by Amanda Thome
He sinks his needle into my right arm. Icy fluid dances up my veins. The ice is traveling through my body, encompassing me like the green vines covering the walls of the facility.
I try lifting my head one last time but the metal halo stops me. Someone, probably Natalie, places goggles over my eyes. Hands hastily begin attaching sticky pads over the base of my skull and chest.
Total darkness falls as my eyes search the lenses of the goggles seeing windows to utter blackness. Something’s wrong. Maybe I’m failing the intake. What if I can’t test, what if the medicine kills me? Panic sets in. What if I am stuck in blackness forever? My thoughts are stopped instantly by a loud alarm.
It grows louder and nearly shatters my eardrums. I can’t concentrate or hear anything but the alarm and then suddenly a thunderous explosion sounds from the hallway we just passed through. The alarm continues to thunder in full force. I hear a popping noise that’s totally foreign to me. Is this part of the test?
The loud speaker sounds a warning, ‘Our walls have been breached. I repeat, our walls have been breached.’
What does that mean? The panic is sickening and I throw my body in all directions, trying to free myself from the metal bindings.
“We have to wake her. She’s not safe here!” The doctor shouts to Natalie.
They begin frantically pulling the pads from my chest and neck. My head gets released from the halo. A woman releases my right arm and ankle and then my left ankle’s freed. I pull the goggles from my face and am immediately blinded by the overhead lights.
Central testers are running in all directions, carrying armfuls of papers and computer equipment. Some are destroying their tablets in a giant machine that looks like a meat grinder. It’s total chaos when the loud speaker sounds again…
‘Total breech. I repeat, total breech. Initiate raze protocol.’
“This isn’t good.” Natalie says as the massive door leading to the circular room begins descending from the ceiling. The door drops painfully slow.
I hear the muffled screams from the approaching intruders. “Quick, throw a frag!” One of them shouts from the corridor.
I don’t even have time to wonder what a ‘frag’ is before the tiny oval ball bounces into the room. It looks non-threatening.
The tiny ball explodes at the entranceway to the dropping door. My ears ring and everything sounds distant from the concussive damage to my eardrums. My throat and lungs fill with smoke. I’m as good as dead if I stay here. I have to get free. I frantically pull at my left cuff.
My fingers shake around the complicated lock. They dance over the levers but I can’t control them. Again and again my sweaty fingers hover around the levers but I can’t get free.
The popping noise comes closer as two Central testers drop to the floor, blood spills from their stomachs. It’s gunfire and I’m only fifteen-feet from where they just died.
Natalie crawls to the back of my chair, pushing herself off the floor to free my left cuff. Her hands shake as her dark eyes fill with tears. The lever releases just as a bullet buzzes past my left shoulder, landing squarely in her chest. Blood pours from her white shirt. The stark crimson against the white is striking. She gasps once as blood bubbles from her mouth. She died saving my life.
Another intruder points his gun at me. I’ve got a split second to react. I dodge his bullet, rolling backwards off the table. I have to get out but the exits are surrounded. The room’s filling with intruders, foreigners dressed in dirty mismatched clothes with sashes of bullets draped around their chests. They smile as they fire round after round at the defenseless Central testers.
“Take me to the controls!” One of the foreigners yells at Dr. Glidden, pressing the barrel of his gun to the doctor’s temple.
Dr. Glidden’s sweating like Natalie was but at least he isn’t shaking. His eyes dart side to side until he makes eye contact with me. I’m crouched in a concealed position behind the black chair. He jerks his eyes towards the corridor. He’s trying to tell me something but I don’t know what. I can’t take the corridor, it’s too dangerous and there’s no exit. Then I remember, there was one door. One hundred and eighteen steps away. I could try to make it there. For once I’m actually thankful for my nervous quirk, it might save me. I nod at Dr. Glidden.
“Okay, Okay.” Dr. Glidden’s voice is collected. “You’ll need the code first.” The foreigner drives his gun hard into the doctors head. “I can get it for you,” Dr. Glidden responds. “You didn’t have to kill all these people. You could’ve just asked. All we had to do was go to the black rock by the river. You would’ve found what you needed there.” He stares straight at me. He’s trying to send me a message.
