Derailed - 17. Along the Wall

Derailed 16

Along the Wall

“Wake up, Cameron; you need to wake up now.”

You again! Why should I listen to anything you have to say?

“You’ve been through so much and have lost so much, but you must keep fighting. You need to wake up now; there is still much to do.”

I still don’t know who you are.

“They need you. They all do. You have to show them, show them all.”

Who?

“Show them; give them the courage to fight back!”

I was jolted awake by the clash of thunder sounding off in the distance. I opened my eyes to find myself staring at the ground. My hands were bound; I was being dragged across the ground by my elbows. There were voices all around me, but my head was still too fuzzy to make out any words. I began scanning back and forth to get an idea of where I was, but my eyes didn’t seem to want to focus.

What… what happened. Think! What is the last thing you remember? You were in the room with Tim, Corbin and Adrian. You were upset because they were giving up. No, that’s not right… that… that was a lie. Tim… did he?

“TIM!” I found myself fighting back an uncontrollable rage, as the last moments before I blacked out came rushing back to me. That son of a bitch betrayed us! I started squirming back and forth, trying to loosen the grip of who ever had me, but I only felt the hands tighten even more now, digging into my arms to the point of bruising. I then felt an immensely sharp pain shoot throughout my entire body as every muscle tensed up and my heart pumped double time. I tried to scream out, but I found myself muted by the same sensation. A second later, the pain eased up and I found myself shaking.

“Good. Looks like it knows who’s in charge now.”

I tried to stand up, but my legs were kicked out from under me and I resorted to allowing myself to be dragged. Instead, I switched my attention to trying to look around. My sight was slowly coming back to me and I could make out large lights shining down on me like massive stage lights. In the distance, I could see what resembled a massive screen on the front of a building. As more and more came into view I found myself knowing this place. This is Times Square! This is where they were taking everyone. Another rumble of thunder sounded as a long steel wall in the middle of everything came into view. It stretched from one end of the square to the other and lined up along it were all the captives, each one chained at the neck by the collars they had been firing off from the Ravens. Wait, where’s Mark? And Corbin and Adrian? I didn’t even know if they were alive or… I didn’t want to think about it. I turned and looked behind me. Someone else was being dragged to the wall as well, but before I could make out whom it was, I felt a fist make sharp contact with the side of my face and my head was snapped around to the front. My jaw was left stinging when I felt a cold raindrop fall, giving small relief, and not long after, one drop turned to one hundred as the storm in the distance finally made its way over us. I looked up at the sky to see dark clouds blocking out the sunset. It’s almost night? How long had we been gone?

Finally, after what felt like a mile-long march, I found myself being shoved against the wall and a chain hooked to the collar around my neck. For the first time I got to look at who was behind me and my heart gave a jump to discover Corbin, with Adrian being dragged to the wall along with me. Mark, however, was still nowhere to be seen. For the first time I was able to stand on my own. Unfortunately, the chains gave very little leeway and I wasn’t able to step more than a few feet away from the wall. Corbin was still unconscious when they placed him beside me.

“What the hell do we do about these two? We can’t have them sleeping through this, now can we?”

“I got something that will wake ‘em up.” The second of the soldiers pulled out a long black baton and jabbed it hard into Corbin’s ribs. It sparked to life as Corbin’s eyes jolted awake and he began shaking violently. A second later, another one was rammed into Adrian’s shoulder.

“STOP IT! YOUR GOING TO FUCKING KILL THEM, YOU SADISTIC FUCKS!” I shouted out… and found myself choked by the collar. They stopped for a moment, giving Corbin and Adrian a second to get their heads together. The man didn’t even say anything and instead pulled it away from Corbin and rammed it into my thigh, and for the second time today, my whole body tensed up from the pain. My legs gave out from under me as I fell, but before my knees hit the ground, I found myself choked again by the collar. Grasping for air, I scrambled back up and leaned against the wall for support.

“This one can’t seem to remember his place. We might just have to keep an eye on him.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, waiting for the mix of pain and numbness to go away before I tried to steady myself.

“Cam… Cameron?” I opened my eyes to see Corbin finally starting to come to. “What the hell are you doing here?” I looked at my feet unable to meet his gaze and tell him about how I dragged us into this mess.

