by Candice Lim
“We’re behind schedule.” All heads pivoted to Vaxine, awaiting new orders. “Initiate Plan B. Head downstairs now.”
Axon sprang out of crouching position and sped down the flight of stairs. We followed him. The staircase was dimly lit but enough to lead us to the lower floors.
“Where to?” said Axon when he reached Basement One. His eyes scanned around, taking in the surroundings. We followed suit.
“A couple of turns away.” Vaxine took off and hustled through the door with us behind her. But her hand shot up when we skidded to another stop. Her face crumpled in frustration. When her head cocked up, the frown was replaced with a worried expression.
My heartbeat quickened.
“What is it?” Axon asked.
“Another change of plan,” gasped Vaxine. “More are coming our way.”
“We got a Plan C?” cried Axon.
Vaxine turned around and retreated down the hallway we had come from. We followed and slipped into another staircase where Vaxine read her tablet again. “They’re still onto us. Go down!”
Axon hurried us along and took up the rear. He vamoosed down the steps and swung into the shadows of a flight of stairs stretching to the right when the door popped open. Holding onto the railings as I craned my neck. My hands were sweating, partly from the fear of being discovered. But mainly because we were falling further behind schedule by the second.
Two men slipped from the shadows, both spruced up in lab coats and looked to be in their seventies; gray hair and sagging jowls. Both reached into their coats and produced cigarettes. A man’s voice cut through the ensuing clouds of smoke. “How many more lives have to be sacrificed before the new antiviral drug is developed?”
The second man replied, “Cash told us not to worry. After all, Hershey is with us now.”
The first man snorted, a puff of gray smoke billowed out of his nose and mouth. “You trust her?” His wrinkles deepened like cracks in old wood as he grimaced. “I don’t.” With another pull on the butt, he exhaled another cloud of smoke.
“Didn’t you know Hershey is one of the co-founders?”
“The so-called ‘Queen of Genetics’.”
“So you do know.”
The first man snapped at his colleague. “That doesn’t mean I have to trust her. If she was so smart, she wouldn’t be imprisoned here. Well, maybe she’s another mercenary bitch.”
“One is quite enough.”
I turned around. Axon’s arms were around Vaxine as she wriggled to free herself. Her strength was obvious, but Vaxine was still no match for Axon. But again to be fair, Derrick was helping Axon, pressing her down.
“Calm down, Vaxine. Focus on our mission to save Hershey,” Axon murmured.
“Let me go,” muttered Vaxine. “I’ll show them who’s a real bitch.”
“They aren’t worth it, Vaxine,” added Derrick.
The first man put out his cigarette and glanced around. “Did you hear something?”
My heart jumped as my muscles tensed. None of us moved, all still in positions. I closed my eyes as my mind worked out an escape plan.
“Nothing. Maybe a few guards are on their break.”
“Ah, forget it. Maybe I think too much.”
“As usual.”
I gasped with relief.
“Okay, I yield.” Vaxine sighed and stopped struggling. Her whole body slumped against Axon’s chest as though she’d lost all her strength.
Axon patted her shoulder. “All right, easy there.”
Vaxine pulled away and elbowed Axon right in the ribs. His red face grimaced from suppressing a scream as he doubled over in pain. Derrick reached out to stop Vaxine. But it was too late, she had slipped out of cover and revealed herself to the enemy.
“No, Vaxine. They are senior citizens!” Axon yelled as Vaxine pulled out her twin Zappers.
The two men stumbled back with surprised looks on their faces. “Who the hell are you?”
Axon shot to his feet and pounced onto Vaxine, bringing both of them to the ground with a thud. As they fell, a shot was fired at them and hit it the wall. Vaxine was lying on her back and Axon was holding her down. All turned to the two old men, stunned into silence. The first man was holding a Zapper at chest level. His finger was still on the trigger and a trail of smoke rose from its muzzle.
“No, Axon, they are no ordinary senior citizens!” Vaxine shoved Axon off her. She rolled towards the men and bounced off to her feet. In a swift movement, she aimed her Zappers at the two men and fired. With a cry, the two men dropped to the ground.
Axon pulled himself up as Derrick and I broke cover. He glanced at the unconscious bodies and turned to Vaxine. “It won’t be long until they find us. Do we have direct access to the CCTVs in Cash’s office?”
“No,” said Vaxine. “I can only control those within a single mile radius. There’s limit to what we can do.”
“Guess we have no choice,” remarked Derrick. “Better get going before these folks wake up.”
Vaxine nodded and shot upstairs. We followed, returning to the same floor and exited through the same door where we had come from.
“The control room is right in front.” Vaxine pocketed her tablet and retrieved her twin Zappers. She was the first to reach the door. She kicked it open and fired off a few rounds.
I couldn’t see what was going on but I heard the cries. There were a couple of people inside the room and they were all men.
