Monday, July 15, 2013

Critter Volume 4 Chapter 5 : Reunion


Reunion 

It was like he was reborn, re-entering into a world that made absolutely no sense. Mitchell’s eyes had shot open; his pupils had shrunk to the size of dust bunnies. He kept thinking to himself am I dead? Is this heaven? When in fact, he felt more alive than ever before. Thoughts racing through his head like wild fire, he remembered everything that happened, Ashley shot him and he could actually remember dying. It felt somehow peaceful; it wasn’t until seconds had past before he realized there was a mask covering his mouth. It looked to be providing oxygen; he immediately ripped it off his face along with dozens of other cables and cords stuck to his neck and arms. One specific cord was deep into his forearm and Mitch had to pull it out, causing such immense pain though Mitchell always believed that the feeling of pain helped to remind you that you’re alive.





Mitchell felt the cold of the untouched areas of the steal table he was laying on. He sat up from his table; the thoughts of what happened when he was shot were so fresh in his mind, but for some reason he felt like he had been sleeping for months. His eyesight was blurred and he could not, at the moment, hear anything going on around him. Just then, his hearing perked up when he heard a continuous alarm that sounded like an old beat down car horn. He looked around the room when he was distracted by a blurry figure waving him down from across the room. Mitchell rubbed his eyes fiercely and to his surprise it actually helped. He could see clearly enough to see an old friend, Lena. She was waving to him and yelling something with great intensity. Mitchell looked down to see he was wearing a robe, white with fainted light blue stripes. He turned to his right where he saw a big machine next to where he was laying. A big monitor that had numbers, stats and information typed all over it. In the top right corner of the screen he read Subject #24 Mitchell Burns.

Absolutely mesmerized by the material provided by the machine, Mitchell became startled when Lena came to his shoulder shaking him back to reality “WE HAVE TO GO, NOW!” she yelled as she pulled Mitchell off the bed to begin running. Mitchell fell weak in the knees and began puking on the floor “we do not have time for this right now Mitch, shake it off” she yelled again. Lena ducked to the ground nearly kneeling in Mitchells vomit when she heard a gun shot coming from above “THEIR HERE!” she yelled Mitchell looked ahead to see others running in the same direction, he couldn’t quite make anyone out “I am not letting you die here” Lena said as she gave Mitchell a slap in the face to snap him back to his senses “follow me, you got it?” she said “let’s go” she whispered as Lena began crawling past several of the same steal beds that Mitchell was laying in. Mitchell aimlessly followed when they came to a halt “ready to run?” Lena asked “I think so” a confused Mitchell answered quietly “GO” she yelled as the two of them latched arms and bolted for the same exit the others went too. Lena swung around and punched a large red button attached to the wall, which made the clearly bulletproof doors slide closed and lock. Lena looked over at Mitchell who was obviously having a difficult time soaking up all that just happened. Lena dove in for a deep and meaningful hug which lead to her grabbing his face “finally” she whispered “follow me, you’re gunna wanna say hi to a few people” she said with a slight smile.

Rachel sat in the bar, windows drawn shut and doors locked. It was definitely possible that the creatures surrounding the place could bust in at any moment if she made any kind of noise. She didn’t seem to care as she sat at the bar surrounded by her three new friends, rum, whiskey and tequila. Rachel couldn’t possibly handle what had just happened and she knew that she wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. She thought the best answer was to get drunk, so she did just that. All this time she thought of her ability as a gift but now it was nothing but a curse. It was like she was stuck in hell forced to live out the rest of her life in a world where all of her friends have been killed and she was completely alone. Just then she heard a loud knocking on the front door “HELLO!?” the person yelled “PLEASE GOD LET ME IN!” they yelled again. Rachel stood from the bar stool and stumbled toward the curtain shadowing the glass door, she peeked through and she saw Emma. Probably the last person she would ever expect to see, but it was nice to know that she wasn’t alone. Rachel then saw Aaron and Becky fighting off a few Critters in the background “ARE YOU GUNNA LET US IN OR NOT?” she yelled as Rachel swung the door open. They piled in and Rachel slammed the door behind them “where have you three been? I didn’t even know you had survived the Tall Man’s forest” she added “Well Rachel, we’re here to give you your ticket out of here” Becky said as she unbuckled the two front straps on her satchel. She then pulled out a wide box “what is that?” she asked, “this is a nuclear bomb” she said casually “and it’s for you”.

Lena and Mitchell passed through another door where they could hear the sounds of what seemed like large machines at work. As Mitchell looked around at his environment he could see that it seemed to be state of the art “where are we?” Mitch asked “long story” she replied “are we alive?” he replied “for the first time in a long time, yes we are” she explained. The walls were paper white with blue florescent light bulbs embedded into the floors. The alarm was still going in the distance, but they had passed through many rooms and at this point the sound had mostly faded. Lena walked into a room that had the exact opposite of state of the art white walls, it was grungy and dirty. The floors were stained with what looked like oil spills “almost there” she whispered as she came across a large hole in the middle of the wall that when they looked down, they couldn’t see the bottom. There was a ladder attached to the wall going down “you’re gunna want to hold on tight to the ladder, it’s nasty fall to the bottom” she said as she swung around and began climbing down.

