Trials

Chapter 19- Sara

           Sara never liked to not be in control. So, she was genuinely terrified for the road ahead. She was bluffing when she had told Noah she'd controlled a whole fleet of guards and all the nurses. She had only controlled the one man who had attempted administering the memory serum. The truth was she could only control one thing at a time. And for only so long. With great strength.

          Her heart beat faster every time she thought of Ross. Back home they had been the closest siblings ever. Sara was overjoyed that day when her baby brother came home from the hospital. She had insisted to take care of him, to feed him, to rock him. And even as they grew older they'd formed a bond no one could ever break, almost like twins. She'd wait for him to step off the bus every day, let him stay up to watch movies when Mom and Dad were out late, and even offer up her bed to him and sleep on the floor if there was a thunderstorm or he had a nightmare. He'd come to all her soccer games and be her biggest fan, and hand-wrap all her presents, and try to give the sweetest advice....

           "Sara, are you okay?" Noah asks, and Sara snaps out of it as she feels a wet tear roll down her cheek.

           "I'm just allergic to trees, mind your own business!" She sneers back.

           Noah just seems to accept it and backs away. She couldn't show weakness when she couldn't trust a person here.

         Then Jordan went to the front, like some self-appointed dictator, and announced his plan. "Everyone!" Jordan calls. "We are going to get captured on purpose!"

          Every person let out a 'WHAT!' except for Sara, who saw the method as genius immediantly.

           Jordan nods. "It's the only way in. If things go wrong then we have Mack, Sara, and I too, can help. And unless anyone else has a better plan-" He says turning his eyes back to Noah, "-we stick with this one."

           The group murmurs in uneasy agreement, but no one says a word.

            So they packed up and trekked through the unwelcoming jungle, making as much noise and movement around the cams until a group of men in masks showed up to stop them.

            "The Silent." Noah breathes. Sara huffs with disapproval.

            The Silents try to motion something, but then one of them just gives up and sighs.

             "Name?" He asks distractedly.

          "Sara Screw You." She answers, in a sweet, polite tone, that made her giddy with sarcasm.

           One of them point a g*n to Sara's forehead, but Mack jumps up.

           "No need for this. We will go with you in peace. All of us. We surrender." she says.

          Although their expression was unreadable, The Silent seemed to accept this and worked diligently to zip tie all of their hands. No one said a word as they were shuffled through the rainforest at gunpoint. The group was led to a tree, much like Sara's hideout, and was ordered to step through. Metal corridors surrounded them everywhere. The tree was almost like a portal! A secret door in the rainforest! Why hadn't she found the opening before? She could've busted that open and went on the search for her brother like one of those treasure hunters in her favorite Egyptian treasure movies. Sara took a small breath in. There were people everywhere! Lab coats, men carrying guns, and even some kids their age were shuffling around busily.

        "Alright," One of the Silent says, taking off his mask to reveal a man with crisp cut blond hair. "You take those four," He says pointing to Jay, Mack, Sara, and Courtney. "And you take those four- " He points to Murphy, Zach, Noah, and Jordan.

          "They're splitting us up!" Courtney whispers anxiously.

       "It's ok!" Jordan assures her. "You know where to meet. Flee to the rainforest after you've got Ross if you can! We can still do this!"

         Jay whispers an unenthusiastic "Yay," Murphy snorts in amusement.

         Sara was about to open her mouth to let out a sarcastic comment, but Mack shot her a look. Yeah, Mack. She may have only took her out because she suspected the girl knew of her brother, but it still didn't hide the fact that this girl was a threat. And if there was anyone in endanger of getting thrown out of Thunder Mountain, the most powerful girl here would be Mack's first choice.

           Jay suddenly stumbles forward. Sara was quick to reach out and help her, but the guard was quicker to show her the muzzle of his g*n. The guard returns to walking beside them.

            "Are you okay?" Sara says, her voice barely a whisper.

            "Fine," Jay yawns. "Just really... tired."

            The guard led them to a room with four beds.

            "Stay here." He says. "We shall decide what to do with the new ones..." The guard says to Sara and Jay. "...and the other ones." He says, giving a glare to Mack and Courtney.

              He leaves, but not before Sara waves her middle finger at him. Once he was gone, the room erupts into chaos.

            "What are we going to do..."

          "They'll be back you know! With guns... a-and tasers!"

