Have you ever been through an image of you're being in an apocalyptic travel with some zombies and this kinda think of and did you have an imagination or a dream that you're fighting your way through to find a cure out of it and make your own story...
"Is this going to be bad for our health?" I ask. "I mean, we are going to the place where they make such awful stuff, and so many people die working here, what if-"
"For the last time, shut up!" Reese is visibly anxious, sweat shining in the early morning light. I turn my nose up at his sarcasm, but it still hurts, a little. "Trix," he finishes, "open the vent." I watch as the girl takes out a small device, it looks like a pin and places it on each corner of the vent. I watch as she begins to unscrew the latches and the vent gives way, falling towards our feet.
"Now, before we go in, does everyone remember the getaway arrangement?"
"Our bags are in the woods just over that hill," Ciel says.
"We all grab our stuff, going over the fence and meet at the railway twenty miles west," Griffin says it with a frustrated tone, he's heard it so many times.
"But, if we stick to the plan, that shouldn't happen." I try to sound positive but it's having little to no effect on our party of five.
"Otherwise," Trix goes on, "We all go together, getting our bags and heading out."
"Wait," I interrupt. "If all goes according to plan, Griffin and I won't have to go with you. I mean, we want to stay here...right, Griffin?" I wait for a reassuring nod and I get one.
"Unless we're almost nigh death, there is no way I'm gonna leave this town to face heaven knows what outside that fence."
"Let's just go already!" Reese is getting so antsy, I want to shove his whinny little butt right through the vent. Instead, I settle on, "Since you're our wise and noble leader, why don't you lead us in first?"
"I need to watch out from the rear."
"Ha!" Griffin snorts, "I think I'd best be suited for that job. I'll know when someone's approach and from what way faster than you."
Reese straights up and puts his hands on his hips. "Oh? I think-"
"Oh, shut up already!" I yell, then cover my mouth and mouth an apology. "You two, stop it, now. You'll get us all caught if you gabber and argue on like this." I step through the vent and go on my hands and knees crawling my way through. "Come on," I echo back, and I turn to see Trix go in followed by Ciel, Reese, and Griffin in the rear. He got his way, congratulations.
"We need to get to the experiment lab," Reese calls up to me, the sound bouncing around our little chamber.
"Shhh!" Trix hisses. "All of these places are the same, all the vents echo. The can hear it, you know."
"Turn right at the next T and the fourth vent on your left we'll need to get out off and climb the stairs," Griffin says.
"We can't just waltz up to the stairs!" Ciel tells us. That's asking to get caught. There are cameras everywhere."
"Fine, then we'll have to shimmy up the shoot," Griffin counters back.
"Shimmy up the shoot?" I repeat, making sure I heard correctly because that does not sound fun."
"Yep."
We are silent. I'm awaiting our valiant leaders direct.
"Up the shoot then," Reese decides. No! Reese, why couldn't you have taken a risk, just this once. Shimmy up a shoot? Are you kidding me? We could get laundry dumped on our heads...or worse.
After the right turn and a new change of five vents to the left, we are presented with a metal shoot, about two feet wide, fifteen feet tall. "How's it look, Adler?" I hear Reese ask.
"Oh, not so bad, "I lie. "It'll be easy enough."
"Okay then, you're first."
"What?!"
"This shafts too tight, there's no way we can get turned around in here so you'll have to go up first."
Oh, to swallow your very own words is a painful thing to do. There's no getting around it though, I understand, so I squeeze myself in, sliding on my belly till I can easily stand up. How am I going to do this? I place my hands out in front of me and kick my legs behind me, but there isn't' enough room to stretch out fully. I turn around instead and place my back against the wall and then kick myself up and find I can sit fairly easily. I begin to crawl up and notice the floor receding below me. "Hey!" I call. "It's working!"
I get a chorus of 'shhh!'s for my response and see Trix's head pop through. She stands up and starts her way to me. I continue to make my way up, slower than I had hoped and find Trix and now Ciel and Reese already trying to move. "Wait!" I say. "I'm moving too slow. You guys are going to fast.
"We are kind of in a hurry," Reese retorts.
"Move your butt, Adler. It's on my head," Trix spits.
