I tapped her foot and motioned her to move. She rolled over to her side and I slowly slid myself right next to her. Awkward and uncomfortable, but I wasn’t going to come all this way and not find out all I could firsthand. We were squished together face to face, just in case we needed to communicate.
We both peeked out of the vent, and someone coughed loudly making us jump. We would have to keep our wits, or we’d be history.
“Doctor, I think we should commence testing soon, since both subjects are awake. The sooner we can get information, the better,” a male voice said.
We could only see half of the room, and it seemed to be the half that wasn’t getting any action. Damn it.
“Yes, bring in both subjects.”
We heard a door open, and then shut. There was silence for a few moments.
“Doctor?” a female voice asked.
“Yes?” he answered.
“Do you think this will work? I mean, do you really think she will be able to communicate with it?”
“I don’t know. Let’s hope, so we can finally get some answers.”
The room went silent again, but my mind was whirling.
In a few moments the door opened and we heard shuffling, chains, and growling. I saw them pull up a chair, one of those long dental-looking chairs, and faced it toward us.
There were two men handling an Arvy. One on each side, gripping its pale arms. Its mouth had some kind of muzzle over it. Its sunken milky eyes looked crazed, almost afraid. The two men forcefully shoved the Arvy down onto the chair and attached its arms tightly to it. The Arvy screamed, and tried to bite the men, but its efforts were futile. The muzzle worked.
One of the men laughed and slapped the creature in the head. Its evil eyes fixed on him and it growled loudly.
“What? What? You ugly bastard,” the man taunted.
“Larry, leave the damn mutant alone,” the other man said.
Larry came inches from the Arvy’s face. “I hope you die. All of you,” he said, and then spit into the Arvy’s face. The Arvy struggled with all its might to get to him. It growled, thrusting its head toward him, trying to bite him. Its fingers gripped the chair so tightly it looked like its veins were going to burst. Then it let out another piercing scream.
“Larry!” the doctor scolded. “You’re upsetting my patient. Please leave.”
Larry’s eyes stayed on the Arvy as he walked away.
“Sedate the mutant just enough so it settles, and make sure the binds are tight. We need it to be coherent during this session,” the doctor ordered. “When you’re done, bring in the Telepath.”
Tina and I glanced at each other. Holy Crap! They were going to bring in a Telepath to try and read the mind of an Arvy.
I started to get anxious, and excited, wondering if it was even possible. Could someone really read minds? And if that were possible, could they read the mind of a crazed person? This was going to be epic, if it was possible, and we were here to witness it.
Someone walked over to the Arvy with a syringe filled with some kind of liquid, and shot it in its arm.
The Arvy struggled and then suddenly stopped. Its head rolled to the side.
Just a few seconds later, the door opened again.
“Welcome, Miss…”
“Graves. Amber Graves. It seems almost fitting, doesn’t it Doctor? My name? So much death nowadays. I’ve lost everyone…everyone I love because of these creatures.”
There was pain mixed with contempt in her voice.
“Well, Miss Graves, I’m hoping we can learn more about them. Maybe we can find their weakness, or a way to defeat them.”
“If it has a working mind, I’ll find your answers,” she answered. “And please, call me Amber.”
“Amber. Please have a seat, and let’s get started.”
The Arvy suddenly screamed in the highest pitch yet, which made us have to cover our ears.
“Get that thing to stop screaming!” the doctor yelled.
“With what?”
“I don’t care. Duct tape. Whatever works.”
“It’s trying to break its binds. We need to give it more sedatives,” another voice yelled.
“No more sedatives. We just need to secure it,” the doctor said.
We heard the door open and close.
“Doctor,” Amber cut in. “The reason why it’s becoming aggressive is because it knows I’m a telepath. This is how these creatures communicate with each other. Through telepathy.”
A door opened and then I heard the distinct tearing of duct tape. Two men in white lab coats walked up behind the creature. One held either side of its head, while the other took off the muzzle. The Arvy immediately tried to bite the man holding him down, but soon its mouth was covered with duct tape.
“Make sure it doesn’t bite either of you,” the doctor scolded, “or you would be the next one restrained and shackled to that chair.”
The man with the tape shrugged and continued wrapping the duct tape around its head.
“Make sure it can breathe,” the doctor added.
“It can breathe through its nose,” the man smirked.
The doctor sighed. “Let’s get started.”
There was silence, except for the deep, noisy breaths from the Arvy. We couldn’t see Amber, the doctor, or the others, but we could see the Arvy dead on. Its eyes looked heavy, and it wasn’t moving.
My left leg was starting to fall asleep because my weight was on that side, but I dared not move. I could see Tina start to shift a bit too, but then Amber started to speak.
“It’s fighting. Trying to block me from entering its mind,” Amber said. “Let me in,” she whispered out loud. “I just want to know what happened. What happened to all of you who were left on the topside to fend for yourselves?”
After a few moments, Amber began screaming.
“What’s wrong?” the doctor asked.
“Pain. So much pain,” she wailed.
“Why is she in pain?” One of the men asked.
“Don’t touch her! She’s channeling the mutant,” the doctor scolded. “She’s also an empath.”