“We... we came to warn you and Adrian about, well… about this.”

“Who’s ‘we’?”

“Me, Mark and… oh no!” I turned my head back and forth, looking in all directions. The person on the other side of me was an older man with long grey stringy hair and a tattered old trench coat.

“Who else was with you, Cameron? Answer me!”

“I felt hot tears stinging my eyes as the thoughts of Bruiser came to surface in my mind, and even worse, the idea that he might be somewhere in all of this mess alone. If anything happened to him, I would never be able to face myself again. “Bruiser. He snuck on the train with me and Mark. But… he wasn’t in the house with when Tim.” I was interrupted by the sound of Corbin slamming his fist into the wall as hard as he could.

“Jesus Christ! What the fuck were you guys thinking?!?” I continued to stare at my feet, a feeling of guilt and shame washed over me. If it hadn’t been for me, Mark and possibly Bruiser wouldn't be in this mess.

“It’s my fault. It’s my fault we’re here. If I hadn’t…”

“Don’t!” Adrian’s voice shouted from the other side of Corbin. “There’s only one person worth blaming, and I swear to god, if I ever get the chance to, I’m going to end his goddamn life.” I could hear Adrian half laughing now. “I can’t fucking believe it! Mark was absolutely right, about everything!”

“As much as I love hearing you say that, I don’t think it’s going to be doing us any good now.” I spun around to see Mark’s head sticking out past the man next to me. I reached out as far as I could and grabbed ahold of his hand as if I couldn't believe it was really him. I then realized that we had more or less strapped the man between us to the wall with our arms.

“Sorry,” I apologized.

“Kid, now is not the time for apologies. Now is the time for goodbyes.”

“What do you mean?” He didn’t say anything, but only nodded towards the massive Times Square screen.

Corbin realized it a second before I did, as he just screamed out in rage and began trying to rip his chain out like a mad man.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” Adrian screamed out. I was at a loss for words as my heart began pounding rapidly.

Live Executions to begin in less than 30 minutes.

“You get it now, kid? They’re making an example of us. They figured if they strike enough fear into the hearts of every other infected person, then they could win this war through fear alone. It’s basic Psychological Warfare.”

So that was it then? They’re just going to murder us on live television while the entire world watches? Not only watches, but cheers it on? I felt sick to my stomach as I began dry heaving. I closed my eyes and began trying to imagine myself somewhere else, but it was no use.

“Mark, if you ever had a master plan up your sleeve, now is really the time to tell us,” Corbin said, as he continued his best to break his chain loose.

“I’ve thought of every possible solution, but as long as that tower is up, none of us have our powers.” He pointed to a much larger scale version of the satellite that we had destroyed back on the raven. “Without our powers, I don’t think there is much we can do.”

“Great, so there is no hope,” Adrian said, as he gave a slight laugh out of sheer disbelief of the situation.

“Maybe not. I woke up shortly after they dragged us out of the building, and when I did, I saw the raven we had taken over was gone.”

“Wait! Then that means Bruiser escaped?”

“The truth is, I don’t know. The others could have been overtaken before they ever went in after us. However, I didn’t see him anywhere on the wall.”

I laid my head back against the wall and closed my eyes, doing my best to let the rain put me at ease. Then it’s all up to Bruiser. I could hear screams and sobbing echo all along the wall. One woman’s voice in particular grabbed my attention.

“Please, no! He’s just a child, for god’s sake!” I heard the familiar ZZZZZ and a bright flash from further down past Mark, as someone else was prodded.

“Look at it this way; he’ll have a real chance to help mankind. Would you rather him be killed here along with the rest of you? You should be glad he has this chance!” The voice was emotionless and cold as if the person it belonged to had no heart at all.

“ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP, FREAKS! IF ANY OF YOU WANT A CHANCE OF SURVIVAL, THEN WHEN DOCTOR AIZEN COMES BY, YOU WILL TELL HIM WHAT HE WANTS TO KNOW. IF YOU REFUSE, YOU WILL BE MADE TO COOPERATE.”

The orders came from another one of the troops guarding us. He then walked further down the wall to repeat the commands.

“Why the hell do they want our info?” I asked. Corbin just shook his head. Mark, however, answered with a harshness I had never heard come from him before.

