over his mouth as a hissing filled the room. I reasoned that must be the sedative Billy had asked
for. I groaned softly, the sound deep in the voice of the tiger. The last thing I saw before passing
out was Billy standing in the hole, staring after the departed three. Then, he crumpled to his
knees and keeled over.
When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was lying on the examination table in Dr.
Carnesby’s room. I was human again, which surprised me because I didn’t remember changing
back. I groaned at thepain in my head, raising a hand to my forehead. Amy’s abilities packed
quite a punch.
“Good, you’re awake,” Dr. Carnesby stated, walking into my line of vision. “You’re lucky
that you didn’t hit the wall head first. That would probably have killed you. As it is, you have a
mild concussion.”
“Amy? Sandra and Michael?” I croaked, trying to remember what had happened in the
last few seconds of our fight.
“Gone,” Billy told me sadly, walking into the room. “I tried to get their whereabouts off of
Sandra but she was able to block me. I think her empathy gives her an imperfect shield against my telepathy. That’s why it took me so long to figure her plan out. They were able to make it out
just before the sedative filled the room. It knocked both of us completely out.”
“Why am I human again? I don’t remember shifting back,” I asked, struggling to sit up.
Dr. Carnesby helped me with a hand on my elbow and I wavered as I finally made it upright.
“When you were unconscious, you shifted back,” Billy shrugged. “I guess it’s an
automatic reaction for you. Good to know, though.”
“Great. So what do we do now?” I asked sarcastically, rubbing my forehead.
“Now, we salvage what we can and watch for Sandra’s next move,” Dr. Carnesby said
grimly. “It’s all we can do.”
I nodded and sighed. Looked like I wasn’t going to be going back to my old life anytime
soon. I had no idea of the havoc Sandra was going to create while we recovered and tried to
make plans. The only thing I could hope for was that Amy and Michael weren’t too far gone in
Sandra’s manipulations that they could never be brought back.
Epilogue
“Please explain this fiasco, Adam,” a cold voice came over the phone’s speaker. Dr.
Carnesby grimaced, rolling his eyes at the voice. The council that ran the corporation fronting
the experiments were not very humanitarian. They only sought their goal, no matter the cost.
“Well, I have good news, at least,” Dr. Carnesby stated dryly. “Gnotret worked on this
group. All five of them developed different superhuman abilities.”
“So we gathered,” another voice cut in, this one female. Her voice was high and nasally
and set Dr. Carnesby’s teeth on edge. “Explain how you let three of them get away.”
“I’m only human,” Dr. Carnesby argued. “Sandra, Michael, and Amy all had very
offensive powers. How would I have stopped them from leaving?”
papers accompanying him. “George Ormond and Billy Layfield. They have their own powers.” Dr. Carnesby shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. He hated talking to the
council; they never really understood what was going on in the world of the trials and real
people. They only saw people as pawns on a chessboard. Or perhaps numbers in a ledger.
“They tried to stop them. I know George would have given anything to keep Amy here,”
Dr. Carnesby replied. “However, Amy was very powerful and was able to hold Billy at bay with
Michael’s help and keep George distracted.”
“This is a large failure on your part, Adam,” a third voice snapped. This one was male as
well, a deep voice that was difficult to hear over the speaker. “You must reclaim the three
people who fled if you would like to keep your place in this work.”
“Really?” Dr. Carnesby asked, working to keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “Shall I take
that to assume you are going to be running other trials with the information I’ve gained here?”
There was absolute silence over the speaker and Dr. Carnesby grinned to himself. The
lack of answer was all the answer he needed. They would take what they could and try to create
an army for the people who paid their wages. The whole time, the council would never realize
the ticking time bomb they were creating until it was too late.
“That’s not a good idea,” Dr. Carnesby continued earnestly. “This trial was the very first
successful one and we already have three people gone rogue. Are you sure you want to create
more with superhuman abilities that may just run off? Who knows what Sandra is going to do
now. With her power, literally nothing is out of her reach.”
“That is not your problem to worry about,” the female voice said superciliously. “Your
problem is getting Sandra, Michael, and Amy back so that they can be studied. We must
understand if the drug itself drove them to go rogue or if it was something in their personalities.”
There was an audible click as the line went dead. Dr. Carnesby sighed again, hanging
up his end of the phone line. Looking at the notebook that contained his notes, he knew he had
a great deal of work ahead of him. And that wasn’t counting the work that would be done by Billy
and George. “Adam, do you want me to bring George and Billy?” Jane asked, speaking for the first
time since the phone call started. The council considered her barely more intelligent than the
average computer and often didn’t listen to the AI.
“No, let them rest,” Dr. Carnesby replied after thinking for a moment. “They’re going to
need it. Once we have a plan, I doubt any of us are going to be getting much rest. Sandra has
to be stopped before she causes any lasting damage to herself, the others, or the world.”