Fourth Birth: The Oakmont Saga, Book 1

I woke up slowly and deliberately, not even opening my eyes. I remembered what was done to me the night before and I was terrified where I’d find myself. Carefully, and slowly I opened my eyes revealing the same room I was in last night. Aliyah was sitting at the vanity brushing her hair.

Ma Gardner was in a chair beside the bed. Seeing her brought a surge of panic in me and unable to stop myself, I quickly scurried into the corner against the wall and curled up, shaking really bad again.

Why didn’t I attack while I had the chance? I was weak and pathetic. That’s why.

She reached out and I tried to sink even further into the wall. “No,” I whimpered as her hand touched my head.

“What did they do to you, dear child?” she said. I was about to show her, with all of my telepathic ability, but I stopped myself. She wasn’t actually trying to hurt me.

“I’m sorry I gave you the sleep medicine, but I wanted you to sleep and it would let you have some dreamless sleep. I thought you needed that,” she said, looking sad and worried. She meant well, but didn’t know how many things I’d been given by people that weren’t very nice.

It suddenly hit me. I had slept without dreams, or nightmares. She had given that to me and I felt more rested than I had in a long time.

“Can I have some every night?” I asked, beginning to stop shaking and uncurling a little.

“It’s not very good for you if you take it too often.”

“It’s probably not as bad as the other stuff they’ve been giving me,” I replied, and started thinking of the orange stuff again. My skin immediately sprouted goose bumps and sweat started pouring from me.

“I need to go back. Will Aliyah be safe now?” Aliyah turned to look at me, her mouth partially open.

“Why would you go back there,” Ma asked.

“They have something I need to live.”

“What do you mean?”

“They gave me something that I have to have to stay alive now,” I told her, not able to give her anything else about the orange stuff.

“I need it, really bad. I can’t think, I’m getting shaky and stuff. I need it,” I continued, feeling desperate. She got an odd look on her face, then stood up and walked out. When she came back a few minutes later, she had some medical looking stuff with her.

“Can I get a little bit of pee in a cup?”

“What is that and why do you want it?” I asked, suspicious, but already knowing I was going to do it. I was too well trained to do what I was told.

“I want to see if I can find out what they gave you,” she told me, as I took the little cup from her.

“Okay,” I replied and headed to the bathroom.

When I returned, she took the cup and looked at me with a lot of compassion. “I think they may have given you some really bad stuff, but I want to make sure. While I’m running this through the machine, why don’t you go get ready for the day? Hank should be here before long,” she said, and watched me as I got my stuff and went to the bathroom.

Even though I got a shower the night before, I wanted another one. So I sat in the base of the tub, cowering like usual after scrubbing furiously to get rid of the dirtiness, which wouldn’t go away and felt worse than it ever had. My skin hurt, not just from the bruising, but from the scraping. I was bleeding in several places, but I didn’t really care. I wanted the filthiness in me to go away, but it wouldn’t. It never would.

The only thing that had made me feel good in a very long time was the orange stuff, and I couldn’t get it until I went back. God, I hoped Aliyah was safe here, because I needed to get away and go back to Oakmont.

“You need to come on out, sweetie,” I heard from the door. I had no idea how long I’d been in there, but I got out and started getting ready. Aliyah and I had decided to stick with our school uniforms until we were away from this area, so I put on a clean uniform, hating it as much now as I ever had. I went to the room we were sharing and sat in front of the little vanity and started brushing my hair. I was only partly paying attention as I did it, my hands were shaking and my mind was only able to think about getting back to Oakmont.

Suddenly, hands took the brush from me and started moving it gently through my hair. Looking back, I saw Ma Gardner behind me with a very tender smile. That smile almost made me break down, but I stopped myself. I wasn’t sure why I almost cried, but I came really close.

She worked on my hair for a while, pulling some of it from the front and doing something with it. When she finally finished, she motioned for me to look in the mirror. What she did was beautiful. The front was worked into a little braid on each side and pulled back. At the back, they were then braided together into a single braid. The effect was very pretty.

