I gave myself a few minutes to relax before beginning the next part in the test. After all, what was the point in rushing? And earlier, when I’d sunk to the bottom of the room, I’d been sure I was about to die. Waking up here was a surprise. A good one, I guess; but still a surprise. For almost drowning, I felt surprisingly well. And I wasn’t the least bit hungry or thirsty. Maybe they’d given me some kind of medicine while I slept.
Would this be the end of the test? I had been in the test for, what was probably three days by now. This was my fourth. Maybe it really would be over. The thought of how long it had been woke me up thoroughly and I no longer felt like resting. I simply wanted to finish the test as soon as possible. So I drew in one more deep breath and stood up. Whatever lay in that hallway didn’t matter. I was ready for whatever it was.
I walked through the door and stopped short. What I saw before me; it couldn’t be true. I was taken aback. What I saw was a door—a door, at the end of the hall. And above the door was a black X—a small one, but definitely an X. So this really was the end of the test. But there wasn’t anything between myself and the door. How could it be so easy? I didn’t feel happy though. I just didn’t think it could possibly be so simple.
I approached the door slowly, beginning to notice just how strange this place was. It was wider than a regular hallway and the ceiling was much higher. The floor was made out of some kind of metal, I think. But I couldn’t be sure. Not at all shiny it was an odd, dull shade of white. The walls were also white but appeared to be made from something else. The whole place definitely seemed heavily built.
I quickened my pace. The faster I could get out of here the better. The door was twenty yards away. Everything was so quiet. I was getting close to the door, so, so close. Something about this wasn’t right at all. When the door was ten yards away I had a thought it actually might be true. Maybe it would be this simple. Then the floor directly in front of me collapsed inward, forming a large gap between me and the floor on the other side by the door.
I skidded to a stop. The gap was much too large to step over, but maybe I could leap over it if I got a running start. But even then it would be close. And what if I slipped and didn’t get high enough to make it? Maybe I could climb down one side and then up the other.
I peered over the edge. Thirty feet below, sharp circlets of blades stuck up in all directions; spinning and whirling. Something about them looked odd. Almost as if they were ready to explode at any moment. Looking up, I saw the ceiling above the pit now had identical blades. Climbing down definitely wouldn’t work. So, as usual, I was left with no choice. I had to jump.
I backed up, almost afraid to think about what I was about to do. When I’d backed up far enough, I stopped and prepared myself. I would have to run fast, very fast. And leap further than ever before. I took a breath and concentrated on my jump, clearing my head of all other thoughts.
Then I began to run. I ran faster and faster, pushing my legs to make longer and quicker strides. I didn’t let anything distract me. Not memories, not fears, not anything. As I neared the gap I prepared myself to jump. I was only a few yards away when…without notice or warning, flames shot out from the ceiling and pit; forming a wall of fire.
I’d been running so fast, I didn’t have time to stop myself, so I thrust my weight backwards. My feet were jerked out from under me and I fell back, smacking my head on the floor. At first I laid there, dazed, but the flames were so hot that, despite my throbbing head, I managed to stumble away from the scorching heat. Then I lay clutching my head as if to hold it together, my vision making everything flash and spin.
No wonder the ceiling and pit had looked so strange. They’d actually been like sparks ready to ignite at any moment.
In my dazed state, I thought I heard a sound. Then I thought I felt the floor shake. But that couldn’t be true. Certainly, I was imagining it. But when I saw a chunk of the ceiling crumble and come crashing down a few feet away, I knew it was no illusion.
I struggled to get to my feet, gasping to catch my breath and ending up inhaling dust and fragments of debris. I looked around wildly. Everywhere, parts of the ceiling were crumbling. The door I’d first come in was blocked by huge chunks of it. There was no place to go. Having no time to think, I found myself running down the hall, straight towards the flames.
