Shining Truth

Chapter Three: Save Them

"What?" I said, surprised by her direct order. "What do you mean save them? Who is them? Who are you? What's going on?"
"It will be okay! Just listen to me. I'm Skye. My friends, Paige and Emily, are with your friend, got it? Those 'photographers' weren't real photographers," she said. I nodded. "They were here to see who is eligible for a little, 'experiment', I guess you can say. We don't know what the experiment necessarily is yet, but I'm sure we'll figure it out soon enough. Right now, our only choice is to turn ourselves in."
"What? Are you crazy? They were chasing me! They-"
"They were attempting to collect you, too. They were about to come and get you anyway," she interrupted.
"Okay, then. How are we gonna do this anyway? I doubt they would let me go scott free for running like that," I said, glumly. "My name's Elizabeth, by the way. People call me Lizzy"
Skye nodded, noting my name. "We just walk back into the auditorium and say sorry. The end. We do what we are told until I say so, but don't let them hurt you, got it?"
I nodded. "Let's go save our friends!"
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The first thing I remember was darkness and the foul stench of gym clothes. My long black hair stuck to my neck and itched. There was some type of fabric surrounding me. I was swaying. Where I was, what time it was, and where I was going, I had no idea about and truly it didn't seem to matter. There was no escaping, I couldn't move. The feeling of falling was dominant above all else. I hated this. Suddenly, there was a feeling of something being placed under me, something flat, but slightly cushioned, like carpet. Then I heard an engine start and I could feel myself moving.
I felt around myself. There was something else here, too. I could hear breathing. Whether it was human or animal, I could not tell. However, I could tell it was becoming increasingly hard for me to breathe, and the continuous swaying feeling was making me feel nauseous. I could feel myself slipping away again.
☯
I stood up, ready for what was coming. Skye climbed out of the bag and brushed herself off, sneezing from the dust in the bag.

"They should still be here, unless they suddenly sped up," Skye said, looking at me. We walked up the small set of stairs and out of the basement. The hallway was still dark, and I was surprised that the lights weren't back on. The panicked yelling of the students in their classrooms made the entire event more eerie than I wanted it to be. The slight candle light from Mrs. Hall's classroom next door was barely enough to see.
"The school is in lockdown," Skye said casually, "Mrs. Jackson and Mr. Tucker must have come to every room to tell everyone to stay in their classrooms until the power came back on."
We began walking back to the auditorium. Before long, we were at the door of the concert hall. The anticipation of giving myself up to these 'photographers' seemed like a bad idea, but it looked like Skye knew more about the situation than I did. Slowly, I cracked open the door, and I could hear the infuriated shouts of the head 'photographer' at the others for letting me escape with their "precious" cargo.
"How dimwitted can you be?!"he shouted at the man who was chasing me. "They were valuable specimen! Now what are going to do?!"
We stepped inside. Everything went silent, while everyone stared at us. I walked toward them, my head down. While we had been listening to their conversation, Skye had gotten back into the bag to pretend she hadn't woken up yet.
"I'm sorry, I thought you would have something cool, like a professional camera in here, but my conscience got the best of me. Here, I didn't look in it, I'm sorry," I said, handing them the bag.
The leader of them snapped his fingers and pointed at me, and his goons took the bag and put a cloth over my mouth, stuffing me in a bag.
Later, I woke up, their sleeping drug was cheap and didn't last long. I knew I was in a bag. I whispered, "Skye? Are you there?"
There was a little movement by my feet and I heard her say, "Yeah, are you ok?"
"I've had my friend kidnapped, I've been chased into a damp basement, and then I was drugged and stuffed into a bag. How do you think I am?"
"I think you're great!" Skye said sarcastically. "Now we just wait."
☯
I felt myself roll, and hit the side of something like a wall. I had stopped moving, and there was an opening sound. I felt myself being lifted up again, and then my head hit something.
"Crackerjack!" a man's voice said, including a long hold on the first "a". He probably has kids, and he's trying to train himself to say other words instead of cursing, I thought. There was the sound of steps, and then a door opening. I was laid on a flat surface. I could hear the same door opening again, and then two more times. Then, I could hear zippers being undone, and then I saw a bright light.