“His name is Dr. Aizen. He’s a world famous geneticist. He’s the one who developed the collars we’re wearing now. He also has a fetish for using us as lab rats. He’s conducted a number of horrible acts, all in the name of science. Most of those he chooses tend not to survive for very long. My guess is he’s here resupplying himself with fresh subjects.”

It was another few minutes before the doctor finally made his way to Mark. He looked him over a couple times before grabbing his chin and turning his face from side to side, when Mark jerked his head free from his grasp.

“You will tell me your name, age and power.” Mark didn’t answer which only frustrated the doctor. He swiftly took out a prod and backhanded it across Mark’s face. It arced upon impact and Mark slumped to one side.

“You will answer me!” My teeth clenched in my jaw as I felt more and more rage build up in my chest, to the point where I was now shaking.

“Do you understand yet? They care nothing for any of you! You’re nothing more than tainted cattle to them!”

It was the same far off voice, once again making its presence known.

“You alone have to make them understand!”

I don’t know what the hell you want from me. I don’t have my powers, and even if I did, they wouldn't be of any use to me now!

“You have all the power you need, you need only release!”

You think I haven’t been trying? I don’t know how to release it!

Mark got back to his feet and once again kept his mouth shut. The doctor raised the prod once again, this time higher over his head. He was about to make contact when Corbin belted out.

“Answer him! It’s not worth losing your life!” The doctor stopped mid swing, startled by Corbin’s outburst. A moment later, Mark finally spoke.

“Mark Rails, 16, Tech Manipulation.”

“It a shame you’re too disobedient. You could have been a truly fascinating specimen.” He then turned his attention to the man beside me. “And you are?”

“Vincent Lovejoy, 38, Transmutation. I can turn any metal into another metal. Even lead into pure gold.” The doctor looked up from his clipboard, his eyes squinting at the man. He then looked over at one of the grunts beside him and nodded. The man was unchained and taken away from the rest of us.

Next, it was my turn. The man stood in front of me looking me over. I wanted so badly to reach out and grip his throat with my bare hands; if it weren’t for the chain, I would have.

“Name, Age and Power.”

“Cameron Rails, 14, Nothing”

“If you think you’re being funny, let me assure you, I’m not one for joking.”

“I'm not making any jokes. I have a power, it just doesn’t do anything at the moment.” He grabbed me and looked directly into my eyes. I looked into his, but saw no emotion, no remorse for what he was doing. It was like looking at a machine, no heart to be seen.

“How sad. You’re worthless even as a freak.” He let go of me and moved on to Corbin.

“Name Age and…” before he could finish Corbin arched his back and spit directly into his face. The doctor recoiled a few feet before grabbing the prod and jamming it into Corbin’s neck. Corbin fell and screamed out as the prod dug deeper and deeper into him.

In a state of desperation, I swung my leg out, catching the doctor in the ribs and knocking him to the ground. Several grunts helped him to his feet as he smoothed his lab jacket out.

“Every one of you abominations deserves to die. I tried to spare you and you have the audacity to attack me!” I waited and anticipated being shocked again, but he instead turned away from the wall and left. “I have enough subjects. The rest are of no use to me.”

The rain began picking up until it was almost a downpour. However, even over the noise I could hear more and more people crying out, soon I felt my heart begin to break along with them. After all we’ve done, it was going to end here, chained to a wall. I looked back to the screen, which now displayed a count down.

“You would think it was fucking new years the way they’re acting. I mean, what kind of sick people broadcast mass murder?” Adrian sneered at the live camera feed that was now displaying all those chained along the wall. There must have been close to a hundred of us all lined up, and for a quick second, I caught a gimps of the four of us.

“Good. Let ‘em show it!” Corbin said, now on his feet with absolute hatred radiating from his voice.” Let them show the entire world what real evil looks like. And years from now, they’ll have to look back disgraced with what they did, and they’ll have to live with it.”

“So then you’re just going to give up? You alone can stop this!”

How many times do I have to tell you? I can’t! There’s nothing I can do!

“You can save them!”

“Shut the hell up!” I snapped aloud this time. Corbin, Mark, and Adrian all looked at me as if I were losing it. A part of me felt they might be right. Even by our standards, it’s never normal to be hearing voices in your head.