Time seemed to slow and in a single instant my life flashed before my eyes. In the midst of the crumbling ceiling raining down all around me, I saw all the faces of people I possibly would never see again. The thought crossed my mind that I’d already been in two situations where I’d thought that same thing. Both times I’d ended up making it out fine— would I now? And then, pushing off the ground, I jumped.
Soaring through the air, agonizing pain pierced every part of my body. I could never have imagined what it would be like. And I don’t know how it happened or what slowed me down, but I didn’t feel myself land on the other side, safe from the fire. Instead, I barely caught onto the edge of the floor as I fell, with one hand. I clung to it, every part of me screaming in pain. My hand slipped a little and I almost fell, but just then a thought occurred to me.
I realized that, if I got out of here the test would be over and I’d never have to go through anything like it again. With that realization I found new strength. I reached up, grabbing the edge with my other hand. Then I pulled upward with all my might. I pulled myself up, out of the fire and on to the cool ground in front of the door.
Being on fire is like knives digging into every part of you ripping your flesh free. Only, it’s worse because it doesn’t end, it just keeps going on and on.
And then I lost my grip on reality and the world spun away from me.
Floating— I was floating through an endless abyss. But the pain, the sensation of being enveloped in flames—it was gone. Only partially conscious, I was inside a drugged, hazy world. By ‘conscious’ I don’t mean I was awake. I mean my mind was present. My ability to think and comprehend things was absent however. When your mind is barely there you don’t exactly think. That is, you don’t have clear thoughts. It’s more like the thoughts float through your mind, passing you in a quick blur. You watch them—but that’s all. You can’t react or linger on them.
It was like I was in a completely dark place, that every once in a while, would lighten up and I could think a little clearer. (Most likely this was when the drugs began to wear off.) But just as quickly the light left and my mind once more fogged over, leaving me in darkness.
At one point, I felt an overwhelming cold take over me. It was a freezing icy feeling that I couldn’t even respond to. I couldn’t help it or do anything to get warm. But then I felt warmth seep in once more, and it was over.
Except for that one time, I had no feelings. No pain, no comfort; I couldn’t even feel what I was laying on. It just felt like I was floating, surrounded by something soft and fluffy. I couldn’t feel sadness, fear or even happiness. But not feeling anything wasn’t a good feeling at all. Because since I had nothing to feel, I was left with a deep, dark emptiness.
Floating; I was floating through one dark abyss after another, never really going anywhere—my mind, barely connected with the real world.
*****
My eyes fluttered open. A blurry room began to come slowly into focus. I was slipping out of the drugs. I somehow felt completely exhausted; as if I had a heavy weight pinning me down, and my mind was still hazy. I closed my eyes and tried to turn my head but even that small movement made a wave of dizziness pass over me. I wanted to go back into the drugs. I was just so tired. But as my mind cleared and the drugs lost their effect on me, I slowly began to feel less and less tired.
As I lay there, a thought suddenly occurred to me. I was done with the test. I could see Priscila, Kendall and my friends again. Soon, we could leave this place; go somewhere else—somewhere far away where we’d never have to go through anything like this ever again. My eyes flew back open and I tried to sit up, but thick bands around
my wrists, ankles and waist held me down. I was trapped again. When would I finally be free to just leave?
I lay back down and observed my surroundings. It was a hospital room—a gray, dull, hospital room. I was wearing a hospital gown and a white bracelet that read 'Patient two ninety-two' around my wrist. The furnishings consisted of the bed I was in, a few machines around my bed, and a small window and window seat. This honestly, was pointless, because the window looked out on a hallway. There were two exits as far as I could tell. One, which led into the hallway and the other, I couldn’t tell where. It had a keypad on it just like the elevators. Why all the secrecy around here? We’d be leaving soon anyway—right?
Just then, the locked door slid open. A cheery-looking nurse walked in, shutting the door behind her.
“How do feel?” she asked, as she began to disconnect the bands around my ankles.
“Pretty well for almost dying of thirst, nearly drowning and being burned alive,” I said. (I’m really not sure why, but her cheerful attitude irritated me.)
