The Hunt: The Oakmont Saga, Book 2

“Raughlin, I’m growing weary of having to ask you, time and time again, what went wrong,” Mr. Riley said.

“A detachment was sent to reacquire the lost telepaths, after the collapse of the main facility, and they met with significant and unknown resistance,” Raughlin said, a smile plastered on his face.

“I think we know that, Raughlin,” Mr. Riley said, his name almost sounding like an insult.

“The intel we had was faulty, and there’s nothing that my men could’ve done about that,” he tried to explain.

“90 children and an elderly couple, from what I understand,” Riley said, reading from a piece of paper. “And you sustained 69 dead and over 70 wounded, not to mention the loss of two multi-million dollar attack helicopters. All of this at the hands of 90 children and an elderly couple,” he said.

“We’ll have them with the next attempt. My men will not underestimate them again. What we have yet to ascertain, though, is where they acquired the advanced weaponry they have,” Raughlin said.

“Intelligence is your area, is it not? Isn’t that why we created the Oakmont program in the first place?” Mr. Riley asked.

“Yes, sir, but the children in the facility are mostly untrained. I need some experienced field agents to assist in the effort,” Raughlin said, sounding very humbled.

“They will be redeployed, as you suggested, but not under your command. General Sartrious has decided to take direct charge of the hunt. There is no longer going to be any effort at reacquisition. This has become too toxic, and the potential damage must be contained, thus all of the subjects are to be terminated,” the Senator said.

“Yes, sir,” Raughlin replied. I wondered if he was as humbled as he sounded. Knowing him, I seriously doubted it.

“Sir, I am in desperate need of replacement soldiers,” Raughlin said, pausing a moment before asking.

“Right now, the school in North Carolina is looking very good to us,” Mr. Riley told him, in lieu of a reply.

“Sir, have we learned anything about that school, as of yet?” Raughlin asked, for the first time showing real uncertainty.

“We know that it is funded by the NSA, and was developed at about the same time as the Oakmont program. We also know that the directive for it was somewhat different, although we have nothing more on that, yet. Another thing we know, is that the children have no desire to escape. Finally, we know that Brager is planning a visit soon,” he said.

I woke up with a start, at that last bit of information. If my father was planning on visiting, then maybe there was something worthwhile there.

“Head to North Carolina,” I blurted out.

“What!?” Richard, Chelsea and several others all said at the same time.

“There’s another school there, and it’s worth taking a look at,” I told them.

“I thought we wanted to get everyone to safety?” Richard asked.

“We do, but I think this is important.”

“Are you sure?” Chelsea asked.

“I’m not sure of anything, but I really think this is important.”

Broadcasting to everyone, Chelsea said, “We have a very long trip ahead of us. We’re not going to Seattle. Instead, we’re going to North Carolina,” she said, and gently removed the connection. I was always impressed with how smooth and gentle her mental touch was. Mine was definitely not smooth and gentle.

Richard and Chelsea had found two other kids that were old enough, and experienced enough, to drive the buses. That allowed them to switch off, and not get too tired, although the trip was wearing all of us out, and we’d only just started it. However, we’d been driving for hours, and that after a battle.

We drove and drove, all of it beginning to blur together. We only stopped for food, and bathroom breaks. Of course, we also stopped and acquired a few sleeping bags and blankets along the way, a little at a time. Although we couldn’t pay for it and we really needed it, we didn’t want to break the stores we were stealing from.

“Where are we?” I asked, waking up somewhere along the highway.

“Near St. Louis,” an unknown voice replied.

“Can we stop at the Ramirez’s house?” I asked.

“Who are they?” the voice asked in response.

“They helped me the last time I was here. Maybe they can help us,” I said.

“Where do they live?” came the question I knew was coming.

“74563 Rebecca Drive, in St. Charles, Missouri,” I replied, seeing Raphe’s phone in my mind’s eye.

“Ava, can you find that address?” the driver asked.

After a very long pause, a female voice replied, “We got it, and it’s not that far away.”

I settled back down and attempted to go back to sleep, but that turned out to be impossible. I was too excited to see the Ramirez’s again. Fifteen minutes later, we stopped on the side of the road, in front of the house that I remembered.

