Plantagion

Chapter 2

Chapter 2   

I stopped cold. I felt the world spin around me. I clutched the table to my left, trying to get a grip on the situation. The screams continued outside. It was obvious that these screams weren’t the new years celebration going on in the square. These screams were the screams of people who were afraid. I thought about my options. Why hadn’t the authorities arrived?, I asked myself. This didn’t just tell me that the situation was out of my control, but it told me that the situation was out of the governments control, as well. I have to help. I thought. If the government wasn’t here, then they were never going to get here. I was on my own.

In the lab, there is a security closet. Not only for watching the live feed from the cameras, but for storing emergency weapons. I ran over to the closet, slipping on the now-cold coffee that I had spilled. I was, along with the security guard, the only one with clearance to the closet. I fumbled with the lock, took out the key and put in a new one, then turned the lock and opened the door. In side was a small desk with a few monitors at which the security guard would sit. There were discarded wrappers from his lunch, and the faint smell of cigarette smoke hung in the air. I walked into the room and up to a safety-coded door, which held the emergency weapons. I was the only one with the combination to this safe. I impatiently tried to unlock the safe.

“Three-Seven-Seventy,” I muttered. These numbers were well-known to me, not only because I had practiced many times in my day, but because it was my birthday. July third, two thousand seventy. How I longed to relive the days of my youth, gossiping about guys with my friends, and thinking every guy I met was my one true love.

But those days were over. I had now grown up, and I needed to focus on the task at hand. Once I entered my combination, the safe had popped open. Inside was a small room which led to yet another door with a safe-like combination lock to open it. I quickly ran over to the door, disturbing the thick carpet of dust that had started to gather ever since the place had been built. I entered the second combination, a standard government issued code. The door slid open automatically, revealing a dimly lit room filled with various weapons. Some, like the Sig Sauer P226 and the M16 were standard issue from the government, but others, like the Acid Thrower 2075 and the SDX .25, were fabricated by the PEL for the sole purpose of killing plants. Along with these weapons, several others lined the walls and ceiling of the cramped room. But there were only four I was interested in.

I quickly strode up to the Sig Sauer, loading it with a strip of ammo. I took two more strips and clipped them onto my belt. I strapped an M16 over my back, then grabbed two more strips of ammo for it before I moved onto the PEL provided weapons. Although there were many different ones, I had always trained with two in particular, one being the newest model of the Acid Thrower 2075, the other being the newly designed Flamethrower 2100.

Because these weapons and many more were stationed in each PEL lab, the PEL made each high-ranked official in the PEL train to know how to use these weapons. Once I got promoted to Head Biological researcher a year and a half before The Revolution, I went through a 6 month training camp to learn how to use these weapons. I excelled in the field, and my instructor thought I was the best to go through the training camp since he started working there. During my training, I used the Acid Thrower 2075 and the Flamethrower 2100, and I fell in love with the feel of these weapons.

As I picked up the Acid Thrower 2075, I thought back to the lesson my instructor, Pluter Heavens, gave me.

“This weapon, built by the PEL in 2070, has capabilities like none other of its kind,” he said, this being the typical introduction for every weapon he had showed me during my time in the training camp.  

“When you are firing,” he continued, adjusting his spectacles while tapping the plasma monitor that showed a picture of the weapon with his cane. “You have to aim higher than your target. The acid shoots out of the gun in an arc, so the trajectory will be off if you aim right at your target.”

During the first training session with the Acid Thrower, I impressed Pluter by incinerating the dummy plants on my first try. He tried to mask his surprise, so kept giving pointless criticism. Whenever I aimed at the next target, he would say thing like “Aim higher,” and “Keep your feet shoulder width apart.” At the end of the day, he couldn’t keep his excitement at my success in any longer.

“You know,” he said, a serious expression spreading across his face, “If you ever get bored in that lab of yours, you can always enroll in the Special Circumstances Department.”

He went on to tell me about how exciting it was to be an agent with Special Circumstances, talking about all the different tasks they had. I rejected his offer, saying “I think I’ll stick to my plants.”

I continued to train with different weapons, and when I started training with the Flamethrower 2100, I had the same result as training with the Acid Thrower. In this time of emergency, I can’t help but thank Pluter Heavens for giving all the knowledge I have now.

I picked up the Acid Thrower. I had to stuff some ammo for it in my pockets because it didn’t clip my belt. I knew I wouldn’t have room for anymore amo, but the Flamethrower had the canister attached to it already, so I didn’t need to load up on anymore ammo. Leaving and locking the emergency weapons room behind me, I started running through the lab towards the exit. I had been in the back room, so everything had been quiet except for my breathing, the sound of weapons being loaded, and muffled sounds from outside the lab. But as I once again slipped on the spilled coffee, I skidded to a halt, cocking my head to the side. The screams had stopped. This had to be a good thing. The authorities had probably arrived, bringing peace to the city. But if the authorities had arrived, why hadn’t they come to the lab. No, this silence was something more altogether sinister. As I stepped outside the lab for the first time that day, I noticed that the snow had stopped. A thick fog spread across the ground, making the visibility poor. I cocked the Sig Sauer, not knowing what to expect. The silence. It was almost unbearable, a silence that weighed down on the ears, pressing against the skull. I kept walking forward, swinging the Sig Sauer from side to side. I was almost about to call out, but something caught my eye, and the words I was about to shout stuck in my throat. About ten yards to my left, lying on the street, motionless, lay a figure. I stopped in my tracks, holding my breath. I tried to sum up every last bit of courage I had in me, and walked slowly forward. As I drew closer, the shape became unmistakably familiar. It was the kind one saw every day.  It was a human body.