by Noah Porter
We spread out, feeling along the sides of the warehouse before realizing it was futile, grabbing one of our precious grenades, and setting it off by a spot Lily swears has got to be the correct one.
The door blasts open, and when the smoke clears from the air, we walk in with our guns at the ready. It holds billions upon billions of chairs, all with monitors beside them, and a giant projector near a plasma screen. I carefully examine the chairs, but the only thing noteworthy about them is that there appears to be broken restraining belts attached to each one of them. The monitors beside them are blank and broken too, or I’d fire them up.
However, the projector isn’t broken, and the four of us all walk up to it. More accurately, I walk up to it, and the other three are more focused on the plasma screen. I see the strange insignia on the projector again, and when Lily’s hand brushes against the plasma screen, the projector fires up and a video begins playing.
The four of us wordlessly watch, stunned, as a woman comes onto the screen, looking directly at the camera with a completely blank expression plastered on her face. This gives me the illusion she’s looking directly at me.. Then she begins to talk.
“Hello. My name is Penelope Whitman. I am the director of operation DEK. If you are hearing this, it is because something has gone horribly wrong with our experiment and I am, most likely, not alive anymore. There is a paper hidden in a warehouse in Perlin City that I would like for you to get to the government capitol if at all possible. It could contain the-”
She stops talking, and I can tell from the guilty look on her face that she almost gave away something.
“Our experiment involves super-human abilities; however, we are having a few difficulties currently, and would like for others to continue our work if something happened.”
A sudden urgency comes into her voice.
“Now go, because if something’s wrong with our experiment, you are in danger if you are within even one hundred miles of here. Remember your new mission.”
The monitor shut itself off, and we quickly vacate the building as instructed, each mulling over what she said in our own thoughts.
I panic when I realize that the sun has begun to sneak down on us like it did when Zentyn. But it’s too late; swarms of zombies are all around us, hundreds of thousands, three times as many there were in Zentyn.
We try to steel ourselves, but I can tell that the line of zombies continue as far as I can see and realize it’s futile to fight. I fight like a whirlwind, and by the brief glances I catch of my friends, we all seem to be holding our own. That’s until thirty target each of us at once, jumping on us and clawing at us like crazy. Ten of them are pulling on my legs, trying to make me fall, and the remaining twenty are clubbing at my head with blunt metal tools to try to either knock me unconscious or kill me.
I see Lily and Aria fighting back to back but struggling to stop the zombies, and Ben’s about to disappear under a wave of zombies. I gasp as everything disappears and I’m covered in darkness, with weapons hitting all over me and confusion all around of me.
Suddenly there’s a loud burst of what I know, even in my half-smothered state, to be machine gun fire.
There’s a sudden din, made of gunshots and grenades, and I vaguely wonder how Ben and everyone grabbed grenades, as we only took two with us. A zombie begins throttling me around the neck, and I stop focusing on anything at all but breathing. The zombie squeezes harder and harder and I reel from lack of air, trying with every ounce of strength left in my body to knock it off.
Darkness begins appearing in front of my eyes when my supply of air runs dangerously low, and I gasp for more air.
The darkness threatens to take over me, and I shut my eyes tightly. There are more shouts and gunshots ringing through my darkness, and the zombie lets go the next second.
I know only that I’m mercifully, wonderfully free, but my throat makes a bizarre sound as I take my first breath in forever. I see strange men running all around me, staving off the zombies, and then Ben and Lily and Aria running towards me.
I try to stand up, but there’s a ringing sound in my ears and I fall again. Ben catches me just in time, and I get one glimpse into his suddenly-frantic blue eyes before I don’t see anything at all.
Chapter 8
Beep. Beep. Beep. I hear what I think’s my alarm and roll over, intending to hit the snooze button. It beeps louder, and I open my eyes, about to groan, when I freeze. My memory comes flooding back to me and I become aware of a throbbing headache in the back of my head and a queer pain around my stomach.
Ben, Lily, and Aria are standing there, laughing at what must be a stunned look on my face.
"Somebody's been caught sleeping in," said Ben in a singsong voice.
I blink. Is this Ben that I'm talking to?
I must've said that out loud because he responds, "That's me. Ben. Yup, I'm alive. We thought you weren't going to pull through, though."
I massage my temple. "Whaa?"
Lily sits down on the edge of the bed. "It's hard to explain... But I'll give it a shot."
I nod and she begins.
"We were saved by people from Murlyn. Apparently they're the 'white' we've been told to follow for, like, forever." She smiles nonchalantly at me.
I sit there, as motionless as if it was the split second after a bomb had imploded. I can only say three words. "What the heck?!?"
Aria rolls her eyes. "Lily already explained everything we already know. That, and we're at the hospital in Tieryl."
My mouth drops open. "Tieryl? And are the rumors..." I trail off.
