Introduction
687 Words
Present Day, February 2032:
I breathe a ragged breath, taking a step closer to the grey, metal bolt doors looming ahead of me. Beads of sweat fall down my face in the harsh, white lights, and a cold chill runs through my spine.
One more step, one more step and I’ll become like them.
One more step before I’m vaccinated.
I close my eyes as my terror rises, my heart hammering in my chest.
Every part of me is screaming out for me to run, to fight, to just get out of this and away from here. But the strong grip of the soldiers on either side of me, with my arms tied behind my back, freeze me in place.
All methods of escape now tried and tired, nothing remains.
This is it, I think. I try to focus on memories of my family and of my friends in my last moments, hoping against hope that they will somehow be okay, that somehow, this nightmare will end.
The harsh, metallic beeping of a buzzer calls out, interrupting my thoughts. It echoes in the vastness of the facility, as a red light flashes repeatedly above the imposing doors.
The nurses (if they can so be called), are ready for me.
I squeeze my eyes tightly shut in anticipation. My heart beats harder and faster and my whole body convulses, adrenaline coursing through my system in a last ditch effort to escape.
The alarm blares again.
But the soldiers don’t move.
Again.
But once more, nothing moves.
Like a switch had been pressed, everything turns silent.
I hesitate before opening my eyes, slowly, daring a glance at the soldiers.
Everything about them is frozen. They aren’t breathing or blinking, and they no longer hold me in place, their hands simply unmoving in their past position on my shoulders. They hold no force on me now.
Taking a small, careful step away from them, I take in the rest of the room. Everything seems frozen.
The facility has always been incredibly organised and structured, strict almost. With tall, metallic rooms, and tall, unfeeling, grey doors. Comparable to a factory building, melded with a catholic school; everyone, or rather, everything, marched, breathed, ‘spoke’ in unison. Never in this facility, has an essence of life or personality existed.
But additionally, never did the facility freeze; it was always active, always awake; cold, hostile machines running endlessly from morning to night.
For everything to simply freeze...
Regardless, I can't let this opportunity go to waste.
I take another slow step away from the soldiers and the room ahead of me, my arms still tied behind my back.
I turn to make my escape, my whole body ready to run. But all processing halts when I hear a familiar voice calling to me.
I snap my head up, freezing in place.
“Alex!" The familiar voice bellows in the silence that befell the rest of the factory, their footsteps thudding against the concrete, louder and louder as they approach me.
My whole body reacts to this voice, once calm and trustworthy, now instilling in me a primal fear. I can't move.
But this voice is now filled with some sense of urgency, and possibly even fear.
"Alex, run!"
My systems reboot, and finally I can move again.
I run, out of fear for my life, fear from the facility, and fear of the person behind me, taking a fraction of a second to look behind me at the face from whom the voice came.
I panic, wondering what kind of trap this must be, for Charley to attempt to aid in my escape.
The pace of my feet hitting the hard concrete floor quicken, my adrenaline building upon sight of that face. I push forward, tripping over my feet with my arms still behind my back.
Their footsteps follow me for a while before stopping, and suddenly I am alone again.
But I keep running, as fast and as far as I can.
That’s all I can do right now, run.
- Writer
