Project LOSS

Chapter 10

The most startling thing about PAVE, Lilah learned, was the obliviousness of the other inhabitants to the utter shabbiness of the place. Almost all the walls were splattered with dubious stains and everything that might have been deemed useful was either broken or covered in a thick layer of grime. She watched the other agents glide about her as though they were extras in some upper-middle-class, spaceship based, science fiction epic. One woman taped a key-card on a door that had visible security aside from one of those doorknobs with an inbuilt lock. That variety of lock wouldn’t even keep a human out.

Lilah’s huge companion bid her farewell after a night of back-breaking chores, leaving Lilah to wander aimlessly until she felt tired enough to sleep; a task easier said than done on the hard floor of the dormitories that smelled like sweat and blood—and other bodily fluids.

She wandered out of the main building and into the open. Turning back, Lilah saw that the main building resembled one of the large, box-like buildings used for storing grain in the countryside. Only one other building stood inside the wall, around 100 feet to the left. A glass-encased stairwell led to a domed structure that was a little more impressive than the featureless grey box to its right. It would probably have seemed modern in the 1980s—home to some estate agency or solicitor’s office.

“Why am I doing this?” Lilah asked herself as she circled the building to try the door. It was dangerous to go snooping about. Insane, even. She pushed on the handle expecting to find it locked. It swung in easily.

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Mother would always say; a staple saying of mothers everywhere. But all the cats were gone, so maybe there was some truth in the saying. Maybe not. Either way, Lilah was going to enter the building. Her footsteps echoed about the curved staircase. She was eager to see what kind of secrets might be hidden at the top. Perhaps there was magic to be found in this place after all.

At first glance, the room at the top appeared to contain nothing but a projector and a holographic Earth, which sparkled with thousands of tiny lights. Mesmerised, Lilah reached out to put her hand through the holograph when her ears picked up a familiar sound; the soft beeps of a heart monitor and the raspy whispering of a ventilator. She stepped through the Earth to find a large metal tank surrounded by life support machinery. Inside it lay a body; withered, covered in a yellow-tinged jelly and penetrated at multiple points with wires and tubes. It would not have been recognisable as human were it not for the smile.

As Lilah moved her head, she noticed a flash—a dot of red. “s**t!”

“Intruder alert! Intruder alert!” A metallic giant jumped to life, zeroing in on Lilah with laser-like precision.

Great, I finally find some advanced technology and it wants to kill me, Lilah thought as she pelted across the gap to the main building. Glancing back to see if the robot was still in pursuit, Lilah hurtled into a group of agents, knocking them over like bowling pins.

“Hey asshole,” the guy cried, looking at her like she was dirt. Lilah felt as though she were thirteen again, clumsily knocking into the popular kids’ domain, earning their stinging remarks and sneering self-righteousness.

“Wanna meet Spiderman?” One of them asked. God, he was handsome. But Lilah just wanted to get away before RoboCop caught up to her.

“No thanks,” Lilah began to turn away but Mr handsome grabbed her by the shoulders and steered her towards the stairwell.

“Sure you do.” He smiled as the others exchanged sly glances and whispers. They exited onto a pitch-black floor. Lilah felt a harsh shove in her back then pain as she hit her head on a cold metal bar. Before she could gather her senses, the light flicked on and she found herself face to face with a monster.

Lilah screamed; partly in shock, partly in terror. The thing was not a spider or a man. It was a genetic mess, as though someone had hacked up a man and formed a spider-like puppet out of the pieces. Its eyes though ... those looked human, and out of place ... and interested.

“He just wants to be loved,” one girl cried with fake sympathy, causing the others to shriek with laughter.

“Let me go,” Lilah demanded, doing her best to shove past the agents but they grabbed at her with too many arms, forming a lattice—a net that pulled her toward the caged horror.

“Help me! Someone help!” Lilah screamed.

“Nobody will hear you,” a cruel mouth taunted, “and if they do, they won’t care.”

The girl was right. At PAVE headquarters people looked after themselves. During the day they milled about like zombies, but between the hours of three am and four am the system would reset. During this time the agents were free to do as they pleased. What they pleased usually involved some form of misdemeanour.

Lilah would have to save herself. She relaxed her body, lulling Mr Handsome into a false sense of security. When he went to open the cage, she bucked with all her strength, flinging herself toward the door. A triple roll and she was up and into the stairwell. It took every ounce of concentration not to trip over her own feet at that speed. Lilah had never been graceful, and most people would describe her as a klutz. Most people were right, Lilah realised, as she stumbled and fell hard onto the green linoleum.

A pair of feet appeared in front of her splayed, stinging hands. A quick glance up revealed the newcomer to be Alex—the loner from the cafeteria.

“Help?” Lilah asked. The young man avoided her eyes and continued on his way. He only stopped when the cruel gang caught up.

 “Yeah, that’s it, mind your business,” Mr Handsome taunted Alex. Alex paused, telling Lilah there was hope.

“Please help me. You’re stronger than they are,” Lilah tried.

“Yeah, for entire minutes at a time,” a girl said, prompting stifled laughter from the group.

“All he’s good for is killing his own people,” one of the other girls said.

“At least I only kill to protect this place. You’d kill this girl for amusement? Kicks? You are all sick.” Alex shook his head.

“We wouldn’t have let it kill her, but now we might just do that.” Mr Handsome’s eyes narrowed as he puffed up his chest and squared up to Alex.

“She stays with me. I can only change for a minute, but a minute is all I need to wipe you sorry lot off the face of the Earth.” Alex held his ground until the gang went to harass some other poor soul.

“Thank you.” Lilah smiled meekly at Alex. He avoided her eyes.

“I didn’t do it to be kind. I’ve something important to tell you, and that would become somewhat difficult if you died.”

“Me? But I don’t even know you.” Lilah suddenly felt sick but managed to choke it back. A bitter film formed around her throat and would not shift no matter how many times she swallowed.

“This will be difficult for you to believe, but you are going to save the world,” Alex said. Lilah waited for him to laugh, deliver a punch line... anything. His face didn’t change.

“But, me? How? I’m a nobody ... a nine.” Lilah frowned.

“I’m not sure, but an incredibly powerful psychic passed on this information, and everything this psychic has predicted has happened,” Alex explained. “Look—” He grabbed her arm with a sigh. “We all have our parts to play. Big or small.” Alex frowned, looking around frantically before staring at Lilah. “Did you trip that alarm?” he accused.

“What alarm?” Lilah asked, looking around as though the alarm were a visible entity.

Alex began walking towards the exit but stopped and turned back when he noticed that Lilah hadn’t budged an inch. “Come on. There isn’t much time.”

After shimmying through the wall Alex pointed through the sandstorm and told Lilah to travel north until she came across a group calling themselves Zaber. He turned and walked in the opposite direction.

“You aren’t coming with me?” Lilah shouted against the wind.

“I have my own path to follow.”