A woman with long, chestnut brown hair pulled back into a bun walks briskly in, finishing my sentence. "True. Tieryl is a 'flying city', or at least it can be."
I feel so relieved one second then shocked the next. "Why am I here? Why did you save us but not all the other innocent people? What's going on?"
She quickly replies, "We rescued as many innocents as we could during the war; now that it's over, we can be less.. subtle.. with our help and assist even more people. Well, as you may know, there's a zombie apocalypse going on, in answer to your question as to what's going on."
She gives me a deadpan look and I stare back at her. She stifles a snicker as she says, "I'm guessing that's not what you meant. Well, we're trying to save people, reverse apocalyptic effects, etc. You are all on board as long as you wish, but you will have to earn your keep by helping rescue new people. Oh, by the way, I'm Twyla."
I look back at her, noticing a bit of strain in her smile. I still take her outstretched hand.
"I'm Sarah, and I assume the others introduced themselves. But you still haven't answered my first question. Why am I here?"
Her eyes are definitely darting around the room as her smile fades into a painted one.
"Because we rescued you!"
I nod and watch the look of cornered prey fade from her eyes, but she still won't look directly in my eyes. It's only when I start to try and stand up that I realize there are some thick bandages covering a large portion of my head and stomach and a brace supporting my entire left leg.
Twyla follows my gaze. "Ahh.. We had to do some.. medical procedures."
I try to move and moan in pain. "What exactly happened?"
"Well, your stomach is severely damaged from those metal bars so you have stitches on some wounds. We're not sure what exactly happened to your leg but you broke something; they would've evaluated you but the concussion was a lot more pressing of an issue at the time. " says Twyla with a grimace.
I sit there, stunned. No wonder they thought I might not make it! "Everything happens to me, doesn't it," I half grumble.
Ben nods and he's close enough that, with a bit of straining, I can lightly shove him.
"You're not supposed to AGREE with me!"
He looks shocked and I start laughing. I stop abruptly because every chuckle sends a searing pain through my side. A different nurse comes in with a large needle and I barely stop myself from
groaning. I'm no sissy, but I despise needles.
She says, "This injection should knock you out for the evaluation of your legs and, hopefully, correction of whatever's wrong with your injuries."
She calmly wipes my arm down with antiseptic before grabbing the needle.
I ask, "Isn't this stuff usually administered with a liquid you drink or something? And why am I being knocked out for my legs? It’s just an evaluation."
She replies, "To answer your first question, yes, it is usually given to people using liquids. However, this particular brand works much better if administered by shot. You’re being knocked out because, for one, it’ll be less painful this way. Secondly, we may need to do surgery on a different part of you, so obviously you’d need to be knocked out for that anyways."
Ugh. That needle is three times the length of my pinky finger, although admittedly three times thinner. She expertly plunges the needle into my skin, and I feel a stinging pain in my arm.
I just sit there, waiting, until the darkness finally comes.
Chapter 9
I wake up with my leg tied up in a cast, my stomach lacking the thick bandages I had before, and a large support on the back of my head. I lie there for a few minutes, knowing if I stand up too quickly I'll start to black out again. Lily is standing by my bed and gives me a thumbs-up when she realizes I’m awake. Then the second girl, the one that gave me that killer shot, comes in.
The nurse looks at me, smiling faintly. "All operations worked as expected."
I breathe a sigh of relief. “Okay. So when can I get up again?”
Her smile quickly flickers and she presses her lips tightly together as though I annoyed her with just that one sentence. “Not until you’re completely better.”
I groan and she smiles apologetically before leaving. The first girl (I think she said her name was Twyla) comes in right after.
Lily says, “We can figure out what we’re going to do after you’re freed while you’re injured!”
Twyla looks less than happy over this, and before I can figure out why, Aria and Ben burst into the room with a wheelchair.
“Perfect for giving rides!” squeals Aria.
I arch my eyebrows very deliberately at them. I say frostily, “And who, might I ask, would be the unfortunate soul so unlucky as to have to endure a ride in that?”
The next minute, Twyla taps a few buttons on a nearby screen and my bed literally turns into a slide, and I go straight into the wheelchair.
I gasp with indignation. With as much attitude as I can muster, I blurt out,“Nuh-uh! No way! I would rather be looking right over the edge of this floating-city-ship thing than riding in this!”
Ben’s eyes twinkle mischievously as he replies, “I think that can be arranged, too.”
Before another word of complaint can exit my mouth, we’re bursting out of the room, and the wheels of my wheelchair are spinning faster than my eyes can see. We earn a glare from a middle-aged nurse who is tall, angular, and doesn’t look like she’s ever enjoyed anything whatsoever in her life. From the nurse who gave me the shot, we get a huge smile and a twitch around the mouth as if she’s about to burst out laughing.