Looking at myself, I couldn’t stop tears from forming in my eyes. “I’m pretty,” I whispered, looking at myself in the mirror.

“You say that like it’s a surprise,” she said.

“But I’ve never been pretty,” I told her.

“Of course you are. All I did was make your hair up a little. All the rest is you, dear,” she said.

Anger suddenly erupted in me, for no apparent reason. My vision instantly turned red and the click snapped in my mind faster than I knew what was happening. Blackness took me an instant later.

When I woke up, my head was hurting like normal, but I seemed to be having trouble moving. I’d experienced that before, so it was nothing new to me. What was different was that I had more trouble getting my muscles and nerves working than I had in the past.

No one was in there with me when I woke up. Although it took awhile, I finally got myself moving again. I was scared with how long it took this time, but there was nothing I could do about it. I was also worried at how mad I got with no reason.

I pulled myself out of bed, happy that I was still dressed. Slowly, as I was not able to move, I made my way toward the living room where I heard voices.

“She tested positive for what!?” I heard a man’s voice ask very loudly.

“Hank, calm down. She needs to rest. She tested positive for several different substances. The ones I can easily identify are heroin, cocaine and amobarbital,” she told him.

“That’s a very unusual mixture,” the voice that was Hank said.

“Yes, it is,” Ma Gardner replied.

“Obviously I know what cocaine and heroin are, but what is amobarbital,” I heard Pa Gardner ask.

“It’s a barbiturate, which is commonly used as a truth serum,” she replied.

“As with cocaine, heroin and any barbiturate, it’s habit forming if taken often,” she said.

“Why would they give that crap to a little girl?” Hank asked.

“God only knows,” Ma replied.

“The one thing I can say with at least some confidence is they wanted information from her, which would explain the amobarbital, but not the other things and there was still more in the mix that I can’t identify right now. Those three are just the highest concentrations of what’s in her,” she said.

“Mrs. Gardner. They had her for over a week before we got her back,” Aliyah told them. I wasn’t sure how long they had me, but now I knew.

“They gave her that crap for that long!?” Hank exclaimed.

“I don’t know, just that that’s how long they had her,” Aliyah replied.

I walked in, although no one saw me. Even Aliyah hadn’t sensed me. “They said it would wake up my abilities faster,” I told them.

“What abilities?” the man called Hank asked.

Hank was a tall man, wearing jeans and a jean jacket. He had cowboy boots on and the largest belt buckle I’d ever seen. He looked like someone from Texas, I thought.

“Are you from Texas?” I asked, unable to stop myself. He laughed and when he finally got himself under control, he extended his hand.

“Hello, young lady. I’m Hank Stuben,” he said. That name sounded very familiar, but I couldn’t place it. My mind was still in a fog. Nothing seemed to be working right. All I knew was that I wanted to get back to Oakmont as soon as possible.

Taking his hand, I shook it. “Hello Mr. Stuben. I’m Melanie Brager.” I almost gave my other name.

He drew back a moment, his face getting an odd look. “Are you the same Melanie Brager that wrote a critique of the evil thesis?” he asked, pulling out a packet of paper and showing it to me.

As soon as I saw the packet, the feeling of danger became overpowering in me. Now I recognized the name. It wasn’t Hank, but Harold Stuben, Dr. Harold Stuben. He knew Ms. Wilde and would send Aliyah back there. I couldn’t let that happen, no matter what.

Without any hesitation or thought, energy started pouring into me. I felt a small touch on my mind, but I brushed it away and put up my shields.

“Mel, stop! He’s not going to turn us in!” Aliyah screamed, horror on her face. I didn’t care what she thought, though. He was dangerous to us, to her.

The energy was pouring into me in larger amounts than I’d ever held before. I couldn’t stop it and suddenly I was afraid what this much energy would do if I released it. It was more energy than I thought I could hold and live, and it kept coming. In my panic, I’d lost control and if I let it go in here, I felt like everyone would die, including Aliyah.

