Derailed - 4. Secrets and Love

Chapter 3

I stood up from the small crater in the center of the now destroyed laboratory to finally get a good view of the damage I had caused only moments ago. I saw the table that once held all the equipment, now turned over. The equipment itself had been thrown against the wall. It lay there now, smashed into pieces. There were several cracks in the wall as well as the ceiling and bits of plaster now littered the floor. The area resembled a crime scene rather than a lab.

“Oh my God, Mark! I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to...” But before I could finish, Mark was on his feet.

He grabbed me by the arm and began pulling me to the entrance of what was once a camera shop, then a lab and now what appeared to be a war zone. I couldn't imagine how pissed he was at me and his ever emotionless face gave me no clue. Even after I had destroyed half of his life's work in less than a minute, he still seemed to not even care. His grip on my arm tightened slightly as we headed through the entrance and towards the stairs leading back down to the platforms, his now quickening pace almost dragging me behind him.

“Look, I am so sorry about the lab. I swear I’ll find a way to help you fix it,” I said almost in tears at this point.

He stopped walking for a moment and turned to really look at me for the first time, his blue eyes staring at me almost threw me. The kind of eyes you could lose yourself in. He then tilted his head to the side gaining an almost curious expression.

“You’re worried about the laboratory? It can be repaired and I've already memorized all the truly important research I was conducting. I am now more concerned about your condition and I would advise you to be as well. We need to get you to Andrea at once,” he said, looking as if I were mad.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, not knowing what he meant by ‘my condition’. Did he think there was something that truly wrong with me?

It was then that I began to feel it, a burning sensation on my face. I had been in such a state of shock, I hadn't noticed it before. Remembering the glass from the monitor exploding in my face, I lifted my hands to my cheeks and felt my stomach lurch, my face was covered in cuts and pieces of glass were embedded in my skin. I then felt the sting as sweat and blood ran into the fresh cuts and slowly down my face.

Now looking somewhat worried that I had obviously become aware of my face, Mark grabbed my arm and began to once again pull me down the stairs and onto the platforms. Not wanting to alert anyone to my condition, he made sure the coast was clear before rushing me along the platforms towards Andrea's medical tent. It was odd to see him react this way; I had never seen Mark show any true concern for us, especially me. It was almost comforting in a way.

When we got to Andrea's, Mark went in first to check to make sure no one else was in there. He came back looking somewhat annoyed. Without speaking he pulled me into the tent, only for me to find that it was empty. He motioned for me to sit up on the table that Andrea often used when seeing us.

“Wait, what are you doing? Where’s Andrea?” I asked, not fully understanding what was going on.

He looked at me now, almost as if to examine my face himself. He turned my face to the left and slowly to the right before letting go, rolling up his sleeves and grabbing a washcloth out of a bowl of warm water sitting on a plate warmer. Andrea often kept it to clean wounds before healing them; it made it much easier to heal if she could see exactly how bad the damage was.

“Andrea is not here at the moment. She left a note stating that she... that she would be back in a few minutes,” he said, handing me the note to read for myself. “But I figure while she’s gone, I can try to clean up your face some to save time.”

He took the washcloth and very gently began dabbing at different wounds along my face. He began to wipe the mixture of blood from my forehead, trying to take the utmost care. He had a surprisingly gentle touch for someone who had always shown very little concern. I still couldn't get used to the sight of Mark showing care for anyone. It was almost alien to me, like seeing a machine trying to mimic emotion.

“Well the cuts on your cheeks are not as bad as I had originally thought. It’s the ones across your forehead that look to be the worst,” he said, taking a step back to get a full view of my face.

As he continued to slowly examine the assortment of cuts, Andrea walked into the tent, but something seemed wrong. Her hair was in a slight mess and her coat was buttoned wrong, and her glasses were slightly crooked. She looked as though she had been mugged. Upon seeing Mark standing there, his back blocking view of me, she immediately began to compose herself, straightening her glasses and smoothing her lab coat and frantically trying to wrangle in her mess of hair. Mark turned to see this before she could finish. She froze for a second looking as though she had been caught.

Mark sighed a little. “Are you not supposed to be on duty right now? There is a time and place for everything. I won’t always be here to do your job for you,” he said, looking slightly annoyed.

He moved out of her line of sight to finally give her a full view of my face. Andrea’s eyes widened to the size of golf balls and her mouth dropped slightly open as a look of sheer horror crossed her face. She rushed towards me and began to look my face over.

