The City of Alium (Friendfic)

Breach

Eli's Pov

I strained my hand to wrap the metal bin around the roamers, until I had to release and catch my breath. 

"Alia, help me out?" I bend over and place my hands on my knees. 

I'm getting too old for this. 

Alia and Hunter quickly rushed to the 2 roamers behind the bin, and Brittly was over by Rose and Michael, eyes perpetually rolling. 

After a moment of catching my breath, I joined Alia and Hunter discover who the other two roamers were. 

Anna Burpo and Sarah White. 

"What are you guys doing out here?" Alia asked, relaxing a little bit, as she knew Anna and Sarah wouldn't be a threat. 

Anna shifted her gaze aside, but Sarah spoke up. "We came to warn you. On the border... there are these.. Big black vans. They don't enter, they sit right outside the city and just... do nothing. Michael approached one to find it empty, but there were these cameras... They're watching us." she said, disturbed. 

My eyebrows furrowed, "Humans? Are they going to enter Alium?" I asked. 

Everyone shrugged, and Michael, Rose, and Brittly joined us. 

"What's the big problem with having humans in Alium anyway? We were all humans before we came here." Michael argued, which he tended to do. 

"Because humans aren't like us. We'd be dissected and interrogated. The city would fall to pieces. We have to protect the city, keep the people safe, and find a cure. Associating with humans isn't the answer" Brittly shot back. 

I nodded my head, "I agree, we can't talk to them. We'll just have to start working twice as hard to find a cure. I hate to say it but... It's wisest that the complexes.. Team up.". 

Alia agrees, "I suppose if it will keep my complex safe... I'm willing to cooperate.". 

Brittly remains quiet, and Hunter speaks up. "Well then we'd better get to work. We should head back to our complexes and figure this out. We want to avoid fighting with humans, but we need to be prepared. Alia, Rose, begin prepping your members for war. Eli, Brittly, we need a formula. If anything goes wrong, call Shelby and she'll do what she can. Sound good?". 

We all agree, and Anna grabs Michael's hand. "We'll be leaving then". 

Rose takes a step forward, "I don't think so. We can't have roamers at a time like this. You're coming with us." 

Alia adds, "She's right. We've got a place for you at the complex. It's unsafe to let you walk the city freely.". 

Sarah White goes willingly, and Michael begins to follow, but Anna holds him back. 

"We said we wouldn't go with them." she states. 

Michael rolls his eyes, "Anna, we're running out of food. And it's a warm, safe place to stay. You have to think rationally." he pulls his arm out of her grasp and walks towards us. 

"Michael" Anna shot, as she stood her ground. 

Michael didn't respond. He wrapped his arm around Rose and began to walk back towards the city with the rest of us, and Anna drudged behind. 

***

Back at the Magnus complex, Brittly and I had to warn everyone about the humans. 

We weren't the kind to panic, but everyone was certainly unsettled. 

"The solution that we have right now isn't perfected... You really want us to start testing?" Hailey voiced, clearly concerned. 

I sighed, also worried about this. "It shouldn't be a problem, we  always have Shelby's powers as a backup." 

"She can't just heal everyone. You know her healing takes a lot of energy. If not used properly, it could tire her to death" Hailey argued. 

I took a moment to consider my options. 

"I don't want to hurt Shelby... We'll be careful. I won't let any harm come to her or anyone else. Get me our top antidotes and get them to me now." I stormed to the lab, and met with Chloe. 

"Hey, any word back from Malum yet?" she asked as she matched my pace. 

I pushed open the door to the lab open, and held it before walking in behind Chloe. 

"I haven't heard back, no. But hopefully the scan will come back clean. No humans have bothered us before... I don't understand why they would start now." I reasoned. 

Chloe agreed, and put a protective mask over her face. I did the same and we slipped into hasmat suits, before punching in the code to the testing room. 

The air hissed as the door opened, revealing Oslyn. 

I wasn't exactly sure who she was, but the theatre kids sure seemed to be fond of her. 

And reasonably. She told a lot of funny jokes, and her bubbly personality was 

enjoyable in stressful times. 

Why was she the test subject?

"How are you feeling, Oslyn?" Chloe asked, squatting down. 

Oslyn coughed and smiled, "Better than ever! I haven't been shaking much, which is good, right?".

Chloe offered a sympathetic half smile, "Yeah. Have you tried using your abilities lately?" she asked, scribbling something on a notepad.

"They told me to only try a couple times a day. I'll show you" she took a deep breath and reached out her hand, tensing it slowly. the lights in the room flickered and a spark shot as Oslyn pulled her hand away with a quick "Ow!". 

Chloe rushed to Oslyn's side and held her up, "Easy there. Don't stress yourself. Thank you, Oslyn, you can try to rest now" she whispered. 

Oslyn sighed and shook her head, "No, I don't.. I don't feel so good. The electricity is... it's burning.." she wheezed for breath. 

I crouched down and put my hand on her forehead to feel for temperature, "She's burning up... Chloe..."  

Oslyn stretches with an exaggerated yawn, "Maybe I should go to sleep... The medicine made me tired.." Oslyn's eyes began to roll back and her long eyelashes fluttered. 

Chloe slowly shook her head as Oslyn sank to the floor, more limp every second. 

"No, no no no, Oslyn" Chloe's voice cracked as she tried to keep Oslyn upright, to no avail. 

An alarm began to sound and I glanced outside the glass walls, realizing that everyone had left and red lights were flashing. 

"Chloe, we gotta go. It's an emergency" I knew the Alarm would only sound if it was something serious. 

Chloe cried and held Oslyn, "We can't just leave her here!"

My heart sank, I didn't wanna leave Oslyn here either.  Not like this. But unsafe to take her out of the containment center. We would spread the treatment that Oslyn was on. I couldn't risk spreading that.. not if the results were... negative. 

"Chloe, we have to go. We'll send a hasthmat crew in here when we're sure that everything safe, but for now we have to go. Come on" I grabbed Chloe's hand, and she let Oslyn lie comfortably on the bed. 

We ran to the meeting room where people were gathered, and demanded an explanation. 

"Who pulled the alarm?" Chloe yelled, as if she were mad, but I knew she was just upset about Oslyn. 

Brittly raised her hand slowly, and spoke up. 

"I did. But it's important. We have to alert everyone" she said worriedly. 

"What is it?" I asked, confused as to what could be so important. 

"The humans..." She started, and then pulled a picture of the barrier up. 

I quickly noticed the black cars entering our streets. 

I finished Brittly's statement. 

"They're in Alium".