Knowing I had to get out of there, I ran out the back door into the yard, barefoot and with no leggings or hose on. My eyes went to the trees and I let the energy flow out of me in a torrent, no target in mind. I’d always had a target before, but the energy left me so fast, shooting into the trees faster than my mind could comprehend. There was a huge billowing of steam and a bit of a boom at the end point of its path, with a small ball of flame going into the air. I saw a bush vaporize in that ball of flame, but I lost consciousness with an immense amount of pain shooting through my head like a bolt of lightning.

When I woke up this time, daggers stabbing into my eyes, not to mention the pain in my head, I saw Ma Gardner sitting beside the bed. “I told you I’m dangerous,” I said, weak and pathetic sounding.

“You’re not dangerous, but you need to learn how to control your gift.”

“It’s not a gift!” I yelled. “I need to go back there,” I said, turning my face away from her and Aliyah, ashamed of what I was, what I had become.

“No you don’t!” Aliyah exclaimed.

“Yes, I do,” I replied, a catch in my voice. Tears started rolling out of my eyes.

“Melanie, you feel that way because of the stuff they gave you. It’s highly addictive, and I have no idea what they might have added in there that I’m not familiar with. You need to keep away from that,” Ma Gardner said. Rage suddenly filled me, my vision turned red and I turned back to face her.

“I only wanted to get Aliyah out so I can go back. I can’t live without it. I need it and I’ll do anything I can to get it, anything,” I told her, my voice rising as I did.

“Dear, we can fix that feeling, but you have to give us a chance.”

“I don’t want to fix it!” I yelled, the pounding in my head increasing with my anger. The pain was finally too much and I grabbed my head and screamed.

“Dear Lord, she’s bleeding,” Ma Gardner said. She grabbed some tissues and started trying to blot the blood at my nose, before she noticed blood coming from my eyes and ears as well.

When I was finally able to open my eyes again, I saw Hank and Pa Gardner standing in the doorway. They looked worried. I was a problem and I knew it. I needed to get away from Aliyah so she could be free and maybe live an almost normal life.

Without any further thought, I sent a probe out to find Ms. Wilde. It took a long time and it hurt a lot. Aliyah tried to get in the entire time, but I kept her out. Finally, I found Ms. Wilde and entered her mind, not being mean with my entry, but not trying to be nice either.

“Ms. Wilde, I want you to bring me back to Oakmont...please,” I told her, hearing the pleading tone of my voice, even in my mind. There was a long pause before I could feel her recognition, then her attempt to send a thought to me. “Just act like you’re talking to me without moving your mouth,” I instructed her.

“This is weird, but cool. Melanie, you’ve successfully escaped and you want to come back? Why?”

“I need the orange stuff you gave me. Please.”

“I didn’t give you any orange stuff,” she said, and I could feel her confusion and...concern.

“The doctors did and I need it.”

“Do you know what it was?”

“They called it SHD. Ma Gardner said it has…,” I started.

“I know what it is,” she interrupted me. “That stuff was made illegal, even for this program, many years ago. They should never have used it and I promise they’ll be brought up on charges for doing so,” she said, and I started feeling desperation sink in. Even in my mind, I was beginning to cry, which was odd and embarrassing. What she told me was that I wouldn’t be able to get it again, or not for long anyway.

“I need it,” I said, sobbing.

“Trust me, Melanie. You don’t need that stuff,” she said, but I’d already tuned her out.

“I need it,” I sobbed. What would I do, once they were made to stop giving it to me? They’d have me and I wouldn’t be able to get the good feeling. That was the worst possible outcome I could imagine.

“Melanie, where are you?” she asked, bringing me out of my thoughts.

“Hell,” I answered, and ended the connection. Now, I was ready to give up. I didn’t know what to do or how I would feel right again, if I couldn’t get that stuff. I felt desperate, but I also knew I needed to help Aliyah escape, so she didn’t end up like me. She should be safe now, though, wasn’t she?

