Experiment Number One
CHAPTER TWELVE

Here’s the fun stuff.

Well, most of it wasn’t fun for me at the time; it was more exhausting, heartbreaking, and depressing. But that’s what people really want to know when they ask you what happened, right?

George took me out of my cell and gave me an actual room. I mean, I had a queen-sized bed with a frame that didn’t feel like it was on the verge of snapping in half at any moment. I had a dresser, a rug, a lamp, and a bookshelf. I didn’t have to sleep in the same room I used the toilet. And best of all- I had a window. It overlooked a dried up moat and cracked auburn sand that stretched out farther than I could see. A barbwire fence surrounded the compound about two-hundred yards out. Sunlight constantly streamed through the window, giving the unnaturally damp desert an unearthly glow. Slight bumps in the sand were scattered around the compound like an animal burrowed deep into the dead earth. It wasn’t much of a site but to be able to see the sky and sun again put me in Heaven; not even my room back home in Lusha was that good.

On top of that, I was actually given real food. I was eating steak, rotisserie chicken, fresh vegetables, soft bread, pasta, soup, everything and anything better than that sad turkey and starch mashed potatoes they gave me not that long before. I later learned that I was being fed the same meals as the guards, which meant I was a person of worth. It felt good to be treated that way by everyone. Well, everyone besides Lieutenant Wallace.

Oh, and they took my bracelet off. Something about trusting me not to fry everyone alive.

I was no longer isolated in my cell. Instead, I spent most of my time with Doctor Taylor and Ren Clash. We spent day and night together running tests and experiments using my blood. Some of the time, I was hooked up to a machine sucking the precious liquid out of my body; other times, I would look over their shoulders, not understanding a thing. Sometimes, Lieutenant Wallace would come in and observe. I would smile at him and wave, but he just stared at me. It hurt; everyone else in the compound treated me like I was finally a part of their family, and then Lieutenant Wallace acted like I wasn’t even there.

He acted like the blackout never happened and in the process, pretended like I didn’t exist.

I should explain more about the tests, so I’ll return to the first day we did one. Only a short time after I agreed to be their subject, they brought me into the lab to begin working. Although everything was quite sudden and took me a little getting used to the routine– do I blame them for pressing so hard? I was never given a timeline for the “Ren Clash released an unspeakable danger” situation. However, it was a worldly threat, and time had already been wasted. After the power outage, the Dhasl spread far past the quarantined area, making their threat more liable. It takes forever to create a cure, so they had to get to work. I mean, that’s how I justified it to myself.

But anyway, the following day, they dragged me into the lab. That’s an exaggeration because they actually knocked on my cell door the night before I got my new room. I didn’t wake up with four heavily armed men dragging me out of my bed. Nope, they knocked and sweetly asked if I could go to the lab. They were going to allow me to walk there alone, but when I kindly reminded them I didn’t know where anything was in that place, they volunteered to escort me.

So I was in the lab and Ren Clash and Doctor Taylor were there. They sat me down at a table and explained what we would do. “So, the main focus is your blood. We’ll take some samples, run some tests and experiments to see how your antibodies react to the disease, and then we’ll go from there.” That’s what we did. They would inject me with a needle and take out a little bit at a time. Still, as the… progress progressed, I was being strapped to a machine with tubes inside my veins to suck out a more immense amount of blood. It made me queasy during each extraction.

I thought that’s all it was, you know? Oh, there is some blood here and there because what else could my body be good for? I had nothing more to offer except the liquid rubies running throughout me. Truthfully, during those first couple of weeks when they just took samples, I thought I could survive it. The process for the cure was going good; I wasn’t on my deathbed, and I finally felt safe and of value within the compound. I could have gone home if it stayed like that. I had a chance to see my siblings again.

But then Doctor Taylor and Ren Clash began to act strange.

On a random day, out of pure instinct, I came into the lab and made my way to the extraction chair, as I called it. Before I sat down, Doctor Taylor shouted at me from the other side of the lab. “Mendoza, will you come here, please?” Okay, cool, whatever. I just expected them to change the routine again as they developed more with the cure. So I went over to her, and she led me into the same room where we had that meeting. You know that one where they chained me to the table and played a PowerPoint. Yeah, that one. I entered the room, and Ren Clash and Lieutenant Wallace were already there. I hadn’t seen Lieutenant Wallace that much since I agreed to help with the cure. I would ask about him, but Doctor Taylor and Ren Clash always said he was out of the compound.

