by Auri Blest
There stood the Madam herself, Director of the North American branch of the International Military Order or the IMO as it is abbreviated. The Director grabbed the chair of the lieutenant to keep from stumbling as she stepped back away from Dawn.
Cain gasped, “What the— Are we in the Matrix?”
“This is not a movie,” the Director scolded, eyes fixed on Dawn.
“Yes, they are your creation.” Dawn continued as she stepped in front of them. “You unleashed the virus that mutated into a demonic force. Your creation!”
9
Unlike the rest of those descending the stairs from the roof, Jade did a good job of restraining her sniffles. It was the unknown that caused so much concern. Seth was worried about Dawn also but he had to keep everyone from panicking. They had to focus on the task at hand: Protocol II.
Protocol II was a clear set of evacuation procedures established to get everyone out of the building as quickly as possible, without accident or incident. The evacuation route was only known by the Stabilizer team which Seth led.
Seth stopped those that were heading down to the landing. “We will not hang our heads in sorrow. Everyone has to be strong right now.” He thought about Dawn’s gesture and yelled, “Protocol II! Jade, you know what to do!”
Jade wiped a tear from her eye and nodded, “Yes, get everyone down to level three.”
If Dawn had a best friend, it was Jade. Although everyone loved Dawn, Seth knew how much harder this had to be for Jade. The bond that he saw between them led him to ask her how she had met Dawn. She was on kitchen detail that week and had just finished washing dishes. She stopped what she was doing and leaned against the sink. Seth knew that Jade didn’t like discussing the past. She didn’t give details, but she did give an answer.
“She saved me.”
“From them?”
“No, from myself. I was self-destructing long before I knew who they were. After the day of awakening, she didn’t forget about me. She came back for me. I wouldn’t be alive now.”
“She came back? That means you knew her before the transformation?”
“Yes.”
Jade turned back towards the sink. Seth waited hoping that she would tell him the full story, but she didn’t say anything further. He really wanted to know who Dawn used to be.
Seth looked back at the guy behind him, “Juan, get to each level and—”
They had gotten down to the next floor, but something wasn’t right. He felt a breeze. Seth walked down the hall, rounded the corner and backed up, startled. When he stepped back, he almost tripped over Juan. He didn’t know that Juan had followed him. As he held his arm out to keep Juan from walking any further forward, they saw that half of the building was gone for several floors. His mind raced as he wondered how many were alive or trapped in the rubble below.
Seth turned back, “Third level now!” For all that he knew, the building could collapse at any minute. “Juan follow me!”
Seth and Juan went room to room, floor to floor, looking for survivors. During this time of day, most of the children would have been on the first of the five floors they occupied. They found Nguyen with his brother, Quan, who had been teaching Judo. Most of the children were with them. They were covered in dust and had just tunneled their way under some beams and debris to get to the back stairs.
“Juan, help them get the kids to the third level. I’ll continue on,” said Seth.
As Seth rounded the corner he heard someone yell out. Crystal was in a room where the back wall had been blown away and the floor had half collapsed. Her end would drop off any minute. One of the children, Stephen, huddled beside her. He had run to the room when he heard the first explosion and Crystal had gone in after him.
“Hold on!” Seth yelled.
He ran back with rope and threw it toward Crystal. The floor was starting to give. “Grab the rope! Hurry!”
The whole floor began to shift. Seth had tied one end of the rope to a pipe in the hallway. He stepped onto the floor and carefully made his way toward Crystal. The floor was now almost at a forty-five-degree angle.
Seth reached his hand out. “Come to me, Crystal.”
Crystal didn’t move. There was no way that Seth could carry both Stephen and her out before the floor collapsed.
“Take Stephen,” Crystal yelled. The floor began to pop. The whole thing was going to go.
“Crystal, please!”
“Take Stephen,” she yelled again. She used all of her strength to pick Stephen up and push him towards Seth.
There was no use arguing with her. There was no time. Seth reached for Stephen and pulled him up.
“Put your arms around my neck,” he instructed Stephen.
Seth pulled on the rope and climbed up as if he were climbing a mountain. He set Stephen down at the top.
“Please help Ms. Crystal,” Stephen cried.
Seth lowered himself back down. “Come on, Crystal!”
“You can’t carry me Seth. It’s okay dear, really. I’m ready.”
“CRYSTAL!” Seth yelled.
The building rumbled as the room started to break apart. Just as the floor gave way, Crystal jumped and grabbed Seth. He yelled out in pain as she wrapped her arms around his chest. She wasn’t overweight by any means, but the extra weight caused them to slide down as threads of the rope tore into his hands.
“Seth, this won’t work. I’m going to let go.”
Crystal began to release Seth so that she would fall and he could pull himself up, but Seth wrapped his legs around her.
“No, you don’t. If you go, we go!”
As the room began to crumble, Seth yelled out in pain and held on to the rope. He was drenched in sweat, and his hands were beet-red and burning. As brave as he had just been, he was fighting not to lose hope.
“God please,” he whispered.