I curled really tight, as close to the wall as I could make myself go, tears streaming from my eyes. My world was shattered. Nothing was good and I truly wanted it to end now.

“When will Daddy be here?” I asked the Gardner’s, looking out of my ball with fierceness in my eyes that I could feel.

“We haven’t contacted him yet,” Pa Gardner told me.

“Mr. Cage did and told him where we’d be.”

“How long ago was that?” Ma asked.

“I think three days ago, maybe four,” I told her, not really sure.

“He should’ve been here by now, if he came straight.”

Hope sprung in me. Maybe he listened to my yelling, although I doubted it. However, that meant he might be here any time. I couldn’t let him find me, no matter what. I also needed to leave Aliyah. She was in danger as long as she was near me. She was safe now and might be safer when Daddy got here, if Mr. Ciansa was even partly right.

Another thought suddenly sprung in my mind. Ma Gardner told me what was in the stuff they gave me. Maybe I could find it myself, so I could keep the government from getting what I had. That’d be very good. I knew what I needed to do now.

“I’m not going back,” I announced, conviction in my voice as well as my expression.

Aliyah looked at me long and hard, and I could tell she was suspicious. “You mean it.”

“Yes,” I replied, but didn’t tell her what I did intend.

“Aliyah, Daddy will take care of you when he gets here, which shouldn’t be very much longer,” I told her and then allowed myself to drift off to sleep. I was hoping that they’d leave and when I woke up I could slip out. This might not work the way I wanted, but it was the best plan I could come up with.

“They’re alive,” Rebecca announced to Mike and Stone, once they were seated in her classroom.

“How do you know?” Mike asked, curiosity apparent on his face. Stone also appeared curious, but his was more of a ‘I think I know how’ look.

“She spoke to me with her mind,” she answered, and Stone gave an almost imperceptible nod.

“How’s that possible? We’ve never had any documented cases of that happening,” he asked, excitement in his voice. Then, as if it suddenly dawned on him, “How close is she?”

“We know she made it to the highway. Unless she managed to get a ride, which is entirely possible, she’s probably around four or five miles from here, no more than ten. She could be quite a bit more, if she did find transportation. We have no idea where she is, though,” Stone told him.

“How can she connect over that kind of distance, especially with a non-telepath?” he asked.

“She’s that strong,” Rebecca replied.

“Those kind of distances have never been seen, ever,” he exclaimed.

“And we have never had a telepath speak mind to mind, much less across the entire building, while their heart was stopped,” she countered.

“Did you get any useful information from her?” Stone asked.

“Nothing that you need to carry out your duties, but yes, I think I did. She wanted to come back to get more of the ‘orange stuff’ they gave her,” she told them. Mike’s eyes scrunched at that, but he remained quiet.

“She’s willing to come back after escaping to get some orange stuff?” Stone asked, clearly concerned and curious.

“Yes,” Rebecca replied.

“Is this orange stuff what I think it is?” Mike asked.

“Yes,” she again replied with the one word answer, looking very unhappy.

“Forgive my ignorance, but what is this orange stuff and why would she be willing to return for it, after successfully escaping?” Stone asked. Both of the teachers looked at him and then at each other, clearly uncomfortable talking about this.

“The orange stuff is SHD. Dr. Hammond was instrumental in creating it to try and bring about faster development. The idea was that a telepath would achieve their full potential much quicker. There were many substances created and tested, with SHD being the most successful,” she told him.

“I would guess that there are some negative attributes to it, otherwise you both wouldn’t look so unhappy to know Melanie has taken it.”

“You could say that,” she said.

After a sigh, she continued, obviously ready to give him the full story. “Just before the school program was started, SHD was created after a lot of failures and a few minor successes. However, none of the successes were as successful as SHD. Unfortunately, due to the ingredients in the formula, there were some very serious drawbacks to its use. Some of the ingredients that I know of are heroin, cocaine and sodium amytal.”

