Firestarter

Chapter Fifteen

Anne's Dance

HAWKINS NATIONAL LABORATORY WAS GONE. Only an empty shell had been left behind. As soon as attention fell on the lab, the government wiped any information from the building. From files to notes to all of the electronic records. Campbell was certain that the files he'd stolen were all that remained of Brenner's works. Not even workers remained anymore. All that was left were memories and ghosts.

Campbell stared around the building in a daze. It didn't feel real. He thought standing in the lab for a final time would make him feel...something. Instead, it was the opposite. He just felt empty.

What would he do now? The lab had always been part of his life. For almost all of his life, they had complete control over every part of his existence. They gave him his name, his powers, his identity. Oswald Campbell was nothing if not Hawkins Laboratory's greatest creation. Even for the one year, he was "free", he truly wasn't.

Except...now he was. Shouldn't he be happy? Shouldn't he just move on? Why was he standing in the middle of Hawkins National Laboratory, waiting for something to happen?

A beam of light cut through the shadow, aimed at the back of Campbell's head. He turned to find Loomis stood in the doorway, flashlight in hand. He offered a sheepish wave. Campbell let out a sigh.

"Anne said you were here. She's worried about you," Loomis explained. He approached, coming to a stop by Campbell's side. "You've got a good kid, you know."

"I know." A slight smile crept across Campbell's face.

"What are you doing here, anyway? Not to judge, but this place gives me the creeps and I wasn't even...well..you know," Loomis's voice petered off.

Campbell considered the question. What was he doing here? What did he think he would gain?

The empty lab seemed to grow and shrink at once, both claustrophobic and dwarfing at once. Why was he here? There had been so many other children — ten of them. Many of them had died, purged by the laboratory when they no longer held use to them. A few had escaped — far fewer than acceptable and one driven into insanity before it happened. Just a kid...

So...why was he here? Why not them? All he'd done was lie and cheat and say what father wanted to hear. What part of that meant he deserved to escape? Deserved a life? What they — innocent children — do that they didn't deserve that? They had families. He knew they had families. It was all in the notes. Mother and father, brothers and is sister, all waiting and wondering if they would ever return. He didn't...why didn't...