You vault over the railing down onto the field. You then grab a speargun leaning on the bench nearby a second year Bagger and rush toward the meatbag.
You're good with guns, but this is a speargun and so are unfamiliar with how best to use it. You throw down the speargun and draw Opal. Taking careful aim, you put a bullet right between the eyes of the meatbag.
Damien runs to Dana's side and feels along her throat with two fingers. She's so covered in blood that it's hard to tell how bad her injuries are, or if she's still alive. "She's still got a pulse!" He crumples to his feet in relief. "Oh, Dana..." His voice cracks with emotion, and you turn away uncomfortably. This is when you notice your Biology teacher. He and two other men are about ten yards away, standing still amidst a chaotic crowd of Baggers and military police. The two men-one tall and one short and round-are dressed in matching green junmpsuits. All three men are staring intently at you.
"Dr. Franklin," you shout, waving at him furiously. "Can you help us?"
He continues to stare for a moment longer before snapping to attention. He whispers something to each of the men, then gestures for them to follow him over to you. The tall one pushes you gently aside and takes Dana's arms, and the short guy grabs her legs.
"Don't worry," Dr. Franklin says, putting a hand on Damien's shoulder. "We'll get her fixed up in no time."
"Where are you taking her?" Damien asks.
Dr. Franklin smiles reassuringly. "Why, the Health Office, of course. She'll need the antidote right away."
The tall guy stops in his tracks. "But you said to take her to your classroom, boss." The Doctor's smile fades and his arm shoots up like he's going to backhand the guy. He lowers it again right away but not before you notice that it's shaking just slightly.
"Well, then, you misurnderstood, Carl. I said the Health Office. Now why don't you kids run along home? I'm sure your parents are going to be very worried when they hear about this tragic turn of events."
You and Damien don't move a muscle, but Dr. Franklin doesn't seem to care. He simply nods his goodbye and follows the men carrying Dana's body off the field.
"Did that seem a little strange to you?" Damien asks when they're out of earshot.
"Uh huh," you answer. "Should we follow them?"
"Yeah. But let's give them a head start, just in case they suspect something.
"Okay."
The next few seconds pass awkwardly. You rock back and forth on your heels as Damien fidgets with his hands. Finally he clears his throat. "So, uh... thanks. I don't know what I was thinking, running out there like I did."
"That's okay. You do crazy things for people you care about. I'm just glad I was prepared."
"Yeah, me too. Nice work, by the way."
"Thanks. Just lucky, I guess."
"Well, we weren't.. I mean.. I'm glad you were there. I mean.." Damien shakes his head and shrugs. "I guess we can probably go now.
"Right."
The two of you exit the arena and head down the south corridor of the school. When you get to the Health Office, you discover the door locked and the windows dark.
"Why am I not surprised?" Damien asks.
"But why take her to the Biology room?"
"Let's go find out."
Before entering the hallway leading to Dr. Franklin's classroom, you take a cautious peek around the corner while Damien keeps watch in the other direction.
"Is it clear?" he whispers.
"Shhh..."
There's a click as the Biology door clicks opens, and the tall jumpsuited man enters the hallway. There's a long bulky object that looks like a rolled-up carpet under his arm, and at the other end of it is his short partner. They take off down the hallway in the other direction. A few seconds later, Dr. Franklin exits his room with a black bag roughly the size of a guitar case under his arm. His footsteps echo loudly as he follows behind the men until one of them drops his side of the bundle. It hits the floor with a heavy thud.
"Hurry up," the Doctor hisses impatiently. "The car to the Beta Sector is waiting."
The man picks his side up again and they quickly disappear around the corner at the end of the hallway. You and Damien sneak forward to follow them, but suddenly he stops when something on the floor catches his eye. He picks it up and his face crumples in sadness.
"What is it?" you ask, taking the object from his hand.
"It's Dana's necklace." Damien whispers.
It's a locket, to be more specific. You roll it over in your hand and realize it's covered in something warm and sticky. Blood.