“Jesus Christ, Mark! I thought you were just running some tests, not trying to disfigure his face. What the hell happened here?” Andrea said looking severely pissed at him. I began to open my mouth to explain that it wasn't his fault, but I was cut off.

“It was a machine malfunction there was a surge and the lab equipment exploded, my lab has taken some extensive damage, but I should be able to repair most of it,” he said, his blank face now returning, erasing any evidence of his previous display of feelings.

I couldn't figure out why Mark had covered for me. It was odd that he would take responsibility for me losing control of my power, so I began to tell Andrea the truth, but Mark look at me while her back was turned and slightly shook his head no. But Andrea looked as though she didn't buy it. She then looked Mark dead in the eyes.

“IM NOT WORRIED ABOUT YOUR GODDAMN LAB RIGHT NOW! HAVE YOU SEEN HIS FACE? IT LOOKS LIKE HE HAD A GLASS BOTTLE BUSTED OVER IT! WHAT ABOUT YOU? WHAT KIND OF INJURYS HAVE YOU GOTTEN BECAUSE OF YOUR STUPID MALFUNTION? I SWEAR! DO YOU EVEN TEST THAT SHIT BEFORE YOU USE IT ON US? WE’RE NOT YOUR GODDAMN GUINEPIGS!!!” Andrea was screaming as she began beating Mark with the wet washcloth that was used on me earlier.

“I can assure you I'm fine,” he said trying to fend off Andrea's onslaught with the rag. “I am more concerned with his face. He had a computer screen explode in front of it,” he said, trying to remind Andrea that I was still bleeding.

Seeing this display, I couldn't help but break into a slight fit of laughter, but every laugh pulled on my face, causing pain to shoot through me. It caused me to wince as I was laughing and got Andrea to focus on me once again. Mark used this opportunity to escape from the tent and away from Andrea's attack. She began to slowly run her fingers along my face sealing my cuts; it felt as though someone were running a dry ice cube along them, somewhat stinging, but refreshing at the same time. When she was about half way through, she stepped back and wiped the sweat from her forehead with her sleeve.

“I was afraid of this,” she said, looking around through the drawers she kept her supplies in. “Some of your cuts won’t heal because there are pieces of glass holding them open. In order for me to continue, I'm going to have to remove them first.”

She came back over to where I was sitting on the table; she was holding a pair of what appeared to be rather large tweezers. I groaned, as I knew that this was most likely going to hurt. She carefully grabbed hold of the first piece and yanked it out. I winced in pain as I felt it pull out and the cut immediately sealed itself up. She grabbed hold of another and pulled. This continued on for several minutes, but finally all the small pieces of glass were out and my face once again resembled its old self.

I looked in the mirror; everything seemed to be in order except for the now dry blood stains running down my face. I grabbed a hold of the washcloth and began scrubbing frantically trying to get rid of the evidence of what had happened. Finally satisfied, I turned to Andrea to see her discarding the glass pulled from my face.

“Thank you so much Andrea. I don't know what we would do without you. By the way, where were you earlier? I've never really seen you leave this tent.” I asked, almost having forgotten.

She shot upright almost startled by my question. She began shuffling through cleaning some of her equipment, she looked almost as if she were trying to think of an excuse. “Corbin just got back with Adrian. He and I were just ummm... going over a list of supplies I’ll need soon,” she said, not wanting to meet my gaze. But I knew there was something she didn't want to tell me.

A sly smile came across my face as I thought about what she had told me. “Didn't we get supplies in just yesterday? I helped unload them from the train.”

She stiffened up. Once again her face became somewhat nervous as she turned to look at me.

“Aren't you suppose to go help finish the repairs on the roof?” she asked, obviously wanting to get rid of me and my questions.

I left without saying another word, deciding it was best to leave it at that for now. I left the tent and began heading to the main platform where the rest were undoing the damage caused by yesterday’s outburst. Even now that seemed like weeks ago.

By the time I arrived, it looked as though most of the work was done. The hole now almost completely patched and most of the debris was cleared out. I looked up to see Seth up in the rafters popping from one place to the other, placing wooden boards over different sections of the hole. When he finally saw me coming up, I heard the loud crack and he appeared standing in front of me smiling as always, sending my heart into a spasm. I immediately felt myself become elevated with joy, the same joy that his smile always brought to me. And with the joy, the longing desire to confess myself to him... and the sadness of knowing I wasn't brave enough to.

“So you gonna tell me what happened up there, it sounded like someone set off some dynamite or something. What kinda test was he putting you through?” he asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

His eyes then grew wider as he looked down at my shirt, which was covered in stains from my blood. It took me a few seconds to realize that I had forgotten to cover up or change it.