But, I guess my sarcasm passed her up because she went right on with her cheerful attitude.
“You know,” she commented. “You had four surgeries to help you recover. And we completed part two of the test while you slept.”
She began to check a few things on a large machine at the bedside.
“Only fourteen people including you, made it through all four stages of the test,” she said.
“What?” I said. “I thought everyone had to finish.”
“No, we just took them out when they couldn’t make it any further,” she said, disconnecting the band around my waist.
“How long was I in the fire?” I asked.
“About four seconds. We almost turned off the flames when you didn’t make it all the way across, but we decided to take a chance. And I’m glad we did.”
Glad? Were these people completely insane? They acted as if they were doing me a favor by letting me finish the test. Finish the test…
“My brother and sister...how long did they make it?”
“Your brother made it until about one a.m. the second night. Your sister made it until the room began to flood. Then her heart rate was abnormal and she was too weak to go any further. But don’t worry, they’re both fully recovered and will be released from the hospital tomorrow. Your sister’s been coming to see you every chance she gets since you got here. I’m sure she’ll be happy to see you awake. As a matter of fact, I think you’ll be able to leave the hospital with her tomorrow.”
“When can I see her?”
“I’ll get her as soon as I finish up taking a few tests on you. Your brother’s in a different section of the hospital though, so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to see him.”
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
“What’s the date?” I asked.
“March nineteenth.”
What? How could that be? Had it really been seven days since I was in the test? And if it had been seven days since I was in the test, than it had been eleven since I left the island.
But I was too tired to say anything else, so I just sat there while she checked my heart rate, temperature and blood pressure on a small screen, all while chattering on about things I didn’t care about. Like why I needed a certain surgery, or how a particular machine worked and why I needed it. But, mixed with the useless information I found out things I wanted to know. One of them was that Owen and Livia were both in a different section of the hospital. Also, she showed me a syringe and explained that its contents were what they’d been using to keep me unconscious. I don’t know why, but the information stuck in my head as if it could be useful to me later on. Finally she said:
“Well, we’re finished. I’ll go get your sister. It’ll only take a minute.”
I didn’t know what to think. I was finally going to see Priscila again. I should have been happy or excited. But, of course I wasn’t. Because I wouldn’t be happy with any of my friends until I knew we were all safe. And I knew we wouldn’t be safe until we’d left this place behind forever. Also, after everything the nurse had told me, I felt even more confused. She’d said only fourteen people had made it through the whole test. They’d made it seem as if we all would. And the fact that they’d risked letting me burn to death, just to see if I’d make it out or not…well, they’d also made it seem like the test was relatively safe.
Just then Priscila entered.
“Britta,” she said, "I’ve been waiting for you to wake up since you first got out of the test.” She sat down on the edge of the bed. “When I first saw you, I couldn’t even recognize you. You had horrible burns all over and you could only breathe while connected to a machine—they even had professionals come in, to cut and fix up your damaged hair.”
What? Why would they do that? Was it because they wanted me to look normal when I was in the outside world? Somehow, I didn’t think it was that. They’d already proven it wasn’t us they cared about—at least not in that way. So, there must be some other reason. I waited until the nurse had left to ask Priscila.
“Priscila, do you have any idea why they would spend so much time on me?”
She looked around, as if making sure there were no cameras. Then she leaned closer to me and began to speak in a low tone.
“I’m not sure exactly. But, I think it has to do with whatever we’re doing tomorrow—something we have to look nice for.”
“And, Britta,” she continued. “There’s something very weird going on around here.”
My heartbeat began to speed up.
“What is it?” I asked anxiously.
“Well, for one thing,” she said. “There’s a certain part of the hospital where no one, not even patients, can go. It doesn’t even have a window on the door, even though all the other doors in the hospital do. And it requires a passcode and keycard to get into it.”
A secret area in the hospital... If we were ever going to find out what these people were really using us for, we needed to find out what was behind that door. And we needed to find out soon.
