Vial 126

Chapter 18

I woke up the next morning.
I went downs the hall into the kitchen.
I start making food. I must've been hungry because I made a whole bunch.
By the time I was done there was pancakes, biscuits, a whole bunch of random cut up fruit, bacon, and eggs.
I walk out to the cafeteria tables to find everyone up and waiting for food, except for Julius.
I set down the platters of food and we dig in.
"Hey." I started, "Can you guys make a plane and get out?"
"No, we have no materials. The materials that were used to make your presents were just very small and we don't have enough to make a whole boat or ship. And all the beds and stuff are nailed down to the floor so that we can't use them for building. They made extra precautions to make sure that we can only entertain ourselves and nothing more. No escape." Strawberry responded.
"What about the wreckage from our plane?" I asked.
"That's gone. For some reason they're able to sneak on our island without us noticing and take off all of our possible ship building materials." Annie said sadly.
"Fran and I were trying to find out how it was possible, but, we found nothing, no footprints, and no noises. We tried to stay up late one night, but I guess they knocked us out with gas or something." Strawberry said.
"Maybe that's where the knockout gas came from." Annie suggests.
"Maybe." I mutter.
Julius wasn't there either.
"I'm gonna go get Julius, he probably slept in." I said. "Save some food." I suggested standing up and leaving the cafeteria.
Next I went to Julius' room.
I knocked lightly.
I heard a subtle moan.
I banged on the door again.
"Come in." Julius said sleepily.
I opened the door slowly and stepped in.
Julius was sitting on the bed.
He looked exhausted.
"Why do you look so tired?" I asked.
"I had a dream last night. I was a spy. I was undercover. But the people I was spying on, they accepted me. They became my friends. I didn't know if I should join their side. Later, I decided that I would go against the people that had befriended me. I woke up after the dream and felt guilty, I couldn't go back to sleep. I've been thinking about the dream ever since." He said.
"Choices are hard." I responded. "You want to come to the cafeteria? I made a bunch of food."
He forced a smile, then his face fell and he looked suddenly mournful. "
I turned, and took a step toward the door.
Suddenly, Julius jumped out of bed and grabbed my arm.
"Look, I need to tell you something. My dream... It wasn't a dream." He paused for a second.
"What? You mean like a metaphor?" I asked, confused.
"No. I need to tell you this, even if you never trust me again. I know this might sound fake, but... I'm switching sides, now I'm going to be on your side. I was secretly a spy for the bad guys."
"Haha."
"No really, I know a way off this island. I can give you a map."
"Very funny, can we go now?" I asked.
"No. I was going to use the knockout gas against you guys. I could've called an army at will. I'm sorry, I have to go. I can't stay any longer, it's not safe for you guys. There's a map in the drawer of an escape. It's the direct way out, you need to follow it, but I'm leaving."
"I know that as soon as I've been to trust all of this, you're going to yell 'psych' and start laughing."
He pulled out a bottle full of something.
"I am leaving, you can't stop me." He said, looking panicked. His eyes had a gleam that made him look like he couldn't tell a lie in the world.
"I know this is really random and sudden, but you have to believe me. Last night the reason I was awake is I was calling the army. They will be here tomorrow. I suggest you try to get out of here tonight."
"Well, I don't believe you."
"I never was able to give you your birthday present." Julius said. "Why don't you sit down?" Julius offered.
I walked over to the bed and sat down.
"Here you go." Julius said, handing me the small bottle .
"What is it?" I asked.
"Knockout gas." He answered.
"Why would I need knockout gas?" I asked confused.
"You don't," He reached over me and opened the pouch. The gas started to leak out. "This is the only way for you to believe me."
I started to get drowsy. I got sleepier and sleepier.
I felt secluded from the actual environment.
Somewhere in between this time I heard Julius run out of the building. Then I slipped into a quiet, peaceful sleep.
I couldn't think, but I had little fragments of what was going on.
I could hear Strawberry walk in and stop in her tracks, "Annie get the others I don't care about what they are doing this is more important."
"What is the problem?" Annie responds.
She must have seen me on the bed, trying to open my eyes, probably making it look like my eyes were rolled up in my skull.
She shrieked.
"Hurry!" Strawberry urged Annie.
"Ok, ok!" Annie replied. Her foot steps scurried out of the room.
"Kat? Kat, wake up. What happened?" Strawberry said trying to keep me awake and focused. "Don't go to sleep, Kat. Don't go to sleep." She said, lightly tapping my face to keep me conscious.
I hear Annie come in with others.
Reba saying words that I am not aloud to repeat.
Then Mika said, "I hope she is okay."
"Fran pass me the water." I heard Nigel say.
"Here."
"Well, here goes nothing." Strawberry says.
I feel the cold rush of water on my face.
I slowly opened my eyes, struggling to stay awake.
Michael was sitting next to me on the bed, when he saw I was awake, he pulled me into a huge hug.
I started rapidly asking questions.
"What happened while I was out?" I ask.
