Fourth Birth: The Oakmont Saga, Book 1
Chapter 21

“Sir, the facility is ready,” a voice said.

“Excellent. Let’s get a prep team up there now to start work. The rest of us will arrive within the week,” a familiar voice replied.

“Doctor, how should we begin,” yet another voice asked.

“Use standard methods for now. I suppose you can use the psi-inducing derivative to get the process started. Be careful with dosing. 32145 is smaller than age implies. We wouldn’t want to damage the subject before getting good data,” said the one I thought of as the boss.

I woke up soaking wet, thanks to the cold sweat I had all over my body. Although the vision or dream didn’t give much detail, I had a very good idea what they were planning to do. Aliyah and I needed to leave, and soon. Our time for preparing was over.

Getting out of bed, I got my things and headed to the shower. Although I was getting better, the feeling of filth was still there and I felt like I had to scrub hard to try and clean myself, although it never worked.

Once done cleaning in the nearly scalding water, I curled up in the corner of the shower stall, like I had been earlier in my nightmarish time here. This was something I hadn’t felt the need to do in a little while now, but the dream or whatever it was had me feeling really nervous and scared. I was cowering in the corner shaking like a leaf, terrified of what I saw and what I believed was coming.

“Melanie,” I suddenly heard, making my heart leap into my throat. Aliyah was standing with the curtain pulled open a little, looking at me with a very worried frown.

“Are you okay?” Not able to speak, due to all of the emotions going crazy inside me, I shook my head that I wasn’t. She reached over, turned the water off and grabbed my towel. Wrapping it around me, she helped lift me up and dried me off, with me standing there like a badly shaking statue. Finished drying me, she helped me get dressed.

Once she was done taking care of me, we sat on the bench beside each other. “I had a dream,” I started, but I was unable to continue, as tears formed in my eyes.

“Is it about James again?” I shook my head that it wasn’t.

She just sat with me, letting me get myself together. Finally, I thought I was ready to talk. “I’ve had several like it before, but this one scared me really bad.” She was about to say something, but I stopped her with a firm hand on hers. “Let me tell you about it.”

“I think I’m seeing something that’s really happening somewhere. There are some people talking about coming here and doing experiments on you and me. I’ve read a little about what they used to do here in that journal I found. It’s horrible and the doctor that wrote it didn’t like it either. They’re coming soon and I’m scared.”

“Then we need to leave, while we can.”

“I know, but there are things we need that we can’t get on our own and I don’t know how to get them.”

“We’ll just have to do the best we can with what we have,” she replied.

Thinking about our packs, I knew we had plenty of rope, fire starting stuff, some clothes, although they were all school uniforms, a tent and sleeping bags, a hand chain saw, which I was shocked to replace, a small camp shovel, a couple of water bottles and a compass. We still didn’t have a map, or any food.

The food was a big deal, if we were on our own for any length of time. We could manage for a while without any, but there were limits, and the lack of food would affect our ability to run if we needed to. However, with all of that, there was no way we could survive in a northern climate without winter clothing. I guess we’d have to trust that we’d survive, or God would provide what we needed.

“Go to classes like normal. I’ll see if I can replace some of the things we’ll need,” I instructed her.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. It’ll be easier if only one of us goes, and they’re already used to me not going to classes a lot. They’d notice if you missed.”

Looking doubtful, she got her stuff and headed to the door. Opening it, she turned to me, “Be careful.”

Smiling at her, I told her, “I will.” She ran over and hugged me quickly, then left.

Once she was gone, I headed to where I had the packs stashed, which she didn’t even know about. As soon as I saw them, I knew something was wrong. Someone had messed with them since I last added to my stash, besides the fact that the packs were different. Worried, I turned to leave and saw the janitor in the door.

“So you’re the one filching the supplies. Planning to escape?” Terror shot through me, but I knew if I didn’t think of something quick, Aliyah and I would never get out of here.

“No sir—,” I started.

“Just collecting camping supplies in case they start a scouting troop, then?”

There was no way out of this. It was obvious that he knew and he was just playing with me. “I’m sorry, sir. I’ll put it all back and accept my punishment.”

“At least you finally chose honesty and a bit of bravery. I expect no less of a Brager. Now, where’s your partner in crime?”

A little confused at what he said, I only stared at him before realizing he asked me a question. “She’s in class, sir, but she had nothing to do with this. She didn’t even know I had this stuff.” He looked at me intently for a minute, which seemed like the longest minute of my life.