"I told you, I can't move any faster."
"Griffin can't get in."
"He can wait!" I continue to move, faster this time and pass a small vent on my way up. Little ways above it I can see through the slots and notice two people on the floor we just passed, talking in hushed tones. They're wearing green lab coats and holding files and flipping rapidly through stacks of paper. I'm about to move on when I hear one of them say, "Yeah, here, right now, in the factory."
"Five of them?" the other confirms.
Oh, no. No. No. No. It hasn't even been ten minutes!
"Adler, move your butt already," Trix continues to rant.
"Why did all five of us have to come? Remind me again..." Griffin sighs.
"Guys!" I whisper. "We've been ratted out, already!"
"What?!" Reese fumes. "Someone tipped us off! There's no other way anyone could've to know."
"They're gonna send out a search party!" Trix cries.
"We need to split up," Reese decides. "It's the only way to get everything we need before the chances of us getting caught shoot through the roof."
"Split up?" I wail. "That's a bad idea."
"We have the escape plan. We're fine. Trix, Ciel," Reese takes charge. "You two need to go to the video room and get the feed, then get out of here."
"Got it," they chorus.
"Griffin, where's the camera rooms?"
"Back the way we came," he answers.
"Can you drop back down?" Reese questions Trix and Ciel.
"Yeah, I think."
"Go!" And with that Reese and Griffin squeeze themselves as far right as they can and Ciel drops back down with a clang, followed by Trix who lets out a little yelp.
"You okay?" I ask.
"Yeah, I'm fine." And off they go. Griffin, Reese and I make our way up to the landing and stop for a breather.
"Now, Griffin," Reese says. "You know the fastest way to the belts, right?" The belts, I learn later are where all the products are mass created. Fast, too. Hundreds in a day.
"Yeah, but what do you want me to do there?" Griffin looks suspicious no doubt thinking Reese has some evil plan to get rid of him.
"Reach into my pocket," Reese tells him. Griffin is officially off put and grunts. "Why? No."
"Just do it."
"No!"
"Adler? "Reese turns to me and I stick my hand into his pocket before I can have time to hesitate or feel disgusted out. I pull out something thin and smooth, metal like.
"What is it?" I ask.
"It's a bomb."
"A bomb?" Griffin and I stutter at the same time. Apparently, we both had no idea this was going to be in the plan.
"you're going to blow the place to bits?" I wail. "Why?"
"This is the most critical factory of them all. It has the highest security. The most important product made to sustain Haim's plan. If we blow this place sky high, he'll be done for who knows how long. Long enough for us to start fixing things."
There is silence. I wait for anyone to speak. My mind is racing. If we do blow the place up, will it really fix things or does Reese have some sort of secret vendetta?
"No." Griffin finally speaks up and he's so determined, I'm surprised when Reese looks startled. "There are too many innocent people here. You want to kill hundreds of those who don't know what they're doing for a few who do?"
"It's a risk we have to take."
"Then you can do it, cause I won't." And that's that.
More silence. I watch as Griffin and Reese stare at each other, there faces illuminated by the light through the vents slots. I compare the two. Griffin isn't handsome, by any means, but he's so different to look at than Reese. It's as if Griffin was chiseled from stone and Reese was formed from clay.
"Fine," says Reese. "Can you at least stop the belts from moving, for a while. Block them somehow?"
"Yeah, I suppose so."
"Good, then you head to that and Adler and I will go to the labs."
"Why do I have to go with you?" I glare at Reese. "I'd rather not be caught with you if we're ratted out, as said earlier."
"You'll slow Griffin down. He'll know how to get around faster than any of us and if there is an emergency, he'll be able to get out without having to worry about you."
I'm offended. It's like I'm some tag-along kid who just will either get in the way or cause trouble.
"Now listen here-"
"You'll come with me."
"What?" Griffin and I say, again, at the same time. "Why do I have to go with you?" I finish.
"Because there's no way it's safe to wander around here alone. Griffin is the only one capable of doing so without getting a, lost, or b, hurt."
I grunt. Reese has a point. "Fine."
