Haunting of Superior

Chapter 6

"And they are the key to exposing Antonio."

Jamie stared up at the man in shock, having not expected those words to come out of his mouth. What on earth did he mean by that? And why was he talking about exposing Antonio if he was one of the ones doing Antonio's terrible work? Nervously she grabbed Jack's hand to secure him. She wanted to make sure nothing happened to him.

If only she hadn't sneezed. She and Jack had barely gotten to the scene, and they had only managed to overhear the last bit before the pollen from the plant they were hiding behind made Jamie sneeze. They had gotten caught, and Jamie was wishing she had originally listened to Jack when he first protested against coming to the entrance. She met the man's gaze bravely and braced herself to get punished.

Surprisingly, he didn't grab her.

In fact, he beamed down at Jamie and Jack as if they were the most important things in the world. He stretched out a hand to Jamie and Jack, a warm kindness in his eyes that Jamie had never seen before in any of Antonio's employees. However, she could see the pity behind the kindness. She pushed Jack slightly behind her and glared up at the man, refusing to take his hand.

The man withdrew his hand, understanding that Jamie didn't trust him. "You don't need to be scared," he told them. "I'm not going to hurt or report you."

"Really?" Jamie scoffed in disbelief. "Then why are you fine with Antonio keeping us locked in here as experiments?"

"He what?" asked a woman from behind the man.

The man's head lowered in shame. "I'm not," he said, voice choked with regret. "I wish I could have broken you out, but, um, I'm one of the few who didn't know about the children until it was too late." He lifted his head and sighed. "But questioning Antonio's actions is not a good move, and it, um, wouldn't have helped you anyway. Everyone else is too convinced that this is for the greater good, and there's no way I can stop them by myself."

Jamie didn't believe the man. How could she, after all this time spent among these cruel people? None of them had ever wanted to help her before; why would one want to now? To her, it was suspicious. As three other people came around the corner, she watched their movements to make sure they weren't going to harm her. They stared at her and Jack with wide eyes and open mouths. Clearly they hadn't expected to see children in this place.

"William," the man in front began, " who the heck are these kids?"

"Antonio, uh, kidnapped these two and is running experiments on them," William explained. He was inwardly cringing at the awkwardness of the revelation. "There were, uh, other kids, but they all died to... to..." He swallowed, not wanting to continue that sentence.

But he didn't need to say anymore. They all got the message. Jamie's heart dropped all the way to the soles of her feet. The other kids died? She didn't know that. She looked at Jack; his expression was tight and reserved, hiding whatever feelings were brewing inside of him. He must have already known about that.

Then William turned back to them, a question in his eyes. "Did you get the note?" he asked Jamie.

Jamie's eyes widened in shock. "You made that note?" she gasped. She paused, realizing what the rest of the question meant. "You- you actually wanted me to find that? Not someone else."

"No, it was intended for you," William confirmed.

"Why?" Jack suddenly spoke. "Why would you ask us to come? Aren't we just meaningless test subjects and work machines?" His tone was bitter, holding every resentment he had against Antonio. Jamie was surprised to hear such gate coming from her little brother.

"So you don't want to help me sabotage Antonio's work?"

Jack opened his mouth to reply then shut it, clearly considering whether or not William was being valid. Jamie, however, didn't think twice.

"Yes," she replied, voice strong and steady. She wanted to do anything to prevent her brother from being used in an experiment ever again.

William turned to the trio behind him. They had looks of extreme confusion written on their faces, and they hadn't even finished processing William's latest question. They stared at him blankly as he waited for them to answer.

"Um... did you ask something?" the man who was not Isaac said.

"I asked if you wanted to sabotage Antonio," William repeated.

Contrary to Jamie, the adults actually took their time thinking on a decision. There were obviously many risks, but surely they were worth it to save some kids? Eventually they nodded, deciding it was indeed worth it. William almost sank to the ground in relief; words could not describe how grateful he was to have help with his daunting task. Having other people's help was the only way he, a fumbling mess, could do anything. He looked at his watch and was surprised to see that it was almost four A.M..

"We should go," William said. "I don't want to stay here for too long."

