Insolation

by Bradlyn Wilson

  There was a large kitchen, numerous bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms, a pool, a technology room, a living room and a fitness center. The whole complex was huge and it was unimaginable to think it was inside another building.

  They walked back to the bedrooms as they chit chatted about what they knew and what they didn’t. Vanya was a geologist and Jinni was in Nanotechnology. They had all started Ivy leagues and excelled until either Kane or Hemmer had recruited them to SPaDI.

  They laughed at the fact that some government officials had decided to leave the world in the hands of some above average students.

  They finally got back to their rooms and said goodbye. Hadley was genuinely happy and was grinning as she flipped on the light in her room and took a look around with a new optimism. There was a computer and tablet on the desk. Other than that it was plain furniture. She went to the bookshelf and was surprised to see her favourite books and every book imaginable on climate change and neurobiology.

  Finally, she turned off the light and fell asleep somewhat content, but still unable to shake the feeling that something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

  Chapter Fourteen

  2083

  A light flashed slightly as the professor spoke loudly and words sprang across the board. An overview of the glaciation of the world was illuminated on the board. As he spoke the number of glaciers slowly shrank and then grew as millions of years passed in a blink of an eye. The continents were shifting back and forth.

  Already a few chapters ahead of the class, Hadley was twirling her stylus in her hand. She tapped her bright pink toes on the granite floor, which had grey flecks running through it. She looked up and watched Kane move through the classroom. He was excited and passionate, his voice peaked as he talked, and his full body moved with his voice. He looked at Hadley and gave her a smirk.

  She continued to play with her stylus, unable to concentrate on anything, her body buzzing. She caught the end of her stylus on her ring and had to admire how it shined in the fluorescent light. The white gold band was twisted like leafs with a sapphire in the middle and a wave like pattern encapsulating the stone.

  “The longest ice core to date is around 3500 m long. It is important to note that the longest cores come from Greenland and Antarctica.”

  The bell rang and Kane stopped, looking at the class.

  “All right we will continue this lecture on Wednesday. Remember if your paper says to see me, please stay after class.”

  Hadley looked down and there was a note attached to her paper. She was practically grinning from ear to ear. Please see me after class. Hadley took her time cleaning up her books and tablet, careful to make herself look busy, while really just shuffling everything around on her desk. She watched everyone else file out. Soon she had everything in her bag and the room was empty except for her and Kane.

  Hadley watched him close the door. He pulled the blinds closed to the lecture theatre. He did everything with such determination and his muscles flexed as he did it.

  “In my office?” He asked with a smile raising his eyebrow. Hadley nodded feeling her heart start to flutter.

  He motioned her to walk in. It wasn’t even two steps into the office when Hadley dropped her bag on the floor and stood beside a bookshelf facing him.

  “You wanted to see me Professor?” She said in a school girl voice looking him straight in the eyes. He stepped forward authoritatively and he wrapped his arms around her waist.

  “Call me professor again,” He said as he brought his lips down on hers, kissing her passionately. She felt electricity throughout her entire body and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  He moved his lips smoothly down her neck, kissing slowly towards her collarbone. She arched her back, letting her hair cascade down her back and over the bookshelf behind her.

  “Oh professor,” She moaned, knowing how absurdly dumb she sounded. But he was hard in a second and she could feel it against her skin.

  The bookshelf was jagged against her back but she didn’t even notice as he lifted her up against it so she had her legs around his waist. He took her top off in one swift motion as she unbuttoned his shirt.

  She ran her fingers across his abs as he worked his mouth down towards her breast. She exhaled sharply feeling his hand move downwards.

  Chapter Fifteen

  2584

  Hadley woke up with a sharp bolt. Her heart racing and her stomach in knots. She was hot and sweaty. The fan on the ceiling glowed in a faint moonlight that was coming from the artificial window. Hadley sat up and looked around, the electric sensation of Kane’s hands running over her body still burnt in her mind. It felt so real.

  “That was not real, you can’t dream about him— everything has your head all messed up” She said out loud to herself to even out her breathing.

  She remembered what Jinni had said about her ridiculous dream about Hemmer. She felt her heart beat steady and tried to keep herself calm. Slowly she lowered herself back so she was lying down again.

  She knew it was just a dream but as she fell back asleep she looked at her finger where the ring was. She felt the base of her finger and it was calloused, as if a ring should go there. The picture in her mind was so vivid that she was sure it was real, and she couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to it.

  It took her a long time to fall back asleep. The moment before she finally fell asleep all she could see was Kane’s face. She gave a shudder and rolled over hugging her arms around her chest.

  It was morning before she knew it and the sun was coming up. She got up, ready and was out the door. Hoping that the day would be better than the ones previous.

  They were told to meet in a large gymnasium type room. It was the size of a small stadium and reeked of dried sweat and floor polish. It was Hadley’s second full day at the complex and she was still trying to figure it all out. They were all standing around when Hemmer and Kane walked in. Hadley watched Kane, he was wearing a black t-shirt that showed off every inch of his torso and she couldn’t help but get a little breathless at his abs conrtacting. He looked incredibly attractive with his hardened features.