“What’s an empath?” the man asked.
“Someone who can scan others thoughts, and experience their true emotions or feelings - past, present, or future,” the doctor answered. “No more questions. Let her work.”
Amber started whimpering. “Fear. Their fear was overwhelming. They were left here to die. There were no warnings. The vaccine, promised to save them, didn’t stop the pain. Oh God! Constant pain and torment. It was unbearable.”
“The radiation made them deathly ill. It made them weak. Their hair fell out. Excessive vomiting. Dehydration. Shriveling away into corpse-like bodies, barely living.” Amber started sobbing. “The children. The elderly. Loved ones. No one was immune to the toxins. They prayed for death, but death never came. The vaccine kept them alive, but it also kept their skin burning for months, like it was crawling with insects. They were stripped of all speech and reason.”
The telepath droned on. “Many committed suicide. As time went on, they began to heal. There was still pain - always pain - but the pain was overcome with hunger. The only thing that satisfied the hunger was flesh. Raw flesh.”
“Why do they want to kill us?” the doctor questioned.
“Hatred. Revenge,” She paused and then moaned in pain. “A deep seeded hate for those who created the vaccine. They would have chosen death. There were too many years enduring sickness and suffering. They hate all survivors. They hate us for leaving them, and now, they will not stop until every last one of us is dead.” Amber began laughing in an eerie wicked tone.
The Arvy’s head suddenly snapped up toward us. His milky eyes steeled in our direction. Chills shot through every cell in my body, completely paralyzing me. I couldn’t rip my eyes away from the creature, no matter how hard I tried, and then my head started to ache.
“Someone’s here,” Amber said. “They’re watching us.” She scream
ed in pain, and then there was silence.
“She’s bleeding. Look! Her nose, her ears, her eyes… Holy shit!” A man yelled out.
“Amber. Amber!” the doctor called. “She’s still breathing. Get her on a gurney and take her to the infirmary. Now!”
There was a lot of shuffling.
“Take three vials of blood from the mutant, and get it out of here.”
“Where do you want us to take it?”
“I don’t care. Dispose of it.”
Tina tapped me and mouthed, “Let’s go.”
I nodded and started pushing backward, but it was hard because my leg had gone numb. As soon as I started to move and the blood started to flow, needless pulsed and pricked down my leg. Tina rolled back onto her stomach but her elbow hit the metal shaft, making a loud banging sound. We both froze. My breath seized and we waited.
“What the hell was that?” a voice snapped.
“It sounded like it came from the vent.”
Tina’s eyes flashed at me and were wide with terror.
She quickly unzipped her pack and pulled out the cardboard, and then quickly pushed backward a few feet.”
“That lady said someone was watching. Do you think there’s someone in the vent?”
“I don’t know. Grab a chair and look,” the doctor said.
Both of us pushed backward again as quickly as we could, but Tina froze when we heard a chair squeak right below. She unfolded the cardboard and held it up in front of her. I stopped breathing.
“Shit!” the voice huffed.
We were history.
“What? What do you see?” the doctor questioned.
“Nothing. It’s too damn dark in there. I can’t see a thing.”
“Take the cover off and grab a flashlight, genius,” another voice said.
There was a thump as the man jumped off the chair so Tina turned to me.
“Go!” she urged. I pushed backward with all my might until we came to a split in the vent, so I quickly pushed into the left side. Tina was right on me, and pushed herself backward into the right vent. We made a lot of noise, but now they couldn’t see us.
“Someone’s in there! I can hear them moving around!”
A light shined right in between us. Tina unzipped her backpack again and then took out the two rubber balls. She then motioned to me with her hands. She needed to get to my side, and I needed to turn around. She had the map, so she had to go in first.
She suddenly held up the cardboard again in the vent between us, and I pushed out and back. She dove to my side, quickly pushing her way in, and then I pushed in right behind her, leaving the cardboard up.
“They’re moving! I’m almost in!” the voice yelled.
Tina handed me the two balls. “Throw them down the other vents,” she whispered.
I threw the balls and they made loud sounds as they banged down the metal shafts.
“They’re moving. Someone get to the electronics room!”
Tina shoved her way quickly through the vent, and I stayed right on her. There was no way I was going to have someone come up behind me and pull me back. We snaked through the system as quickly as we could, scared to stop. Adrenaline kept us moving, and after a while we finally came to a larger area. There were shafts leading in many directions. Suddenly, an alarm blared loudly, piercing our ears.
We needed to get out of here. Quick.
Tina unfolded her map and looked at it, then started moving again. We could hear voices below us, but we didn’t stop. The alarms were so loud, it actually helped to mask our movement.
I saw her eyes, searching, but we never paused. Then, she stopped in front of a vent, took off her pack, grabbed the screwdriver and began taking out the screws. When the vent came off, she dropped down inside.
I pushed forward and peeked in. Holy crap! She actually led us all the way back to our room. She pushed a small table under the vent, and I dropped in. She then jumped back up with a special kind of screwdriver and a small mirror that helped her screw the vent right back into place. No one would ever know we were gone. She was amazing.