Just around the corner from where the men disappeared, there's a sudden sournd like a door banging shut. Or is it a gunshot? You really don't feel like waiting to figure out which. You shove the necklace in your pocket and the two of you run as fast as you can. Outside the school, you disappear into the anonymous safety of the crowd still waiting for the next subway car for home.
When you make it back to your home pod, you do the only thing you can think of to do. You go to your room, login to your laptop, and invite Fecto12 to a chat session. He joins immediately, and you tell him everything you witnessed tonight. You half expect him to already know what happened and give you a jaw-dropping explanation of the conspiracy theory behind all of it, but his response is disappointingly brief:
Fecto12 says: Interesting. Thanks for the info.
He logs off immediately after this, and you get no response when you click on his profile. Suddenly, there's a knock on your bedroom door. Your stomach drops and a flood of panicked thoughts rush through your brain. It was all a trap. Now they've come for you. You're going to die. Your parents are going to die. It's all your fault. Why didn't you mind your own business? The door begins to slide open and you brace yourself for the worst. Your mom stands there, looking tired. Has she been drugged?
"Time for bed, kiddo," she says. "It's been a long day. Don't forget to brush your teeth." She disappears again down the hallway, and you breathe a sigh of relief. You're still safe for now. You get the urge to call her back and ask her about Beta Sector, but something in your gut tells you to keep quiet about that for now.
You set your laptop aside and change into your pajamas. Dana's necklace is still in your pocket, so you take it with you to the bathroom sink and clean the blood off of it. Back in your room, you put it in your backpack for safekeeping.
Over the weekend, you keep an eye on SurvivorNet for news about Dana. Well wishes from concerned classmates flood the Zeta High page, but there's nothing new about her condition or even whether or not she's still alive. Finally, at 8:40pm on Sunday night, DANAPREZ posts the following: "Hello everyone-this is Dana's dad. She's all patched up and resting safely at home, and she'll be ready to come back to school in a couple of weeks. We ask that you please respect our privacy during this time and refrain from visits, phone calls, or other contact. Thank you all for your concern."
Your first reaction to this news is relief. But the more you run over the events of Friday night in your head, the more you start to wonder if that message is teling the truth. It wouldn't be hard for someone to hack into Dana's account and post as her father. Beta Sector hangs like a giant question mark in your mind. You'd ask Fecto12 about it if you could, but he hasn't logged into his account since your last chat session. You wonder if Damien has heard from her, or maybe gotten to visit.
Monday morning before first period, you're at your locker when Damien approaches. The blue of his eyes seems a little duller today, and his usual friendly grin is replaced with a tight half-smile.
"Hey," he says. "Can I talk to you?"
"Of course," you say. "Hey, your sling is gone."
"Yeah" he says, rotating his arm gently in its socket. "I just have to go easy on it for a while until it's totally healed."
"Cool. Oh, and I saw the post on SurvivorNet. I'm glad to hear Dana's okay. You know, you might think l'm crazy, but that post seemed kinda off to me.. Do you really think Dana's dad posted that?" you say.
"Exactly!" Damien exclaims. "I mean we know what we saw... That's why I'm glad l'm talking to you, you're smart enough to not just buy everything that gets dished to you."
His minty toothpaste breath is enough to make you want to throw yourself into his arms. But then you remember you're discussing his possibly dead girlfriend, so you try to focus.
"I tried calling her all weekend. Then after that message Sunday night, I went over to her pod," says Damien.
"What did her dad say?"
"Nothing. No one was there"
"Playing Devil's advocate, maybe he just wasn't answering the door," you say. "He did say he wanted everyone to respect their privacy.
"Yeah, I don't buy that at all," Damien says, crossing his arms defiantly. "Mr. Blair loves me. He practically considers me a son. I mean.." He gives another glance over his shoulder before continuing. "He even gave me a key to their place in case of emnergencies while he's gone on business."
"So did you go inside?"
"Of course I did."
"And?"