“Don’t mess with me!” The foreigner shouts, shaking the doctor by his neck. “You’re going to take me to this place.”
Dr. Glidden takes one last breath before his scream reaches my ringing ears, “Now!” He shouts.
He raises his right arm so fast that I nearly miss it. He strikes the foreigner against his neck with such force that the foreigner’s gun drops to the floor.
The foreigners are preoccupied with Dr. Glidden. He’s somehow positioned himself behind the foreigner and is holding the gun to the intruders head. I stay in my crouched position weaving between the bodies on the floor.
A foreigner cocks his weapon as I jump the jagged floor where the frag exploded. A loud bang thunders from behind me. I look over my shoulder as Dr. Glidden drops to the floor, blood trickling from his forehead.
I keep running through the tunnel as fast as I can, counting as I sprint. The tunnel’s in absolute darkness and I have to keep track of how far I’ve come. My running strides must be twice the length of my steps. At stride fifty I slow.
My hands trace along the cold wall to my right. It has to be here, I know it. Back and forth my hands sweep for the door. I’m stepping forward and backwards pacing like a caged animal trying to locate the seam of the small door when I hear muffled voices shouting from the circular room.
The foreigners employ an enormous light with its blinding rays casting down the tunnel, landing less than five-feet away. I press my chest against the cool wall hoping I won’t be seen. The light comes closer as I hear their steps descending the tunnel.
I look to my right just in time to see the door frame illuminated inches from my fingers. I have to expose myself and try for the door.
I lunge my body sideways pushing into the door. It holds steady but on my second thrust it bursts open. I stumble into daylight. Stacks of smoking pillars rise from the walls surrounding me. Bombs rain down from the sky, bursting the walls into cascading jagged pieces.
“Over there!” One of the foreigners shouts from the tunnel.
They saw me; I have no choice but to run. My attempts will be futile; I’m a prisoner inside these walls but I have to fight.
The door slams with such force that the brown soil jolts outside. The blue-sky overhead is mixed with curling grey smoke that travels like the rivers that cut through our sector. The grey smoke dances along the blue canvas and somehow looks beautiful, like it’s taken on a life of its own.
The winding stacks are suddenly blocked by a massive shadow. The hovercraft appears swiftly and eclipses my view, thrusting me into darkness. It’s just like it was three years ago during the massacre. It’s the same black hovercraft I saw in my vision days before the foreigners used it to bomb our sector.
My eyes dance the length of the craft looking for the symbol I saw during my vision, but this craft’s void of it. A loud clanking sound like metal striking metal comes from its base. I see the craft expel the barrel of an enormous gun. My heart constricts in terror as the gun slowly rotates towards me.
I hold my position with my feet planted to the ground; the foreigners will be breeching the door any second now. My back’s bracing the door as I scan the wooded landscape to take inventory of my surroundings. Three hundred feet stand between me and the protection of the tree line. The area between the tree
line and me means certain death. To my left sprawls a mountainous hill with sporadic wilted trees and jagged ledges, terrible terrain for concealment. The center bares thick forest that would be excellent camouflage but the dense woods would be unbreakable, they’d track me down and kill me in no time.
The gun keeps winding its way counter clockwise. It’s a quarter turn from setting its sights squarely on me. I keep bracing my shaking back to the door as the foreigners drive at it from inside the tunnel. My feet slip marginally but I hold steady, waiting for the right moment.
I steal one last look to the right. The landscape slopes downward but at the edge of my peripheral vision I see an animal trail breaking its way through the dense woods. I hold my position and focus.
My actions have to be perfect, anything less will mean death. The gun makes its last adjustment, positioning itself directly at my chest. This is it. I release my feet from the ground, pivoting my body to the right. I spin away from the door just as the foreigners slam into it a second time. Without my body bracing the exit, it flies open. I’m shielded by twelve-inches of steel door. Thunder storms from the barrel of the craft and the foreigners are met head-on with raining gunfire that was meant for me.