“Quick, change back into your clothes, and grab mine.”
I did what she said, and it was the fastest change I’d ever done.
After the vent was secure, we pushed the table back, she changed, and we slipped out into the hall to follow the rest of the crowd. The alarms were still blaring, and everyone looked exhausted from being waken. Tina and I tried to play the part, and hoped to fit in. We all gathered in a large room. Some were terrified, and thought the Arvies had broken through and were attacking.
The General walked in and took a place on a small stage. Shortly after, all the alarms shut off, and we were standing in the midst of a crowd of hundreds of people. Many of whom I never saw before.
“We’re sorry you were wakened so abruptly, and at such an early hour. We’ve had a breach, but have a military team on it right now.”
“It seems someone has stolen some vital information from one of our labs. If you have any idea who this might be, please let us know immediately. I assure you, all information given will remain confidential. Just know that you are all safe, and we will continue the search until the traitors are caught and prosecuted.”
“We will be taking a roll call, so swipe your key card on the machine at the back before you leave. All those who have not swiped their cards will be taken in for questioning. Please head straight back to your rooms. We are sorry for the inconvenience.”
My heart was hammering against my chest. This was crazy.
“Hey you,” Finn said in my ear. He made me jump.
“Hey,” I said, my pulse still racing.
“You look like you just ran a marathon. Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. Just not feeling well,” I said.
He stared at me, and I knew he was assessing. “You don’t know anything about the break in, do you?” His eyes narrowed at me.
Holy shmokes! I swear, when it came to me, Finn was a telepath.
“Of course not,” I lied. I couldn’t believe him. He could read me like a book. “I just feel really lousy. I think I’m coming down with something.”
“Abi,” he said, pulling me closer. “You’re shaking.”
“I’ve just been having some bad dreams, that’s all,” I said.
“Then, dream of me,” he whispered.
“Move up and swipe your cards,” a man in uniform pushed.
Finn’s hand quickly grazed mine before he swiped his card, and then he walked out. After I swiped my card, I quickly followed and searched for him, but he was gone, lost in a sea of bodies pushing their way back to their rooms.
My heart ached for a moment, and then Tina grabbed my hand and dragged me back to our room. When we were safely inside we both fell onto our beds.
“Holy crap, that was close,” I breathed. My insides were still trembling.
“It was close, but not that close,” she said, turning to me.
“Are you kidding me?” I huffed. She paused and then started laughing.
“Oh my God. I can’t believe we actually did that. Tonight was the craziest, dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” she squealed. “And what about that Arvy? It was like he knew we were there.”
“I know. That was freaking creepy,” I said.
“I feel kind of bad - you know - for what they had to go through. I sort of don’t blame them for wanting revenge. Hell, if I had to endure the kind of pain and suffering they went through, I’d be pissed and want to go on a killing spree too,” Tina said.
“Agreed,” I replied.
“Yeah,” she repeated. “Well, we better get to sleep. We have to be up in a few hours.”
“I don’t think I’ll be sleeping tonight.”
“I don’t think I’ll be sleeping either, but we have training. We should try.”
“Yeah. Well, night,” I breathed.
“Night.”
The lights went out, but my mind played the nights
events over and over. The Arvy’s horrifying eyes staring at us. The screams. The threats. Almost getting caught. Sliding through the vents.
It trapped every part of my being, and the worst thing was that we had to keep it secret. Anyone leaking the information could have us in a deep pile of crap.
After hours of trying to fight sleep, I thought of Finn, and of all the wonderful memories we shared. Soon, sleep found me.
Chapter 20
SAFE ZONE
TOPSIDE: DAY 30
I woke exhausted, and at breakfast Finn didn’t show again. There was a ton of buzz about the alarm and the person who broke the rules. They had no idea it was us. There were lots of names flying around, but they were names of people I’d never heard of. We were off the hook for now.
After breakfast was training, and today we trained with knives. Just in case we ran out of ammo, we learned the kill spots and how to puncture. I was somewhat bored because I’d already learned these moves, and could practically do them in my sleep. Besides, I could have taught the female instructor a thing or two.
My mind wasn’t on training. It was all over the place. The Arvy in the chair. Finn. When we would be able to leave this place. Would we be able to defeat the creatures that wanted to kill us? There were literally tens of thousands that were vaccinated. They completely outnumbered us, and it would take a miracle. Unless maybe… what if we found some kind of cure for the Arvies? What if we could give them their humanity back?
After sword training, I told Tina I wanted to head over to the firing range, but she said she was going back to the room. She looked like she was going to fall down, and I could tell the lack of sleep was getting to her.
At the firing range, the instructor handed me a .22 pistol. It wasn’t Hellfire, but at least it would keep my mind occupied for a while. It felt good to shoot and let off some steam. After I shot my rounds, I took a hot shower and headed back to the room.
As soon as I swiped my keycard and stepped inside, Tina shot up from the bed. She ran toward me, nearly tackling me.
“I’m so sorry, Abi. I’m so sorry,” she cried. Her body was shaking and she had tears in her eyes.
“Why are you sorry? What happened?” I asked, stepping away from her. A sinking feeling hit my stomach.