LOCKED (8 page)

"Ok! So as I’ve already
told you, Leo, you have regenerative tissue. Well, highly advanced regenerative
tissue, if that makes more sense. Your blood cells are much more effective at
fixing wounds, to put it in a very brief nutshell. That said, we have all the
living essentials here if you chose to stay! We
need
to study the blood
samples we have, and it’d be wonderful to have the source right here."
Beich
described this with a bit of timidness toward the
end, tapping his fingers together.

“So I’m supposed to be your
lab rat? I haven’t been through that already?” I asked in a somewhat accusatory
tone.

 "You have to
think about this. There is literally nothing out there but war and wasteland.
Where else do you have to go?" Eddy butted in before letting me continue.

"I, uh, know it might
sound
kinda
cruel, but..." he looked down and
rubbed the back of his neck, "... your world out there? It’s gone. You
really don’t have anywhere else TO go. It’s not like we’re killing you here
anyway." he gravely stated. I felt hopelessness bubble up inside, not just
over what he said, but the truthfulness behind it. I took one more look at
Danni, and the light seemed to diminish in her eyes, but a certain passion was
still there; I could see that she wasn't ready to extinguish the flame
completely, not just yet. 

"So... I know it's
tough. I uh... you, well... you'll be alright. We’ll give you little jobs for
your first few weeks so you can get used to the place. We have plenty of cots
for you two to sleep in, better get a lot of rest after the hell you’ve been
through." Eddy explained. He didn't want to say just what that task would
be, but I had a feeling that I would be a janitor in addition to an experiment
for some time.

"So... what do we do
with the rest of the day?" I asked.

"Rest of the day? It's
already night! Get in bed!" he laughed. I was taken aback by how easy it
was to lose track of the time when you couldn’t see the sun. After the initial
uneasiness wore off, I tried to get comfy in the cot I was supposed to sleep
in. Another cot was pulled in from another room so Danni could sleep beside me.
Just as quickly as night had descended, the lights went out and Danni and I
were plunged into darkness. I closed my eyes, and made a laughable attempt to
sleep. How could I sleep in peace again? This would be my first night's sleep
after being haunted by hallucinations of demons, being in a crippling coma,
chased by helicopters, and almost losing my life. Danni seemed to be able to
read my mind.

"Leo?"

"Danni?"

"We'll be ok. I trust
these guys."

"Are you serious? They
just picked us up today and roped us into working for ‘
em
."

"Would I let you do
anything that I thought you couldn't handle?"

"...I guess."

"Guess that I would or
wouldn't?"

"Wouldn't! For God’s
sake, anything else, ma'am?"

"Yes, a latte. Don't
make it too hot. Oh, and a back massage. Chop
chop
!"
I smiled, and felt safe again. My mind began slipping away once more, only it
was under my own control...

And so the cycle of days
within the facility began. The duties that were assigned seemed to eventually
blend into one, and living became gray, monotonous. For both Danni and myself,
survival depended upon the other; our friendship became the fuel that drove us
onward through a life within the mechanized behemoth. Typically, the day
started with Eddy shouting at us to wake up; we usually had no idea what the
time was, as we didn’t have a clock in the room we slept in. As soon as we
rubbed the sleep from our eyes, we were handed the tools (although the word
“tools” suggests that they were effective in completing the job) necessary for
that day’s task. Our work was usually spent trying to clean the decrepit
facility, but every once in a blue moon it was a little more involved than
that. On a lucky day, we would give a few of the many vehicles in the hanger a
quick test drive and check-up to make sure that everything was in working
order. As soon as the check-ups were complete, Danni and I would strap on
Eddy’s old pairs of goggles and take one of the vehicles for a joyride around
the gargantuan box of a hanger (though always staying well out of reach of the
grated floors in the center; we never did trust those). Driving around at
breakneck speeds became something to look forward to on those off days, even
though our lungs would be full of dust by the end of it. Still, the average day
was much more lackluster. Meals, a shower, and rest were all that we really had
to look forward to once we were told that night fell, seeing as the sun seemed
to shy away from our sight. Once night approached, a sort of ritual had been
formed: at the end of each day of fate’s new creation, I asked a tired,
scrapped, and incensed Danni one question before turning the lights out:

“So…still trust these guys?”

Her reply was always a
soul-penetrating glare before taking her glasses off and turning the lights out
by her bed without breaking eye contact.

One of the most notable
parts of our existence in the facility was the lack of fresh air. We were never
given a chance to go outside, seeing as our menial little jobs required us to
stay deep within the steel labyrinth. It seemed like so long since I had seen
the sun, even though I had probably only been within the facility a few days by
that point. Natural light seemed so scarce that I had to wonder if Eddy’s eyes
had adjusted to subterranean-like conditions underneath those red goggles he
always wore.

