Second Chances
“Somebody help Lauren up!” yelled Warren “FOLLOW ME!” he
yelled as the group followed in his direction. Mitchell and Lena carried Lauren
along with the group; Traci grabbed the large book off the table and held onto
it like it was a football during the most important game of her life. “GO, GO,
GO!” Warren yelled again to the group. Another shot was fired; this time the
group could hear the bullet hit flesh. Julia hit the floor; the bullet went
through her head. For every person that dies it simply means that there is one
less person to tell the story of what happened to them once they get out, if
they get out.
Warren led the group of distraught and confused survivors
into a room where a large steal door swung shut behind them “where can we go?”
yelled Clayton. Warren ran to the corner of the room where he began clearing a
bunch of junk, underneath was a trap door. He reached underneath his shirt and
pulled out a key that was on a chain. He ripped it from his neck and unlocked
the door “this leads somewhere safe” he said “let’s go, one by one” the group
left leaving Jessica behind bound in chains.
Sweat began dripping from Lauren’s forehead and everything
seemed to be closing in on her, the room was spinning. She was leaving a trail
of blood behind her, she knew what was coming. Lauren fell to her knees
“Lauren!” yelled Lena “no, please just let me lay here” she whispered. Lena sat
down with her and rested her head onto her lap. The sounds of banging on the
door began filling the room; people were trying to get in the room. “WE HAVE TO
GO NOW!” yelled Traci “otherwise none of us will make it” she added “please,
go. Just leave me” Lauren whimpered.
At this point, nothing mattered to the group except making
her as comfortable as possible. “Lauren, we can do this” said Mitchell “you’re
giving me false hope, I’m dying” she choked “it doesn’t matter what happened
before Bon Temps, all that matters is that we’re a family now. This place has
given us a second chance, a second chance that I don’t deserve. I wasn’t proud
of who I was in Bon Temps, I was responsible for Jordan’s death, I lied about
Natasha’s death and I kissed Mitchell even though I knew Ashley liked him. I
deserve to die here and I’m not taking you all down with me” she said as blood
was seeping from the corners of her mouth. “Go” she said as the group said
their goodbyes. Ashley, Natasha and Jordan walked toward her “we forgive you
Lauren, go in peace” Jordan said. Lauren released a smile; she closed her eyes
and then her smile faded. She was still; the group was all too familiar with
death to know that she was gone. Tears were shed, but they had to keep moving.
“Down the rabbit hole we go” said Traci, as she was the
first to go. Kelly stood opposite Chris who was starring at Lauren’s body with
tears running down his face. It was the weirdest feeling standing across from
the only man you have ever killed, and for good reason. Chris terrorized Lauren
in Bon Temps and tried to kill her. Kelly began walking toward the door, as she
passed by Chris “you don’t get to be sad” she whispered in his ear. Chris
turned to Kelly who clearly had trouble understanding that he would never
actually do something so horrible in real life. “I was programmed to hate her
Kelly, I was forced to do what I did” he yelled “in time you will understand
that, but for now maybe you could keep your mouth shut” he snapped back.
Without hesitation Kelly grabbed the pistol that was firmly tucked inside
Warren’s belt “Kelly don’t do this!” yelled Warren “Kelly, what are you doing?”
Clayton said while approaching the scene. Kelly had a gun pointed at Chris’s
chest “you might all be okay with what’s going on here, but to me it doesn’t
make any sense” she yelled “this man, standing in front of me shot Lauren in
cold blood and probably would have killed me too, I’m not going to let him do
it again”. It was now Ashley decided she needed to step in and calm Kelly down,
after all she was there that day. The day Lauren was shot and then disappeared
to Faetasia with no answers “Kelly! I know it’s confusing, but you need to try
and understand!” she yelled, Ashley looked around the room at the others and
they too eventually needed answers. “Those files on us, they are the truth.
