The Facility

They saw Lyle still sitting on the bench waiting for them, though he was looking back towards the entrance they had come from.

Cass glanced back in that direction and saw a group of three men walking towards them. One had what looked like a hand-held camera up, which she thought was strange.

Who would be trying to film the inside of a mall?

Everything seemed to happen at once. Lyle stood and called out a command in German to Harley just as Cass saw a small white puff come from the video camera.

Without thinking, Cass raised her hand and pushed. She caught a flash of red and realized it was a dart as it was pushed off its trajectory and skipped off the plate glass window next to them.

Lyle wanted to create confusion but did not want anyone innocent to her hurt, so he yelled, “Gun!” as he slipped his out, covering it while he fired into the planter next to him.

Because of all the mass shootings there have been lately, the shoppers in the area started to scream and run as they panicked, trying to get away from the unseen gunman.

Harley pulled Cass away from the man and she shouted for Maggie and Gemma to follow them. Lyle followed and Rudi joined them as they passed him.

“Try to give me some warning if they fire,” Cass told Rudi as they ran further into the mall.

“Now,” he said into her mind as she pushed upward behind them, not wanting to put others in harm’s way from a deflected shot.

As they reached the center of the mall where it split into four sections like a big X, Lyle raised his voice and said, “Split up. Find a place to hide until you hear sirens, and then meet at the burger joint across the street from where we parked. But only when it is safe to do so. If anyone doesn’t show, we will find you after dark.”

He pulled Rudi and took off left. Cass paused and told Gemma, “Protect Maggie. I will slow them down,” as she pointed right.

Gemma did not hesitate and pulled Maggie to the right.

Cass turned to look behind and saw the three men running towards her. Getting creative, she focused and pushed back on the legs of the three men chasing them.

It caught them by surprise and all three went down face first. Even though it was plenty noisy in the mall with the panic, Cass still heard at least one of the men’s teeth clack together as his chin hit the floor.

She winced at her imagination as it went through several outcomes. Broken teeth, a broken jaw, even a severed tongue. Served him right, she thought.

Still focused on the men, she nearly jumped out of her skin when Harley tugged on the sleeve of her hoodie, trying to pull her.

“Right. Let’s go,” she told him and ran as she let go of the harness. They continued straight while Cassidy looked for someplace to hide. Halfway to the store at the end of the wing, she saw an alcove with payphones in it and a door inset in the far wall.

She turned and sprinted for the door, letting out a whistle for Harley who had not caught her change is direction. His nails clacked on the floor as he changed direction quickly, losing his traction on the polished stone floor.

Making it to the door, she pushed it open and waited for Harley before pushing it closed. She had not really looked before, nut now she saw the long, dimly lit hall in front of her. It ran between the stores for whatever reason it served.

Cass could just barely make out a junction at the end, and could see nothing else but walls in between, so she took off running, with Harley keeping pace beside her.

She knew he could easily outrun her, but after having to wait for him earlier, she was glad that he choose to stick to her.

At the end of the hall, another hall split off to the left and right. To her left was a door which she thought might slow down any pursuers, so she ran to it. It was locked unfortunately. She could probably break the door down, but that would defeat the purpose, so she opted to turn around and run the other direction. The hall ended that direction about fifty feet down, with another door and as Cass got closer, she saw an alcove to the right that had another door set into it.

In front of her, a sign on the door said: Power Room – DANGER – Electrical Hazard. She tried the door only to find it locked as well. No surprise there, she thought.

A bang echoed down the hall, coming from down where she entered, and Cass guessed that her pursuers had finally arrived.

Guessing that the power room sign was probably literal, the room would have no exits, so she opted for the other that was marked Basement.

It would not have been her first choice, but at this point she did not have much of a choice. Cass tried the door and found it was unlocked, so she opened the door and said, “Come on,” to Harley who followed her through.

Once through, she looked for a lock but found none, so she did the only thing she could think of – using her power to exert force down on the doorknob, just enough to bend it so it would not turn.

“Hopefully, that will slow them down some or make them think it’s locked,” she said to Harley, who looked up at her with his tongue lolling out to one side.

Quickly she looked around and found herself in a dimly lit space with metal stairs leading down. “Ugh,” she said starting down the stairs.

Harley followed close behind her. Her steps echoed as she descended into the darkness. There were lights, however they were far enough away from each other that it created large swaths of darkness in between.

Going down two flights of stairs, the space opened into a large room filed with pipes that seemed to run in every direction. This room was fifteen feet on each side with open spaces in the middle of each side where another corridor branched off.

If only she had any idea of which way to go. Cassidy remembered reading somewhere that if you are lost and have a choice of directions, most people will pick the direction of their dominate hand, so she decided to turn left if she had to make a choice. This would also allow her to find her way back.

