FicWad

As I stared down at the vile gray concrete building absurdly named the Creationtary, my thoughts went back to when I was a child.
My parents were part of a small band of people, considered unlawful, unwanted and therefore, outlaws.
True to form, my mother taught my brother and I about our history, the history of a great country known as America.
That was over two hundred years ago, before the revoultion happened, before The Family came into power, and before everything creative, everything beautiful about our world was banned.
I shook my head, clearing the unwanted thoughts from my head, I had a job to do, and thoughts of a family I hadn’t seen in ten years, that probably weren’t even alive, weren’t going to help.
“Elie, are you there?” A voice asked over the small transmitter I had in my ear.
“I’m here Gunner,” I said softly, tucking a strand of my blonde hair back into the cap I wore on my head. “I’m in place.”
“Good,” Gunner said, “the package is there.”
I smiled a small grim smile.
“Then it must be Christmas,” I said before running silently down the hill.
I expertly dodged the security cameras patrolling the area, and quickly scaled the gray wall, pulling my self up onto the roof.
There were no guards on the roof, another proof of the arrogance of the toliterian government.
They thought their cameras would deter any would be thieves.
Well I wasn’t a thief, but I was a problem, and I was about to become their problem.
Silently, I crept toward the door into the building, sliding my small stun gun in my hand.
I slowly opened the door, and looked inside, before entering.
“I’m in,” I breathed, then leapt over the railing of the stairs, falling down at least three stories before landing on my feet.
I had studied the map of this building a hundred times, I knew exactly where I needed to go.
Quickly and silently I crept through the door, watching for any sign of staff or guards, but as I had known in advance, I had come during the shift change, so the building was as silent as a grave.
I ran down the hallway, my feet not making any noise on the colorless linoleum as I scanned the signs on the door.
Most of the signs indicated various life creating experiments going on, the Creationtary was just one big science lab, The Family spending millions of dollars on finding ways to prolong life, and other useless experiments.
Finally I came to the door I had been searching for, the one that had a sign that stated simply, “One.”
I knew One was a code word, for a new experiment, one that, if successful, would mean trouble for myself and the other outlaws.
It was my job to make sure the experiment never succeeded.
I slid the door open and stepped inside, sliding the small syringe out of my pocket.
All I needed to do was inject the liquid inside One, and get out of there.
One would die, the experiment would fail and the outlaws would be safe, at least for awhile.
I looked around the room, not sure what One looked like, not sure what to expect, when my eyes landed on a high backed chair.
I walked toward the chair, and reached out, turning it around.
In the chair was the most beautiful child I had ever seen.
He looked up at me with deep blue eyes, a brown curl falling against his forehead.
“Have you come to kill me?” He asked, in a surprisingly intelligent voice for someone so young.

I gasped and stepped back, staring at the angelic child.
“No,” I whispered, knowing I couldn’t kill him.
I back away toward the door, feeling the eyes of the child on me and quickly left the room.
“Elie,” Gunner’s voice suddenly said, making me jump. “Is it done? Is One dead?”
“No,” I said, anger creeping into my voice.
“One is just a child, and I refuse to kill a child.”
“Elie,” Gunner said, “he‘s a pusher, and he has the power to destroy us all.”
“He is a child Gunner,” I snapped, then looked toward the end of the hall as the sound of heavy boots approached from the elevator.
I looked around for a way to escape and realized, the only way was back in One’s room.
I quickly opened the door, sliding into the room and closing the door, right before the boots rounded the corner.
I looked toward One’s chair, wondering if he would call out and reveal my hiding place, but he continued to stare at me silently.
I quickly locked the door, then turned around, looking for a way to escape.
“There is no way out,” One suddenly said, “expect the way you came in.”
I nodded, knowing he was right, and looked toward the door, before turning to the chair.
“There is one way out,” I said, before scooping him up in my arms.
He was light as a feather, and when I put my arms around him, a feeling I had never felt came over me.
I closed my eyes and breathed hard, finally getting control, then I walked toward the door and unlocked it, opening it up.
There was a couple of guards and a staff member standing in the hallway and their eyes widened with alarm when they saw me with One.
“Sorry to run guys,” I said, “but I have some place to be.”|
Before they could react, I turned and sprinted down the hallway, toward the door that led to the roof.
Behind me, I heard shouts, then shot and involuntarily I flinched, expecting to feel the laser bullets hit me.
When I didn’t feel anything, I turned and gasped in amazement.
The bullets were hanging in midair and I looked down at One, who I knew had done this.
“Go,” he whispered, before closing his eyes and sending the bullets back at the guards.
I didn’t wait to see if they hit, I just turned with One in my arms still and ran the last steps toward the door.
I opened it with a bang and ran up the steps to the roof.
I heard shouts behind me and knew that more guards were coming, so I sprinted toward the edge and jumped off.
I thought I heard One give a little whimper of fear as we plummeted toward the ground, then we were suddenly gliding as the air pockets in my unisuit caught.
We landed a few yards from the hill where I had stood earlier and I ran the rest of the way, One still in my arms.
“Now,” I screamed, and a bright light sit me, as the aeroplane roared over my head.
I grabbed the ladder that one of the members of my team threw down to me, and we sailed away just as the guards poured out of the building, shooting at us.
When we had gotten far enough away that it was safe, the two of us were raised up into the aeroplane.
Timothy, the one who had thrown me the ladder, saw One and frowned.
“Gunner is going to have a shit fit,” was all he said as we raced toward the outlaw base near the edge of the badlands.
I nodded my head curtly and sat in one of the chairs, settling One on my lap and watching out the window as the badlands approached quickly.
“Why did you take me?” One asked, looking up at me, and I shook my head.
“I don’t know,” I whispered softly, “I don’t know.”