Somewhere In The Middle

by Lucas Coon

  “What's going on?” Madison opened the door and swiftly stepped into the room. “What's going on with him?”

  “I don't know, I think he's freaking out over what happened.” Aria stood up in preparation to move out of the way if she needed to.

  “Alright, we're going to have to sedate him. He can't have a mental breakdown like this right off the bat. Open the door and call the nurse in here.” Madison stepped back to the counter and began rifling through the drawers. Mitchell opened his eyes and looked over at Aria. She was obviously panicking, but Mitchell noticed something else off about her.

  “You said I was out for six months?” He held back his tears enough to ask this question.

  “Mitchell, you're losing it right now you need to just settle and let Madison--”

  “Then why aren't you showing? If I've been unconscious for six months, then you're seven months pregnant. And that...” Mitchell pointed at her stomach. “...is not the stomach of a woman near the end of her pregnancy.” Aria and Madison stared at each other then looked back at Mitchell.

  “Mr. Swartz, you are delirious. She's not--”

  “Did my dad come and see me?” He spoke the question into the room. Neither woman answered him. “Did my father come and see me at all while I was in a coma?” Aria stepped forward and grabbed his hand.

  “Mitchell, please just let Madison help you--”

  “Answer the damn question, Aria! Did my father come and see me?!” Mitchell started to shout at her.

  “Yes. He flew down from New Jersey and came in one time while you were--” Mitchell started to laugh under his breath.

  “No he didn't. You said I got into my accident after a snow storm. That would be between December and February.” He looked back at Aria with a look of certainty. “My dad's been dead since last October.”

  Chapter 19 – Inter Cogitations

  “How long was I out?” Mitchell slowly pulled himself from the concrete floor. The floor was unusually cold considering the temperature of the air in the room. He pushed against the floor and propped himself against the nearby wall. His arms felt weak and his head was pounding. “I feel like I was hit by a damn truck.” He looked up and saw the people he had expected; there was no more hopeful dream world with Aria by his side with him waking up from a coma. He wasn't sure which he had preferred in the end, but he was leaning more towards the reality with the Barbers still being alive.

  “Well, what's the last thing you remember? When did you pass out?” Darren's voice sounded from one of the corners. The sound of his voice made Mitchell's head feel like it was getting hit with a rail spike. “You seriously don't look good Mitch.”

  “I feel horrid. Your voice is making it worse.” Mitchell grabbed his forehead.

  “Well that's kind of rude, don't you think?' This was definitely the real Darren, Mitchell didn't have to worry about whether or not this was a dream.

  “I meant the sound in general. You know, the volume.” He tried to rub his forehead some. “I didn't pass out by the way, I was drugged.” Mitchell remembered being taken down by King with the chloroform rag. “Wait, is Lilly OK? I had a hold of her when he took me down.” He looked up at the group again.

  “She's fine, man; thank you. Anyways, like I asked, what's the last thing you remember and when about was it?”

  “That's the last thing I remember; King taking me down. That was after all of us gathered in the glass hallway. You guys all collapsed and I didn't for some reason. I'm guessing that's why he took it personally. Anyways, they got all you guys here and made me go with them into the east wing, then that happened.” Mitchell couldn't recollect anything after that, other than the really strange dream he had. He assumed it was his mind trying to make something up to comfort him. Making him think that he was involved in the death of the people he'd grown to think of as friends was a weird way to make him feel better.

  “Damn.” Darren's sarcastic tone continued. “You've seriously been out for over twenty-four hours, Mitch. It's Friday morning.”

  “Great. That means that Aria could be even farther. Losing a day is really not what I needed” Mitchell hung his head as low as he could. His migraine was joined by a feeling a failure.

  “I don't want to be the one to drag you down even more, but I don't think that matters.” Darren's sense of hopelessness didn't help Mitchell feel any better. “I, uh, yeah. I don't think that Andrei is willing to let our search party continue anyways.”

  “Has he said anything to you guys about anything at all?”