        "Well it's worse for US, Noah just ditched that doctor back at the Medical Ward!" Murphy snorts.

         "Everyone! Calm down! There are cams and mics here in case you forgot!" Mack says, gesturing to the spying black dot on the ceiling.

          "This was a horrible idea!" Courtney snaps.

          "Shhh..." Mack whispers, a finger to her lip. "And no, there's still ways." Everyone turns to Sara.

           "Think you can do it, kid?" Mack sighs.

            "Do wh-"

            "Oh for god's sake! Can you control the guards, or not?" Jay whispers impatiently.

           "Yes? Yes!" Sara says sternly.

           But she wasn't sure she could. If more than one guard came, they were doomed. Sara shook her head. All they could do now... was wait.

                                                                                         . . .  

            Minutes passed. A patrol of guards came in and plucked the boys from the group one by one. Sara prays that they underestimated the girls. The boys in her old school did it all the time, so why couldn't the guards? Just once?

           No one said a word until the door clicked and shudders open. It was the same single guard.

           "Alright," He bellows. "You, come." He beckons for Mack.

             This was it! Sara seized the opportunity. She dug her invisible hands into the depths of his mind. The human mind was much harder to gain control of than the animal one. The animal mind was uncontrolled and just begging for a master. It only had survival on its mind. The human mind, however, was organized chaos. It was too intelligent. Too organized. It was like riding a bull. If you lift one finger from your grasp around it, you were thrown out immediately.

            Sara clung on to his thoughts. She was no mind reader, couldn't distinguish the quick flashes. She could only force her own through. And so she forced the guard to submit. She watched as the girls stood there nervously. Mack broke off the cams immediately.

          "Alright they won't notice for now, hurry up!" She snaps.

         Take us to the Blue Ward. Unharmed. Anyone who asks you say you have orders to... uh... freeze us. Yes. And also call for the boys. They're needed too. She forces into his brain. He accepts it and Sara still fights for control as he leads them out. The guard takes out his radio and calls for the boys in the Blue Ward.

          Sara sighs in relief. Triumph purred into her bones the closer they got to the Blue Ward. They were almost there when a doctor in a white lab coat stopped the guard.

        "Where are you taking them?" He asks, causing Sara's spine to stand straight.

         "Dr. Whitman," The guard greets him on instinct. Sara wrenches her invisible claws in further to make sure she was still in control.

        "Just escorting these four and a few boys to the Blue Ward. I have my orders."

         The doctor chuckles. "Funny. I have orders to take them too. So... who were your orders from?"

         The guard remained silent. Sara hadn't any idea to tell him what to say, she was too nervous.

          Then the doctor took out a g*n and shot the guard in the head. Right in the head. He fell to the ground with a thud, a tiny pool of crimson blood circled the wound, and only a stream of blood trickles slowly out of his mouth, announcing his death. That, and the cold lifeless eyes that seemed to blame Sara.

           Courtney shrieks. Jay gasps. Mack just glares at the doctor silently. Sara stands back in shock, trying so desperately to get into his mind again. But it was no use. He was dead.

         "So which one of you was it?"

          Everyone freezes.

          "Come on- I know one of you did it. Soldier Michael is one of my best, he wouldn't blindly ignore my orders."

           "Th-then why did you shoot him?" Jay shudders.

           Dr. Whitman ignores her. "Look! Here come the boys!"

           Sara almost gave a sigh of relief. They were untouched. A little shaken, yes, but okay. Noah and Murphy both looked a little spooked by Dr. Whitman and Jordan still had that same solemn look on his face. Sara takes note of Zach's ability to walk better now, wincing every couple of steps, but certainly a lot better than in the rainforest. He raises his eyebrows at the doctor in question.

          "Perfect! Now everyone's here. Now we can finally-"

          He was cut off as Mack reaches out a hand and slams him against the wall. He falls to the ground, unconscious.

         "Now let's run," Mack nods.

         "Where are we going!" Zach calls out in panic.

          "The Blue Ward you i***t!" Jordan snaps.

         "What are you crazy!" Zach yells. "We'll be caught for sure!"

        Jordan shoves Zach forward, right into Murphy and all of the files spill out of his shirt.

          "No!" Murphy says as he frantically races to pick up the records.

          "Leave them!" Jordan says. "It'll take too long to pick up and time is not a luxury we have right now. We can find Ross some other way."

