask me
why.

“Well at least
it didn’t look like you were fighting, so that’s a good thing
right?”