2050: The Beginning of the End

Chapter 6: Jason

"State your business."

The voice that responds to Lili's pressing the intercom sounds nothing but annoyed. The accent is noticeable.

Russian?

Lili looks to me at the speaker's request.  He sounds quite young, in his early teens, maybe.

"May we enter, please?" Lili answers the demand with a question.

"Do you have the password?" The Russian inquires, and the two of us exchange glances.

"What could the password be?" I ask Lili, "It's probably some kind of super-secret code."

She rolls her eyes. "No, we don't have it. Can you please let us in to speak with someone?"

"You cannot enter."

"We're really sorry we don't have the password, but we came a long way." I try, hoping he'll take pity on the younger kid.

"No password, no entering. I advise that you leave immediately."

"Please, we have nowhere to... Hey!"

Lili's plea is cut off as a small machine appears in the door, shooting a lengthy, thorn-like spike into her arm. She stares at it, eyes round. "That didn't hurt, but thanks for the warm welcome." she shouts into the intercom, "The name's Lili. Lilian Messer. Nice to meet you too."

I'm not expecting to hear a reply, but the one that comes is frantic.

"Messer? Did you say Messer?"

Lili seems taken aback. "Yes. It's my last name. Well, it's my brother's name too but-"

"I cannot express how sorry I am!" He doesn't sound very sorry.

"Okay?"

Lili stares at me as the door slides open. We walk forward tentatively, entering a corridor with tile flooring and perfect white walls.

Two children stand in front of a control panel, which must operate the intercom. The older, a boy with dark hair and almond-shaped brown eyes, appears to have been the speaker. The other is a pale blonde who stands with her hands behind her back. She looks about my age, maybe a little younger.

The boy turns to us as the door slides shut, "I am Dimitri. Dimitri Orlov, and this is Rosalie Nilsen."

"I'm Jason." I say, still not sure what to think of the boy.

Dimitri turns his gaze on Lili's arm and the spike still located there.

"Can you, I don't know, get this thing out of my arm? Please?" Lili asks, shifting from foot to foot.

"I cannot. I will have to get someone who can. Your face looks dreadful, would you like me to find something for it?"

"Nah. I don't feel it. I have a medical condition that keeps me from feeling pain."

Dimitri snorts.

"A medical condition, you say?"

"Do you have an issue with that?"

"Oh, never you mind. Rose, go get Shemik or Emilio."

Rose turns away, sprinting for a metal staircase at the end of the corridor.

"What brings you here?" Dimitri inquires, looking to me. I decide to trust him, and explain everything from the Inhumanes in Mathers Hill to our parents' cryptic note to Mom's being bitten. I opt not to tell him about my vision, unsure what he would make of it.

He'd probably write me off as crazy given his reaction to Lili's condition.

Dimitri paces before us, looking as though he doesn't quite know what to do about us. Lili is still standing next to me, though she's looking very pale all of a sudden. I glance to her arm, and my eyes widen. In the few minutes since Dimitri shot her, her arm has begun to swell, and the skin around the spike is a nasty shade of green.