“Hurry!” Vaxine disappeared into the room. We caught up seconds later. Axon was holding the door as we poured inside.
Bodies were sprawled on the ground. All men wearing dark olive uniforms in the autumn of their lives. Coffee cups dotted the consoles and monitors. The spilled beverage streaked the marble floor. The wretched look on their faces suggested they had been sleep-deprived.
“I can’t find her.” Vaxine went over to a monitor. Her gaze raced over the arrays of colorful buttons. The team had huddled around her, all glancing at multiscreens dotted the whole wall. There was footage from all over the facility. They flickered and changed scenes every few seconds. Even faster when Vaxine’s fingers tapped on the buttons.
“The ORF is massive. You can imagine the number of CCTVs it has,” said Derrick. “Give it some time before we locate Hershey.”
“Guess that’s our last shot.” As exasperated Axon was, he had to agree Derrick was right.
☣☣☣☣☣☣
The operator frowned and turned to face the head of security sitting behind her. “Sir, no one’s reporting from the control room.”
The head regarded her and thumped the arm of his swivel chair in irritation. “The boys are having their beauty sleep again.”
She returned to her screen. “Should I call the supervisor?”
“No need.” The head of security frowned and tapped the screen of his speakerphone. “Steve, are you there?” No answer. He rose from the chair which squeaked in protest.
The operator turned to him, her expression mirroring his.
“Something’s not right here.” The head of security exited the security control center and made for the staircase.
When he barged through the door and turned around at mid-floor, he got the shock of his life. Two men in lab coats were lying unconscious on the floor. Limbs spread in all directions, they looked like stranded starfish. He went to their sides and checked their pulses: still alive.
He breathed a sigh of relief. Alarms ran riot in his head. He sprang up and burst out through another exit door. The first thing that met his eyes was the open door of the control room.
Footsteps came from the other end of the hallway. He turned around and caught a fleeting sight of shadows disappearing around the corners. Pursing his lips, he glared into the empty corridor and placed a finger at his earpiece. “Attention all security units! ORF has been compromised. Intruders detected at Basement One. Code Red. Initiate all facility lockdown and security protoco
ls.”
☣☣☣☣☣☣
We hobbled on our feet as a barricade of armored guards formed behind us, blocking the only escape route and aiming guns from all sides. It was a dead end.
“Hands in the air!” A voice shouted from the throng.
I glanced up at Vaxine, whose face was as grim as the others, while the guards surrounded us. They all possessed the same height and crewcuts. Men and women in black uniforms displaying a staggering degree of discipline. Our footsteps suddenly ceased, no one shifted feet. None of us made a move or sound. It was obvious none of us were not giving up.
“Where are these scums?” Another voice boomed from down the hallway. From the tone and the tapping of high heels, I guessed it was a woman. The shadow emerged first and the figure came into view. She stood between me and the guards.
The woman was clad in a silver leotard that hugged her hourglass body like a second skin. Her trench coat flowed majestically behind her like a pair of wings. Her hair and lips were red like a furnace. They stood out on her pale white complexion.
I remembered. The look in her eyes, so full of energy and vision, and so powerful especially when she smirked.
I knew this woman, and the woman knew me.
“Hello, Roxy Riley.”
A storm of emotions rolled through me, eating away at me inside. It felt like drowning, and my hopes were being drained away. “No, it can’t be you.” All heads and eyes turned to me, and a small frown crossed Cash’s face. I pulled out the folded poster I always kept in my pocket.
Cash took a step forward. “Excuse me?”
Axon whispered behind me, “Is this part of the plan?”
I held my stomach as though someone had punched me. The pain was real, gnawing deep inside. My lips trembled with sorrow and disbelief as I spoke to Cash.
“I looked up to you! Whenever I faced hardship, be it in life or lab, it was you I remembered. It was your words that inspired me years ago.”
☣☣☣☣☣☣
“It doesn’t matter to us what you want to be when you grow up. But you must remember, life is short. Do something that makes you jump out of bed every morning without the alarm clock and fall into the bed anticipating tomorrow,” Mom said.
“In short, find your passion and pursue it mercilessly,” Dad added. I nodded while selecting my lunch at the school cafeteria on the Junior School Orientation Day, although I wasn’t even sure what kind of spread I preferred; tuna or peanut butter?
But in real life, Dr. Cash was something wonderful to behold. I’d never seen a smile so bright or eyes so sparkling, like the future held no boundaries. So shiny was her white lab coat that I thought it had captured the stars and weaved them into the fabric. As Cash moved, the coat billowed like the wings of an angel. Her hair streamed over her shoulders and down her waist like a river of ruby.
She looked in my direction. I was so shy I pretended I didn’t notice it. “Um, Mom, look at that person. Doesn’t he look familiar?”
