Rogue (Exceptional) Read online

  "Kemp left something for me," she blurted out suddenly. "Others from my settlement told me so. He may have left me more of the vaccine."

  "Could you figure out what he left and get back to us?" Heath asked.

  She nodded and watched him finger the vials she had laid on the table. They were passed around to each townsman, and they all stared at the liquid like at any moment answers would pop out of the glass and onto their still empty sheets of paper. One man, who was dressed in a white lab coat, gathered the vials and put them into a small, padded case in front of him.

  "Is that all?" Ally was surprised at how quickly the meeting had gone. Or maybe they were surprised at how easily she gave them what they asked for. All she could think about was Luke, and how he was vulnerable in the City right now. If they could cure the Rogues, perhaps they could really be together.

  And so continued the inner battle of how she truly felt about Luke. She was still having trouble deciding which emotions were real, and which had been fabrications from the mental changes she underwent to become an Exceptional.

  Heath's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Wyn would like to speak to you again."

  Ally's head snapped up. "No way, not after yesterday."

  "He is sufficiently restrained today," Heath responded. "He is also an Ordinary now."

  Ally mulled that fact over. "So the vaccination worked like I thought."

  He paused and looked at the others. "I'd like to speak to Ally alone."

  The men, especially the one Heath had called Sean, grumbled as they stood, but they all eventually left the room and most likely the house. Heath leaned in toward her now.

  "There are several people unhappy with your actions from yesterday. First you disabled the camera we were using to monitor the Rogue, which almost cost you your life. Then you injected him with a vaccination before it was authorized."

  Ally couldn't help but laugh. "First, I wasn't about to lose my life. I'm an Exceptional, and a strong one at that. I took care of the situation. And something needed to be done with Wyn. I didn't have confidence that you knew what you were doing with him."

  Now Heath was the one mulling things over.

  "Wyn said he had something important to tell you. He said that you'll want to hear whatever it is he has to say, and that I can be there for the news as well."

  Ally raised her eyebrows. "What news could he possibly have? He told me as much as he could remember yesterday."

  "He said that he got distracted," Heath said. "Once he thought that you might be able to save his family and friends, he couldn't think about anything else. But he said that this is important. Possibly more important than anything else he has said."

  Ally shrugged. "I'm not sure I believe him, but I'll hear him out."

  They stood and Ally started toward the door in the back of the room, but Heath stopped her.

  "We've moved him to a holding cell at the town center. That room wasn't secure enough."

  "He's just an Ordinary now," Ally threw his words back at him.

  "We aren't trying to protect others, Ally. We are trying to protect him."

  The town center was almost completely empty. It seemed as though everyone was out doing his or her assigned tasks or just enjoying the weather. The seasons had changed and the leaves on the trees had turned all sorts of brilliant colors, but recently they had had another spot of warmer weather. An older woman greeted them as they walked into what Heath referred to as a jail. The woman introduced herself as Mary Lou, and used a key to unlock a door to a back hallway. Ally was growing tired of being treated like she couldn't open doors for herself, but being around an Exceptional was not second nature for these townspeople, so she dealt with it.

  Heath led her past several small, concrete rooms that were closed off with thick, metal bars. Each room had a small window that looked to the outside and a small bed. Wyn was being held in the room at the end of the row, on the right. It was the only room without a window.

  Wyn sat up in bed when they arrived, and even managed a smile. He looked healthier than he had last night, and his eyes were now a dull brown, their original color, Ally guessed.

  "I'm glad you came," he said as he stood. He made his way over to the bars and grasped one in each hand. "I'm sorry about yesterday."

  Ally believed him. "What did you need to tell me?"

  Wyn eyed Heath carefully and then looked back at Ally. "The disease that spread through the Eastern City, the one that started the Rogue infection, it was planned...."

  Ally rocked back on her heels slightly. She hadn't been expecting news like that. "What do you mean by planned?"

  "I'm telling you that we were infected on purpose, Ally."

  Wyn's voice had an unsettling calmness to it. Ally's entire body felt alive. A planned infection? Who could have done this?

  "Ordinarys," she said out loud. It made sense. Somehow they had found a way to make the Exceptionals sick, and it had backfired.

  "That is what we thought at first, but then he showed up. We weren't far into our infection yet, and he told us that if we would do as he said, he could promise us a cure at the end of it all."

  Ally grasped the bars now, leaning toward Wyn. "Who showed up? At the end of what all?"

  "He said that we needed to raid a city, one several hundred miles west. He wanted us to take out the Ordinarys in the settlements and then make an attempt to enter this city. He said once we scared the Exceptionals there enough, we could head home. And then we would be cured. He didn't expect the infection to change us as much as it did. We couldn’t—wouldn't— be tamed, and we didn't follow any plans. I could barely remember what I was supposed to be doing when I was a Rogue; I just had a pull to head west. And I remembered this man, and his name."

  "Who, Wyn. Tell me." Ally felt the bars beneath her fingers mold against her hand. She hadn't realized she was holding on to them so tightly.

  "His name is Aden … or was. I don’t know what happened to him."

