Haunting of Superior

Chapter 8

Something big was happening. Jamie could hear people running around in the halls, shouting at each other. They sounded eager and excited. About what, Jamie didn't know. She didn't much care, either. She couldn't stop worrying about her brother.

Was he all right? We're they torturing him? Jamie shuddered at the thought. Taking a deep breath, she dug her fingernails into her palms. It hurt, but it kept her mind off of her worries. She leaned her head back onto the wall, fighting the tears that wanted to spring out of her eyes. She had to be strong. She had to be, or she couldn't hope to get her brother back. She thought about her parents, how they had always told her to keep Jack safe whenever it was just the two of them. Had she failed them? Jamie sighed heavily and curled up onto her side. From this position she could see Jack's empty bed across the room. The sheets were messed up, and it seemed like the bed was taunting her. Jamie scowled at the thought and flopped over towards the wall. Everything about this stupid room reminded her about Jack.

The shouts outside grew louder. Jamie ignored them, even as they came closer to her prison. She closed her eyes, trying to will herself to sleep. She didn't want to know what was going on. She needed sleep anyway; her head was throbbing from mental anguish and shock. She didn't move when the door opened. Someone pushed another person inside. A muffled shout came from the other person. Another angry noise came from a deeper voice. Two people? Two people were being put in here? Jamie opened her eyes and lifted her head to look.

The muffled people were William and a girl Jamie had never seen before. The girl was wearing a sweatshirt with a hoodie and red leggings with swirl patterns. They both looked enraged. The door slammed shut, and an audible click signaled that they had locked the door.

Jamie was surprised at this sudden appearance and wondered what they were doing here. Had William done something that would render him locked up with her? What on earth had he done? And who was that girl? She sat up, watching them in silence as she wasn't interested enough to speak. William caught sight of her, and his eyes brightened. He waved his bound hands around, clearly trying to tell her something. The girl, alerted by his actions, looked at Jamie curiously. Jamie pulled herself off her bed and untied the knots on their hands.

"Thank you!" the girl burst out as soon as she pulled the piece of cloth put over her mouth. "That stuff tasted disgusting!"

Jamie ignored her and faced William. "What happened?" she demanded.

"I... committed arson," William admitted. The girl beside him smirked; obviously the fact was amusing to her.

"Arson?" Jamie actually didn't know what that was. "What's arson?"

"Setting a building on fire," the girl explained. "Except in this case, he burned a closet." She sounded thrilled.

William gave her a look of suspicion and shock. "How do you know about that?" he asked, voice high with surprise. "I never told you about that!"

The girl blushed in embarrassment. Jamie guessed she hadn't really meant to reveal that she knew. "I'm, uh, kind of your secret correspondent," she said nervously. She looked down at the floor as she spoke.

"You what now?" William glared at the girl. "How on earth have you done that? Why did you not tell me about that sooner?"

"I didn't want you to know I hacked into your boss' system," the girl bluntly told him.

William dragged a hand across his face as he groaned in frustration. "Cathy, were you ever going to tell me about this?"

Cathy slumped, guilt running through her eyes. "No," she muttered.

William looked at her in even more horror.

Cathy shifted her feet. "I didn't want to worry you," she mumbled.

"Worry me? Antonio is the most dangerous person I know! There's a reason why I don't want you near this place! He's a psychopath!" William angrily said.

Jamie blankly stared at the pair as they stood now in awkward silence. She was processing all the new information that had been launched at her. Still, she had no idea what was going to happen to William and Cathy. Did they know? Was Antonio going to kill them for burning his research? Jamie shuddered, trying not to imagine the ways Antonio could kill them. He would not be merciful, that was for sure.

William suddenly sighed and shook his head slowly. "Let's forget about this, Cathy," he said. "We have more important things to think about."

"Like our impending deaths?" Cathy wasted no time in going from subdued to sarcastic.

"Am I included in that?" Jamie asked, not expecting an answer. Neither of the two had even looked at her since she had unbound them.

"No," William reassured her. "You weren't involved in the fire, so he won't punish you. He has no idea we even talked to each other at all."

That did not lessen Jamie's nerves. "But what about you two? He's going to kill you! Are you just going to let that happen to you?"

"We might be able to escape," Cathy said hopefully. "There are three of us, and we could fight our way out."

"But how would we get out?" Jamie was not in a good mood today, so she was not very optimistic about anything.

"We steal a car," Cathy said matter of factly.

William sighed. "Really? That's your first thought?"

"Our car isn't here, Dad," Cathy pointed out.

"Yeah, but you shouldn't immediately think of stealing something."

"You burned someone's people," Cathy shot back. "Who are you to talk about committing crimes?"

