WHAT LIES BEYOND
Chapter 2- Together
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The end of waiting, the end to mystery
The holographic portrait
The river's faded, the stars will sleep with me
We only wanted to feel this
Frail machine
The end of feeling, now with a whisper, gone
"Fragile Machine" by Every Hour Kills
The holographic portrait
The river's faded, the stars will sleep with me
We only wanted to feel this
Frail machine
The end of feeling, now with a whisper, gone
"Fragile Machine" by Every Hour Kills
Day 1
Adam's heart skipped a beat. "What?"
"It makes sense!" declared Mira.
Adam shook his head. Real life? But... he didn't recognize this place. At all. If this was real life, shouldn't he be getting his memories back by now? But if she was right and this was real life, well... "I can't accept that."
"I don't like the thought either," said Mira, a disturbed glint in her eyes. "But I can't help but feel like it's true. My whole life already feels like a dream."
Both teens looked at Kai to see what he would say. He was silent, lost in thought. Then he noticed his friends staring at him. "What are you looking at me for?" he snapped. "I'm just as confused as you guys."
Adam crossed his arms. "Well, we did run---"
"My program. I know." Kai groaned. "I wish I knew what was going on; really, I do. I mean... this could be real life. It could be another virtual world. But I don't know and it's not a part of that program I've ever heard about."
Adam sighed. "Well... wherever or... whatever reality we are, I think we should get a handle on our surroundings," he announced. "The sooner we find out where we are, the better." He turned and marched toward the door. Like the closet, it was unlocked. He cautiously edged it open and poked his head through the gap.
An empty hallway stretched across the way, with no visible end on either side. The walls were a dull grey, and the air had a metallic flavor to it. The corridor was spacious and well-lit--- meant for frequent traffic, Adam realized. He gave the door a nudge and let it open further as Mira and Kai approached. He stepped aside. "Take a look."
His two friends stood in the doorway and looked from side to side. "Where do you think we are?" asked Kai.
"Some sort of complex, looks like," Mira replied. "Let's look and see." She stepped out of the room, each footfall resonating with a quiet metallic "thmp". Adam joined Kai in the doorway to watch. She wandered down the left side of the corridor. She paused and strained her neck to get a look around the blind curve. "There's more doors this way," she announced.
Adam and Kai approached cautiously. "Anyone down there?" Adam asked.
Mira began to turn the knob of one door. "Don't see anyone." She pushed the door open and peered inside. "There's nobody in here either."
Adam stopped behind her and took a peek for himself. It looked exactly like the room they had just left--- only it was empty. He felt the smallest pinch of unease. "Let's go down further," he suggested. If this place was as big as it seemed, there was bound to be someone somewhere.
The teens continued down the corridor. They found not only other doors, but more intersecting passageways that were full of even more doors. This whole place was starting to look more and more like an impossible maze. Adam kept a mental note of the direction the door numbers were counting so they could find their way back to their room. He didn't know why he felt the need to consider one of many interchangeable rooms their home base, but it was as good as any at this point.
"Wow. Just how big is this place?" Kai asked aloud.
"That's anyone's guess," Adam murmured in response.
Kai gasped. "Oh wait, hold on!" The other two paused and turned to look at him. The redhead appeared to be thinking intensely about something, his brow scrunched and his fingers pressed to his temple. "Need to find some... oh, what's the word... Scheme... Stem... Schematics! That's it! We've gotta find some schematics!" Kai dashed ahead of his friends with purpose. Mira and Adam followed.
Mira called after him. "Where are you going, Kai? We don't even know where a schematic is!"
"I have a hunch!" Kai replied.
They ran until Kai skidded to a halt in front of an indented section of wall. Built into the wall was a screen. Kai smiled and turned to face his friends as they stopped beside him. "I saw a few of these things along the way," he announced, breathless. He started to feel around for a power button. "I was hoping we could see if there's any information about where we are or what this place is. If there's screens, there's gotta be computers, right? And where there's computers, there's gotta be info." He huffed. "If I can find a power switch somewhere..."
Mira leaned in and tapped the screen with one finger. It activated. Kai drooped, embarrassed. "Of course it's touch-activated," he grumbled to himself.
The screen showed a white background with a light blue text logo in the center: AARC. Text reading "swipe to enter" flashed softly below the logo.
"Aarc?" Adam wondered aloud. "What does that stand for?"
