THE HIVE

Chapter 19

I reach my hand out, to catch the illusion that slowly walks away. I want to believe it. I want to, so badly. But she won't become what I want her to. She won't change unless the world changes her. Like it has.

She'll remain the ghost she is, till she can find salvation from the ghost she has created.

This is rough. I did not expect her to be affected to this degree.

Neither did I. But Billy served her. He was at her command. It is reasonable to think why she holds herself responsible. Likable or unlikable, it's just not the point.

I walk with brisk steps as I try and catch up with her.

Turning right, I hear the sliding doors open behind me. They don't open for us, but for the ones due.

Sally nods at them in a short greeting gesture. Her face is set in a permanent frown. "Here, come over to this side."

Our eyes meet. But Sally looks away. When I look at my group, they seem composed for the most part, except for little Kevin occasionally sniffing. I show my hand to them and they nod back, with Beth and Fiona holding their hands up in return.

We walk towards the Flies. There are some boys here who have an alien beside them, teaching them how to operate the vehicles probably, or making them catch the nuances of the controls.

There is also a girl on the Fly on the rightmost corner who is doing something at the pilot seat.

"Samantha, could you give us a moment, please," Sally speaks to her in a surprisingly booming voice. Damn, she's been trained well at this.

The girl, Samantha, acknowledges her with a salute and comes down, hurrying our way.

She is plain looking for the most part, with a thin and tall physique and curly brown hair that is drawn into a ponytail. She has sharp facial features which leads me to wonder if she's from the northern Eurasian countries.

But most importantly, she doesn't have a bright outlook on her face either. She looks gloomy as well. Maybe not as much as Sally though.

Oh, I think I know where this is going.

"I know this is difficult for you, but would you be so kind to demonstrate what went wrong last day?"

"Yes, ma'am!" She salutes, looks over at us, then beckons us to follow, "This way, guys."

Looking at each other nervously for a moment we decide to take her lead.

In the first place, this has become way too complicated. I don't see why she just won't spit out what went wrong. Why do we need a demonstration? Why go into such hassle?

This is becoming a headache isn't it?

Yeah, tell me about it. I respect her for doing all this for Billy, but calling all of us here and showing how he died is a little too much if you ask me. That's just being cruel, and shoving that pain onto us isn't really a good move. I don't know what's going on in her head. Not to mention, given how Noah has gone missing as well, maybe something is in store regarding him as well.

"There's still some time, we need to do this before Initiation," I hear Sally mumbling.

That causes me to frown.

We are taken to a control room which is past the wall on the right, with sliding doors opening.

"Whoa," I gasp at all the machinery in here. The room glows blue. There are holographic displays, unfamiliar instruments with lever-like mechanisms and other objects that seem completely alien to me.