Wake (The Runners, Part Four)

by Logan Rutherford

  “I’m not going to lie,” she began, smiling. “This is going to hurt like hell.”

  Adam saw a flash of light; he felt immense pain, worse than he ever felt before. His whole body shook, it felt like he was being torn apart piece by piece.

  Almost as soon as it started, it stopped, and everything went black.

  ****

  Adam opened his eyes, but all he could see was darkness. There was no difference when he had his eyes opened, or closed. He tried to lift his hand, but it wouldn’t move. He was tied down. He tried moving his other hand, his legs, even his head, but they wouldn’t budge. He struggled against his restraints, but they wouldn’t budge. The cool metal was cutting into his arms, legs, and across his forehead.

  After what seemed like an eternity, he gave up. He lay there in the darkness, out of breath, trying to figure out what was going on.

  He couldn’t believe what London did to him and Eve. But he did feel somewhat at peace with the fact that if he wasn’t dead, than neither was Eve. But then again, maybe he was dead. He had killed a lot of people lately. Maybe this is where murderers go in the afterlife. It was self-defense, but maybe whatever higher power – if any – did not differentiate between self-defense, and murder. He prayed that was not the case, but if the higher power put him here, then he doubted that it would pay any attention to his pleas for help.

  And so, that is how he spent the night, or what he thought was night. He would pray to the higher power that he had created in his insanity; struggle against his restraints; scream for help; and lie there crying.

  Eventually, he fell into a dreamless, restless sleep.

  ****

  Adam was woken by a hissing sound. He tried to rub his eyes, but his hands were still restrained. The hissing continued, growing louder and louder. He felt air blowing on his face, and down his body.

  Light seeped through the hole that was beginning to form above his head. The hole grew larger and larger. The light made his eyes squint, giving him a headache.

  When his eyes fully adjusted, he saw that he was in some sort of chamber. He could see rounded walls surrounding him in his peripheral vision.

  He also saw a girl standing above him wearing white scrubs, and a big smile. It took him awhile to recognize who it was; the fact that she was bald made it hard to do. But the green eyes and big smile were a dead giveaway.

  “Welcome to Eden,” Eve said.

  Chapter Four

  “Eve,” Adam said, out of breath. “What is going on? Where are we? Where is your hair? Get me out of these restraints!”

  Eve chuckled. “Do not worry, Adam. Athena will answer all of your questions.” Eve lifted her hand, and waved somebody over. Two men dressed in silver jumpsuits stood behind her. The hand their hands casually placed on the strange silver guns that were draped across their chests.

  “These men will escort you to a room where you can get yourself some clothes, and get all cleaned up. After that, you will see Athena, and she will answer all of your questions.”

  Adam was too confused to answer. He just shook his head. Well, as much as he could thanks to the bar across it.

  Eve leaned down to undo his restraints. She waved a small silver object over each restraint. Each one of them clicked, and disappeared into slots at the bottom of the chamber.

  Adam sat up. He rubbed his wrists; his joints were stiff, and they ached from being in the same position for so long.

  He stood up in the chamber, and stepped out. He looked down and saw that he was wearing nothing but a pair of stark white boxers. In all his fear, and confusion; coupled with the fact that the temperature in the chamber made it feel like he had clothes on, he had no clue he hand nothing on but boxers. He face flushed red with embarrassment. Eve laughed, and tossed him a white robe. “This should do until you’re able to take a shower.”

  Adam put on the robe, grateful to be covered up. He stepped out of the silver chamber, and looked around the room. The walls were lined with wires, and computer screens. They all led to one thing: the chamber he had just stepped out of.

  Eve was watching him closely, her eyes following him as he looked around. “I know you must have so many questions. First, get cleaned up. As I said earlier, Athena will answer all of your questions.”

  Adam stood there staring at Eve for a moment. Who was this girl standing before him? In the short time they had known each other, they have been through so much. The death of his mom; her dad…

  His mom….He tried not to think of her; when he did, he seemed to forget everything else. The only thing he was aware of was the tightness that grew in his chest.

  “Adam?”

  Adam looked up, and saw that Eve was standing by the door, holding it open, with the two armed men standing in the hallway outside.

  “Come this way,” she said motioning out the door.

  Adam walked into the hallway. It was long, and the walls were made of metal; there were no doors. Up above were long florescent tubes that gave the place a stark-white shine to it.

  Adam had to squint, but he was able to see a large door way at the end of the hallway.

  The guards starting walking, so Adam followed, with Eve taking up the rear.

  For the next few minutes, the only sound Adam heard was the sound of the guards boots marching down the hallway. Adam’s feet were bare against the cold metal floor.

  They finally reached the end of the hallway. The door was large and round; it had gears and locks of different sizes across it. It looked like the entrance to a very large bank vault.

  Eve stood in front of the large door. “Eve,” she said loudly. The gears started to turn, and the locks slid into the wall. The door slowly creaked inward.

  Adam looked into the place that the door leads to. It was a large round chamber; everything inside of it was made of metal. At the edges of the round room, situated ten feet from each other, were round hallways that Adam guessed lead to other large round rooms.