“You were missing several important items in your gear. First, you need food, although you two won’t be able to carry a lot. You also need winter clothes, which you don’t have and can’t get on your own. They’re very good at keeping those items from you,” he said, still with that intense look on his face.

“I took the liberty of replacing and repacking your packs, assuming the second one is for Aliyah. There are clothes in there for getting out and also once you get into civilization. Due to your small size and lack of body strength, you’ll need to wear the same clothes for multiple days. You’re in northwest Montana, in case you didn’t know. Go due west, or as west as possible until you get to the highway. Go south on the highway. That would be a left when you hit it. Take it toward Whitefish. A few miles out, there’s a small unmarked road between two light poles and two large aspens. Turn on it and go to the end. There’s an older couple living in the house at the end. They’re the Gardner’s. They’ll help you if you tell them that Cage sent you. During your escape, you’re going to have to work to stay hidden, that includes staying off of any cameras of any type. In other words, if you’re filmed, you’re caught.”

Even more confused than I was earlier, I stood there staring at him with what I was sure was a dumb look. “Close your mouth and say ‘thank you’.”

“Thank you, sir, but why’re you helping us?”

“I have many reasons, but let’s just say I owe your Dad several and this will start paying back some of that debt, although that’s not the most important reason. When are you planning on leaving?” he asked, changing the subject.

“As soon as I can get all of the supplies I need and replace a good time that will give us a longer head start before they start looking for us. I’m worried though. I think someone’s coming to do experiments on Aliyah and me, but I don’t know when, but I know it’s really soon.”

“Hmm, that’s not a bad plan and I understand the worry if you found that out. Don’t worry about any of your supplies. I’ll take care of that. I’ll also relocate the packs to your exit point,” he said and paused, thinking.

“Yes, you need to know about that. If you get to the basement and take the tunnel away from the school, it’ll go under the fence and the security perimeter. Not sure how or why, but I think they’ve forgotten about it. Anyway, at the end is a metal door, which leads to the outside.” I remembered going there once. I’d wondered if it was outside the wall, but assumed it wasn’t.

“Outside, you’ll be in the wilderness so I hope you can make it on your own for a while. If I could go with you, I would, but I’ll help insure you’re able to get out with a little more of a head start. I need to know now, do you know how to shelter in the snow?” I nodded that I did. “Good. I’ll have to trust that you’re right. Everything else is just a luxury. Fill your water bottle with snow every day and keep it inside your coat. That’ll give you constant drinking water, which’ll be very important, more so than food.”

He paused again, “I think I’ve covered everything. I’ll be watching you as closely as I can. If anything looks wrong to me, I’ll do my best to help you get out. Any questions?”

“There are a couple of items I need to get and add to my pack.”

“Like I said, tell me what you need and I’ll get it.”

“These are special things that only I can get. I can go now and come right back.”

“Alright, hurry and I’ll wait here then.”

Running out of the room, I went to the old lab first, going into the metal room. I grabbed several of each of the test tubes, leaving about two of each. When I walked out of left the lab, the soldier was in the corridor. Not sure why I hadn’t before, but I realized, he was there quite a bit when I came out of the lab.

“Good morning Melanie,” he said.

“Good morning, sir,” I replied, trying to hide the test tubes behind my back.

“What are you trying to hide?” he asked, totally blowing my hopes that I had hidden them. I wondered if I could use images to make him see something different, like I did with the pills. It was my only option, so I pulled my hands out and as I did I sent images into his mind of my hands being empty.

“Turn around.” Doing as he asked, I maintained the images making my hands appear empty. That was very difficult to maintain, and although I wasn’t sure I succeeded, he didn’t say anything. When I thought I’d escaped, two men in doctor’s coats approached. Hoping that this would work, I projected the same images into their minds. There was a feeling of resistance with them, but I thought it worked.

“Good morning, Mr. Stone,” one of them said. That voice sent a chill through me. I recognized that voice. It was the boss, who wasn’t supposed to be here yet.

“Good morning, Doctor Trasker,” Mr. Stone replied.

Now I had a name for one of the voices. “And who do we have here?”

“This is Melanie Brager, doctor.”

“Melanie Brager,” the doctor said, obviously thinking. He didn’t know my name. Apparently, he only knew me by my number.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, young lady,” he finally said, obviously not making the connection.

“Good to meet you too, sir,” I dutifully replied, thankful he wasn’t trying to shake my hand. My deception with the test tubes would have been blown if he had.