As the door of the bus opened, I stepped out, and walked to the front door. It took me a moment to push the doorbell, scared of what could possibly have happened to them. But I finally made myself do it, and a minute later the door opened up. I had my arms wrapped around Alex before she even realized who I was. As that realization quickly hit her, she held me tightly, and I cried on her.

“I’m happy to see you too, but why all the tears?” she asked.

“Momma was killed,” I roughly said, through my sobs.

“Oh, angel. I’m so sorry,” she said, holding me a little tighter.

“I also did some horrible things,” I added, between sobs.

“You can’t do horrible things,” she replied, which touched my anger a little, but only a little.

“I killed a lot of people, and hurt a lot more,” I told her, beginning to calm down. At that moment, I felt her shift a little, and knew some of the others had walked up. Either that, or she was scared of me for what I’d said.

“Melanie, might I ask why you came in a couple of school buses? I doubt you’re going to school, and definitely not in this area,” she said.

Pulling away from her, I sat down on the top step and lowered my eyes.

“The people from the program attacked us after we escaped again,” I began.

“Obviously, they captured you again, then,” she said, to which I only nodded.

“They did some really bad things to me,” I told her, beginning to shake at the memories. She sat beside me and wrapped her arm around me, holding me as I couldn’t stop shaking. But she didn’t say anything, letting me proceed at my own pace.

“They put this thing in my brain to keep me from running away again, and then they killed Mollie and Hern in front of me to show me what they’d do to anyone that knew anything about me. Then they killed Mr. John and made it look like he killed them all. I was so scared of what they had done to y’all,” I said, my words very rough thanks to my incessant shaking. I then paused to get my thoughts a little better organized.

“I figured out how to get it out, but it hurt very bad,” unexpectedly jumping to the next topic in the chain of events. “Then we went to the Gardner’s hoping they could help us. We called Dad, and he got us these school buses, but before Pa could bring them, they attacked, and I had to defend us. I killed so many people, and even more are injured, and it was so horrible how I did it,” I told her, breaking down again.

“Ma’am, she saved all of us,” I heard Richard tell her.

“I’m not surprised, but how many of you are there?” Alex replied.

“93, ma’am,” he said, and I felt her tense up briefly. That number had obviously shocked her.

“What are we going to do with 93 kids?” she asked.

“We’re not staying here, ma’am. She just wanted to visit you since we were so close, and also to see if there was any way you could help us. We need some supplies, and we don’t like having to steal them,” he added.

“What kind of supplies?” she asked, not mentioning the stealing part.

“Blankets, sleeping bags, food and water,” he replied.

“Give me a few minutes to see what I can do. I’ll also see if I can arrange a place to let you kids rest,” she said. I didn’t hear a reply from Richard, so I assumed he’d nodded.

“Melanie, why don’t you come inside and say hello to Emilia and Diego?”

“We’ll be okay, Melanie,” Richard said, putting a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

“Thank you,” I told him, and allowed myself to be lifted up and led inside.

“Melanie!” Emilia squealed as I walked in, still wrapped in Alex’s motherly hold. Emilia ran to me, and grabbed me in a bear hug, squeezing me very tightly.

“You’re going to strangle her, Emilia,” Alex said. Reluctantly releasing me, Emilia kind of jumped on the sofa, into a cross legged sitting position.

“Melanie, I’m going to make some phone calls, while you guys say hello,” Alex said, and I nodded in reply. A moment after Alex had left, Diego came from the kitchen, a big smile on his face.

“It is good to see you, Melanie,” he said, as he sat in the recliner to my left.

“I wanted to say hey, since we were going to be close by,” I told him.

“Can I look at that place on your head?” he asked, and I leaned a little toward him.

“What happened?” he asked.

“They put a device in my brain,” I replied. The look on his face was one of horror and shock.

“Why?” he asked, a moment later.

“To track me and to keep me from running away again,” I told him.

“How could it keep you from running away? And regardless, it doesn’t seem to have worked,” he said.

“If I got too far from them, it would send a surge of electricity into my brain, but we found a way to get it out,” I told him.

“Huh?” he asked, a little confused at my poorly formed explanation.

