The Night

Discoveries

         I was on my own now. No one to help me but also no one to hold me back. I was stuck in a bleak room, the lights flickering ominously. The scar on my chest throbbed, I would turn soon. Very soon.
         The door clicked open and a man walked in. "Harper. Follow, or else." He threatened and led me through a labyrinth of corridors before he led me to another room with a table and two more tough looking bodyguards. "Sit." The man said again so I did.
        "Who are you?" I demanded, secretly terrified but hiding it well. "What do you want?"
        "Hmmf," the man sighed, "You're infected so we want to use you. Let's call it a test. All I'm saying is, don't give up and you will be rewarded with life." And he raised his fist and knocked me out. When I woke up, I was nauseas and exhausted. I was in the wild city except there were no Reavers or Skulkers.
         My memory of my wierd but brief encounter with those men already fading, I tried to recall all the details I could. They might well save my life, "Ok, ok," I mumbled to myself, "Something about never giving up? Rewards and me being chosen because I was infected." So I knew that I had a few more days at least before I turned. For now, I could at least explore the world and this expansive land before me. I needed food, drink and a weapon. Oh yeah, and a place to hide.
         I liked being alone, you could hear yourself think, plan out how you were gonna survive. It was peaceful, too peaceful... Like something was going to happen any second now. I paused, nothing happened. I saw a huge building, the shelves still stocked with supplies. Didn't hesitate for a second, I ran in and grabbed all the tinned food and drinks I could, shoving it in my backpack. I got to the clothes isle and wondered if I would need a new set of clothes, my thoughts were harsley interrupted by a hoarse volatile scream. I knew all to well what that scream meant, I climbed up the shelf and lay down low; Hiding and hoping nothing would see me.
         I saw an ugly Reaver pass by, its body bulging with blisters and blood clots. It paused and sniffed the area around me, I held my breath, tensing myself getting ready to run. It turned its head halfway, noticing me, eyeing me up as if deciding whether I was worth killing. It stared at me, I was stuck in the pants isle and this felt somewhat familiar. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, like a distant memory.
        That wasn't the problem right now, this Reaver was going to start calling its buddies, I had to do something. I jumped down seconds before it let loose its horrifying volatile scream, calling for its buddies. I dashed out as fast as I could, taking the high route across buildings. It felt surreal, my body wasn't in control, I was scared that I was turning. I tried to stop, my body wouldn't let me. I was stuck, like the passenger in a car, powerless to stop myself. I ran up several buildings, Reaver's piling up behind me, suddenly the world around me began to deteriorate.
          The distant world began tearing itself apart, in the distance I saw a blue wave of just numbers... The only word to describe it was glitching. The wave of numbers replaced the ground and before I knew it an invisible force through me right to the ground. When I looked up I saw Ike staring up at me, he began talking but I zoned out. Something about skill and using me, the wave of destruction grew closer and I saw more Reaver's coming towards me. I realised why this felt familiar, of course! Wasn't this, wasn't this what happens to Kreis on the first night? He had told me the story in detail before. Was I, was I in some sort of simulation? I, were they using me? I wouldn't let them, I had to do the opposite of what Kreis did. Which was, sadly, die.
        Maybe if I died then the simulation would end, I threw myself into the crowd of Reavers, they ravaged me, tearing me apart painfully. Then, suddenly I heard a voice. It sounded painfully familiar, I felt my skin tear itself apart. I could feel it, I was turning.

Back in the lab, Kreis's pov.

          A sharp noise pierced my ear, sending me to the ground. Stef and Alicia were glancing at each other then suddenly Stef's head snapped up. "Huh?" I began then instantly Stef began to deteriorate into a thin stream of numbers flowing through him. "What the fu-" and then the same thing happened to Alicia and me.
        A voice blared through the intercom, it was Oscar, "Stay calm. Just doing, ah, a few tests. Simulation will be painless, stay calm and goodbye my friends." It blared and a completely new sensation filled my body. I heard Alicia whisper to me.
          "It's not real Kreis. I remember this one, it's a hallucination caused by something they gave us, ignore the visions. They're there to break you, your worst nightmares. Everywhere... Reavers." Her eyes darted rapidly. Worst nightmares I wondered? All I could see was a bunch of binary or something, like some sort of code. Certainly not a nightmare and much less my worst one?
         My hand began fading and I felt even weaker, I wasn't giving up now though. This hallucinogen sucked, it wasn't making me see anything scary, just code and junk. Instead, it just made me feel weaker, I remembered though I couldn't be weak. What had Alicia said? Everything was a lie, she'd given me a few instructions after... Ah yeah, she told me I was Hunter and had to do some things before it was over. I remember, I remember everything.
         I remember being a normal human, I was a normal child taken in for some experiment, they infected me, it saved my life. It also ended theirs, I infected loads of others, no, Ike did. Why were Reavers so much stronger than Skulkers? Cause they didn't have a leader, I wasn't there for them but now I was. Alicia, she told me I had a job to do, and I'd do it. I'd end it all, finish the infection once and for all.
         The lines of code still progressed, making everything fade, Alicia was still on the floor, terrified of an unseen enemy. I wasn't scared, I was the king of Skulker's, I couldn't die. Not yet, all I was worried for was Arya, where was she, what happened to her after the fight? I had to find her.
         A small tremor knocked me back, I stumbled and tremor after tremor things began changing. Was this the hallucination? Tremors? Everything shook again, It wasn't my imagination, I was sure of it. Even Alicia looked suddenly alert and even more scared. "Alicia, we gotta get out," I told her, "Where's the best exit?"
       "You're a Skulker, anythings an exit if you try hard enough." She told me and I began shoulder barging the wall, again and again. Smashing into it, hoping for a reaction. Nothing, again, nothing, again, nothing, again, the wall shuddered a bit. I was getting somewhere, up there in the corner looked weaker, I ran and jump hit it, a bigger crack appeared, almost there. One more hit and the entire wall collasped in a ring of smoke and dust.

