Sugar Coated

  When Brynn’s headache became too great and her legs so tired she was sure they were about to give out, she saw a glimmer in the distance. It was a small flicker of light for only a brief second and she thought perhaps her brain was shutting down on her. She stopped in her tracks, causing Ty and Jonah to follow suit and squint into the distance with her, never saying a word.

  “There,” she exclaimed, pointing straight ahead. “Did you see it?”

  “Lights,” Ty said breathlessly. “Real lights,” he said again in disbelief. “From a city.”

  “It’s really there,” Brynn practically shouted, before remembering they were trying to be covert. “I’m not crazy!”

  “Well, let’s not get carried away,” Jonah replied as he started walking again.

  Brynn had to exercise a great deal of willpower to keep from making a beeline for the lights in the distance.

  “I really didn’t think it existed,” Ty admitted as they continued to walk towards the ever-growing flashes ahead of them. “I honestly came on this trip thinking I was going to die from dehydration or boredom. Whichever came first.”

  Brynn shot him a look, but didn’t say anything. Despite his joking, she knew that what he said was true. He didn’t come on this trip with the same mindset as her and Jonah. He didn’t think he’d make some great discovery. He just came because he wanted to make sure she was okay.

  “Maybe we should make camp,” Jonah suddenly said.

  “Are you insane? We just found the city,” Brynn tried not to shout.

  “But we’ll be like walking targets in these black outfits if the sun rises before we get inside,” he explained, though Brynn’s mind was far from what he was saying.

  A realization struck her that she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of before. It was a complete deal breaker and she slapped a hand against her already throbbing head.

  “What is it?” Ty asked, worried.

  “The facility,” Brynn groaned. “It’s white. All white.”

  “How do you know?” Ty asked, squinting through the darkness at the distant city as if he would be able to peek through a door and confirm her statement.

  “I’ve been inside,” she said.

  “Yeah, in your dreams. That doesn’t exactly mean it’s all white inside,” Ty pointed out, though even he sounded resigned by this revelation.

  “Brynn, I’m so sorry,” Jonah said slowly, slipping his backpack off and unzipping it. “I didn’t keep my promise.”

  “What promise?” she asked quizzically, looking down at the open pack.

  “I promised I’d remind you of how brilliant I am on a regular basis and I’ve been slacking lately,” he explained as he pulled white clothing from his bag. “You didn’t think I was just ignoring you all those times you’d described your dreams to me, did you?”

  “You’re kidding me,” she said, unable to believe he had really had the foresight to bring white clothing based on her dreams that she had vaguely described to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, despite the fact that they were both exhausted and sweating. “I could kiss you right now!” she exclaimed, hugging him tighter and grateful that he had listened to her crazy ramblings about the white facility.

  “You can wait until we actually get out of this thing alive, but I’ll be expecting a rain-check,” he said with a grin as they pulled apart.

  Ty made a noise behind them that sounded like a snort, but Brynn ignored it.

  “Do we really have to wait until tomorrow to check things out?” Brynn asked, pouting slightly at this idea.

  “I guess there’s no harm in just checking it out so we can spend tomorrow formulating a plan on how to get inside,” Jonah relented.

  That was all the clearance Brynn needed. She immediately began leading the group at a quick pace, keeping the distant city as her motivation.

  They only had about an hour of darkness left when they finally reached the city. Unlike Seaside and Central Wildwood, this city had no wall around it, so they were forced to duck behind bushes in the surrounding desert as they observed what turned out to be a rather impressive facility.

  Instead of a traditional city with many individual buildings, streets, and sidewalks, Aywon appeared to be nothing more than one large, sprawling building that continued on for miles. It wasn’t particularly tall like the buildings in Seaside, but only one or two stories.

  “I bet most of it’s underground,” Ty whispered from his crouched position beside Brynn.

  “It would have to be,” Brynn agreed, her blue eyes quickly scanning the façade of the structure for a way in.