  Kane was followed into the room by a group of straight faced soldiers, or at least that’s what they seemed. They were non-descript. You couldn’t tell them apart if you weren’t looking closely. They walked in time with each other and besides than their legs and arms, they didn’t even move.

  The room was silent, as Kane and Hemmer stood in front of them. “All right everyone, we are going to begin today with the start of an intensive program. We’re going to first do some basic physical assessments,” Kane sighed, extremely frustrated. “This is to get you back to where you were before the last bombs went off. Let’s start with a few cardio exercises and some strength training that I hope you are still able to complete.”

  There were a few muffled groans from around the room. But everyone got into a line. Hadley looked ahead of us and saw that the far end of the gym was a large obstacle course.

  “What are you waiting for?” Hemmer shouted.

  Everyone looked at each other then started to run. Single file they ran after one of the soldiers who took off to lead them. There was a tall parallel wall that they had to climb up; at the top there were ropes to rappel down.

  After that, there was an army crawl, and then it got harder. There were monkey bars, and rope swings, high balance beams and it all ended with shimmying across a bar 20 meters in the air. Everyone was struggling.

  Hadley finished the obstacle course and struggled for breath. Her lungs felt like they were on fire. She doubled over and tried to breathe in as much as she could.

  “Get some water, 5 minutes!” She heard Kane yell. Everyone started to move towards an upright cooler filled with water bottles. Paxton, who was quite a few people ahead of Hadley, made his way back through the crowd and handed her a water bottle.

  “Thanks,” she said taking it and opening the spout. She took a long drink, finally feeling the bu
rning in her lungs start to diminish. Sweat poured down her brow.

  “How are you doing?” Pax asked her. Hadley just shrugged at him while she raised her eyebrow. “Me too,” he laughed.

  “Time’s up, water down everyone. We’re going to start some of the assessments” Kane said and everyone groaned.

  Hadley felt Vanya grab her arm, who smiled and said, “I thought that was the assessment.” Paxton looked at Hadley and laughed, then he whispered, “Was that not assessment enough or is he purposely trying to torture us?”

  Hadley snorted and gave Pax a wicked smile before she looked across at Kane’s stern look, which from out of nowhere was mirroring Pax and Hadley’s thoughts.

  Hadley wiped her brow and watched a droplet of sweat fall off of her forehead and land in a perfect circle on the chestnut coloured floor.

  “All right everyone we will start with some basic exercises to get those hearts pumping. We will be coming around to work with you and monitor your progress.”

  Hadley watched Kane walk towards her group with another man. People were gathered in groups around Kane’s helpers as they split up into natural patterns. Kane whispered something to the man and walked to another group. He gave Hadley a look and then walked away.

  Their group leader was one of the men who had restrained Hadley when they found her. She frowned at him and rubbed her arm where he had death gripped it, though it no longer hurt. “My name is Lieutenant Jameson Martyn. I’ve been with you since the beginning and was a top agent when the FBI was still an agency and when the United States existed. I will be helping Kane with the assessments.”

  The FBI was destroyed? That was never a possibility she had considered. Jameson pulled out a coin and pressed it bringing it to life. The small coin turned into a full holographic projection tablet.

  Jameson pressed a button on the holographic screen in front of him and small dots of light flew over the entire group’s heads. They created circles with a counter in the middle.

  “Let’s start with burpees guys! On your mark, get set, go. You have one minute!”

  They started to go as fast as they could after being thrown straight into it. Hadley jumped as high as she could, squatted and jumped her feet back, push upped and then started again. By the second one she had run out of breath and gasped for air. But she kept going; she kept up with Vanya who seemed to be struggling as much as she was. Hadley watched as the bubble above her head slowly climbed, she was one of the worst in the group.

  After the minute was up they moved on to push ups. Then planks. Then on to mountain climbers. Hadley knew they were assessing fitness level, but she felt like she was going to keel over and die.

  They moved to sit ups. “All right, go!” Hadley heard Jameson say, his loud voice echoing through the room. Kane came back as they got to the thirty second mark. He walked through the group and knelt down beside her.

  He placed a hand on Hadley’s stomach. “Come on Had, use those core muscles. I’ve seen you stronger than this.” His touch sent a tingle up her spine, and she almost gave her head a noticeable shake in order to wipe the feeling of his hands on her.

  “I…am…trying,” Hadley hissed trying to get air. Kane said nothing in return and stood back up as the minute ended.

  Then she practically passed out, she lay on the ground, dizzy, trying to catch her breath. For a moment she wished she was back under the rubble. But just for a second.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Her bed was the most comfortable place in the world, and as she laid in dreamless sleep for the first time in days she didn’t know footsteps were coming towards her door. Even when they arrived she didn’t realize that the tapping was someone purposely trying to get her attention. She rolled over, covering her ears with her pillow, thinking that the pipes were shuttering again.

  Then someone said something, and it piqued her interest. Hadley slowly opened her eyes, becoming annoyed at constantly waking up in the dark.

  “Hadley! Wake up already!” A giggling girlish voice yelled.

