I groggily blinked my eyes open, my vision blurry and my head pounding. Why was I passed out again? My vision started adjusting and I could make out a bunch of fluorescent lights above me. I squinted my eyes shut again. I racked my brain trying to remember, but it was only hurting my head even more.
'Ugh, I feel sick,' I thought, as my stomach felt like bile was rising up in it, threatening to escape my mouth. I forced myself to take deep breaths, trying not to throw up on myself. My head was throbbing and I was sick to my stomach. I tried to open my eyes again to get a look of my surroundings, but everything seemed somewhat blurry. If I didn't feel so terrible and confused, I would probably be wondering how much worse my day could get.
I heard a heavy door swing open and shut as two voices murmured quietly into the room. Thank God, finally, some doctors. I felt more safe realizing I was in a hospital.
"-remember that these are only beta testers. If their body rejects the microchip or the design is a failure, we have no choice but to dispose of the subjects."
"I understand." The voices stopped right next to me. "And if the microchip is a success?"
"We wait for further instructions from the Raven. We mustn't delay. When did you administer this one the anesthesia?"
"Reyes was the one who brought her in so I'm sure he administered the anesthesia himself."
"In any case, we should start the procedure now while she's out."
What the hell do I do?! I'm too sick to get up and fight back but I also don't want any part of what I think it is they're gonna do. Panic and a wave of nausea washed over me. I felt certain I was probably gonna die today.
Suddenly, as if it were a miracle, the most irritating, high pitched beeping sound resounded throughout the room.
"Shit…"
"What is it?"
The first voice sighed. "Security breach. The Rebellion has been spotted breaking in our research facility. We may need to evacuate. I'll go check it out with the others. You collect all the equipment needed for the operation and go out the back door."
"What about the subjects?"
"Leave them. They're easily replaceable." I heard footsteps quickly receding and the door opening again followed by two loud gunshots echoing throughout the hall outside.
"Sir?!" The other voice ran down the same direction and more gunshots came out. My heart rate accelerated and I started breaking out in a cold sweat, but I still found it hard to move. Whatever clear conscious I had left was thinking I would die if I don't escape, while the other part of me thought I should do nothing but sleep right now.
Slow and heavy footsteps started to approach me and I still pretended as if I was knocked out, but I knew my trembling body was giving me away.
"I know you're awake," the voice belonging to the footsteps chimed. The voice sounded a lot warmer and friendlier than the other two voices from before. And a bit younger, too. Maybe around my age? "My name is Braxton. I'm with the Rebellion. I'm here to get you out."
I slowly opened my eyes and squinted as I was immediately met with the unwelcoming cold and bright fluorescent lights again. I rustled around and managed to sit myself up. I turned around to face my so-called savior and I could barely make out his face. He looked young. Light-skinned, ash blond hair, chiseled jaw. That's all I could really make out from my state. What stood out to me was how strapped he was with guns. He had a large one across his back, and some more attached to his belt. I was getting dizzy from moving my eyes around so much so I just decided to focus on his face.
"Can you hear me? Can you try to get up?"
I opened my mouth, finally noticing how dry and parched it was. I closed my mouth and tried to swallow before shaking my head. I doubt I could even stand up straight without falling over.
"It's okay, I got you." The man carefully scooped me up in his arms and made a break for it. I could barely comprehend what was going on as we ran down the hallway, but I could hear the high pitched alarm still mixed with frantic screaming and shouting and a few gun shots. Those sounds were the only thing that was keeping me from drifting off. "We gotta get out of here fast!" The man, Braxton, I think his name was, shouted over the sound. "We're gonna blow this place in a few minutes!"
I didn't fully comprehend what he was saying, but I became more relaxed realizing I was safe now. As we ran, some girl around my age caught up to us. "Rooms are all cleared! We're evacuating everyone as we speak. Bombs go off in two minutes!"
"Thanks, Gaia! Make sure we get a headcount!"
The girl nodded and ran ahead of us. When Braxton and I finally stumbled through an exit, we continued down a tunnel before opening up to a clearing where we met with more people. The first type of people I noticed were a bunch of other civilians of a wide age range, from children to elders, who were unconscious and lying on the ground. The second type I noticed were a bunch of young adults who wore a lot of black protective clothing and were armed with weapons. They were all doing different things, from looking over the unconscious to tinkering away at equipment.
"Doriyan!" Braxton called out. "Can you check this one? She's awake."
Another young man rushed up to us and took me from Braxton, laying me on the ground. "Very interesting..." he murmured. The man quickly, but carefully checked over my body, from looking at my limbs, to checking the inside of my mouth. He took a small flashlight from his pocket and shined it in my eye, causing me to flinch and wince. "Very peculiar..."