  It didn’t take long to locate the lone door in the concrete building. Above it, in yellow paint, were two characters that explained more to Brynn than a whole book full of words could have.

  “Do you see that?” she asked the two boys. “I was wrong.”

  “Brynn, there’s an entire facility here. I hardly think you were wrong,” Jonah pointed out. “Just because Aywon isn’t a city in the typical sense of the word—”

  “It’s not Aywon,” Brynn explained, pointing to the two characters above the entrance. “It’s A1. It’s the number of the facility the Angel told me. She couldn’t think quickly enough to make up a lie, so she told me what building she had just come from,” Brynn said, smiling in spite of herself that everything was coming together.

  “Who cares what it’s called? It actually exists!” Ty told her excitedly. “I take back every rude thing I’ve ever said to you about you being crazy.”

  “It’s about time,” Brynn shot back with a grin. “Because I was right,” she said, holding onto this fact like it was her most prized possession.

  Brynn had spent her childhood asking questions that no one knew the answers to. When she had discovered the mysterious city just beyond the train doors when she was nine, her life had turned around. She felt as if she finally had proof that her questions were worth pursuing. But without proof that A1 existed, she had just been spouting off more crazy ideas. Now, with the building in front of her and her two friends there to witness the truth, she felt complete, as if her years of struggle were finally worth it.

  This feeling of bliss lasted only moments while she stared at the dimly lit building until another realization hit her.

  “I bet she’s in there,” Brynn whispered, almost to herself.

  “Brynn, I know you were right about the city…or facility…or whatever it is. But that doesn’t mean that your nightmares are true too. You just have to remember that at the end of the day, those were just part of your imagination,” Ty said reasonably.

  “He’s right,” Jonah agreed. “You can’t let some bad dreams keep you from discovering the truth when you’re so close,” he said, trying to make her see reason.

  She thought this over for a moment. Somewhere, deep inside of her, Brynn knew that the Angel was in that building. But even with this knowledge, she wasn’t about to abandon everything she had worked so hard for.

  “I say we drink the rest of our water, change, and get in there. No waiting for tomorrow night,” Brynn proposed, afraid that if they waited another day she’d lose her nerve completely.

  As it was, she was already shaking with the idea of coming face-to-face with her nightmare.

  “Shouldn’t we try to plan this out?” Ty asked, though he wasn’t looking at Brynn.

  He looked over her head at Jonah, knowing already what Brynn’s answer would be. She turned to face Jonah, her eyes pleading.

  “I’m surprised at how little security they have here,” Jonah said, eyeing the door skeptically. “I mean…it’s actually kind of suspicious. No cameras? No wall? No guards? Something has to be wrong with that.”

  “Seriously?” Brynn said in disbelief. “You’re really going to complain that after everything we’ve been through, it’s too easy to get into the facility?”

  “It’s just suspicious is all I’m saying.”

  “They probably didn’t bother with
security when they knew no one would be crazy enough to jump off of a train to get here,” Brynn said.

  Jonah was silent for a moment, his eyes far away as he considered what Brynn was saying.

  “I guess there’s no time like the present,” he said, his old grin returning to his face as he pulled the water bottles and white clothing from his bag. “Oh,” he said, looking at the clothes before looking up at Ty. Ty sighed.

  “I kind of figured. How would you know to bring extra clothes for me?” he said in resignation.

  The three were silent for a moment, squatting behind the bush and looking at the small pile of clothes between them.

  “Take mine,” Jonah finally said.

  “What?” Ty asked, so shocked by this generous offer that didn’t seem to have an ulterior motive.

  “Take my white clothes,” Jonah repeated.

  “What will you wear?” Ty asked, looking from the pile of clothing to Jonah in his all black outfit.

  “I’ll just wear this.”

  “You’ll be like a walking target,” Brynn said, her brow furrowed in concern.

  “You won’t have any way to hide,” Ty added.