Right now, she had four choices, so she simply turned left and headed down the dimly lit corridor. The corridors were wide enough that Harley walked beside her, and looked to be about eight feet high, with different sized pipes and conduits running along the ceiling and the few feet of the wall tops.

She could hear the echoes of the men who were following her, although she had no idea how far behind they were, or if they were able to track her down in these tunnels.

After ten minutes of walking, the corridor opened into a bigger room, similar to the one she had first encountered when she came down the stairs, although only a single lightbulb lit the room, so most of it was in shadows.

Cass moved into the center of the room, away from the light over where she had entered from the corridor, when Harley started to let out a low, throaty growl. It was more of a warning or alert Cass thought.

She looked around trying to find the source of Harley’s concern.

“You are being hunted,” a gravelly voice said as fact, not question.

Cassidy looked into the corner where the voice had come from, trying to pierce the darkness there. She thought she could make out something light move when Harley growled again, taking a step forward.

“I am not here to harm,” the voice said, moving toward the light some. While the voice sounded raw and almost unused, Cass had the feeling that the owner was young.

A figure emerged from the darkness. Cass saw a slight figure, crouched down, wearing a tattered t-shirt that barely covered the girl’s mid-drift and pants that were nothing more than streamers from her small thighs, down.

Cassidy could only assume it was a girl, as her hair hung down to the floor while she was in her crouch.

The girl could not have been any older than Cass herself, although she suspected the girl was several years younger. She wondered if the girl dyed her hair as it was so blond it appeared to be almost white.

Not thinking she had anything to fear from this girl, she told Harley to hush up. He quieted and looked up at her, so she said, “Good boy,” and rubbed his head.

“I’m Cassidy. Cassidy Gray,” she said holding out her hand.

The girl cocked her head, reminding Cass of Harley, and then tentatively stood and took a step forward where Cass got a better look at her. It was definitely a her and the girl was a good five inches shorter than her own five-foot-two, and her arms and legs were stick thin.

Cass had a good twenty pounds or more on the girl as well, although Cass was not big by any means, weighing around ninety pounds.

The girl hesitantly raised her hand, offering it to Cass, who saw that her fingers were webbed in-between.

Cass figured the girl was timid because she was different, but Cass was not afraid and took her hand carefully. She shook hands and answered the non-question the girl had posed earlier.

“Yes, I am being hunted by bad men.”

Looking closer at the girl, Cass saw that her eyes were as unique as her hands. They were a golden green that seemed to reflect the light and her pupils were more slit like, going vertically and a little wider at the center, but not round.

The girl blinked, but her eyelids did not move. A transparent membrane slid from the outer corner of her eye towards her nose, then back.

This took Cass by surprise, but she tried to withhold any reaction. The girl’s eyes slid down, away from Cass’s.

“I am Myra Buell. I live down here.”

“You… you live down here?” Cass asked, not able to keep the surprise out of her voice.

The girl nodded, again blinking with her nictitating membrane. “I am able to get everything I need to survive from above, and no one bothers me… usually.”

“Sorry,” Cass said. “I really did not mean to bother you. I am just trying to get away from those bad men. I did not know anything about you being down here until my dog growled. You should probably hide. The men are not looking for you, but if they find you, well, let us just say it will not be good. You would be captured and be held captive by them while they studied you like a lab rat.”

“How do you know this?” Myra asked.

“Because they did it to me and my friends. They came to my house, shot my mom, and took me. I escaped with the other two kids and we are headed back to my house. My new friend Gemma is going to stay with me there. You – you could come too. If you wanted…” Cass told her.

“I am safe here,” Myra replied. “Why would I leave?”

“Well…” Cass began, not sure how to continue without being offensive to the unique girl. “I think your… unique qualities would be more suited to that environment than this one. Unless I am completely off base, it might even be ideal for you.”

Cass had not really noticed until now that it was hot and muggy down in the basement. Minus the sunlight, it reminded her of home.

“Explain,” Myra said matter-of-factly.

“Well, I live in Georgia, northwest of Savannah, near Scarboro, on the Ogeechee river. It is actually ore like swampland.”

Cassidy had a chance to look more closely at Myra now she was closer, and it looked like her skin was scaly almost, like a reptile of some sort. She continued, “It is warm and humid, like here, but there is plenty of sunlight and I think… I think your um, changes would be well suited there.”

Myra cocked her head again, looking at Cassidy. Cass was not sure if she had offended the girl or not. “I do not mean to offend you in any way. I really think –”

Myra cut her off, holding up a web-fingered hand. At the same time, Harley began his low growl.

“Harley, stop. She is our friend,” Cass said quickly.

“Your dog warns you, not of me, but of those who follow you. They are close now,” Myra said.

Cass looked around, worried. “You should hide. They are after me, not you, so they will not know about you unless they see you.”

