“All I said was that she already knows,” Alfred says. “I swear, that’s all.”
Dad smiles and ruffles his hair affectionately. “Very good, Alfred.”
“I promise I’ll never speak to her again.” Alfred sobs. “I won’t say another word. She asked me the questions.”
I bite my lip to stop myself from bawling. My father is evil. Seeing the tapes and hearing about his experiments was hard enough, but watching firsthand lets me see the pure pleasure he gets from causing others to suffer.
Dad strokes Alfred’s bruised cheek tenderly.
His gentle gesture conjures a vision in my head.
The same fingers brush my cheek.
“It’s going to be okay,” Dad says.
I want to believe him. I really do. He dabs my forehead with a damp cloth. The coldness provides a brief reprieve from the burning sensation setting my skin on fire. However, despite his comforting words, I’m struck by more fear.
“You’re going to be okay, Erin,” Dad purrs. “Everything will be back to the way it was…”
“Everything will be okay, Alfred,” Dad says.
Alfred’s shoulders relax, buying his lies. Yet, I brace myself. Somehow, I know what’s going to happen before it does.
Dad turns to another doctor and orders, “Maximum charge.”
Alfred has no time to react as a thousand electric bolts shoot through his body. His eyes roll into the back of his head as his limbs convulse.
“Shall we stop?” a doctor asks as a machine bleeps like crazy. “His body won’t sustain much more.”
“No,” Dad replies. “Keep going.”
I want to look away, but I can’t. I’m mesmerized by Alfred’s twitching body and watch until a final drawn-out beep signals his heart has stopped. Even then, Dad keeps going, delighting in Alfred’s dead body flailing around like a fish out of water. A puppet under his control.
Finally, when he’s bored and Alfred’s skin is steaming, Dad waves for the machine to be turned off.
“Take his body to the freezer,” Dad says dismissively. He picks up Alfred’s limp, burned arm to inspect it. “We can use his organs for our next experiment.” Dad checks his watch and sighs. “I need to get home for dinner. My wife and I are hosting Sheriff Brady and his wife.”
He hurries off and we remain in the vents, frozen, watching them wheel Alfred’s corpse away.
He died because of me. If I hadn’t hounded him for answers, none of this would have happened…
My mouth fills with the bitter taste of iron due to how hard I’m biting my lip. Silent tears soak through my balaclava.He has to be stopped. We need to put an end to my father’s reign of terror for good. There must be a way to bring him down.
“Time to go,” Aiden whispers.
He begins the journey back to my cell, but I don’t move. I’m not only shaken by what I’ve seen, but by the fleeting memory that I’ve been here before, that I’ve been strapped to the same chair.
Eli gently nudges me.
“He’s dead,” Eli whispers. “Nothing will bring him back, and we’ll all be dead if someone notices you’re missing.”
He’s right.
My body enters autopilot, moving back through the tunnels. My ears are still ringing with Alfred’s pleading. The crawl passes quickly. Aiden catches me as I drop from the ceiling, back into my padded cell, without saying a word.
I pull the mask off and slump to the floor, drawing my knees to my chest.
“We have to go,” Lex says, peering around the cell door. “Or they’ll find us.”
