I should have known a deal like this couldn’t possibly live up to expectations.
I had slipped up, and now they would make sure I paid the price. But not before I did everything I could to skip out on this particular payment.
I could hear the clatter of footsteps behind me, no doubt going at as fast a pace as my pursuers could manage. An angry shout from my left revealed a second pursuer, who seemed just as eager to bring me down as the one currently on my tail. Ahead of me there lay an intersection of the narrow hallway. I twisted my body to the right as I rounded the corner, but in my haste I clipped the jagged corner of the wall, causing me to stumble and loudly curse my own clumsiness.
Well, now I’ve gone and screwed myself. I can’t outrun the two that are behind me now, I lost all my momentum and speed when I hit the wall, plus at the speed I was going, smacking into the corner didn’t exactly make my right side feel particularly comfortable. There are no windows to speak of anywhere, and even if their were I don’t think I could manage to break the glass from just a running start. Even if I could break the glass, the only thing awaiting me on the other side is a sickening drop followed by a swift death. Although death by freefall may actually be preferable to letting myself get caught right now. What I had done was definitely foolish, but could have fixed everything, all my problems gone if things had gone just a little bit differently.
There’s no time to think about that now, they’re getting close, almost close enough to reach out and grab me.
I know a tackle is coming soon, maybe in a second, maybe three, but soon. I sprinted toward a doorway in the hall, clutching my side in discomfort as I fled, I could almost feel the two behind me breathing down my neck. Not much time.
The one closest to me let out a grunt, presumably lunging forward to bring me down, when the aforementioned doorway to my right swing upon, revealing a third pursuer attempting an ambush. On instinct, I leapt to the left and rolled my eyes backward to get a view on the three behind me.
A resounding crash and a disgustingly audible snap later, and all three of my would-be captors were sprawled on the ground. It appeared that the ill-fated ambush hadn’t accomplished its intended objective of taking me down, but instead incapacitated my opposition. I couldn’t believe my luck.
If there was ever a moment that called for a blatantly cliche mocking, smart-ass jeer, it was this one.
“Better luck next time boys!” I gleefully shouted back at their crumpled and groaning forms.
Their oh so unfortunate accident gave me ample time to call the elevator, which traveled to my floor with uncanny speed, to my pleasant surprise. As soon as I was in the elevator I mashed the button to close the door, not that I needed to, my pursuers were preoccupied with recovering from having the wind knocked out of them, and maybe a broken rib for one of them.
The elevator door closed with a low hiss, and the room became quiet, save for my own heavy panting from the excellent forced workout I had just received. Taking a step back, I leaned back against the wall and let my back slide down until I was sitting on the elevator. Staring up at the button panel, I began to weigh my options. I could just head to the ground floor and dash toward the front entrance, though I’m sure my little escape is big news all over the building now, and unfortunately they aren’t dumb enough to not have the first floor covered. Maybe the second floor? I could try to climb out of a window, problem is that there are bound to be spotters on the outside of the building waiting for me, and climbing would take far too long for the lightning escape I need to make.
Banging on the outside of the door shook me from my thoughts. It must be one of my pursuers, trying in vain to get at me in my secure little box.
Perturbed and slightly spooked I got up and pushed the button for floor 33, as they probably would not expect me to stop on such a random floor. I remained standing however, just in case something caught me off guard at my stop.
The low groan of the elevator and slight dip in my stomach signaled that the lift had began to descend. As the floor numbers ticked down, I realized that I was no closer to coming up with any sort of plan on what to do once I was out of this elevator. How the hell was I supposed to get out of here? Note to self: next time, spend more time on your contingency plan and less time daydreaming about everything you’ll do once you get away with plan A.
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“Alan.”
What? How? But I’m alone, no one could have gotten in here.
“Alan.” This time it was louder.
“Alan!” My name being nearly shouted at me finally brought me out of my own world.
“Huh? Oh sorry, you need something Sasha?” I glanced up to meet the slightly annoyed gaze of my brunette desk partner.
Sasha narrowed her eyes and let out an annoyed huff.
“I was just going to ask if you wanted to get some food.”
Oh yea, food. Basic bodily necessities. All the excitement and strangeness of my situation made me forgot about the simple things, like my now groaning stomach. I think I need to take a piss as well, they have bathrooms here right?
My train of thought was interrupted when Sasha snapped her fingers in front of my face.
“Hey, come on snap out of dream world for a second.” Though her tone was that of mild annoyance, her face did not register any sign of displeasure.
I reflexively rubbed the back of my neck. “Sorry.”
Sasha spun on her heel and began walking, “Yea, well, try to pay attention long enough to learn where the kitchen is, it’s for your benefit trust me.”
I rolled my eyes at her retreating form.
“Come on Alan, I’m not waiting around for you to finish your latest daydream.”
Sighing, I began jogging to catch up with her.
“And don’t roll your eyes at me either!” she called from down the hall.
How…?
458Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl80mywag8S
It turns out that the ‘kitchen’ Sasha was referring was actually a large banquet hall, large and elegantly decorated rectangular tables distributed in the room in a uniform fashion. The place looked more like a reception hall than anything.