“The thing would send electricity into my brain, if I got too far from them. That was how they were going to keep me from running away, but Richard and I figured out how to get it out of my head, and it worked, but it hurt really bad,” I said.

“You and Richard, whoever he is, operated on your brain?” he asked, incredulous. I nodded, not knowing how else to explain what actually happened.

“That was incredibly dangerous!” he exclaimed. Again, I only nodded.

“Getting away was that important?” he asked, and yet again, I nodded.

“But they’ve done what they wanted,” I said.

“And what is that?” he asked.

“They created a monster,” I replied.

“What kind of monster?” he asked, not understanding my inference.

“Me.”

“You are not a monster,” he stated, smiling at me.

“I killed almost 70 people before we came here, and badly hurt over 70 more, and I didn’t care what I did when I was doing it. I didn’t feel anything,” I said, more heatedly than I’d meant to, tears boiling out again.

His smile was gone and the look on Emilia’s face was almost terror. It was very clear she didn’t know whether to believe me or not. I prayed she didn’t get to see for herself.

At that moment, Alex came back. Seeing the expressions on their faces, and my pathetic look, she paused a moment.

“Melanie, I have a place for you and the others to go for a few hours. We’ll give all of you a hot meal, along with sleeping bags, blankets, food for the trip, and some clothes, although I’m not sure if the clothes will be enough,” she said, when she decided she’d waited long enough.

“That uniform looks prettier than ours, but shouldn’t you wear hose or leggings with it?” Emilia asked, changing the subject rather unexpectedly. I suspected that it was deliberate.

“They don’t let us,” I replied.

“Is it a real skirt?” she asked, realizing it wasn’t the typical skort.

“Yeah,” I said. Although I wanted to be nicer, and friendlier, I didn’t have it in me and couldn’t force it.

“Melanie, will the other kids be alright with a bunch of adults helping them get food, and with trying on clothes?” Alex asked.

“I’m the only one that’s screwed up. They’ll be okay with it,” I assured her.

“Diego, we’re going to the church to feed, rest and clothe these kids. Why don’t you drive one of the buses? Emilia, get your brothers and we’ll all help with this,” she said, addressing her daughter, who beamed at the prospect.

Another fifteen minutes later, all of us were unloading from the buses, heading into a large but somewhat plain looking church building. It wasn’t fancy like some Catholic churches I’d read about and seen pictures of, but it did look nice.

We were brought in through what looked like the main entrance and led to a large dining hall. There were several adults in the kitchen area, which was separated by a cafeteria style pass through. All of the adults in there were cooking food, and lots of it. It smelled wonderful, and a lot like spaghetti. At that moment, I didn’t care about the carbs I was about to consume. I was too hungry to care.

“While the food is being prepared, you kids follow me and we’ll get some bunks prepared and see about clothing for you,” an older woman announced, who seemed to be leading the effort. She was also the one that had taken charge as soon as we entered the building. I was a little surprised that she wasn’t a nun.

In the short time it had taken us to get to the church, an amazing amount of work had been done. I was really impressed, and very surprised.

There were what looked like enough bunks for all of us set up in the gym we were led into. On each bunk, was a sleeping bag and a blanket, along with a pillow. There was also a large pile of stuffed animals, of varying types and sizes, in one corner.

Without any discussion, the younger kids walked to the pile and picked up one of the toys. Not a single stuffed animal was left unclaimed, and all of the kids seemed happy with their eventual prize.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen kids not have at least some argument over toys like this,” the older woman observed.

“We’re not like other kids,” I told her.

“Alex told me that, but there are behaviors that are common in all children,” she said.

“Not us,” I said. She looked at me a moment, but didn’t say anything else.

“I assume then there will be no disagreements over where each of you sleeps?” she asked.

“No, ma’am, but we won’t stay long,” I replied.

“But we were under the impression that you needed a place to stay for awhile,” she said.

“Only for a couple of hours, so we can rest, get supplies and a meal. We have to keep going,” I told her.

“Where is it you’re going, and why the rush?” she asked, and I knew she was poking for information. In a moment of lowered inhibitions, I decided to give her more than she wanted.

