I spent nearly a half hour in the shower. I hated that I enjoyed it while the rest of my family and my friends were somewhere else, without me. I had no idea how the Elite had brought them here, so I could say ‘goodbye’. Were they still there, or had they been let go? I stepped out of the shower and stared into the mirror above the sink. It hadn’t fogged up at all. I left the bathroom, and the door to my room slid open. I whipped around, tightening the towel around my waist. “Can’t you knock or something?” I shouted. “Unfortunately, these ‘doors’ don’t have that feature,” Jade said. She was leaning against the side of the doorway. “Get dressed. You’re coming with me. Can’t have you sitting in that room, rotting your brain out.”
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The door slid closed, and I started looking for the clothes I’d been wearing before, the only thing I had from home. But they were gone. I rifled through the drawers of clothes. The shirts, the pants, the shorts, everything was the same shade of black. Having no other choice, I put on some of the clothing I’d been given. Then, I sat down on my bed, resting my head in my hands. I hadn’t known it before, but now I can tell. I’d just put on my prison uniform. This place wasn’t a hotel. It wasn’t a vacation. It was a prison, I was locked inside, and the Elite would be merciless until they’d used me for whatever purpose they wanted. I was their puppet, with no way of breaking the strings they used to control me.
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I left the room. Jade was standing against the opposite wall, snapping a piece of gum. “Took you long enough. Come on.” Jade started to walk away, and I followed. This single act was a direct violation of the message I had been sent, but honestly, I didn’t care. Keeping my freedom was very high on my to-do list, and I wasn’t about to let that freedom slip through my fingers. Jade stopped walking, and I nearly bumped into her. “What’re we doing?” I asked. She held a finger to her lips. “Quiet. Do you want to get caught?” she hissed. She pulled a key card out of her pocket. It looked like the same one Letie had used. Jade tapped the card on the wall, and I watched in awe as a panel slid out. “Bingo,” she whispered. Reaching into the opening, she pulled out a step stool and toolbox.
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Using the step stool, Jade could reach nearly to the ceiling. She climbed up, holding a screwdriver in one hand, balancing with the other. In her mouth, she held the key card. Using the hand with the screwdriver, she ran a few fingers over the wall. When she stopped she grabbed the card and waved it in front of the wall. A small panel appeared. She took the screwdriver and started unscrewing the four screws on the panel. She tossed the screwdriver to me. I reacted in a split second, moving out of the way before it hit the top of my head. It clattered to the floor. “Why didn’t you catch that?” Jade whisper-shouted. I shrugged. “I don’t know, maybe because I didn’t know you were throwing a literal piece of metal with a handle at me?” Jade rolled her eyes and turned back to the wall. She pulled the panel away, revealing a space just large enough to crawl through. She lifted herself up and disappeared inside. I stood still for a moment, waiting until Jade popped her head out of the tunnel. “Are you coming or not?” I climbed up the step stool and slipped into the tunnel. This was going to be fun.
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Crawling through a minuscule tunnel on my hands and knees turned out to be not very fun. I could barely move, and it was very dark. “Why are we doing this?” I asked Jade. She didn’t respond. Instead, she stopped. She waved the keycard in front of the wall, and a few slits appeared in the metal. “Get comfortable. It’s going to start soon,” Jade told me. I moved forward and peeked through one of the slits. I could see the Elite sitting in the room we’d eaten dinner in. Except the table was gone. It was replaced by a few screens and a podium. Eliet stood behind the podium, flipping through a notebook. He cleared his throat and said, “I hope you all know why you are here. It is regarding the matter of Case 2750-EIR. The subject is taking to the new environment well and should be ready to go into the field in a month. Letie, can you run a few more EX tests?” One of the Elite nodded. I assumed that was Letie. “And Eelti, can you get the trackers and control board into the subject?” Eelti nodded and scribbled something down on a piece of paper. Who was this subject? What were EX tests? Why did this… this thing need trackers and a control board? “I’ve already put in one of the trackers. It activated an hour ago,” Letie said. “Ah. Wonderful. Eelti, can you get the other two trackers in by the end of next week? We don’t want the subject to get suspicious.” Eelti crossed off something on his paper. “Yes, sir,” he grumbled. “Letie, why don’t you show us how your tracker is working? I remember there were a few bugs in the code you needed to work out.” Letie stood and took Eliet's place at the podium. Using a touchpad, she pulled up a 3-D map. A green dot appeared on the map.
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“The subject is right there,” she said, pointing to the dot. “And where exactly is that?” Eliet prompted. After tapping the screen a few more times, Letie said, “It’s in the Brick. Floor 50.”
“Good. But that is where the subject should be. Where on the floor is it?” Letie bit her lip. The map moved around, zooming in and out. A moment later, it stopped. “Right there.” The map had changed. It no longer looked like blueprints. Now it looked like the actual building, like it was a photograph. The map was of the room the Elite were standing in. “But, the subject is not in the room with us, right now. Which means…”
“The subject is up there,” Letie finished. She pointed right at when Jade and I were hiding. “Very good,” Eliet said. I felt two pricks on the side of my neck. I turned just in time to see a floating robot injecting something into my veins. “What the-” I started. Jade kicked the robot, sending it flying away, back to the entrance of the tunnel. “Go. Now!” Jade said. I started crawling out of the tunnel as fast as I could. I reached the exit and started to climb out. As I dropped onto the floor, I heard Jade shout, “Elias, run!” Looking over my shoulder, I saw Eliet standing behind me. In his hands was a remote. A label was stuck on the back. It read, 2750-EIR. Eliet held a small device to his mouth, and spoke into it, “Second tracker and control board in place. I believe we’re going to speed up the process to get the subject out into the field. Permission to continue?” A female voice responded, “Permission granted.” Eliet smiled wickedly. “Good night, Elias.”
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The world became blurry. All the sounds became muffled. Something heavy seemed to weigh down my shoulders. Every step I took felt like walking through water. I started to sink. Looking around, I could make out dark figures. “What are you doing to me?” I asked. The voice I heard was not my own. My words were scrambled, and nothing made sense. The water turned to fire. I was burning. I took another step, and the top of my head banged into something hard and cold. It was the roof. Pushing my arms out to the side, I could touch both walls while standing in the centre. The figures grew smaller. I took another step, being careful not to bang into anything. There was a buzzing in my ears. Then, everything seemed to make sense. I understood the body I was in. I started running down the hallway. I understood the fire, I understood the ice. I understood. I knew who I was. And I wasn't afraid anymore.154Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9590mpP6Jx
