Final Truth

Chapter 15: Julia's Message

Adam's point of view:

The sound of a machine humming to life jolts everyone awake in terror, the noise enough to evoke wild fear in the previously quiet setting.

"What's going on?!" Susan asks frantically, searching for what could possibly be making the sound.

"Guys, look," Cassia says, pointing to a small contraption on the top of the ceiling that had managed to go unknown to all of us in the weeks we've lived down here.

I get up from the chair I've been sitting in while working with the box, eyeing the machine suspiciously.

With great relief I realize that it's only a projector, used when leaders make a broadcast intended for all the citizens to hear.

I'm greatly surprised that there's one installed down here, even more so that it actually works.

"It's a projector; there's more all around the city up there. Will must have a broadcast he wants everyone to hear," I explain to them, although it doesn't do anything to soothe anyone's nerves.

"PLEASE STAND BY FOR MESSAGE," the machine speaks in a robotic male voice, causing us to hold our breaths in anticipation as a staticky hologram is emitted from the projector.

As soon as we see the face of Julia, rather than Will, chaos ensues among us.

"Oh my God!" Kyle yells, eyes and mouth agape.

"She's alive!" Susan screams, clawing at the hologram in a desperate attempt to somehow reach our friend on the other side.

Cassia begins to weep.

"Everyone shut up and listen!" I chastise them, turning my attention back to the message.

Julia is only shown from the waist up, but one can tell from her posture and odd positioning of her arms that she is handcuffed and in a chair.

While she's been disguised with makeup, nothing can hide the terror ever-present in her eyes and the defeat she carries on her shoulders. She keeps glancing between someone off-screen and the camera, almost like she's trying to make a decision.

"Hello everyone, my name is Julia Lancaster..." She trails off, unsure of what to say.

Her eyes are hollow and her voice is hopeless; something terrible has happened to her.

"It has been ages since any of you have heard my voice, and so I am making this speech for clarification: I am alive and I am healthy. Currently, I am being held somewhere far from your location to aid in the testing of my fifteen powers. I am being treated as well as can be expected," Julia speaks, although I can tell her last sentence is laced with lies.

"I've been told that there has been unrest among the citizens back home, and Henley and Will are not happy with it. They believe that by allowing you all to see my face, things will calm down..." She trails off again, her breathing increasing and sweat beading down her face.

"Adam what's wrong with her?" Cassia interrupts my focus, but I quickly shush her so I don't miss a word.

"They want me to convince you all to stop fighting them...and for me to tell my friends to give Will the box of powers he so desperately desires..." Julia says, her green eyes evoking so much fear and her breathing so heavy that she seems to be struggling to get out her next words.

"But I can't," Julia exhales firmly, tears streaming down her face before she looks back at the camera with both terror and urgency in her face.

"You can't let them win! Don't stop fighting Will; make his life hell and don't surrender to him!" She yells, and the camera begins to shake as I vaguely hear a voice that sounds like Henley order the cameraman to shut it down.

But Julia's not finished.

"Adam, Cassia, Susan, Kyle, if you're alive and watching this, please listen to me: keep that box away from Will! Don't come after me, I'll be dead before you get the chance. Keep fighting, all of you!" Julia gets out at last, the camera falling to the ground where only the steel floors can be seen.

Screams can be heard off-screen, and a few gunshots ring out. Small splatters of blood end up on the camera lens to where even the steel floors aren't visible anymore.

Then, the message shuts off.

The silence of the underground tunnels resume and I say nothing, even my knowledge-based mind unable to comprehend what I just witnessed.

Kyle and Susan look confused as well, but Cassia looks terrified.

"Cassia, please don't start; you heard what she said. We just have to keep the box away from Will," I offer up, but even I'm beginning to get scared.

"She's going to die...and where was Peter?" Susan questions, her joyous mood long gone, and with it went everyone else's happiness as well.

Before I can offer up a theory, however, something strange happens:

Even this far underground, a thunderous noise can be heard from above. It's the sound of hundreds of people running over our heads, their shouts of defiance muffled but still audible.

"If Julia wanted us to fight back, looks like that's exactly what she got," Kyle speaks, acknowledging what we all know now to be true.

She sparked more resistance in the citizens, and now they're all on her side. If Will thought finding his box of powers before was hard, the citizens are going to make it impossible for him now.