“We’re going to North Carolina. There’s supposed to be another school kind of like the one we escaped from, but they might be nicer. We’re not staying long so the people that are after us won’t attack all of you,” I told her. She just stood looking at me, unable to fully understand what I’d told her.

“The school they escaped from is a secret government program, Marge. These kids have been abused and experimented on,” Alex informed her. There was clearly doubt on her face, which was normal when confronted with our reality.

My current state of mind propelled me to create a small flame in my hand, letting it dance in my palm. Unlike in some movies, I felt the heat, and it burned. I just didn’t care and let my skin begin turning red before I extinguished it.

“That’s not possible!” she exclaimed.

“I’ve heard that too many times,” I replied. Then, “Can I get some burn cream, please?”

“That hurt you?” Alex asked, a little surprised.

“It’s not like the movies. Flame hurts me, just like anyone else,” I explained, still feeling the pain of the battle, just a day or two ago. I wasn’t sure how long it’d been, as time was beginning to blur for me. “I feel everything I do,” I said very softly.

Seeming to sense my dark mood, Alex put her arm around me, again giving me the support and strength I desperately needed. I was sinking lower and lower with each passing hour, minute...second.

Once I had my hand tended to, I returned to the gym, and the makeshift beds. I walked straight to one of the cots, laid down, pulling the blanket over my head and closed my eyes, tears leaking out. I was a mess again. I could never live like a normal person, in regular society. Aside from being way too dangerous, as I’d recently demonstrated, I was too mentally unstable. I needed serious help, and monitoring, by people that knew what they were working with.

James was right. They’d made me like him. The only difference was, they didn’t control me, not yet, and I had no intention of letting them.

That was the real motivation behind my desire to find this other school. I knew none of us could be let free. I’d come to understand that, thanks to the battle. All of us were too dangerous, even the weakest of us.

“Alex, these kids are kind of eerie. They all seem sad, or something, and there was none of the normal squabbling you’d expect when they got the stuffed animals. They all just picked one up, and moved on. It was almost like I’d expect in communist Russia or something,” Marge said, once they’d left the kids to get settled into their sleeping arrangements.

“Marge, those kids have been in a very tough military kind of program, most for many years. Not only that, at least some of them have been experimented on and studied, like lab animals. I found out when they arrived that there’d been some kind of battle, and there was a lot of people killed and badly wounded. They’re probably traumatized, as well,” Alex explained. Marge looked horrified, but she actually seemed to believe what Alex had told her.

“Have you looked at the kids?” she asked, after a moment of thinking about what Alex had said.

“Not really. Why?” Alex asked.

“There’s not a fat kid among them. They all look extremely fit, and then there’s their eyes. All of them have the weirdest eyes, at least the ones I was able to see. Have you looked at them?” she again asked.

“I’ve seen Melanie’s, and although they’re quite unique, I didn’t think much of them,” Alex replied.

“Take a closer look at them, sometime. They all have more than one color in them. When I first saw them, I thought that it might be some kind of new contacts, but they’re all like that,” Marge told her.

“Maybe it’s a result of the genetic manipulation that was done to them,” Alex replied, which brought another horrified reaction from Marge.

“For what purpose?” Marge asked.

“I don’t really know, and what I do know, I won’t talk about,” she said. Marge looked like she wanted to ask, but seemed to decide against doing so.

“Marge, they’re just children, children that have been through more than we can understand. They need love, more than anything, but right now, they need some help, which is why we’re here. They asked for help, so they wouldn’t have to steal. They said that, when they asked for my help,” Alex said.

“That’s good, and sad, at the same time. If I was their parents, I’d be proud,” Marge replied, getting a nod of agreement from Alex.

“Although she didn’t say it, I suspect that most of these kids probably haven’t seen their parents in years, and probably don’t ever expect to again,” she said.

“Alex, how’d they get those buses? They’re from Montana,” Marge said, changing the subject.

“Melanie’s father arranged for them, somehow. I don’t know anything more than that,” Alex said.

“Well, let’s assume, or hope, that it’s all legal, then,” Marge said, clearly deciding on a plausible deniability approach.

“I think it is, but I really don’t know. What worries me is whether the people that are after them can track them by those buses,” Alex said, getting a concerned expression from Marge.