“Holy shit! What the hell happened to you?” he yelled, unable to take his eyes off of my now-red shirt.

“There was an accident in the lab and everything just sort of exploded,” I said, remembering the excuse Mark had given to Andrea, still unsure as to why he had lied for me.

Seth looked at me, still worried about me, but finally figuring that I was ok, sighed and told me that he needed me to help clear the rubble off the tracks.

I raised my arms out and focused on the rocks and pieces of the roof that had fallen and slowly began to lift them upward off the railing. Seth returned his attention to patching the hole in the ceiling We continued with this for a few more hours with Bruiser bringing more boards. Finally the hole was patched. And the tracks were cleared of the debris.

The place always felt so quiet and empty when there were no refugees to tend to. But it was often these times that I preferred. When it was quiet it was almost like we were some kind of family and you were almost able to forget the fact that you were on the run from a world that feared you.

We began to make our way back to the dining area when Corbin ran up to meet us.

“Cameron, I need to speak with you alone for a moment.”

I knew that when Corbin wanted to speak to you alone it was usually never good news. I wondered if Mark had told him what had happened, what really happened. If Corbin found out I’d never be allowed to leave. I would be forever stuck as a door greeter.

“Mark told me what happened in the lab earlier,” he said, looking as stern and serious as ever.

I tensed unsure as to what Mark had told him and not wanting to give away anything. I held my breath hoping to myself that Mark hadn't told him what really happened. Finally, he looked up at me with slight concern in his eyes.

“That's not really why I need to talk to you. I got a message from Magashi. He wants you to see him tomorrow.”

Magashi was probably the oldest one of us here, as well as the wisest. He was here when Corbin was brought down here for the first time. He was probably here when this operation first started. A long time ago He was once a great and prized mixed martial arts fighter. He had gone for years undefeated and it seemed as though nothing could go wrong for him. He was loved by millions. And respected all over the world. That was, until word got out that he was infected. He, like the rest of us, had an ability, but even his fame and his fans couldn't spare him the same fate as us. Once our capture and detainment was ordered He was stripped of his titles and handed over. But he was a fighter through and through and he would not go down that easily, so he fought back and was able to escape. He along with a few others began this operation to help others who refused to be taken. But his face was to well known so he would stay behind and train the others who went to the surface. He was the on that originally trained Corbin to fight and be the leader after the others left to form Xaven. He has since trained all of us in an effort to better help us deal with unit solders, should we need to.

His ability also helped us to better understand our own. He has the ability to mirror others’ powers, so long as they are within a certain range. The closer you got to him the more he could use your own ability against you.

“Why would Magashi want to see me? I already had a lesson with him just a few days ago,” I asked confused.

Corbin looked around to make sure no one was listening, “He thinks whatever you and Mark discovered was important and he wants to discuss it with you,” he said, looking somewhat curious.

Not wanting to give away any more to Corbin than he may already I know, I left to meet up with Seth at the dining area. We both ate, not really speaking. He was tired from repair work and I hadn't felt much like talking, my mind still buzzing with what had happened in the lab.

We finally finished and made our way to find a tent for the night. We found the same one we had the previous night and climbed in and began to settle in. I lay down beside him staring at him out of the corner of my eye. He was laying there still not yet asleep. The same desire to tell him began to well up inside of me again. I started to open my mouth and utter the words, but the fear of losing him as a friend took a hold of me. I would rather keep him as a friend than not at all. But then he rolled over to look right at me and he smiled the same smile that always seemed to melt me inside.

“Cameron,” he said, now sounding half asleep, “Do you think you'll ever find someone to love down here? I mean it seems like we may be on the run forever and sometime I think I may never meet someone down here at this rate, but I don't want to be alone forever.”

My heart tightened. Why was he asking me this? Could he possibly know how I felt? How could he? I had never made it obvious or told anyone. I had always been careful to hide my true feelings for him. There was no way he could know.

“I... I don't really think there's anyone out there for me,” I said cautiously. “I just don't really ever seeing me with someone, not in this lifetime anyway.”

I rolled over to get a better look at his smiling face and his light blue eyes staring at me, God they were beautiful. They always seemed to put me at ease, no matter what I had been feeling.

“I don't think that's true I mean there's got to be someone out there for you, no one deserves to be alone for ever. You'll find someone. I know it,” he said as he rolled back over to go to sleep.

I rolled back over and I felt a tear run down my cheek as I whispered to myself, quietly enough so Seth couldn't hear...

“I think I may already have.”