Lettium designed Bon Temps for one purpose only, to keep our brains active
during hyper sleep and to make us experience love, hate, fear, sadness because
when we’re experiencing these emotions that’s when they can best monitor us and
study how we react under certain situations” Ashley looked at Kelly and she
could see her beginning to give in to the truth “trust me, when I first heard
this, I didn’t want to believe it. When we were hooked up to those machines,
our minds were reset and they programmed us with specific pasts to ultimately
lead us through a path of self-discovery. Please, you need to have faith in us,
if we have any hope of getting out of here” “So I’m not actually a mermaid?”
asked Kelly. Ashley stepped closer and removed the gun from Kelly’s hands and
handed it back to Warren “the book will explain to you exactly who you are, but
to answer your question Kelly, yes you are still a mermaid, in fact you’re the
only one left in existence”.
Warren stepped in
“Jessica Burns, she works for Lettium and we found her snooping around a while
back and we grabbed her for answers. She was able to tell us a lot about
ourselves and why we were chosen, after all she was the one who found us all
and brought us here. A lot of what happened to you in Bon Temps was based off
of memories that somehow found their way into the dream world. The Critter’s
were the creatures that took over earth before we were taken; we all remembered
them so clearly that they became a part of Bon Temps. At first it was all
memory, some of it implanted and some of it created on it’s own. Then Lettium
found a way to send people in and manipulate us into feeling such emotions to
allow them to conduct further studies. They lived among us but we just knew
them as regular people. Ever wonder why Dayna randomly had a twin turn up that
really didn’t care about her sister’s death? Well that’s because she worked for
Lettium. She died the first time and was sent back in a second time to finish
the job. Dave, the one who turned Jordan, he too worked for Lettium, but his
plan back fired when the Werewolves killed him” he explained “well how do you
explain the others? The people of Bon Temps? The Werewolves? The Fairies? Everyone
else?” asked Clayton “most of them never actually existed, either Lettium
created them or our minds did” he explained “and that’s why people kept
glitching away” added Lena “something went wrong in their system causing Bon
Temps to begin crashing. We were slowly waking up, that’s why people were
disappearing. The system was failing and they weren’t real people” said Lena
“that’s why Athena left, because when I was put in hyper sleep I was 2 weeks
pregnant. My body was put on hold, and she was never born. Only in my mind, I
guess” she stated “are you still-“ Mitchell quietly asked “yes” she interrupted
“everything is fine, I’m still going to have her” this was the first bit of
news that calmed the group “what we all felt in Bon Temps us real, we’re still
family. I don’t care what a piece of paper might say about me” said Mitchell as
he looked over at the book. “So you guys must have found a way in too right?
That’s why Ashley came back?” asked Mitchell “Yes, and it was the hardest thing
I ever had to do by the way, but I wanted to do it, I wanted to get you guys
out of there. One thing we know for sure is that if you’re unplugged from your
machine while you’re still alive in Bon Temps, you’re mind will essentially
stay wondering in Bon Temps and your body will become brain dead. In order to
escape entirely you need to first die in the alternate reality and then awake here”
Ashley said “that’s why I had to kill you, I wanted you to wake up here before
Bon Temps crashed and you were all stuck there forever” she added “If Bon Temps
crashed and all of your minds were still actively there, than you’re bodies
would become nothing by meat here”.
“What about Rachel?” asked Lena “why didn’t she wake up?”
and that’s when Clayton stepped in “she can’t die remember? She no doubt healed
immediately after and now she’s still there, we need to get her out of there
before they shut it down forever” he shouted. “We have one machine, it was an
old one that was hidden in a room upstairs. That’s how Ashley was able to come
get you all, we sent her through” Warren said “we need to hurry” Warren swung
the door open and motioned everybody down. Mitchell placed a blanket over top
Lauren’s body. Lena held his hand as the two of them left their friend behind.
“If Kelly’s still a mermaid, am I still-“ “yes” Lena interrupted “we can cross
that bridge when we get to it” she added. The group headed down the trap door
and shut it behind them.
