Forever and a Day

Chapter One

Today was a scorchingly hot day, even hotter beneath the dome that protected nearly a million people, no matter how much they tried to mask it with the built-in temperature moderators. The air was dry, and the polycarbonate layer above seemed to magnetize the sun's rays.

Levi stopped in front of the building situated in the middle of Sector 5, squinting his dark eyes against the sun as he looked up at the giant pillar of glass and chrome metal beyond the fortified gate. Men in uniform were stationed at the opening and then every couple of feet around the perimeter.

He frowned. He'd never get used to the flashiness they liked to display.

It took four clearance checks, through multiple gates scrutinized by cameras and gruff-looking men for him to enter the first floor of the HQ. This wasn't his first time in the place, and most likely not the last, but the scene never ceased to amaze him.

Somehow, natural sunlight filtered through the air in a warm orange tone. Plants squared off the generous number of windows, allowing the floor-to-ceiling waterfall to trickle in between. It was almost as if the world hadn't almost ended nearly two hundred years ago and the outside wasn’t still suffering the aftermath.

There were no other people besides the singular receptionist seated behind the wide desk just right of the water. She smiled as he walked up, her crows feet crinkling politely.

“Here again Levi?” she asked, taking his ID card from his hands and sliding it through the scanner. Yet another authentication check.

Levi shrugged one uniformed shoulder. “Boss’ orders. Again. At least he keeps me busy, running around sporadically. Can't imagine sitting at a desk all day.”

The receptionist returned his shrug with her own. “It's not so bad. I get to see handsome people. . . Sporadically,” she said with a wink. “You’re all set for floor 22.”

“Floor 22?”

She nods. “That's what we have you down for.”

Stepping into one of three elevators, he looked outside the glass wall and over the miles of bleached buildings and plainly colored areas. The only pigmentation that stood out was the random pop of green, as if the architects weren’t sure how to place the plants.

Just beyond the wall blocking the futuristic world was an image akin to another planet. Orange dirt and dust decorated the land and flitted through the air in thin clouds. The structures from a time before leaned against each other in abandon or were completely demolished, giving home to invasive wildlife.

In honesty, Levi liked it better out there than he did inside, despite the presence of possible death. Here, a sense of claustrophobia always creeped up on him. As his boss, Johnathan Calister, always told him, he was like a wild animal, and sometimes, he definitely felt like one.

Queasiness radiated from his stomach to his chest as his standing grew further and further from the ground. He averted his gaze at the digital numbers above the sliding doors.

8. . . 9. . . 10. . .

He frowned at the slow pace. Like his acrophobia, he didn't handle patience well. The Gatekeepers under his command and anyone who knew him well enough could testify to that fact.

11. . . 12. . . 13. . .

The doors slid open and a man and a woman with white coats stepped in. The woman smiled her greeting but dropped it when her eyes found his black and gray uniform. Surprise, confusion and even disgust were emotions he’d gotten used to seeing when people looked at him.

On rare - very rare occasions, there was awe.

Being a Gatekeeper was a rough job. Nearly every day, you were outside the dome's protection, risking your life for people who didn't make an effort to understand why your job was so important to their own survival.

The man gave him a sideways glance before sliding his ID into the reader to access their necessary floor.

“So I guess the rumor about them waking her up was true,” he whispered, not as quietly as he thought he had.

“But for what reason? Everything's been normal.”

He shrugs. “I don't know, but if they're bringing in the keepers, something must be going on.”

Levi resisted the urge to open his mouth and make a smartass remark. Instead, he crossed his arms and sighed, making sure it was loud enough and obnoxious enough to make the two white coats uncomfortable.

And it worked. The uncomfortable feeling in the air was practically tangible. Fortunately, his ride was coming to an end as well.

“Excuse me,” he said, slipping past the pair and into the blank white room.

Like downstairs, the walls were a bare sheet, something that he knew he wouldn't be able to get used to, even if he stayed forever. Unlike the lowest level, there was no receptionist desk, only two men and two weapon detectors that blocked a long hallway.

He unclicked his harness and sat it in the scanner. Just as he was about to do the same to his leg holsters, a doctor, or he presumed she was a doctor, came running around a corner and towards him.

“Levi Huntley. . .right?” she gasped, bending over to catch her breath. Her rustish hair was tied back into a ponytail, but seemed to be everywhere besides the hair tie. Faint fatigue and age hung from her eyes.

He nodded unsurely. “Yes.”

She hummed as she looked over at him. “Your picture doesn't do you justice, Mr. Huntley. You look better in person.” He opened his mouth to respond, but she cut him off. “I’m Rebecca Florence, but you can call me Dr. Florence. Or you can call me Rebecca. I'll give you a pass since you're cute.”

The eccentric doctor shoved his belongings back towards him and motioned for him to follow her.

He couldn't help but look around as they made their way deeper into the building. People in long white coats fiddled with computers and laptops as they tested away at jars of murky-looking liquids.

Devices he'd never seen before hung from ceilings, and every so often, he would see glass vats of infected corpses. He always wondered what they did with the ones they managed to bring back, and now he knew. In a way, he sympathized with the monsters that fell into the hands of the labs.

“Cool, isn't it?” Rebecca asked, pulling him from his curiosity.

Levi nodded. “I guess you could say that.”

A smile that he didn't like crept onto her face as she looked back at him. “What you're about to be briefed on is in a whole other league.”

“About that,” he paused. “Is CP Booker here already?”

“Nope.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I'm confused about why I'm here. . . Ma'am."

Rebecca frowned. “You don't know why you're here? David didn't tell you anything? Nothing at all?”

“No ma'am."

“Oh. Then you're in for the time of your life,” she laughed. “He’ll be here shortly.”

Levi didn't like the sound of that and wanted to opt for waiting for his boss to show up, but the hand that was wrapped around his forearm definitely wouldn't take no for an answer.

It didn't take long until the pair were standing before an overly large and reinforced door. The doctor yanked the ID around her neck and tapped it onto the desk-like mechanism beside the door. Green lit up the display, cueing her to wipe her hand on her coat and lay it on the smooth surface.

Another green light triggered a beeping alarm that honestly made his heart jump from his chest.

Rebecca smiled knowingly as the door hissed open. “There will be a lot to take in, so I hope you're ready.”

The moment Levi steps over the threshold, a chill runs up his spine. One that he recognized from all those years surviving on the outside. One that told you something unnatural; something stronger than you was nearby.

The lab was roundly shaped with screens along most of the walls and control panels beneath him. All that really didn't catch his eye. What did was the large, floor-to-ceiling cylinder of blue liquid smack in the middle of the space.

In it floated. . . A human.

“Levi, meet P-01.”