"Well, Julius ran away and we came in here and found you knocked out and... Wait, did he do this?" Fran asked.
"Julius was a traitor. But he gave that up now. He's on our side, he left us a map. The way out. If there wasn't a way out he would still be trapped on this island so there must be a way." I said.
The others looked unsatisfied.
"He said that the map was in the drawer." I said.
"In what drawer?" Strawberry asks.
"Don't know, we should look through all of them. One more thing you should know, he says an army will be here tomorrow." I tell them.
"Well, that's not good news." Annie responds.
"No, it is not." I respond.
I started to rummage through the drawers.
I walked over to Mika, just as I did, she pulled something out of the drawer that she was looking through.
We look at it for a second, then realize it was the map.
The thin parchment paper was nearly transparent and acted like wax paper.
"So, if I am reading this map correctly," She started, "The escape is right underneath Strawberry's room."
"I guess so." I say. "Let's get the others we should start packing up items."
They must have overheard, because they were already gathering around.
"Okay, we have found the map."
I started telling them what the map said and how we should escape, while Strawberry was working on something with Annie, Michael was panicking and Nigel and Reba were talking.
After explaining, we spit up to pack.
First, I walk into my room, I grab the gifts my new friends had given me and wonderful new clothes I had gotten there. I didn't have much else to pack, so I had plenty more time left.
I walked over to Michael's room.
He has things spread all over the bed, a picture of his family, clothes, a picture of Fran, Strawberry, Annie and him together after a stuffed animal fight, the eiffel tower statue, some old toys, and lastly a picture of him and Fran.
I walked over to the bed and sat next to him and asked, "You need help?"
He answered, surprised to see me standing there. "It's just that Fran and I we saw them take away our parents, we watched it. They don't know it, but we did. That day was the worst day of our lives we cried for hours together and now sitting here looking at it I noticed that she is all I have left."
I shake my head "No, she isn't all you have me and Strawberry and Annie and all the others."
"The one thing I don't want to happen is losing her."
I can see why he was upset, he watched his family disappear and he doesn't want it to happen to the anyone else.
"Well," I say. "If you need anything I'll be in Fran's room."
I felt guilty of leaving him there, but I could tell he was holding back tears and he needed to be alone.
I walked into Fran's room.
I could tell that she was upset, too. "I never wanted this to happen,if we get caught... I can't watch any more death." She choked a sob.
I looked at the ground and then looked at her bed, she had a lot of stuff to pack lying across the bed, in no order, whatsoever.
I started to pack for her, she had the same things as Michael, except she had small pots and a sleeping bag.
After I finished I went to Strawberry's room. Once again, feeling guilty of leaving her.
Strawberry wasn't upset like the other two, she looked rather excited.
She had her things on the bed, a pair of spy glasses, clothes, animal books, little trinkets, pictures of her family, and some other stuff, that I didn't know what they even were.
She noticed me immediately, "Come sit, we can chat for a minute, then I have to get back to work."
"Ok." I replied. I sat down next to her on the bed.
"So, do you know what happened they day they took your family away?" I asked.
"Kinda, maybe, I actually have no idea, but I'll tell you what I remember. So That day was a friday a week before Fran and Michaels birthday. I remember that it was 7:00AM and I heard loud noises all over the hallway. I walked out of my room to find these people and my family with them. They told me to mind my own business or they would shoot me. I believe they may have killed them." She said, mournfully. "I like to think they are still alive, waiting for me to come home, that they have a big house somewhere in the suburbs. I also like to think that my Dad got remarried to a beautiful, nice woman, and they moved in on a neighborhood street, across from a cute boy. And when I go back, they will all be waiting for me."
"That sounds nice." I said.
"Oh, I'm sorry if I bored you, I better get packing, I just got carried away."
"No, you don't bore me, I will let you pack though." I said exiting the room. Strawberry waved at me as I closed the door, and I waved back.
I walk into Annie's room to see how she was doing.
"What should I pack?" She asks me.
"I don't know, clothes definitely and gadgets. Maybe, and some personal items." I say.
"Good idea." She says, the next thing I know, there are things on the bed varying from normal everyday things to some of chemicals, to a picture of her and her mom, to a giant stuffed animal.
She puts the giant stuffed animal into a large bag and I gave her a questioning look.
She laughs and says, "To remember the good old days."

* * *

We all meet up in Strawberry's room and then I see it, a trap door under the carpet. The others had already opened it.
"Well, lets go through." Strawberry says
"Hold your horses," Annie tells her.
"So what exactly are we doing?" I hear Mika say.
Within a few minutes, the room is exploding with conversation.
To get the others to hurry up, I walk through the trapdoor.