Someone had opened what I was inside of, a bag. I closed my eyes quickly, my eyes had not adjusted quite yet.
A voice said, "Looks like they all stayed asleep, sir!"
"Good," said another, "we need them all safe, otherwise the test results may not be accurate."
I was lifted out of the bag, and set on a cold flat surface. A surgical table? I thought, What are they planning to do? One of the voices said, "They will wake up soon. We should hurry and get them to their rooms." Then I was placed back into the bag and taken into a room, that must not have been very far away, because there were only a few footsteps that I could hear. I was once again taken out of the bag and placed on another cold table. I opened my eyes, and before me stood Phil, the photographer.
He was shining a flashlight into my eyes, and he opened my mouth and put a wooden stick against my tongue. He had on a surgical mask, and a white coat. He went on to inspect my shoulder blades and my nerves. Is he a doctor as well? Do I have some kind of terrible, contagious disease that he knew he had to contain and investigate immediately? What's going on? I wondered. I tried to say something, but it was as if my vocal chords were broken, because not a single word came out.
I looked around the room. It looked like a regular doctor's office to me. The floor was made of large white tiles, and the wall was an off-white color of wallpaper. There were cabinets against the walls and I was sitting on a hospital bed. It had paper stretched over it. There were no windows, only one fluorescent light on the ceiling. However, there was something off about the room. The lack of a single photo perhaps, or maybe it was how dreadfully frigid it was. I had never been to a doctor's office so cold. Maybe this is the doctor my mother told me about this morning? Did she know about my "disease"?
Before long, another person walked into the room. He was dressed almost identically to Phil, but he had chestnut colored hair, and brown eyes, unlike Phil's blonde hair and blue eyes. He had broad shoulders, and a football player look. He had a cruel look on his face.
'The subject is awake?" He asked. His voice was stern and masculine.
"Yes, but she has not done anything to escape," Phil replied. Escape? I thought, Why would I need to escape? What are they going to do?
"Still, you should lock your door in case, that way she can't run."
"Yes, sir," Phil said. He seemed afraid of the man. He probably worked for him and was on the verge of losing his job. I couldn't blame him for being nervous.
"What have her tests shown so far? Is she the one we were looking for?" he asked. Looking for me? I thought. The man nodded and they went just outside of the room and locked me inside.
Several thoughts filled my head. What are they going to do? Where am I? Where are my friends? Where's mom? What is going on? And then I remembered the blackout at school. This was planned. I started to laugh and then I said, "Ok guys, you got me! Really funny! Ha ha! Come on out! Good prank!" I slowly began to realise this was real.
Phil walked back inside, and the other man left. He picked up a needle and told me to stay calm and still. I looked at him as he walked toward me. He quickly grabbed my arm, and injected me with a clear liquid. I soon keeled over, and when I finally awoke I was surrounded by what appeared to be doctors. I was strapped to a cold metal table by leather straps around my wrists, ankles and waist.
Several of the doctors around me had on face masks, as if I was contagious. Why? I was about to find out.
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Skye was asleep, and I was waiting in the dark. I couldn't sleep, I was too worried. Why were they taking us? Where were they taking us? I kept wondering. And why would they dress as photographers? I continued to wonder where we were going when I shifted forward. We had stopped. I could hear a trunk opening and then I could feel myself being hoisted upwards. Oh, how I wished things could go back to normal, but there was no turning back now.
When I heard a zipper being opened near my head, I faked being asleep. I was still in the duffle bag, as I had assumed, and they took my limp body out of the bag. I was placed on something unpleasant. I could hear the ruffling of some paper as I was laid down. It wasn't soft and warm, but hard and cold. I heard the murmur of voices. I only picked up the words, "like the others," and, "O Rh negative." I had no idea what this meant, but it sounded important so I forced myself to remember it. Eventually, the voice walked away, leaving the sound of feet against a tile floor behind them.
I opened my eyes and found myself staring straight into a bright, sterile light. It was blindingly so that I began to try and blink after images of the bulbs out of my eyes. I sat up and put my hands beside me. I was on a hospital bed, with paper down the length of it. I got up and tried the door. Locked. What am I going to do now? I thought.