It was strange because he once told me he was there to ensure Doctor Taylor and Ren Clash didn’t mess anything up or make things worse. So, how was he supposed to do that outside the building? Despite all that, I felt he hated me or something for my decision. He advised me not to trust Doctor Taylor and Ren Clash and since I gave my consent to them, we hadn’t spoken a word to each other. Maybe he felt like I betrayed him. But I was doing it all for Amilio and Mariana.

Once in the room, we all took the same seats as our last meeting: Lieutenant Wallace was beside me, and Doctor Taylor and Clash were across. My stomach began to knot up because I didn’t know what was happening. All three of them looked annoyed? Angry? Disappointed? I had done something wrong. My DNA wasn’t fit for the cure and was a waste of time. Gods, my thoughts led to dark places; what would they do if I wasn’t enough?

Doctor Taylor got right to the point. “Mendoza, we found something surprising within your DNA.”

“What did you replace?”

“Well, it doesn’t quite make sense,” Ren Clash started. “See, we found that the Dhasl disease is already in your bloodstream, and we don’t know how.” Something stabbed me in the abdomen. The scar on my shoulder was only a scratch now that my body seemed to have some hyper-healing reflex toward the disease. Anyway, the scar began to ping with pain, reminding me of the secret I had kept from Ren Clash and Doctor Taylor. No, not just my secret. The secret me and Lieutenant Wallace had been keeping from them. I looked over at him; he kept his composure. I was unraveling at the seams.

“What does that mean.” I found Lieutenant Wallace usually talked in statements.

“Well, as Ren said, we don’t know.” Doctor Taylor rolled her cat eyes. “But we can guess. We theorize that maybe she was just born with the disease. Perhaps it’s not truly a disease to mutants as to regular humans. Maybe, to make a mutant, you need to have the Dhasl disease.”

My head twirled. I wasn’t smart enough with all of that science knowledge crap. “So, what does that mean for the cure?”

“Well, Mendoza, only mutants are immune to the disease, right?” Doctor Taylor said her words slowly as if I were a child with no comprehension.

“Right,” I responded bitterly.

“That means the only way to distribute the cure is to give the subjects the M-Gene.”

“How do you just give somebody a gene? Like, you can’t just create one for a living person. Can you?”

“There’s a lot of things you can do with science, Mendoza.”

I looked to Lieutenant Wallace to see if he understood any of what was being said. He was shooting daggers at Ren Clash and Doctor Taylor. His jawbone flexed from how hard he clenched his teeth, and his arms folding against his chest gripped each other harshly making his biceps bulge. I recognized his stature from that of my father; anger. He was upset about something Doctor Taylor and Ren Clash had said. Or, he was upset at me for being stupid for not understanding. Perhaps he was angry from when I got bit by the Infected, and now I was on SIA’s radar, risking both of our lives. I was throwing him into a four lane highway just because I was so persistent in returning home to my siblings.

“Ren Clash and I are developing something that will assist with the cure moving forward. For now, lets change the subject to the threat of the Dhasl.”

“What about them?” Lieutenant Wallace’s voice was gruff and distant like he would rather be anywhere but there.

“Well, I mean, we can’t create a cure if we don’t get the situation under control. All our hard work will go down the drain if they keep floating around infecting everyone,” Ren Clash looked anywhere but the eyes of the people in the room. It was a touchy subject for him because, you know, the Dhasl are his fault.

“It is under control. As long as we keep the lights on–”

“What if we have another power outage? What if we get attacked or some situation happens and we can’t turn the lights back on? What do we do then, Wallace?” Doctor Taylor spat.

“I don’t know, Taylor. You’re the scientist so figure it out.”

“You’re the Lieutenant! Maybe instead on going on your little adventures, you can assist with development like you were sent here to do!”

Lieutenant Wallace and Doctor Taylor screamed back and forth between each other for quite some time. This one said this, that one said that. Lieutenant Wallace would inch closer and closer to Taylor, and his face was increasingly red. Doctor Taylor would antagonize, poke fun at him, and sit back with a gleam in her eyes as if it was funny seeing him all worked up. I never thought I would see a man with such composure so upset. It was terrifying.

My heartbeat picked up speed, and my body started to tremble. The scars on my hands burned; I knew what that meant. I knew what the pain in my head and the aches in my bones meant. The two kept fighting and I felt small. My power coursed through my veins, and I could do nothing. Nothing I could do to stop the fighting and nothing I could do to stop my power.

I held my hands before me as I urged it to go away, but it tingled at my fingertips.

“Mendoza,” Ren Clash’s tone was somber. I looked up at him in panic, pleading for help. Lieutenant Wallace and Doctor Taylor stopped fighting once they heard how serious Ren was, and they turned to me in worry. Lieutenant Wallace spoke to me.

