XVIII: A Lie
2238 Words
Like yesterday’s dream, Jake wanted to wake up from it.
It was sudden and unexpected and it occurred to them as if they were in a movie.
He fell asleep last night at 1 in the morning but was forced awake when someone dragged him up, slapping his face awake. It was the same for others. What more, he realized who it was. He looked around and men clothed with black were holding some of his friends in a tight grip, some with bruised faces and Sunny was bleeding profusely in his mouth.
Jake looked at him and wanted to approach but the man holding him dragged the back of his shirt so he fell down on the ground and then they started to beat him. Outside, there was screaming.
“Ava—“ Jake thought but even before he could speak up, he was kicked in the gut and ended up gasping for air due to pain.
The next thing he knows was that Hiro was entering the room while humming. He looked at everyone gathered in the room. The men wearing black clothing didn’t seem to mind that them, Jake and the others were being held captive right then.
“What do we do with them?” one man asked.
“Bring them to the facility.” He commanded and all saluted before him. He was about to leave the room once again but stopped and told them another thing they must do. “Make sure you watch out for that one guy with a limp. He’s an interesting subject as well as the woman. Don’t hurt her. She has some connections that would benefit us in the future. Other than that, you’re dismissed. Bring them to the facility.”
And with that Hiro left the room
Jake can’t believe his eyes. He trust Hiro just like everyone else yet he smells betrayal. Ethan seems to be gritting his teeth tightly as well while throwing daggers onto Hiro’s back. Jay was stunned as well and was shaking his head meanwhile Jean was struggling so he could get back to Sunny who was suffering because that one guy holding him punched him on the face.
It was a surprising turn of event.
Next thing they knew was that they were being gagged and put into a unit without windows. Their feet were linked into a chain, they were gagged to avoid conversing with each other while Ava seems to be put in a different vehicle than them. Nicky was seen pulling on the chain but to no avail.
After what felt like hours of driving, the back of the truck suddenly opened revealing another masked man. He unlocked their keys and Nicky’s first instinct was to attack. He sweep his feet on the ground and made the man fall onto his butt. When he thought no one was looking, he attempted to release the chains but Nicky was then shot from the back, with something that paralyzed him. He fell on the truck’s floor and he started to feel numb from everywhere.
Jake wanted to call out to him, everyone want to but because of the gag, they were unable to utter words. They were pulled out of the truck after being blindfolded and the last thing Jake saw was Nicky being put in a stretcher and out of sight. Seven was taken out as well but they wasn’t able to see it as they were already blindfolded when he was taken.
The blinding light came through after the blindfold was removed and the next thing Jake saw scared him. They were inside a chamber. They were not the only people there. There were some who were younger than them and some who looked middle aged.
They were put in a line, their chain was connected so when someone struggled and fought back, electric current would shock each of them. It happened once and the shock from both ends would meet at the person who caused the disruption. The current was strong enough to make someone unconscious, it was only then that he would be pulled out of the line. Everyone was scared of that and only murmurs of the doubt could be heard from them. Before Jake was Ethan who seems confused as well. They were being separated and Jay and Jake ended up in a room together.
It was like an interview room for criminals. There were one way mirror, a single long table, two chairs separated from each other and one chair for the one who would do the assessment. When their gag was pulled out, Jake looked at Jay and reverse.
“How do we escape from here? What is this thing?” Jake hissed.
“I don’t know.” Jay answered.
After a few minutes of trying, a familiar face entered their room.
It was Hiro, in a researcher attire and sure enough, his smile immediately dropped while looking at their statistics.
“I see familiar faces.” Hiro hummed.
‘What do you want from us?” Jay cussed, the veins on his neck popping as he struggled to lift his arms that was bounded on the chair.
“Nothing. A second chance in life maybe.” Hiro answered shortly. “I have to introduce myself.”
“I don’t f*****g need an introduction.” Jay said angrily.
“That’s what you think.” Hiro chuckled.
“My name’s Hiroshi Tanaka, head researcher for operation RV01. I am one of the contributors who made up with this research.” He then looked at Jake. “I see that you’re a person of interest, Mr. Jake Sim.”
He said while nodding.
“I see you’re the son of Ms. Hailey Sim and Mr. Joshue Sim.” Hiro nodded with interest. He then clasped his arms and leaned his chin on them as he eyed Jake. “Since you have some connections, I think we could settle this. How about that?”
“What do you mean?” Jake asked, glancing sideways to see how Jay was reacting.
“You see your parents are some people who helped with our research. They have to go undercover in order to do that.” He chuckled. “But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. Maybe it’s just you and Jay who will know. Who knows how much hate you will receive when your friends found out right?”
Hiro was still chuckling.
“What does this mean?” Jay asked angrily. He was looking in between Jake and Hiro who was having what seems like a business conversation.
“You’re lying.” Jake hissed.
