The knowledge that Mr. Black had a daughter startled Lucy. Of course he had parents—did they know what evil they'd spawned—but a wife and child? That required empathy, compassion, and some capacity to love, none of which Mr. Black seemed to possess. Yet this young girl, with her beautiful and disfigured form, argued otherwise.
As if she didn't have enough conflicting thoughts, now she had to factor in a human Mr. Black, one who hadn't been spewed out of hell—a demon in human form.
The doors to the private clinic swung closed, and Mr. Black and his daughter disappeared.
Lucy left the hospital and immediately ran into Luke and Gary.
Luke embraced her in a gentle bear hug that avoided her shoulder and arm, which hung in a sling for protection. At least it was her left arm. "I'm so glad you're okay. How did you escape the Seeker?"
"He let me go. He wasn't that bad, actually."
Both guys looked at her like goldfish with their mouths agape.
"Don't look at me like that. You weren't there. I'm just saying there's a lot we don't know about what's going on."
Gary swatted the air as if to make her words go away. "I don't care about any of that. We have to get out of here. Now's the time to try again. We can get out, no problem, as long as the Seeker isn't around to block our powers. If we move fast, we're free."
"I don't know, guys. I'm still in a lot of pain, and I can't help but think that we're partly to blame for all this. If we didn't keep pushing the boundaries, they wouldn't have to get so strict. Maybe things will get better if we just chill for a while and see what happens. Luke and I won't be going on assignment, or to any breeding facility, and the Seeker has promised to come clean with all their plans soon. We just need to give them a reason to trust us."
Luke frowned. "Did you knock your head when they shot you? Look around, Luce. No way are they going to lighten up. The lockdown has only gotten worse. We rebelled because they started all this, not the other way around. How many more kids do you want to see die before we do something?"
The loudspeaker buzzed to life before Lucy could respond. "ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS. THERE IS A MANDATORY ASSEMBLY IN THE HUB CENTER TO MOURN THE LOSS OF A STUDENT. PLEASE ATTEND IMMEDIATELY. NO ONE IS EXCUSED WITHOUT VALID MEDICAL REASONS AND A NOTE FROM THE DOCTOR."
The three of them headed toward the Hub.
Luke offered to carry her backpack, but she declined. "I heard they cremated Kyle and his ashes will be here today. Everyone is really shaken up."
A crowd formed around the center where a small stage had been erected. A few teachers were present, including Mr. Lancaster, who gave Lucy a meaningful look, though she didn't know what meaning it held. Mr. Black stood on the stage, next to a table holding an urn, and directed students and guards. He held his gun as if ready to fire at any moment, and Lucy worried he'd get trigger-happy.
The guards formed tight circles around groups of students, and kept them pinned to location like insects on a collector's board. When a boy fell out of line and tried to join another group, a guard pistol-whipped him and brought him back to formation.
Lucy swallowed a bit of vomit that rose in her throat.
She'd understood the Seeker's intention and ideas, but nothing had changed—and it wouldn't change unless they did something.
Her black eye still throbbed from the beating Mr. Black had given her, and her freshly shot shoulder pulsed with a painful reminder of how students were treated here.
Whatever Mr. Black and the Seeker cared about, it wasn't the students. Rent-A-Kid may have been well-intentioned at one point, but their methods got one kid killed and had seriously injured countless others. There had to be another way, a better way that didn't involve holding them prisoner and treating them like cattle.
Her brother and Gary were right. They couldn't wait for more kids to die. They had to escape now, today, and Lucy knew how.
The sphere in her backpack sent a surge of warmth into her and gave her strength. The pain in her shoulder disappeared, and she discarded her sling.
Before she could be pulled into formation, she slipped through the crowd toward Mr. Black. Once close enough, she grabbed a gun from one of the guards.
And held it to Mr. Black's head.
The entire crowd fell silent in shock.
Chapter 51 – Sam
Drake hadn't regained consciousness yet, and I couldn't stop crying. If I hadn't kicked the gun away... if we had done things his way....
But he would have shot Mary. She may not have been my favorite person in the world, but I didn't want her dead, or zombified.
The Seeker left us in the same dark room, with only the flicker of candle light to see by. One door led to a hallway, but I'd heard him lock it as he'd gone. No windows, no other way out, and no furniture save the chair and loveseat. I'd spent the first thirty minutes calling for help, but no one who cared could hear me.
My powers flitted in and out, but even when they worked I couldn't connect to anyone. The entire school thrummed with the Seeker's energy and mental signature. Power like that scared the hell out of me. The influence he had over the men he sent to capture us paled in comparison to what he controlled here.