"It looked like nobody had been there since the game. And I'm pretty sure Mr. Blair has been gone since before that. There was a note for Dana on the kitchen counter with some money. And his suitcase was gone."
"Weird. So who do you think wrote the post? Dr. Franklin?"
"I don't know." His brow rises mischievously. "But what do you think about going to find out?"
"How?"
"Remember how Dr. Franklin mentioned the car to Beta Sector before they disappeared?"
You nod.
"Well, I think I know where they went. Jamie knows about a secret corridor that Ileads to an abandoned subway platform, and he swears we can get to the Beta Sector that way. Grace, Biff, and a couple of the others are going to come too. We've already got the guns arnd ammo, and the plan is cut out of here after that. You wanna tag along?"
"Wow.." You've never once left the Zeta Sector, so it's hard for you to imagine what it's like on the outside. You're both intrigued and hesitant. "Isn't it sort of dangerous?"
"Yeah," he shrugs. "But like I said, we'll be armed. And I can totally handle myself with a firearm. I swear, my arm doesn't hurt at all anymore."
"I'm not worried about that," you say. "What happens if we get caught not only skipping school, but sneaking out of the Sector?"
"Oh yeah, that." He kicks at a crack in the linoleum floor with the toe of his sneaker. "We'll probably just get detention until we graduate, if we're not totally suspended. So, you know-no pressure." He smiles, and your heart melts again.
"I totally want to go," you say. "But... I don't know. Can I think about it and let you know after first period?"
"Yeah, totally."
"Cool." The first period warning bell rings, so you grab your books and shut your locker. "I'd better get going."
When you return to your locker after first period, Damien's there waiting for you.
"So?" he says, his expression adorably hopeful. "You're coming, right?"
"Definitely," you say.
"Cool," Damien says. "You'll need a weapon, but I'm sure someone will have something extra.." He stops and stares as you lift up your pant leg. "What's that?"
"I call her Opal."
"Impressive," he says with a grin.
"Thanks. Ready to go?"
You follow Damien down a dark corridor where Val, Pauly, and Grace are waiting.
"Where's Biff and Jamie?" Damien asks.
"Late as usual." Val replies.
A few minutes later they arrive, along with Angelina from your Biology class. Jamie has his arm around her shoulders, and she's staring at him adoringly.
"Jamie, you idiot," Val says, crossing her arms with annoyance. "What is she doing here?"
"It's all good," he says. "We just thought it would be a good idea to bring some bait along just in case the meatbags require a little sacrifice."
"Hey!" Angelina squeals, her eyes suddenly wide with panic. "Jamie, what gives? I thought you loved me!" Jamie drops his arm from her shoulders and shrugs. Then he pulls a pair of handcuffs out of his bag and slaps a cuff on each of their wrists. "Sorry, babe."
"I'm not cool with this," Val says, turning to the rest of the group for support.
"Me neither." Damien pushes past the others and gets right in Jamie's face. Damien stands at least six inches taller than him, and he's about a thousand times cute briefly wonder what Angelina sees in the little punk.
"Well, then good luck finding your way to Beta," Jamie smirks.
"You're such a jerk," Damien hisses.
Biff steps forward now. "And you're just a pretty boy who needs to go back and hang with the Ehrlichs if you can't run with the real Baggers," he says, slapping hands with Jamie.
Suddenly everyone is shouting at once. You notice Biff and Jamie have their fists curled and ready, and you hope that Damien realizes it too. Luckily, all the weapons are still stowed safely in the bag at Val's feet. Finally, Grace puts two fingers in her mouth and lets out an ear-piercing whistle.
"Stop it, guys," she says when she has everyone's attention.
"We don't really have a choice. I don't like it any more than you, but Jamie's the only one who knows the way."
"Thanks, Grace," Jamie smiles triumphantly. "I always suspected you were the smart one in the group."
"You are a jerk, though." she says.
Jamie shrugs. "I can live with that."
"Fine, whatever." Val zips open the weapons bag and starts passing out rifles and magazines. You pull out Opal from your ankle holster and she passes you by with a nod. "Can we just go now?"