Jamie's heart suddenly lifted when she realized the adults could sneak her and Jack out. "Can we come with you?" she begged, standing up and looking at William pleadingly.

William winced and slowly shook his head. There was a look of hard regret in his eyes when he saw Jamie's face fall. He looked down at the floor to avoid her gaze as he said, "I'm-I'm sorry. You can't come. A-"

"Why not?" Jamie interrupted. Her heart pounded in desperation. This was a free chance to leave, and she refused to let it get snatched away from her like candy from a baby! "Why not?" she repeated more angrily as William tried to get in a response.

"Because Antonio will notice and realize some people are trying to rise up against him!" William urged Jamie to understand.

"So what?" Jamie refused to understand. "Why should my brother and I stay in this torturous place and wait for you to stop Antonio when you can take us out right now?"

"Antonio keeps a sharp eye on all of his prisoners, and I do not want to be found out this early in the game! It would be catastrophic for the whole world!" William cried. "To keep our secret meeting a secret, you two will have to stay in the building!"

The fear and authority in his voice silenced Jamie from protesting again. Suddenly she felt guilty for not looking at the bigger picture. Would she really have risked the world's safety by leaving? Was William telling the truth? She glanced at Jack, still huddled in the small corner between the wall and the pot. But then, how could she stay and let the monsters in this building continue their evil work on Jack? He meant everything to her. An idea came into her mind. She took a deep breath, steeling herself for disappointment.

"Can you take Jack with you?" she asked quietly. "M-maybe Antonio won't care if it's just one of us that's gone..."

William shook his head. "No, even that's too risky."

"But-"

"Stop it, Jamie."

Jamie looked behind her, surprised to see that Jack had risen his head and was focused completely on the conversation. His eyes were dull with tiredness, and he stood up heavily as if the weight of a metal ball was on his shoulders.

"They won't let us go," her brother continued while she sat in silence. "They'll never let us go. Not Antonio, not these guys, no one." He turned to walk away. "Face it, Jamie. We'll never be free."

Everyone stared in shock as Jack headed away, back to what was basically a cell. Jamie sat as still as a rock, unsure what to do. Her heart still pounded, and her head ached. Her body was insisting that she needed sleep, but Jamie couldn't bring herself to move. Her brother had completely given up. There was no way she could continue to lie to herself now.

***

"That was... interesting," Victoria said on the ride home from Antonio's clearly-an-evil-hideout.

Next to her, Alexei nodded slowly. He was still trying to piece together and figure out what William had told them. It was very hard to believe.

"What do you make of it?" he asked Victoria, who was driving.

"Well, I learned to keep our daughter away from Antonio," she replied, dutifully focusing on the road. Road safety is important, after all. They can't do anything about Antonio if they're dead on the roadside getting eaten by scavengers.

"I am going to kill Isaiah," Isaac suddenly announced. He was red in the face from lividness, and his nails dug into his flesh so hard blood was coming up. As soon as they returned to Brigadeiro Superior, Victoria and Alexei would have to immediately drop by a gas station to give him a Coke to calm down. "All this time he's worked for this jerk, and he never mentioned experimenting on children?"

"Yeah, I doubt Antonio would let him talk about that," Victoria pointed out.

Isaac's face swelled. "I don't care! That isn't something you nonchalantly do everyday!"

"I am sure Isaiah will be fine." Alexei tried to calm Isaac down. "Antonio loves him and Lydia, remember?"

"I'm not worried about him- Isaac spat out the word like it was a toxic piece of fruit. "I'm worried about Miriam. What if Antonio kidnaps her when he runs out of children?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Victoria said, trying to be reassuring. "I'm sure she'll be."

Their headlights disappeared into the night, where they could no longer be seen from the building. All that was left was the pale silver light emitting from the moon. It fell on the cold ground, scattering on dead brown leaves. The roads were empty. Nothing moved. It was like the whole woods had gone silent, as if they had sensed that at this very moment, a child was screaming in pain as an otherworldly element transformed her into a monster...