“Would those be the same people that monkeyed with them?” Marge asked. Alex nodded, but didn’t say anything.

“Do those people use guns to make their point?” Marge then asked, getting another nod from Alex.

“Oh dear,” she then said.

“Momma,” Emilia said, when she finally saw the proper opening in the conversation. She’d been waiting for a few minutes to speak.

“Yes, dear?” Alex asked.

“They’re all asleep, and supper’s almost done,” she said.

“All of them?” Marge asked, getting a nod from Emilia.

“I’ll go see if they want to eat, or sleep,” Alex said.

When she walked into the gym, every one of the kids was asleep, just as Emilia had said. Not a single one stirred as she walked in, except Melanie, who sat up and walked over to her, wrapping her arms around Alex as she did.

“I’m such a bad person,” she said, as she let all of her emotion out.

I couldn’t believe I was that pathetic, but I was. I needed someone to unload on, and Aliyah was gone, hopefully, safe.

“No, sweetie, you’re not a bad person, even if you’ve done things you think are bad,” she said. The way she worded her reply was very deliberate, and didn’t leave any real room for me to argue.

“You’ve learned,” I said, actually smiling a little as I looked up at her.

“Only a little, but yes,” she replied, with a smile of her own.

“We need to get ready to go. I think we’ve slept long enough,” I said, letting go of Alex, and sending a probe to them all, effectively acting like an alarm. Alex was clearly unnerved as every kid woke up at the same time, without me saying anything.

“I woke them up,” I told her.

“I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that,” she commented.

“You won’t get a chance to,” I stated. She squeezed me a little, but didn’t comment. She began leading me back to the dining hall, where the smell was wonderful. Only a couple minutes later, all 93 of us were seated at tables, waiting for instructions.

“Kids, we’re going to operate this like a cafeteria line. Just come up, get your plate, silverware, napkin and then your food. At the end of the line is the drink station, but I’d suggest putting your food down before getting your drink,” Marge instructed us.

“I don’t know what faith each of you believes in, but this is a church, so we’re going to pray before the meal. Even if you don’t believe, please be respectful of those that do,” Alex said. Giving everyone a moment to prepare, an older man, who I was almost certain was a priest, said a prayer for the food. There were parts in it I wasn’t familiar with, though. I assumed they were unique to the Catholic faith, but I wasn’t sure. All of the adults, and Alex’s children, all did a little motion of crossing their chests at the end, and then we were motioned to get our food.

Chelsea had already found an older kid to direct traffic, so we all got up, one table at a time. Each table was told when to get up and get their food. It was amazingly orderly, and fast, and no one complained.

Half an hour later, all of us were fed and content. That was when I realized our mistake. The meal, which was full of carbs, and was rather heavy anyway, was going to make nighttime driving very difficult. Whoever was driving would be in serious danger of falling asleep at the wheel. I hadn’t thought of that, and there was no way around it.

“Chelsea, Richard, we have a problem. Whoever is driving will have trouble staying awake,” I told them. I could sense their agreement, but they didn’t have the paranoia about staying in one place that I did, so they didn’t have the worry I did.

“We have to stay, then,” Chelsea said.

“It’d give us a fresh start in the morning,” Richard added, agreeing with her.

“It’s dangerous, though,” I argued.

“And so is falling asleep while driving,” Richard said, mildly sarcastic. This was not the same guy that I’d had in my physics class not very long before.

I didn’t have a choice, and I knew it. They were right, and I was even the one that had said it.

When I found Alex, a minute later, I pulled her aside and looked at the floor for a minute, before staring into her eyes. “Alex, may we stay the night here?” I asked, feeling very bad about asking for such a big favor, and imposing on them that much more. Her face lit up, giving me my answer.

“We were all hoping you would,” she said, and I could see the priest and the woman nodding enthusiastically.

“Thank you,” I said, hugging her tightly.

“You could come stay with us, if you want,” she suggested.

“Thank you, but I can’t. I need to be with them,” I replied, looking back at the other kids.

“Alright,” she said, but I could see the disappointment. However, I needed to be with my own kind, and I also needed to be there, in case something bad happened. I couldn’t tell her that, though.