Straightaway they began to rise. Seth looked up to find that Darryl was pulling them up. Darryl was six-feet-two and two-hundred-sixty pounds of solid muscle. Seth held on with all his might. Nguyen and Juan ran up behind Darryl and grabbed hold of the rope.
As they got close to the top Seth yelled, “Grab Crystal!”
Darryl braced himself by putting a foot on each side of the doorway, but Crystal was hanging too far below Seth for Nguyen to reach her.
“I can’t hold her much longer,” Seth yelled. “Crystal, you’ve got to let go of me and grab the rope!” Seth still had his legs around her but his strength was just about depleted.
The guys at the top devised a plan. Juan and Nguyen grabbed the rope from Darryl and Darryl reached down, grabbed Seth, and pulled him up onto the floor. Crystal screamed as Seth’s legs released her.
“Don’t look down,” Seth yelled.
Crystal hung from the rope. She tried to wrap her leg around the rope like she had seen done before but she was unsuccessful. Then, she made the mistake of looking down and screamed out.
“Pull her up quick,” Seth yelled.
Juan and Nguyen pulled the rope up, and Darryl reached over and pulled her in at the top. They all fell back in exhaustion, gasping for air.
“Thank you,” Seth whispered.
Everyone looked over at Seth as he began to laugh to himself. He then glanced at Crystal with a serious look on his face.
“Why the heck did you grab onto me like that? I thought you said you were ready to go? I should push you over the edge,” he said as he stood on his feet.
Crystal’s eyes followed him. “So not funny right now,” she said.
Seth leaned down and kissed her on the forehead. “Are you okay to keep moving, old woman?”
“This ‘old woman’ is okay enough to whoop your behind,” she replied as she rose and braced herself against the wall.
Stephen grabbed her hand.
“Good, come on,” Seth replied.
Darryl laughed. “Seth, you almost got a left hook to the jaw.”
10
“Jade! Where’s Jade?!” Seth deman
ded as they ran toward the group waiting on the third level at the entrance to the skywalk.
“Here,” Jade exclaimed. She ran down the hall toward them with a black duffel bag over each shoulder. She eyed Seth’s hands, not understanding why he had strips of cloth around his palms.
“I had to go back and get some things. We are not going through that door unarmed. We are not Dawn.”
She dropped the two duffel bags on the ground and unzipped them to reveal guns, ammo, flashlights and other items. Stephen stepped forward and peered into the bag, fascinated by the sight of guns. He knew that they had them, but children were never allowed in the weapons room.
“Back up Stephen,” Jade scolded. He backed away to where the rest of the children were huddled.
Juan grabbed one of the bags from her which was quite heavy. “Okay, Hulk.”
Jade smiled and nudged him.
Seth walked over to the entrance of the skywalk. He approached the children. “I need you guys to remember what you learned in your emergency escape training.” He paused. “Where’s the new one that joined us?”
I turned around. Stephen was pointing at me, so I raised my hand.
“It’s Hannah,” Jade said and winked at me as she knelt, assembling a rifle.
“Hannah, I want you to do whatever you see the other kids doing, okay?”
I nodded.
Crystal leaned forward and whispered to the children, “It will be just like the drills we practiced. Okay?”
Seth motioned for Crystal to move next to me. He could tell that the children didn’t understand what was going on. He was relieved that we seemed more curious than frightened.
Seth searched the faces of the adults and sighed. I’m no good at this, but I need to say something. He looked into Crystal’s eyes, “You know what’s more powerful than fear? Courage.” She nodded in agreement. He looks so much like his dad right now, she thought
“Courage is not the absence of fear but the ability to overcome fear to face any difficulty or danger that exists. Do you know how powerful that is? Dawn has been an example of that for us. We must have that same courage right now to protect each other.” He pointed at the door. “Whatever is on the other side of that door doesn’t matter. We’ve trained for this and we are well able to defeat any enemy.” He looked at each of them. “Don’t allow your faith to fail.”
Their confidence rose. Seth exuded strength, and his strength made them stronger. He turned to the door and dismantled the alarm. Darryl stepped forward. He had already been working behind Seth, disabling a device that was wired to detonate if the door opened.
Before they removed the barricade, Seth turned back, held a finger to his lips and then put his fist in the air.
It was like watching a sequenced dance. In three steps, the adults surrounded the children who lined up in three rows in the center. The adults had formed a protection barrier around the children. Jade had given each adult that didn’t already have one, some form of pistol or rifle and each of them held the weapon down at their side.
Darryl and Seth removed the barricade, unlocked the double doors and pushed them open. Without looking back, Seth lifted his arm and made a V with his fingers. The children locked arms and the adults pressed in closer.
It was dark in the skywalk. Those in front had flashlights. We didn’t make a sound as we followed Seth to the attached building. The end of the skywalk opened to what may have once been a lounge area.
Seth motioned for us to turn left toward the stairs that would lead down to the entrance of the building. All the adults held a gun pointed out of the circle in every direction around the group. At the stairs, Seth halted everyone as he watched beams below swaying back and forth from flashlights or some other light source.
11
General Cain never ran from anything before in his life, but this was a fight that he was not prepared for. He grabbed the Directors arm and ran out of the room yelling to the guards behind him, “Fire at will!”