Warren lead the group, he began walking through a dim lite
tunnel that the group had been using since they woke up “how big is this
thing?” asked Kyle “big enough that they haven’t found us yet” Warren replied
“here it is” he pulled back a curtain to a small room where a chair with a
computer and cables sat. This is our version of their machine” he said “so,
who’s going in?” asked Mitchell “I am” replied Warren “wait, why you?” yelled
Lena “I know how to get her out, the golden liquid that we used so many times.
I’ll get more and than It will give me what I need to get her out” he said “I
can’t think of anything else” Warren walked over to Lena and held her in his
arms “I’ll be fine, you and Ashley need to get her once she wakes up” he added
“okay” she said with absolutely no enthusiasm “we can do this, let’s bring her
home” he said as he took a seat in the chair.
Warren was going into Bon Temps with the impression that it
was still there, which for now it is. Going back to Bon Temps would no doubt be
emotional for Warren, it almost seemed like he had unfinished business with the
place, but he knew that wasn’t the truth. Bon Temps is nothing but a
distraction. Warren had been working ever since he awoke to somehow get Lena
and the others out and he wasn’t going to leave one behind. As long as he can
get out with Rachel before it crashes entirely, he will return safely.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN A BOMB?” yelled Rachel as she opened the
box to see a timer ticking down “why does it say 2 minutes?” Rachel asked “It’s
time to leave Rachel” Becky said “you will understand everything once we get
out of here, for good” she added “you’re fucking crazy” Rachel said as she
began stepping away from the bar. She looked down at her right hand, which
still had the bottle of tequila in it, she threw it directly at Becky’s face
smashing it and sending her crashing to the floor. Emma and Aaron had little
time to react before Rachel grabbed the ticking bomb and ran out the front
door. “How do I stop this, how do I stop this” she whispered over and over as
she ran through the parking lot. The timer was down to 30 seconds as she
tripped over a fallen branch and skidded her knees on the gravel. The cuts
instantly healed, remind Rachel that maybe she doesn’t want this life, after
all the reason why she is so alone is because of her abilities. They have
become more hinder than help. She looked down at the clock, 6 seconds remained
“whatever come’s next, I hope I’m with you all” she whispered as images of her
friends and loved ones raced through her mind, and then…light was all there
was. Bon Temps was gone.
Rachel awoke on the table, men in suits all holding large
guns pointing in her direction surrounded her. One of the soldiers ripped the
cable from her arm, and to Rachel’s surprise, it healed “who are you” she asked
“take her away” a voice from amongst the crowd said. Rachel peered her eyes
through to see a familiar face. The man that handed her the folder at he age of
16, the man that tried to kill her in her own home, the man in the suit “it’s
you” she whispered. Standing next to him was Dayna “you can call me Curtis” he
said. Dayna began laughing as Rachel was carried away. Behind them, Emma, Becky
and Aaron began waking up. They tore the wires from their bodies and sat up
“Curtis” Becky yelled, “Curtis, we got them” she said “we brought them back,
now do what you promised us, let us go” she added. Curtis nodded to a few
soldiers who stood idle by. They approached them and raised their weapons “WAIT
YOU PROMISED!” Becky yelled “when have I ever been known as trust worthy” he
said as they fired, killing the three Bon Temps survivors. “Go ahead and shut
down the machines, Bon Temps is no more. If anyone tried to go there, they
would be lost forever” he added.
Warren was hooked up, ready to be sent to Bon Temps to
retrieve Rachel. Lena leaned in for a kiss and when her lips touched his, she
said “this better not be our last kiss”. Warren smiled “I’m gunna bring her
home” he said as he nodded to Natasha who was controlling the machine. Natasha
then entered a code into the touch screen number pad, which instantly put
Warren to sleep. Warren had entered the dream world successfully “here’s hoping we all get a second chance" she added.
Second Chances
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