Sasha lead us to a small table in the far corner of the room. The table was decorated with a white cloth, and two pieces of paper sat on top of the table, adjacent the chairs, in lieu of placemats. Sasha clapped her hands together fairly loudly, signaling for my attention.
“Alright Alan, I’m gonna show you how this works.”
I figured from the solitary piece of paper and pen sitting in front of me that I just needed to draw my order on it, or something to that effect, but I figured vocalizing that into what would probably come out as a little too sarcastic would only lead to me being told to shut up, so I decided to skip the middleman and let Sasha continue.
“All you gotta do is write down what you want, anything edible you can imagine, and it will appear right in front of you completely ready to eat.”
“I figured as much what with everything coming to life and all.” I just had to comment, I couldn’t stop myself. Luckily, I wasn’t scolded, Sasha ignored me, which is slightly better I guess.
“Right, the thing to remember is that you have to complete your order for the food to appear in front of you, stuff won’t appear one food item at a time.”
Man, this sounds awesome! Talk about instant gratification.
“Oh and you can sketch what you want as well, I’ve heard that the food is even more accurately tailored to your exact specifications, but I’ve never tried it so I have no idea if that is true or the artists just being all superior.”
“Ha, that seems like a lot of work for just one meal, drawing it all out.”
“Yea I know! I’ve seen people sketch and color their meals ahead of time, it’s ridiculous!” Sasha replies, laughing slightly.
Smiling to myself, I begin thinking of my order. I haven’t eaten since the morning before I visited the military dome, and my stomach is growling. Even so, I’m really craving something simple. Gripping the pen in my hand, I quickly scribble down ‘One burger, fries, and a milkshake.’
This ought to be good.
As soon as I set my pen down, the paper disappears revealing nearly the exact burger, fries, and milkshake I had envisioned. The meal was one of my favorites from a diner back in my hometown. It was nice, I thought I would never have their food ever again.
Upon seeing my choice of meal, Sasha let out a long exaggerated ‘Woooooow.’
“What?” I say, slightly offended at her blatant mockery.
She rolls her eyes. “Man you could of had anything you wanted, anything in the world! And all you get is a burger and fries? Have something you couldn’t afford before!”
“Hey, I’ll have you know that this meal was from an excellent small town diner near my place. You know what? I’ll let you have some just to prove to you that my choice wasn’t lame.”
“Right, I’m sure it is.” she says, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “Nonetheless, I think I’ll just stick with my lobster.” she says as she stares greedily, eyes gleaming at the perfectly boiled and plated red crustacean in front of her. Scooping up her fork, she digs a little meat from the tail and takes a bite, a bit of the juices running down her chin.
“Mmm, yea Alan, my choice is way better than your lame one.”
“Whatever, you’ve got lobster juice all over you, it’s gross.” I say, pointing at her chin.
She takes another bite. “Yea, that’s how you know it’s good!” she says, staring at the rest of her meal, eyes cloudy.
“Are you going to criticize every meal I have from now on?” I say.
Sasha pauses for a second, holding a large bite of lobster on her fork. “Oh yea, definitely. I’m confident in your bad decision making.”
“Wow, screw you.” I say, but the smirk on my face betrays my fake irritation.
“Hey Sasha.”
“Yea?”
“How often do you see him?” Sasha looks up at me in slight surprise.
“See who?”
“You know, our boss.” I say, miming air quotes for the last part.
Sasha’s eyes widen a little bit in recognition. “Ohhhh him, yea he’s around, he usually makes an appearance once a day or so.”
“Does he ever talk to you?” I ask, leaning forward slightly.
“No not really, he really only talks to newcomers I think...at least that’s how it’s been with me.” She says, narrowing her eyes.
“Oh, alright just wondering. Thanks.” I say, grabbing some fries from my plate.
“Yea...no problem.”
After our meal, Sasha took me to what had been allocated as my room, which was currently devoid of any furnishings.
I turn toward her, rubbing the back of my neck. “So uh, am I gonna get a bed or something?”
“Yep!” she replies, smiling at me. She shoves a stack of papers into my hands. “Just describe each piece of furniture on one piece of paper and you’ll have your own custom room!”
After handing me the papers, she turns and begins to walk back down the hall, but shouts back, “And Alan, don’t make your room as lame as your meal!” Her self-satisfied snickering echoes down the hall.
Ugh.
After a few hours of describing furniture, I could confidently say that I had a room that I was satisfied with. It was a lot like my old room, which gave it a comforting sort of familiarity.
Just as I began to sink down onto my new mattress, there was a knock at my door.
“Mr. Everett. I desire to speak with you.” The sentinels voice sent slight chills down my spine.
I quickly sprang up and opened my door. “Is there anything you needed of me?” I cursed myself for the painfully obvious shaking in my voice.
“Actually, it is something that you require.”
I gulped, the way the sentinel stood, eyes and body completely motionless, was undeniably creepy. “And what is that?” I say, voice cracking pathetically on the ‘what.’
“The reason why you are here Mr. Everett. The reason why you create..” The sentinel moved forward, wrapping an arm around my shoulder, which felt ghostly ethereal and strangely powerful all at once.
“Come with me, I will explain what and why you and all the others fight.”
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