Myra moved back a little, squatting down again, reminding Cass of some type of frog or something along those lines.

Cass heard something like a boot scruff concreate and she turned around to face the only opening in the room. She glanced over her shoulder and saw no sign of Myra and was glad, so she turned back.

Harley growled again this time louder. A warning to those approaching. Cass heard the word dog come from down the corridor.

“Careful Harley, I do not want you hurt,” she said quietly.

Two men carefully entered the room, seeing Cass and Harley standing under the only light in the room.

She had not bothered to hide; not that there was really any place for her and Harley to hide.

“Well, lookie what we found,” one of the men said to the other, nudging him.

Cassidy put her hands on her hips and said, “Why are you two perverts chasing kids?”

The second man, a blond who looked like his heart was not really into it said, “Mr. Forrester would like it if you came back with us.”

“Not going to happen,” Cass said, shaking her head.

“Now that is where you are wrong, girly,” said the first man, holding up an evil looking gun that Cass suspected shot those tranquilizer darts. “You are coming, one way or another.”

“Yeah, about that,” she said with a flick of her head that tossed her braided hair over her shoulder where she caught it, holding it up like she was wielding it as her own gun.

“Is that supposed to scare us, girly?” asked the first man.

“If you were smart it would,” said a disembodied, gravelly voice from the shadows. The menace was clear through the words, but the animalistic tone of that voice accentuated the menace.

Both men looked around, eyes darting to all the hidden places the shadows held.

Cass would have rather that Myra had not been involved, if only for her safety, but it brought a small smile to her lips anyways.

The belligerent man lifted his gun, aiming it at Cass while the second one looked around, first at his partner, then rescanning the shadows.

Harley moved slightly to Cass’s left, towards the second man. A reptilian hiss came from Cass’s right as Myra agilely moved out of the shadows, giving off an aura of something much more deadly than the slight girl’s body should have given.

A shiver of primal fear swept through Cass, although consciously she did not think she had anything to fear from Myra. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Harley edge farther away from her – and from Myra – and his hackles started to rise.

“And what do we have here?” the first man said, waving his gun between the two girls. “A freak standoff?”

“You will leave this place and not come back,” Myra said in a growl.

Cass had a flash from some educational show about crocodiles and the deadlier caimans. The sound of Myra’s voice had the same throaty sound as they made.

“Oh, will we now?” asked the first man. “I do not know what the hell kind of freak you are, but you can go into a cage just like your friend.”

He pointed his gun at Myra, who did not seem to be afraid, or even care.

Cass was glad the girl was sure of herself. She was not so sure of her own abilities. At this close range, she was not sure if she could do more than deflect something in the time she had to do it.

Cass saw the man tighten up and then saw the white puff before she heard the chuff the gun made. She compressed the air in front of Myra, slowing the dart, before pushing at it. It slowed quickly, but almost not quickly enough, coming to a halt a mere six inches from Myra’s chest.

Cass felt the push as she watched the dart slowly move towards Myra again. Her eyes darted to the two men and she saw the second man’s hand out as if he were pushing.

This caught Cass by surprise, and she pushed harder, stopping the dart again. This second man grunted and pushed harder as the first man stood watching with a smirk.

He said, “What good are you if that slip of a girl is better than you?” to his partner.

The dart started moving once again and the first man reloaded and fired again, this time at Cassidy.

She had seen this coming, so she stopped this one nearly two feet from her.

The second man who was obviously telekinetic as well, raised his other hand and grunted again, pushing now against both darts. They moved slowly towards the two girls.

Cass thought she was stronger than the man, but if he could out last her, he would win through attrition. She strained and pushed back, stopping, then reversing their direction.

The first man reloaded his gun again and shot at Cass again, and yet again, she stopped it. This time the dart only made it two feet before stopping in midair.

Stopping the three darts, along with repelling the guy pushing them was taking its toll on Cass.

Myra looked like she would protect Cass should they attack her physically, but right now all she was doing was watching curiously.

The second man grunted again and pushed – hard. Cass felt like she was slipping backwards along the ground, but nothing was moving in her vision.

Although it had no physical effect, she put out both of her hands as if to focus her energy through them. Then she pushed back – harder.

The fact that she was pushing the darts and nothing else didn’t seem to matter, as both men slid backwards. Struggling, the second man pushed harder, straining to stop Cass’s push, and moving the darts towards the girls once again.

Cassidy renewed her own push and felt a trickle of blood slide down her nose and on to her lips. This got Cass mad. She was not going back, and they were not taking Myra. That was simply how it was going to be.

Through clinched teeth, she told the dog, “Harley, protect,” hoping he would understand, then used all her remaining energy to give one last, strong push.

White dots exploded into stars in her vision just before she passed out.