The Ascent

Chapter 43

Warning: This draft is a bit rough as I didn't have enough time to edit it out as much as I usually do but I wanted to publish it this week anyway. 

The atmosphere was tense as they followed Arson and Plague, names that didn't inspire any confidence in Jasmine for obvious reasons. Still, she wanted to lift the mood for the sake of the children but couldn't do it, even for them.

What was worse was an unusual feeling—a strange pain—like there was something in Jasmine's veins writhing, trying to escape. It was the most unsettling sensation she had ever had.

"Here we are," Plague said, dramatically gesturing with his hands.

Jasmine looked up for the first time since the beginning of their tense journey, and it shocked her to discover a large, modern-looking building standing in the middle of nowhere, the rising sun reflecting off its windows, making it appear rather magical, even though Jasmine knew better.

"Jay, I mean Plague," A cheerful-looking young woman said. "You brought some newcomers with you."

Unlike all the grumpy faces in Plague's group, the woman was quite the opposite. She had an open and friendly face that appeared untouched by all the horrors happening on the outside, and maybe she was. Perhaps she was sheltered from all the bad things in her little castle instead of waiting for a prince to save her, hiding away from the fierce dragon.

"I am sorry about my post-apocalyptic boyfriend," she said cheerfully. It was as if she were chatting with her close friends and not random people her boyfriend picked up in the middle of the forest like stray cats. "You see, I used to tell him I wouldn't be with him even if he was the last man alive at the end of the world. Now, he is not the only one left, yet I am still with him. What am I thinking, right?"

"Melissa!" Plague shouted, his tough guy facade crumbling down to show a very embarrassed human being. "That's way too much information to share with a potential enemy. Right, Arson?"

When he turned to look at his friend for support, he caught him sniggering upon hearing Melissa's words, far more amused than a friend should have been.

"Yes... yes..." Arson barely croaked out finding it hard to breathe through laughter. "Yes, sir."

Seeing the ridiculous bickering, Jasmine knew she should have felt somewhat relieved. The way they were acting made it clear that the vicious reality hadn't yet brutally murdered their humanity, but there was a part of her that was worried and wanted nothing more than to escape.

Logically speaking, if the tests didn't show anything unusual, which they wouldn't, they would have no reason to harm them in any way. Furthermore, they didn't seem like people who would hurt anyone without a good reason. At least, that was what Jasmine was trying to tell herself.

Ariyana was squirming as well, seeming as uncomfortable with their situation as Jasmine felt, while the others seemed to be lulled into a sense of security by the couple's bickering. Was it female intuition at work or something entirely different?

"Alright, alright. Let's get back to the business at hand. My name is Melissa, and I will be your doctor for today," she said, sounding far too cheerful as they all knew that bad results could lead to bloodshed.

Asher gave Jasmine a meaningful look. His eyes darted quickly from her to Ariyana and back, making it clear he wanted her to look after his little girl. Only when the 'doctor' spoke up again did she realize why.

"We'll split you up, do some blood tests, a physical examination, and so on, and you'll be good to go," Melissa said casually, failing to notice the dark clouds that started gathering over Asher's head.

"I'm not leaving my children alone, no matter what!" Asher exclaimed angrily. "I fought so hard to keep them alive! Now, you want me to trust a bunch of strangers that nothing will happen to them?"

"We are not monsters, you know!" Plague snapped at him. "Children are so precious; it's rare to see them, and we would never hurt them. They are our future, after all."

"And I am supposed to trust you?" Asher snapped, his face impossibly red. "The person who kidnapped us only to experiment on us?"

"You..." Plague said angrily.

"That's enough, Plague. You're scaring the children," Melissa said firmly, putting a hand on his shoulder to hold him back.

"He started it," Plague said, pouting like a three-year-old child.

"Maybe, but you are going to end it," Melissa said with a tone that allowed no objections.

"Fine, fine," Plague muttered, offended.

"The best I can do is one adult and one child for reasons I can't discuss right now," Melissa said, looking around quickly as if she had already shared too much and was checking if someone was coming to punish her. "Also, we need to get it done as quickly as possible."

Both Asher and Jasmine looked at Isaac questioningly, knowing that out of the three children, he was the strongest but also feeling extremely guilty for making him go through the uncomfortable procedures all by himself. It was completely unfair, but it was still the only solution they could think of.

"I'll be fine alone," Isaac said in answer to the guilty looks they were giving him. "Even my parents never went with me for those types of things because they wanted me to toughen up and learn how to take care of myself."

As he said that, his tiny fists curled up, and he clenched his fists so tightly that Jasmine worried he might hurt himself and that his nails might dig into his skin, causing damage. Still, she understood that pointing out the boy's obvious fear at that moment would be just the wrong thing, as he was being so brave and they had no other solutions.

Jasmine wanted to hug him and chase away all the pain; she wanted to go with him through the procedures and be there for him when his parents weren't, but all she could do was nod her head in agreement. In the middle of an apocalypse, one had to make tough choices, and this was the toughest one yet for Jasmine.

However, she knew that if something went wrong, Isaac was resourceful enough to escape and survive, while the same couldn't be said for Asher's sheltered children.

"Is this also part of the game?" Ariyana whispered weakly when Jasmine crouched down to talk to her.

"Yes, this is a test to see if we are healthy enough to play their game," Jasmine lied smoothly.

She knew that Asher didn't like lying to his children, and neither did she, but she felt that the occasion called for some white lies. Especially if they were to keep Ariyana from screaming her head off or doing something that could end up getting them killed.

"But you'll have to say bye to Daddy for a short time because he has to go to the room for boys and we have to go to the one for girls," Jasmine added, holding her breath, unsure if a torrent of crying would follow her words or if Ariyana would accept her lies as the truth.

"Daddy," Ariyana said, running into his arms. "Is this like that time at the zoo when the mean lady told you that you couldn't go to the bathroom for girls and Granny had to go with me?"

"Nod," Jasmine mouthed, seeing that Asher took too long to answer and that he still didn't have it in his heart to lie to his children, not even when it was a white lie.

Maybe he lied about what happened to their grandma so he could lie no more?

Holding his daughter firmly in his arms, Asher nodded as one teardrop fell from his eye and got lost in the little girl's bushy hair.

"Alright, you two follow me," Melissa said, addressing Jasmine and Ariyana. "The rest of you wait here for my colleague to come."

They did as they were told, although Jasmine was extremely cautious, bearing in mind that, in fiction, these types of situations never turned out well.

Death or mayhem...

Or maybe they would be in luck...