The Strays

Delilah was waiting for us in a conference room and Drew took pleasure in throwing me down onto my knees at her feet.

“You guy’s sure know a thing or two about hospitality, don’t you? How long have I been here?”

“You were unconscious for about five, maybe six hours.” Drew informed me, earning him a disapproving glare from Delilah.

“I don’t think you were supposed to tell me that, in case my knowledge of time somehow aided me in an escape plan.”

“Drew, sweetie, leave me and my old friend be, I think it’s time the two of us had a catch up, it’s been too long since we’ve been able to talk, just us girls.”

He nodded his head in agreement and walked away, leaving me alone with Delilah who grabbed me by my collar, then pulled me to my feet before throwing me onto a chair.

“What’s your game here? Shouldn’t you be torturing me for information or something? Like you’ve tried to in the past.”

“There’s no need. There’s no information you could provide me that would be of use.”

“Then why am I here, why am I still alive?”

“Despite your tiresomely meddlesome nature, everything continues to unfurl just as it should and, in spite of your best efforts, my final plan is coming together perfectly. Your friends are in no position to stop me with you here, and I want you to witness the fall of your beloved city before I determine how to properly dispose of you.”

“You haven’t won yet, Delilah. While you may not see my friends as a threat, I think you’ll be surprised to learn they’re actually pretty competent by themselves, especially now Ace has been reunited with Sean and they have Wraith on their side.”

I’d expected Delilah to be caught off guard by what I had to say, but she just snidely smirked. “The boys are smart, I’ll give them that, and I know they broke into the Sanctum to gather information to take to the other faction’s, but it’s too late, without you they won’t piece it together in time to stop me, even if they could get every faction leader in the city on their side. In a few short days, the last details will be finalised and then it’s goodbye to the scum that litter the streets and hello to my utopian society. I will rebuild everything in my own perfect image, with my chosen people, and I will create an idyllic society, repopulating the earth to repair the world our forefathers destroyed.”

“I thought you were insane before the apocalypse. Now I think you’re a delusional, power hungry sociopath, with megalomaniac tendencies, and I can’t wait to see the look on your face when you lose.”

“All these years of knowing each other and you still haven’t figured it out.” She sighed as she spun the chair around, making me dizzy.

“Figured out what?”

“We’re two sides of the same coin you and I, we always have been. You saw us as enemies, adversaries. I did too, at first, but now we’re older, I know better. I no longer see you as my competition, I see you as my rival, a person who continually challenges me, forces me to strive to be better, someone I’ve grown to admire over the years. I was blinded by my jealousy when I was younger, I tried so hard to be the best but nobody ever seemed to see it because you were always better, but that’s not what I hated, it was the way you were so unbothered, so apathetic about it all, like none of it was even remotely important. The only time I ever saw you care about anything was when you saw an injustice, if someone was picking an unfair fight, or if someone said something you didn’t like, then suddenly you’re filled with passion, and spirit, you become this unstoppable force. I’ve never entirely understood you, but my respect for you continues to grow each time we cross paths or I hear of one of your feats.”

I was at a loss for words for a few moments, and when I did finally find what I wanted to say, it was one simple sentence. “You are absolutely nuts.”

Delilah shook her head, clearly disappointed in me. “You still aren’t seeing it, the big picture. If I’d wanted you dead, you would be, but that isn’t the case. You are the only person that I’ve ever seen as an equal, and if I kill you, then I’d just be alone again, I don’t want that, what I want is for you to join me, help me build a new civilisation, together we would be a force to be reckoned with.”

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter at such a delusional notion. “You killed my brother, my friends, and a camp full of innocent kids just because you could. Why would I ever join you or your faction? You’re insane.”

“Can’t you tell I helped you? Those Strays were holding you back. Your compassion and concern for them was limiting your potential, hindering you. I did you a favour by taking them off the table. Now they can’t interfere and your focus has returned. I gave you a new sense of purpose, just like I did when I took Miles from you and when we attended school together. I made you who you are, I am the reason you became this person and all I want is for you to be the best version of you, someone who isn’t weighed down by her morality and conscience. Why can’t you just accept that? Why won’t you accept that we’re the same? Underneath your self righteous, heroic facade, you’re just like me. We belong together. We challenge one another in a way nobody else can. We are nothing without each other.”

