by Lucy Adler
She didn’t pause to look around, she just focused on Jake and making sure he could take each step. They shuffled down the long, metallic hall, their feet squeaking and squawking on the polished floor.
“So much for being stealthy, eh?” Daria laughed. But Jake wasn’t saying anything. He seemed barely conscious. At least his feet were still moving.
_______________________
“I thought you gave him a shot already?”
“I did! But it can take up to two weeks for full suppression to occur.”
Miss Croft and Dr. Reston stared at the screens in the security room, watching as Jake’s form became visible after the shadows cast by his little magic trick had dissipated. They saw Daria lifting him up and the two of them exiting through the double-doors, out of sight of their cameras.
“Well, aren’t you going to send someone after them?” Miss Croft yelled at the doctor.
“Of course,” he replied. “Calm yourself, Angela.”
Then he picked up a phone. After a few seconds, he started speaking.
“Get your men to the exits at Corridors C, B, and F. We have two assets that need to be contained. A boy and a girl.”
As he hung up, Jake Two opened the door to the room and joined them in front of the monitors.
“What’s going on?” he asked, their faces clearly frustrated.
“The girl and the prisoner have escaped,” Miss Croft said.
“They have not,” the doctor corrected her. “And if you can’t control yourself, Angela, I’m going to have to ask you to step aside.”
“I’m fine,” she barked at him.
“Escaped?” Jake Two asked in confusion. “How?”
“It doesn’t matter, Eric. We’ll have them soon enough,” The doctor replied.
“Do you want me to go after them?”
The doctor thought about it for a moment.
“Yes, actually. That’s a good idea. Let’s make sure they don’t double back. They’ve exited through the North Passage. I’ve dispatched men to the corridors that feed into it. They’ll have to leave through one of them. See what you can do.”
“Right on,” Eric said. He was always excited when the doctor assigned him some kind of ‘mission’. As important as his job had been, he had found it pretty boring just hanging out with Daria the last few weeks.
Eric darted out of the room and ran off down the hall.
“What do you see in that idiot?” the doctor asked Angela.
“Just shut up, Charles.”
_______________________
“Um, so, how far are we going?” Daria tried to ask Jake.
His eyes fluttered a little and he mouthed something, but she couldn’t hear him.
“What?” she asked, feeling absolutely horrible that she had to pressure him. But she really needed to know where to go.
“They’ll... waiting...” His head dropped forward again as his words trailed off.
“Waiting? You mean, they’re going to be waiting for us? How do we...” Daria let her own words trail off this time, knowing it was silly to try to interrogate him right now.
He knows what he’s doing, right? I mean, he found me. He did whatever that was back there. He’s gotta have a plan, right?
Then she felt something. It reverberated deep inside her, in that same place where she knew it was Jake she was looking at earlier. An instinct or a sense of some kind. Only this time, a word formed, and she could see it projecting itself across her mind.
Just one word.
TRUST.
Her mind and body were revived by it, her questions falling away as she felt direction, even purpose. She still didn’t know where they were going but she knew they were going somewhere. And that they were going to get there.
They came to the end of the initial passageway. It stopped at a T-junction, where they were forced to turn left or right.
Daria looked at Jake. His eyes were closed, head hanging limply. She had felt what little strength he had in his arms and legs starting to fail as she bore more and more of his weight on herself.
Which way??
She looked both directions.
Both looked the same. More metal halls.
Just then, she heard the echo of a door opening.
She struggled to balance Jake and look behind her at the same time. But when she did, she saw the other Jake in the distance.
Crap.
“Stop this now, Dary! That guy’s a liar and a criminal. He’s only going to get you into trouble.”
“Liar?! You wanna talk lies, what was that I saw with you and Miss Croft?!”
“That’s not important now, Dary. Just drop him and give it up.”
He was walking towards her as they spoke but now his pace picked up a little. She knew she didn’t have much time. And without Real Jake’s help, she wouldn’t be able to fight him off.
TRUST.
But how? Trust what?
She looked down each of the halls.
I can’t outrun him with Jake hanging on me.
She looked back again and Eric was much closer now.
“It’s over, Dary.”
I hate it when he calls me that.
But then, just as Daria was bracing herself for a struggle, something unexpected happened.
It was almost too hard to believe, even though she was watching it with her own eyes.
As Eric came within ten feet of her, someone else suddenly stood between them. But it wasn’t so much a someone, as a something. It had the outline of a person, a huge person, but it was shadowy, like earlier when Jake had appeared beside her. The shadow wasn’t completely dark, though, so that Daria could still make out Eric’s face through it.
And he looked terrified.
“Stop,” the figure said to him. Its voice was oddly normal. It had an ethereal echo to it but Daria wasn’t sure if that was the hallway or the voice itself.
Eric obeyed. He froze, actually, staring at where she imagined the eyes would be on the imposing figure.
