Hidden (Book 3 of the Immune Series)

Weak and Powerless (Part 2)

Sakir

Athena sucks in a mouthful of air, and the color drains from her face. Her ashy eyes go wide, and tears build up in them.

"Why?" I ask. "What have we done to you?"

The question doesn't apply to Isaac and Jay. Everyone knows what they've done to him, but at the moment, it seems like he's focused on me.

"You exist," he says, shrugging. "When I presented the idea of the Decontamination to the board fifteen years ago, I had one goal- to make everyone equal. Of course, I had to give my motive a catchy name so that the board members wouldn't think I was planning genocide.

"So, I sold it as a plan to 'make America great again'. The virus would get rid of all the criminals, weaknesses of society, and other filth that was destroying us. It was a three step program, and in the end, America would be cleansed.

"No weaknesses. No separations. No advantages. An equal population, designed to be absolutely perfect in all ways. That's where Compound 5 came in. They were weeding out the weak. Together, their compound and mine would be the remaining two."

He takes a step towards my glass, and a shadow falls over his eyes. Fear settles in the bottom of my stomach.

"But then, you came along. There were six of you to begin with. Illegal immunes, gifted with the power of a vaccine that wasn't supposed to exist yet. Your father created it without permission and on his own time. We tried to hide it in Compound 4, but it was too late.

"So, you have to die. All of the original immunes do, because you possess an advantage that the normal populous does not. You are stronger than them, and that's not fair in any way."

He steps away and looks over at Jay. She stands her ground, glaring at him, but I see the tears in her blue eyes, the fear written in the lines of her face.

"It was sheer luck we got our hands on you," he continues, walking towards her. She backs up against the glass. "Your father started this immunity thing by giving it to your mother when she was supposed to die. I was willing to let you exist in silence, and Hartley was instructed to make your life a living Hell, but you refused. You just couldn't sit still."

He smacks the glass, and a whimper escapes out of Jay's lips. Isaac shrieks and jumps back away from where he had plastered himself as close to Jay as he could. Ashford laughs at the two of them and then walks to the keypad across the room- the one that controls the glass cages.

He types for a moment, and a slow hiss fills the room.

Each of us look down and wait with bated breath to see which glass is lifting.

"No, no, no."

Everyone looks over at Jay as she begins to shake and repeat that single word over and over again. Her glass box is slowly lifting off the ground as an invisible string pulls it towards the roof. Jay falls to her knees and tries to slide out the back, but Ashford is in front of the glass again.

He grabs her by the back of the neck and jerks her off the pedestal. In one flick of his wrist, he throws her across the room towards Isaac's box. The boy is hysteric, beating against the glass and screaming as loud as he can. His words fall into lost territory, undecipherable in his rage.

Ashford lifts the quivering girl off the floor by her throat and presses her against Isaac's glass. The tall man stops screaming and plants open hands on the glass on each side of her head. His lips move, but no sound comes out as tears begin to pour down his cheeks.

"Why do they follow you?" Ashford asks Jaelyn. "They chase after you like bees to honey. I don't see the appeal. You're just a weak, powerless girl. If they could only see you now."

Jay's lip trembles, and I half expect her to crumble at his hold on her.

"Kill me," she hisses, glaring at him. "Nothing will change. You won't win."

Ashford pulls the gun back out and presses it against her temple.

"No! Please, Ashford. Don't do this! We'll stop the rebellions. We'll do whatever you want," Isaac pleads in a shaky voice.

"Too late, boy," Ashford says. "Say your goodbyes."

"Wait!" I scream, pounding on the glass. "Why don't you give us the third strand? Make us suffer for a while?" It won't help up avoid death, but it will give us a chance. Just a few more hours.

"Because your father and Austin's army will be here in-" He looks at his watch. "-about an hour. I sent out a message as soon as Maria sent word that she had you cornered last night. They've been driving all night, and I would hate to disappoint them with a half finished job. No, you'll all be dead before he gets here. They will both be too distraught to fight intelligently."

Chills run down my spine. We're bait for a full-on war between the two most powerful compounds. Has that been his motive this entire time?

Jay looks at Isaac out of the corner of her eye. Isaac leans his forehead against the glass in defeat.

"I love you so much," Jay says to him loudly enough that everyone in the room can hear. "Thank you for saving my life over and over again, Isaac."

Isaac shakes his head and bangs his forehead against the glass.

"I love you, too, Muney," he mumbles, barely audible through the glass and his sobs.

Jay laughs, wincing as Ashford pressed the gun into her temple harder.

"Hey, Isaac, why is there a gate around cemeteries?" Jay asks, and Isaac looks up at her in confusion. A smirk plays at the corners of her mouth. He shakes his head.

"Now's not the time to be corny, Jay," he says.

"Please," she whispers. Isaac sighs.

"Fine. Why?"

"Because people are dying to get in."

A strangled laugh escapes Isaac's lips, but it dissolves into sobs. Tears begin to roll down my own cheeks.

I'm absolutely helpless, again.

Two of my friends are suffering, and I can't do anything.

"God, I love you so much," Isaac repeats, and Jay opens her mouth to say it back.

Yet, she doesn't have the chance.

Ashford cuts her off.

"Enough of that," he says, and the gunshot fills the room as he pulls the trigger. Athena screams. I sink down onto my knees. Isaac matches Athena in pitch and volume as he begins to beat against the glass and scream.

Blood runs down the glass in rivers as Jay's lifeless body slides to the ground. Ashford takes a step away from the carnage and grimaces at the sight.

Panic fills my chest.

None of us stand a chance.

We're all going to die here.

"Who's next?" Ashford asks as he walks back towards the keyboard.