“May I go, Mr. Stone?” I asked, desperate to get away.

“Yes, but you probably should stay out of this section of the building from now on.”

“Yes, sir,” I replied, and ran off, trying not to look like I was running.

Getting to my room, I grabbed the journal and returned to the room where I stored the packs. Mr. Ciansa was sitting on one of the beds, patiently waiting. I tossed the test tubes and the journal on the bed beside him, dropping to my knees, spent and in turmoil inside.

“What’s the matter?”

“They’re here.”

He looked at me for a moment. “I suppose that puts a little twist to your plans. Do you think you can delay, or do you want to accelerate your plan?”

“I don’t know. What do you think I should do?” I then asked, very confused and feeling panicked.

“You’ve been working on a good plan so far. I’ve seen you working your body, obviously aiming for endurance and flexibility, preparing for what you expect to need. Ballet was an ingenious idea, by the way,” he said, not knowing that I didn’t choose that.

“Besides being very good for both endurance and flexibility, you’re absolutely beautiful doing it. When you get home, you should get your Dad to enroll you in a ballet class.” Although I knew he was trying to make me feel good and get me excited about my plan, it caused a wave of sadness to come over me, more intense than I was prepared for, with everything else going on inside me right then.

“Why the sad face?” He wiped the single tear that escaped off my cheek.

“I’ll never see Momma and Daddy again.”

“Hmm, I think you might be wrong about that.”

“If I go home, I’ll put them in danger. That’s the first place they’ll look for me.”

“You’re going to be as good as your Dad, with a little training. Your instincts are very good, and normally I’d agree with you, but in this case you’re wrong. Your father can take care of you and keep you safer than anyone else can.” I wished he was right, but these people had a lot of stuff that they could use to replace me and get me from Momma and Daddy.

“Trust me, Mel. Your Dad can keep you and your family safe. Going to him is the best thing you can do. But you don’t have to get to him. Just follow the instructions I already gave you. The Gardner’s will help you past that point. You don’t need to worry about anything else, okay?” he said, lifting my chin to look at my face as he said this. I nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“As for your time table, I think you need to move it up, and I’ll try and provide a distraction. My advice is to leave tonight, after room check. No one will notice you’re gone until tomorrow morning, when you guys don’t show up for class, and I can delay that a little longer. Maybe a couple of hours, if things go well. By the time they start looking, you need to be at least halfway to the road, which means you two will need to push hard. Can you do that?”

“I think so. My ribs are mostly healed and I’ve hiked in snow before, but I don’t know about Aliyah.”

“If you can’t make that kind of time, just hike as stealthily as you can. Try and avoid open areas, and try to cover your tracks, if you can. Normally, I’d say travel at night, but it’s simply too cold right now. I think that’s all the advice I can give you. In spite of what I said about the cold, I would suggest leaving tonight, if you’re ready.”

“I’m ready, and Aliyah will have to be. How will you know if we actually leave tonight?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll know. Now, you need to get to class before someone asks any funny questions.”

“Thank you,” I said, as I headed out the door for class. Getting to my room, I realized that it was my time for practice. I didn’t even have class right then and my internal clock didn’t let me know.

When I got to the basement, I pulled out my trash can, which had a lot of ash in it now and a lot of soot on the sides. My ability had been getting steadily stronger as I practiced, but not enough to consider it a weapon, other than I could use it to help me and Aliyah escape. I was scared of pulling too much power though. Besides possibly making a fire I couldn’t control, I was afraid of drawing that much energy and what it could do to me.

With a new sense of urgency and excitement, everything was coming together a little quicker than I liked, I went through my warm up exercises. Ready to start a fire, I put a couple pieces of paper in the can and drew the energy into myself, feeling the warmth flow into my body. It was almost addictive it felt so good, which was what scared me so much. The warmth infused more than my body, also touching my mind and my soul. I felt good all over every time I drew it in.

Without any thought about the fire, I released a surge of energy into the can. When the energy hit, I had to jump back as the heat and flame washed back out toward me. A little shocked at that, I checked my arms which got the most of the heat and found a lot of singed hairs. I looked in the bottom of the can, at the place where the paper had been, and there was nothing. Not even any ash. There was a small hole in the bottom of the trash can and the metal on the sides looked like they’d melted.

That was a little scary. Sliding the trash can back under the pipe, where I kept it somewhat hidden, I sat on the pipe and closed my eyes. I sent a probe out into the school to see what I could see.

