The Company

Chapter Twenty-Seven: ...And I Was Actually Wrong

I had decided to sit in this room that looked like a broom closet, but it wasn't too sure.

I sat in the corner, moving cleaning supplies around me to make it look like I wasn't there. I figured I was in the clear at that point, but one can't be too sure about these things.

I sat there for maybe an hour or two just crying as quietly as I could.

I broke down inside that closet. My fear grew worse and worse, and I was inevitably terrified. I guessed it was the pure silence that got to me.

All my stress was getting to me. All that stress was eating away at my insides like I'd been stabbed with one of Their knives.

I couldn't tell anyone about any of this. No, it would only hurt people. Not only that, but no one would listen, especially not after this.

No one would be left. I knew that for sure. I knew that a hundred percent.

So I cried. I let it out. I let it go. I let it grow inside me.

The problem is that if you leave a genie inside the bottle for too long, it becomes twisted. Sometimes it'll even break the bottle.

And that feeling? That was what happened. I thought it was before, but I was wrong. I had some kind of hope then. Now? Nothing. There was nothing left. I had nothing else to live for. With my friends, there was no hope, no future. No Washington, no Adams, no Academy, no Lionel.

What do I do? I asked myself. What in God's name do I do?

I think I fell asleep. Time passed, but I wasn't seen somehow. Maybe a few days? I couldn't tell. It felt like I'd just blinked. I woke up in the same place, same stuff around me.

I heard some footsteps, more like stressed shuffling. I wiped my eyes with my sleeve and scooted back a bit more. The closet door opened up and I almost cried out when I saw who it was.

"Son of a- where am I?"

I peeked my head out from behind the mop bucket I was behind. "S-Steven?"

The Washington dropped the broom from his hands. "Mark? You're alive? Where the hell are we?"

Really? I thought for a brief second. Aw, hell.

"I thought you were out like the rest of Us," I asked, going up to him and hugging him. "Oh my God. I thought I was alone in this! I heard that your table was behind me, and I-"

He gave me a puzzled look. "What? No, I followed everyone else in. I was alone when They came."

"What are you talking about?" I asked. "You were behind me, passed out and crap. They said they were going to test the new chip on you!"

"Well They couldn't have done that," the Washington said. "Unless someone else used my name."

I leaned back against a wall. "Wow. Was anyone else with you at all?"

He shook his head. "No. It was just me."

I didn't know what to say. All I could do was breathe, and even that was hard. It just froze in my throat and stuck there. It felt like it stabbed, really. Not only did it freeze, but it froze in the form of sharp, sticking icicles. I could almost feel the blood going down my neck, staining my shirt.

"Look, I think there's some kind info that you need to know." He seemed to sense that I felt tense. I nodded and scratched my cheek. "But are you okay? Really?"

I nodded again. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Totally. Just-just give me the run and go, will you?"

"Okay, okay," the Washington said. "Listen. I lied to you earlier. I actually woke up upstairs."

"Upstairs?" I asked. "There's another floor?"

"Yeah, a whole other floor," he said. "I had to come all the way down to find the ex- to find everyone else."

"So you weren't behind me at all? You were upstairs?"

"I thought we were through this," the Washington said. "I wasn't behind you."

More footsteps came from the outside, so we were quiet for a bit. "Sorry. Sorry. But you know what I heard Them say?"

"What?" the Washington asked.

"They think I'm the Washington of the operation," I chuckled a bit. "Since I was up there by myself. Isn't that funny?"

The Washington laughed a little. "Now that's funny. Oh, I've got something for you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a 1911. It was jet back with the Company's symbol on it. "It's got half a mag left. That's only three bullets, unfortunately. Only use them if you have to."

I gave a salute. "You've got it, sir!"

"Good, good." We quieted again. "Now. We're in this huge place with almost all of the student body being held unconscious in rooms. What's the deal with that?"

"I think they're trying to put Jones chips into every single one of Us," I said.

"Jones chip? What's that?"

"You remember that chip you found?" He nodded. "There's a more high-powered chip. No one can power through it."

"Wait, isn't your last name Jones?" he asked.

"Yeah, but that's not important," I said. "Look, they're gonna put it in everyone if it works. They're testing it on the person that said they were you."

"Do you know when?" he asked.

"I don't know, man," I replied. "But I think it'd be within twenty-four hours. Do you know how long we've been here?"

He shook his head. "No. Do you?"

"Nope," I replied, then thought for a minute. "Do you have some kind of lay of the land here?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Upstairs, there's a huge room with maybe half of Us in it. I'm guessing there's one like that down here too?" I nodded. "Okay. There's a room down here with a glass door. Upstairs is this armored door that's guarded. It's like, heavy-duty guarded. There's got to be something important in there at that point, right?"

"Armored door, huh?" I thought for a minute or two. "What if that's where They keep all of the chips?"

"Yeah!" the Washington said. "And if we destroy all of the chips, We set them back to square one. You're good at this, Mitchell!"

"It's Michael, but thanks!" I said. "But how do we get in?"

"How about we wait until night?" the Washington said. "If we wait, we have the cover. Do you know how long it'll take?"

I pulled my phone out of my pocket to check, but it was dead. "Unfortunately, no. But I think we can just wing it."

"Well, thanks for volunteering to go check!" Without warning, I was pushed out the door into the hall.

Thankfully, it was empty at the time. And more thankfully, there was a window right there.

I took a quick look and went back inside as fast as I could.

"So what's the verdict?" the Washington asked.

"Maybe around three or four in the afternoon?" I guessed. "It's my best guess."

"Okay." The Washington counted on his fingers. "Okay. We've got time to plan. That's just what we need."

That was when the door started to open.