William backed out of the conversation in embarrassment. Cathy, pleased that she had won the argument, turned to Jamie. "Got anything we could use against Antonio's minions?" she asked.

"Like what?" Jamie was not feeling like thinking deeply or making strategy. She would much rather be lying in her bed- her real bed- right now, snuggled in the covers and brooding about how much life sucked.

"A weapon." Cathy kicked one of the chairs at Jamie and Jack's little table. "Would a chair work?"

"Let's, uh, refrain from hurting people," William said, sounding very disapproving. "We'll be able to get out quicker if we, uh, don't bring anything with us."

"Five bucks says they've got weapons and are willing to kill us with them," Cathy snapped. She was examining the chair, gauging whether or not she could run while carrying it.

"They don't." William was getting very annoyed at Cathy's protests. "I don't even think anyone here has guns."

"Aw, yes, they knocked us out with air," Cathy snapped sarcastically, crossing her arms. She, too, was getting angry but was far less composed than William. Her voice kept getting louder with each word she spoke. "Of course they have weapons, Dad! They might try to knock us out again with them!"

"They'll be thinking we can't escape! We'll do better if we can as fast as we can, and we can't do that if we're carrying a chair!" William glared at the chair as if it had said something nasty to him.

Jamie, tired of the argument, laid back down on her bed. She closed her eyes and let William and Cathy's voices drown out in the background. Everything was going wrong. Jack was gone, one of the few people brave enough to stand up to Antonio was about to die, and she had no way of letting Isaac, Victoria, and Alexei know about what was going to happen. Would they ever know? Would they die, too, if Antonio figured out William had asked for their help in stopping his plans? William's and Cathy's voices got even louder, so Jamie put a pillow over her ears. She didn't have the strength to face reality. Not today. She closed her eyes and wished she could teleport out of her prison and back home. Oh, how she missed her home.

The door slammed open. Startled, Jamie lifted her head and saw three people standing in the doorway. Their expressions were grim, but they looked slightly regretful. William and Cathy froze. Then Cathy grabbed the chair, ready to throw it at the people, but they stepped aside to reveal Jack standing behind them. Filled with sudden energy, Jamie hurled herself off the bed.

"Jack!" she shouted, rushing over.

Jack's face was pale, and his eyes were dull from seeing horrific things. Still, he brightened immediately at the sight of his sister. "Jamie!" He threw his arms around her. Tears ran out from both of their eyes. Neither had been so glad to see their sibling in their whole lives.

"Are you okay?" Jamie whispered into Jack's ears. She felt like she was walking on air woth relief. She had been wishing for her brother to come back, and here he was!

Jack hesitated a bit before answering, which Jamie immediately noticed. "I'm fine," he mumbled. He didn't sound like he believed it.

One of the people scoffed. "We're not here for family reunions," he snapped, though his voice was nowhere near as harsh as Jamie expected.

Cathy was still holding the chair, and her arms were starting to hurt from the weight. Crying out in annoyance at the man's statement, she threw the chair towards him since he was the farthest from Jack. Spooked for his life, the man jumped out of the way. The chair crashed to the ground, and the sound echoed for several seconds. Jamie instinctively pulled Jack behind her at the crash. Catht tried to run out the doir, but the people quickly formed a line amd grabbed her.

"Please don't try to escape," the man said, genuinely sounding concerned. "Antonio will only punish you worse if you do."

One of the people grabbed William, and they led the way down the hall, further into the building. The man gestured for Jamie amd Jack to come as he and the third person shoved Cathy after William. Seeing that disobeying amd staying in the room would end extremely badly, Jamie and Jack followed the group. Jack clung to Jamie's arm like it was a lifeline.

They passed the lab rooms. The lights were off, and they looked very terrifying without anyone inside. They avoided the wreckage that was once the storage closet, and soon Jamie realized they were heading to where they held the kids they experimented on. Why were they going there? There were no more children in this building; they had all died to the injections.

And then they went inside, and the purpose was made all too clear.

Antonio had put something new in the room. In the middle of the room was a tall chair, and above the chair was a hook, though it wasn't directly above the chair. Hanging from that hook was a rope, and it ended with a noose. Jamie's blood chilled at the sight. It was obvious what that was for. Antonio stood beside the chair; his eyes were dark with rage and hate. He gave William and Cathy the death stare as they were shoved over to stand beside him. There was a syringe in his hand.

A small crowd of people were gathered in what should be called the Death Room. They, too, glared at William and Cathy, and someone muttered, "Traitor." Jamie and Jack were directed to sit among them. Jack was surprised to see the set up.

"What happened?" he asked Jamie quietly as William and Cathy were tied up again.

Antonio answered the question before Jamie.

