Free The Trial (The Tree House) by Shay Lynam Page B

seems Eli has branches of his company all over the world. According to Allison–” David made a sad noise at the sound of her name, “–he was doing trials, like the ones we were a part of, in all his facilities.”
    “What are you saying?” I asked sticking the tip of a fry in my mouth and biting it off.
    Sy picked the letter up off the table and stuffed it and the envelope into his coat. Then he leaned in close. “David and I are the only two left from the first trial.”
    Ben and I leaned in too. “What happened to the others?” he asked , though both of us knew the answer even as the words left his mouth.
    Sy went on to tell us about everything that had happened leading up to David finding us at Aly's apartment. Apparently that had been pure coincidence. Aly had been staying in constant contact with David so he and Sy had found out about Eli's plan even before any of the other patients knew the chip was causing them to die off. She'd also apparently known that Ben wasn't just killing random people for some unknown mob man. He was actually covering Eli's tracks and making fellow patients disappear before anyone could find out about the screw up and file any lawsuits.
    “There were a hundred in the trial in London too, right?” I asked Sy then turned to Ben. “How many did you kill?”
    My brother just sat there, his face as white as his hair, his mouth open like his lungs had closed up and he was trying to force air back into his tightening throat.
    “Ben?”
    “All of them,” he whispered at last, his words barely a breath.
     
    We all sat in silence for a while after that. I picked up my burger and brought it to my mouth but when I went to try and bite into it, it grew heavy in my hands and my stomach twisted painfully. My brother didn't move for a while. He just sat there with his mouth set in a solemn straight line, his eyes down and shoulders sagging like they were weighed down with guilt. To think he'd killed a hundred people just like us. Confused, scared, innocent people.
    David had his head in his hands, surely thinking about Aly and what could have happened to her. She had mentioned the night before that getting caught doing whatever she was doing could get her killed. Maybe that's what happened. I looked up at Sy and David. Maybe these two knew.
    “So,” I started, causing everyone to jump a bit. “Did Aly do what she needed to do? Are Ben and I safe now?”
    The two of them shared a look. “For now,” Sy said clasping his hands together. “Aly sent us a list of all the patients, though the two of you and twenty three others were no longer on it.”
    “So her plan was successful,” I said. It was finally over. “We're safe then,” I turned to Ben. “We can go home.” He didn't seem to hear me, or if he did he was still too wrapped up in his own mind to react.
    “Not quite, Jack,” Sy said causing me to look at him again.
    I stared for a second. “Why not?”
    “We need your help.”
    I felt my shoulders sag. So this wasn't over then. “Well, what can the two of us do?”
    A couple entered the room and took a seat at a booth across the room. Sy leaned in and so did I. “We still need to find the other ninety eight patients.”
    “Seventy five,” Ben said from beside me. The three of us looked at him, waiting for him to explain.  “If twenty five of us are off the list, there’s no reason to waste our time finding the other twenty three. They’re safe for now.”
    I turned back to Sy. “So, you want us to find them?” I asked him.
    “The two of us can’t be running around searching for these kids,” he explained. “They’re still looking for us. No one will be after you though, especially with your information wiped out of the system.”
    “But Ben was a hit man in London,” I said catching my brother tense up from the reminder, out of the corner of my eye.
    Sy shook his head. “Aly wiped out every trace of you two. For all they know, you guys are dead.”
    I looked