Mom turned, a frown creasing her face. “Who? Don’t fool around.”
“Hello there, Sir and Madam.”
Too late.
My parents stopped in their tracks. When I looked back, the woman was staring at me. Maybe it was my imagination, I saw a halo behind her head. “Have you heard of the National Junior Science Program?” In her hand was a colorful brochure. Over her head, a striking banner read, ‘In reason we trust’.
“Yeah, we have.” Dad nodded. “It’s gaining huge popularity among youngsters and parents throughout recent years, apparently.”
“Are you from the Community?”
“No, but we work closely with them. Or you can say we do the dirty work for them.” Dad sniggered. “We are attorneys.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful.” The woman squeezed her hands together in delight. “Have you thought of introducing your daughter to the Community?” She winked at me.
“Um, that’s up to her,” said Dad casually. “I mean, if she wants to do it, then I have no problem with that.”
The woman smiled and dropped into a crouch in front of me. The halo was gone. It was just the lights dotting the high ceiling. “Hi, little child, do you want to be a hero and save the world?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged.
“Come, look at me. Have you ever looked up at the beautiful night sky and wondered what stars are made of? Are you curious about why the grass is green and sky blue? Do you know what makes you, human?” Her eyes sparkled like diamonds.
I stared at her, dumbstruck. “No.”
She paused for a moment, straight-faced, then smiled. “Then, do you want to know why?”
“Um, yeah okay?”
“Then, step into the world of science, these answers are yours to discover.” She rose to stand, giving me the illusion of an angel ascending back to the sky.
“No, wait. What if I can’t do it?” I hesitated.
“Never give up. The world needs you, little hero of tomorrow.”
☣☣☣☣☣☣
“Oh, I was your childhood idol? Whoa, I’m flattered.” Cash laughed and made sure everyone heard her loud and clear. “Then, you have disappointed me royally! The last time I recalled, you failed your Genetics, you little scamp.”
The bud of hope I thought would blossom into a flower of success now withered and died. All this while, I had been living in a fantasy delusion where the Community members were all angels.
“Truth be told. I don’t even remember meeting you. There were so many little girls and boys who wanted to be like me. Even more now, of course,” snorted Cash. “Dreaming of how wonderful their futures would be clad in shiny lab coats. Ah, that innocence is so priceless! Roxy, you are not the only one. You’re not special.”
I already knew that but having to hear it from the lips of a person I once adored hurt differently. Her every word was poison, trying to rip me into pieces. A lump of sorrow mixed with anger sat in my throat and I swallowed it.
“Wait, there’s something I don’t understand.” Her brows drew together again. “The Community houses only the best and the brilliant. Why would they even take you in? You’re nothing.”
“That’s enough, Cash.” With a swift movement, Vaxine whipped out her Zapper and shot Cash right in the chest.
Cash cried and keeled over. It was an awkward fall, like cutting the strings of a marionette. Her white coat fluttered and draped over her body like the folded wings of a silver moth.
More troops pulling out and brandishing various firearms. The security squad cocked their heavy-duty rifles at Axon, who was pulling out his twin Zappers.
Vaxine brought a grenade to her mouth and bit the pin, pulled it out, and threw the grenade at the advancing squad behind them. The grenade rolled to their feet. The squad broke apart into panicking bodies, belting out an unprofessional chorus of yells.
“Grab her!” Vaxine ordered Derrick before the grenade detonated.
An explosion and acrid smoke filled the room, debris rained down from the ceiling. I found myself locked in an iron grip. I turned around and met Derrick. I stopped struggling and stared at him, awaiting his instructions.
“Come!” It wasn’t a request. I allowed myself to be hauled over the shuddering but paralyzed bodies. I saw their blank dazed stares but that was all they could muster. I followed Derrick’s lead, walking over them. I accidentally kicked onto one of the unlucky bodies and skidded away.
“Don’t let them get away!” That was the last voice I heard as I turned a corner.
The corridors were clear. But the sound of footsteps hung in the air. Even when we had left the battlefield, Derrick hadn’t let me go, as though afraid I would slip away.
We ran as quickly as our tired feet could carry us and stopped to check out every corner. Miraculously, no one had come to stop us. But it was not good news for Vaxine and Axon who had stayed back to defend us. It only meant they had more enemies to handle.
&nbs
p; After what seemed an eternity, Derrick found the door where we first came in. He slammed his body into it, the tampered door budged easily. The warm breeze reeked of the sea, like the breath of a thousand fishes. We sprinted across the pier where Wifey was parked and had gone invisible.
“Wifey, acknowledge change of command protocol!” Derrick shouted.
He raised his hand when the boat appeared, revealing itself from cover. “Acknowledged, Derrick,” an emotionless voice chimed from the speaker.
“Return to checkpoint!”