  “Not to be rude Ty, but I think out of the two of us, I’m by far the more sneaky and resourceful. If someone’s going in there wearing all black, it should probably be me,” Jonah said, laughing at his own joke even through the worry in his voice.

  “I’m definitely not letting you do that for me,” Ty insisted, though Brynn was seriously considering what Jonah had said.

  It was true that stealth wasn’t exactly Ty’s strong suit. If one of them needed a little extra help once they were inside the facility, it would be Ty.

  “I promise, you don’t have to owe me anything for this. Just stop whining and put the clothes on. We’re running out of time,” Jonah said as he drank the rest of his warm water out of the bottle. “And empty those bottles. You’re going to need to get rid of your headaches before you get in there,” he instructed them.

  Brynn wasn’t quite sure how she felt about the entire situation, but she tried to trust that Jonah knew what he was doing. She quickly stripped out of her clothing with her back to the two boys and pulled on the white outfit, grateful for some clean clothes after spending the past two days sweating into the same outfit. She was aware of her dirty hands and tried to keep from streaking the new clothing with dirt as she emptied her own water bottle into her parched mouth and turned her attention back towards A1.

  The door to the facility was so unimpressive that she wondered if they weren’t actually breaking into a maintenance closet. The massive building that spread out for miles couldn’t actually be reduced to a single unguarded entrance, could it? She tried to spot security cameras attached to the walls of the building, but found nothing but an endless expanse of smooth concrete walls, unblemished by cameras, windows, or doors.

  “This is really it,” she said almost reverently as the three assessed the small distance between them and the base. “We’re really going inside.”

  “Assuming it’s not locked,” Ty said from beside her, pulling at the sleeves of his white outfit and looking over at Jonah guiltily.

  “It’s all right. I’m an expert at picking locks now. Just one of my many talents,” Jonah stated in such a cocky voice that Brynn had to suppress a laugh.

  “Just when I start to think you aren’t that bad,” Ty said, shaking his head.

  “Do you guys want me to be the human sacrifice and go see if the door is locked?” Jonah asked seriously, looking as if he were about to bolt toward the entrance at any moment.

  “We really don’t know anything about this place, do we?” Brynn asked, suddenly overwhelmed by their lack of knowledge. “I mean…we have absolutely no idea what we’re going to find in there,” she elaborated.

  “I know,” Jonah said. “Isn’t it exciting?”

  “We don’t know if we should be scared or excited.”

  “I’m voting for excited,” Jonah said, trying to emphasize his point.

  “What if we walk through the door and we just get killed? Point blank. No questions asked, they just kill us?”

  “Okay, I’m going to say that’s enough out of Brynn for right now,” Jonah said, placing his hand over her mouth. “I’m going to that door in about two seconds. You guys can either let me find out if the coast is clear or follow behind me. It’s up to you,” Jonah said.

  And with that he ran around the sparse cover of the bush and bolted straight for the door to A1.

  Chapter 25: Inside

  Ty and Brynn didn’t have much time to think as they watched their black-clad friend running through the soft sand toward the door of a very ominous looking facility. Brynn’s mind had gone blank and she was left with nothing more than her natural instincts, which told her to run as fast as she could so that Jonah didn’t die on her behalf.

  Not even bothering to grab their backpack full of supplies, Brynn sprinted after her friend. She wasn’t surprised to hear Ty following behind her, assuming that he had probably been waiting to follow her lead.

  Jonah had reached the front door before Brynn was even halfway to the facility. She watched him turn the handle and open the heavy metal entrance, white light pouring out of the building. At least she knew her dreams had been right about the bright interior.

  Once Ty and Brynn were finally at Jonah’s side, they peeked inside the building.

  “Well, we’re not dead,” Brynn whispered as they stepped into the stark white confines of the facility.

  Everything was blindingly bright and sterile, smelling like industrial cleaners and cotton. Jonah closed the door behind them, which resonated with a deep thud through the room.

  “What is this place?” Ty asked, looking around in amazement.

