End Wars: A Hi5 Studios Story

The Factory: Chapter 12

*Connor's P.O.V*

"And....what exactly are these pills?" I asked, looking around the ginormous, empty room. 

The tall Russian man glared at me, his pointer finger to his lips, which I noticed, were dry and crusty. I could smell alcohol on his breath.

I looked around again, confused as to why I had to stay quiet. The people who were working on these pills were making a racket. 

Large machines were whirring and beeping incessantly, making my head hurt. I winced in pain, three of my fingers on each hand going to my temples on each side of my head. I closed my eyes, trying to focus on anything but the loud noises around me, but everything was just too loud. 

I opened my eyes again, and to my surprise, I was standing right in front of a very large container that looked a lot like a dumpster. I wondered why it had to be so big, because the only pills I saw filled only a tiny portion of the container, and then the machine next to the dumpster clicked off. 

I looked around and realized that I needed to find the Russian man and my friends again, so I frantically searched around the room, but it was so big, too many machines and large people who were definitely taller than me in the way.

Then someone shoved me. Not softly either. I fell to the floor, then looked up in rage to the person that pushed me, but was relieved when I saw the Russian man, though he didn't look too happy about it. He had a look in his eyes that said that he'd kill me the first chance he got.

I shivered involuntarily and stood up.

"You should follow close next time," The Russian man said. "It's very dangerous here." He paused, glaring back at me. "I wouldn't want.....Something bad happening to you." He smirked, a half smile across his face.

My eyes widened, but I quickly got control of my emotions and cleared my throat loudly. I then straightened my shirt, though it really didn't need to be straightened. More like it needed to be washed. And ironed. Repeatedly. 

"You didn't answer my question when we first came in here." I paused, my confidence waning by the second, but I continued. "What are these pills? If you're going to keep hiding things from us, and by us I mean the group, then we shouldn't be inclined to trust anything you or your superiors say!"

The Russian man sighed, brushing away a piece of his blonde hair that kept falling in front of his eyes. "Fine. You want to know what these pills are?" He paused, as if for dramatic effect. "These pills.....they grant immortal life."

It took me a few seconds to comprehend what he just said, and even then, my mind was blown. I stared back at him, flabbergasted. My jaw gaped open, my eyes curious. "I-I," I said, not being able to form words. "But that's impossible," I managed to gasp out. 

The Russian man shook his head, laughing. "If it was impossible, then how would you explain those pills you saw? This factory, it wouldn't be possible if what I just said wasn't true." He paused, thinking thoughtfully to himself. "If it was impossible, I would be out of a job," he said, chuckling.

I chuckled with him, nervously if nothing else. "H-How are they made?" 

The man titled his head, like a puppy begging for food. "That's top secret. No one knows except the person who made the first one."

I think he could see the question forming in my mind, he shook his head.

"I don't know who made it. That's top tier information. I'm only cleared to show important people these pills." 

He didn't say anything further. 

To be honest, the fact that he said (or someone above him) said we were important made my heart swell with pride. I felt needed. 

I didn't know by whom I was needed, but it didn't matter. Someone needed our skillset.

"But wait," I said, confused by something. The Russian man, who had been walking off, stopped in his tracks and turned back toward me.

"Yes?" The man asked, clearly annoyed by me asking so many questions.

I scratched my head, looking down at my feet. I was too nervous to talk to this guy. "Uh, when you say important people, you mean us?"

The Russian man nodded as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But, we're just YouTubers! We don't have anything that could help you." I paused, confused by another thing. "And, just a few minutes ago, you or your superiors thought we were part of the reason why stuff was exploding!"

The man lifted his hand to get me to stop talking. Evidently it worked, because I stopped right there in my tracks.

"The reason why we did that was to keep curious eyes out of it. Reporters have been sneaking in, even though there's security all over the place. We just wanted to keep everything safe, that's all." He paused. "We wanted to keep you and your friends safe. There are dangerous people in the world, Connor." He paused again, looking down at the floor, then back at me. "Very dangerous people who want you and your friends dead now."

My eyes widened. "Dead? What for?! Like I said before, we didn't do anything! We're YouTubers!" 

His large hand cut me off yet again. I glared at him, but stayed silent. I didn't want to anger this man. He seemed like someone you did not want to piss off.

"They want you dead because they know you're here with us. And apparently anyone even barely associated with us is their enemy."

A lightbulb went off in my head, but then I realized the consequences of the situation if it were true. "Let me guess, your enemy is the people who took Matt, Woods and the others."

He nodded, and my breath was taken out of me. Matt, Woods, Tanner. They were all in danger.

"Do you want to get them back?"