"As I'm sure you've all noticed," he began, stepping forward a bit to address the crowd, "one of us has betrayed our mission and decided to sabotage our attempts to better the world." He grabbed William and made him look at the crowd. "I have discovered that this is the one who burned our research. To make sure he will not ruin our work again, I have decided he should die. Anything to say for yourself, William?"

William's brave face had died at this point, and he couldn't even speak. His face was white, and he was frozen in fear. He was caught like a mouse in a trap and couldn't do anything about it. He had given up.

Antonio put the noose around William's neck, and only then did William gain his senses back. He kicked Antonio away from him, and Antonio stumbled, almost falling to the ground. William tried to bite the rope around his neck, but unfortunately he was too late. Antonio nodded at the person manning the rope, and they pulled it up as much as they could. William choked, and his arms jerked from the instinct to pry whatever was around his throat off. Jamie flinched at the horrible gurgling noises he was making. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the sounds. Jack, though, watched everything. Truth be told, William's idea to stop Antonio had given him a shred of hope, but as he watched William suffocate, he felt it withering away like a dying plant.

"Hey! You can't do that!" Cathy shouted. She slammed her foot down on her captor's feet. The distraction worked, and she wrenched herself free and ran towards Antonio, clearly intending to do some bad things to him. But his minions were fast. Before Cathy could punch him right in the face, they grabbed her and pushed her to the ground. They held her down and pressed her face into the floor to keep her silent. Nobody noticed it as William's struggles to breath continued.

William's face turned blue due to lack of oxygen, and with a last pained choking noise he became still. Jamie finally opened her eyes and almost became sick when she saw his lifeless eyes. Tears sprung up, and she turned away from the horrific sight. Jack couldn't move.

Antonio relished the sight of William's corpse. Cathy was sobbing now; all her energy had left her. Antonio wouldn't let her grieve, though. She was next on his list of victims.

"William's accomplice in his traitorous actions will also be removed," Antonio declared to his audience. Cathy was brought to the chair and tied there, and this time she didn't resist. She stared at her dad's body with tears pouring down her eyes. She had seemed older than she was when Jamie had met her, but now she had the air of what she really was: a frightened teenager.

Antonio pulled her sleeve up and prepared to inject her with the liquid in his syringe. It was black like most of his experiments. So that was how Cathy would die. Jack noticed this formula was a shade lighter than the previous test, and he wondered if it would work. If it did, they'd test him next. Antonio pressed down on the syringe, and Cathy, like William, finally snapped back to life at the brink of death. She pulled at the rope tied around her, but Jack already knew the process had begun. He had seen it many times. Every time, someone died. And now he would see it again.

The first sign the formula was wrong was at the nose. Not even a minute after Cathy had been injected, black liquid began to drip out of her nose. It burned like fire, and it was at that point that all the organs in the body began to hurt. Cathy began to twitch in agony, and her skin began to blister. Everything in her was dying. She coughed as her lings desperately contracted to keep the formula out of them. Blood was the only thing that came out and stained her sweatshirt. Jack winced as Cathy screamed, which usually happened at this point. The pain from her organs disentigrating was excruciating, and Cathy's screams echoed around the room which was not soundproof. She convulsed so violently that the chair shook underneath her. The final stage started when her blood leaked through her very skin. It was no longer the scarlet red it should be; instead it was a paler red mixed with grey. It was such an unnatural color that it sent shivers down Jack's spine. Cathy fell limp in the chair, blood dripping onto the floor around her. Blood clouded her eyes, and there was some still dripping out of her nose.

Someone threw up, and Jack guessed they had never seen someone get injected with the formula before. He looked at Jamie. She had covered her ears and was muttering to herself. She had always hated seeing their fellow prisoners die from the formulas. Antonio moved to stand in between the two corpses and glared at the person who had thrown up.

"If anyone tries to stand against us again," he said in a dark, threatening tone, "they will die just like these two."

The crowd shuddered. Jack barely noticed. The only thing he could hear now was his heartbeat, the thing keeping him alive. There was no hope to escape. They really could never leave. They would only die trying.

Then another though, the one he'd been trying to push away for so long, came back and swamped everything else in his mind.

Why should Jack die from Antonio? Why couldn't he die another way?

With the show over, Antonio forced a couple of people to take Jack and Jamie back to their room. Jack walked without focus, feeling like every limb on his body was numb. He was all too aware of his heartbeat, pounding ceaselessly. Would it be better if it were silenced? He vaguely knew Jamie was talking to him. He didn't look at her; he didn't want to look at her. He knew she would never agree with his idea to escape.

When they came back to the room, neither of them spoke. Jamie laid down on her bed and cried into her pillow, shaken to the core by the horrific murders they just witnessed. Jack felt tears spring to his eyes, too, but they weren't for Cathy and William.

"I'm sorry, Jamie," he whispered.