I could feel my blood boiling, and I was starting to lose my composure. “You killed my brother, my friends. And blew up a refugee camp because I wasn’t paying you enough attention. What kind of fucked up logic is that? I’m nothing like you. I loathe you with every fibre of my being and I will never join you. There was a time when you brought out the worst in me, made me five into my anger, my hatred. I wanted to kill you and everyone like you, but if I do that, then you’re right, we aren’t any different. I’m done letting you twist up my head. I have people who care about me now, people you can’t manipulate, unlike those from my past. They’ve seen my flaws. They know I’m not perfect, but they don’t care, and more importantly, they don’t think I’m crazy when I’m finally able to speak my mind because they actually listen.” I took a deep breath to calm myself, feeling the passion and anger forcing its way to the surface, my disdain flowing through every word. “They understand why I act the way I do. They’re willing to fight in my corner no matter what. They’re true friends, something I never had before. They are the ones that made me who I am. They give me purpose, just like the memories of all those I lost and what they stood for, not you, never you. You don’t define me Delilah, you’re not special, you’re just like every other power hungry brat I’ve gone up against, and when I take you down nobody will remember, you won’t even be a second thought. I am who I am in spite of you, not because of you and even when you’re gone, I will still keep fighting, because that is who Caelyn Lewis is, she’s a fighter, it just took pushing past my fears and insecurities for me to finally see that.”

Delilah slowly shook her head as though she were disappointed in me. “I thought you would be a lot more open-minded given the circumstances, that you might be able to empathise, see things from my perspective, but it would appear I was wrong, perhaps you need some time to yourself to think things over while I finalise preparations.” She crossed the room to the door behind me and was met by Drew. “Keep our guest sedated until the big night. I wouldn’t want her to go wandering or to become a problem.”

Drew nodded compliantly before following Delilah. When he returned, he was alone, a needle and vial in his hand.

“What’s that?” I stated, squirming as he got closer, trying to futilely push the chair away.

“Don’t worry, it won’t kill you. It’s just going to put you to sleep for a bit. You’ll wake up, eventually.” He sneered as he pulled me out of the chair and threw me to the floor, pinning me down as he stabbed the needle into the vial, breaking the seal as he transferred the contents. When he was happy with the dose, he discarded the vial and forced my head to the side. I couldn’t see the needle, but I felt the harsh pinch as it penetrated my skin. I couldn’t feel anything at first, but after a few minutes, the room started to spin before slowly growing darker, the edges of my vision fading before everything went black.

I drifted in and out of consciousness after that, feeling the full effects of whatever I’d been injected with and as soon as it started to wear off, Drew was quick to dose me again until Delilah told him otherwise.

By the time I was completely lucid again, I had no idea how long I’d been drugged for, or why it had happened and the effects of whatever was in my system were still prevalent, as I could barely think straight. I managed to lift my head and look around. I wasn’t in the conference room, or the one with the bed, no this room was different, but I still recognised it because it was the very laboratory my father had worked in. Suddenly, I started to see the bigger picture, and it began to make sense.

“Look who finally woke up.” Drew cooed as I tried to get to my feet, only to find I’d been handcuffed to my father’s old desk.

“Delilah always did have a twisted sense of humour. She probably thinks this is a poetic place to end things.” I didn’t mean to say my thoughts aloud; obviously I was still under the effects of whatever Drew had given me. I may have been lucid, but I was having a hard time focusing on keeping what was in my head to myself.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” He had obviously picked up on what I’d said.

I shook my head and didn’t say anything.

“Well, don’t go getting quiet on me now, Cae.” Drew persisted.