He just stared at her for a long time. “I’m not a chemist, but I’m fairly certain that the mix of heroin, which is an opioid, along with a barbiturate, can be a deadly combination.”

“I’m also not a chemist, but what I understand is that the cocaine was added to provide a boost to the system, so the heart and respiratory systems wouldn’t stop functioning. I imagine there are other things in it to assist with that, but I have no idea,” she replied.

“I can’t comprehend the complete lack of ethics required to dose a young child with that stuff,” Stone said, a look of intense anger evident on his face.

“The head docs have been responsible for some very unorthodox testing in the past. I had thought they might have advanced beyond that, but I was obviously wrong,” she said, disappointment tinting her tone.

“Alright, aside from the obvious attributes of the drug, what should we expect to happen to her?” Stone asked.

“At some point, she may have a complete collapse and shutdown. That is a known result of the drug. It’s almost like a metamorphosis, as the body adjusts to what it does to the system. If they wake up…,” she said.

“What do you mean if?” Stone asked.

“Not all subjects wake up from this when the change occurs,” she replied.

“These people only care about results,” he said, through clenched teeth. Becoming a little frightened at the most emotion she had ever seen from him, she only nodded agreement.

“As strong as she already is, and the abilities I know of, should we be frightened of what might come out of her cocoon?” he asked, another thought coming to him.

“Very possibly. Although she’s very much against being controlled by the school and the government, she needs to be monitored and controlled, more than any telepath to ever come into or out of this program,” she admitted.

“There’s something I’m missing here,” Mike said, looking curiously between them.

“Go ahead and tell him,” Stone told her, after they exchanged a long look.

“She has abilities never before seen in a telepath,” she began.

“I already know that. No one has ever been able to speak mind to mind before and she’s also the youngest manifestation ever,” he said.

“There’s a lot more,” she said.

“It appears to me that you’ve been watching her more closely than I have.”

“As you well know, Aliyah is hiding her thoughts from you now. Stone began watching her after the first attack. It was primarily to keep her safe, both from another attack, but also from herself, if she got any self-destructive thoughts, which isn’t uncommon with victims of sexual assault. Stone realized pretty quickly that Melanie was training during her forays into the basement. He also observed her using skills that are things out of a science-fiction novel,” she said.

“What kind of skills are you talking about?” he asked.

“Well, she can set fires with her mind, it appears. She has some kind of force field that repels physical attacks. We have no idea the limits or capabilities of it, but Stone watched her playing with it. And apparently, she can teleport, which may be how she escaped the head docs, although that’s just speculation. Stone never witnessed her teleport more than a few feet, and it seemed to have a severe impact on her system when she did. So for her to teleport far enough away to escape them, I can’t see how she was able to leave the building, but she definitely has,” she told him.

“Those skills aren’t possible,” he said, sitting back and looking up at the ceiling.

“We know what has been observed in testing and it is all well documented, but she has been given an untested serum. Hell, there’s no documentation of any kind on it,” she stated.

“Could Hammond have created a serum that he was so scared of that he removed any mention of it, including any samples of it?” Mike asked, astounded at what he’d heard.

“It seems that he didn’t remove every sample of it, but otherwise, I think it’s very possible. He had all but abandoned the program just before he died, and he died rather unexpectedly. There’s also an amazingly large amount of data that seems to have large holes in it. I think he sabotaged further development, feeling that what he discovered didn’t need to be discovered,” she said.

“So, the creator and primary research doctor for the program develops a rather deep seated set of morals just before his death. In his sudden development of principles, he removes all traces of further development after the last known successful serum. But he’s unable to make himself completely destroy his life’s work and saves some in a hidden location, which Melanie Brager, the strongest telepath to ever come out of this experiment, happens to stumble upon. Further, she takes it, thus dramatically increasing her strength and abilities to some unknown height. To compound that, the head researchers have manipulated her system to bring her to full strength much faster, possibly even further increasing her strength,” Mike said, putting out a theory that was impressive in its unlikelihood of being true.