Their screams are wild as sick gurgling noises escape them. Their bodies drop to the ground plagued with bullet holes. Three hundred feet stand between me and the chance of survival. I hear the clicking of the gun as it refocuses its sights.
I have less than a second to act. I dig my feet hard into the ground, sprinting full force toward the animal trail. Thunderous popping echoes from the gun. I run in and out of its path.
Bullets fly by so close that I actually feel the heat against my skin. I weave my path in an unpredictable manner attempting to avoid the bullets. The ground bursts all around me as bullets strike the dirt.
Only one hundred and fifty feet left. I’m halfway there, I just might make it. I veer to the left and unfathomable pain takes hold. Deep searing pain radiates through my left thigh. Hot blood pours down my leg. My instincts tell me to run but the pain threatens to destroy me. I’ve been hit.
I stumble once, on my way down I see images of Emma perched on the bed as I braid her hair and Garrett splashing in the waters of our secret hideaway. They give me strength. I have to fight, I have to live. The blood’s steady but my body’s strong and I keep driving myself forward.
Twenty feet until the trees. Rocks and dirt fly around my face. Fifteen feet, ten feet, five feet until safety. I run and limp and scream but finally I’m there.
The animal trail’s well worn. I use the path to my advantage. I need to put distance between the foreigners and me but I also need to stop the bleeding.
My fingers tare at the sleeve of my shirt as I sprint down the trail. I fist the fabric in my shaking hand, ripping it off.
I need more time but I can already hear more foreigners running after me. I stop to tie the sleeve around my thigh. I’ll die if I lose too much blood. I continue weaving down the path with my shirt secured around my throbbing leg.
My eyes catch sight of a flattened grass bed and I leap from the trail onto the trampled blades. I take the largest leaps my injured leg can manage, carrying myself off the trail. I hear heavy steps of at least two foreigners in close pursuit.
My mind races in search of my next move. I can’t hide. I’m bleeding out slowly and won’t last a night in my condition. They have guns and I’m wounded. I need to get to water and it hits me that Dr. Glidden knew I’d make it outside and need direction.
He’d said something about a black rock by a river. My stomach jolts as bile rises to my mouth. I replay the last image of him crumbling to the floor with blood running from his head. I can’t think of that now. Weakness, even if momentary could cost me my life.
Years of skills training tells me I need to stay close to the animal path, it’s my best hope at finding water. I head back toward the trail, following its winding course downhill. The pain in my leg is numbing and the world around me is framed in a hazy light.
The blood loss is affecting my mind and I’m near fainting. I can’t stop moving, instead I bare down on my stomach attempting to raise my blood pressure. I need to keep the blood flowing to my brain, the hazy frame maintains but at least it’s stopped inching its way inward.
The trees and grass become greener the farther I run and I know water must be near. I brace myself on the trunks of the massive trees and stumble straight over the small saplings. I’ve become sloppy in my desperation for the black rock. The foreigners are on my heels. I hear them snapping trees as their steps close-in. I draw upon the last of my strength to push forward.
The world hazes and then I hit the cold water. The wetness constricts my vessels and shoots blood to my fading brain. For a moment I have clarity. I frantically search for the rock.
One hundred feet ahead I spot the gigantic black boulder that sits completely alien to this landscape. I crash through the water, crossing the embankment just as the first foreigner breaks the tree line. He doesn’t hesitate as he shoulders his gun and opens fire.
Bullets splash water to the shoreline wetting my arms as I sprint. The bullets hit closer and closer as I run. One grazes my shoulder just as I reach the backside of the massive rock. Tucked beneath its ledge is my hope, a bow with two arrows.
“Over there!” The foreigner shouts to the other.
Immediate waves of gunfire rain down, it’s now or never. I grab the bow and swiftly fasten the first arrow. Gunfire’s closing in from the right much faster than the foreigner on my left. I roll to the right and aim. My arrow flies through the air, striking the foreigner straight in the chest.