  “Not really. He came in here checking on you regularly though. He kept asking if you had moved or if you had been breathing normal.” Darren chuckled. “As much of an ass as he is for keeping us prisoner like this, he's kept us fed. I mean, like, real food too!”

  “Last night we had chicken nuggets.” Lilly spoke up from where she was. Mitchell knew she was there and awake, but didn't remember the exact location. His head hurt too much for him to care. Mitchell attempted to pull himself up to a standing position, but decided that it wasn't going to happen.

  “Why didn't anyone move me to a spot less, I don't know, concrete?” Mitchell was trying to figure out where he could go from here.

  “You looked so adorable and comfortable, we just couldn't bring ourselves to ruin it.” Darren's voice was spoken through an obvious grin.

  “Darren, shut up.” Kayla was there, and still quick as ever. “Andrei told us not to. I don't know why he wanted you to stay there, but he told us that if any of us tried to move you, well, you can guess the rest. He told Madison to keep track of your pulse and breathing, but that was it.”

  “Lovely, so I'm a special case for our wonderful host.” Mitchell didn't feel special. After a few deep breaths he lifted his head up and looked around the room. The floor was a solid concrete all the way across. The wall was lined with what appeared to be metal platforms with thin cushions glued to them. There was a small window in the back of the room with bars over it. The ceiling tiles were the same as everywhere else and the only other thing in the room was the exit. “This doesn't look like part of the hospital.”

  “It is. It's one of the gather rooms in the mental evaluation section of the east wing.” This time it was Madison's voice that rang out from the opposite corner. “Essentially the basement.”

  “That explains why that window is so high up and the ground is freezing.” Mitchell looked over at Madison. “Chloroform. You know the stuff you put on rags to force people to breathe and knock them out?”

  “Yeah, what about it?” Madison looked back confusingly.

  “Does it cause people to have incredibly weird or vivid dreams? Like, dreams that are incredibly real?” Mitchell was looking for any explanation for his dream. It was too much for his own brain to have thought up by itself, he wasn't that imaginative. It felt like one of his nightmares, one of the ones he'd been having after fainting. He had assured Darren that it wasn't that, but he wasn't completely convinced that he was out that long because of chloroform.

  “It can, I think? I don't exactly use it regularly, or, ever. Why?” Madison continued to look at him with a sense of confusion.

  “That's how King took me down. While I was out I had one hell of a dream.” Mitchell leaned back. “It's not important in the end, I was just curious and looking for an explanation.” He closed his eyes with his head leaned back. The pain in his head wasn't going away quickly, but it was starting to subside. The room grew silent, nobody opted to say the next words. Mitchell assumed that it was less that no one wanted to talk and more that there wasn't much to say. After all they had done to get where they were, which wasn't as much as Mitchell would've liked it to have been, they were prisoners. The group that had made it to the office from their own individual origins and then to the hospital from the office, was now nothing more than a group of rats trapped in a cage; unknowing of what was going to happen to them, or when it would happen. Mitchell considered this to be the first time they were prisoners; h
e considered the situation with Denver as more of a hostage situation without the negotiations. Granted, Denver didn't actually have power after he shot Mitchell in the arm, so it was hardly even that. It was more an intimidation.

  “Why do people feel the need to do this?” Mitchell spoke out into the room. He wasn't asking anyone in particular, just asking. “Why is there such an authoritative struggle when everything goes to hell? Instead of helping each other survive, or doing everything we can to make things better, people keep pushing themselves into positions where they have the upper hand and do everything they can to make it worse on others that are just trying to do the same as them.”

  “I get what you're saying, but what are you getting at Mitchell?” Darren was hooked into the conversation.

  “Think about it Darren. From the minute this all started it's been an insane power struggle.” He opened his eyes and looked forward. “It actually started with you.”