Lena and Mitchell had been climbing down the ladder for 10 minutes now and Lena thought it was weird that he had not yet asked a single question “you don’t seem to be very curious as to where what this is or how you’re even alive” she said “nothing surprises me anymore, I’ve personally seen Ashley die twice now and I really have nothing left” he replied. Lena came to the bottom as she hopped onto the ground, the smell was awful and was clearly coming to the giant mounds of waste and garbage that was being mechanically sorted and burned all around them. Mitchell took a good look at Lena; she was wearing a jumpsuit with a gas mask around her neck “what are the masks for?” Mitch asked, “to blend in” she replied. Someone shot his or her head out from a crack in the wall “c’mon” he yelled. Mitchell followed Lena in his direction “the last time I saw someone wearing a mask of sort, it was my Fiancé” he added “I know, we sent her” she said as she peeled back a dirty old curtain that revealed a rather large warehouse with piles upon piles of compacted garbage. He saw a large group of people standing in a group wearing the same masks Lena had with her. In between the group of masked people he could see familiar faces.

Clayton, Kelly, Kyle and Lauren stood together with frightened looks on their faces “you’re alive?” he whispered “yes Mitch, we’re alive” a familiar voice told him through a mask. The person approached and removed his mask. Warren stood before him in the flesh, and one by one they all removed their masks and joining them were Jordan, Alex, Natasha, Jason and Jenna. Once they were all revealed the room fell silent. Kelly ran to Warren and fell into his arms crying, “I’ve missed you so much” she whimpered. Lauren looked through the crowd where she made eye contact with Jordan, who shot her a wink with a slight smile. Lauren didn’t know how to react but she was overwhelmed with emotion once she saw Lena and Warren. She then stopped in her tracks, Natasha stood in front of her “it’s okay” she whispered and gave Lauren a hug. She wondered to herself How is this okay? Clayton was kneeling on the ground where him and his sister were crouched, he stood up and a tear fell from his face. He saw Jason once again who was smiling at him from across the room. The two of them met in the middle with a long hug, they released and Clayton wasted no time “I owe you something” he said as he dove in for a kiss. It was a bittersweet reunion that made absolutely no sense.

 It was then that the group noticed that there were three other’s that kept their masks on “what’s with these three?” Mitch asked “well this is where it’s going to get complicated for ya’ll” said Warren as he was referring to Mitchell, Lauren, Kyle, Clayton and Kelly who had just joined them “go ahead, remove the masks” Warren asked. The three faces that were revealed were no friend of there’s. Julia, Chris and Traci became face to face with the people they terrorized forever while they were in Bon Temps.

Mitchell could openly admit that he has fantasized about killing Traci for as long as he could remember, but the hate in his heart was calmed by the voice of an angel “their not who you think they are Mitchell” Ashley said who approached from behind “Ashley, you shot me” he whispered “you were the one in the biker suit” added Lauren “nothing was as it seemed, in Bon Temps” explained Ashley. She then tossed a bible thick binder on a dust-covered table “the truth is inside here, the truth about each and every one of us” she explained “give me the condensed version” demanded Kelly “we were nothing but experiments, this entire time we have been in a dream state. When you awoke, and ripped off all those cords attached to a machine, well that was keeping us believing that what was happening was real, all while they were conducting experiments, studying us. Our emotions, our energy, our gene’s” she explained, “we’re all of the utmost importance to this company because we’re one of a kind. Each and every one of us is of a different species that no longer exists and they have been harvesting us for years monitoring our organisms to see if they can create more, of us” she explained “everything you know is a lie” Ashley added “if this is true than why don’t I remember anything” asked Clayton “the machines wiped our memories clean, although I don’t think it was on purpose. Just one of the side effects of what they did to us”.

Mitchell squinted his eyes at Ashley, all he wanted to do was embrace her in his arms and go back to who they were “what makes you such an expert?” asked Mitchell “well that’s where I come in” a voice interrupted from a dark corner of the room “I don’t think we’ve been introduced, I’m Jessica Burns and I’m the reason why you were all brought here in the first place” She was sitting cross-legged facing the wall. Her hands were bound in chains, there were dirty food scrapes laying around her, it was clear she had been held against her will “we captured Jessica a month ago” said Warren “she works for Lettium, the company that captured us. Her job was to locate us and bring us in. Needless to say she succeeded” he said “so let me get this straight, all of you only remember what happened in Bon Temps? Than why isn’t Traci trying to kill me right now?” he said while starring into her dark blue eyes “Lettium lead Traci to believe that she hated you all, when she awoke several weeks ago she was released of the hatred she felt for you, because it wasn’t real. You however, still feel love for Ashley because it was real. You love her, Mitchell” explained Warren “how long have you all been down here?” Mitchell asked “we all came back at different times, when you die in Bon Temps you awake here. Natasha, Jason, Alex, Jordan and I have been watching closely to see if anymore of you awaken, and when you do we take you here before they get to you. Lettium is run mostly by machines, however the humans who do work here are a greater evil than we ever faced in Bon Temps” Mitchell couldn’t believe it, none of them could “so this is it? You’re all that’s left? All the people that died in Bon Temps and passed through here, and only you are left standing?” Warren knew that this information would come as a shock, but this was nothing yet “there is something you should all know” he looked around at the remaining survivors “we have been in what’s called hyper sleep, a state in which our body is essentially put on hold, we don’t age or grow in anyway. This is how you all looked when Lettium took you. However, we have been asleep for nearly 53 years and when we left an event took place on earth that wiped out 80% of the population” he explained “what event?” asked Clayton “Lettium created a monster and somehow it got released and it expanded. Within days the earth was in turmoil. Their called Blood Drifter’s, we knew them in Bon Temps as” he took a breath when Mitchell took over “Critter’s” he said. “You said Earth was in turmoil? Well then where are we?” Kelly quietly added, “We’re in space, 800,000 kilometers from what we once knew as earth”.  

Just then a shot was fired, everyone looked around to see if it hit anyone. Lauren gasped, then she hit the floor “fuck, this can’t be good” she said as she held the wound on her lower chest “THEIR DOWN HERE!” someone in the distance yelled. The survivors had been discovered.


Reunion

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