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The doctors stood around me, needles, scissors and syringes in hand. They advanced on me, a predatory look in their eyes. A hunger that would never be satisfied. I tried to free myself from the straps holding me down. They were secured tightly, and were beginning to leave marks on my wrists and ankles. They were talking to each other in short utterances, that was until a woman wearing a surgical mask said, "The patient is awake. Tighten the restraints. We can't let it escape."
A doctor with black hair was standing next to me, filling syringes. He smelled like the cornstarch that covered his gloves. "We cannot tighten them anymore than we already have. It would cut into the subject's skin, ruining it. We cannot risk it," he said. In that case, you've already failed, I thought.
Slowly, the black haired man took a few pints of blood. Three to be exact. I was feeling slightly woozy, but stayed awake anyway. They took a small section of my skin away from my arm, and placed an elastic bandage around it. I started to ask questions, which resulted in the shushing of the doctors and for them to stop.
"We will continue this later, when the patient has more blood," the black haired doctor uttered. Afterwords, I was unrestrained, and put into a solitary room that reminded me of the insane asylums from the movies. Why didn't I fight back? Because I needed to know what was going on (and I was to tired).
☯
I looked around myself. Padded walls and a sealed off door. Where was I? Obviously somewhere that didn't want me to hurt myself or escape. I, Skye, had no clue what direction home was or how to get there from here under the circumstances, but I would figure it out soon enough.
I waited for a couple of minutes until a man opened the door. I look around, he was the only one entering the room. He has chestnut hair and bright blue eyes and they shined like the sun, but they were blue like the sea.
"I see you're looking well, are you alright? They didn't hurt you too much did they?" He seemed kind enough, but I still couldn't trust him I didn't know enough about him. But, possibly when I did know more, he could help me and my friends escape.
"Here, I brought you some food," he said smiling at me. I was suspicious of the food. He brought me potatoes and fried chicken but all look like it is coming from an old soaking box found in a college student's fridge. There was no salt or gravy for the potatoes either but that didn't change my mind. It was still disgusting looking, I was starving anyway and I was taken before my class had lunch and I needed the nutrients. If there were any drugs in this food, they would probably just put me to sleep or make me tired or numb.
He sat there staring at me, he seemed sympathetic, as if sad I was still in my school outfit. Maybe he had children, maybe he knew what would happen to us. If only he would tell me.
"I know the food isn't that good, trust me I had it, but I think you'll find it filling." Indeed it was, it would be enough sustenance to keep me going for awhile at least. "Are you concerned about what's going to happen? Or haven't they told you?" I looked at him with a blank stare. "I guess that's a no then, they haven't told you." He glanced down, not saying a word. "It wasn't my choice to come here,"he said, "but I'll tell you"
☯
I, Lizzy, searched around the room for something to pick the door's lock, sirens suddenly started to blare, and I hid behind the door as doctors ran down the corridor to the right. Whatever made that alarm go off must have been important for so many of them to run off. Soon, I started to see what looked like guards go to rooms, checking, searching for something. There were many of them. They were attracted to the rooms like moths to light.
I found a needle in one of the drawers in the room. I took some scissors from the same drawer and cut off the tip. I bent the needle into the shape of the key that was on the belt loop of the doctor. The one who gave me a 'check-up'. I saw it on his side before he left and remembered the shape. I carefully placed in the needle, and adjusted it until it was just right to get the door open. I quickly grabbed a new pack of needles, and cut of the tips of the rest of the old pack. I'll be needing these. I thought to myself, planning ahead. I also grabbed some antibiotic and bandages. I tore the tissues out of a nearby tissue box and put the items into the now empty container. I took some of my bandages and made a makeshift strap. It would do until I could get something better.
I peeked around the door. Nobody was in my range of sight. Maybe this won't be so hard afterall! I thought. I checked one more time then quietly exited the room. I left the light on so passersby wouldn't feel as tempted to look inside for me. The sirens blaring was headache inducing, why had no one turned it off yet? I ran down the hall in the opposite direction of the medics. I quickly looked around the corner, still clear. I darted into a cafeteria-like room. The cafeteria branched off into two hallways, they each had the same looking door at the end. There were only a few seats. They looked comfortable.