Before I could reassure them I was fine, I heard thunderous applause erupt from the troops positioned all over the square. When down one of the streets, a massive black tower-like vehicle was approaching us. Instantly, the soldiers all lined up at attention to welcome it. The thing must have stood three stories tall and was as long as a semi. It was downright intimidating to look at.

As the thing passed the first of the soldiers, each one of them saluted, then held it until it passed. Finally, after much celebration, the thing stopped in the middle of the square in front of us. The wind then picked up around us and debris began flying all over the place, as a raven appeared above us and then made a landing. Several more of them followed it until I counted at least 15 of them. Out of the first one that landed, the two infected traitors from earlier emerged, the Girl who had charred the woman from earlier, and the one she called Ape, with his long oversized arms.

Eventually, all the ravens emptied out and the ones inside surrounded the black moving tower. All except for the Girl and Ape, who instead made their way over to Aizen’s side. They were also the only ones not in uniform. I glanced back up as the countdown timer now read 10 minutes and counting. Another flash of lighting went off, followed by another crash of thunder. A moment later at the top of the tower, a door slid opened. Stepping out onto a black platform was a guy who looked to be a little older than Mark. He was dressed in a black trench coat and kept most of his face covered with long black hair, except for one eye, which gave a look of complete boredom. Then behind him, General Melbourne himself stepped out.

Corbin’s chain instantly tensed as he shot out, only to be reminded of the limits of his reach. My fists clenched as together we all looked up at the man who had ordered our genocide. So many innocent lives lost at his whim. He held his hands out to silence the cheering crowd as a number of news cameras rushed to begin recording. His image came up on the screen as silence fell over the crowd. Just then, from the crowd, the traitorous bastard himself came running up to stand in front of Adrian.

“YOU SON OF A BITCH! I TRUSTED YOU… I TRUSTED YOU WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING! YOU WERE MY BROTHER! YOU BETRAYED ME! I'LL FUCKIN’ KILL YOU!”

“Adrian, please listen to reason, I’ll offer you one more chance. Join me; there is no reason for you to die here with the rest of them!” Adrian’s teeth were clenched as tears now began flowing freely down his cheeks.

“I would rather die a thousand times beside these people than live one moment as a traitor with you!” Tim said nothing, but only backed away into the crowd. Adrian’s once comical demeanor was diminished, as he looked completely broken inside.

“My fellow people of the world,” Melbourne began his speech, “Today we end what could have been one of the biggest wars in history before it begins, and along with it, we preserve humanity against an inhuman threat that would seek to destroy it. Thanks to the swift action of the young men and women here today, the streets of New York are safe from one of the gravest threats we have ever known, and to assure those who are still out there that we will no longer tolerate the threat they impose! We will strike them down for all the world to bear witness!” The crowd cheered and gave applause once more. “This is, however, only the beginning of the struggle. There is still much work to be done, but rest assured, your ever-vigilant Armed Forces, along with the VCU, will not rest until the human race is once again safe, and we will begin with these defilers of nature that we have found hiding within our own beloved city!” The crowd then shifted from cheering to screams of anger and booing, as trash and some rocks were hurled in our direction.

“Wow they truly hate us, don’t they?” Adrian said, now laughing though his tears.

“Yeah usually people don’t start hating you until after they get to know you, Adrian,” Mark yelled over.

“I think that’s the first joke I’ve ever heard you tell Mark. Too bad it’s looking to be your last one as well.”

Melbourne continued his speech. However, I had quit paying any attention by this point.

“Hey, you ok Cameron?” I felt Corbin’s hand squeeze mine as he stared straight ahead. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve been shot dozens of times. Only hurts for a second.” I didn’t respond, but only squeezed his hand back, closed my eyes and tried my best to concentrate on the sound of the rain. When I felt a hand reach out and grab my other one, I looked over to see Mark, who had surprisingly taken the hand of the woman on the other side of him as well. Corbin had grabbed Adrian’s hand, and he grabbed the hand of the person next to him and so on and so on until the entire line up had joined hands and awaited fate.

“Without further delay, it is now time to begin the countdown to the end of our long struggle and to the beginning of peace!”

“20”

I shut my eyes and began searching for any thoughts I could muster up to bring me peace. So much of my life had been spent in anger and sadness; I refused to let those emotions consume my last moments.