  The guards began walking into the room, so Adam followed.

  They walked to the hallway that was directly ahead of them, on the other side of the room. Inside the hallway, were rows, and rows of doors. The guards walked to the first door on the left, and stopped.

  “Inside there is a shower, and a change of clothes.” Eve said from behind him. “The guards here will escort you to meet Athena afterwards.”

  “And you?” Adam asked, turning to meet her gaze.

  “I have business to take care of.” She reached up and placed her hand on Adams arm.

  Adam still was not used to her, her bald hair, her…mysteriousness. He was not used to the new her. He liked the old one much better.

  He shook her hand off him.

  She looked at the ground. “See you around.” With that, she turned and walked back into the large round room, and down another hallway.

  Adam sighed deeply. He did not like being rude to her. Then again, did the girl that he knew exist anymore? She had been lying to him, and that made him question the friendship that they had this entire time.

  He opened the door, walked into the room, and shut the door behind him. He fell back against the cold metal door, sliding down until he was sitting on the ground with his knees in front of him. He laid his head in his arms, and cried. It was all too much. He was lost, confused, scared; he had no idea who to trust anymore. He was on his own.

  Chapter Five

  The hot water ran down Adams down his face, washing off the sweat that he had gathered from his night in the chamber. The water felt good on him. Not only was it washing away the dirt, it was washing away all thoughts that he had. He stood there in the shower, thinking of nothing but how good the water felt.

  He finally gathered up the courage to run his hands through his hair, but his hand slid across smooth skin. He let out a deep sigh. It is just as he thought. He was bald, too.

  He finished the shower, and grabbed one of the silver towels that were hanging on the metal rack. Everything is silver her
e! He observed.

  He walked over to one of the lockers (metal, of course) that were built into the wall. Inside, were white scrubs, a pair of underwear, socks, and some tennis shoes. He pulled the scrubs over his damp body. He sat down on a bench that was in front of the lockers, and put his shoes on.

  He stood up, and began running around the bathroom. He needed to get his blood flowing, and stretch his muscles.

  When he felt pumped up and ready to go, he exited the locker room.

  The guards were standing by the door: one on one side, and another on the opposite side.

  “I’m ready,” Adam said.

  The guards did not reply. Instead, the stood next to each other, and began walking. Adam followed.

  They entered the large round room that they were in earlier. The walked to the center of the room, and then turned to their right; they began making their way down the large hall.

  They walked for a long time down the hall, passing lots, and lots of doors. The hall began to curve, and it stayed like that for a while, before straightening out, and coming to an end at another large round room that was identical to the one that they were in earlier. Adam would not have known that it was any different, except for the fact that there were guards walking around in this room. There were also people in white scrubs walking around; flowing in and out of the different hallways.

  They all have hair, Adam noticed. He was jealous of them. He missed his curly brown hair.

  They entered another one of the large hallways, which lead to another round room. This one had even more people, and even more hair.

  They repeated this process a few more times. They would go down a hallway, and into another large round room, and into another hallway, and another large room, so on, and so on.

  Adam’s feet started to ache, which he found strange. He had run for a lot longer than this, and his feet had gone used to it, and never hurt. He had to be running for a long time before his feet started hurting.

  Finally, after about an hour of walking, right when Adam was about to fall over from exhaustion, they reached their destination.

  It was another large round room like the rest, except this one had a stairs that lead to a balcony, which led to what Adam assumed was Athena’s office. On the wall underneath the balcony, was the word “WAKE” engraved in giant letters into the metal wall.

  The guards made their way through the people, which separated whenever they got close to them. They made it to the stairs, and began to make their way up. The metal stairs made a hollow thud with each step they took. The sounds of them walking up the stairs were drowned out by the people going about their days underneath them.

  As they were reaching the top of the stairs, Adam began to feel very nervous, excited, and confused, all at the same time. A knot formed in his stomach that grew every time the stairs made their thud sound. When they reached the top of the stairs, and started making their way to the door, Adam thought he was going to pass out from the nausea he was feeling.

  After what seemed to be an eternity to Adam, but was actually only a matter of seconds, they reached the door.

  One of the guards knocked on the door. A ladies voice that sounded old, but strong, answered from the other side. “Come in,” it said.

  The guard that grabbed, twisted the doorknob, and slowly opened the door. He gestured for Adam to enter – which he did – and the guard closed the door behind him, leaving Adam alone with Athena.

  Adam looked around the room. Everything was either metal, or silver, just like everything else in Eden. On the ceiling were florescent tubes that gave the room a stark-white shine to it. The walls were bare, except for on one side, where it was white, and Adam could see his reflection in it.

  In front of the white wall was a large metal desk, that had computer screens on it. Behind the desk, was a lady sitting in a large computer chair. The lady had grayish-silver hair that matched the rest of the facility. Her face had slight wrinkles to it – even more so around the lips, because she had a big smile on her face. Her blue eyes stared into Adam, gathering every bit of information about him.

  “Please,” she said after a few moments. “Sit.”

  Adam walked across the office, and sat down in one of the silver cushioned chairs that were in front of her desk.

