“Give it an hour...” The voice echoed around her. Female. ‘Kia...’ Her entire body felt tired and prickly. Her brain tried to contact Kia, but the system was not responding. “Kia,” she called out again, this time out loud, her teeth rattling from the cold. “...coming to...” a male voice his time. Liz fought against the dark clouds her head was engulfed in. Her memory coming into play- fuzzy but she remembered- her body spasmed sending searing pain throughout her body. Someone hit her with a powerful jolt of electricity. “I’ll fuc-” her head grew cloudier- ‘end him’ ‘Kia?’ Another wave hit her again and Liz called out to Kia once more, her cloudier mind confused by the lack of response. ‘Switch on Kia, I need you to tell me where I am, my eyes won’t open.’ Blank. When she came too, Liz was on a table with a bright light shining into her eyes. Feeling the pain in her head, she squinted her eyes and groaned out loud, sitting up with her back towards the light. She mo
The next day the male doctor showed up again smiling. Dr West. “Radiation-free and healthy as a bird. You can join your friends now in the meal room.” Liz nodded her pretty head. Last night was her best sleep in years although she had only slept for three and a half hours. And where is Kia? Since coming here, the system was silent and while Liz found it irritating at times, she didn’t want her gone exactly. She’s gotten used to her. It was different here. Knowing you were safe and didn’t have to be partially asleep and alert at the same time. Worrying about if a zombie will chomp you or if a human will harm you in the name of survival. She had a bath. An actual shower with shampoo and running water. Clean linen and toothpaste. The bathroom had sanitary napkins as well. She almost sobbed at the sight of it. Being as it was a hassle to carry around, she never had any in her travel bag unless she was on her menstrual cycle. But... Nothing is free and should not be. There were
“All of them?” Matt whispered wide-eyed and looked around the heavily occupied room as if he could figure out who was who and what. Until Liz hits his hand. “Maybe. Definitely, the men going out. I’m not sure about the doctors, but why would the place be sealed off? What are they hiding?” Liz whispered back and noticed some of the men standing guard inside the large area looking at them- well everyone. They were dressed in regular black t-shirts but brown cargo pants and black combat-looking boots. A different uniform for the security personnel. Literally, everything is military-styled so why different uniforms? “It is strange- only a little bit. C’mon guys, you know even in a normal world, we couldn’t walk freely into any room in the hospital…even in the teacher’s faculty,” Matt tried to reason although he had picked up on the strange vibe. *** They met Lieutenant Sharp just before dinner two days later when he was finished showing off with his gun, to some of the younger k
Liz stared at the lieutenant then at her two friends, who were rubbing the area where the needle had protruded their skin then at the staff behind her, who met her eyes squarely. “How long have we been-” “Eight years out there,” one of the guys…who knows which one is Silver and who is Mac, interrupted Randall’s question. Liz scoffed and leaned over, in disbelief. She’d been chopping heads off for eight years? “Yes, Ma’am- Liz,” the girl who had offered her the chair said, scratching her face. “Listen I know it can be a shock because you lost count on the outside. Relax it’s fine.” The lost count of months wasn’t the issue- she had lost years. “Yea Liz it’s fine, even I was thinking four, maybe five years,” Randall confessed as he patted her back to comfort her. “Eight is cool.” Eight? It’s more like three for Liz. What…how? She knew she had a memory loss of some sort but five years missing? The blood drained from her face. She tried to track back now- home, teenage pr
She stared at him as the ‘dinner’ alarm went off then and Sharp pushed her away from him, waiting for her feet to steady before saying, “Go eat, I’ll meet you tonight- when your room ‘bunkies’ are asleep.” Nodding absentmindedly, Sharp left her with a warning. “I mean it Elizabeth, eat.” Liz forced her food down for she had lost her appetite, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew she would need her strength for what Sharp was about to tell her. They had gills? Should she tell her friends what they were, now or when she had more information? Tomorrow, she’ll tell them…hopefully she would have processed her being dead by then. This must be a sick joke- or maybe she’s asleep. This is a nightmare- pinching herself proved she was awake when the pain scorched her flesh. Gills? How does that work because she remembers how much she dislikes water with depth. Touching her faded scars- no gills he said. How far did science reach...was that the reason for the apocalypse- science study? A surge
“Marcus Sharp, hmm. Has a nice ring to it. How long was I- ugh- a clone?” “Three years ago, you escaped. On the fifth day. You were Liz-C5. C3 died on day one. She drowned in the dam while attempting to escape. But you got out.” “So, he’s dead?” She reverted to Marcus Min Lee, a deep frown shaping her face. The previous three versions of her being dead sort of caused an acidity build up inside her. “Marcus? Yea. I’m sorry. Oh, he died naturally of course. Peaceful- Liz erm- well, she had cancer and passed before him.” His tone is quiet now. Quieter. “Oh…how sad. His mother then his wife? Why didn’t he make another her then?” It was a cold thing to ask but then again, she isn’t really human is she, Liz thought then. Sharp raised his head to the sky before answering slowly. “I guess he did try but he didn’t want a different person. See, Liz and him grew old together so making a clone version of her would create a different person, not the same Liz he knew.” Yup, that made se
After an unrestful night, and still undecided, Liz held back in telling her friends the truth, a bit. She figured she might ease it in…day by day …perhaps weeks? It took another day to settle that it took three months to create a clone replica and that she’d died and died and died again. Just why had her clones attempted to escape from here really? Is it what Sharp had said- that they’d been confused when awaked with the assault of memories? Was this place friend or foe? The next morning Liv signed up for garden duty because she needed to eat. That’s it…at least until she gathered her bearings and figured out her place here. Who knows maybe they might need her skillset, elsewhere. It was a good tactic done by Bio Lab- ensure everyone works for better production but limit food as it is now the most important thing after survival. Matt and Randall followed her example although they still whined about being out in the field- the wrong field that is, but less. More food has a wa
Moving along with her tray, the next day, she smiled when the mashed potatoes plopped down onto it, talking in a low murmur that only the man next to her could hear. “War with whom?” She had an entire night to think and the morning period as she picked fruit again. Who knew fruit picking could help clear the mind? With too much to digest now and a thousand more questions, Kia was far from her, newly occupied with information, and thoughts. “Isn’t the world in need of peace now?” she questions again without receiving an answer for the first one. “More than 75% of America died within the first month,” Sharp whispers back to her as they take their seats, sitting isolated from the others. Randall and Matt were both glaring at him from two tables down in the cafeteria. “What? What do you mean America?” Frowning at his strange words, seeing her boyfriend Marcus, yet not having much memory of him- or of Liz’s time with him. It was mostly blurred but …that feeling…that emotional pull is t