“Emerye, control it.” His voice was sweet, like how he talked to me in the hallway all those days before. I thought the only reason why he was talking to me like that was because he didn’t want me to kill him. Just thinking about the fact I had this power inside me that could kill someone sent me off the rails. I killed my father, and I killed gods know who else when they arrested me. I was tumbling down and didn’t know how to turn it off. “I– I don’t know how to.” I choked out. I felt the ghostly grips of my father’s hands around my neck.

“Emerye, breathe,” Lieutenant Wallace reached towards me.

“Don’t touch me!” I screamed as I threw myself back. My hands were engulfed. I didn’t know if my body was an open fuse. I didn’t want to see Lieutenant Wallace get electrocuted, nevertheless anybody.

Doctor Taylor and Ren Clash removed themselves from their seats and backed up against the far wall. Ren Clash was slowly reaching for the door handle, I’m guessing to run at any moment when I showed signs of blowing up, but Doctor Taylor snatched him away. She stared at me with wonder in her eyes.

“Emerye,” Lieutenant Wallace kept moving forward.

“Stay back,” I warned.

“Emerye, it’s okay. Alright? You just have to breathe.”

“I am breathing,” I cried as the bolts moved up my arms. Soon, my whole body would be ablaze. Soon, I would kill everyone in that room. I don’t know if I was included or not. If it was bound to happen, I subconsciously hoped I was.

“Calm down, Emerye. Just don’t think about it, alright? Just focus on your breathing. Just breathe and don’t lose control.” Lieutenant Wallace was on his knees in front of me, a safe distance away so that a bolt wouldn’t jump out and fry him, but close enough for me to see the sincerity in his eyes. I could tell I was more than just a project for him. More than a mission that he got stuck babysitting. I was more than just the mutant girl; I was a human. A human worthy of… of… of compassion? Understanding. Care.

“Breathe. Don’t lose control.”

I took in his words and absorbed them into my skin. They became one with me. I closed my eyes and forced every thought out of my mind. I took deep breaths and repeated it in my head. Breathe and don’t lose control.

After what felt like an hour, Lieutenant Wallace called to me. “Emerye, you can open your eyes now.” At first, I was a bit hesitant. I was afraid to see that the room around me was charred, and I killed everyone in it. I was scared that Lieutenant Wallace’s voice was inside my head and that I was a lone survivor. I didn’t think that I would’ve been able to deal with being stripped away from another place. I know I couldn’t have handled it.

“Emerye,” something touched my hand. “It’s alright, you’re safe.”

I opened my eyes, and everything was fine. The room was fine. Ren Clash and Doctor Taylor were fine. Lieutenant Wallace was fine. I was fine. I didn’t lose control.

Lieutenant Wallace sat before me, gripping my hands, and looked through my eyes into my soul. Something warm and tight wrapped around my heart as he soothed my palms. He was the only one who cared.

“That’s it!” Ren Clash huffed out. He was sweating as if he was the one with the exploding power that could kill anyone within a one-hundred-foot radius.

“That’s it,” Ren Clash removes himself from the wall and walked towards me. “Her power is the key to defeating the Dhasl.”

“We know that Clash, but we can’t just inject some serum into a cloud of smoke,” Doctor Taylor sounded afraid. Her face looked intrigued, but how she enunciated her words sounded like she was on the brink of crying or screaming at any moment.

“That’s what we’ve been missing. We’ve been forgetting that she is a weapon rather than an ape. We need to focus less on how she has powers but rather what her powers can do.” Ren crouched down to my level. “The mutants defeated Warzel, yes? That’s how I knew Mendoza played a part in all of this. So maybe, just maybe, the mutants are the weakness to the Dhasl, specifically their powers. Maybe, Mendoza here can not only create a cure but also defeat the Dhasl.” Ren Clash reached his hand out towards me.

I was in a state of shock. I almost just killed a group of people; the only thing I wanted to do was to throw my bracelet back on and forget that I even had powers in the first place. But, if Ren Clash was saying was true, I could save the Infected and prevent more from being created by eliminating the Dhasl. I could actually save the world once and for all, and in that moment, that’s all I wanted to do. I didn’t want to cause any more death or destruction. I wanted to allow the world to keep spinning.

That was the only way I could ensure the safety of my siblings from the position that I was in.

I gave one last look at Lieutenant Wallace, his eyes looked to be pleading with me. For a second, I wanted to stay down. But I couldn’t; I had to rise up. I took Ren Clash’s hand and he pulled me to my feet.

“What do you say, Mendoza?”

There was no way I was going to say no.