A sound came from outside the building.
“Did you hear that?” Ross asked.
“They had anticipated us coming back.” Wade nodded as an uneasiness filled him. “We can’t go back the way we came, but we need to get out of this office. I think they know we are here.”
Ross looks around the office. “Two windows and a door. Which one do we try?”
“That door leads to the laboratory,” Wade exhaled. “I say we take the windows.”
Ross walked towards him and stops. He turned towards the wall, then reached out to touch it. The walls slid open, revealing a stairway.
“Holy crap, I see I’m not the only one with cool powers,” Wade teased as he walked towards the opening. Ross was hesitant in responding. He shined his light on his brother’s face. “Ross, what is it?”
“I’ve done this before.”
Wade immediately recognized the look on Ross’s face was the same that was on Monty’s.
“Ross?” Wade shined the light on his brother’s face. “How old are you, Ross?”
“Five.”
Wade looks around. He knows they have to get out of that office. He could see people through the walls coming in their direction. “Do you know where these lead?”
“Yes,” Ross replied.
“Good, show me.”
Ross walked through the opening. Wade followed him, before they proceed Ross touched the wall again and it closed.
There was a door at the bottom of the ten stairs. Ross opened the door, and it led into a tunnel.
Wade looked back over his shoulder. People were in the room they just vacated. He looked at Ross, concerned. He was in a trance, just as Monty had been earlier in the day. He’d hoped he was wrong about his brothers, but as they progressed through the tunnel, he knew what he thought was right. Just two out four, he thought; odds were not in his favor.
The tunnel was at least a mile long. According to Wade’s estimation, they were close to the main house when they saw another door. Without hesitation, Ross pushed the door open, and they walked through.
What was before him made him hesitate for a moment. There was a huge open space set up like a classroom, with a kitchen to the left with rows of tables and chairs. Ross, who had not stopped walking, seemed to have a destination in mind. Wade followed him to the other side of the room. There were closed doors with numbers above them. There were at least twenty rooms. He could see heat sources through the walls. That meant people were inside those rooms. But they weren’t moving. He sensed they weren’t dead, that’s why the heat sources were generated. They were asleep. Looking inside one of the rooms, he saw four bunk beds with a child on each. He checked another room; more children. They were of different ages and races. He looked in the rooms across the hall. There were women. He looked closer. Correction: there were pregnant women.
Wade was stunned as he tried to understand what this all meant.
“Ross, tell me. What did you do here?”
Ross pointed. “Bedroom R. We sleep when the sun goes down.”
Wade watched as his brother laid on the floor, then curled up into a fetal position.
“Oh, hell no. Not now,” Wade knelt down then spoke into Ross’s ear. “Wake up, Ross.”
Ross did not move. Wade wondered why it worked on Monty, but not Ross. He thought back to earlier in the day. Going through the scene step by step, he was anxious, then angry. “Damn it, wake up, Ross.” He heard a sound behind him, but he was too late. He felt the needle as it pricked his skin.
He swiped it away, then quickly stood to see men with guns pointed at him. Taking a step to his right, Wade positioned himself in front of Ross. Wake up, damn it. Wade tried to send a message to Ross. It didn’t seem to work. Ross still lay in a fetal position on the floor.
Protect your brother.
He heard the words as if someone had spoken them out loud. He concentrated on the men with the guns. His eyes swirled around from one man to the next, knocking the weapons from their hands.
Wade did all he could to contain the cheer that rolled through him. Settle down, he told himself. Danger was still around them. He willed the door behind them to close. It did. He could feel that action garnered a little more attention from Bradford Jr. He was watching in awe, as his father had that morning.
“Subdue him,” Bradford Jr. ordered.
The men all moved towards him. With a swoosh of his hand, Wade pushed them back against the walls in the room. But that action cost him. While concentrating on the men, Wade took his eyes off of Bradford. He had gotten behind Wade. When Wade turned, Bradford has a gun to Ross’ head.
Bradford III chuckled. “Well, my father may be right about you. You have some skillsets that could be useful. Do you think you can knock this gun from my hand before I can pull the trigger?”
Wade did not know if he could or not, and he wasn’t willing to put Ross life in jeopardy.
“I will never put my brother’s life in jeopardy.”
“Really? He’s not your brother, you know. I can’t swear by it, but from the looks of things, he’s one of our discards.” Bradford III kept his eye on Wade. “Who do you think has more power over him right now … you or I?”
“You have no power over him,” Wade stated.
“I beg to differ,” Bradford III chuckled. “I have the gun. Therefore, not only do I have power over him, I also have power over you. Turn around and face the door.”
Wade hesitated but did as he was told.
“Tie him up,” Bradford III ordered one of his assistants. “And this one, too. Carry them into the laboratory.”
Bradford walked up behind Wade and stuck the gun in his back. “So, how does that work? Does the item have to be in your line of vison to make it move at will?”
That was a damn good question, Wade thought. He was going to have read more of his mother’s journals before he tried anything like this again. There has to be instructions somewhere.