It’s only a fraction of a second but in that moment I see the life leave his eyes. I realize the gravity of what I’ve done. I just killed a man. I killed someone’s son, maybe some-one’s father.
The gunfire to my left closes in and snaps me back to reality. I string the second arrow. I have a clear shot but I can’t take it. I won’t take another life even if it means dying.
Suddenly a veil of absolute darkness falls over me and my body feels like it’s plunged into an icy bath. My ears strain to hear but I no longer perceive the sound of gunshots from the foreigners.
The darkness continues to blind me but my ears begin distinguishing a slow and steady beeping. The sound reminds me of a medical alarm, nothing I’d expect to hear in the wilderness. The alarm grows faster in parallel with my pounding heart.
“She’s waking up. We have five minutes before she’ll be coherent.” I hear Dr. Glidden’s muffled voice.
“Her results are quite interesting.” Natalie says sweetly.
The alarm accelerates in conjunction with my growing confusion. They’re supposed to be dead, I saw them die.
“She made it to the black rock and even eliminated the first assailant, but it appears she chose death over killing the second attacker.” Natalie pauses, “It’s quite unique.”
“Is that so?” Dr. Glidden asks, sounding halfway intrigued.
“Oh yes. Only sixteen percent of testers make it out of the facility and of that sixteen percent, less than one percent make it to the river. Let alone to the black rock.” She pauses adding a dramatic effect, “The elite few that make it there always kill both assailants.” Her voice fills with excitement.
“Well it’s in the designer’s hands to interpret the meaning. Our job’s to wake her and put her through the dummy test.” Dr. Glidden no longer sounds interested, he’s formal and direct again.
The darkness is beginning to bare a hazed quality as the minutes carry on.
“Let’s get her to the dummy room before she wakes.” Dr. Glidden barks.
Hands reach and pull at the pads stuck to my chest and head; I’m so confused by what’s happening. My body wheels across the concrete floor as I feel the heat from multiple hands pushing the giant chair out of the oval room.
“Less than one minute until eyes open!” Dr. Glidden shouts. My chair turns abruptly about
face. My body’s set free from the shackles holding me down. “Thirty seconds people!” Dr. Glidden booms.
Someone pulls the goggles off my eyes just before draping my limp legs off the corner of the chair. In that exact moment my body is released, I’m awake.
“There, there, Miss Hollins. Everything’s alright now,” Natalie coos to me as she grazes my back with her hand.
“What happened?” I look to both her and Dr. Glidden.
“Miss Hollins, I’m Dr. Glidden. You had a syncope episode, nothing to worry about. It happens to many testers.” He flashes a smile to Natalie before turning his attention back to me. “What is the last thing you recall before you passed out?”
I almost reveal that I remember everything. The corridor, the icy drug dancing in my veins, watching them both die, but I stop myself. I’m not supposed to remember. Even Dr. Glidden had said I wouldn’t remember our meeting.
“I remember the shuttle ride over here and that’s all sir.” I try forcing confidence behind my words.
“It’s quite normal Miss Hollins. Not to worry. You’ve been cleared to test and I’m sure you will do quite well.” He says as his strong arm guides me off the chair.
I’m in a completely different room than before. No more screens or tablets, no more Centrals dashing around in white coats. It’s a bright, cheerful room that in no way resembles the sterile oval room from earlier.
Natalie takes me by my elbow, guiding me from the room into a large open arena. To my left I see weapons and trapping materials laid across a long brown table. To my right are stationary and moving targets located throughout the expansive room.
“Miss Hollins, you have a list of skills you must complete and then you’ll be free to leave.” Natalie says, handing me a sheet of paper.
My hands tremble momentarily. I grab the paper from Natalie, my mind is still in the other room. Why did I remember everything? Does everyone remember but nobody says anything? A part of me already knows the answer, I know that I’m different.
I have to construct a snare, use a bow and a spear to hit three moving and stationary targets and then finally, start a fire. This test can’t be serious. I’m angry that I prepared my entire life for these stupid tasks and then I remember, this is a dummy test.
