Alive

Chapter 6: The Laboratory

A special thank you to @IsabellaRayne for the inspiration to continue this project!

The smoke rose higher and plumed in the sky as we raced down the hill. James had suggested the Honda Pilot parked skewed to the side in the middle of the road. The headlights blinked on and off, amazingly still idle with the door open and the keys right there in the ignition. It was almost as if it had been left there for us by some divine intervention, as we didn't have to stumble far to find it.

I took the wheel as Ann helped prop James as comfortably as he could get in the back of the car. She closed the door on the passenger's side and we were off slowly down the road. I swerved around the cars that partially blocked our path, keeping James conscious enough and getting directions from him at the same time. This detour was no problem for us, as it was on the way to Bury County, conveniently enough.

The thought that it was convenient enough made the hair on my neck raise. James offering a solution to stop what was happening, seemed too good to be true when given consideration. However, it was a risk that I was willing to take, as at the same time it was just too good to pass up. I kept my gun close.

"I'm letting you know right now, James. I want to help you and I'm trusting you, but if this is a trick I will not hesitate to blow your brains out," I said.

He coughed weakly with a laugh.

"I wouldn't be much worse for wear," he said.

Ann stayed mostly silent except to point and tell me when she saw the street names that James said to turn onto. We passed under a road where a homeless person sat smoking a cigarette. He had a ratty beard and clothes, and long, brown dreadlocks. He looked like me twenty years into the future if I ended up in his position, or perhaps much sooner. The future looked extremely bleak for all of humanity if we couldn't fix this.

James pointed to a tall, glittering building that really didn't stick out among the others except for in height.

"There it is," he wheezed.

"Okay but we have to fix you up first," Ann said.

The man groaned.

"It's going to hurt a lot," I said.

Ann glanced over at me.

"Watch out!" she exclaimed.

Something sharp came crashing into the window on my side. The homeless man had gotten up and was now smashing on the window with a thick green glass bottle. It was a forty-ounce bottle, big around with the neck grasped tightly in his fingerless gloved hand. The fabric was ripped where scratches showed and bled through. I rose my gun and shot through the windshield right between his eyes.

The man fell like a sack of potatoes, the glass followed after beyond my view. We drove on, the city hauntingly silent and barren with empty cars. Thankfully we wouldn't have to get out until we neared close to the building that James directed for us to go. There was a sign indicating that it was a laboratory facility.

APRIL NANOWRIMO ⬇️

We got out of the car and hurried quietly toward the entrance. James handed me a card with his ID and a bar code, which he instructed me to push into the slot of the door.

The door slid open, the plexiglass already revealing the empty silence f the building inside. The air ventilators whispered with the wind blowing through the defunct system. I was beginning to sweat as I helped James and Ann walked ahead with the gun aimed we neared the hallway. She looked both ways and then motioned for us to come forward. The halls were so empty that our footsteps echoed despite my attempt to tread lightly, listening for voices on the other side of the doors that lined both sides of us in the narrow hallway.