The Hamster Wheel

What The f**k

Jen!

WAKE UP!

I slowly opened my eyes to see Destiney shaking me. My vision was blurred. Glass was everywhere, smoke was coming from the hood of the car, and I was somehow in the front on the dashboard. 

I looked around to see Shane slowly rising, holding his head. He was dripping blood from the side of his face. A piece of glass was lodged into his skin at the end of his right eyebrow. 

It hurt to move. 

I felt my leg being touched and I painfully swiveled my head down to see Chase coming to. 

"Guys we gotta go!" Destiney was screaming. 

I couldn't process anything she was saying. My entire body was aching & my head was pounding. 

I looked up at the roof of the car to see bright blurring lights and then in a matter of seconds, nothing but darkness consumed me. 

My eyes dropped to the bed and I couldn't bare to look up again. 

She was dying. 

To think that I had spent the last 6 years caring for the last member of my family, only for it to end in heartache, was a heartache itself. 

Everybody dies, that's a fact. But why did it have to all happen so fast? 

"Jenny?" I heard her whisper. 

I immediately rose from my seat and put on a fake smile to sit next to her on the bed. Grabbing her by her upper body, I pulled her into my chest and held her until I felt like our hearts were attached. 

"Are you mad at me?" 

I sniffled and looked down at her. "No, why would you ask that?" 

Her hazel eyes reached mine and I could see how tired she was. I knew she couldn't fight any longer and it was only a matter of hours before she gave in to the battle. 

"Because if I leave, you'll have nobody left..." 

Without a second of hesitation, I hugged her tighter and fought back the tears I had swelling in my eyes. 

"Honey, I'll never be mad at you. We fought this for as long as we could and I'm grateful for every second of it. Don't forget that," I told her. 

"Okay" 

"Tell me what your favorite memory of us is." I asked her. 

"Oh, that's hard," she said smiling. I chuckled a little and started drawing circles into her back. 

"Take your time," 

A moment like this I would've taken for granted ten years ago. I was an average kid with parents that fought 24-7 over bills they couldn't pay and infidelity they both took part in. I hated home because it wasn't home. Until Amanda turned 4 and a doctors visit changed our life. She had been diagnosed with cancer. That was the news that stopped everyone from fighting each other until we eventually became a team of strength for her. 

Now look at us. 

"Remember when you and me played at the beach with mom and dad? And we saw that dog drowning and we rescued it except we thought it was dead ? Then you did CPR and it came back to life?" She asked. 

I laughed and nodded. 

"Why is that your favorite memory? We have so many other ones," 

Silence. 

"Because that day was the last day your happiness reached your eyes..." 

"WAKE THE f**k UP JEN!" 

My eyes snapped open and adjusted to the lights surrounding me. I was in a chair, but not any chair. It was an electrocution chair.  My arms and legs were both strapped down and a belt was wrapped around my torso. 

"Finally, I'd been calling you for 10 minutes," 

I looked up to see Riley sitting across from me. We were in a classroom surrounded by other people in chairs as well. The only difference between them and us was that they seemed to be unconscious. 

IV Machines were attached to their arms and a weird helmet was strapped around their heads. 

The desks were stacked in a far corner and in the center of the room was a table full of weird looking gun dispensers. 

"Where are we?" I asked. 

Riley shrugged her shoulders. 

"I don't know. I woke up here just like you. I have no idea where everybody else is," she said. She then tried to wriggle her arm a loose from the belt holding it down, but failed miserably. 

"You should know better than that," I told her.

"What the f**k are we even doing here?!" She yelled at the top of her lungs. 

"Stop f*****g yelling! Don't you want to figure this s**t out before they come back and sedate us?!" I spat. 

She sighed and sat back in her chair with despair. I had never really noticed how pretty Riley was until now. (Riley Below) 

Her curly hair was now frizzy and strewn across her face, but her facial features were some how intimidatingly seductive. Her ice cold blue eyes could make any man wonder if he had what it took to approach her. 

She was stunning. 

"f**k, I had my gun in my pocket," she whispered. 

Oh yeah. And crazy. 

"Is it even still there?" I asked. 

"I don't know. If they carried us here, it would make sense for it not to be"

I looked down at the floor and realized that the chairs were not glued. Mustering up all the strength I had left, I tried to jump and move it except an excruciating pain went up my arm. 

"f**k!"

"Woah there Indiana Jones, you flew to the front of the car when we crashed. You probably broke your arm," she said.

Just my luck. 

Suddenly, the door opened and in came two hazmats. They both walked towards the table and one of them picked up a gun dispenser. 

"What the f**k are you doing to us?!" Riley yelled. The hazmat didn't say a word and continued to go about his business as if he was used to hearing people scream. 