***

There was a special event the next afternoon. Jamie had gone to bed after the disappointing, though informative, night. She had been reluctant to go back into the cell, not wanting to disturb Jack, but she did not want to hang around in the empty, cold, ominous hallways in the building. Jack had already been, or pretending, to sleep, so Jamie had slipped into her bed and tried to push away her worry for him. Eventually, her tiredness won out, and she fell asleep in a few minutes.

The next morning came quicker than Jamie expected, and she woke up feeling like she hadn't been asleep at all. She looked around the dark room blearily and tried to get her brain working properly. She rolled over onto her side and saw that Jack was still asleep, too. She closed her eyes, trying to will herself back to sleep. Wonderful sleep... she wondered what had woken her up...

"JAMIE!"

The yell caused her to jolt out of sleep so abruptly she almost fell off her bed. Jack was standing in front of her, and his eyes were fraught with dread and fear. Jamie's awareness was higher than it was when she woke up earlier, and she gulped nervously.

"What is it, Jack?" she asked.

"He-he-he-" Jack tried to speak coherently, but his words were all jumbled and shaky. He was so fearful, he could barely get out a proper sentence.

"What is it, Jack?" Jamie repeated.

"He'll be coming with us."

Jamie started. Two people were standing behind Jack. They held both his arms tightly as if to make sure he wouldn't escape. Jamie's heart sank, realizing they were going to test on him again. Except, something was off. Jack looked more terrified than usual. Was something different this time? Jamie's nerves sparked, and she wondered if Antonio had found out about the meeting from last night.

"The-the-they-they're t-t-ta-taking m-m-me a-away," Jack managed to stutter out.

This caused Jamie to launch herself off the bed, her older sisterly instincts kicking in. "Where are you taking him?" she asked the two employees aggressively.

They coldly stared down at her, not feeling the least bit threatened. "Classified," one of them said. Together, they began dragging Jack out the door.

Jamie grabbed one of their arms and tugged against them, furious that they were refusing to tell her what they were doing to her brother. Immediately he let go of Jack and punched Jamie right in the face. A sharp pain spread across her face, and Jamie lifted her hand to her nose in pain. A warm liquid seeped onto her hand. Jamie could feel it running down into her mouth. It tasted metallic and terrible.

"Jamie!" Jack screamed. He stamped down on the other person's foot, and the person yelped and let go. Jack turned on the pair, even more furious than Jamie. He kicked the one who had punched Jamie in the knees. It unfortunately was a bad move as the person grabbed Jack by the back of his shirt and started hauling him out of the room again. However, Jack refused to go peacefully. As Jamie tried to stop her nose from bleeding, Jack flailed his limbs around in a desperate attempt to escape.

"Give it up, kid," the person grunted. "You aren't going to escape."

"LET ME GO!" Jack yelled the loudest Jamie had ever heard him yell. He was so angry he barely seemed like Jamie's baby brother anymore.

"Relax, or we'll kill your sister," the person threatened. Jack flinched and reluctantly stopped fighting. "That's a good boy."

Alarm rushed through Jamie. She scrambled to her feet and tried to follow as the employees left. The door was slammed in her face right before she reached the doorway. Panicked, she tugged on the doorknob. Adrenaline from fear was spiking, and the blood flowing from her nose was getting thicker. But the door was locked. There was no way to get out. She sank to the ground, her energy draining. Tears filled her eyes. She didn't try to stop them as she sat crouched in front of the door, letting all the anguish and despair flow out.

First they were denied a free pass to leave, and now her brother was being taken somewhere terrible, judging by his reaction.

Sniffing, she lifted her hand to her face and wiped the tears away. Suddenly anger took over, replacing the sadness. Along with it came a fierce determination to actually be free. She went over to the table, where a singular bowl of oatmeal sat with a napkin. She grabbed the napkin and took out a pen she had pocketed a while ago. Hastily she wrote a message to William, making sure not to address him. After her brother had stormed off, William had told her that he was the person who brought and collected Jamie and Jack's food. If Jamie put the napkin in the bowl, he would find it. She gulped down the oatmeal as fast as possible, even though she felt too shaken to eat. Then she sat on her bed and tried to stop the blood flow from her nose with a spare piece of napkin she had ripped off. All she could do now was wait.

