Nakia - "I don't want perfect, I want honest." – anonymous
We each slowly sit up. No one stands. It's annoying how chirpy Bee is, she still doesn't understand what's happening, maybe she thinks we're being rewarded.
I follow Max and Raven and my teeth slam together as cold wind hits me.
I'm not looking forward to this, I don't know why but it feels different.
We follow the yellow lines until we reach a huge arena area, it's about double the size of a football stadium and twice as wide.
"Please sit and wait until your name is called." Says the voice. We each take a seat on the dusty floor. We wait. We wait some more. And wait.
"Max, Raven, Dara, Harlow, Bee, and Nakia please make your way through the doors." We collectively leap up and find the double doors, steal and tall, and walk through them. In front of us stood a room, an office sort of thing with five strangers staring at us. All of them looked worried but warrior like, as if from Rosaland.
"What's going on?" demands Max, stepping in front of us and raising her dagger. The two men, both old and grey looking, with jagged scars look at each other. The three woman, slightly younger but with the same haggard expression stares back at us.
"We're here because you're a problem." Grunts one of the men. My grip on my gun.
"A problem?" squeaks Bee.
"You weren't meant to survive. You were meant to set an example. Some people from our universes have been causing trouble, the leaders wanted to make a statement from you. This whole thing was going to have a cover story, you set off the alarm and we had to punish you." Says the woman bluntly.
"but why did they go to so much effort? With the tests?" Dara asks,
"Because, it was also an experiment. To test how each universe would react. It was meant to help the leaders decide who should rule over everything, well other than Beatrice, that was just an accident," Replies the woman, shrugging. Bee frowns slightly.
"Why us?" asks Harlow,
"Because, you got into the faulty pod." Says the woman.
"You are not going to kill anyone." Max says fiercely, stepping forward, her chin raised.
"We didn't plan on it. In fact, we're here to rescue you." Grunts the second man. I drop my gun in surprise. I quickly grab it and stand up, red faced.
"Huh?" says Raven.
"We came to rescue you. We found out about the leaders plan and decided to help you. Unless, of course, you want to stay. But we don't have much time, the woman doing the voice over should re gain consciousness soon…" says the third man, his voice trailing off. He sounds a lot kinder than the others, perhaps not the leader, but definitely kinder. As Bee starts making her way to the strangers, Max stops her.
"How can we believe you?" says Harlow, their voice full of poison.
"You don't have to. But if you stay, they will kill you." Says the third man, eyebrows raised. We huddle in a circle, Max and Raven looking over their shoulder every few seconds.
"Vote?" says Harlow. We nod.
"Say yes if you think we should go." They whisper. A chorus of quiet yesses follow and we straighten up again.
"Fine, we'll come. But if you do anything suspicious, I'll leave. And we're keeping our weapons." Says Raven and starts walking towards them, we follow close behind.
The strangers are surprisingly quick, we have to run to catch up. We run through corridors and offices, that all blur together as we run.
Gasping for breath, we reach an aircraft outside on a roof top. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot a lady tied up next to a microphone.
We're pushed inside and the aircraft lifts up without hesitation. A few minutes later, Max starts talking, her face expressionless.
"Who are you?" she blurts out. The kinder man raises his eyebrows and chuckles,
"We're the resistance. The 'perfect' system has failed. They are planning something, something bad. The leaders are trying to form an alliance, with as many loyal soldiers as they can and take over the whole system and run it as a dictatorship. The worst of it is, once they have formed alliances, they will all want to be the 'ultimate leader'." He says, we all gape in awe.
"Right. Ok." Says Dara, frowning deeply.
"I'm Bee! Short for Beatrice!" chirps Bee, seemingly oblivious to what the man had just said.
"I'm Ryan, this is Mark and Henry, and these three are; Helen, Janet and Penny." Says the kinder man.
"I'm Dara, this is Nakia, Raven, Max and Harlow." Ryan nodded and the aircraft kept going. I distantly hear Dara and Ryan in deep conversation about how the did the roof illusion thing. At some point, I manage to fall asleep.
"Get up." I jerk awake and see Raven looming over me. I yawn and take his outstretched hand and walk outside with the others.