"Hell yeah!" Biff growls, poking you in the back with his rifle. "James, lead the way,"
Jamie pulls a flashlight out of his bag and flips it on. "Cool. This way." He starts down the dark corridor, leading the group down a long stretch of hallway followed by an increasingly complicated series of turns. You try to memorize the way, drawing a map in your mind, but after the fifth or sixth turn, you start to lose track. After about ten minutes of this, Jamie stops suddenly and scans the space in front of him with the beam of his flashlight. Walls loom up all around you. The only path seems to be back from where you came.
"Great," Damien scoffs. "A dead end."
Val chimes in with a snide, "Jamie, you idiot."
"Wait," Jamie says, holding him his free hand for silence. Then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a white plastic key card with a flourish of his wrist. "It's along here somewhere... just have to find it." His beam stops on a small box painted the same dark color of the wall, about two feet up from the floor on the right side of the corridor.
"Bingo." He sticks the card into a slot at the bottom of the box. You hear a loud, metal clunk followed by a series of mechanical clicks as the wall in front of you begins to rise.
"Cool," Pauly whispers.
Jamie turns around to face the group. "Behold, the passage to the Beta Sector."
The group emits a collective "Oooh."
"How did you find it?" Grace asks, her voice dripping with awe.
"Wouldn't you like to know,"Jamie responds smugly. He's clearly enjoying the reaction, his hands proudly at his hips in a hero stance. The beam of his flashlight points behind him to illuminate an empty subway platform. "Well, fine. I guess I'll tell you. So I was snooping around in my dad's files a while back. He's a military contractor, you know.."
Val rolls her eyes. "Great story, bro. Now can we get going?"
"Right," Jamie says, sounding a little hurt.
As the group starts down the dark tunnel, Damien comes up and walks alongside you. "Hey," he says, handing you a flashlight. "I'm glad you came."
"Thanks," you say, flipping the switch and adding your beam to the others. "Me too."
You and Damien continue to walk without speaking along the single set of subway tracks, the sounds of your synchronized footsteps echoing off the concrete walls of the tunnel. You pass patches of faded graffiti, but the meaning of the words and symbols don't make much sense to you. The others are all farther up ahead of you now, and you can't help pretending it's just you and Damien alone together.
"So what exactly are we going to do once we get there?" you finally ask. "Isn't the lab going to be filled with workers? We're going to stick out like a sore thumb."
"That's funny," Damien says. "I wondered the very same thing when Jamie told us about this tunnel. And I'm actually in on this part of the plan."
"Really?" you ask. "Am l allowed to know the details, or is it top secret?"
"You'll just have to wait and see." He brings the flashlight up under his chin, grinning ghoulishly. "Muuaaaahahahaha!"
"Well, let me know if you need my help," you say, rolling your eyes.
"I will."
Just then, you hear shuffling, perhaps from all around—It's hard to tell in this echoing tunnel.
"Meatbags, lots of them!" exclaims Damien as he plays the flashlight over several corpses dropping off of subway platforms while others shamble along the track toward you.
"I'll hold the left flank!" you shout as you draw Opal and stride forward.
Taking your time, you aim carefully and drop two VMs, each with a bullet between the eyes. A third one gets closer than the others before you shoot it in the head and manages to get its nasty nails on you, although the scratch isn't bad.
Although you're taking care of your side, there are meatbags coming in from all sides and Jamie is hard pressed with a pair closing in on him. You didn't see what happened, but his rifle is out of his hands and near your feet.
At this point, there's a lot of shouting and chaos. Perhaps you could help things by concentrating on using your flashlight to show the others of your party where to shoot. Alternatively, you could pick up that rifle and throw it to Jamie, but is there time? He's staring at the gun now and turning toward it. Finally, you could keep shooting. Two bullets, one for each of the meatbags closing in on Jamie.
You step forward, take aim, and shoot one VM in the head, dropping him. The second one which has been chasing Jamie as he went for his rifle is now charging you. You shoot it in the head at nearly point blank range. Blood spatters your face.