Just as she was about to answer, the door opened and Dean Hargrove stepped in. “What did I miss?” he asked, looking at each in turn.

No one said a word, as he surveyed them for quite a while. “You might as well tell me. It’s obvious that you three are planning something, or at least discussing secrets of national security,” he said, a small hint of a smile tugging at his mouth.

“Melanie’s still alive, as of a little while ago,” Rebecca finally said.

“And how do you know this?”

“She spoke to me with her mind.”

“So, she’s extremely close, which I highly doubt, or she’s able to send her connectors a shockingly long distance. If the reports I’ve read are accurate, Mr. Stone’s estimates are that she’s definitely made the highway, which is approximately three miles. Odds are, she’s made more distance since then, but the angle will keep her from increasing the distance greatly for a little while. By my estimate, she’s likely within ten miles, but no closer than three,” he stated, summing everything up rather neatly.

“However, the simple fact that she’s alive can’t be what has you three looking like you just got caught stealing a cookie from your Mom’s cookie jar,” he said, sitting in a desk.

“There’s more, sir,” Rebecca admitted.

“Well, spill it,” he admonished.

“The head docs gave her SHD.”

“Forgive me, but what is SHD and why is that significant?”

“Well, sir, it’s a drug designed just before the school program was started to try and bring out a telepaths potential very rapidly,” she explained, but said nothing more.

“But there’s more, isn’t there?”

“Yes, sir, there is. It’s a combination of several highly dangerous and addictive substances,” she said, trying to forestall telling him, even though it was obvious he would get her to reveal it all.

“And?” he asked.

“It’s made from a combination of heroin, cocaine and amobarbital, among other substances that I’m not really sure of.” He gaped at her, his mouth literally hanging open at this revelation.

“They gave this…this…poison to a ten year old girl?” he asked, very clearly shocked.

“Yes, sir,” she replied, not reminding him she was eleven.

“How do you know for sure?” he asked.

“Because she wants to come back so she can get more of it, and she told me what it was. How would she know, being that it’s been banned since the school program began?”

“How indeed,” he said, his voice growing quiet. “She successfully escaped and wants to return for this stuff. How addictive is it.”

“Although there have been no real studies on it, or the withdrawal process, observations claim that it’s a lot more addictive than the individual components themselves. Many subjects given it were addicted with the first dose, and from what I could tell, she was given a lot more than one dose, although that’s just speculation,” she said.

“Dear God!” he exclaimed. As he made this exclamation, Rebecca suddenly remembered a forgotten detail from her conversation with Melanie.

“Stone, she’s with someone else. I just remembered what she said. She was going to tell me what Ma Gardener said was in it, which means that there’s an adult with her, at least one, and that adult has done a chemical analysis of her blood or urine to detect what’s in her system. She’s having withdrawal and this unknown adult recognizes the symptoms,” she stated.

“Rebecca, this person could be associated with a law enforcement agency, if they’re able to conduct a test that fast. This also means she’s possibly farther away than we thought,” Stone said.

“I would still place her somewhere between Whitefish and Eureka, although Eureka is a bit farther than I believe she’s gone,” Dean Hargrove said.

Pulling out a tablet, Stone started working, at what, no one knew. “There’s a Gardener listed in the public phone records, although it’s spelled a little differently,” Stone said. Typing a bit more, he suddenly got a smile on his face. “I suspect that she’s at their house. They have an affiliation with the CIA.”

“The plot thickens,” Dean Hargrove quoted, a smile on his face.

“So it would seem,” Stone agreed, standing up. “I have to go. I’ll update you as I’m able,” he said as he walked out of the room.

“Before you leave, Mr. Stone,” the dean said, just before the door closed.

“Yes, sir,” Stone replied, coming back in and closing the door.

“I know I could be brought up on charges for saying this, but I would like to hide this from the head docs for as long as possible. I’m not sure how we should proceed, but they need to be removed from the equation somehow,” he said.

“I’ll do my best sir, but right now, Dr. Trasker’s in charge,” Stone replied and then left.