Alicia's pov.

       The wall collapsed suddenly and 2 figures walked in, I couldn't see them clearly, smoke floating around hurting my eyes. Paul was still crying, whilst I read more of the diary, we knew everything. Everything there was to know and I'd need to know.
       The figures more stumbled in than anything, coughing as well. The smoke began to clear and before me stood... No? No way. He ran towards me, grabbing me in his hands pushing me against the wall, our lips brushed then he began kissing me like there was no one in the room, groping me gently. Our lips parted as we gasped for air and he held me in his arms, his soft breath on my hair. He dived in for another kiss, my body tingled and I held him tight, "I love you," I whispered, "and I always will." Where my feelings had came from I had no idea but here they were and they were controlling me. He didn't reply with talking, he just hugged me harder and for a second I wished he would never leave me, stay here for ever and ever, not leave me, not ever.
         After we finally parted he gave me a sad smile, we both knew what had to be done. I had read Alicia's diary, he had a job to do. He looked me in the eye an asked a question, "An I going crazy? The hallucination, all I saw was some crazy freaking code." He whispered.
        "No way!" Squeaked Alicia, I eyed her with suspicion. Could she be trusted? "You say you saw code? That means... Oh my God, Kreis this could mean that-" She blabbed on and on, none of us really understood her. Speaking of which, where was Pau -.... Frick, where was Paul?! I hadn't seen him since the wall broke, where the hell was he?!
         "Where is he!?" I yelled, scared that he had gotten himself in some serious trouble. Alicia snapped up at the mention of Paul, she looked visibly distressed and mentally scarred. I didn't think she felt ok, not one bit. She looked on the verge of breaking, giving up, I couldn't help but pity her. Even if my memories were fake, she was still a friend and friend's did whatever they could to help each other. "We'll find him Alicia, I promise."
       It had been so long since we were all together peacefully, now we never would be. I had seen in her diary how Alicia had infected herself to stop herself dying. Except she didn't use a perfected serum, she had a new unstable prototype. She would, soon enough, die. If she would die before we found Paul, who knew?
     "We could find Paul, Kreis. Use your powers." She looked insane, I wondered if everything had finally caught up to her, if hse had broken. "Kreis, you saw code, right? They've sent Stef away to a simulation to run experiments on him, they'll soon teleport me as well. Stef isn't really gone, he's right there on the floor you know. The hallucinations made him looo invisible. It's fake, he's just dreaming. More experiments you see, you though can see them. I guess you've adapted, again." She sighed and Kreis moaned in frustration.
          "And how does that help us?" He began, "Is that all you scientists can do? Create fake lies and run experiments on living breathing people?" His eyes were red and sore, didn't look like he'd slept in a while, still he continued his rant, "It's just... wrong. I'm a human whether you've put some stupid disease on me or not, Paul and Arya were normal humans, why ruin their lives with fake memories? Why? Just tell me, why? I'm tired of all this, I didn't want it all."
        I couldn't blame him for it, he had the hardest job of us all. The most to give up, to lose. All this was supposedly to fix the problems of the outbreak, apparently that everything wpuld be back to normal. That wasn't true, those scientists, that A.M.A.S bullshit could never fix all the problems. They could never undo all those deaths, mend the pain people had gone through.
       "Because," Alicia whispered softly, all traces of craziness gone, "You did want it. You, came to us, remember? You kept your original name, Kreis. Do you really remember nothing of your old life? " She looked at him at saw his face of confusion. She sighed and began speaking again, "Well, from the beginning. You used to be a homeless teenager on the streets, hardly 13. You came to us, asked for help, for anything. We offered, simple as. You knew the risks, you took them. The alternative was you living on the streets starving to death, don't go telling me that we have no right. You told us to test on you." She too looked angry and frustrated. I didn't like this, this big argument they were having. Not whilst Paul was missing. I decided, I would let them argue, leave them to fight it out and I would find him.
         I ran out into Kreis's old cell, nothing here. The door though, was open. I walked through it and I saw a splatter of blood, a body beside. Urgh, the further I went the more blood and bodies there were. I went across the musty pool of blood before I saw him finally, Paul was lying on the floor, exhausted with a huge lurking body above him, surrounded in blood.