“Why would I lie? After all if I release you here I could get in favor of those two.” Hiro said confidently.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Jake asked.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Jay once again could be heard slamming his fist on the armrest where his arms were bound.
Hiro nodded and proceed with looking at Jay.
“You too have your parents involved his ass in this business. For money.” Hiro explained and Jay’s frown got deeper. “You too have the possibility of making an exemption because of your damn connection but.. of course there are buts. You must comply with what we want and tell you here in our facility.”
“Bullshit.” Jay snorted. “What makes you think I wanted to deal with you people?”
“You have a choice. Just be compliant or be a test subjects. Test subjects are injected with the virus and are exposed to different stimulus that could trigger a reaction. Basically, some of your friends could end up like—“
“How do we consolidate?” Jake said, the eagerness filling his eyes. Hiro chuckled.
“There’s no such thing such as consolidation.” Hiro smiled. “But you know, I can be kind and have some of your friends survive but that still depends in their body. Subjects like Sunny or Jean could easily give in. I really don’t know.”
“What the heck is your goal why you’re doing this bullshit?” Jay was hesitant but asked anyways.
“Ah.. Mr. Director’s son, you’re so noisy. Stop being agitated, your kind is the most prone to the virus. Ah, let me give you an overview. This virus was really invented accidentally but the one who made it possible was infected because he wasn’t careful and yeah, that’s basically where it came from. He was retained and quarantined and whatever but the antidote to reverse the effect is still being discovered that’s why you’re here!” Hiro said happily. “To be test subjects to different formulation!”
“You’re horrible.” Jay spat and Hiro looked at him.
“What the hell are you talking about? It’s for the sake of science! If ever some of you survive the experiment then you’re likely to be welcomed as one of us.”
“Nobody wants to be one of you.” Jake said angrily.
“Aw… Come on bub, your parents already agreed that if we find you, we give you a chance. Because they believe you’re already dead.” Hiro chuckled. ‘Can you believe that? Your own parents believing that you’re such a weakling as for you Mr. Director’s son, hmmm, let’s see. Your father came to rescue you but died anyways because he’s so selfish. He escaped with the money thinking that money is enough to damn survive in this chaos.”
Hiro laughed hysterically. Jake and Jay both cannot believe their eyes. The timid and organized Hiro has been keeping such a big secret that brought them there.
Hiro wiped his tears from laughing and spoke once again.
“That bastard Jing tried to lure me to the city to be a pawn to these monsters not knowing I have all these people with me who could protect me. Guess who gave her the bite? Hiro said excitedly.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s me!” he sing-sung. “I commanded someone to bring an attack on her when she thought she fooled me and unfortunately, she survived.
“You’re an animal.” Jay cursed. “Just seeing your face makes me want to rip them.”
“Ohhhh scary.” Hiro said sarcastically. “Just comply with our wants and then you’ll be fine. I could promise you that some of you would be saved but only if things got for the better. I mean even if I am the head, there are so many others who would get a sample subject from those we collected and boom.”
“H…How about population? Can we like be—“ Jake said but Hiro only laughed when he heard what Jake was saying.
“Stop being so funny. Things such as population, we have them backed up. Like what we told you before, it was in Alaska as spreading there the virus seems impossible. They get frozen and die as quick so yeah. We tried the overpopulated cities. Fun fact, your school was a test field.” He laughed again.
What Jay feels for that person he thought was reliable was pure hatred. He wanted to hurt him. He betrayed them and made them suffer while pretending to be a friend. Jay was hurt as well, he wasn’t expecting that Hiro would turn out like that. Jay could tell that what Jake feel while looking at Hiro’s face was similar but he wasn’t good at confrontation. Jake’s only resolution was to make a condition even if it’s something that would take a disadvantage onto him.
“You see our main motive is to restart and to that, I could make you an offer. Be a test subject or be one of our soldiers.” Hiro said towards them. ‘Since you two are special, we will give you some time to think. That’s all my agenda for now. I’ll be back to you after two days.”
Hiro stood up and was about to leave the room but Jake yelled yet another question.
“How about the others? What will happen to them?” Jake asked but Hiro’s only answer was to smile as he closed the door behind them.
That smile quickly faded as he took the pristine white corridors of the said facility. No one really knows what was inside Hiro’s mind that time, what his thoughts was exclusive only to him. What he would do to the other guys remained unanswered.
--
Seven on the other hand woke up, just like everyone, bound onto the bed where he was lying down. His mouth has a gag onto it and his eyes were being blinded by the bright lights above him. There was also other equipment that was attached onto his body. When he realized where he was, he started to feel nervous that the heart monitor started to beep noisily next to him.
A person that looks like a scientist approached him and injected a calming medicine that soon made Seven fall asleep. He hasn’t still comprehended what was happening but he was worried about the where offs of the other as well as his own safety.
One thing that Seven knows was the fact that they were unsafe in that facility.
- Writer