  “Hey! What the hell man!? I've never done anything to--”

  “The evening I got to the office, you answered the door with a shotgun pointed at my head. Granted I could tell you didn't want to pull the trigger, so you were the lowest of the threats. I know you were just trying to protect your family and wanted to know if I was infected, but it was what it was. You were asserting power against me, you were making sure that, in that situation, and I knew that you were in charge. You changed immediately once you knew I wasn't infected and I'm glad you did, but you were first.” Mitchell smiled over to Darren.

  “Well...” he sighed. “Yeah. I'm sorry about that. You know what I was doing and why I did it. You did the same thing to Madison and...” Darren stopped himself from saying Brynn's name. This was the point that Mitchell realized they were all in the dark on where she was. He put that thought aside for a moment.

  “The next step up was Abram. The morning right after that he decided that he needed to take control of the situation and kick me out. I know he said he did it because of resources, but it was more or less to show he was in control. I don't doubt that he was a good man and, yes, he was protective, but he could've handled it differently. He could have easily taken a much saner approach and talked with you and me about it. We're all civilized and I can only imagine that we could've come to a consensus.” He cleared his throat; he hadn't had anything to drink for over a day and realized that he was probably becoming dehydrated. “Hell, thinking back, what's the first thing I suggested we did when I noticed that we were low on food and water?”

  “You made a plan to get more.” Darren nodded at Mitchell.

  “Exactly. Had Abram gone a more peaceful route, he would be stuck here with us.” Mitchell thought about that statement. “Which may or may not be better than wherever they are now.”

  “They're with their sons. That's where they went.” Lilly chimed in. “Right, mommy?”

  “Right sweetheart.” Kayla looked down and smiled at her.

  “After him, it was Denver. Once we got there he put himself in power. He was a step up on the scale from Abram. Granted Abram was threatening, he wasn't insane; he did so because he thought he was doing the right thing. Denver, on the other hand, was insane. I'm not sure what he wanted from us, but he made sure we knew that he was in power. Hell, he shot me because I tried to reason with him, then threatened to do the same to you guys.” Mitchell looked at all of them. “Yet again, it was a power struggle. We were just trying to survive and he decided to try to be a barricade down that road.”

  “And I'm guessing Andrei is the next step up.” Darren responded to Mitchell's speech.

  “Exactly. Step one was fear. Next was protection. Then insanity. Now intelligence.”

  “Intelligence?” This was the only one that Darren didn't understand. “How is intelligence threatening? And how is it above insanity?”

  “Think about it Darren; Andrei is a doctor and a military one at that. Why would a military doctor decide to take five random people hostage? Is it not odd to you that he opted to kidnap us? He could have easily just have killed us if he felt threatened, but, on the other hand, we didn’t even know he was here until he kidnapped us. This, to me, indicates that he wanted us alive and he wanted us as prisoners.” Mitchell paused as he heard steps coming down the hallway. He decided to quickly finish his statement before they got to the room. “Insane people don’t necessarily know what they’re doing. People that are intelligent know exactly what they’re doing and why they’re doing it.” As Mitchell finished his sentence one of the doors opened and Andrei entered with King in tow. He looked over the group and stopped his focus on Mitchell.

  “Mitchell! You are awake! How are you feeling?” Andrei knelt down to where Mitchell was sitting. He shined a small flashlight, much like Madison’s pen light, into his pupils. Mitchell assumed that they did what he wanted since he put it back in his pocket without saying anything. “Are you weak? Sick? Anything unusual?”

  “I’m fine.” Mitchell really didn’t want to talk to this man.

  “You don’t look fine. You look pale.” Andrei stood up and continued looking down at Mitchell. “So what happened with you? You were unconscious for a very long time.”

  “Really?” Mitchell looked at Andrei sarcastically. “You’re asking me what happened. It was your military puppet that caused it, why don’t you ask him?”

  “Ah, yes. Sorry about that. It was, unfortunate that we had to do that.” Andrei shrugged. “Unfortunately we couldn’t have you knowing where we were taking you. It was merely a precaution, if you somehow manage to get out of here, you won’t know which way to go.” He laughed. “Couldn’t have you escaping now could we? Then how would we be able to do what we need to do?”