I looked around for any windows or doors that would lead outside. Nothing. My gut told me to go left, so I did, running cautiously, trying to avoid everyone. I ran to the end of the hallway and opened the door that was there. It was heavy. Inside was a padded room. It was empty except for a plate on the ground and a fork. What kind of place is this? Who was in here? I closed the door and turned around. Behind me stood two guards, and they were reaching for me.
☯
Later I woke up on the ground of the padded room, a nurse with bright blue eyes was beside me and was cleaning a wound on my arm. Apparently I had a cut that I hadn't noticed, where it was from, I had no clue, but there it was! Beside the lady was a first aid kit. When the nurse saw me awake, she jumped slightly.
"Where am I, mam?" I asked her politely, just in case she wouldn't tell me if I wasn't . "Why did you take me away from school?" The woman looked nervous, and then she whispered in my ear.
"Please forgive me," then she clicked a button on her first aid kits side. In bursted several guard looking people, who grabbed me up and took me out of the room. As I looked behind me, the nurses looked away from me and started to write something on a clipboard. She mouthed the words I'll help you. I could feel the blood pulsing through the veins in my arm, the guards were holding me so tightly. They too appeared scared. Was I making them scared? Where were they taking me?
I was taken into a cafeteria like room, it had two hallways facing me. One had a door like the room I had just came from, while the other I was heading down. Beside me were private doctors offices, and one had a doctor working on something on his computer with the light on. When I opened my mouth to ask, to guard on the right slapped me. My left cheek stung.
I struggled against their grip, and grabbed hold of my footing. I quickly jumped up, and freed myself from the guards' tight hold. I ran down the hallway. I heard the yelling of the guards and then an alarm began to go off. The alarm was high pitched, and loud. Doctors, guards and nurses chased after me. I turned left when the hallway ended. I was in what looked like a really comfortable classroom. There were some tables, a couch and bean bags. There was a projector on the wall and a desk with a chair and a podium. What is this place? I wondered. This makes no sense!
I looked around. Behind the desk to the left was a door. Inside was a brightly lit hallway. This whole place is a maze of corridors, isn't it? I thought to myself. I dashed to the door and flung myself through the doorway. Ahead of me was a girl with dirty-blonde hair and a doge shirt.
☯
"Okay then, tell me what you know," I said expectantly staring at the man with the bright blue eyes.
"The men in the coats, the scientists, they want to, uh, make better people. They're taking people who are already eligible with a blood type, O negative. They're universal donors. They chose them because they want to be able to keep the others alive easily. You were born with the ability to heal faster than the normal human body. I don't know much else." He had a grave look on his face once he was done talking.
"So, you're saying that I and a select few have this... ability I suppose you'd call it?" I said with a brow raised in wonder. He nodded, acknowledging my question. "Then why are you helping me? You have nothing to gain from this," I said.
"I can save my soul," is all he said.
He quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the door. The door opened and there was another woman there. She had the same color eyes as the man. Could they be siblings? I wondered. He jumped in surprise, then stepped closer to her.
"Where are they?" he said.
"The other cells, there are two who are together," she said, motioning to the room we were in. Cell? Are we being imprisoned? Why call it that if we weren't? I was suspicious of everything now. It seemed like the only person I could trust was myself.
"They? Who is they? And why are we in cells? What is this, a prison?" I forced myself into the conversation by throwing a multitude of questions at them. The woman stared at me in disbelief, as if surprised I could speak. Is she stupid? I was standing directly in front of her. And besides, I am human, of course I can talk!
"You don't know what you're dealing with, girl," The woman said gravely. She glared at me, as if I had done this to her.
"Calm down, Veronica!" he said, hurriedly.
"Why should I?" she asked, her face becoming red with fury or embarrassment. "I didn't even want to do this in the first place! This was your idea! I could lose my job! And you know I need the money! Why did I have to listen to you?" her eyes were watering. "I can't keep doing this for you Peter, it's ruining my life." she looked down at me. "This isn't her fault, it's yours," she said as she glared at Peter, turning around and walking off, waiting at the end of the hall way for us to follow her.
We made our way down the extensive hall, everyone was silent, with only a few signals to move or be quieter. We passed by a open door where some men were laughing and having coffee. Then we began to head down a hall when there was that girl, Lizzy's, friend standing ahead of me with Emily, Paige, and a blonde girl.
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