“Good choice.” Another man in a white coat who was younger than the last man smiled at her. Meryl looked puzzled because she had not heard anyone come in. “Now, you can call your mother to tell her that you will be away for a week because of a trip.”
“Now?” Meryl asked scared. “But ...”
“Believe me, miss we have to hurry with this. You cannot imagine how important it is for everyone. Take this.”
“But my mother will wonder why I’m taking a trip. What will I tell her?”
“You’re a smart girl, right? Surely, you’ll think of something. I’ll be back in five minutes.”
Meryl sat in the chair trying to think of some excuse that would sound realistic. She didn’t have too many options. Whatever she said would end up sounding strange to her mother.
“Mom?” Meryl felt nervous when she heard her voice on the other side.
“Dear? Are you all right?” Her mother asked puzzled because her daughter rarely called her cell phone.
“Yes, mom, something has come up and I’ll have to leave for a week.”
“What? What the hell does that mean?” Her mother asked, walking through the nurse’s room. “In a few minutes, I have to go out and do rounds.”
“Listen, mom, it’s something that can change our lives. A job as a translator for a politician,” she said displaying her knowledge of three languages. “It will only be a week for a summit and they have offered to pay me very well. The only thing is that I have to leave immediately and I’m not able to pick up George from school.”
“I don’t know dear. Are you sure, everything’s okay? This sounds a bit strange.”
“Everything is perfect,” Meryl repeated in a cheerful tone that couldn’t be faked. “Trust me in a week I’ll be back home and everything will change.”
“Well, be careful and call me.”
“I’ll try, but with the time change and how busy I’ll be...”
“Okay, at least tell me you’ll try.”
“I’ll try. Bye mom, I love you.”
Meryl hung up and sighed deeply she hated lying to her mother. In fact, she never lied, but this time, she had a good reason.
She was a little nervous waiting for the return of the man with the beautiful smile. She had liked him. He hadn’t treated her like an idiot. Like the man with the glasses and his derogatory comments.
A person that looked like a doctor led her to a room so she could change her clothes and gave her a series of instructions she had to follow. She undressed and put the clothes on a table then took a shower that in her opinion smelled of disinfectant. She was forced to shower with very hot water and when she finished she had to apply a lotion that gave off a strong odor of alcohol. Meryl dressed in a white dress that had striking sleeves and when she looked in the mirror Meryl decided she didn’t look bad. The white color made her green eyes look even darker.
“Very good, come with me. We have to go to lab number three,” said the man, who was now wearing another suit that covered half his face, as if she had an incurable, contagious disease, but she could hear the kind tone of his voice, which was at odds with his attire.
“Excuse me,” she whispered, the man stopped completely and turned expectantly. “Is it true I only have to sleep?”
“That’s right we will induce a deep sleep. It is painless. When you wake up we will have gathered enough data to continue without your help.”
“Okay,” she muttered unconvinced. She could not back out. Meryl had to settle for what little she’d been told.
However, she still thought that it seemed strange to get so much money for taking a nap for a week. It wasn’t normal. A frightened Meryl followed him through the hallway. Her legs trembled slightly and felt cold. The silence was deafening.
They were in a high-security zone that smelled strongly of disinfectant. Meryl ran her hands down the sides of her ribs trying to contain a chill. There was no one around. Everything seemed normal when they entered the room where she had to sleep. There was a small separate room filled with computer equipment and other scientists separated by a transparent wall. They walked down a plastic tunnel that smelled like plastic. Half the room was crowded, and the capsule where she was supposed to sleep, was connected to a myriad of machines and monitors via long black cables.
“Beth, prepare her immediately,” Dr. Collins ordered. The young man who had accompanied her stood next to the exit. Staying close to Meryl.
“Yes, sir,” Beth said, as she approached the intercom to tell Meryl what to do.
The woman guided Meryl gradually, with the help of the young man, to place several patches on her head and chest. They explained that it would keep her monitored and allow them to calculate the level of stress her body could tolerate in case something went wrong. They could interrupt the experiment immediately thanks to the patches and machines.
Meryl saw the bitter man out of the corner of her eye. He sat in a chair on the other side of the glass wall with his arms crossed and did not take his eyes off her for an instant. His gaze was anything but comforting. Meryl knew right away that he didn’t like her, and the feeling was mutual.
“Perfect, now sit here and stay still while I inject you with a solution. If you feel dizzy or confused, we’ll wait a moment before placing you in the capsule. In a few seconds, you will begin to feel very sleepy, miss. Do you understand everything?” The man smiled sincerely.
“Yes,” she said, noting absently that the syringe carefully approached her neck.
The situation began to seem surreal and she felt as if they had just put her in a cheap science fiction movie. Just a couple of hours ago she was at work thinking about how to help her family, and suddenly, her father’s debts were settled because someone decided that she could do this job. It seemed too good to be true.
