Part 2

-Part 2- 

I Slowly opened my eyes. My stomach was still happily full from the Chinese food I had eaten the night before, ordered from the best takeout place in town. The marking on the white wall said "Carlos: Subject 35. Looking across the room was another sign stating in the same big block letters "Jake: Subject 34" 

We had lived like this for some months now. The Days sipping into weeks as we did a few small tests, watched our school lessons on a TV screen that was in our room (or played video games that were in the same room) Ate whatever we wanted, and generally ruled the roost. It was all a little strange. The small area we were located in was only a few small rooms: one where Jake and  slept and held what little personal effects we had after the fire, and a large television where our school lessons were broadcasted, where an indicator would pop up when we had a notification and needed to be somewhere, and where we had every single video game under the sun. It was stellar. 

Directly next to this room was our kitchen, which had all the regular amenities of any kitchen, except none of these rooms had real windows or any venting to the outside any of us could see. Just beyond that area there was a large, open room, about three times the size or a racquetball court, painted completely stark white, and lighted by small, powerful LED lights recessed in the ceiling about 100 feet up. In this room they would submit us to "tests." These really weren't much, a loud voice would come over the speaker saying "Ignite the table, please." Kevin was the most confused by this, because he had no idea what the hell "Ignite" meant. The first few times he started to cry, eventually he figured out he just needed to stare at the table really hard for a few minutes, and they would let him go back into his bedroom to play video games with me. I did the same thing. It worked out for a few months. 

Time passed like this, and everything was alright. Kevin was alive, I was alive. Neither of us were in jail, and neither of us Were without food or shelter. As a 13 year old with a 9 year old brother and no parents, this was all I could really ask for. Sure we were having shitty experiments run on us in some for every day, but at least we weren't homeless...right? 

As I sat up and stretched, and got my feet into my slippers, Kevin sat up as well. "Morning Bro" He said. "Want to play some more Destiny?" 

Just as he finished his sentence, The TV flickered on with a status update "PLEASE REPORT TO THE ACTIVITY ROOM" This was the giant racquetball court. We both shrugged, put on our slippers, and headed that way. 

On the way to the room, two guys in suits approached us. One of them we recognized as the regular security guard who worked with us, the other one was new: he seemed larger, his suit was nicer, and he was not happy to see us. "You" He pointed at Kevin "In the room."

He grabbed me by the arm "You're coming with me" 

They pulled me upstairs into a room I had never been in before. There were some 10 laptops set about tables, and a large flat screen TV at the end of the room, which gave about 15 different angles of Kevin, sit perfectly in the center of the giant Racquetball court.

"Now, Kevin." Said the man in the suit " I want you to tell me about how you lit your mother's house on fire" 

"I didn't do it!" yelled Kevin, stamping his foot " I told you guys that at the Police Station, and Its true!" He folded his arms and looked away. 

"Kevin, we know you did it." Said the man. I started to feel anger welling up inside of me. "You aren't going to get in trouble, just tell me how you did it. 

"But I DIDNT!" Yelled Kevin. "I just got angry because that man was hurting mommy." 

The room went silent. The scientists typing at the laptops turned toward the screen. 

"and you assholes couldn’t figure this out?" Said the guard to the Scientists. He turned to the microphone.

"So do you start fires when you get angry, Kevin?"

Kevin stood, silent, and thought for a long time. "I Don't know" HE said, shuffling his feet and walking around. " I think so. Maybe" 

He then fell down and cried " I never wanted to hurt anyone... please don't take me away " 

The Man held up the mic and said "get the sensors on" The scientists whipped into a frenzy, activating different sensors in the room. The sensors lit up indicators all over the flat screen in the room, measuring heart rate, blood pressure, brainwaves, and a bunch of other things I didn't understand. 

"Kevin, you aren't getting taken away." Said the head guard "But I need you to light the table on fire now" 

"NO!" Said Jake. "I'll never do that again"

"Jake, you're going to light that table on fire" Said the guard, his head trembling in rage "Or I WILL Take you away" 

"Hey man cut it out." 

"Do it Kevin, or I'll take your BROTHER AWAY"

"HEY, MAN, STOP!" 

"I'll take him away RIGHT NOW" 

"SHUT UP!!! YOU'RE SCARING HIM!!!" The scientists hopped up from their chairs and held me back from him. I was ready to kill him. My vision flashed red. Or maybe I saw the screen get covered in red. I wasn't sure which. A Second later I saw the screen flash a thousand warning signs , then go dark. 

"JAKE!" I yelled, and broke free of the scientists, running toward the door. The last scientist stopped me before I made it. 

"No! the back draft will kill us all! The fire has already reached the upper staircase."

He pointed to his computer screen. it was a top down map of our little living space. all rooms except for this one was showing "Fire compromise" Flashing in red over them. 