The soldiers drew their M-9 pistols and entered the room. Their quick-fire point shooting was no match for her speed. Dawn had vanished. The only inhabitants were the two lieutenants that had been sitting in front of computer screens and the two soldiers that were standing against the back wall with pistols drawn. They looked at each other. The lieutenant that had been working to decipher her words from the interrogation room looked around dumbfounded. “What just happened?”
General Cain and the Director turned down two corridors before they came to a stop. They had not heard gunfire, nor had an alarm gone off. The Director touched her ear piece and asked, “Where is she?”
A voice answered. “There are no signs of her.”
She turned to Cain. “Lockdown the base. No one in or out. Scan the building. Find her.”
“And what are we supposed to do when we find her?” demanded Cain.
“You were successful in catching her once!”
“Did we? It seems to me that a woman that can walk through walls wouldn’t get caught unless she wanted to get caught.”
The Director paused in thought, but did not respond. Her ego would not allow her to think that anyone could outsmart her.
Impatient, she again touched her ear piece, “Have you found her yet?”
“We have picked up a form of energy moving through the facility.”
“Energy?”
“Yes.”
“Not a physical body, but energy?”
“Yes, that is correct, Director.”
“Well, where is this energy now?”
“…In your office, Director.”
At the stairwell, Hannah pulled back. The whole scene was too familiar. A memory began to surface that frightened her. Crystal, sensing that something was wrong, pulled Hannah close to her. Seth placed a light on his face and held a finger up to his lips which meant to remain silent. They began to descend the stairs. As they looked down from the second level, the shadow of a person ran by.
Seth thought about stopping on the second floor, but he didn’t want to end up trapped. If they made it to the ground level, they all might have a chance at making it out alive. He pressed on. They would have to deal with whatever they found on the ground level. They still had no idea if there was even a threat waiting for them.
Seth looked back at Crystal. She was tough, but she was one of the oldest among them. He wondered if the whole ordeal was too much for her. He remembered a conversation they had once. She had been trying to explain what it’s like to age.
“You look older, and you can no longer do all of the things that you used to do, but inside you feel like you are still twenty, or thirty something years old. Then, you go to the beach, or somewhere where there are young adults, and it just hits you like a sack of rocks-you’re getting old. You’re not the most attractive one in the room anymore; no one notices you at all,” her voice trailed off.
“You become invisible,” Seth had responded.
“Exactly. You’re invisible to society. They don’t even market to your age group unless it’s for medications,” she laughed.
She had seemed kind of sad as she let Seth into this intimate part of her world. He saw their elders in a whole new light after that and made a mental note to be a little more sensitive in the way he dealt with them.
He motioned to Crystal. but she was focused on the children.
“Crystal,” he whispered. “Crystal,” he whispered, louder.
Gina heard him and reached over, tapped Crystal’s arm and pointed toward Seth.
Seth half whispered, half mouthed to her, “Are you okay?”
Crystal nodded and smiled a nervous grin.
That was enough for him. He motioned, and they continued down the stairs.
At the bottom, there was no wall separating the stairwell from the rest of the building. The landing was open to an expansive area that had at one time been a lobby. The front door of the building was about one hundred feet away but something seemed to be in front it.
As Seth’s eyes adjusted to the dark area, they came into focus. Bodies had been lined up in front of the entrance. They began moving forward, away from the doors. Without hesitation, Seth held up his fist and then two fingers that he turned once to the left and once to the right.
The circle was formed again but this time the children knelt on their heels with their heads up, ready for the next instruction. Crystal turned to look at Hannah. Stephen, next to her, had grabbed her hand showing her what to do and did not let go.
They came into view, IMO soldiers with guns pointed at them. Seth’s arm went up again. A row of adults dropped down to knee level with a row of adults still standing behind them, making a double circle around the children. Their weapons were pointed out in every direction around the circle.
Crystal watched Hannah. She had let go of Steven’s hand and grimaced, covering her ears. Can’t they hear them? Hannah thought. She looked around but no one else seemed to be paying any attention. The sound was getting louder. She began to pant and rocked back and forth as panic overtook her.
Crystal placed an arm around Hannah to calm her. Before either side could open fire, the windows at the front of the building exploded sending glass shards in every direction. THEY were here.
Seth didn’t waste a second. He motioned and every male picked up a child. Jade picked Hannah up and she wrapped her arms around Jade’s neck as everyone ran off to the left of the stairwell towards a back door. They kept moving and didn’t stop.
Once out the back door, just as Seth was about to place a rifle in the door to jam it, an IMO soldier barreled through. Darryl raised a rifle to his face. The soldier, trying to catch his breath, raised his hands in surrender and collapsed on the wall. “Did you see that? Wha—What was that?” he stuttered.
Darryl grabbed him by the collar and urged him on. “Keep moving.”
“You got this, man?” asked Darryl.
“Yeah, get out of here,” Seth replied.
They sprinted out of the building and down the alley with the others. There, a Stabilizer unlocked the back door to the building behind them and they ventured through to the other side.