Then it reached out with its right hand and touched him on the forehead. It was just a touch, not a strike or an attack. But in response, Eric’s eyes slowly closed. His body shook slightly, his hands most of all. Then his knees gave out and he collapsed to the floor.
The form turned and faced Daria now.
Her hands were shaking, too. The relief of being free from Eric’s pursuit was now mixed with anxiety over the complete and total unknown of what this thing was, and what its intentions were for her and Jake.
Then it spoke.
“Go.”
It raised its hand and Daria flinched. But it didn’t touch her. Instead, it pointed down the left corridor.
“Go,” it repeated.
“Yeah, ok, going,” Daria said nervously. In the stress of the moment, she had let Jake’s body slip down a little lower toward the floor. She rallied herself and with a burst of energy she pulled him back up at her side. Then the two of them shuffled down the hall as quickly as they could, while the dark figure watched from behind.
_______________________
The facility was like a rabbit warren. Corridor after corridor, doorway after doorway.
Who designs these things??
As they approached another dead-end, there stood before them another pair of double-doors. Above them, there was a sign that read:
Exit to Outside
Really? Is it that easy? Just... exit?
Daria inched closer, Jake still clinging to her side. But as she went to wave the wristband over the knobs again, she heard voices. Lots of voices.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” she said quietly.
In addition to the voices, there were heavy footsteps, like people in boots running back and forth outside.
“They must have called in security,” she said to Jake. He didn’t reply.
What do we do now?
Then she heard more footsteps, only they weren’t from the other side of the door. They were from behind,
from the way they had just come.
Did Eric wake up?
She helped Jake over against the wall and let him slide down gently, until he was sitting on the floor.
Alright, let’s do this, I guess.
As Daria was readying herself to fend off Eric for as long as she could, the footsteps rounded the corner down the hall.
But it wasn’t Eric.
Actually, Daria had no idea who it was. Just some guy in a white jacket similar to Dr. Reston’s.
“Daria!”
“Who are you?” she demanded.
“It’s ok, I’m here to help.”
“How do I know that?”
“I’m a friend of Jake’s,” he said, pointing at him on the floor.
Daria glanced back and forth between them. She obviously couldn’t ask Jake to confirm it.
“How do I know you’re not making it up? Like everything else in this place!”
“Because I just saved you,” he said calmly.
“What are you talking about?”
“The dream figure you saw. That was me.”
Dream figure??
Daria still wasn’t sure she could trust him.
“Well, how do I know you weren’t just watching the whole thing? Through a camera, or something?”
He took a few steps closer and Daria felt her body tense up. She was thinking about whether she would punch or kick him first.
Then he extended his right hand, palm up. His eyes looked so peaceful.
“Jake said I should call you Dasha or Dashy. But definitely not Dasher.”
As quickly as it had tensed up, her whole body settled again. Her knees wobbled a little and her arms felt like jelly. She looked over at Jake, sitting almost lifeless against the wall. She looked at the stranger, staring back at her with his steady eyes and welcoming gesture.
“I - I don’t know what to do,” she said.
“It’s ok,” the stranger replied with a smile, “that’s why I’m here. Just trust, Dashy.”
She felt tears fill her eyes as she heard the word that had been rising up inside her now spoken out loud. The sound and the image met as one in her mind, and the peace she had seen in the stranger’s eyes flooded her consciousness.
“Let’s get him up,” the man said, stepping over to Jake. He lifted him to his feet and each of them took one of his arms over their shoulders.
“There are security guards out there, I think,” Daria said, nodding toward the double-doors.
“I know. Give me that wristband Jake gave you.”
Daria did as he said. The man dropped it on the floor and crushed it with his foot, then picked it up again and slipped it into his pocket. Then he took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Get in here! Now! We have wounded!”
The double-doors soon flew open, banging against their respective walls. Six security officers came through and surrounded them. They were wearing black from head to toe - shiny helmets, heavy coats and pants, and even heavier looking boots. Their weapons looked like traditional guns but they were actually highly advanced stun devices that could render someone immobile for up to twelve hours.
“Are you ok, Dr. Lee?” one of the guards said, his voice a little muffled under the helmet.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. It’s these two here,” he said breathlessly. “They tried to stop the escapees and were injured. I was attacked as well but the only thing they broke was this,” he said as he pulled the wristband out of his pocket and showed them its nearly-shattered surface. “That’s why I shouted for you.”
“I’m glad you did, sir. Come with us.”
The guards led them outside, past the other security officers and over to a vehicle not unlike the one that had brought Daria to the Institute in the first place.
“Climb inside there, kids,” the stranger said. Daria pretended her knee was injured and struggled to get up into the cabin. They didn’t have to pretend with Jake, though. One of the guards helped her set him inside.
