Red Skies | The Prime Archives #1 ✓

four

White walls. White lights. White...lab coats?

Oscar wasn't quite sure what exactly he was looking at. In fact, he didn't even know where he was at the moment. He blinked and it felt like it was happening in slow-motion. In fact, he felt like he trapped in a tub full of molasses. A numbness flitted through his body.

Slowly but surely, his muscles woke up and the feeling began to return to his nerves. Apart from his dry mouth, he hadn't been able to feel much of anything really.

After a few minutes, his line of vision focused. His eyes hadn't deceived him before; standing above him were a few people in lab coats. They held sleek, glass clipboards in their hands. From the bed he laid in, he could make out the digital interface bleeding through the transparent material.

Along with his senses, his muddled mind began to settle down. Soon after, the memories returned. They plagued his brain, painfully branding themselves into his psyche. His body ached in response. The van. The crash. The soldiers.

The fire.

Shooting up from the bed, his chest heaving, he frantically looked around the room he was in.

''Where am I?"

''Oscar, we need you to calm down— ''

He cut his brown eyes at the lab coat wearing woman at his bedside. ''Who are you? Where am I? Where are the people I was with?''

His heart beat inside his chest like a jackhammer, threatening to explode out from his ribs and onto his lap. Sweat formed on his brow and a million horrible thoughts raced through his throbbing head.

The beeping heart rate monitor next to his bed wasn't helping.

''Oscar, please,'' the doctor said. ''We'll answer all your questions but we need you to calm down.'' He could tell she was trying her best to keep her composure.

''Just sedate him,'' a voice near the door suggested as if it were some normal action. ''It's obvious he's not ready to talk right now. Let's try again in a few hours.''

He froze, his eyes widening. Shifting his nervous gaze to the speaker, he spotted them sitting in a plastic chair near the exit to the room.

She was beautiful with olive skin and brilliant eyes the color of sapphires. A navy-blue jumpsuit with a circular logo on the chest clung to her lean figure. Squinting at it, Oscar realized the word ''Atlas'' was printed in all caps within the circle.

Another pang of realization shot through him.

The Kismet guards mentioned it before he and the other captured River Hill students were thrown into a van. He had no idea what Atlas was then and he didn't have the slightest clue now.

''No!'' Clearing his throat, he tried settling himself down. ''I mean, uh, you don't gotta sedate me. I'm good. I promise.'' He feebly raised his hands to prove his point. As he did so, he noticed the IV drip attached to one of his wrists.

The girl with the intense eyes stared at him with a bored expression on her face. ''Finally.'' She got up from her seat and walked over to him. ''We've been waiting a while for you to wake up. Took you long enough.''

He frowned. ''Sorry?''

''Apology denied.''

He wondered if she knew he was being sarcastic. Regardless, he wasn't really feeling her attitude. If anything, he should've been the one with an attitude. He was the one who just woke up in some random hospital room after surviving an explosion with some terrorists.

''Can you start answering my questions now?'' He arched an eyebrow at the person standing next to his hospital bed. ''Are you guys with Kismet?''

''What? Of course not,'' the girl at the foot of his bed replied. ''We saved you from those jerks. Had it not been for us, you and your friends would've probably been killed.''