The Lost Ones

8 - Adrian

You know that your plans are screwed when every step goes wrong in the exact order that it needed to be right.

ADRIAN'S FLAWLESS PLAN:

Step One: Find Marie and have a confusing conversation to, uh, confuse her

Step Two: Create a distraction and steal Marie's pass

Step Three: Access a staff computer and use Marie's login

Step Four: Shut down all security measures

Step Five: Get the frick out of there

Unfortunately, one big part of my master plan went wrong when I was led downstairs for testing in the morning by the patrol guards.

"So, uh, where's Marie today?" I asked as casually as I could when the doctor was about to inject me with something that looked like Mountain Dew.

"Ms. Gabriels is busy today." He said as he flicked the needle. I've never liked needles; it was unfortunate I had to have one every day for ten years of my life.

"So what's she doing then? Top-secret, scary hospitally stuff, I presume?" The doctor raised his eyebrows at me.

"What Ms. Gabriels is doing is none of your business." Cold metal pierced my upper right arm. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the burning pain.

Needless to say, my amazing plan failed before it had even got anywhere. They placed me in yet another white room. Does anyone even bother about interior decoration in these parts? I mean, at least a bit of paint on the walls? I was thinking over this when I realised that I was not alone in the room. Around the table sat two girls and a boy.

"I guess you're another test subject, huh?" said one girl with curly dark brown hair.

"Uh.. yeah. Sorry, but who are you guys?" I asked. The boy gave a dark chuckle.

"We're the same as you, kid. We're the poor nobodies that got stuck in here to help other people." 

"Don't scare the guy, Jake. Hey, aren't you the one that escaped a couple of days ago? You and the girl?" says the other girl. She has long, straight strawberry-blonde hair and gentle blue eyes. Just the mention of Lela, not even her name, makes me sad.

"I'm Maisie," she says, and shakes my hand. "That's Cynthia, who prefers to be called Thia," she said, pointing to the other girl. "And that's Jake, our resident pessimist." The boy nods and shakes his uneven black hair out of his eyes.

"Hey, ain't my fault we're all gonna die here, in Limbo." Jake says with a smirk. Thia rolls her eyes and sighs irritably.

"Shut up, guys. What's your name, anyway?" Maisie turns to me. I give a weak smile.

"Adrian. Do you guys have last names....?" I ask. Nobody seems to have last names in the hospital, unless you're part of the staff. I guess they take that away from us as well as everything else.

"Nope. We have practically nothing. Not even a past." Thia said bitterly; Maisie shot her a look. I understood, though. The only lives we had were here, in the gloomy nothingness of the hospital. Maisie must have seen me tense, because she smiled and patted me on the back comfortingly.

"Why were you asking the doctor back there if Marie was in?" Jake said curiously. He didn't seem to like me much by the way he was glaring at me.

"I had a kind of plan. To escape." I said, hoping they wouldn't comment on the fact that it hadn't worked out. No chance.

"Kind of a plan? I can see that. What exactly did you hope to achieve with this genius plan of yours?" Jake laughed. Both Maisie and Thia went 'Jake!' but I just looked at him.

"I was going to steal a staff login from Marie and try and shut down the systems. I think it's a better plan than you just sitting here and destroying everyone's hopes of ever getting out of here. Just because you've given up on humanity doesn't mean that we all have to follow your example." He soon shut up, but continued to shoot me dark looks every now and then.

"Were you going to find your friend? What's her name?" Maisie asked, trying to drive the conversation into a happier place. I was grateful that she didn't say what was her name; the past tense that she could have used sounded far too ominous.

"Lela. She came to the hospital at the same time as me. Did you three get here at the same time too?" I was starting to like these people. We seemed around the same age, which was weird seeing as not once had I ever seen anyone else like me and Lela in the hospital. Not that they'd let us interact with anyone.

Thia shook her head, her dark curls bouncing around her shoulders. "No, me and Jake arrived at the same time; Maisie arrived with another boy called Caspar, but he died soon after of the disease. It wasn't a big surprise, even he knew he was ill. It was still pretty sad though."

A tense silence follows. Nobody talks for a while. I don't think anyone can think of anything to say. Then suddenly, a guard bursts in.

"You," He says, pointing to me. "Are coming on a little road trip. Follow me."

I stand up, but Maisie gestures for me to sit down again. "Why does he need to go anywhere? What are you going to do with him?" 

I was internally screaming at her to be quiet. I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me. I've already lost one friend, I've just made some more and I can't lose them too. 

"It's none of your business, young lady," The guard brought his face close to hers. "You're a pretty one, aren't you? So I'd keep quiet, if I were you, if you want your pretty little face to stay that way."

I could see her shudder as the guard smiled at her. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me through the door. I took one last look at the last hope I had of other friends as the white door slowly shrank until it disappeared.

"Hurry up. You're going to meet someone very special." The guard said, and he pushed me aggressively towards a door. 

Charles W. Magannor, Head of Treatment