“Thank you,” she said sincerely, trying to play the best victim she could.
“No problem,” he replied, nodding his head.
“I’m going to get these kids to a proper medical facility. I think the boy needs immediate attention,” the stranger said to the guards.
“Do you want us to send some men with you?”
“No, I’ll be fine. You need to catch the escapees. They’re very dangerous, Captain.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I think they’ll be exiting through Corridor B. That’s the way they ran after they attacked us.”
The men took his advice and the three of them were soon left alone.
The stranger came around the side of the vehicle and checked on Daria and Jake.
“Are you ok back here?”
“Fine, yeah.”
“Make sure he doesn’t bang his head once we start moving.”
“Ok,” Daria said. She sat down on the floor with Jake and held him close.
“Oh, and these are for you,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out two protein-enriched fruit bars. They were a typical snack for the citizens of Progress. “It’s going to be a long trip, you’ll probably get hungry.”
“Thanks. Oh, and what’s your name?”
“Corey.”
“Thanks again, Corey.”
The man reached inside and patted her foot.
“You’re safe now, Dasha. For real this time. Remember that, because everything you know is about to change.”
10
Month: 5 | Day: 14-15 | Year: 58
TWO MEETINGS
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
“This is taking forever, huh?” the boy said.
“Yeah. Pretty boring,” the girl answered.
They were quiet for a while as the two of them stood in a queue, waiting for their medical examination. There must have been 200 kids lined up, waiting for their turn to be herded like cattle into one of five tents where doctors and nurses would run tests on them. They weren’t painful tests, just a few scans and a quick prick with a needle to get a drop of blood. It took about three minutes. But who really enjoys seeing the doctor, even if it’s easy?
“So, are you new here?” the girl asked. “I don’t remember seeing you around.”
“Yup. My parents just moved us here for my dad’s job. Some big tech thing. I mean, that’s pretty much what everyone does around here, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so,” the girl laughed.
“You been going to this school for long?” he asked her.
“My whole life,” she said with a sigh.
“You don’t like it?”
“Who likes school?”
“I guess you’re right,” he laughed.
“I mean, I know I need to do it. To be successful, and stuff. And I’m good at it, so that makes it a little easier.”
She flipped some of her hair back over her shoulder as she said this last part, then tucked it behind her ear.
“I’m Jake, by the way,” the boy said.
“Daria.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said with a big smile.
“You too,” she said, smiling in return.
They chatted about mundane things, from school work to daily chores, until eventually it was Daria’s turn in the tent.
“Well, I guess I’ll see you around?” she said with a wave as she started walking towards the nurse who had just called her name.
“Yeah, I hope so,” Jake said, giving her a wave back.
_______________________
The nurse placed her hand on Daria’s lower back and escorted her through the flaps on the tent, into the examination area. An older man in a long white lab coat greeted her.
“Hello, Daria! My name is Dr. Reston. It’s nice to meet you!”
“Hi.” She realised after she replied that she hadn’t even listened to his greeting, or his name. She was on auto-pilot. Mostly because she was still t
hinking about that Jake kid.
“Let’s see here,” the doctor said, sitting down on a stool in front of her and reading from the tablet in his hand. “Your file says you’re fourteen. Is that correct?”
“Yup.”
“And you’re a track star, from what I can see here!”
“I wouldn’t say ‘star’,” Daria corrected him, “but I’m pretty good.”
“Nonsense! You’ve won some medals. That’s great stuff, Daria. No reason to be modest.”
The doctor got up again and walked over to a large rectangular booth. It wasn’t really a booth in the traditional sense, though. It looked like someone had set up two square arches on a platform. They were perpendicular to each other, crisscrossing in the middle. If you looked down from above, they formed a giant plus sign. And there were bands of sensors running along the entire length of the structure, used to scanned the body for a variety of data points.
Daria had seen one of these before, so she wasn’t nervous when the doctor asked her to step inside.
“That’s good right there. Just stand perfectly still, dear,” the nurse said. Then she flipped a few switches and a soft hum followed. It lasted about ninety seconds, then the nurse flipped the switch off and told Daria to step out.
“Let’s just have a look at this and then you’ll be on your way,” the doctor said, looking down at his tablet as the data from the body scanner appeared.
His brow furrowed. He seemed to catch himself doing it and tried to replace his concerned look with a smile. Daria hadn’t noticed anything, though. Why would she pay attention to the doctor’s face when she had Jake’s still fresh in her mind?
The man nodded toward a tray with several syringes on it. The nurse grabbed one and then placed her hand on Daria’s back again, nudging her toward the only chair in the tent.
“Can you have a quick seat over here, dear?” she said.
“Is something wrong?” Daria asked as she became aware of her surroundings again.
“Not at all. You’re as healthy as can be!” the doctor assured her. “You just need what we call a ‘boost’.”
“What’s that?”
