The Awakening

by Kurt Petrey

  No one questioned the fact that Chloe had just said, “someone”.

  A moment later, Ryan returned with the cable and gun and handed them to Chloe. She pulled a knife from her pocket then started working on the cables under the floor.

  “Do you ever wonder why there are no exits?” Cade asked. Joshua glanced at him, thrown off by the blunt question, but Cade continued. “There aren’t any doors on the perimeter. In fact, there are no doors at all.”

  “We haven't been through the entire facility yet,” Joshua reasoned. “We’ll find an exit. There has to be one, right?”

  The room was silent but for Chloe's snipping and banging, but Joshua was sure everyone could hear the sudden frantic beat of his heart. There had to be a way out of this place. We could just start digging through the stone, he thought desperately, though he knew the idea was ridiculous. How long would an endeavor like that take? The food wouldn't last forever—and if more people woke up, it would disappear even more quickly. Why was this happening? Why would someone put them all in here then keep them trapped? Was it some twisted way of committing mass murder? Trapped. No exit. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his palms were slick. He had the sudden desire to escape, to run. To search for a way out.

  Chloe’s cheerful voice brought him back from what was quickly escalating into a full out panic attack. “All done!” she chirped. “Now let’s see what this big guy can do.”

  She stood up and walked to the center, back to the unpowered device. After poking at a few things, she connected the data cable from one point to another then reached down and pressed a few buttons. The entire device turned on. She stepped back and watched in amazement with the rest of them as the layers of glass came alive, shimmering with lights. Joshua could hear air being pushed through it all.

  Chloe leaned towards Ryan. “Can you work on getting power to the rest of this room?”

  Ryan nodded and started looking around.

  Joshua walked up to Chloe, and they both watched the sparkling device. “How is it that you know how to do all this stuff?” he asked.

  “You don’t know how?” Chloe asked, sounding genuinely surprised.

  Joshua shook his head.

  "Huh,” she said as she left to help Ryan. “That's strange."

  Chapter 15

  Ashley

  Most of those who didn't have access to beyond the immediate area were sitting around the meeting hall, talking and worrying as usual. But lately Ashley sensed a different energy around them. Maybe even a sense of hope—and that worried her. Richard had chosen to manipulate the updates, making everything seem better than it actually was, and that meant if their sense of optimism wasn't handled properly, it could backfire. What he should have been doing was giving them purpose. Assigning them tasks. She wanted so badly to find a way for them to contribute, knowing that getting them focused on surviving would help the group both overall and individually. To her, a clear division was forming between the people, and she wondered if she could do anything to help bring them together.

  She walked through the meeting hall and sat next to a few girls who were talking, hoping to gain some insight into what they were thinking. The women didn't seem to notice her there, or if they did, they didn't object. Their conversation continued uninterrupted.

  One of the women said softly, “Michael was telling a few of the guys that they think they can find a way out. They say we can’t trust Richard or Ian, and Cade has no clue what’s going on.”

  Ashley knew Michael well. Just hearing his name was upsetting. He had caused nothing but trouble since he'd woken up.

  “What do you mean they think they can find a way out?” Ashley demanded. “That's absolutely not true. They can’t even leave the area without alarms going off, and I’ve seen through those doors. Michael's wrong.”

  The woman shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s just what I heard him say. He thinks he knows a way out.”

  Could it be true? Could he have discovered something no one else had found? She needed to speak with Michael, see what was up. If there was any basis to this, she'd have to see if he would be willing to talk to someone about what he was discovering. No matter how angry and disruptive he was, if he knew something that might help, he needed to be given the opportunity.

  He likely wouldn’t share what he knew with her, though. He viewed her as one of the people on the “other side”. The ones who had access. He'd had access at one time, but his status had been revoked after he and Ian had gotten into a fight. After that, Ashley had heard him say that he thought Cade had something to do with blocking him, saying Cade knew how to deny people’s access to parts of the building that could help them. He said Cade was keeping them locked in, and he knew more than he was telling.

  All indications suggested that Michael was the type who would want to take things into his own hands. He was a problem waiting to happen, but she didn’t know exactly how to handle him. She decided to talk to Richard about the problem. She wanted to try to work with him to neutralize the situation before it turned into something unmanageable.

  When she walked into his room, Richard was at his desk with the door open.

  “Can I come in?” Ashley asked.

  Richard waved her in, his eyes on the screen in front of him, his hand on the sphere. “Did you know Cade found a strange new device?” His voice was hushed with excitement. “It looks like it could be the key to figuring all this out.”

  Ashley blinked, completely surprised. “No, I didn’t know that. What did they find?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, “but it looks important. Look.”

  Ashley stepped up to his screen to watch the video feed on his display, surprised to discover he had access like this. She couldn't help wondering what other feeds he was monitoring. On the screen she saw Joshua standing next to Cade, and both men were watching Chloe work on an unfamiliar device. The thing was giving off a mostly blue hue, but other colors flashed on it as well. To Ashley, it didn't look more important than any other device, but she didn't mention that.