And wait.

And wait.

And wait some more.

And wait for hours.

Maybe waiting wasn't a good idea.

***

Being the person who had to give Jamie and Jack the basic nessecities they required, William quickly noticed the napkin in the plastic bowl. It piqued his interest immediately. Why? Because the napkins usually weren't among umthe stuff William had to pick up. He looked around him cautiously to make sure no one was nearby and took the napkin out of the bowl. Jamie had written on it.

We need to talk.

William crumpled up the napkin and stuffed it in his pocket. Since when did Jamie have a pen? He had a feeling he knew what she wanted to talk about. Antonio had sent out an email to everyone saying that he had important business in the other location. All of his most important testers had gone there, too. Soon most of the work here would be transferred down to that other location.

Jamie wanted to talk about Jack and why he was taken away. William wished they could be able to come up with a solution, but there was nothing they could do. But, William could cause a problem, one that would distract Antonio. He had been thinking about it for days now. He walked away from Jamie's room, humming to himself as he prepared to do the riskiest thing he had ever done in his entire life.

There was a storeroom where they kept all the failed experiments. There was also a storeroom for successful experiments, but that was empty since there were no successful experiments. There was also a room filled with documents detailing all the wrong experiments and how they might have failed. Antonio didn't want to upload them to digital form as someone might hack into it. Thus, all the information was written on paper.

After William had taken the dishes to the kitchen, he went to a store in the nearby town where he lived and bought some matches. He contacted his anonymous friend from the other location who hacked into the cameras for him. The storerooms were the farthest from the entrance to the building, and William had to get there without getting asked awkward questions. Truly a hard challenge.

Fortunately, they had hit the point where the tests had begun to have the same results. No one could find out how to make the formulas different from each other now, so not a lot of people had to come into work today. William would use this to his advantage. He checked his phone, waiting for the text from his correspondent that would let him now when the cameras were off. Nothing yet. He bit his lip, hard anxiety rising up inside of him. He was terrified, and rightly so. If he was caught... He shuddered, not desiring to imagine that. Antonio had a fierce temper when he was angered.

William was currently leaning on the wall the furthest distance from the storeroom. He breathed deeply in and out, trying to calm his firey nerves. Anyone could come by at any moment. The pressure grew as time ticked on. William's heart pounded harder. The sound filled his ears, and he continued breathing deeply, desperate to calm himself. He refused to have a panic attack.

Then, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Elation rushed through William like a dam bursting. His hands fumbled as he eagerly pulled out his phone, shaking with relief. He looked at his messages, relaxing as he saw the one he had been waiting for.

It's ready.

Feeling much more safe now, William headed to the storeroom. He took out his key, still shaking with excitement, and unlocked the door. The smell of paper hit him like a truck as he stepped inside. There were shelves and shelves full of folders containing all the data the scientists had collected. The shelves were metal and freezing cold, and the lights overhead were dull. They would die soon. William headed to the middle of the room, fingering the box of matches he had bought from the convenience store. He pulled the folders out and dumped their contents onto the floor. A sheet fell to the floor; it was about a boy. Papers like that one and more soon littered the ground. The floor was covered in a blanket of paper. At last William pulled out the matches.

Let the carnage commence.

He lit the match and gazed at the small flame on the top. It emitted a little light, and he wondered if it really would burn all these papers. He made sure to have his back to the door as he dropped the match. He lit every match in the package, just in case one wasn't enough. As the papers kindled and the fire grew higher, William ran out of the room. The fire alarms didn't go off; his friend had done their job well.

Skidding to a halt multiple hallways away from the storeroom, William checked his watch for the time. It was almost noon. He would have to get Jamie's lunch. Suddenly, a faint scream was heard in the distance. William turned his head to look behind him. No one was running in his direction. He smelled a hint of smoke and realized somebody must have found the storeroom ablaze. More shouts sounded in response to the first, but William didn't head towards it. He was not a good actor, and he refused to be around just after his crime. He continued to leave, not even sparing a second glance behind him. In his pocket, his hand tightened around the paper about that little boy he had seen.