I watched in horror as Kyro fell over like a lifeless mannequin, blood coming down a perfect round hole in his forehead, smell of gunpowder wafting over me.

I dropped the gun and threw up.

God help me.

The Director picked up the gun and handed it back to Scar. He came over and patted me on the back. I spun around and slapped his hand away. “Don’t touch me.”

He held up his hands, palms toward me. “I know this was hard for you, Max. But I promise it was for a good cause.”

“A good cause? You’re out of your mind. I just killed an innocent man for nothing. For nothing!”

“I assure you it wasn’t for nothing. And Kyro was not innocent.” He pointed at Kyro’s limp body. I couldn’t look at him. I kept my gaze focused on the floor. The Director continued, “Do you want to know what he did right before we caught him?”

“No, but I bet you’ll tell me anyway.”

“He drowned a man. In his own bathtub. Held him under with his power. Apparently he was after his money.”

I scoffed. “You’re lying.”

“Am I? Do you really think the government would authorize all of this if they thought there wasn’t a significant threat to national security? The world is a better place without people like Kyro in it. After you defeated him he was of no use to me anymore. This project doesn’t have unlimited funding, so I couldn’t keep him here. And I couldn’t just release him. If he killed one man for money it would only be a matter of time before he did something much worse, like, I don’t know, take an entire cruise ship hostage in the middle of the ocean. It’s best we quell such people before they do these things, you see. One troubled young man’s life is not worth all...that...trouble.”

“So you have me kill him?”

He smiled. “Yes, and for good reason. Do you feel any different?”

Yes, I want to kill you now.

I did feel something though, a tingly sensation in my head. I felt changed somehow. I couldn’t explain it in words. It was as if a door had been unlocked in the deepest part of my mind, if that made any sense. But of course I wouldn’t tell the Director that.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about.”

He furrowed his brow as he studied me. “You’re lying, I can tell. You see, we’ve come up with a theory. People with abilities become more powerful after they’ve killed someone else with abilities. They somehow absorb their energy in a process we can’t yet explain. I think that happened to you just now.”

I shrugged.

“Very well, we’ll run some tests tomorrow. For now I think you’ve earned some rest.” He turned to the guards. “Take him to the cafeteria, get him something to eat, then take him back to his quarters.”

“Yes, sir,” the guards said in unison.

They shoved me toward the door. I wanted to look at Kyro one last time, pay my last respects, but Bully’s body blocked my view.

#

The Cage was a state of the art facility built specifically to hold Gifted.

Bully and Scar walked me down a long, dimly lit corridor. We passed training rooms on the right, research rooms on the left. The occasional flash of light made it through the door cracks, brightening up the corridor. That meant Gifted were being tested on. A high-pitched scream came from one of the training rooms. That meant a Gifted was being punished for not doing what was asked of them.

We called this section Hell.

“So you think you can take a shot at the Director and get away with it?” Bully said. I wasn’t about to turn around. Bully and Scar enjoyed pistol whipping Gifted. I guess they got off on it. Made them feel powerful knocking teenagers around. Happened to me once when I first got here, nearly knocked the teeth out of my mouth.

Bully shoved me, nearly sending me face first to the steel mesh floor. “I asked you a question, boy!”

It was a lose-lose situation for me. If I answered honestly, they’d probably beat me to about an inch of my life. If I didn’t, they’d still beat me, only not as much. I decided to go with the latter. No use in giving them an excuse to kill me. I made a promise to Kyro that I would visit his sister once I got out. I intended to keep that promise.

We came up to the end of the corridor when Scar opened a door to my left and Bully shoved me inside. It was an empty research room, the soft glow of lights from computer screens and machinery reflected off the steel walls, casting shadows everywhere. They shut the door. I turned to face them, even in the dark I could see the smirks on their faces.

“Let’s see how bad you are now,” Bully said.

I took a few steps back, heart pounding against my ribs. “If the Director finds—”

“The Director?” Bully said. He looked around the room. “I don’t see the Director anywhere.” He turned to Scar. “Do you see him?”

“Nope,” Scar said, the jagged line on his cheek twitching. “Can’t say that I do.”

“We’ll just say you tried to escape,” Bully said, chuckling. “It’s worked before.”

Bully pulled out a shock baton. He pressed a button on the handle and it extended out; blue electricity crackled from the end of it. I moved back, nearly tripping on an unseen chair. I was powerless without water. Bully and Scar were both highly trained officers. I was a skinny sixteen-year old kid. No way was I going to beat them in hand-to-hand combat. I had to use my environment if I was going to have a chance at surviving.

Adrenaline rushing through me, I grabbed hold of the chair and swung it at Bully’s head. Bully grabbed one of the legs and yanked it from my grasp. He tossed it to the side. What an epic fail that was. All that did was make Bully even angrier.

He jabbed the baton into my stomach, removing all the air from my lungs. I heard a zap, and twelve thousand volts of electricity went coursing through my body. I collapsed to the ground in the fetal position as he kept zapping me. I was paralyzed, helpless, as Bully and Scar beat down on me. The taste of copper filled my mouth. This was my first time getting tased. It hurt like hell. A weird sensation that I could only compare to the tingly feeling you got when you hit your funny bone against a hard surface—only magnified by about a million.

After what felt like hours, they stopped. Bully removed his handgun from its holster and put the cold, steel barrel into my bloody mouth. I heard the hammer cock back in slow motion.

Bully whispered in my ear, “Let’s see you swim your way out of this one.”