The Rise Of Wicked

Chapter 5: We have been expecting you

I know I must have been out of it for a very long time, because when I awoke I was strewn across a polished glass floor, the four walls surrounding me reflecting my reflection back at me.

A voice came over a monitor and I jumped at the unexpected sound.

"Our Guest is awake, we have been expecting you" Came a deep voice that seemed to echo around me.

A man in sleek black leather eased himself through a sliding door behind me, only crossing the room about half a meter before coming to a complete stop.

"Stand!" He ordered. "Follow me." He added less urgently.

I follow without question, scared he'd harm me if I spoke out of turn.

After what seemed like miles of twisting corridors filled with locked doors masked with facial recognition and touch screens, we finally came out in a luxurious atrium filled with stunning chairs and massive sheets of glass holding up a fantastic shimmering glass ceiling.

Though the glass glimmered and shined it wasn't because of the gleaming sun streaming through the panels it was the lights hanging from thin silver chains.

We pace across the room till we come to stand before the back of a black chair. The owner turns quickly, his face lighting up once he realised whose behind him.

"Will!" He proclaimed ecstatically. He motions for me to shake his hand and I oblige. "Please take a seat we have much to discuss."

I nod and take a seat in the sleek leather chair adjacent to this fine looking man.

He owned a full head of silver hair and dressed in a stylish grey suit with a dashing silver tie. The face he wears is no longer brimming with eagerness. It's hardened, and I know he means business.

"My name is Jason Cox and I apologise for having put you through all of this mess, though it was a necessary action we needed to take."

I shook of his words and stared him straight in the eye. "I don't care about all of that bullshit, what I want is to know that Ignia is protected and that you haven't harmed her in anyway?"

"Harmed her, Will. She is one of my many creations she is but the last thing I want to harm." The smile that plays on his lips says otherwise. "Would you like to see her?"

Jason stands and ushering me out of my chair with a firm hand. I follow him through the lavish room I guessed was his study and followed him through a locked door only his fingerprint could unlock.

As we walk Jason answers more of my internal questions before I'd even had the chance to speak them.

And I was thankful because I had little or no courage to speak what I was thinking.

"Wicked dispatched yourself and five other genetically engineered humans around the world to gain insight, to gain trust, to gain humane experiences we could not have taught you here. You learned how to be strong, resilient and most of all you learnt how to survive is placed where death thrives. Though it wasn't luck that kept you alive. It was the wicked virus pulsing through your blood stream. The immortality aspect of the wicked virus kept you from ever understanding true sickness. Though that was only the beginning of your training. Now the real fun begins..." With each word that spilled from his mouth my eyes grew wider and wider.

And then all of a sudden, we stopped and Jason turned and faced a closed door, the glass panel slipped into the wall and behind stood Ignia, her face was exactly how I remembered it, minus a layer of dried blood and dirt from the battle fields.

My heart leapt in my chest and I charged straight for her, her arms enveloped me I hugged her so tightly and she did the same.

She pulled away from our hug and I pecked her against the lips, missing the way they felt against mine.

I stepped away from her warm embrace and just looked at her beauty, her brunette hair hung down around her shoulders and her clean features brought out her high cheek bones and perky lips.

"I love you Iggy," I say.

"I love you to William."

"Enough of that," Jason spits. "Let's get down to business. Please follow me."

Jason leads us down a long corridor, away from the main building. We walk for some time, the three of us walking in line behind one another.

We reach a conference hall a table spanning across the large length of the room. The glass table top seeming to float in mid-air with hundreds of chairs pushed beneath it, only a couple occupied by men in dark grey suits and women in their elegant dresses.

I'm stunned to see so many people in a single room and not be battling each other.

Jason motions for Ignia and I to sit and we do so quickly and quietly. Ignia takes the seat on my right and Jason sits at the head of table to our left.

He speaks loudly, in some sort of foreign language I couldn't begin to understand. Though by the tone he seemed extremely infuriated.

When he finished speaking he looked down at Ignia and I and smiled, "My apologies." Though he said nothing more.

The chairs slowly filled and more men and women came to fill the seats, this is when Jason began speaking again. "Ignia, William please stand." Ignia and I awkwardly stood and smiled widely at the gawking crowd. "Please welcome our newest assets to Wicked. The real stars of the organisation have finally been returned to us."

Ignia and I again took our seat, my cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. I took Ignia's hand beneath the table for a sense of comfort.

"Their strain of the virus has enabled our ambitious future, for their wretched and contemptuous souls have been tarnished by this virus so completely that they have slowly become immortal overtime. Something we definitely did not factor into this equation." Jason offered the room a graceful nod before he continued. "Soon we'll own every human on the planet. After having injected the virus into every human being the strong will survive and the weak will perish to nothing..."

I gave Jason a confused look, we weren't just experiments we were the beginning of a ploy to end the human race! I pulled my lips back together after they had fallen open. I smiled at Jason, hopefully aiding in reassuring him that I was completely fine with everything that was happening here, even though it was well and truly fucked!

Jason continued ranting on about his ploy to conquer the world. "It will take four-hundred and eighty-nine hours for the virus to completely embed itself into the subject's blood stream, and then the world will see the change we've been dreaming of our entire career."

Jason glanced across at myself and Ignia and smiled pleasantly, though, I knew the malice that lay beyond those smooth lips.

"Will and Ignia we need your help to source out the final four genetically engineered experiments like yourselves before we take another move forwards to experiment and test to make sure there aren't any other factors we need to consider in our plan of attack. This task will take all of your integrity and strength, as we've lost signal of the final four experiments. Though we believe with a little of our help you'll be able to find them and unite the six of you once more.

"Remember Wicked isn't here to harm anyone, we're here to repopulate the world with a civilization less set on war and righteousness. We are looking towards a future were those old bigots are wiped out and a fresh slate is lain. Remember this..."

I nodded sullenly and Ignia did the same.

"Our priority now, is to find our other four reinforcements and we believe you Will, and yourself Ignia have the potential to fulfil this duty. Now with all this said and done I will show you both back to your rooms."

Each and every man and woman stand and vanish from the large conference hall disappearing into different compartments within this lavish hell.

As I'm directed towards my room which I was sure would be decked out with a full surveillance system and a door that only able to be unlocked by Jason and his foolish lackeys.

Was I helping the world become better or was I slowly helping bring it to its own demise?