Kai swiped the screen. "Let's find out." The screen morphed into a menu. A series of four options presented themselves beneath the AARC logo: Floor Info, Floor Map, Patient Info, AARC Helpline.
"Try 'Floor Map'," said Adam.
Kai did so, but not without an irked glance sent in Adam's direction. The teens looked up at the screen as a map appeared. Adam leaned in closer.
"Pretty good hunch, huh?" Kai asked.
Adam ignored the proud remark. There was a red dot in one hall which indicated their current location--- in the middle of a tangle of halls spotted with rooms--- nothing they hadn't already seen over the past twenty minutes. "Try widening the visible area."
Kai tried--- he dragged his finger across the screen in any direction he could, growing more frustrated every second he failed to change the display. "Ugh! I can't get it to show any more."
"Go back and try 'Floor Info' then," said Adam. "There's bound to be a list of rooms there. See if you can find some sort of main office or control center."
Meanwhile Mira had been standing back, arms folded, sending the occasional glance over her shoulder. Now she stood with with her head turned back, focused on something. "Adam? Kai? Did either of you guys hear that?"
Adam turned his head. Dead silence. "Hear what?"
"Those shuddering, groany noises. They're gone now, but I swear I heard them."
"Probably vents or pipes," said Kai, who still faced the screen. He was scrolling down a list. "There's all these rooms, but there's no main control area or directions to any of these places." He turned to his friends and pointed at the screen. "On the bright side, at least there's a kitchen mentioned."
"Thank goodness," Mira breathed.
"Even better, there's bathrooms!" Kai exclaimed. A look of horror then crossed his face. "Wait... if we were in those... pods or whatever for however long it takes for us to forget how to walk... how did we go to the bathroom?"
Of course that would be the most burning question on Kai's mind. Although, Adam had to admit, it was a good question. They obviously hadn't eaten or gone to the toilet at any point while in those pods, yet they all seemed to be healthy besides the initial footing problem. They had been in there for a while, no doubt--- that is, if any of this was even real. "I'm... still not willing to discount the possibility of this still being some hologame. However we ended up here."
"Believe me, I hope it's a hologame," said Mira. "I really do hope it's not real. I can't explain it, but... something inside me just tells me that it is."
Kai had returned to the map screen to once more attempt to get it to load further paths. "I believe you, Mira," he said. "There's no way all this is in my basic diagnostic program." He flusteredly swiped at the screen, to no avail.
"I know, but..." The sense of unease rose in Adam once again. He sighed. "C'mon guys." This was all too real for comfort. Too... familiar. It was like the Hollow all over again, only more perplexing. "Kai, we can try the map later. I want to find that kitchen. We'll all feel better once we've eaten something."
Kai grunted in frustration and swiped back to the main menu. "Great! If only we knew our way to the kitchen," he steamed.
"We'll find it," Mira assured him. "Where there's a will..."
"There's a way. I know." He paced closer to Mira and Adam, clasping his chin with one hand. "Now. If I were a kitchen, where would I be?"
Adam turned away with a subtle but affectionate roll of his eyes. "Let's just keep walking," he suggested. "We're bound to run into it eventually." He forged ahead in the direction they had been going.
"Adam, wait," Mira spoke. Adam stopped and turned to face her. There was a spark of excited inspiration in her eye. "One of those B hallways we passed a while back, close to where we started. It had less rooms. And bigger doors."
Adam raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"Let's just say I have a hunch too." She gestured for the boys to follow her and turned back to go the way they came. Together they fast-walked through the endless string of doors and secondary hallways. Adam was sure to count down the room numbers again, just to make sure Mira was leading them the right way. But as usual, her sense of direction was impeccable, and the teens were soon drawing close to their starting point.
Just as Adam observed this, Mira drew to a halt in front of one secondary corridor. "This is it." With no hesitation, she strode inside. Adam and Kai followed. Mira paused in front of the first door. She let out an excited gasp and stepped inside. Adam could feel his heart beat faster as he picked his pace up to a jog. Could she have found it?
His heart leaped as he peered into the open doorway. Inside was what appeared to be some sort of food prep area--- and there was an entire wall lined with some form of compartmentalized food storage system. Yes! "Mira, you're amazing!" he blurted.
Mira sent him a pleasantly surprised smile. "Thanks! I mean, it was only a guess, but..."
"I wonder if this food's any good?" Adam wondered aloud.