Speaking of Eddy’s existence
in the metallic caverns, Danni tended to butt heads with him when given
directions. Wherever, whenever she was given a “do this, this, and that”, Danni
would faithfully respond with a “why?” It was probably due to Danni seeing her
own behavior as refusal to be a slave, which then involuntarily included
refusal that U.S.P.L. was our only hope for survival in a world desolate.
Still, she seemed to only confront his role as a leader. On the off-chance that
they crossed paths off-duty, they shared a mutual respect. The three of us
formed a trio that, while stress-inducing at times, ultimately made the factory
life as healthy as possible (of course, only speaking in terms of mental health
rather than physical).

One afternoon, maybe two
weeks after we had first arrived, Eddy sent us to do some maintenance in the
iron jungle I had seen when I first arrived. We were handed a clipboard with a
checklist and essentially told to make sure everything was in working order
without any prior experience or supervision. Needless to say…it became a
nightmare.

Danni and I had no sort of
guide as to where this lever or that monitor was. We had no idea where the
ladder to the pressure gauge was. There wasn’t even a hint as to where the
“central conveyer system” was. Our best bet was to simply examine every object
in sight and mark down whatever statistics Eddy was looking for to the best of
our ability. The numerous drones and bots on predetermined pathways didn’t help
much, either. They littered the floor, clambered and climbed over machinery,
and whizzed through the air. Their electronic language unheard by us made us
feel suspicious, as though they were talking, teasing, plotting behind our
backs.

At one point, while I was
trying to make sense of a series of dials and measurements in a corner of the
mechanic undergrowth, I heard a sharp expletive come from Danni some distance
away.

“Danni? Everything ok?” I
shouted behind me.

“…It’s nothing!” she replied
back after a delay. I stared ahead for a second or two, thinking over what may
have happened, until I realized that whatever she had done really wasn’t my
problem…

…Until a loud “pop!” and the
sound of cracking glass preceded every bit of machinery in the facility going
out at once. Robots, lights, ventilation, conveyors... all shut off.

“…Well, that just happened.”
I stated in as neutral a way as I could.

“YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT IT DID!”
I heard Eddy shout as a door slammed open near the two of us. I saw the beam of
his flashlight waving around, poking holes in the darkness between machines.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Danni oh-so-slyly slip through the door
behind him, obviously not wanting to take the blame. I took a step forward to
make the very same escape, but knocked my foot against a metal bar on the floor
that I hadn’t seen. As fortune would have it, I immediately found the
flashlight shining in my face.

Soon after, Eddy turned the
emergency generator on, and it produced a series of very dim lights throughout
the facility. The eyes on the ceiling that previously stalked our every
movement with a blood-bath of light suddenly seemed to have a dulled interest.
I found Danni in a sleeping quarter nearby, and she didn’t look the least bit
guilty.

“So? How did things go?” she
asked.

“
What do you think?”
I grudgingly replied, rubbing the bruise on the back of my head that I had just
received after being discovered as the “culprit”.

“Ooh, sorry!” she winced.
After a few awkward moments of silence, Danni looked right into my eyes.

"...yes, I do still
trust these guys."
she grinned with the utmost sense of
smugness. I couldn’t help but tense up, but at the same time, new memories were
being made. The facility was up and running at one-hundred percent efficiency
again by the time the next morning came. For some reason or another, Danni and
I were never allowed in that assembly zone of the facility again.

"UPUPUP!
Gettup
!
Gettup
!" Eddy
could've been ringing a massive bell in my face for all I knew, because his
booming voice drowned out anything else. My eyes shot open, but I should have
been more used to the schedule after about a month of living in the facility.

Eddy chuckled. I noticed
that the room was a little bit more brightly lit than before, but not by much.
It was still the rusty sort of light filtered through the dust. I groggily
swung my legs over the side of the cot, and lazily dragged my feet wherever
Eddy was leading me today. He pointed to several doors along the hallway.

"Wash up and shower n'
stuff in here right now, get new clothes over there, get a hot meal in here,
and at the end of the hallway's the door where you'll meet up with me and
Danni. Today’s a little different." he directed. I nodded, and proceeded
to get my new day started.

I took my shower and changed
into a new pair of jeans, a new shirt, and a light jacket. Next, I got my
"hot" meal (this oatmeal might have been hot five hours ago...). I
forced the heavy steel door open, and was in a lobby of sorts. A sigh-worthy,
wide open space with cafeteria tables in a few places and light sneaking,
filtering in from the ceiling, similar to that in Tank's room. It was so
reminiscent of the old, normal days. Danni and Eddy were sitting at one of the
tables and motioned me over. I sat down beside Danni, noticing that she had
changed into an aquamarine blouse and ripped jeans. Eddy was on the other side
of the table, wearing essentially the same outfit as every day before.

"Ok! So... this being
your first REAL job at U.S.P.L., I just have to tell you how things go. I'll be
the one assigning you jobs,
kinda
like how I have
been so far. I'm basically your supervisor.” The new procedure seemed so formal
after a month of having cleaning duty…I guess Danni and I proved we were ready
for a promotion.