"f*****g LET ME GO!" 

I couldn't bring myself to say anything. I was too amazed at the fact that we were even there. It felt like shock. 

One of them started undoing Rileys belt straps and she slowly started to panic. 

"No DONT TOUCH ME!" She cried. 

"LET HER GO!" I finally managed to say. They both looked at me and paused. 

"You know, you really shouldn't speak up for somebody unless you wanna take their place," one of them stated. 

"But since you insist," 

The other walked over to me and began to undo my belt straps. 

Fuck. 

"What the f**k are you guys doing to us? We're f*****g college students for f**k sake!" I screamed. 

They didn't respond. The other walked over to me and got the gun dispenser ready. I slowly felt the hairs rise on the back of my neck as I was preparing for the inevitable. 

Injection.  

Out of no where, a loud crash sounded and shook the room. The two hazmats jumped and stopped in their tracks. Looking at each other, they both left the room in a hurry, leaving the door wide open. 

Screaming and shouting echoed through the halls. 

"Girl you got one arm free. Let's go!" Riley said. 

I looked down and realized she was right. One of my arms was free and I quickly started undoing my other one. Once it came a loose, I realized I had in fact broken my arm. One of the bones was obviously dislocated and poking dysfunctionally through my skin. 

Getting up, I walked over to her and starting unbuckling. 

"You know you didn't have to play the hero, right?" She muttered. I paused and looked at her. 

If she wasn't the most ungrateful b***h I had ever known. 

"You mean thank you? You're welcome," I spat. 

She started undoing herself and I walked over to the doorway to peak my head out.  At the end of the hallway, I could see the entire gang of hazmats struggling to hold the doors. Each of them, yelling and holding each other with all the strength they had. 

Something was trying to come in...

————————-

Jason's POV

Holding the door against Ayana, I rushed over to the center of the door and began to push. 

These bastards were resilient and I didn't know how much longer these barriers could stay in place. 

It was not supposed to go like this. 

"It's too much f*****g pressure!" Jake yelled. 

"Go get the f*****g dispensers and round up everything that's ours!" Mark yelled at me.  

"How are you gonna hold the door??" I asked. 

"Just GO!"

I let go and watched them struggle to make up for the strength they just lost. 

Shit, I gotta do this fast. 

Running to the lab, I slowed down and walked in to see the two girls gone. 

A part of me was glad. The other part knew that there would be consequences for this. They weren't supposed to be let back out without an injection. I could only imagine boss's face as he's watching this all unfold. Phase two wasn't supposed to start for an estimated 6 hrs from now & nothing was fully prepared. 

I shook off the worry and ran over to the closet to get the duffel bag. Shoving all the dispensers into the bag, I turned around and looked at all the people still sedated. 

Should I inject them ? 

"JASON!"

I tossed the bag over my shoulder and ran out to see them. As soon as I hit the hallway, I could tell the fight was over. The door was bulging and they were all slipping and sliding. 

In a matter of seconds they all let go and screamed 

"RUN!!"

Instantly turning around, I started running towards the lobby and turned the corner. Approaching the student center, I flung the door open and waited for the rest of them to appear. One by one, they all ran into the center.

"MIKE IS STILL BACK THERE!" Ayana exclaimed. I looked out to see him hit the corner as soon as one of those things jumped on his back. 

"These things are way more developed than boss told us about!" Ian said. 

He was right. They were full on reptilian. Their bodies were now green, their structures unbelievably large, and their hands were now giant claws. They looked like full blown aliens. 

Mike began squirming, trying his best to get it off him, except it was too strong. It's tongue had wrapped around his neck and was slowly suffocating him. Opening its mouth wider, it began to scream, exposing its sharp teeth. 

People began swarming from behind him, running in every direction, and then three more showed up. They all huddled around the body together and began to make these weird ticking noises. 

Their talking to each other ...

"Jason, close the door!" Mark yelled. That drew their attention, and they immediately turned towards the door. 

Slamming it shut, I locked the deadbolts and locks we had installed as soon as they ran into it. The impact was so strong, it threw me back onto the ground and I began to crawl away towards the corner office. 

Opening the door, I stood there scared shitless. 

What the f**k are we supposed to do now. 

"Mark, what's the plan?" I asked looking over at him. He was watching the door with such intent, I could tell he thought it'd burst open any second. 

He didn't respond and there was nothing but silence. 

"Mark-"

Suddenly I felt something cold press against my neck and an arm put me in a choke hold. 

"TELL ME WHO THE f**k YALL ARE NOW! OR THIS WHITE BOY IS f*****g DEAD!"   

It was them.