Kai skidded to a stop beside Adam. "Mira, did we actually find it?" He looked at her first, then at the compartment wall. Then he locked up. Kai's pupils dilated at the sight of the compartments full of fruits, vegetables, and nuts before him. "Food," he said. He made a beeline toward the shelves, resembling a zombie in dire pursuit of brains. Adam grabbed his friend's arm before he got too far. "Hey! Leggo!" Kai snapped.
"Kai, hold on a minute. We don't know if it's safe."
"Well we'll never know if we don't try!" Kai insisted. He shoved Adam's arm away with surprising force. "Besides..." His tone softened. "I'm the most expendable of us anyway."
Mira gasped. "Kai, don't say things like that!"
Kai slumped, upset from her words. "Sorry," he muttered. "I think it's this place. Something about it." His eyes turned distant.
Mira sighed. She turned back toward the storage compartments. "I'll try it."
"Mira!" Adam exclaimed.
"Kai's right. Someone has to find out if it's safe to eat," said Mira. "I led us here. I should be the one to do it."
"Maybe there's another way," Adam suggested. "Like... an expiration date or something."
"If there was, it wouldn't be helpful anyway," said Kai. "We don't know how long we were in that machine but it might not have been that long. I say one of us goes for it." He paused. "Fifty-fifty chance of living, right?"
Mira nodded. "It's better chances than starvation."
Adam knew his friends were right. If the food was safe to eat, it could sustain them all for a while. If it was bad, their quicker death would still be preferable to a long, slow, pitiful death from starvation. He may not have known whether this place was real or not, but he thought it best to treat the situation with as much consideration as possible.
"OK." He squared his shoulders and marched toward one container of apples. "But I'll be the one to try it." He pulled a lever beside one compartment. The drawer unlocked with a click.
"Adam, wait!"
"You're not stopping me, Mira," said Adam. He opened the compartment drawer.
"Let's all do it together."
Adam hesitated.
"Each other is all we've got now," Mira told him. "If we go through with this, we should all do it together."
"Yeah," Kai agreed.
Adam sighed. "All right." He grabbed three apples and tossed one to each of his companions. "Together."
And they all took a bite.
It tasted... fresh. It was a bit cold, but it tasted fine. Almost too fine for Adam--- He was automatically suspicious of anything that seemed perfect. But even he had to admit it was better than aged, rotten food.
"Seems harmless enough," Mira remarked, taking another bite.
Adam was going to ask Kai what he thought, but the redhead's enthusiastic munching told him all he needed to know. He chuckled. "Slow down, Kai. It's not as if it's going to run away if you stop to chew."
Kai mumbled a response, unable to speak around the apple.
Mira laughed. "Kai! You look like a chipmunk!"
Kai scrunched his eyebrows. He finished chewing, swallowed, and immediately started talking. "I can't help it! This is the best apple I've ever tasted!" He crunched into it again.
Mira turned to Adam. "He is kinda right. This is a good apple."
"Yeah," Adam agreed without enthusiasm. That nagging concern of this was too perfect rose again in his mind, and this time, he couldn't choke it back down. He forced down the bite that was already in his mouth and stared at the partly-eaten fruit, no longer hungry. The uneasy feeling from before had settled into his stomach and stolen his appetite. How could this feel so real yet so... wrong? This apple tasted fake. Even food in the Hollow tasted more real than this.
Disenchanted, he wandered away from his friends and took a quick tour around the kitchen. There was an island in the middle of the area where they now stood. An open doorway led to another section which contained various cooking supplies and appliances. There was an industrial stove, a large sink, and many more cabinets and shelves full of dishes and silverware. It seemed to be a place where many had their meals prepared for them.
"So where are they?" he whispered to himself.
Mira overheard him. "Where are what, Adam?"
Adam turned back around to face her. "Where are the people?" He threw his arms outward. "There's all this space. All these rooms, all this food storage, all these appliances. And the only people here are the three of us." He plunked his apple onto the center island. "Nothing about this makes any sense."
There was silence from both Kai and Mira for a few moments. Adam paced around the island to rejoin them. "I don't know what to make of any of it," he admitted softly.
"Maybe there was some big disaster and everyone ran away," suggested Kai.
"Everything looks fine to me," Adam replied. "I mean, we're all alive and breathing. The lights and food storage are both working. Obviously those pods had to have been working. I'd think if there had been some big disaster, then things would look a lot worse around here."
"But that's what makes it so mysterious!" squeaked Kai, his electric blue eyes wide. He took an excited bite of his apple.
The younger teen's almost enthusiastic tone sent a wave of irritation through Adam's gut. He frowned. "This is serious, Kai."