“19”

“18”

“17”

“16”

The whole crowd joined in now, as more and more screams of terror filled the air, but I began to drown them out. I took myself back to a time when I was little and my mother was reading to me. I tried to focus on every little thing I could remember about her… her smile, her smell, the way she talked and would reassure me that everything would be fine and that she would protect me from all the bad guys. Even if it all did end up being lies, I clung to them with the last ounce of my being.

“15”

“14”

“13”

“12”

I felt both Mark and Corbin’s hands tighten around my own as my heart began racing. My thoughts now returned to all of them, to everyone in the station who I had come to call my family and how the thought of losing them scared me more than the thought of being killed.

“11”

Their voices grew louder, as the final stretch was now at hand.

“10”

“9”

“Cameron, you have to act! Everyone you love will be lost if you don’t!

It’s too late for that, I swore I would protect them; I would protect all of them. I never wanted to lose anyone I held close again!

My thoughts then flashed to Seth, to his smile and his very presence which always seemed to make me want to smile with him. Then to our final kiss before he was taken from me. The greatest memory of my life right before the worst.

“8”

“7”

“6”

“5”

“YOU CAN STILL SAVE THEM! YOU HAVE TO LET GO! YOU HAVE TO LET IT ALL OUT! YOUR PAIN! YOUR ANGER! YOUR FEAR! YOU HAVE TO LET IT OUT!”

A solider screamed off in the distance as I heard the sound of the guns being readied.

“4”

“3”

“2”

“YOU HAVE TO DO IT…

“1!”

“NOW!”

“FIRE!”

The last sound I heard was the sound of the gunfire… and then nothing… nothing but black. Could this really be what death felt like? A never-ending expanse of nothing, no thought, no emotion, sight or sound? All of it just gone? However, in my mind I still saw them: my mother… Seth, everyone I had ever loved, all of them swimming in my mind. Those memories were real enough. This couldn't be death. I wouldn’t be having those thoughts of the memories if I were truly gone.

“Save them… all you have to do now is open your eyes and save them!”

Then I felt it! Every bit of emotion brought on by the ones I love! Every sadness, every joy, all the anger as well as the love, all boiling up inside my chest until I felt it explode.

“Cameron… Cameron, are you doing this?”

“Open your eyes and save them!”

I did as I was told. The moment I did, the world had somehow changed! It was as if I felt every bit of energy flowing from everything and everyone. I felt as though I could read and sense everything all at once. I looked down at the shackles on my hand and by mere thought alone, they cracked and broke away from me, freeing my hands.

“Cameron?” Mark’s voice was speaking to me as I looked down at my hands shaking uncontrollably. I then looked up to face a bullet, no, all of the bullets, stopped dead in their tracks - suspended in midair, an inch from our faces. The rain had stopped as well, frozen in place along with the bullets. Hot tears began streaming down my face. We had come so close to all being wiped out. They had no remorse, no pity and no mercy.

With one more thought, the collar around my neck broke away and I stepped forward. I now spoke to the voice.

I know what has to be done.

I turned to face the stunned captives who now all stared face to face with the bullets that were meant to take their lives.

“FIRE!” Melbourne screamed. Again, the moment the word left his mouth, I sensed every gun that was aimed, and stopped the bullets, before they even made it out of the barrels this time.

“Do you get it now?” I spoke out to the captives. “They were going to kill all of us! Not just us, but everyone who means anything to us. Our families, our friends, all of them gone. They’re never going to stop! Neither can we! A long time ago, I swore I would’nt run from them forever. And we can’t anymore! If we’re ever going to survive, then we have to stop running and fight back. We all have our weapons. They’ve left us no choice but to use them!” And with one swipe of my hand the power jammer blocking our powers fell and landed on the ground with a massive BOOM! And with another hand movement, the collars and hand binds broke and fell away.

“I have the entire military at my disposal, all primed and ready to attack the moment I give the order! What do you really think you can do?” Melbourne shouted down from his tower directly at me.

“I can kill you!” Another gun was raised in our direction, but before I responded, a blast of fire was sent, igniting on impact and sending the few soldiers within the radius flying. I let my hold over the rain go as it dropped heavier than ever, along with the bullets. All at once, both sides charged, and the battle began.