The End Of The World

Chapter 2 - Mission Amnesia

Mission Amnesia 10:00

“Agents, you have 2 hours. Get in, retrieve, attain visual, and get out. Are you clear? Monopoly out.” The speakerphones attached to Rachel and Tim’s ears buzzed softly.

“Morgana, Clear, Morgana out” Rachel let out a breath of disbelief.

“Yeah, Yeah, Ghost Clear,” Tim shrugged, turning his head to where Rachel’s figure overlooked “, Uh, boss? A shopping centre? Really?”

“Well, don’t ask me, it was the president. The mislead man seems to think there’s a ‘cloning lab under the damn thing’, as he put it. So, you have your orders,” the voice from the speakerphones rang out, disbelief clear in its voice. Mr Monopoly, known to few by the name ‘Billy Westcott Jr’, was the spitting image of Mr Monopoly, the cartoon character from Hasbro’s game ‘Monopoly’. Billy was the 50 year old boss of Sector 5, and with his natural intellect, was possibly the smartest man alive“, And this time Ghost, no messing around. I want you to listen to Morgana. Are you clear?”

Tim laughed “You know me boss, I’m Mr Serious.. Ghost clear, Ghost out.”                                                                                                                       

Rachel, with Tim right behind her, started to walk to the large complex of Coburn Central Gateway, where a burly man stood, glaring at them suspiciously.

“Agents, remember your lines, and your roles. Good Luck.”

As if by magic, a piece of rope found itself wrapped around Rachel’s hands, and gripped by Tim. “We’re here for the testing. This stupid one, “Tim’s easy going voice was replaced by a more rough, steely one as he pointed at Rachel “, was trying to get away, so I had to tie her up. Pfft, humans these days."                                                                         

The man stood still, and after a few seconds he spoke softly “Follow.” The duo cautiously followed him to a wall, after seeing an identical guard take their guide’s place. The man tapped on the wall a few times, and then the wall gave way. The guard motioned for them to enter. They did-and watched as the wall slid back into place. Turning around, they saw their place in a line of people ranging from children to elders who were past their due date.

“This place is huge..” Rachel whispered “, and so is this line...we’re going to be here all day..”

“Yeah.., must have cost a lotta big bucks to build this place..so..looks like we’re going to have to jump the line.” Tim smirked, making his way to a lady at the front of the line.

“What are you”-Rachel was interrupted by Tim pulling her along. Tim walked to the lady, and plastered a sad face onto his own.

“Miss...I...And...I and my sister...we’ve lost our brother...He’s only 2... Do you think...we could stand behind you..?” Tim erupted in a mountain of soft sobs. Rachel looked at him and followed, making her eyes turn red.

“Why, Why of course, you poor things.. I nearly lost my sister when I was younger too...in a mall just like this one. I received a full on whacking too...Here, take my place. This may be your last chance before they continue testing, so go!” the lady sympathised.

“Thank you..Thank you so much!” Tim took the lady’s hands and kissed them, screwing up his face after she had left. They walked into a corridor, and opened their eyes in suspicion. White tables accompanied white machines, where doctor look-alikes were talking. Their coats were stained with a tinge of red.

“So, I’m guessing this is ‘testing’, huh...” Tim trailed off..

In the next room they came across, they saw 20 or so children being led to the machines. Quickly running into a corner, they ducked into a small storage closet, and watched as the scene before them unfolded.

“Wow..” Rachel whispered in confusion, pulling out a camera from her bag.

“Hello sweetie, what’s your name?” one of the scientists asked a girl around the age of 10.

“Frances...Where’s my mummy? The lady said my mummy was here...” the girl pouted...

“We’ll take you to your mummy soon, but first we just need to check if you’re sick or not, ok?” the female scientist told her, pulling out a needle. Without any warning, the scientist plunged the needle into the child, causing her to frown, and start to cry with fear. Then, as quickly as it had been placed in her arm, the needle was drawn out of the girl, “now that wasn’t so bad was it? Now, if you just step in this bed, we’ll just  let you rest for a few minutes before giving you back to your mummy.”the lady picked the girl up and placed her into the machine, slamming the lid of its white exterior, and with that, the lady flicked a switch on a control panel of some sort. Suddenly there was a blinding light that seeped through from the corners of the machine, a scream, and then silence. The lady opened the machine, took the limp body out and dumped it in a bag to the side of the room. Then, she walked out with the bag.

“Holy smoke...” Tim trailed off again, “C’mon Morgana, time to extract” The two agents peered out of their hiding spot, and split off in different directions, picking up things occasionally. Suddenly an array of voices drew closer, so they returned to their abode. Scooping up their stolen objects, they shoved everything into their bags, and returned to the scene.

“What’s next Professor DiNautre?” a shrill voice screeched.

“We have the director visiting today...and a couple of boys our men picked up on the street. We’ll have to lock them up in storage room one, for later experiments. The Director will be coming in exactly 8 minutes, so I want this place cleaned up. Remember, a clean place, is a clean clone” A posh voice spoke fiercely, and then was silenced. There was a patter of feet, and after, what seemed like forever, the sound of feet was no more.

“I assure you, that the compound is entirely secure, as always. We have guards positioned at every exit.  If there is an intruder, they will be completely trapped.”

“It better be, DiNautre, or not only your job will be on the line.” another voice called out. Suddenly a door slammed closed.

 “So, I’m guessing that was the director...Nice fellow isn’t he...”- the unmistakeable sound of a siren leered at them, and the sound of running echoed throughout the building, as the two agents groaned in unison.