Meryl lay in the capsule with the help of the nice doctor. It was spacious and very comfortable. At first glance, it looked like a flat white wooden bed. She had expected it to be hard like a table, but on entering realized, that it was the softest surface on which she had ever been. They closed the capsule as soon as she moved into position and couldn’t hear anything outside of the capsule. It was hermetically sealed.
At first, she panicked and it was difficult to relax in a place so similar to a transparent coffin. Her breathing quickened and her heartbeat accelerated. Meryl concentrated in breathing the air coming in and out of her lungs and tried to forget the sensation of drowning, and the imaginary whistle that silence made her hear constantly.
Gradually, an enormous sense of peace washed over her and she began to close her eyelids. Carried away by the combination of tranquilizers that they added to the original solution. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so good. She was floating on a cloud of cotton and felt wonderful. Once Meryl was asleep, the most critical moment began, the cryogenics phase.
Nervous, Collins pushed the button that would initiate the process. All the scientists watched in complete silence. In only a few seconds, the cold would engulf the capsule completely. They were relieved when the process ended and her vital signs were as expected. Meryl seemed to be peacefully asleep as if she was a modern day Snow White.
Melody no.2
Hecatomb
The place was dark and the lighting was negligible. The ceiling was cracking letting in the dim light from outside. Some falling rocks hit the control panel pressing various buttons and the machine emitted a loud echoing sound that broke the silence.
The capsule, which in the past was a dazzling white, had turned a dirty greenish color. The interior began to lose its crystalline hue and the ice from the cryonics disappeared quickly due to a gas solution created specifically for that purpose. After a few minutes, the process ended and the hatch opened slightly expelling oxygen and lifting the thick layer of dirt that covered the entire room. Inside, peacefully asleep, was a young woman who b
egan to move her arms and legs. She opened her eyes slowly, fatigued. Fortunately, after having been asleep so long the darkness didn’t bother her.
Meryl tried to get out because her legs and arms were numb and cold.
“Hello?” she whispered as she left the capsule, “Is there anyone here?”
There was no answer. Meryl began to wonder why the only sound to echo between the walls was that of her own voice. The complete darkness and neglect of the place were alarming. This confused Meryl even more. Now she felt fear, especially while looking repeatedly all over the place. She tried to recognize what was left of the room.
Her thoughts began to merge and compare images, none of which matched what she remembered seeing in what for her was a moment ago. Then, the biggest panic that she had ever felt in her body suddenly hit and one conclusion was evident. Meryl closed her eyes tightly holding back the tears that were beginning to swirl and burn in them and praying this was a nightmare or some illusory effect of having slept for seven days.
Something terrible had happened while she slept.
She took a deep breath and struggling with a trembling body due to the cold and nerves. She finished standing. She looked at everything in the dim light that illuminated the desolate room. The thought that it was dark went through her confused mind. She went to the door and tried to open it without success. It seemed to be stuck on the other side and the next option was the last and riskiest, to climb through the fallen ceiling to get to the surface. It was dangerous, but there was no other way out, in desperate times, desperate measures.
After trying and slightly hurting her hands. She managed to enjoy the outside air. Her lungs welcomed it because in the underground laboratory the oxygen was compromised and completely filthy. However, that wasn’t the end of the strange situation. Once outside her eyes looked at the sky. A vast, dark cloud covered everything as far as she could see and it wasn’t nighttime because she could dimly see the sunshine beyond the black veil covering the sky. The first thing that came to her mind was that perhaps a natural disaster had happened. Where were the workers and soldiers from the base? Meryl began to feel anguish thinking that maybe everyone had died, but ruled it out as impossible. She couldn’t be the last human on the face of the earth.
“Okay,” she told herself, “I’ll walk into the city, there has to be someone there. My God, please let there be someone there,” she prayed, this time, unable to contain the tears that trickled from her eyes.
However, as time passed it only created more questions in her mind. The first, how much time had really passed? From what she saw, it wasn’t days or even a few months. The vegetation had literally swallowed the complex of buildings that made up the military base, and thinking about it was about to cause her to break down. Especially imagining that there was a possibility of never seeing her mother and younger brother ever again.
Meryl started walking barefoot, she hadn’t even noticed it, all she did was follow the torn up main road and thought of a thousand things at once. It must have been something sudden, because otherwise, they would have woken her up, right? That must be important.
“Perhaps, the explosion of a nuclear power plant?” she thought.
After more than an hour’s walk, she could see in the distance the tall buildings of the city, it was close. On the one hand, she did not want to take even one step further, because that would imply discovering what had caused all this chaos. Suddenly on the road, next to a rusty wrecked car, she saw someone moving. Emboldened by desperation she ran in that direction, scaring the person.
“Hey! Hey!” she shouted. “Wait, please!” she begged when a woman tried to flee.
“You’re crazy. Don’t scream. I’m trying to hide!”
