Exodus Read Free Page B

candidate.”
    Hanson grumbled and started to lift Anthony’s lifeless body.  He slung him over his shoulder and then headed out of the room.  As he passed the doorway he turned sharply and banged Anthony’s head on the frame.
    “Hey!  Be careful with this one!” Dr. Vorcick yelled.
    Hanson nodded and stepped around the corner.  Grinning, he glided down the dark hallway and disappeared.
    Dr. Vorcick stared after him for a moment before collapsing back to the ground.  His head spun like a Ferris wheel and everything went blurry.  As he passed out he caught a glimpse of a nurse walking through the door.
    Hanson lumbered down the shadowy corridor to Anthony’s cell.  He slid open the heavy iron door and threw him to the ground, then quickly chained him back up.  Anthony made a whimpering sound and Hanson laughed then kicked him.
    “Next time you try that, I’ll kill you.  I don’t care what that doc says,” he looked at Anthony in disgust then slammed the door.
    Anthony slowly pried his eyes open and winced.  Clenching his jaw, he sat up and leaned on his arms.  His head throbbed and his side burned where Hanson had stabbed him with the needle.
    He glanced around his cell trying to remember what had just happened.  It was all a blur to him, fragments of a dream.  As he stared at the wall he felt a sudden jolt and everything around him began to fizzle and dissolve.  The dingy cell gave way to a jungle like setting.
    Anthony was suddenly running.  Or he wasn’t running, but whoever he was, was running.  It took him a minute to figure out that what he was seeing was through someone else’s eyes.
    He couldn’t see his cell or the brick walls anymore, but he could feel the hard cold touch of the metal floor against his skin.  He was still imprisoned, but his mind was elsewhere, like he was in someone else’s head.
    He could feel the sun burning overhead, the leaves and branches whipping him across the face as he darted through the trees.  It was like being two people at the same time. He could feel what they felt and hear what they heard.
    He was running and running fast.  He swung his hands as he ripped through the twigs and vines in his way.  His feet jabbed at the ground like a gazelle.  He felt stronger than he’d ever felt in his life.
    As he zipped passed the heavy tree trunks and dense foliage, he finally realized why he was running.  He could sense someone behind him, but they were falling further and further behind.
    He leapt through a thick patch of bushes and the trees cleared giving way to a plateau up ahead.  It ended abruptly a hundred feet below into the deep blue waters of the ocean.  Jagged rocks protruded from the surface like broken glass, the waves crashing over them with a thundering rattle.
    Instead of slowing down Anthony could feel himself speeding up, his pace quickening like a plane preparing for takeoff.  His foot hit the last bit of earth and he dove into the air, leaping off the cliff with his hands outstretched like a bird.  He felt weightless for a brief moment, suspended in the sky.
    He was certain he would plummet to the rocky earth in seconds as he slowly turned in the air.  Suddenly a familiar rush swarmed over him.  Wings ripped from his back and he soared into the sky like a rocket.
    Something was different however.  Where he normally felt awkward and clumsy in flight, this felt natural.  His wings responded effortlessly with no thought.
    As he moved higher into the air he turned and looked back.  At the edge of the cliff were a dozen men in strange suits that looked like a cross between robots and some kind of futuristic soldier.  They were covered from head to toe and a tinted glass visor covered their eyes.  Each of them gripped some kind of weapon that Anthony had never seen before, but they didn’t take aim.  They stared after him, looking into the sky as he flew higher and higher.
    Anthony gazed at them momentarily.  Then smiling he took off