Underground

13

Luca
"What the heck?" Estelle asks, looking upward towards the busted lights. 
I look upward as well. 
"What just happened?" She asks, now looking at me. 
I shrug. "Is this a sim?" 
"No this isn't a sim, you moron." She says. "Try to open that door." 
I nod, spinning around trying to push the door. "It's not opening." I turn and see her beating up the glass. 
"Help me." She requests. 
I run to the glass and slam my whole body into it, hearing a few satisfying cracks. "The doctors are going to be angry." 
"Who cares?" 
*** 
Eventually we break a big enough hole to walk through, but not without any injuries. 
A piece of glass ripped through my shirt and left a big gash on my bicep, along with a few cuts on my hands and fingers.
Estelle got it worse though, she had a big gash on her temple, along with a few gashes along her arm.
"So that happened." She says, breaking the silence.
I nod. "Is your head okay?"
"It hurts, but I feel like that's normal." She says, wiping up the blood with her finger.
"Let me see it." I say.
She nods and turns, showing the large gash.
I gently start touching it, mopping up the blood with my finger and wiping it on my pants. "It's not too deep, it probably won't scar."
"Good." She says.
"We should probably get it covered though, so it doesn't get infected." I explain.
She sighs. "It's not like we have bandages lying around."
"We do have something though." I grab the bottom of my shirt and pull, making a big enough strip to wrap around her head.
"Why did you just rip your shirt?" She asks.
"Shh." I whisper, turning her around wrapping the strip of cloth around her head, then tying it tightly.
The electronic voice speaks up again. "System reboot."
Then all the lights flick on again, followed by the whir of the air conditioner.
"Well, that paradise was short lived." I try to joke.
She smiles. "I guess."
The doors to the branch of cells opens, revealing a bunch of the scientists looking over their experiments.
Jameson and Charles give Estelle and I dirty looks, whispering to each other, before turning to another scientist and pointing at Estelle's head.
That scientist pokes her passcode in the door to Estelle's cell, before walking in.
She crouches in front of Estelle before whispering. "I'm not gonna hurt you, I need you to come with me." 

Estelle 
I nod, standing up a bit light headed. 
"You should probably come, too." She says, motioning to Luca. 
He stands as well, putting a hand on the small of my back. 
I look at him, wide eyed. 
"Follow me." She says, leading us out of the cell and through the branches until we enter a cozy room, which is obviously her office. 
"Who are you?" I ask. 
She smiles politely. "I'm Felicity Poppins." 
"What are you gonna do to us?" I ask. 
"Firstly, I'm gonna patch you up professionally, then give you a shot that'll connect your sims, and finally I'm gonna help you compose a plan to get you out of here." 
"How can we believe you?" Luca asks, dropping his hand from the small of my back. 
She smirks. "Well Mr. Abernathy, not everybody here is against you, believe it or not." 
"Thank you." I say. 
She smiles. "You have some people back home, I want them to see you again." 
"Can I hug you?" I ask, smiling. 
She wraps her arms around me tightly. "Now, let's have a look at your wounds." 
She goes to Luca first, examining the gash on his bicep. "That's going to need stitches." 
"Really?" He asks. "I was kinda hoping against that." 
"Let me grab my supplies, stay here." She says, leaving the room. 
Luca smiles brightly. "We're getting out of here!" 
"We're getting out of here!" I repeat happily. 
We celebrate until Felicity comes back in, wielding a box of miscellaneous supplies. 
She immediately goes to work on Luca's bicep, finishing up the stitching in about 5 minutes.
"So Estelle, I'm not going to stitch your head because there would be too much bone, but I am going to dress it properly." Felicity says, grabbing some bandages from the box.
Gingerly, she unties the strip of cloth previously applied by Luca and sets it on her desk. Next, she grabs some hydrogen peroxide from the box and dabs it on the bandages, then wraps them around my head.
"Ow." I wince, feeling the wound sting because of the peroxide.
She smiles. "It's cleaning it, it should sting for a minute."
"Great." I say.
"Now about that shot." She takes two syringes from her box, stabbing them into our arms in unison. 
I gasp in surprise. 
She gives me a reassuring smile before pushing down the syringe ends and pulling them out of our arms.
"What about this plan?" Luca asks, pushing slightly. 
"I'll handle everything, just go on about your day as if it were normal." Felicity says. 
"Alrighty." I say. 
"Now follow me back to your cells, Simulation Spray will be deployed in approximately 10 minutes, be prepared." She informs.
"Okay." I say.
***
Luca looks at me from across my cell. "Are you ready?"
"I am." I say.
He looks around. "Do you have someone you're going to go see?"
"Yeah, a bunch." I answer. "How about you?"
"I'm gonna see if my mom's still alive." Luca says.
"I hope she is, you deserve someone." I say.
"I hope she's alive too, I miss her a lot." He says.
"I miss my friends, even though it's only been a week." I say. 
"It's been 13 years since I saw my mom, so I hope she remembers me." He says. 
A loud voice echos through the cells. "Simulation Spray ready." 
"I don't think anyone could forget you Luca." I say. 
"Thank you, Estelle." He smiles. 
"No problem." I reply. "See you on the other side" 
Then, everything went black.