  Brynn hadn’t let herself try to make sense of the room once they had entered. Instead she had gone straight to doing a security check, but found, much to her surprise, that there weren’t any cameras visible in this room either.

  “They’re either really stupid or really confident that no one knows about this place,” Brynn said, trying to check every corner of the room for a hidden camera.

  “It’s like you said—why would someone jump off a train to find a city that doesn’t exist?” Jonah asked, his eyes flicking around the room like Brynn’s as he searched for cameras.

  “What are all of these tubes?” Ty asked.

  The room they stood in was completely white, as Brynn had expected. Jonah stood out like a sore thumb in his black outfit, but she tried to ignore that panic-inducing detail.

  Surrounding the three were rows of metal tubes that ran from the floor up into the ceilings. They each looked like they could fit a person inside of them and had a grey metal grate for a floor.

  “Are they for storage?” Brynn asked, though she wasn’t quite sure whom she was asking. It wasn’t like her friends knew any more about this place than she did.

  “I bet they’re elevators,” Jonah said, walking up to one of them and examining it closely. “I mean, look around. There aren’t any doors in here except the one we came in. These must be the only way deeper into the facility.”

  Brynn had been too busy looking for security cameras to notice the lack of doors until Jonah pointed it out. Now it seemed obvious what the tubes were intended for, though their size startled her.

  “They can only fit one person inside at a time,” she said, her voice cracking slightly at the chilling implications of this statement.

  “We have to go in alone,” Ty echoed, sounding as haunted by this idea as Brynn, though he didn’t know the real reason for her distress.

  The tubes had brought a violent flashback of her nightmare with the Angel. She had been strapped inside of a clear tube that the Angel filled slowly with water, causing Brynn to choke and drown as the woman smiled down at her. The endless similarities of this facility to the one in her nightmares were setting her on edge and she feared she’d soon lose her nerve if they didn’
t move quickly.

  “Well…pick a floor, I guess,” Jonah said, stepping up to one of the metal tubes with its door already open for him.

  He looked over at Brynn questioningly until she and Ty followed suit. After all, if Jonah was willing to be brave when his clothing was practically begging to be spotted, she could be too.

  “Promise me you’ll be careful if anything happens to me and I’m not there to protect you?” Ty asked Brynn, grabbing her arm to stop her from going into the tube.

  He held his pinky out, causing Brynn to smile up at him. She locked her pinky with his and they both kissed their thumbs.

  “Promise,” she agreed before releasing his hand and stepping up to her own elevator.

  “Third floor?” she asked, raising an eyebrow at Jonah.

  “See you there,” he said, giving her one last wink before he stepped into the tube that instantly sealed itself behind him.

  Brynn glanced over at Ty on her other side nervously. He looked unhappy with the idea of letting Brynn out of his sight but gave her a brave smile and stepped into his own tube. Finally, Brynn slowly stepped into the elevator, letting the world close off behind her.

  The sound in the tube was muted and echoless, the air feeling all wrong with the constant breeze that seemed to come from nowhere. She looked down at the buttons in front of her only to find that they weren’t typical elevator buttons. Instead they seemed to be broken down into three separate columns headed with the titles Test 1, Test 2, and Test 3, followed by a series of numbers that she guessed indicated floors.

  She tried to open the elevator door to step out and give her friends new instructions since the third floor could be one of three floors, but the doors didn’t budge. No matter what she did, she was unable to get back out of the elevator.

  She hoped Ty and Jonah would be in sync enough with her to just go to the third floor of the first test, though a fear was already growing in her stomach that the three might be separated. Trying to ignore the fear, she firmly pushed the button for the third floor of Test 1.

  The metal circle below her feet shuddered into life as Brynn lowered slowly into the floor of the facility, and felt panic wash over her. She could imagine Jonah at that moment, wearing a smirk, and Ty whose brow would be furrowed. She wasn’t sure which expression she matched more.