  Ally could sense Heath tensing behind he; she could almost smell his fear. Wyn stepped back from the bars and began to pace.

  "You know him, don't you? He is from your City. We just knew that he wasn't from ours. We had no idea where he came from, or what he really wanted."

  Ally slammed her hands on the bars and two of them bent in, causing Heath and Wyn to both jump. She started to pace in time with Wyn, running her hands along the tops of her thighs.

  "This doesn't make any sense. Why would Aden do this? He had plans in place to stop the Rogues. He was working against them, not for them. The ORC, the army, all of it..."

  "Aden is deceptive," Heath interrupted. "He definitely has an end game for all of this, and I don't like it."

  Ally sat down in a chair that was placed against the wall at the end of the hall.

  "I need to go back to the City," Ally said. "I need to warn Luke."

  She jumped up and just as quickly; Heath took hold of her arm. "I don't think that is a good idea."

  Ally eyed him carefully. "What do you know?"

  Heath sighed. "I'm not saying I know anything, Ally. I just think it is too dangerous to go. If Aden finds out what you know, he won't hesitate to kill you."

  "It won't be the first time he's tried," she almost whispered.

  "Let's not let him succeed," Heath said as he dropped her arm. "Wait until we at least develop more of the vaccine, so that you can protect yourself. You are free to leave whenever you want, Ally, but I just want you to think about it. There are people here that care about you."

  Ally left the jail feeling more hesitant than ever. She knew that she needed to go back to the City, and soon. She couldn't let the news she heard from Wyn go untold. Luke needed to know. The rest of the Exceptionals and the Ordinarys in the City needed to know. She found herself wondering just what Aden's plans were when it came to the Rogues. Wyn had said that he had lost control of the situation, but maybe he had almost expected to. Maybe he was losing his own mind and wanted the Rogue
s to destroy everything.

  She passed by Brooke’s house and found the home she thought she remembered Mabi living in. She jogged up the steps and banged on the front door. Another Ordinary from the settlement answered.

  “Oh, hey Ally,” she stepped back a little.

  “Is Mabi here?” Ally asked.

  The girl nodded and disappeared from the foyer. Ally noticed that she hadn’t been invited in. Even the people she grew up with were afraid of her.

  Mabi appeared a few minutes later.

  “What’s up?” she asked.

  “I need that package, the one from Kemp,” Ally responded.

  “Oh yeah! I almost forgot about it. I’ll be right back,” she, too, disappeared from the foyer without inviting Ally in, and returned less than a minute later. She had a brown bundle in her hands.

  “I wonder why Kemp left this for you,” Mabi turned the object over in her hands.

  “He trusts me,” Ally responded. “And he must have trusted you not to open it,, if he left it in your hands.”

  Mabi smiled. “Of course.”

  She opened the door not even halfway and handed the package to Ally. Ally realized it was more of an old, leather folder than a wrapped package.

  “Thanks Mabi,” she turned and hopped down the stairs.

  “Wait, aren’t you going to open it?” Mabi yelled behind her.

  Ally didn't respond. She kept walking until she had passed the rows of homes and came to the edge of the woods. She then continued to walk through woods until she came to the creek. She found a large, flat rock to sit on and took her boots off, letting her feet rest in the cool water. She undid the tie around the pouch and pulled up the flap, sticking her hand inside.

  The first thing Ally pulled out was a smaller, leather pouch that held more vials of the vaccination. The only other thing in the large pouch was a large notebook, the same size as the pouch itself. Ally set the large pouch and the smaller pouch next to her on the rock before opening up the book. The first page was a note from Kemp, and the majority of the words were past Ally's reading level. She looked down at the piece of paper. She was able to pick out only a few words, Allona, I, this, for, you. She stopped after the first sentence.

  The next several pages in the notebook had a mixture of words, letters, and numbers written down. The last several pages were blank. Ally dropped the book onto the rock beside her, letting out a frustrated groan.

  "Need some help," a male voice said from across the creek.

  Ally jumped up, her arms stretched out before her. She settled down when she realized that it was Max standing across from her.

  "Maybe," she said carefully. She wasn't sure if she was supposed to share Kemp's notebook with anyone else, but Kemp had to know that she couldn't read. If she could trust anyone, it would be Max.

  Max crossed over the creek on a fallen log. He sat down next to her and took his own boots off, mimicking how she let her feet graze the water. Almost immediately after his feet touched the surface he pulled them back.

  "This water is freezing," he yelled out. "How do you stand that?"

  Ally laughed. "I'm an Exceptional, temperatures don't feel as extreme to me."

  Max nudged her with his shoulder. "Not fair."

  Ally’s stomach did a flip. She felt a connection to Max, one that she couldn’t explain, and one she was sure he felt as well.

  She smiled at him and lifted the notebook, setting it in his lap. "So, can you read it?"

  "As long as it is in English," he said as he opened the cover.

  He looked over the words for a minute, and then nodded his head. "It's the formula for the vaccine."

  Ally gasped and grabbed the book from him. "Really? Read it all to me."

  Max took the book back and began,

  Allona,

  I've left this with one of my dear friends in case you come upon this town. I have another copy traveling with me, in case you pass it by and find us in the Southern City, in which case this letter will not matter. You've been brave, my dear girl, and I know your mother would be proud of the moves you’ve made to protect your family and friends.

