Lucidity

Chapter Thirty: When The Chips Are Down

Warning: Upsetting Content

Kosa collapsed on the ground, fighting for air. The poison was a brutal one that left her insides searing. Her vision was blurred, but occasionally went clear, however when it did, she encountered hallucinations. She saw Anwyn, ordering a dead Nokia to attack her. She saw Natalia, being hanged. She saw Surtren being destroyed while all her friends pointed at her. She saw her mother, leaving her baby girl in the forest.

As Kosa slipped from this world, the body's control was left to Caitlyn. The body was already dead. Her consciousness was trapped in a corpse.

"Since I know you can hear me, Caitlyn, I want you to know that I'm going to kill you too, once and for all. There will be no coming back anymore." He gripped the body's chin, lifting the limp body up to meet its glassy eyes. "There will be no peaceful afterlife for you though. You can die knowing your friends failed and it was all your fault."

He let go of her, staring at his hand disgustedly. Silently, he went to the bathroom and washed his hands before leaving.

Caitlyn wept inside.

< | ■ | >

Arham, Junior, Jacob, Hjalmar, Yaz and Anwyn all crouched in the undergrowth surrounding the lab. Everyone except Jacob and Anwyn - who were sniffing the flowers - were staring at the stone building intently. They needed to find a stealthy way in.

"There are bound to be people everywhere if they're firing off the weapon today," mumbled Yaz, "It's too dangerous."

"The door cannot be opened through magic, Imperon made sure of that," Jacob informed them, "However, that doesn't mean we can't steal a set of keys using magic."

"Didn't Caitlyn say there was a nice person there?" Yaz recalled.

Jacob sighed. "Imperon will have known of her betrayal. She'll be gone now."

"So how do we get a key?" asked Arham.

"We get somebody to come out."

Three minutes later, Junior casually "stumbled across" the lab. He made sure he was perfectly visible and examined it in great rigor. His performance was convincing but rather entertaining to his companions in the undergrowth. Within a minute, someone had come outside.

"Woah, what is this place?" Junior was playing the role of an astounded hiker.

"Just a warehouse nowadays. May I request that you leave? You're trespassing."

"Oh, uh, right. Well, nice modern architecture," he complimented the building.

"Leave?" she repeated.

He waved and walked off. She lingered to make sure he truly had left, then returned inside. Junior joined the others by creeping through the undergrowth and Jacob held up a hoop of keys proudly.

Not long later, they had their weapons ready. Yaz had a tiny knife, the three soldiers had produced their swords and Jacob had his hands ready to cast spells. Anwyn was unarmed but ready to poke somebody in the gut if necessary. Since her hands were free, she was bestowed with the honour of unlocking the door. Her face glowed as she did so.

The lock popped and they ran into the facility, only to find three people awkwardly standing and drinking coffee. The group came to a halt and the scientists froze too.

"Where's the weapon?" snarled Junior.

One of them shrugged. "They're firing it today so they moved it."