"Good, now let's get out of this cramped shaft. I can barely breathe it's so stuffy in here." We come to the next vent big enough for us to crawl through and kick it out, Trix having taken the screwdriver. We step into the hall, stark white with luminescent lights shines down on us from the ceiling. "Okay," Reese says. "Let's go."
"Wait." I stop and turn to Griffin, who's gazing at me hazy-eyed and tired looking. "What's with that face?" I try and tease. "You look like we're going to face our imminent death and are most unlikely to come out of here alive. What's with that, hm?"
Griffin smiles slightly and shakes his head. "The sooner this is over, the sooner we can get out of here and go home."
"Yeah."
"Adler?"
"Hm?"
"I..."
"Yeah?"
He sighs. "See you later."
"Yeah," I look away then punch his shoulder gently. "You too." I turn back to Reese and say, "You ready?"
"Ready as we'll ever be now that we're being tracked."
I turn around one last time to say goodbye to Griffin but he's already gone. I follow Reese down the hall where we pick up our pace to a fast jog.
"How do you know where the lab is?" I ask. "Do you have a map?"
"No, actually. I left it back at your house, but thankfully I studied it before we came."
I want to punch him. Forget the map, how stupid can you get right now, really? "Okay...then you are leading us the right way, yeah?"
"Of course, look. Here it says, 'Lab 6743', up the stairs." Reese points to a plaque on the wall and sure enough, it leads us to the lab, which, strangely has no guards but does have a camera. I grab Reese's sleeve before he can waltz out into the middle of the hallway.
"Yo, dim-wit," I whisper. "There's camera right there."
"Yes, I know. But Trix and Ciel should have made it to the camera room already and shut the system down."
"Then why is it blinking and moving back and forth, hm?"
"Uh, well they weren't going to shut it down exactly, just disable the camera lens to not pick up any images."
"Right...sure. Well, it all seems awfully complicated. Why not just brake the system?"
"I don't have time to explain my motives for you, alright?" Reese wrenches his sleeve from my grip and sprints across the hall where he swipes some sort of card through the door lock and opens it, gesturing to me from across the way. I glance around nervously before I, too, dart through the door with him.
When we enter the lab there is no one in the room and I immediately know something's not right. "Reese," I hiss. "We need to get out of here."
"No. I need to look around."
"Why? What's so important here that you need to see. Even I can tell it's where they test the different chemicals to make the pills. I think there's something else you're looking for. Just tell me what it is!"
"No, I need to see if they have plants. Like yours. They can't make poison that kills the plants if they don't have plants to experiment on."
I glance around. All I see are white computer screens and tubes and eyes droppers. Nothing green at all. I do however spy something red darting about on the wall, like a tiny balloon. "What is that...?" I say under my breath. I watch Reese as he continues to shuffle through papers and files. I'm jumping up and down on the balls of my feet, another nervous tick until the red dot I'd been spying earlier comes to rest plainly on the back of Reese's dark-haired head. All of a sudden, I've got a guess as to what it is. I run forward and with a shut of "look out!" I push Reese to the floor, crashing behind him into a glass box of vials. An alarm instantly goes off, red lights flashing everywhere.
"We need to get out of here, now!" I yell. We clamber to our feet and make for the back door when the sound of the front door crashes open and I hear a click and feel the muzzle of a gun in my hair.
"I would suggest you not move," a voice hisses in my ear; one I do not recognize. I glance over at Reese who also as his arms pinned behind him, a gun to his head as well.
Then we've turned around and by the door, guards stand, lining the walls and a tall, slender man waltz into the room, his face hard and stern, lined with permanent frown lines visible behind his black-rimmed glasses.
"Waifter Hale and Adler Ironside, you are under arrest for treason under the custody of his presence, Dictator of Haim."
"Wai-Waifter?" I say the name, and don't know who they're talking about until I watch as the man in the glasses steps forward and spits at Reese's shoes.
"Sorry, little brother. We all have our alliances."
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Well, that's all for it for today's chapter story and I hope you guys all like it... and if you did, don't forget to smash that Vote Button at the top right corner right there. Leave some comments down below and let me see what you think about the story and also this chapter... but, thank you all guys for reading and as always what I said, oh bye there...
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