Just then, you hear something behind you and spin around. "Another meatbag!" You hear Damien shout as he steps near you and then blasts it in the head.
Fortunately, the worst of the onslaught appears to be over. There are only a few un-Ds left standing. You take one of them out with your crowbar and the others are dispatched by others of your party.
"We need to move on quickly. With all that gunfire, we're bound to attract more meatbags." says Biff.
After about a mile or so, you are all standing next to a wall similar to the one at the beginning of the tunnel.
"This is it," Jamie says, his key card poised over the small black box on the wall. "You ready, Harris?"
"Yep," Damien gestures towards Grace, Val, Biff, and Pauly. Who are all standing around the door with their guns poised. "Jen, you wanna join these guys on VM duty?"
"Sure." You pull Opal from the back of your jeans where you've stashed her and switch off the safety.
"Ready?" Jamie says. Without waiting for an answer, he slides the card and the door starts to rise. Everyone squints against the bright shaft of light from within. Val and Grace drop to the ground to get a better look.
"Everything's clear so far." Val says.
"Babe, I'm gonna have to leave you here." Angelina seems relieved as Jamie takes the cuff off his wrist. "Just try to stay out of everyone's way. Harris, go left. Biff and I will take right. Everyone else, wait for the signal."
Grace gets back on her feet and turns to you. "Just follow me," she says. "And shoot anything undead."
The guys disappear down separate corridors, and for a minute or so, nothing happens. Just as you start to ask Grace what the signal is, the lights go dark and an ear- piercing wail fills the air. A calm, robotic voice begins chanting, "Warning. Warning. This is not a test. To evacuate the premises, follow the glowing arrows along the floor." There's a clamor of voices and footsteps in the darkness, and after a moment Jamie reappears in the doorway.
"This way," he says, pointing right. When the last member of the group is inside, he slides the key card and closes the door.
You follow close behind Grace as the group makes its way down a series of winding hallways. Finally you arrive in front of a double set of doors with a sign that reads BETA SECTOR RESEARCH LABORATORY.
The inside of the facility looks pretty much exactly like your mom's lab in Zeta Sector. Individual stations equipped with expensive-looking computer equipment form three lines of six. At one station, the flame of a Bunsen burner glows blue in the darkness, abandoned in haste by its evacuated user. On another, a partially- dissected VM brain sits in a metal pan. You briefly wonder what you're missing in Biology class today.
You hear a noise behind you and quickly turn towards it with your gun ready. But it's just Damien coming through the lab doors. "Okay," he says, "everybody fan out and keep your eyes peeled. Jen, cover me." You follow him to a tall filing cabinet in the back of the room. He pulls out the middle drawer and begins to rifle through the folders inside.
"What are you looking for?" you ask.
"I'm not sure yet. But l know when I find it." He stops suddenly, then pulls out a stack of papers bound with a heavy gold clip. You glance over his shoulder and see that it's a report of some kind. The title reads OPERATION TABLETOP: PHASE THREE. "I knew it!" he gasps.
"How do you know about Operation Tabletop?" you ask.
Damien looks up at you with a weak smile before flipping quickly through the first few pages. "Sorry, but I don't think your dad was being very honest with you before."
"You mean—you're..."
"Fecto12," Damien says, closing the report and slipping it into his backpack. "Yep. I thought maybe you'd already figured that out."
"So who are the other eleven?" you ask.
Damien gives you another one of his mischievous smiles. "If you prove yourself worthy, maybe l'll introduce you to them some day."
"Uh, guys?" Biff shouts from the other side of the lab.
"Everybody might want to come see this."
You and Damien rush over with the others to Biff, who's standing next to a set of metal bars. The VM cages, you already know from your mom's lab. The beam of Biff's flashlight is trained on one un-D in particular: a girl with ratty blonde hair shackled to the wall by her ankles, arms reaching out blindly towards the smell and movement of humans. Her clothing is covered in dirt and dried blood, but it's hard to miss the large "Z" emblazoned across the chest of her sweater.
