Chapter 29 – The law must be upheld

It became a long night of talking and playing cards – Uncle Howard got the hang of it around dinner time. He left just around there, but Brody and I decided to bring some food up and keep going. It was around midnight before he left and I went to bed. Now the sun is shining yet again, and a part of me doesn’t want to just sit around in the room. I go down stairs to the class rooms, hoping Holt will be there even if it is a Saturday. There’s something calming about being around him, and now more than ever. He is after all the closest thing I still have to family.

“I am sorry Mr. Holt, you acted in disregard of the laws, and a committee will be assembled to determine your future at this school, there is nothing that can be done about that,” a voice says from 640.

“Can you tell me the correct response then? What would you have had me do?”

“The law clearly states that any student losing control must be brought to officials assigned to deal with Unassigneds.”

“She was having a bad day, she’s over it now. You only want to label her Unassigned because you’re scared of her strength and heritage, this isn’t medical, it’s political.”

“You believing that doesn’t change anything, Mr. Holt, the law is the law.” I push open the door and walk to my seat in the back.

“Excuse me, miss, if you could just wait outside please, the professor will be with you momentarily.”

“Don’t mind me, I’ll just practice.” The professor shakes his head at me, but there’s a soft smile hiding somewhere beneath the disapproval.

“Lizzy, meet Ms. Richardson, secretary to the head of the InT,Ms. Richardson, meet Miss Langdale – she usually comes to practice when there’s not too much noise.” I appreciate the fib.

“Miss Langdale?” She steps back a little. “You can’t be here,” She tells me from behind the desk.

“I can’t leave or I can’t be here, which is it?”

“You can’t be in this room, you need to be somewhere where you can’t hurt anyone.”

“Wrong,” I say, and I almost smile.

“Excuse me?” her chest rises up indignantly.

“I believe what you meant to say was ‘you need to be somewhere where you can’t accidentally hurt anyone.’ I think you’d be hard pressed to find anywhere where I can’t hurt anyone.”

“Are you… Are you threatening me, young lady?” The ‘young lady’ sounds pathetically like someone trying to sound stern while actually being terrified. Her hand fiddles with something by her hip. I sit silently and watch her. Her sweaty fingers slip a few times before she manages to push the little button. A panic button I realize.

“Only my parents get to call me young lady,” I tell her and stand up. Mother does it so much better, she can really make you cower in a corner if she wants to. Professor Holt holds out a hand to stop me.

“Don’t make this any worse Lizzy. Remember yesterday, remember what you and Brody talked about.” Nothing gives anyone the right to be a jerk, and I can’t take it out on the teachers just because I don’t like the school. This isn’t a teacher though, this is the root of the problem. This is the reason I will never see my family again.

“My name is Lizzy Langdale, you can call me that and nothing else.” I try to sound calm in my offer, but the appearance of five suits at the door gives me pause.

“Careful men, slow movements only,” one of them says to the others. Some kind of silver emblem on his jacket catches the light. They all have one.

“Don’t give her any reason to attack, stay calm and move around her. Don’t get too close.” They are all walking sort of bend over, placing their feet carefully, never taking their eyes off of me, and breathing overly evenly.

“What’s going on?” I ask professor Holt. I almost can’t keep from laughing at the wannabe hunters thinking they’re sneaking up on me.

“Don’t make her feel trapped, she might lash out,” leader emblem guy warns. The secretary lady has straightened up, she looks all proud and superior. I could wipe that smug smile off her face faster than she could…

“Lizzy,” professor Holt pleads. “Don’t do anything.” I could take them all in a heartbeat! “Trust me,” he tells me. His eyes are honest, pleading, and with just a glimmer of something else. I can’t quite tell if it’s fear or a plan, or maybe it’s shifting between the two. “Trust me,” he says again. I look back to the emblem guys, slowly closing in as if I were oblivious to what’s going on.

“They are trained to deal with people out of control,” professor Holt explains. “They don’t know how to handle anything else.” I meet his eyes again. He has a plan, he knows what to do. “Don’t do anything,” he warns me. I hold out my arms and put my wrists together so they can cuff me or whatever.

“Fire!” the emblem guy shouts at the first sign of movement from me. They all pull out odd looking objects, sort of cylindrical and stick like. Next thing I know some sort of force wave hits me from all sides.

“Don’t do anything.” I hear the professor say again. I bite my cheek and stay completely still. The wave washes over me, embraces me in cold, unmoving energy. I try to get a feel of it.

“Don’t do anything.” I hear again. I close my eyes and try to stay calm, stay where I am, not move, not fight. I don’t like it. I really don’t like it. I don’t know what it is or what they’re doing to me, where they will be taking me, what they will do when they get me there. My first, my only instinct, is to fight them off, get away, get far, far away. I can feel the force on every inch of my body, closing in, encasing me.

“Don’t do anything,” I recall the voice, the calm, the plan. I breathe in deeply.

“Okay, let’s put her down,” I hear a different voice say.

“Don’t do anything,” I remind myself. “Don’t do anything.” A pair of feet steps closer, slowly, anticipating a struggle. Keep still, don’t move. A hand grabs hold of my arm, and I feel a needle going through my skin. I don’t like this. I don’t like not doing anything. I’m a fighter, I was raised by a sergeant, I wasn’t taught to just lay down and take it. But before I can change my mind it all disappeares.