Meryl looked at her curiously. The woman was unwell and looked no more than thirty years old. Graying hair fell to her waist, and black circles under her eyes betrayed an alarming lack of sleep, not to mention she was wearing rags for clothing.
“What happened?”
“What are you talking about? Have you run away from your master?” The woman asked suspiciously.
“My master? What the hell are you talking about?”
“Did you run away from your owner stupid? Show me your wrist let’s see who you belong to,” she said grabbing Meryl’s wrist with a quick move of her right hand and held her tightly. The woman’s nails were filthy. “Why don’t you have a mark?”
“I’m sorry ma’am, but I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
“I don’t know where you’re from, but you’re a strange girl. Anyway, come with me.”
Meryl began walking after her suspiciously because the woman had radically changed her demeanor when she saw that Meryl didn’t have a mark. Though Meryl didn’t like going with her it was all she could do to get answers for the thousands of questions that were in her confused mind.
They went to the city but did not venture into the city center. The woman made a detour and soon Meryl was able to see the streets, darkness reigned around every corner. There were diseased people wandering around like soulless dolls. According to the woman, they were castoffs that no longer served anyone or anything. They were just waiting to die.
When Meryl passed the main entrance to the city, she froze. The wide street that opened in front of her allowed her to see off in the distance and she could see almost to the center of the city where she was born. The buildings had a gloomy, dilapidated aspect and were obviously neglected. It must have been decades since they were last maintained.
The road was almost completely torn up. Some of the dirt could be seen and some weeds had found their way to the surface to enjoy freedom.
Meryl realized that all this change was not the result of a few days or even a few months. She even dared to think that maybe a few years had passed.
How had the city plunged into chaos like this?
Before she could talk and ask everything that swirled in her head. The woman grabbed her and pushed her towards a nearby building that had no door.
“Come in, quickly.”
“Okay, okay.”
They entered a three-story building with a chipped and neglected facade. The inside appearance did not improve at all. Half of the stairs were rotten and the creaking doors barely hung onto the frame. Meryl did not like that place and her instincts warned her it was not safe to be there.
“Ned! Ned!” The woman shouted while hitting one of the doors that was barely hanging on. “It’s Tannia, open up!”
“Are you crazy?” A man who was rough looking and in his sixties came from inside the building. “They’ve put a price on your head,” he muttered, forcing them to enter. “You should have left town.”
“For that, I need food, asshole.”
“What do you have to trade?”
“This,” The woman smiled while raising Meryl’s arm.
“A frail girl?”
“A free girl.”
“And I’m a flying cat. It’s been over forty years that the resistance disappeared, and with them all the free people.”
“Look, look ...” she insisted, showing Meryl’s wrist, which was pale by now.
“Hey, I don’t know what you’re talking about, but...”
“Shut up! What do you want for her?” he asked with eyes full of greed. “I’ll give you whatever you ask.”
“I’ll take all the food that I can carry. Don’t look at me like that Ned,” The woman added with a grin. “I know you can get a lot for this idiot. Can you believe that she keeps asking what happened?”
They both looked incredulous and began to laugh their hearts out. Meryl was paralyzed from head to foot. As far as she could understand they were trading her as if she was an object at that moment and she could not do anything about it. Her breathing started to accelerate. She stopped listening, feeling and seeing. Meryl ended up fainting due to
fear and her still weakened body.
When she opened her eyes Meryl felt a pressure on her bare feet. Meryl tried to get up with no memory of what happened as if it had been a horrible dream, but what she saw showed her reality. She was shackled and the shackle rattled at the slightest movement.
She looked around frowning nervously because she couldn’t understand what was going on. Meryl was not alone in the room. There were at least seven other people, mostly women. She shook her head in disbelief at the sight and suddenly felt the warmth of a hand on her right arm.
“Are you okay?” A young woman asked as she smiled softly.
“No, please tell me what does this mean ...”
“Sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean. My name is Johana Penn.”
“I’m Meryl Smith,” she whispered with a broken voice, “Why are we here?”
“They have sold you. Just like the rest of us.” Johana sighed with a reassuring smile that disappeared. “When you arrived you were unconscious.”
“Sold? How is it possible? That’s horrible!” Meryl shouted nervously while she wrung her shaking hands and looked at the blackened ground.
“You can’t tell me that it’s the first time that they sell you. That’s impossible!”
“Of course, it’s the first time. Oh my God, where did I end up?” Meryl cried running out of breath and unable to prevent the shaking of her body.
“No offense, but you act as if all this was new to you.”
When Johana’s eyes collided with Meryl’s something clicked. Johana thought something was wrong with that girl who seemed to come from another planet because in her life she had never known anything except this. Suddenly she wanted to know everything about this strange girl.
“Will you tell me your story?”
Meryl sighed trying to control her anxiety.
“Leave her alone Joanna she probably hit her head,” Another girl shouted causing everyone to laugh.
Melodies of Blood I Page 2