Lets take flight

chapter 2

...Pain, that was it, like a fire burning through my veins and I could feel the headache over the fire in my blood, that was the worst part, the headache. If the pain in my head hadn't been so bad I would probably be crying in pain but I couldn't so I just laid there, then came the voices some of them soothing some of them violent but one of them wasn't human, perhaps that is the one that got me through the other voices. It was always there even when the pain came back, it talked about food but mostly it talked about what the 'intelligent bi-pedals' were doing usually it was what they were doing to me which was odd because, even during the voices where the pain was absent, I didn't feel anything touching me. After the pain came back the voice told me it had to go but that it would be back after I woke up then I was in a black abyss the pain I felt now was less than the first time and it wasn't really pain it was more like having a limb that fell to sleep receiving blood flow again.

...

I sprinted down the hall dangerously close to being late for work but I scanned my ID and yanked on a lab coat, glancing around for Dr. Croy but he was out so I sat and waited on him to come in. He and been on edge for the past week, Lauren hadn't woken up yet and I got the notion that time was running out, and unless she woke up not a zombie then our program would be shut down.

I was getting a cup of coffee still waiting on Dr. Croy to get back who I assumed was in a meeting with the people funding this little project and the president trying desperately to buy us more time to do testing and perfect the vaccine that we weren't even sure worked when the motion sensor in Laurens cell went off. I nearly dropped my cup of coffee then pulled up the camera that was in her cell and saw that she had moved onto her side and was propped up on one elbow. Totally forgetting about my coffee I made my way as fast as possible to the conference room to alert Dr. Croy that Lauren wasn't a zombie.

...

"Two weeks isn't enough to do any kind of testing" I argued

President Profer sighed and scrubbed his face "you are asking for three years to perfect something that you aren't even sure works, now unless you can get the investors proof that the vaccine works I won't give you the three years."

A female investor spoke up "If in the two weeks you have left before our funding stops you can prove to me the vaccine works I will continue to fund you for as long as you need, but until then keep working."

The other investors nodded in agreement then changed folders to move onto the spidosaurs project that I was also running when my assistant Joey came barging in on us

"It worked." He panted "she is just fine."

The president scowled slightly then smirked "consider your selves redeemed project spidosaurs and project soldier are going to be launched and you have just earned yourself an extra five weeks."

"What?!" I almost screamed as a roar of protest went up "Five weeks? are you trying to get us all killed? I need at least three years maybe, if not more!"

He rolled his eyes "between the spidosaurs and the ones you will get vaccinated how bad can it possibly get?" He asked as he got up to leave, the next part of the meeting apparently canceled.I felt Joey sit down next to me "Be honest, how bad can this get if we don't reach perfection before they force us to launch it?"

"You know all of those movies about zombies?" I asked "like that."

"Let's get to work then." Joey said

I nodded and got up "our best shot is to send what we have to the other 49 research teams and have them do their best to replicate the spidosaurs, we can send samples of the vaccine."

...

I woke up to silence in my cell feeling better than ever I felt amazing, like I could run for miles and work for days on end I propped myself up on one elbow, the voice came back with a pleasant greeting.

"Good afternoon Lauren I was starting to get worried." It said with a voice much like a male librarian soft and quiet.

"Who are you." I asked out loud

"I'm S13 and you don't have to speak out loud, I can hear your thoughts."

"Okay, what are you?"

"Look across the hall."

I looked across the hall at the spider thing, and it went down on his two front legs like he was nodding at me. "You are intelligent, I thought you were just an animal."

"Yes well..." He trailed off " they are coming; it is lunch time and... some kind of bad news..." He went quite

Sure enough a few minutes later my wall slid open the only thing different this time was that Joey and then doctor were waiting to escort me to the guarded door. I was getting strong negative vibes from them almost like a mental thing, kind of like I was reading their minds, but that wasn't possible but maybe it was, how else would S13 have been able to talk to me without making a physical sound.

Once in the cafeteria I was led through the line and given the same meal as least time except the drink was real water and the portions were smaller making it more like a snack. Joey and the doctor sat across from me and just like the guards they had better food than I did, they had burgers and fries with some kind of soda and a chocolate chip cookie I pouted slightly but didn't complain because quite frankly, it could be worse, it could always be worse. I looked around while I waited on the two to finish eating, but it seemed like they were purposely eating slowly, I could feel it, they were hiding something.

Finally, the doctor spoke "how do you feel, any nausea, headaches dizziness on standing?"

I narrowed my eyes trying to read his mind but only succeed in making myself feel silly "no, do you feel okay?" I asked not really sure of what he was looking for.

A shot of surprised humor hit me then he spoke "lots of bravado for a person in your position, and I am fine thanks for asking." He was still avoiding the real topic

Joey cleared his throat "Dr. Croy please."

"Right, this may come as a shock but you have five weeks to train before the world ends."

I froze "what?!" I shot out of my seat "you kidnapped me, lock me in a room with a zombie then this? Who do you think you are?" I had yet to realize I had sent out a mental blast stunning most of the people in the room

"Lauren, please sit." Dr. Croy grunted his face red "I will explain when you sit down."

I had managed to keep mycool for the two days I had been conscious while I was in the lab but this wasit, suddenly I was calm and S13 was in my head, he helped me slow my breathingthen convinced me to sit back down and listen to what Dr. Croy had to say. He waited as gradually, everyone came around and wondering what was going on then, left the cafeteria to go get checked out by an on campus doctor.

"Thank you, now if you train hard and learn to work well with the spidosaurs we can make it, and all of mankind won't die."

"who's idea was this?" I groaned

Joey scoffed "I'll give you one guess, the president... President Bush."

"You have been kidnapping people since the twenty first century?!" I gasped

"Somewhere in there yes, but that's beside the point, you have to help us." Dr. Croy said

"Guess I don't have a choice" I heaved a sigh "when do we start?"

"Right now " Joey grinned

...