"The records room is this way," Justin directed Cameron. "I don't think we'll have any more luck in there, but we need to put these files back."
"You remember exactly where you found them, right?"
"Yes, I marked them with a tiny piece of string I tore off my shirt. I'm honestly a little hurt you'd even question me," Justin mocked.
"Better safe than sorry," Cameron said. "Besides, you have no idea how meticulous they are about those records."
"Apparently not meticulous enough to where two teenagers can break in and go completely unnoticed." He had a point. "Besides, I'm sure no one even goes in to the paper records room anyway." Another good point.
"True. Okay, put them back quick. I'll keep an eye out." They exchanged nods, and Justin ducked into the room. Cameron looked around the hallway. This part of the building started to change from stone to concrete. The floor wasn't glass. In fact, nothing from the
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Invidia THIRTY-EIGHT
"Finally, we're getting somewhere," Carly muttered."Don't jinx it," Justin scolded."I won't. I was just excited.""Well, don't be. I don't think we want to be finding something here," he said. Cameron silently agreed."Why?""Just hush," he put his index finger over his mouth in the universal 'hush' motion. "I can feel it. We're almost there."Madison nodded that she could feel it too. She wrapped her hand in Cameron's and squeezed. Her hand was clammy, presumably from anxiety. Cameron normally would've been disgusted, but he didn't mind because it was her. She could wipe it on his face, and he wouldn't mind. Well, that's a lie. He probably would have, but he wouldn't have gotten as upset as if it had come from someone else.The room expanded and lightened even more. Cameron froze. He'd been here before--the cavelike room with the overarching holographic stars and the enormously-hot room. He knew something felt familiar, and now it was overwhelming. He'd been here before. "Stop," h
Invidia THIRTY-NINE
Through the next hallway, there were four more people they had to help: one woman and three men. Madison effectively unhooked them with a minimal amount of help from Cameron. He held the tubes steady while she dislodged them from people's brains and throats. "God, I do not get how you can do that," Justin said, less green the first few times but still somewhat green. "Perks of the trade," she said without a glance as she pulled out the last tube."I do not get how you're fine when I lose an arm, but you can't handle a little bit of brain juice. That's like people who would prefer to clean up vomit than piss," Cameron thought."Because I've encountered blood before. I can honestly say I never thought I'd be seeing brain fluid," Justin had a good point."Stop talking and help me. We have to get these last few people through here," Madison pointed to another hallway. "Justin, are you able to stay behind and talk to them when they wake up?""Yeah, I guess so." He walked over to Cameron
Invidia FORTY
Guards were in tow behind them, screaming obscenities at them to make them stop. As if that would work. "Cameron, what's going on?" Madison questioned."Just trust me." The girl rounded a corner in the hallway under the arena, presumably thinking she was headed to a glorious prize. Madison didn't say anything, but she grabbed Cameron's hand and continued running after where they'd taken the girl. Their feet fell flat on stone floor, and each step pounded through Cameron's calves, shooting up his legs. If only he'd done more running on surfaces like this before, he would be all set and ready to go."Stop!" The guards yelled again at Cameron, gaining ground. Their feet thumped together. Cameron heard the jangle of the baton scrape out of the man's belt, and his necked twitched as he knew that the guard would use it on him."Not until you tell us where she's being taken," Madison ran backwards for a moment, her hair whipping into Cameron's face. "No!" The unarmed guard yelled. "Why sh
Invidia FORTY-ONE
"I think that's the cheesiest thing you've ever said to me, Cameron," Madison laughed. "Well, it's true." She put her hand on top of his and kissed it. "Let's get you looked at real quick. Lay back." She peeled his shirt up and inspected his torso. It was bloody, but it didn't look like anything serious, nothing more than bruises. She was mostly concerned about his teeth and how bloody they were. At least one was definitely gone. That guard did a number on him, but she was sad to say they didn't have the time to go fixing those right now. They had to keep going. Cameron argued after a moment, "Come on, Mads. Let's just go. I'm fine." "Well, nothing looks life-threatening, so we'll look at it later after we get out of here. Right now, yes, we need to go." ***** Carly was forced to push down the fears that she had killed all of them. If I'd just gotten here sooner, maybe they-- no, Carly. You can't think like that.
Invidia FORTY-TWO
"What the hell?" Cameron finally realized he was falling, and he was falling fast. He didn't know where he was or where Madison was or where this even was. All he knew was that he was falling. The air around him, blurred with the tumbling from the fall, was multicolored and the air stank. Bad. It smelled like a mixture of bleach, death, and shit. Like a hospital. "Cameron!" He heard Madison's voice in the distance, and she was clearly far away. "Mads! Where are you?" He yelled back. "I'm over here!" He still couldn't tell where here was, but he knew it was where he wanted to be. "Are you still falling!" "Yeah!" "Not much longer!" Her voice got louder, clearer, and the smell became evermore pungent. All at once, he crashed to the ground and instantly emptied his stomach at his feet. His vomit was mixed with blood, and he knew he would never be able to eat that food again. "Shit," he wiped off his cheek. "Where are we?" He looked around, and sure enough, it looked like a hospital
Invidia FORTY-THREE
"Madison! Please come back with me. They don't need Carly and Justin, which means we do." Cameron pointed out the obvious. "Clearly, them being here would mess up the project, otherwise they wouldn't have even bothered. Would they? They'd have just killed them and gotten it over with."Madison turned around, eyes wider than he'd ever seen them. "They're needed for something else.""Is there something bigger than Project Invidia?" Cameron pinched his nose. "Damn," he muttered."There has to be, otherwise like you said, they'd have just killed them off already.""Shit, you're right. We need to find them." Cameron started backtracking."Cam, we fell through the floor. How exactly do you expect us to find them?" Madison put her hands on her hips."Good point. Madison van Buren," he put his hands on her shoulders, steadying them both at the same time, "you are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I want you to know that. I want you to know if it weren't for you, I probably woul
Invidia FORTY-FOUR
"What the hell makes you say that?" Madison asked."God, that's so like him," he muttered to himself. He walked over to a man. The man was strapped to a table with tubes attached to his chest. He also had a mask over his face, one that looked like an older mask, the kind they used to put over asthmatic patients when they needed help breathing."Cameron," Madison yanked his arm. "Look at me." He turned around slowly. "Why do you say that he's stealing their oxygen?"He gestured at the man's feet. "Do you see that giant metal tank? I can tell that the masks on their face are collecting it. Those tanks used to give oxygen, so what makes you think they can't take it as well?""Except for the fact those people aren't breathing out oxygen. They're breathing out carbon dioxide.""They're not though. I think he's stealing it from their lungs.""How?""Do you see these tubes here?" He pointed to the tubes suctioned onto the man's chest. "I think those are filtering out the stuff Hendrickson do
Invidia FORTY-FIVE
"Wait, wait, wait." Madison said. "Hold on. How does he steal all of their oxygen? And how does he know that what he's doing works?""I don't know, but I have an idea who might." Cameron said."Who would that be?""My professor at San Vanjay's, the one who was writing about biomolecular physics.""And how do we know we can trust him?" Madison asked.Cameron gulped, "We don't, but what other choice do we have?"*****"How exactly did they wipe themselves out?" Carly asked the little girl."They made themselves known too quickly.""In what way?"Adalia gave a smile, "Have you ever heard of the Beginning?"Justin worked hard to keep his face as straight as possible. "I think I might have heard it somewhere. Why?""They were the ones who put me here, gave me a chance at becoming a part of the Project."Carly piped up this time, "And was that your choice, to leave?"She smiled sadly at the ground, "Not at first, no. I did not want to leave my mother and my father, but they understood. The