  Hadley rolled her eyes and went to the door. In front of her stood a group of gaggling giggling women. Even Vanya was smiling from ear to ear.

  Jinni was giving her a fake condescending look, “took you long enough.”

  “I thought you were just some machinery; I was ignoring it,” Hadley laughed.

  “The guys found some great things in the complex tonight, and after the torture Kane put us through today it’s worth any consequences.” Jinni laughed pulling Hadley’s arm.

  The door clicked shut behind her as she was pulled down the hall in just a t-shirt. She tugged at the bottom, and was glad that it was long enough to cover her bum.

  “Come on,” Vanya whined, noticing that Hadley was holding up the group who were eager to get where they were going. Hadley picked up her pace, as they practically ran down the hall and emerged onto the pool deck.

  Pax stood with his shirt off, in a grey bathing suit that matched the other men and held a clear bottle filled with a dark brown liquid. He turned around as the women entered and smirked, “took you long enough.”

  Jinni rolled her eyes, “we couldn’t wake up Hadley.”

  Pax looked at Hadley with a gleam in his eyes, “so you’re the one ruining the party.”

  “I just wanted to let you guys sweat.”

  Pax laughed from his stomach, throwing his head back, “get changed so we can get this party started.”

  The girls laughed as they headed to the change room. Each of their names was hung on an individual change room and shower. Hadley walked into hers and the lights went on. They were tiny but she had a row of bathing suits, caps, goggles, fins, and nose plugs waiting for her. She pulled on a two-piece grey athletic suit that fit perfectly.

  She reached for the handle of the door and was sprayed with a thin mist, a message blinked across the door sanitation fluid, for pool health.

  She was the first girl back out onto the deck, and wondered what was taking everyone else so long. The guys were leisurely sitting around on pool chairs and Hadley slid onto the one beside Pax who was in the middle of telling a thrilling tale, or so it seemed. He went quiet as Hadley sat down.

  “Looks like you are trying to make up for your tardiness earlier?”

  “Nah, I was hoping to be last, but apparently I’m fairly quick.”

  “Here,” Pax grinned handing her an open bottle.

  She grabbed it willingly. “Where did you get it?” Alcohol was strictly banned in the complex for safety reasons; it was also very rare to come across nowadays. Factories that produced alcohol were huge targets during the war as they created huge blast sites. Or at least that’s what they told them, probably to keep the horny adults under control.

  Pax clenched his jaw, and looked side to side as though about to reveal a secret, “I stole it if I’m being honest, but from where, you’d have to kill me to know. I’ll never tell.”

  Hadley gave him a playful punch in the arm and shook her head. The other girls finally emerged from the change rooms, one by one and soon the party was in full swing. Everyone was laughing, drinking, and feeling relatively normal.

  They were in a beautiful Olympic style pool with a hot tub and surf tank. The roof was a digital skylight, showing a night sky. Around the edges it was all modern and sleek.

  Vanya got to the edge of the pool and uncapped the bottle she was holding. She took a long swig. Then she lowered the bottle she started to cough. She handed it back to someone then jumped in the pool and Hadley quickly followed her in.

  Pax jumped up and was on Hadley’s heels, he splashed her as she surfaced. Hadley splashed him back. For the first time they felt like didn’t have a care in the world. The alcohol didn’t last long but they soon felt the effect of it.

  The boys started to jump off the diving platforms in the craziest ways they knew how. A few of the guys swam up to Hadley and introduced themselves. Jeremiah, Stephen and Joey.

  All three of them were engineers. Jerem
iah constantly had a look on his face like he had swallowed something sour. He was huge with short army cut black hair. Hadley was instantly intimidated by him. He was easily three times her size and she studied him closely before it dawned on her who he was. He was the stocky man she had seen her first night awake and he was the man whose nose she had broken.

  Her face instantly went red as the realization set in.

  “Umm. I’m really sorry about your nose—” Hadley said without thinking. She smiled shyly at him, not knowing how else to continue. He studied her for a moment.

  “No problem. You were scared; it’s to be expected. I’ll remember not to let my face get too close to your elbow again though.” He gave a stifled laugh. Hadley gave him a smile and turned to the other guys he was with.

  Stephen and Joey were more than friendly. Stephen was a scrawny guy with unkempt blonde hair. Joey would have been conventionally attractive if it weren’t for the dreadlocks and facial piercings. His tattoo took up one whole arm and his torso. There was a dragon shooting fire along his collarbone. It made Hadley smile as she studied the intricate details.

  It made her look down at her own arm; the tattoo had been bothering her, since she couldn’t remember why or when she had got it. She pushed her arms gently through the cool water until her thoughts were interrupted.

  “Starting to make sense of everything Had?” Stephen asked politely.

  “I think so. Slowly,” she replied with mediocre enthusiasm.

  “It will take time,” Joey added softly trying to be helpful. All anyone ever said is it will take time, and this was starting to push on Hadley’s nerves.

  Everyone started to get riled up again. Vanya screamed as Joey plunged her underwater. Hadley giggled and floated backwards with her ears in the water looking at the sky. She felt relaxed with her head spinning from the liquor they had hastily drunk.