Control

xxiv | aidan

THE VIRUS WASN'T COMPLETE, BUT THEY RELEASED IT ANYWAY. 

But then again, I never really thought of completing it. What was the worst they could do, kill me? 

Oh, yeah, they could. But that would possibly be a million times better than what was going on in this moment. Every minute standing in this room was treacherous, every minute watching Lauren make her stupid decisions causing my chest to burn with either anger or something else. I kept my cool, but this is now out of hand. 

The man cried with rage, his eyes bright red. He's only one of the victims -- the other adults should be affected at least a little bit, too. That's how it spreads. That's how it was designed to work, at least.

It wasn't really designed for the affected to turn into beasts, either.

People backed away with terror, some stood as nervous wrecks but with their fists in the air to protect whoever they had left. Chaos once broke the silence in the room -- once again, chaos filling the walls of the Institute. 

Time to stop this, I'm sure I'm the only one that can.

"Aidan, what are you--"

"This is my fault," I tell Tyson. "You and the others go run, take as meany people as you can. I know there's no escape, but we have to keep as many people as we can alive. This isn't supposed to happen... the virus is supposed to be painless and harmless. Just go, Tyson." It wasn't just that I needed to do this -- I also needed Tyson to get away from me. He played along with what the Institute created. He and Alyssa, both.

I'd be really angry at her if she wasn't dead.

"Aidan--"

"I'll be fine, Tyson." The anger escaped my voice, I know he heard it, flinching as the words left my mouth. He left without question, but his presence was replaced by another familiar body.

"A virus, huh? For Jordyn's safety?"

"I did what I thought was right, Dad," I muttered as he pulled me aside, away from the chaos. He didn't let me walk into battle, making me watch as the virus continued to spread, more adults harming kids who shouldn't be in the middle of this.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

"You have to look to the greater good, Aidan. Your sister is one person."

"Dad, you're talking like half her DNA isn't from you. Blood is thicker than water, remember?"

"But is our blood really thicker than everyone else's? Everyone who's blood is being spilled right now?"

"Dad, do you want to let me try to right my mistakes because I want to do that right about now," I snapped, then realised my words were probably a bit too harsh. 

He didn't respond right away, instead watching what was going on the the middle of this all. Blood was everywhere, adults grabbing kids by the hair, the neck, harming them, leaving marks in their skin. Some started fighting back -- and the Evolutians jumped in. 

There was already a body on the ground. I couldn't tell if they were still breathing. 

"I going with some of the others, Spencer will tell you where we are," He finally said, but it only brought a look of confusion onto my face. 

"Spencer?"

"I know that was hard to hear for you, too. But yes, Spencer."

Parts of what he said stung a bit, if I was being honest. Part of what he said made me think that the Institute was on the right side of all this. Lauren could just about be dead at this point -- everything that happened to us would never happen. She changed everything... if one thing changed that night, everything could've changed.