"Dana?" Damien whispers.
A guttural growl escapes her drooling lips.
"Eww, gross." Angelina says. You'd swear you detect a hint of glee in her disgusted expression.
"Uh, dude?" Pauly gives Damien an awkward pat on the back. "Sorry your girlfriend is a..."
Val grabs a hold of Pauly's sleeve and shakes her head. "C'mon, guys. Let's leave him alone. Everybody pick a station and collect as much info as you can."
You turn to follow everyone back to the other side of the lab, but a look from Damien stops you in your tracks.
"Can you stay, Jen?" he asks, his eyes shiny in the dim light.
"Of course." you say, feeling slightly dizzy.
Damien watches Dana sadly as she strains against the short length of chain. "I never told her I loved her," he blurts out suddenly. "She was always saying it, but I just.." He makes no effort to finish the sentence.
"I'm sure she knew," you offer. "She always looked really happy whenever you were together."
"No, the thing is—I didn't. Love her, I mean. I Iiked her and all. She was a really cool person. But I didn't get butterflies in my stomach or anything when I saw her. You know what I mean?"
"Yeah," you say. "I have a pretty good idea what you're talking about. It was just something everybody expected of us. At first we used to joke about it, but I think she started buying into all the hype. Sometime she could get really mean. So what do you think she's doing here?"
"I don't know. I doubt they're going to have a paper file on her. Maybe I can hack into one of these computers and find something."
Dana's foot—the same one that once kicked almost all the way to her shoulder while she was cheerleading—is now tangled with its partner, and she falls face first onto the ground. Within seconds she's back up on her elbows, her caved-in nose turned hungrily towards her two former classmates.
"Ugh," Damien groans. "I can't watch this anymore." He goes over to one of the computer screens and starts tapping away at the keyboard.
You feel like you should do something—take care of things somehow. Even though Damien didn't say it, you know that it's probably best to put Dana out of her misery. You check your backpack and pockets for bullets. You remember your crowbar.. And you notice Dana's locket in there as well. You wonder if she would remember it and you consider giving it to her.
You hold the locket out into the beam of your flashlight and swing it back and forth to get Dana's attention. She stops mid-growl when she sees it and becomes perfectly still.
"Remember this?" you ask, reaching your arm into the cage.
"Jen, what are you doing?" Damien says. He leaves the computer and returns to the cage. Val looks up from the filing cabinet and continues to watch as you hold the necklace out to Dana.
"I don't know. I guess I just wanted her to have this before—"
"Listen," Damien whispers. "It sounds like she's purring."
It does, in fact. As Dana reaches for the locket, a strange clicking noise is coming from deep in her throat. When your fingers are nearly touching, the clicking suddenly stops. Her hand swings back and knocks the necklace out of your hand, scratching your palm in the process. But even before you have time to pull your arm back, Dana's head caves in as Val smashes with her crowbar. Val slowly lowers her weapon and looks at Damien.
"I'm sorry," she says.
Damien nods slowly. "I know. Are you okay?" he says turning to you.
"Just a little scratch," you say. "Nothing major."
"There's probably a hypo of antidote around here somewhere," he says, inspecting the damage. His hands are warm. A tingle of heat travels up your arm, but it's probably just the infection travelling to your brain. He looks you intently in the eyes. "You didn't have to do that, but thank you. You're kind of amazing, Jen Valentine. Do you know that?"
"Um..." You glance over Damien's shoulder in time to see Val roll her eyes.
Suddenly, the overhead fluorescent lights flicker on.
"That's not good." Jamie says, looking up and cocking his rifle. The rest of you follow suit.
There's a loud crash from outside the lab, then the doors bust open. A wall of soldiers stand there, guns aimed in a fan covering the lab from corner to corner.
"Drop your weapons and show me your hands!" a voice shouts. A very familiar voice.
"Dad?" you say, tossing your pistol to the ground and raising your arms.
"Hold your fire!" General Valentine pushes through the line, his face flushed. "Jen?"