Where Truth Lies

Begining

Prologue

“I don’t want to do it!”  Alex screams. “It’s for your own good, do you want to catch the disease?” The doctor said calmly, as he cleaned a silver scalpel. “I’ll be careful, I promise! Please don’t do this to me! Let me have my life!” He fell silent; the sedatives began flowing through his body. “You should thank us, now your heart won’t get infected. You can’t change our minds anyway; this was your parents dying wish.” The doctor said, and then Alex succumbed to darkness.

                         Chapter 1: tick tock

Alex woke to the sound of ticking. He began to sit up but was too weak to sit up. Then he looked down at his chest; a series of gears where implanted into his chest, similar to clockwork. He was able to see this because his skin was laid back towards his shoulders. He knew what the surgery does to you so he wasn’t very surprised to see his former heart laying on a table to his left. Why had they left him to wake up before they completed the surgery? “Doesn’t even matter anymore, I won’t even heal so I’ll have to stitch myself up.” He began stitching the skin of his chest back in place. “Thank goodness I know how to sew.” He laughed at his own joke. “I really should get going; the other will be expecting me.” Alex slid off of the operating table. “I wonder why they stopped before they were done.” He found his shirt on a nearby counter and slipped it on. He walked into the hallway; which was dimly lit. Strange. Maybe there was a power shortage, he thought. But that’s when the smell hit him. That one smell was the downfall of almost an entire race. The only way to identify the disease in its early stages. It smelled like smoke. The hospital had been infected.

Alex woke with a start. He sighed and rolled over in his make-shift bed. “Alex? You finally finished with that outburst?” It was Mark, Alex’s travelling companion. “You started yelling at us not to do the procedure, so we figured you were hallucinating again.” Mark sat next to him. “Stupid me for thinking since I hadn’t had a fit in a while that I was suddenly cured.” They both laughed forcefully. “Mark, do you even think a cure will be found? Or is what’s left of the human race going to all go insane and kill each other?” Alex asked in a serious tone. “I don’t know kid…..I don’t know,” Mark stood up “but I do know that you have been sleeping for the past week, time for you to get back to work.” Mark left. “That had been the most vivid on by far, I don’t know how much longer I can take this.” He whispered to himself. He got out of his bed and stretched, nothing seemed to be out of place. He changed into a fresh set of clothes then walked over to his mirror. His brown hair was sticking out everywhere and his amber eyes where bloodshot. “You look like hell, how are you feeling?” It was Vala, his best friend. “I feel just about as bad as I look, this round was rough.” She made an understanding look. “The new government it looking for people to help find a cure…” She murmured. “I won’t try to stop you but if you do decide to go then my only condition is for me to come with you.” He said looking at her. She nodded and they sat in silence. “Do you know how to even get to them?” Alex broke the silence. “No need, they are here….and they are taking people.” Mark was standing in the doorway.

 

They both turned their heads. “What?” Alex stood. “I told you, they flew in here and now they are taking people. I had just returned to the fields when I heard screaming over the walkie-talkies.” Mark trailed off.  “Well, let’s go see what’s going on; has any one said anything since the screaming?”  Vala asked, turning over her own walkie-talkie. Mark shook his head. “Let’s go grab some weapons and then make our way to the community room, that’s where it came from.” Mark moved aside so they could walk into the hallway. “Alright, everyone step carefully; we have no idea what they are doing here or how they even found us.” Mark said as her began running down the hallway towards the artillery. After a few turns they heard a beep. “What was that?” Alex asked. Vala fell the floor. Mark bent down and checked to see if she was alright. “She’s fine but we can’t carry her. She will be safe enough here.” Mark looked at Alex apologetically. Alex nodded and took one last look at her before they continued running. After a few minutes, Alex stopped. “Mark, you aren’t leading us to the artillery. Where are we going?” He stood his ground, ready to fight if needed. Mark sighed and started reaching into his jacket. “I’m sorry kid, I was hoping we could do this the easy way but I guess that was never really an option.” Mark pulled out some sort of gun. Alex took a step back. “Whoa…Mark how did you even get that thing?” Alex looked at the sleek black shaft of the weapon. Before he was answered Mark shot and his whole world went dark.