         Mack grabs the keycard from the dead guards pocket and hurried to the door. Zach struggles with running from his wound, but does his best to keep up. It was only a few corridors to the Blue Ward. Everyone was gasping and panting by then with Mack shakily swiping the keycard multiple ways. The door heaves open after a few tries.

           An unwelcoming draft of cold air blew into Sara's face. Everyone but Murphy, Mack, and Noah gasp in shock at endless rows of smooth white pods, and the frozen faces awaiting them.

            "This is horrible!" Courtney shrieks.

          "It will take forever to find Ross! Jordan adds. "Someone will come for us while we look on forever wondering where he is."

           "No cams in here. That's good." Mack notes.

          "But there are cams who saw us running here and cams that saw Sara tell that guard to take us here." Jay snaps.

         "Then we'd better get searching." sighs Murphy.

                                                                                         . . .

         No one was sure if opening the pods would set off some alarm. Even Mack thought it might (they had left quickly enough after freeing her). So it was a disappointment they couldn't free everyone. But now, they could only focus on Ross. Everyone split up, skimming through as many pods as they could, and leaving a small scratch on the dashboard for the pods they'd already checked. Sara had given her best description of Ross to them,

            "A small boy. Dirty blond hair." She'd said. "About four-eight. He's got these little freckles just below his lip too."

          Even with her most accurate description there were many false alarms. 

          "EVERYONE HERE!" Jordan calls.

         Sara sprints to the echo of his voice. Just as she had done for every false alarm, close call, and wrong person. Sara was the last one to come. Everyone was staring at an empty pod.

           "Most of the empty pods were towards the back." Jordan says. "So when I came across this one, surrounded by many other occupied pods, I took interest."

           Jordan does some typing on the dashboard.

             "The Blue Ward place is the one with the least amount of security I've seen here. Interestingly enough, also cyber security. The manual data was easy to access and the pod itself holds data on the individual occupying it."

              A name flashed upon the display. Sara had to step back as she began to gasp for air. Will Tidal. It was Ross!

          The group stood in stunned silence until Mack finally spoke.

        "Why and where would they have taken him?" She says, her eyes pondering something deep in her head.

         "That's what I was wondering as well." Jordan admits.

        He does some more tapping on the screen for awhile until he stand back to let everyone see, like an artist showing off his work.

        The screen had an over-complicated file that was hard to make out, but Sara seemed to understand it a little bit. It read that Ross had been taken early this morning. And Sara had no watch or window to know, but her own alarm within her seemed to think it was just past dusk. It also stated that Ross was moved to the Medical Ward for reasons unknown. 

         "It would've probably been well before we even found everyone at the hideout that- they took him." Jay yawns.

          "So they knew we were coming?" Jordan shook his head. "That doesn't make any sense."

           "It's probably a- coincidence." Jay yawns bigger.

           "When's the last time you slept Jay?" Murphy snorts.

           "A day or two. I used to go almost weeks without a lot sleep before though."

          "It's not about your unhealthy sleep schedule, it's about your Transformation!" Jordan snaps. "You have a few hours now at the least- a day at the most. Which is another reason why we must find Ross. NOW."

           Jay yawns. "Well then we better-"

          "FREEZE!"

           Everyone whips around at once.

            What a terrible pun. Sara chuckles to herself.

         An arrival of armed guards swarm in on them. Noah shrinks back in surprise and Sara weaves close to him. Sara knew a cop once back in her hometown that arrested her once for driving without a permit once. She had to spend a night in jail, so she recognized many weapons that carried. Assault rifles, tasers, tranquilizers, pistols, and even some weapons she'd never seen before. But mostly, it was all a blur of motion to her.

         "I knew this rescue was just a matter of time until-" Courtney says abruptly.

         Sara's own fear from what Courtney said just directed back to what Mack had said a while ago in that ditch. But she couldn't think of the bomb that may one day kill her inside. She had to think of the group. Of Noah. Of how to get them out. 

         Dr. Whitman was brought to the front. 

         "You won't find the boy here." He says. "But I ask you again- which one of you controlled that guard?"

       Sara gulps. No more hiding. She had to do this, for everyone.

       "I did," She says, stepping forward. 

      Everyone looks at Sara in shock and anxiousness. The doctor himself seemed unsure of the fact. He pauses for a second then shook his head. 

      "What is your name?" He asks.

       "Sarafina Martin. But your incompetent guards have named me Lyla Glacier." she replies.