Although I don’t approve of the way that my friends forced me to do this, it’s still really fun to go whizzing down the hallways like normal teenagers. Anyways, we’re having a blast and hurtling around corners at breakneck speeds when I realize that we’re making our way UP the ship.
I suddenly screech, “You’re NOT going to make me fall for THAT low down trick, BENJAMIN CLORCAY! How DARE you!”
The wheelchair stops rapidly, and a nurse who was about to come out of a nearby room gives us such a scorching glare that I can practically feel the nearby plant withering.
She walks out, muttering under her breath something about ‘young punks’ and ‘never worked a decent day in their lives’.
I can’t control myself as I start giggling uncontrollably… and Ben takes advantage of my momentary distraction and goes into a full out sprint. Before I can say ‘stop’, we’re at the top; we must’ve already gone most of the way.
My breath catches in my mouth as he brings my wheelchair so close to the edge of the ship thingy that, with one wrong move, I would go plummeting to my doom.
I scream in his ear, “Benjamin Clorclay! Bring me further away from the edge now, or so help me, I will DEAFEN you with my screams!”
Another, younger nurse nearby seems torn between laughing or forcing us away from the edge. I continue yelling at him until he brings me a good fifteen feet away.
He looks at me reproachfully, rubbing his eardrums. “I’m going to need help…” he mutters ruefully.
A nurse who had just came up nearby and must have only heard the word ‘help’ spots Ben and runs to his side, dragging him towards the stairs she had come up. “What do you need help with? Appendicitis? An ear infection? What?”
He waves her away somehow before coming back. “If you weren’t an invalid,” he begins. I scoff, but he continues, “I would give you a taste of your own medicine.”
I snort. Yeah, right. High female voices incessantly screaming in your ear are worse than male voices.
“As it is, you are an invalid, so it’ll have to wait.”
I groan. “I’m no invalid… I just have... ah.. injuries that temporarily incapacitate me.”
He laughs. “Invalid.”
Aria and Lily are both doubled up with laughter nearby.
I mumble under my breath, “Not.”
“You are too.” He abruptly begins wheeling me back down the ramp we’d come up and I fall silent, enjoying the breeze.
When we come back into the room, a very disapproving older nurse with a mouth thinner than I thought a mouth could ever be greets us. I adopt an air similar to the one a teenager who had been caught by his parents stumbling in at 6:30 AM would use.
“You were gone for fifteen and a half minutes. Exactly 30 seconds more than I allowed you.” An ominous glint in her eyes shows me she’s seriously mad about the extra 30 seconds.
“I, uh, uhm…” Aria trails off and I can tell she’s trying not to laugh.
Ben helps out by saying quietly, “Sorry, ma’am. It won’t happen again.” A slight twitching around the corners of his mouth is all that betrays how close he is to giggling like a three year old being tickled.
“See that it doesn’t, young man,” she says. She sort of nods as she does this, as if agreeing with herself.
My mouth twitches for a split second, but then my ‘magic’ bed easily transforms itself to help me get on easier, and the nurse takes the wheelchair as soon as I’m out of it.
“Young men and their impertinence.. yet despite their rudeness, they always coerce you to do what they want.. The sneaky kids.. I wouldn’t have given that wheelchair to him if I could’ve helped it...” mumbles the nurse as she leaves.
An explosion of laughter fills the room as soon as she’s out of eyesight (and earshot). Then I ask, “Where’s the.. uhm.. plans?”
Ben’s mouth drops open for a split second before he recovers smoothly. “Ah, you mean for our house? Alas, they were lost.”
I nod, reeling with shock. The document DEK341… missing?!?! Something strange is going on here.. Twyla’s strange reactions to me, us being picked up, they can’t be just a coincidence.
Twyla comes in, rapidly shooing the rest of my friends out of the room. She hands me two small, circular pills that look innocuous enough. Hm. I’m getting too suspicious of her. I better give the poor girl a break.
She puts the pills in my right hand and the water in my left before saying, “Take the pills.”
I can’t stop myself from blurting, “What are they for?”
A glimpse of annoyance in her eyes and also a slyness alert me that these pills might not be exactly what they seem. “Oh, they’re just for dreamless sleep,” she says quietly.
I look at her. “Are they?”
She darts me a look both furtive and challenging
. “Of course.”
I carefully pick up the glass of water, throw the pills in my mouth, and swallow. It can’t be too bad, can it? There’s a triumph in her eyes that grows as I feel my body freezing slowly.
“Of course it’s not for dreamless sleep,” she whispers in my ear.
I try to move, but whatever was in the pills has frozen me from moving. “We need you for some forms of testing.. and your friends too.”
As she talks, she pulls some thick black bands from the sides of the chair and crisscrosses them all over me. The bed begins to vibrate when she taps a monitor on a screen nearby, following her as she leaves the room.