FULL OBLITERATION (Book #3)

𝕰𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓

The chopper is out of the question as Uncle Emmett used the last bit of fuel to come rescue me and my friends. The plan in place now is to walk to the coast where there will be abandoned cruise ships lined up to take to Arcadia. Uncle Emmett said if there aren't any ships docked up, then we will have to make them out of branches. Sterlin said he did some woodwork back in the day and has got some experience with that. So pre' much, all in all, the plan is set. It's just getting there safely.

❖

Carmen and I have shifted somewhere along the lines. We went rock climbing. It was a nice filler. I felt good knowing there was a solution to all this, even though taking a cap every single day for the rest of my life wasn't something I wanted to do. But it had to be done, it's our only option until a more permanent solution. Sam kept pushing kids off while we were rock climbing, always picking on people smaller than him. What was worse was the fact that I was below those kids. So having someone's ass fall on top of ya head wasn't the least bit pleasant. 

We're all in our bunks again after the 9 PM roll call. I'm in front of a barred window, holding my phone in my hand. Bray had drained the battery but I know there's at least half a per cent still on there, enough to make that call to the Nika. I dial the number I memorised from her card.

"Hello?" comes the woman's voice on the other end.

"Ganika Malhotra?"

"Yes, who's this?"

"Zinedine Sylvester."

"Sorry, I don't know of a Z-"

"Your protégée if you will. I need your help."

"Excuse me?"

"I need the Q-Y-Z-X-01's capsules. My phone's almost out of juice. You need to come to Sanctuary Lakes at 1:30 PM with those pills."

"That's impossible..." she whispers. "You'd only need them if our experiments ended up working which means they in fact did end up working."

"Congratulations. Bring the p-"

And my phone dies. Fuck. But at least she got the message. I look out the window one last time before turning around.

"Fuck me dead!" I jump.

Some kid stands right behind me like a darn ghost.

He yawns, stretching, "my bad, bro, drank too much OJ. Needa pee," and he strolls into the toilet, half asleep.

❖

The night had gone by like a sun setting in a time-lapse video but slow it down 100x more. I just kept thinking and thinking. I practically knocked myself out just from thinking too much. 9 AM roll call finally came and then it was time for brekkie, followed by a lecture about values, and then a new exercise. Currently, it's 1:30 PM, our lunch break.

"Hey, guys," I get up from the table. "Needa go to the bathroom real quick, yeah?"

I leave, jogging to the entrance of Sanctuary Lakes. There I see a shiny black sedan parked behind the gates. Leaning on its door is a woman speaking into her phone. That's Nika. She sees me and immediately stands up straight, getting rid of her phone.

"Zinedine," she smiles. "Like the French footballer, Zidane, correct?"

"Just call me Dean," I don't have time for small talk to be quite frank, especially not with her.

"Dean," she forces a smile. "Nice to meet you, Dean."

I scoff, "just give me the capsules and we're done here."