Preknowings: Success Always Fails (PUBLISHED ON AMAZON)

Base

Just as I fully passed out because of lack of air, I was jerked awake. I tried to open my eyes, and they opened a crack, but they were blurry at first so I blinked a couple times. A man filled my vision. He was yelling something in my face. "Birche! Birche Eliot! BIRCHE!!!" "What...?" I felt flecks of spit fly onto my face. "Oh. Good. You're awake," he said. "I am now." I uttered back. "First, you will bathe. Next, we will provide you with nutritious food and give you appropriate clothing to change into. Last-" "Wait, wait, wait," I said, "I have food, water, and clothes. You don't have to-" He cut me off, "Eliot. Is your pack waterproof?" "Uh, no. But the only wet things in there are my clothes. My food and water are shut tight. And-" I paused to cough up water all over myself. "Where am I?" I asked. "You, Eliot are in Base: AXY-1 of the military." He gestured throughout the room with his hand. I sat up and looked around. There were different kinds of machines and computers, desks and dashboards all over the place. Then I remembered all that had happened just before we came here. We. Pauline and me. "Pauline," I said, "Where is she?" "Oh," the man answered, "You mean the girl that came with you?" "Yes!" I exclaimed. "Where is she?" "She, uh, we didn't know who she was, so she is about to be terminated." "No!" I screamed. "Take me to her! She can't be terminated!"

I would not leave Pauline. I trusted her. I would've given anything for her. This was my fault. I'd gotten her into all this trouble. I turned to the man. "We need to keep her! Help me! Where do we go to get Pauline?!" "That door." The man pointed to a steel door at the left of the room. "Hope we're not too late," he grunted, pulling the door open.

We stood behind a big glass window, like something you would see in a recording studio. Pauline was on the other side of the window with a laser pointed at her forehead. "No." I whispered. There was a man sitting at the dashboard. I ran to him. "Sir! Stop! She's with me! Please! Keep her alive!"

"Boy, you do realize that you were supposed to come alone, don't you?" "But I didn't know she was gonna jump out after me! What do I have to do to keep her?" "Would you die for her?" The man at the dashboard asked. I quickly nodded my head. "Charles!" The man shouted. Another man came through another door in the 'studio.' "Yes sir!" He responded. The man at the dashboard looked at me. He said, "You will trade places with her." My heart fell to my stomach. I would die for her if I had to, but I definitely wasn't expecting this. The man called Charles opened the door to the other side of the window. Pauline walked out. Charles dragged me in. "No!" Pauline screamed. The door shut behind me. I turned around to find that the man at the dashboard was slowly pointing the laser at my forehead. I was about to die. I didn't even get a chance at life. I braced myself. I saw Pauline sobbing outside the window, the man I'd first met, the man at the dashboard, and Charles were all watching me calmly. The man at the dashboard was pushing buttons and flicking switches. I felt the heat of the laser on my forehead. Something caught my eye on the dashboard just outside the window. It was Ralph. Pauline didn't see him. I sadly waved goodbye to Pauline and Ralph. It just made Pauline sob harder, and Ralph looked down and shook his head. I thought I saw a tear fall out of his beady black eye.

Suddenly, there was an explosion. Smoke lingered in the air to the left of the man sitting at the dashboard. Everyone jumped at the sound of it. Even I could hear it through the soundproof glass of the window. Charles unlocked my door. Sirens rang throughout the building. The man that I'd first met yelled, "Security Breach! Get your belts and gear, people!!!"