Dr. Faust approaches one of the monitors. General Lewis pushes me forward.
I feel Wes’s fingers brush against my side and then he’s gone. He chops his hand across the general’s forearm and the gun falls away from my temple. It clatters to the floor. But Wes is already flying across the room. He kicks a guard in the chest, jabs another in the neck, and throws a third against the wall. All three slide to the floor. It takes less than a minute.
The general jerks next to me. He lunges for the gun. I kick his right knee and he stumbles. I throw myself onto his back. We both fall, and the general’s head hits the floor with a hollow thud. His body goes limp. I sit up cautiously, but he’s definitely out cold.
Wes has already incapacitated the final two guards, one of whom had a gun. He picks it up off the floor and spins in a slow circle, stopping when his eyes find me. He scans my body for injuries. Once he sees that I’m all right, he points the gun at the two younger scientists, huddled against the desks. They’re both slight of build, and both shaking as they stare at the gun in Wes’s hand.
“Leave,” he says softly. They scamper from the room. Dr. Faust stays. During the fighting he didn’t move at all, but I noticed that his eyes never left Wes.
“I said leave. Now.”
“You are one of them,” he whispers. “You’re one of the trained children. I can see it in your movements.” He looks Wes up and down as though Wes is a science experiment he’d like to take apart. “You are what they can all become.”
He grins, and I recoil at the sick look in his eyes.
“Leave or I shoot you in the face,” Wes says, refusing to react to the doctor.
Faust reluctantly moves to the door, glancing back at Wes one more time before he finally exits.
Wes locks the door behind Faust. The room is filled with the fallen bodies of the guards and the general. Wes ignores them all as he strides over to one of the monitors. “We don’t have much time. Faust will get more guards and they’ll break the door down. You need to go, now.”
He presses several buttons. The lights start to flash and a loud humming noise fills the room. “It’s time, Lydia!”
I hesitate. So does Wes. He steps forward until he’s standing right in front of me. Grabbing both of my shoulders, he leans down and kisses me hard on the mouth. It only lasts for a moment before he pulls away. I gasp, and his hands rise to trace the edge of my cheeks.
He looks into my eyes, then closes his tightly. He turns away. “Get in.” His voice is strained as he points toward the TM.
“Wes, wait.” I practically have to shout over the noise of the machine. It sounds like an industrial fan. “When will I see you again?” I grab his arm.
He frowns. Colored lights from the machine flit across his face in strange patterns. “Lydia, you need to go.”
“No. Please.” My voice is breaking, cracking. “I don’t want to leave you.”
“Lydia—” There’s an even louder noise and I stop, confused. Wes lifts his hand to his shoulder. It comes away red with blood. I turn to see General Lewis sitting up and holding a gun.
Wes is shot.
I hear Wes shouting as I launch my body at the general. I catch him by surprise, sending us both flying to the floor. I roll over and punch him hard in the face. It hurts my knuckles, but I don’t notice. I hit him again and blood starts to trickle from his nose. He grunts and puts up his hands.
I’m pulled off of him. Wes drops me on my feet, leans down, and smashes his gun onto General Lewis’s temple. The older man slumps back to the ground.
I scramble to my feet and help Wes peel his black jacket away. I push his undershirt to the side and examine the wound. The bullet passed cleanly through his shoulder, and a small stream of blood flows down his chest. I press the material of his shirt into the hole as I try to stop the bleeding.
“I’ll be okay,” he whispers. “You need to go now.”
“How?” I’m crying, and the tears falling from my eyes make it difficult to see. “I can’t leave you like this!”
He winces. “You have to. It’s the only way you’ll be safe.”
“What about you?” I grab his waist with both hands. “Tell me you’ll come with me. Please. We could go to nineteen twenty. We’d be stuck there, but at least we’ll be together. They could never find you. Please, Wes!”
“Lydia.” His voice is soft. “I won’t do that. Think of your family. Think of your life.”
I open my mouth, but he shakes his head before I speak. “I could never do that to you.”
The bloodstain blossoms on his shoulder.
“So that’s it? We never see each other again?”
His eyes are black as he smiles at me. “There’s no way it can work, Lydia. Maybe someday …” He reaches out and tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. “We’ll just have to leave it up to chance.”
I choke, trying not to sob. “I thought you said you don’t believe in fate.”
He looks at me through half-closed eyes. “Maybe I’ll start.”
He leans down until our foreheads are pressed together. I close my eyes, breathing him in.
“Go,” he says softly. I feel him press something into my stomach. I glance down, surprised. It’s his gold pocket watch. I didn’t even notice him take it off.
“Take it. I want to know that my two moments of defiance are out there somewhere together.”
I pry my fingers from his side and close my hand over the metal, still warm from his body. Then I
