Extra Human

8: Shadow and Light (Part Two)

We reach the end of the twisting corridor. Two metal swinging doors block the remainder of the way. Dr. Bram pushes his hand against it to reveal a small room that is made out of smooth metal. It reflects like a washy mirror, the shapes of our silhouettes blend into the silver. My head is large and blurred while the black tank top and jeans they put me in move in different directions against the wall. Looking up from my current amusement, Dr. Bram and Drew are standing in the center of the room studying me.

I ignore the glares and turn to look around the rest of the room. There's nothing in here. No furniture or windows. As a matter of fact, there are no doors except the ones we entered from. It's worse than the room I was held up in. This place is slowly becoming something from my nightmares.

"Uh, guys? Yeah, there are no doors in here. I don't know where you expect us to go." Dead silence fills the air. Then, booming laughter comes from the two of them that echo around the small room. Clearly, I missed something.

"It gets them every time," Dr. Bram chuckles as Drew steps in front of him to face the opposite wall from where we entered. His arms part from his sides and move directly in front of him, his palms facing the wall. I wonder if he's going to punch a hole through the wall, it seems to be the only other option we have at the moment. At this point, I won't be surprised if he did. Things only found in fantasy books are coming true at an alarming rate.

I am dead wrong as both of his arms start slowly moving a part. Nothing happens at first, but then the wall starts to vibrate. A loud clunk and screech come from the clean slit forming in the metal. The wall on both sides of the crack move away from each other allowing a soft light to come through that battles against the bright white light from our room. Another clunk and a clicking sound are heard as Frank Sinatra's muffled voice floats in.

"I have a remote control to work the elevator right here when he's not around. It's fun for Drew to think he is the Messiah, parting the metal sea." Dr. Bram pulls out of his pocket a small black remote with several colorful buttons. This place is something I'm going to have to get used to.

The three of us walk into the tiny elevator and we're instantly hit with the stench of moth balls and old wood mixing together. The decor of the elevator evidently explains the smell that is trying to destroy my insides. The curious looking elevator horribly clashes with the rest of the brand new, high tech facility we just came from. The walls are decked out in fake mismatched wood from the '70s while an antique chandelier sways from the ceiling. The faint numbers on the electrical box flashes ten, the floor number we are on. Drew moves around me to push the button for level one, shoving me ever so slightly in the process.

"This place is fun and all, but where am I?" My eyes remain locked on Drew as I await a response from Dr. Bram. Drew's eyes study me with a look of concern on his face, like I am pitiful. Another thing I am clearly missing.

I wait as Dr. Bram searches for a starting point in his long explanation of what this place is. My guess is I'm in some kind of warped hospital that does illegal experiments on humans with special abilities. They've captured me and are going to brain wash me. But I know I am wrong because only amiability fills this Dr. Bram's mind. He's not some evil genius I coaxed up in my head. Drew on the other hand...

"Where to begin. Let's start with where you were held and go from there. Yes, seems like a good plan," Dr. Bram says to himself as Drew and I stare at him with a dumbing glaze on our faces. The loud clunking elevator ascends the trip to the top as the old wooden buttons blink from one floor to another. "This facility with the ten different grounds used to be an old bunker of the United States Army back in 1948 when there was a worldwide increase for the production of nuclear weaponry. Eventually, this place became a waste of space and money, so your father bought it out of its bankruptcy."

Level 10, where we came from, is our hospital ground. There we treat our own kind because, to what seems like the contrary, Extras are still human and we still bleed red. Being Extra does not get us out of the diseases plagued by the rest of the human race, so we have a special medical team that treats us. Level 8 and 9 hold the massive generators that run this place.

Level 7 holds some offices and our security room that wires to and from and around the facility. We can never be too careful. If this place got in the wrong hands, well let's not think about that. Level 1 and 2 are storage facilities holding most of our food, water, equipment, things of that sort." Dr. Bram pauses.

"What about levels 3 through 6? What do they hold?" I ask curiously.

"Those grounds I cannot discuss with you. It's private, only the higher ups have access to those levels. You must understand my situation? I mean from what your father had to keep from you, you have to understand. Don't you, Aria?"

"Yeah, I do." I agree as my ears pop from the ascent. We must have been far down because twenty minutes have passed since we got on. The clunky elevator doors open and we step out.

"This place is..." Charles starts.

"...Beautiful." I finish as my eager eyes move across the wall from painting to painting. All types of paintings from realism to romanticism to pop art hang on the walls. And every single piece is breath taking the way it imperfectly fits between the bland bunker. The contrast to the rest of this place makes it that much better. It comforts me in a way, to see something else other than the metal and technology that characterizes every corner of this underground capsule.

"I was going to say this place was built two years ago above the bunker we came from. Nevertheless, beautiful works too."

"This room is amazing, Dr. Bram. Truly amazing."

"You can call me Charles. Dr. Bram is what they call my father, and it reminds me of coffee- stained teeth and the smell of old cigars when I hear people call me Dr. Bram," he says as we walk around the art-decorated room. Pictures of battle scenes, colorful lips, and mythological gods fill the concrete walls. At the focus of the room, a giant sculpture with red and orange tubing twisting from its trunk sits alone. It reminds me of a flaming tree that is trying to bring light into this dreary place. It's something I've never seen before and I'm instantly compelled to it.

"I do apologize, but we have yet another elevator to take us to the main entrance." Charles moves in the direction of a set of heavy looking iron doors that clash with the magnificent room. I'd rather stay here for the remainder of the day instead of looking at more slabs of lifeless metal, but I follow to the contrary of my wants-looking back once more at something that resembles a life outside of science.

We step into the next elevator. There are doors on every wall allowing the choice of any direction one wants to go. Instead of going up, we move laterally-the elevator throwing our bodies forward with a slight jerk. I plant my feet into the ground to prevent myself from falling as Drew and Charles barely move. They have either done this too often or they're just a bunch of show offs.

We remain quiet as the elevator moves much faster than the other. It barely makes a noise as the touch screen interface quickly reads the levels we pass. We start at level J and within seconds we are at level D. The noise free elevator finally reaches level A and Charles presses a button on the interface. It comes to a smooth stop and pauses before it allows the doors to open.

"Now, to start the grand tour!" Charles exclaims.

"That wasn't the tour?" I ask as the two iron doors open to a large white foyer. Ceiling to floor windows allow the bright sun to come through and illuminate the massive blue sparkling chandelier in the center of the room. Mirror-like pillars reach all the way to the high ceiling. The two gold stairs on either side of the foyer twist around each other, like two snakes entwining. A round reception desk sits below the chandelier that holds computers without monitors. Holographic images of a computer screen float in mid-air as receptionists press imaginary buttons. The buzz of the afternoon activities has people speed walking past us. All three of us step out of the elevator and the doors snuggly close behind us.

"This place looks like it was taken out of a science fiction novel," I say more to myself.

With his left arm stretching out, Charles begins the tour, "Welcome to Department E."