I started to cry. I started to scream. I kicked. I punched a scientist in the face. finally, they hit me with a sedative needle, and I went to sleep. 

I woke up with rain hitting my face. Next to me was long, green grass. I hadn't seen grass in ages. There was a small beetle walking by. Was I dead? Was I in heaven? The cold rain ruled at least one of those out. 

"Carl?" Said a familiar voice, sniffling in between syllables. "Ca-rl?"

I rolled over, and there was Jake, completely naked, and bald. He didn’t have a single scar or burn on his body, though. Just a lot of soot. 

"Carl, "I said sitting up quickly.  The speed of the motion made me realize that the sedative was still doing its job.

"Easy!" Said Kevin, reaching out, not knowing what to do. He shivered. 

"I'm cold" 

I jumped up, ignoring the rush to my head. I realized that we were about 100 yards outside of the fence of some type of government facility. I could see the drag marks in the grass from where Jake had dragged me out of the facility. I could see the single building among all of that grass, smoldering in the distance. There were no cars, no roads, no transport craft of any kind to be seen. It must have all been held underground, and probably destroyed by the fire. 

Jake's Fire. 

Jake had killed our mother. 

I looked at him, sitting on the ground, shivering. I needed to get him warm before we worried about anything else. I found some branches, and wrapped him up. I gave him my socks, my underwear, and the over shirt I was wearing to get some clothes on him, and Build a small shelter out of the boughs of the pine trees just outside the facility. 

"Jake" I said, once we were settled, grabbing both of his shoulders in my over huge shirt. "You need to tell me what happened. 

He Broke down and cried for along time. The rain drowned out just how loud the crying was. It was probably better for both of us. "I'm so sorry Carl!! I just didn't want that guy to hurt mommy!" 

He went on to tell me that he had run home quick to grab this awesome Magic Deck he had put together. He knew he could sneak in through mom's room, since she was almost never there during the day. He climbed up onto the garage room, and cracked the window to mom's room. 

That's when he saw a huge, masked man standing over our mom. He was asking her questions about "The weapon" and saying that it was hidden somewhere in the house. He said he had paid a lot of money for it, and he could collect whether her old man was dead or not.  He started to unzip his pants. 

Jake jumped into the house, kicking and screaming to get the man to stop. The man laughed, scooped him up, and tried to hit him to knock him out. 

"I remember the punch coming toward my face as he held me by the neck. After that, everything went red. "

We both held each other and cried. then we went to sleep. We slept late into the night, and we were finally startled awake by the sound of sirens in the distance. 

I snapped up. "They've found us" 

Jake and I ran through the forest, until the dogs could no longer be heard. 

"We have to find a way out of here." I said between shaky breaths, clutching my chest. 

We started to hear 4 wheelers starting up in the distance. It wouldn't be but a few more minutes before they blasted through the evergreen forest and found us. 

Evergreen forest....

"Jake." I grabbed his shoulders. " I know you don't want to hurt anyone, but can you light...just these few trees in front of us on fire?" 

"I don't know...." he said, pulling away from me in fear "Maybe. I'm afraid I'll hurt you." 

Jake, I'll run really far away, that way "I pointed toward the rising sun. "But I need you to light a little fire here to scare the guards away. OK?" 

"I cant!" Yelled Jake, sobbing again. "I'm so tired"

"You need to, Jake" I said, looking him dead in the eye. "You need to, or they’re going to take me away, and take you away, and run tests on you just like they did today. no more video games, no more Chinese food. Just Pain and suffering. That's what they'll do to you. That's what they'll do to ME" 

The trees in front of him burst into flames. Nothing changed really about him, though. He just looked kind of upset. Just a kid too angry. But its like he could focus all of that childlike energy right through his eyes.  

"Good!"  I ran past him, toward the sunrise "Keep going. 

The trees lit on fire, then the next aisle, then the next, and the next. He had gone too far.

"JAKE STOP!" I turned around, and grabbed him, and started to run toward the sunrise, the fire behind us making its morning splendor seem like a candle in a well lit room.

We hopped a bus. Then we hopped a train. Then we hopped onto the back of another train. We had no money, o we lived in vans in the junkyard in the town we landed in until I could steal an ID from someone about my age so I could go get a job to get us an apartment. I make Jake go to school. I worked at the Local Wal-Mart, bagging bags and picking up carts. We keep to ourselves and try to make sure to change our names every few months and move to another state. 

The kind of anger it takes to get it out of Jake is something immense. It's that deep down in your gut anger that feels like it comes from somewhere outside of you. Its that kind of anger that comes from a place deeper than feeling. It comes from a place where he knows people are doing real, real wrong, and it needs to be stopped. There is no arguing with that kind of anger. Hopefully I'll never have to see it out of Jake again.