  They stared at each other for a few more moments, before Adam couldn’t take it any longer. “Who are you?” He yelled. “Where am I? What is this place? What do you want with me?”

  Athena let out a chuckle. “So many questions. I will answer all of them.” She picked up a phone, and put it to her ear. “But first, I’m going to order us some tea. Would you like anything to eat?”

  Adam shook his head no. He was starving, but he did not want to show any weakness, or let Athena think that he trusted her for a second.

  “I will get you some anyways.” She pushed a button on the phone. “Mary, would you please bring some tea, and sandwiches up to me? Make sure it is enough for two. Thank you dear.” She hung up the phone, and placed it back on the desk.

  For the next few minutes while they waited, Adam and Athena said nothing. They just sat there, and stared at each other, trying to figure one another out. Adam was having no luck figuring out what type of woman Athena was. Her expression was blank, and focused. He hoped that she was having the same luck with him. None.

  Finally, a woman who Adam assumed was Mary, walked in with a tray. She placed it on the desk.

  “Thank you Mary,” Athena said, breaking eye contact with Adam to do so.

  “Let me know if you need anything else,” she said. As she was walked away, Adam noticed her examining him with an unsure expression on her face.

  “Please, dig in,” Athena said.

  Upon seeing the different sandwiches spread out across the tray, his stomach began to protest his decision to not eat. Giving in to his desires, he grabbed a slice from the tray. He bit into the sandwich, savoring it. He hadn’t realized exactly how hungry he was until he started eating. He ate four more slices in the time it would normally take him to eat one.

  He was reaching for another slice, when he realized that Athena hadn’t eaten; she just sat there and watched him. Embarrassed by this fact he pulled his hand back to his side, and sat back in his chair.

  “Tea?” She asked, gesturing towards the tea cup.

  Adam shook his head. “I was never really a fan of it.”

  “Well, you must be thirsty after eating so much. Here,” she disappeared behind her desk for a moment. Adam heard her opening a drawer, and shutting it. She appeared again, holding a bottle of water in her hand. “Drink this.”

  Adam leaned over the desk, and took the bottle in his hand. It was room-temperature, just how he likes it.

  He drank the whole bottle within a few seconds. He was still a bit thirsty, but he didn’t want to ask for another bottle.

  “Well,” Athena clapped her hand together. “Now that your belly is full, and you’re hydrated, I’ll start answering those questions.”

  Chapter Six

  “First off, my name, as you already know, is Athena. I am head of the operation known as Wake. You are currently at our headquarters located deep underground. I believe that answers your first two questions, am I correct.”

  “You are.”

  “Your third question, ‘What is this place?’, I believe it was, is going to take me a long time to answer. So please, no interruptions. I am sure that any questions that arise, will be answered by the time I am finished. Understood?” Her eyes burrowed deep in Adams.

  “Yes, understood.” Adam said quietly.

  “Alright I shall begin. This place contains what is left of society. A few years ago, I was assigned to be head of a team of the world’s best and brightest scientists, engineers, and computer programmers called “Operation Wake”, or “Wake” for short. The objective was to come up with a way to allow the human race to live on.

  “I will elaborate further on this in a moment, but I first need to tell y
ou exactly what was wrong with society at the time. The year was 2057, and the human race had become so technologically advanced, that it was destroying us. Everything centered around computers: money – which was no longer paper, it was all virtual – education, jobs, security – national security – everything. We had become too centered on technology. It was easier for people to sneak weapons, drugs, and people across borders, and into the hands of terrorists. Although, normal acts of terrorism was becoming obsolete because of cyber-terrorism.

  “Cyber-terrorists were becoming more and more advanced. They could get past the firewalls that banks had, and steal all the money that banks had in their virtual vaults, and transfer it to them. They even built their computers, basses, and everything technological that they had, to withstand an EMP blast. As you will find out later, so did we.

  “Soon, the people realized that there was more money in cyber terrorism than anything else. Everybody wanted a piece of the very large, money filled, pie. There was more money invested in cyber-terrorism than anything. So, naturally, the cyber-terrorists made more advancements, and much more faster. The anti-cyber-terrorism agency known as the CTTF – Cyber Terrorism Task Force – couldn’t keep up. Soon, nobody was safe, and nowhere was safe.

  “At the center of the cyber-terrorist movement, was an organization known as “Kappa”, which you know all too well. The CTTF knew that they were planning something big, but they didn’t know just how big. What they figured out was this: Kappa scientists made a machine that would capture human brain waves, and make the person whose brain waves they captured, obey their will. Their plan was to take over the main world leaders, and make them do their bidding. Doing this would give them control over everything in the entire world. They would have all the money, nuclear launch codes, access to every single army; they would be unstoppable.” Athena stopped, and poured herself a cup of tea. She took a few sips before continuing. “By the time, Wake was already in full swing. We were trying to figure out ways to make man less dependent on technology. Soon, we realized that we were running out of options, and fast. We knew Kappa was planning something big (which as I said earlier, it was the thing about brain waves), and we knew we were on a deadline. Then, one day, we figured out the only way to make man less dependent on technology, was by using technology.