“Priscila,” I said. “We’re going to find out what’s in that area.”
11
She gave a little gasp. But, at the same time she seemed excited. That was one way Vanissa, Priscila and I were all alike. We enjoyed excitement; adventure. Not Owen and Livia though, neither of them ever seemed to like it. Livia, had always been a little on the cautious side. And Owen could be daring, but he looked at things to realistically. The way I saw it, if you always picked the safe option, or only tried things you thought were ‘realistic’ you’d never get anywhere. If they’d been here Livia would have tried talking us out of it by reminding us how dangerous it was. Owen probably would have pointed out that chances were whatever plan we used wouldn’t work out perfectly. So, in a way, it was good they weren’t here. Because for what we were about to do, you’d have to be willing to take a lot of chances.
“How?” she asked. "I've looked for a way in dozens of times, but there's only one entrance and you can't get in without both a key card and passcode."
“I’m not actually sure yet,” I said. “We’ll need Vanissa to help us figure it out. Do you have any idea where she is?”
“She’s in room one hundred four. It’s not far from here. She woke up only yesterday. She made it through the whole test, like you. I can go get her now if you want.”
“Okay, I guess the sooner we get started the better.”
Ten minutes later, we were all gathered in my room, sitting on the bed and trying to come up with an idea. Vanissa was concentrating hard and looked as if she was just on the verge of figuring something out. Priscila was drawing out a map of halls surrounding the door and secret section. And I was trying as well to get an idea that could help us, but none were coming to mind. Suddenly Vanissa sat up straighter and said:
“I’ve got it!”
“You have a plan?” I asked hopefully.
“Well,” she said, with a small smile. “
It’s actually more like a strategy. Instead of having exact lines telling us where to go and what to do, like a plan, it’ll just give us the main idea.”
We spent the next half hour discussing Vanissa’s ‘strategy’ and changing it in different ways to fit the many possibilities of what could happen. The main idea of it was this: The halls closest to the door formed the shape of a T, with the door at the center where all the lines meet. On the corner, where the stem touches the left part of the crossbar there was a small room with a window. That’s where Priscila would hide and get the passcode. At both ends of the crossbar the halls turned a corner. That’s where Vanissa and I would hide and wait for someone to enter the door. Then I’d use my acting, combined with Vanissa as a distraction, to get a keycard.
Once we’d gone over everything, we agreed to meet again in my room at four o’clock.
I spent the rest of the day resting, casually walking past the entrance to the secret section and resting some more. I noticed that people seemed to go in and out of the door fairly often, so we wouldn’t have any trouble with having to wait around too long.
At precisely four o’clock, I sat on my bed awaiting Priscila and Vanissa. I’d gotten one of the nurses to get me some regular clothes, claiming the hospital gown was ‘uncomfortable’. It was just the same plain grey uniform from before, but at that point I didn’t mind. The door slid open and a very nervous looking duo entered my room. Vanissa had a glint of excitement in her eyes that I hadn’t seen since that day back on the aircraft.
“Ready?” she said.
“I’ll never be ready,” I said. "But if we waited until we were ready to do everything, we’d never get anywhere, would we?”
She smiled. I guess no matter how unprepared we were; at least we’d be with Vanissa who had probably spent the day planning out every possible scenario and what we’d do in it. Then I slid out of bed and followed them out the door.
When we reached our destination, we split up. Priscila ducked into the small room near the door and got into a position that she could easily spy on anyone in the outside hall. Vanissa and I split off, each waiting behind a separate corner of the crossbar on the T. As I waited I tried to stay as calm as possible. In my head, I got into character. I was supposed to be a confused and sick hospital patient. My acting would have to very convincing. If it wasn’t then we wouldn’t get in. And then what would we do? We’d be right back where we started, with no idea of what was going on around here. And I just couldn’t let that happen.
The Other Side (The Other Side Trilogy Book 1) Page 7