I found Mrs. Wilde teaching a math class to high school kids and Mrs. Warple was teaching the Physics class that I quit. I found Mr. Miller as well, not sure why I was taking the chance. I barely touched him with my probe, afraid of him discovering me. He gave no response. Feeling a little bolder, I tentatively entered his mind. He was concentrating on the class he was teaching right then.

I observed his open thoughts, hoping I could get something useful from what he was teaching, but there was nothing I didn’t already know. Suddenly, it was as if an alarm was going off in his head. I withdraw immediately, with the image of me running through the halls of the building to get away. I didn’t bother replaceing any of my other teachers.

Finally, I found the target I was really looking for. It was a little harder to replace him since I’d never really been in his mind before, only having heard him in my dreams and I’d met him once a little while ago. I didn’t count pushing images as being in someone’s mind. I knew it was a very gray area, as far as being ethical and all, but there were no well-established ethics for this anyway. I sure wasn’t going to use the standards the school had given us.

Reaching into his mind was much harder than I would’ve thought. It was like his mind was blocked somehow, or maybe shielded, but I managed to get in after struggling a little. It never even occurred to me he could possibly be a telepath, as well. There was nothing I could do, if he was. It was too late.

Inside was like being in some kind of really weird and twisted maze. Nothing made sense to me. Working through the twists and turns that were his mind, I found myself in a thought area that was purely science, something I could relate to. But his science was all wrong. I couldn’t get actual thoughts, like I did with other people. It was more impressions, kind of like that weird art where people interpret the painting. This man’s mind was kind of like that, but even weirder.

What was very apparent was that he was on a quest. It was a quest to unlock the human mind so mankind could evolve into something much better. That wasn’t a bad thing, really, but it was very clear to me that he had no problem experimenting on people, even kids, to do what needed to be done. As I got that impression, I realized he now knew who I was and that I was the one he wanted most. There was a very clear picture of me in his mind. He also wanted Aliyah and the images I got of things he was going to do to her almost made me throw up.

I tried to break the connection, but pulling out was almost as hard as making it in in the first place. It was almost like I was being shielded from leaving. I had to struggle to get out of his mind, unlike the other times I’d entered someone’s mind. Fighting with all I had, getting desperate to get out of this nutjobs head, I finally broke free. Because of the junk in there, I felt dirty again, really dirty.

When I woke up, there was no other way to describe what this was like, I was laying on the floor. My head was killing me and I was sweating really bad. I realized I was also shaking pretty bad too. We had to get out of here, right then.

I headed to the cafeteria, waiting for Aliyah to come to lunch. The wait was like an eternity. I was worried that they’d come for me anytime, which they might. Maybe we should have just left then, but if we did, they’d start looking for us sooner. As hard as it was, we needed to wait.

By the time she finally showed up, I was a bundle of nervous energy. “What’s wrong with you and why’re you here?” she asked, sitting down and starting to eat.

“They’re here,” I told her. She stopped eating, with her fork almost to her mouth, and looked at me. I remembered that look from once before, but couldn’t remember when.

“I assume you mean the bad guys that want to do bad things to us, and not some other they,” she said, her kind of sarcastic way of asking that almost made me laugh. Any other time I probably would have, but I only nodded this time.

“When do we leave?”

“I was planning on leaving on a holiday, which would give us more time before they might notice, but since they’re here we need to leave tonight.”

“Do you have everything we need?” I nodded again. “Okay, let’s do it,” she said, in that no nonsense way she had sometimes.

“After room check, we’ll go,” I told her and this time she nodded.

Done with that, I went to get some food for lunch. Oddly, I was actually hungry, and very hungry at that. When I was done, we both went to math. It was difficult to sit through class, since my mind was working at about 120 miles per hour. I went to the teen fiction site and found a book, just to try and occupy my mind for a little while.

“Melanie, would you come with us please?” a voice said, breaking my thoughts, which amazingly had become very focused on the story I’d been reading. Looking up, I saw a couple of people, one in a doctor’s coat, but not the man from earlier. Along with them was the Headmaster.

Fear shot through me and I could tell Mrs. Wilde was nervous as well. Getting up, I followed the two men out the door. I considered running, but two men took my arms as soon as we got outside the class, ramping my fear up several levels. I sent a thought to Aliyah as I was being led away, If I’m not back tonight, leave without me.

They led me to the old section of the school and into a very clean and white room with medical tables and stuff all over the place. It was very neatly arranged, but there was lots of it.