Escape

Jordan's Fears

I knew the Projects were bad. But this is, this is just sick. I look at the girl, who can't be more than two years younger than me in the simulation, as she lets the blood from Jason's previous encounter stain her. What was this?

"I'm sorry" Jason whispers. In sheer horror, Jordan stands up, stomps over to the controls, and shuts the program down. Falcon doesn't seem to care, he's too busy sitting in shock. As the room behind the glass becomes once again just a simple cement cell, Jason looks at us. Through the invisible glass.

"Who's next?" His voice is choked and soft, like he's holding back tears. My heart is thumping loudly. What was, I can't. I can't stop my body from shaking. That was disturbing. My gaze goes to the others in the room.

Scout and Ryker are holding each other. Scout's jaw is open, and tears slide slowly down her pale face. Her body is still, like a cold statue. Ryker murmurs to her in low tones, trying to soothe her, even though tears are running down his face as well. Cade And Sheila are both sitting there awestruck, blinking like they do in cartoons. That was sick.

Jordan rushes to open the door to the simulator room, flinging it open. But instead of entering inside, he's pushed to the side by Jason, who walks in the small observation room, completely unfazed. The blood from the simulation is gone and nothing remains to prove Jason had even gone into the sim. room. Except for the shock on everyone's face. "Jason, are you ok?" Jordan whispers, loud enough for everyone to hear. He's still got his back to the wall Jason had slightly shoved him into. Jordan seems to know people's boundaries pretty well. Jason just nods.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I sure hope you got some good information as to what role I'm gonna get. I can't take waiting around much longer." He mutters casually. We all look at the tall raven haired man as he stands there, tall and broad, before he takes a seat next to me. I look at the man for a moment. Searching for any hint of fear of sadness. Nothing.

"I know it's scary and weird. But it's for the best. It's the only thing we have to tell who's Imperium and who's not. In the past when we didn't do this, we ran into some ... issues. Everyone here's done it. You're no exceptions." Falcon explains, quickly. Jason rests his shoulders on his knees and runs his hand through his hair.

"I'll go." Jordan says suddenly. All eyes rivet to him.

Falcon powers up the program again. Jordan walks over, opens the door, and stands in the center of the room, the red dots blinking. "You ready?" Falcon asks. Jordan just nods. The same forest shows up again. Jordan's eyes scan around, and he starts picking up dry leaves and grass and small sticks. He kneels down and starts weaving them.

"What the hell is he doing?" Scout mutters almost bitterly.

He grabs some sand from the ground and pours it into the makeshift cylinder. We all watch as the guards finally show up. They smile a malicious grin, ready to kill Jordan since he's preoccupied. Once Jordan closes the cylinder, the sand inside. A small piece of a twig sticks out of the top, and it looks like a...

"He's making a bomb." Cade says, voicing all of our thoughts. He takes two stones, studying them, and nods. The guards walk a little closer, and then raise their guns, pointed at his head. Jordan strikes the rocks together, calm as the ocean. The sparks hit the twig and it's ignited. He throws it with a mild grunt. It rolls at the guard's feet, and they laugh with contempt.

Raising their guns again, Jordan's spins on his heel and sprints to the trees, and pokes his dark head from the bark. BOOM! The makeshift bomb explodes without a warning. No beep, nothing. Pieces of the guards fly everywhere, in a grisly mess. Jordan makes a disgusted face. "Nice one... That's never been done before." Falcon comments. Jordan snorts.

"It's easy. Just bring up the computer room." He seems eager to get it over.

The moment it materializes, he walks over to the super computer and starts typing as fast as lightning. Words and numbers appear in what seems to be a random order, with dashes and symbols mixed in. Sheila nods as though it makes sense. In one minute and a half, words appear on the screen. Bypass succeeded. Alarms disabled. He stands again, slapping his hands together, getting off invisible dirt.

"Easy." He remarks. Falcon scoffs, but we can see in his eyes, he's surprised. He clicks a few buttons and the room changes. What is Jordan's fear? Blackness is all that shows up. That's it. Jordan glances around uneasily. Still nothing comes from the blackness. No person. No object. Nothing. Then it changes. And it's Sheila. Lying dead and mangled at his feet. Her mouth is hung open, blood from the open orifice. He knows who killed her, you can see it in his distraught eyes.

Then it stops. The red dots show up again, and Jordan stands there, his eyes showing disturbed emotions. He stumbles out, and clutches his head, leaning against the wall. Sheila runs up. "Jordan! That was amazing! I forget you can make bombs and program! You haven't had to since we escaped!" She cries, clearly happy. Though I know she's trying to tell him that she's alive.

It's a sibling thing. It's a twin thing. Jordan looks at her, and laughs slightly. "Dork. You can do it just as well." He replies, ruffling her hair. She makes a noise and fixes it. Falcon comes back.

"That was some pretty slick programming and hacking on your part. And how did you know how to make that bomb, that the items were flammable and explosive, in such a short time?"

"It's so easy. That sand was reactive, and the twigs and grass I used were dead and could catch on fire easily. There was flint and steel rocks on the ground. It was merely a matter of studying it to make sure they were flint and steel, not flint and flint or vise versa or a different kind of rock altogether." When did he swallow a textbook?

"Your fear is darkness? The dark?" Falcon snorts, changing the subject.

"No. Are you crazy? Who's afraid of the dark? That's absurd. It's no different that being afraid of the light. There's nothing to be afraid of. No. I'm afraid of fear itself. I'm afraid of being afraid. And losing my sister of course." We all just stare dumbfounded. Falcon stares wide eyed. He clears his throat.

"Well now that's solved." He turns to us.

"Who's up?" Falcon asks.