Control

xiv | aidan

TYSON STOOD AT THE FRONT, LOOKING HELPLESS. His father was just shot in the chest in front of him, and he couldn't stop the girl right next to him. Taylor covered the eyes of her little brother, preventing him from seeing the bloody sight in front of him, though she was moments away from breaking down herself. Jessica walked next to her and the princess sobbed into her shoulder. Hayden started to walk closer to the dying body.

"No, kid, stay here. You don't want to get too close." I held the boy back, putting my hands on his shoulder.

The hardest thing to watch was Lauren's own dad, hunched over the dying king, trying to hold back tears. His jaw hung open as he stared at the body in complete silence. Finally, he managed to move. Two fingers were pressed onto the King's neck and a long silence came from... everywhere.

I could see his eyes water. He shook his head.

There was no pulse.

Silence remained in the air for longer than it should. People took off hats and bowed in respect of the King. Lauren didn't do anything, just watched, which I found odd.

"Get up, daddy," I could here her say after. She had the mic turned off, so no one else could here anything. "Get up, daddy. You're embarrassing me."

Tyson finally got to his senses and walked away towards us. Taylor immediately pulled away from Jessica and buried herself into Tyson's arms. Tears from her started to flow harder and Tyson joined in, tears slowly dripping down his face. Hayden pulled away from me and joined his siblings.

It was the second tragedy they had to face involving death in their family.

At the same time, I was shoved. I crashed into Jessica, who ended up startled. Once I regained balance, my focus turned back to the front. Spencer stormed up beside his sister and yanked the gun out of her possession. He put it right against her chest.

"You have no right of calling him your father, you little-"

"I dare you to shoot me, Spencer," She said calmly. "I actually dare you."

"You freaking killed the King of our country. You think you have all the power in the world-"

"Shoot me, Spencer. I dare you to shoot me."

Nothing. Complete and utter silence.

"You aren't gonna shoot, are you?" Lauren said with a smirk on her face. "I know you aren't going to shoot. What are you trying to prove, Spencer?"

He lowered the gun and held it by his side. Spencer would never hurt her. Not in a million years. Anyone who knows him knows that. It's a weakness in this that we have in common.

"Grab her. Auston and Julianna, too," Tyson told the guards next to him. "Tell the others to scout the forest. Get to the Institute. Stop it. Shut it down. I don't really care what happens to it - it just needs to stop."

"There's more than one Institute, Tyson," I tell him.

"At least we can stop it here."

"What about the kids?" I asked him.

"The kids? The ones that were taken?"

"Yeah," I said. "Them. The ones that are going through a process that took my years to finally finish. You can't just stop the experiment with them undergoing it. They might... they might die."

Lauren seemed to be paying attention to us. The siblings didn't move from their spot in the center, with everyone's eyes on them, but her gaze was focused on us, not her brother. She glanced behind her and shouted "run" to her mother. She grabbed Alyssa's dad and ran.