  “Yeah, about that, what are you intending to do with us doc?” Darren broke his silence. “We’ve been in here waiting for something, honestly anything. I know you’ve been nice enough to feed us and whatever, but, come on!”

  “Don’t worry, I’m just a little behind schedule on setting it all up. You’ll know as soon as I need you. I’m sorry if it is a little uncomfortable in here, it was a bit of a last minute effort.” He chuckled again.

  “Oh come on doc, quit with the mystery crap and just get it over with. Are you going to kill us? Then just do it!” Darren stood up.

  “Darren sit down.” Kayla tried to convince him that his outburst wasn’t going to end well. Mitchell understood why she thought this and he agreed. Andrei had King and King had a gun.

  “You would be best to listen to your wife Darren. Sit back down and be patient.” Andrei turned his head slightly to glance at Darren.

  “Or else what?” This was not the moment to act macho. This was the moment to comply with what the captor was requesting, of course Darren wasn’t going to do that.

  “Darren, let me remind you of something. There are four of you. Four people in here that will all get me the same results and the same information. Mitchell I need for now. You on the other hand...” Andrei looked at King. King nodded and readied his rifle, staring straight down the metal sights with the barrel pointing at Darren. “You are more than expendable.” There was a moment of tense silence within the entire room. Darren continued to stand and keep up his brave appearance. Mitchell thought he was a moron for doing this, there was nothing left to prove.

  “Daddy, sit down.” Lilly spoke in a loudly whispered tone. Darren twitched slightly at her words, but remained.

  “But then again, so is she.” Andrei spoke the words and King adjusted his aim to be pointing at Lilly instead of Darren. Mitchell looked at King; the look on his face was unbroken. He realized that this man was a soldier that was willing to obey any command, even if that meant shooting a five-year-old girl in front of her parents. Darren snapped back to reality and backed up. He slowly folded himself back down onto the bench. When he sat down King lowered his weapon back to his side. “Alright then, I believe that we have now come to an understanding.”

  “I would still like to know what’s going to happen to us.�
� Mitchell decided to speak up. He guessed that, if Andrei thought him to be special, then he was going to take advantage of that fact.

  “Seriously, can you ask any other questions?” Andrei sounded like he was getting frustrated.

  “Fine. If you guys are military, then why did you kidnap five people just trying to survive?” Mitchell was sick of his evading.

  “Because it’s what we were tasked with doing. Well, I mean, we weren’t tasked with kidnapping you, just finding people. You all were the lucky winners.” His frustration had faded a slight amount. Mitchell wondered if he could get more information out of him.

  “King mentioned that you guys were a special unit.” Mitchell threw this one out there hoping it would get a bite. Andrei looked over to King.

  “King, now why would you do that?” He looked at him. King became visibly shaken.

  “My apologies, sir. I did not realize I let that slip, sir.” It was interesting to Mitchell that King was so afraid of this man; which meant that he had more at his disposal than guns.

  “It’s alright. I guess I will let it go.” He turned back towards Mitchell. “That is correct. We were both assigned as a specialized unit known as the IRU.” He paused for a second. “And before you ask it’s the Infected Removal Unit.”

  “Infected removal unit? Why...” Mitchell stopped for a second and thought about this fact. “I get that the military may want to come in to the city to stop the spread or damage, but why would they create an entire department for an isolated outbreak like this?”

  “Isolated? You think this is isolated?” Andrei laughed once again. “You ignorant fool, this is not an isolated event! This is happening in almost a hundred different major cities in the U.S.” He continued chuckling. “Did none of you realize that? You all actually thought that your no name little city was the only one having this problem?” Andrei looked around at the group again in disbelief. “Oh, that is sad. Fine. I can't let you remain ignorant on everything, so I guess I can let you in on some of the information. A little more than a week ago the outbreak started, we all know this correct?”