Zone Albrecht

18. The Last Hour

I checked the clock on the night table. 11: 00 pm. This meant that in an hour, my fate would be decided. I closed my eyes, unable to chase away the image of the nurses...and my friends, dying; unable to forget the paw that had almost killed me, and the horrible thing that had been in the room with Angela. They were probably the same creature, come to think of it, even though when I had briefly looked in the room I hadn't seen anything, just a red light. It had no definite shapes, because I believe I only saw a glimpse of it. Most of the terror that came with this room had to do with what I had felt. It was like staring straight into death's eyes, into humanity's most vile, repulsive sins. Whatever had tried to kill Angela was a powerful component of the Zone, of that there was no doubt.

I glanced at the clock once more. 11: 07 pm. My minutes were counted, or so I thought back then. I pondered about death at that moment, not in theory, not as a dreadful thing which happens to everyone else, but as a burden that had to be taken, something which no one could escape from (and after all, isn't that what it actually is?). I wondered if the nurses would devour me, or perhaps cut me into pieces. Was this truly how I was going to end, or had the Zone reserved something else for me, something more...terrible? How could anything be more terrible than that, I suppose most people would wonder? In all honesty, I'm not sure. Back then it seemed like, apart from the death of...well, Angela, or my own, nothing could get much worse. But I think otherwise now. From personal experience, I can now say that there are fates much worse than death. Fates like mine and Angela's, for example, but because I don't want to insult her memory, I have to confess that hers was worse; much, much worse.

--

Extract of Julie M.'s memoirs

I went up to Max and Angela before hugging them both turn in turn.

"Guys...the Zone..." I started before Angie interrupted.

"It's after tomorrow," she reminded.

"We're gonna die, and we're not even fourteen yet!" Max exclaimed plaintively. I stayed silent on the fact that I'd die before my thirteenth birthday, being younger than the two of them, but what did it matter, after all, what did it change? Either way it was much too young.

"Guys, we need to devise a plan. Does anyone have any extra info about the Zone?" I inquired. Both Max and Angie shook their heads.

"Mixed-bitch didn't tell us anything about it, except when it was supposed to happen that is."

"Thing is, last time she made us go in thinking that we'd go through a series of "innocent tests". How is she going to force all of us to go now?"

"I'm not going back in that hellhole of a room!" Max grumbled. His gaze was hard, cold, and it made me feel a mixture of fear and sadness. Even if we did come out alive of this, we'd never be the same, we'd never be "young" again in a way. All of us had been marked by things which no teenager (or adult for that matter) should be confronted to. My boyfriend just didn't have that same innocence, that same kindness that he had possessed prior to coming here. He was someone different now, and I wondered if, I too, had completely changed. Angela looked even glummer than before and was busy contemplating the floor silently. Eventually she spoke up in a calm voice, her words chilling me to the bone.

"It won't be in the same room, whatever happens. It'll be something completely different, something which we can't even conceive, and it'll take us by surprise. Somehow, we're going to end up in the Zone, probably without even realizing it."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Max asked, eyes wide with fear.

"That whatever it is we're going to face, we can't escape it."