  “Did you go check it out yet? What do they think it will tell us?” Ashley asked.

  Richard wasn't even blinking. “No, but I am certain it will tell us exactly how to get out of this place. That has got to be it and just in time. They need something to focus on.”

  She frowned at him, concerned. The video stream showed most of the room, and the device appeared to be the only thing there, so it was safe to assume it had some important role to play in the facility. Beyond that, there is no way Richard could know what information it might provide. From what she could see, there was no direct evidence to suggest this device would benefit them at all, let alone be the key to their existence. It could just as easily be the waste management system—which would be nice—but it certainly wouldn’t help them get out. Was Richard basing all his excitement on the video stream? If so, then he was more out of touch than she'd thought.

  “Yes,” he muttered to himself. “It has to be the way out of here.”

  More than ever, Ashley needed to talk Richard into allowing a smooth transition of position from him to Joshua, but that wouldn't be easy. From what she'd learned from Richard over the past few days, he would never stop acting like he was the leader. The problem was, the attitude of the entire group was being led in the wrong direction—even if it seemed positive at the surface level—and she needed to find a way to prove that, if it wasn't too late already. Richard didn’t understand at all the harm he was doing. She had to choose her words carefully.

  “You've been doing a good job here, Richard, and I can feel that we are getting close to learning more about what’s going on, but we need to keep things in the proper perspective. Please don't tell the group anything until after you know for sure what that device is.”

  Richard flashed the smile she had grown to know well. It was the smile of a martyr, a smile that said if only you carried the weight of all this stress you would understand. “Things are looking up,” he
said, getting to his feet. His eyes sparkled, bright with a kind of feverish excitement. “We’ve stopped the immediate dangers, and we just found a device that will tell us everything we need to know. It's up to me to let them all know the great news.”

  She obviously wasn’t making any progress here. They walked together to the meeting hall. Once there she glanced around for Michael. Fortunately he was no where to be seen. If he missed Richard's impending announcement, that might delay the eventual confrontation she knew was coming. In the meantime, maybe the others would discover something that truly would give everyone something to look forward to.

  As usual, the group in the meeting hall was loud, and people kept asking the same questions.

  One guy stood up, his face tight with anger and frustration. “Let’s dispense with the words and go straight to what we all want to know. What are they doing to find a way out of this place?”

  Richard moved to the front of the room, still wearing that annoying smile that looked both confident and a little…off or maybe more fake which was worst. “I've called this meeting for a specific reason,” he said, looking around. “Some of you may have already heard that we recently identified an immediate threat to our lives, and through working together we were able to resolve that issue. With that out of the way, we are now able to investigate farther into the facility, and—”

  'Enough with the meaningless words!” a man shouted over the murmuring crowd. “Tell us the truth! Do you know a way out or not?”

  This was usually the point where Richard lowered his head and looked self conscious, hoping they'd stop asking impossible questions. Instead, today his head was high, and his chest out.

  “I assure you that everything that can be done is being done. I can now tell you all that we have found a crucial lead to learning why we are in this particular set of circumstances, and you can be confident that nothing is being overlooked.”

  The man threw up his hands then turned and left the room. “This is useless.”

  On the way out, he passed Michael, who was just arriving. Michael made everyone around him feel inferior, and he always seemed angry. That anger was the reason no one wanted to work with him—except for the other men like him. She'd identified a half dozen other men who were dealing with the same psychological challenges Michael displayed. Not for the first time, she wondered if the system could be giving them something in their sleep. She reminded herself to look into that possibility when she had time.

  Richard was still talking to the group, making promises about how all the problems would soon be resolved, when Michael walked up to him. He stood very close to Richard then leaned in and spoke softly—almost too softly for her to hear.

  “They say Cade knows what's going on, Richard. They say you know more than you're telling us. Tell me what’s going on, or I’m going to beat it out of you.”

  This was not going well. A couple of large men had positioned themselves behind Richard, and when Michael stepped closer, Richard stepped back into one of the guys—who then pushed him back towards Michael.

  “Hey, stop that!” A voice said from behind Ashley.

  Michael turned and surveyed the crowd, eyes narrowed. “Tell me. What has he or any of them—” he said, pointing towards the locked doors “—done to get us out of here? We've been forced to rely on them, because for some arbitrary reason they gained access to those levels while we didn't.”

  Ashley crossed her arms, disgusted. The man lied. Everyone knew he'd had access at first then lost it.

  A man slightly smaller than Michael and topped with bright red hair stepped forward. “We don’t know why they have access and we were denied. The only thing certain is that we're all trapped here.” He helped Richard step out of Michael's way. “They haven’t given us reason to think that they are not trying their best, though.” He placed one hand on Michael's shoulder. “The thing is, we all want to help. We all feel helpless, but getting angry and shoving him around is not the right way to handle this.”