“Go ask your girlfriend why this place is so significant. It sure as hell isn’t just because it’s a strategic location. There’s a game going on that you can’t see and maybe if you weren’t such an idiot, you wouldn’t be so blind to the truth. Question everything, even when you think you have all the answers, because maybe then you’ll realise that perhaps you haven’t been asking the right questions at all. You think you have all the pieces, that you can see the bigger picture, that Delilah has shared her master plan. You think you’re somehow special, but you’re wrong. Delilah always has a narrative and if you can’t see that, then you’re not as smart as I once thought you were. The endgame here is far bigger than she led you to believe. I bet she hasn’t even told you why she’s doing all of this.”

Drew crouched down to my level and smiled. “You think you have this all worked out, don’t you? Always so cocky and confident, but you forget something. You aren’t as smart as you think you are. If you were, you wouldn’t be handcuffed to a desk right now.” He sneered.

“Why are you doing all of this? A lot of kids are going to die if Delilah succeeds. Most of them have done nothing wrong. Does that really seem right to you? Fair? You’re helping her commit genocide and for what? Do you even really know her?”

“You mean, do I know about her obsession with you? Of course I do. I’m not as stupid as you think and you can’t turn me against her, because I’m not some dumb, loyal puppy, obediently following behind his mistress. Delilah is just a means to an end, and once I have what I want from her, she’ll be expendable. Just. Like. You.”

I couldn’t help but smile as he got closer to me, so confident in the fact I was restrained, he didn’t think twice. Big mistake. I’d managed to pop the cuffs off while I’d kept him talking, using a shim hidden in a ring my mum had given me. As his face neared me, I slammed my head into, breaking his nose once again. He stumbled backward, screeching like a banshee as blood pissed from his nose. I got to my feet, and he charged at me, blinded by his rage, which I used to my advantage, taking a defensive approach as I agilely ducked out of the way, my hands casually by my side. Drew took another swing at me, but I blocked it with ease, then countered by kneeing him in the stomach. I watched as he crumpled into a ball on the ground, tears streaming down his face.

I grabbed him by his collar and dragged him over to where I’d been handcuffed, locking him up in my place before searching him to take his key as well as anything else that he may have been able to use to escape. Once I was satisfied there was no way for him to get out, I tore off a piece of my shirt and wrapped it around his mouth, stopping him from crying out or alerting anyone to his predicament, then just to be safe, I whipped my hand as hard as I could into his carotid artery, knocking him out cold.

Once Drew was taken care of I scanned the room, trying to find any irregularity that might indicate where the dispersal device was located or how far along she was with assembling it, but as I looked around, I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary, it was exactly how I remembered leaving it the last time I’d been there. I tried to find a radio to see if I could call Ace and the others, but no luck. I just had to hope the tracking device in my boot was still giving off a signal for them to follow.

I continued to look around the lab. The desks were overturned, the equipment gone, and I thought back to that first day I’d returned here after what had happened to Miles. Nothing had changed. It still seemed to be exactly the same. I retraced every step I’d taken that day, but nothing was sticking out to me. I then thought back to the other times I’d visited since returning to the city, knowing its significance to Delilah. I had decided to keep tabs on the place in case she popped up, and that’s when it finally dawned on me. The missing equipment, the clinic, the lab, suddenly it all clicked into place.

I’d told the guys about my suspicions and from a logical perspective, everything made sense; the quest to have my brother finish my father’s work, the makeshift lab and the bomb at the camp, it all fit together, but something had felt off. There was no way Delilah could store or modify the virus and its counterpart, the cure, in that train car which meant her lab was somewhere else, the clinic and if she’d brought me back here to the place where we first crossed paths then she was in the final stages of her plan, which meant the device was probably already assembled, she was just waiting for the perfect time to detonate it, which shortened the time frame for me to find it, hastening my search. I rolled my eyes in frustration as the memory came back to me. How could I have overlooked such an important detail? I had crossed paths with Ace in the lab at the office party, but Delilah and I first met in her father’s office before my family had even moved to the city. Her father had recruited mine, offered him a prestigious position but before my father would accept and uproot our family, he wanted to see the facilities, meet the people he’d be working with, I was off school sick that day so he took me with him; it was at the conclusion of the tour I met Delilah. All of this was a distraction. The bomb was never in the lab;for him it was in her father’s office, that’s why she wasn’t around to gloat, she was getting ready to finish this and now, so was I.