"Is she drugged, too?" Braxton inquired.
"Hard to say," the other male responded. "She shows a lot of the symptoms, but I don't get why she's awake. If she received the same dosage as everyone else she would at least be out for another few hours." His dark eyes met mine. "Do you know your name?"
"Yes," I managed to rasp out. "It's Evelyn. Evelyn Anong."
"And how are you felling, Evelyn?"
"Dizzy," I admitted. "My stomach feels nauseous too. And my head hurts so bad." I tried focusing on the man's eyes again. "Where am I?"
"You're safe now, and that's all that matters. Evelyn, do you remember anything that happened before you woke up here?"
I tried thinking back hard to what I was doing in order for me to end up in some unknown place. The only thing I can remember was arriving at Epron from the aircraft. "No..."
"It's as I thought," the man sighed. "She's not under the effects of anesthesia. She's just concussed. As for the dry mouth, she's dehydrated. She hasn't had anything to drink in a long time." He stood up to retrieve a bag next to a parked vehicle and came back with a flask in hand. "Here," he handed me the flask. "You need some of this."
I eyed the flask wearily. "Did you poison it?"
He smiled. "It's just regular water. We're here to help you." He took a sip from the flask to show me it was safe and then handed it to me.
When the first stream of water passed my lips, I relished in the cool and refreshing taste. I didn't realize how thirsty I had been. I quickly gulped down the water until it was practically empty. While doing so, I heard a faint rumble coming from the tunnel.
"That would be the bombs," Braxton stretched his body out. "Even if any of the Raven's researchers survived, much of their equipment is destroyed."
"I wouldn't put it past the Raven to still have some of his research saved." The other man sighed. "At least we did what we could and saved a bunch innocent civilians."
"So what happens to her?" Braxton nodded at me.
"She will need plenty of rest and have someone to monitor her." He looked at me. "Do you have anyone to call?"
I took some time to think about it before nodding. I reached around inside my pant pocket but frowned. It's empty. "My holo-device..."
"What was that?"
"My holo-device... it's gone. I can't call anybody." Did those researchers take my personal tech and belongings?
"You can use mine," Braxton tossed me his small device and I clumsily caught it. I opened up the contacts app and stared down at the keypad. "I can't remember her number..."
"Whose?" Braxton asked.
"My friend. She let me move in with her. What was her number again?"
"Evelyn, do you have any family you can call?" The other man gently asked.
I tried to think of my family's holo id numbers, but for some reason I was blanking. I couldn't remember anybody's id numbers. I shook my head. "I can't remember."
The young man whose name who I don't know sighed. "This is a problem. With the other patients I don't think we'll have a problem finding them home, but because she is concussed and has no form of communication with anyone, she's left helpless and alone. We may have no choice but to look after her until she gets better."
Braxton sighed in frustration. "So, what? We just take her back to headquarters and then send her on her merry way when she gets better? Don't you think that's too risky for the protection of the Rebellion?"
"Well, we don't have to take her back to HQ. I mean, look at all the others. They won't wake up for many hours later and it's safe to assume they don't have any communications or personal devices on them either. We can make camp here until everyone gets better."
"Doriyan, let's think about it. These people are unconscious and likely have been before they were brought to this government research facility. How do you think they will react when they wake up surrounded by the Rebellion? Even her," he gestured to me. "She's not in the right frame of mind. She will also probably wake up the next morning and start freaking out with no recollection of what happened."
I glared. "Can you not talk about me like I'm not here?"
To my annoyance, they both ignored me. "Well, do you have a better plan, genius?" Doriyan hissed.
"Here's an idea for the both of you," the girl from before that was in the hallway earlier walked up to us, interrupting their conversation. "How about we all drop these people off at the hospital located in the main city? That way they won't freak out about the Rebellion and they'll get the treatment they need."
Braxton and Doriyan were instantly silenced and glanced at each other. "See, that was gonna be my next suggestion," Braxton grumbled.
"No it wasn't, you idiot!" Doriyan growled.
"Both of you, shut up!" The girl snapped. "God, you're both acting like children. Let's get everyone to rally up everything and then we'll transport these people to the main city. We'll have to be careful we don't get caught."
"Already on it," Braxton straightened up and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Alright, everyone, let's pack it up! We're taking these people back to the main city!"
All the other people started moving around and putting equipment back and loading up all the unconscious patients into the van. I saw Doryian tap the other girl on the shoulder. "What about her? She's awake, so she knows all of our faces."
The girl's cold blue eyes pierced right through mine. "It'll be fine. She could prove useful later."
I was confused by what she meant but I was already being led into the back of the van by Doriyan. As soon as I had sat down on the comfortable nylon seats, I had already drifted off into sleep.