  Michael’s expression was cold and calculated. With no warning, he punched the man hard then pushed him into the people, sending the crowd into a fury.

  Feeling totally helpless, Ashley stepped back, away from the crowd so she wouldn't be pulled in. This was the tipping point, exactly what she'd feared would happen, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She needed to get help. She needed Joshua. When she looked back to Richard, she saw Michael had pushed him against the wall and lifted him off his feet. He was shouting at Richard, who looked absolutely terrified. Richard's eyes were shut tight, his face full of fear. He held his hands up, trying to block Michael, but he was weak and useless against Michael's bulky size.

  “Where is Cade?” Michael bellowed.

  Richard pointed to the door to their left, and Ashley's mouth dropped open. He'd sent them the wrong way! In one quick motion, Michael grabbed Richard's wrist, twisted it, then sent him hurtling towards the door. Before Richard could regain his balance, Michael grabbed his hand and placed it firmly on the sphere. The door slid open, but as soon as they stepped through, the alarms went off throughout the meeting hall.

  “Unauthorized Personnel! Unauthorized Personnel!” a voice announced.

  A woman screamed, snapping Ashley back to the moment, staring in horror. Two men had just stepped back to avoid a fight that had broken out between two women, who had tumbled to the floor and were rolling over each other, punching and scratching. The two men managed to pull them apart, but as soon as they were freed, they attacked each other again.

  One man turned to Ashley. “What are we going to do?”

  Ashley didn't know what to say, but she did know what to do. “Follow me.”

  She had to warn the others about what was happening. It was only a matter of time before Michael realized Richard had lied to him. At least Richard had bought her a little of that time.

  Chapter 16

  Joshua

  “Okay, the device is now connected, and power is running to the room. Everything should be working properly,” Ryan said.

  The air was electric with a level of excitement Joshua had not experienced since he'd awoken. For the first time, it actually felt like they might find a way out of this place. They might just survive. Chloe stood in front of the large display and tapped a few screens, then stopped.

  Joshua looked up at the screen, which read Activate Legacy. “What does that mean?”

  Chloe looked to Joshua, then she looked decisively back at the screen and tapped the button. All the screens and lights in the room went dark, except for the small lights at the doorway and along the floor panels near the walls. It was almost impossible to see. Then the lights flicked back on, and all screens simultaneously read Now Loading.

  Chloe stood and faced the group. “I think Legacy might be the system which manages the facility. Something might have happened to cause it to go into a dormant stage, which is the reason nothing seemed to be functional.”

  “That makes some sense,” Cade said, leaning against the wall. “If this system is managing everything, it might be able to tell us how or why the power was cut off from it but if that’s true then what’s been giving us access to various levels of the system that was operating?” The question was left unanswered.

  He walked over to a display and swiped at the screen, replacing the Now Loading screen with a new one. He selected a Show Details section, which revealed some code. He then moved to a larger display overhead and pushed his handheld display into an available slot. Without a word, he tapped through a few options and stopped at a code that looked identical to the one on the other display.

  Joshua stepped closer to get a better look. He could see they looked similar, but something was different, though he couldn't say what. “What are we looking at?”

  Cade glared at him, annoyed, and Joshua started to understand why Ian didn't like Cade. From what Joshua could see, Cade was an obnoxious person with little to no redeeming qualities.

  “There se
ems to be two distinct languages here,” Cade said, studying the code. “Two distinct command line structures as well. They are so deeply integrated it is almost impossible to see a clear separation.”

  Chloe walked up to the display. “Two languages?”

  The rest of the screens still read Now Loading, the words dimming then brightening every few seconds as the system worked. Chloe reached towards a nearby display and started looking through the code, comparing it to what Cade was showing.

  “There is a definite difference here,” she said, “but why would it be so different?”

  Joshua was getting even more confused. “Is that really so important? So what if the code is different?”

  “You don’t understand,” Chloe said patiently. She was no longer smiling. “It looks like the code coming from Legacy does not contain any of the secondary language. This means that if Legacy is the system that manages everything, and the code being loaded is clearly different what’s been running, then at some point the code was changed. After that point, everything crashed, which caused our current set of circumstances. If all we're seeing is true, there's one thing that seems to be clear. Someone altered the code.”

  More proof that someone else was behind all this. Of course someone was behind this. Someone had to have built the facility and put them here but who and why. It was annoying to be faced with such hard to answer questions.

  Chloe continued, “Legacy’s code will help us begin to understand the secondary code. That should tell us more about what it's trying to do, and why it is there.” She took a deep, shaky breath, looking concerned. “Hopefully, enabling Legacy will not make things worse.”

  “Okay,” he replied. “Well, we'll just have to deal with whatever happens when Legacy finishes turning on.”