  I've left you the formula for a new vaccine. A better one. It has not been tested but if it works the way I assume it will, it will only take one dose for the Exceptional gene to be subdued forever.

  Be careful with this information, Allona. In the wrong hands, this information is a weapon.

  Kemp

  "Whoa," Ally's voice was a whisper.

  "Yeah," Max shut the notebook and peered over at her. "Ally, I agree with Kemp. You need to be careful with this information."

  Ally took the notebook and slipped it back into the leather pouch. "I will, Max. If anyone else had stepped into the woods and offered to read it to me, I probably would have said no."

  Max's expression showed a small amount of surprise. "I promise I won't share this with anyone, not unless you ask me to."

  "I need to take this to your Uncle," Ally pulled her feet from the water and dried them off with the ends of her pants. "We are going to find a way to mass produce this, and we are going to take it to the City. We need to stop the Rogues."

  She held the pouch up.

  Max jumped to his feet, his body blocking the sun and putting his face in a shadow. "You should think about this for a minute, Ally. Handing the formula over could have major consequences on us all."

  "Are you saying you don't trust your Uncle Heath?" A small thread of doubt began to weave its way through Ally.

  Max sighed. "I do trust him, I just don't think his motives are the same as yours."

  "How?" she asked.

  "I don't know... I.... I just can't explain it right now," he held his hands out, almost pleading with her.

  "I promised him that I would get him the formula if I could. I need to do this. I need to go back to the City." She finished lacing up her boots and stood up. "So will you go with me?"

  Max seemed to battle inwardly for a second. Ally silently wondered what he was thinking, and what could possibly make him hesitate over taking the vaccine formula to Heath.

  "Okay, I'll come with you," Max finally said. "And I want to come to the City with you, too."

  Ally shook her head. "No way, I'm going alone. It isn’t safe."

  "Nothing about this world is safe, don't you see that?" Max's voice rose. "We'll go together. I can help you."

  Ally frowned at him. "Let's talk about this later. I want to get this formula back into town." She clutched the pouch close to her chest, as if at any moment Max might rip it away and throw it into the creek. The water would wash away all signs of letters and numbers from the weathered notebook.

  "Okay Ally," Max responded. Her name fell from his lips with a disappointed edge.

  They left the creek and stepped back into the woods, making the trip to Champaign in silence.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Luke slid his keycard through the necessary slot and pressed his thumb up to the scanner. He was admitted entrance to the research lab, a place he hadn’t visited since Aden fell ill. He stepped into the busy room, moving around doctors that didn’t even notice his presence. He made his way over to the last holding cell, the one where Hez was housed.

  Hez was sitting on his bed, reading a thick book with a blue cover. He noticed Luke almost immediately and set the book on the table next to his bed. He stood and traveled over to the large window, smiling to reveal two rows of razor sharp teeth.

  “I was beginning to think you had forgotten all about me,” Hez said.

  His voice came out the speakers on either side of the cell.

  Luke smiled. “I’ve been busy, but I do bring good news.”

  “I’m being given outfits in a different color? A new set of book options? Or maybe a room with a view...” Hez responded with a smirk.

  Luke laughed and leaned one hand against the glass. “Better, in a way. I’m releasing you from your cell.”

  Hez’s amused expression faltered, but
he managed to keep a small smile on his face. “Why?”

  “I, unlike my father, think that you can be trusted. Now that Aden is out of the picture, indefinitely, I can make this decision on my own,” Luke motioned for one of the doctors to come over.

  “Where will I go?” Hez asked.

  “I’ve set up a room for you in my house. We have a ton of empty space, so it makes sense.”

  The skin above Hez’s eye raised, and Luke realized that if Hez hadn’t lost all his hair, he would have one eyebrow cocked. “What’s in it for you?”

  “I need your help. You know the Rogues better than anyone. Help me finalize our plans. Help me by telling me all that you know.”

  Hez stepped back from the window. “And you trust me?”

  Luke nodded. “For now. Don’t break that trust, Hez, or I promise I will have you terminated.”

  He turned and gave the doctor orders to release Hez from his cell.

  “We’ll head up to my office to talk, first, and then I’ll show you your new home.” Luke said over his shoulder.

  “Does it have a view?” Hez’s voice cracked through the speaker.

  Luke laughed. “Yes. Yes it does.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  It took three long days for the town scientists to replicate the vaccine in a large amount. Thankfully, they had a large research lab in the hospital downtown, and all the tools they needed. By the size of their laboratory, and the amount of books and papers strewn about, Ally guessed they had been trying for a while. She was a bundle of nerves while she waited.

  On the third day Heath called for Ally, asking her to meet him in his office. She was surprised to find it crowded when she arrived. Max and Stosh were leaning against the wall behind an empty chair, a chair saved for her. Ally sat down slowly and took in the other faces in the room. Three men, all young just like her, Stosh, and Max.

  Heath started the meeting by placing a large, black object on the desk in front of him.

  Ally recognized it immediately. "A gun?"