"I am taking it seriously," Kai snapped back. "I just said it was mysterious. Besides, if you still think we're in another video game, why does it even matter to you?"
"Guys, cut it out," interrupted Mira, her brow furrowed. "We don't want to start all that again." She sighed and faced Adam, her silvery green eyes melting into his. "We're all confused. Let's just all try to get along while we're still figuring this out. Together, remember?"
Adam swallowed as he pondered what she'd said. He nodded. "Right. Together."
Mira turned to Kai. "Right, Kai?"
Kai sent a final glare in Adam's direction before he at last sighed and capitulated. "Ugh. Right." He took a final bite of his apple while sending a snarky but good-natured glare toward his friend. Adam grunted, but said nothing. It was just typical Kai behavior. Why should the redhead's antics even bother him anymore?
Mira let out a sigh of relief. "So it's just the three of us," she stated.
A dry smile worked its way onto Adam's face. "Just like old times."
"Yeah." She drummed her fingernails on the center island. "So I guess all we can do right now is get comfortable and learn as we go."
At that moment, the lights dimmed in the hall outside. Adam and Mira both turned around to look at Kai, who had Adam's unwanted apple crammed partways into his mouth. He froze and gave them a deer-in-the-headlights stare, then raised his hands in surrender. "It wasn't me!" he squeaked.
A familiar voice crackled to life over the intercom. "Attention AARC guests! The time is now 9:00 PM and the hall lights will be completely out in just thirty minutes! So, if you're not already there, head back down to your rooms. Thank you!" It cut off.
Mira laughed. "Oh my gosh. Was that Weirdy?"
"Sounded like him," agreed Adam with an amused smile.
"At least we know he's real," said Mira. Her smile shifted into a thoughtful frown. "He's not here though, is he? That sounded like a recording."
"Wait a minute! We got here like, an hour ago, right?" Kai questioned. "It was eight in the morning when we showed up here. It's like, the exact opposite half of the day here."
Mira yawned. "Well, I'm tired. If it's bed time, I'll take it."
Adam didn't want to admit it, but he was feeling tired as well. Tired and stressed. All he wanted to do was fall asleep and hope he woke up in his own bedroom come morning. Maybe this was all some fever dream. Unlikely, he knew. "Well, c'mon guys. Let's go. Don't want to be left out in the dark."
Anymore than we already are.
Adam had been tired before they'd all gone to bed. But the moment his head hit the pillow, his brain kicked into high gear. Adam found himself lost in a whirlwind of thoughts. Thoughts of this place. This situation. Whether or not this was real life or yet another elaborate computer hoax. To tell the truth, he was still waiting for Kai's mom to rip off the VR equipment at any moment. This place was weird. Everything felt more real than before, yet it also seemed... artificial, somehow. Like everything was set up for a purpose. He didn't care how real it felt--- in his eyes, this looked like a game. Too many things didn't add up.
All he wanted to do was sleep, but the thoughts kept him awake. And the fact that these pods made it impossible to comfortably lie in any position but face-up wasn't helpful either. Adam had always been a side-sleeper, and lying on his back made him want to do nothing more than to turn to either side, shift his legs around--- anything that wasn't the stiff position the pod forced him to take!
At last, he bolted up in frustration. He squinted across the room to his friends, both sound asleep. Mira's head was turned to the side, her hands folded over her torso. Kai's legs were draped atop the end of his pod, arms folded behind his neck, his head barely touching the pillow. He was snoring softly. Peacefully. Adam wondered if they were dreaming.
He jumped when he heard a metallic creaking noise from somewhere far below--- faint, but there. Adam recalled what Mira had said earlier--- that she'd heard a similar noise. And it was so far below that... oh. That meant that this place, as big as it was, had to have multiple floors. He groaned softly and flumped back onto his pillow. They had a long day ahead of them. He needed proper rest if he hoped to take it on well, with the grace and confidence his friends expected of him.
We've faced a strange, unknown situation before, he thought, slipping his eyes shut. And we got through it. He only hoped they would be able to do the same this time around.
"It makes sense!" declared Mira.
Adam shook his head. Real life? But... he didn't recognize this place. At all. If this was real life, shouldn't he be getting his memories back by now? But if she was right and this was real life, well... "I can't accept that."
"I don't like the thought either," said Mira, a disturbed glint in her eyes. "But I can't help but feel like it's true. My whole life already feels like a dream."
Both teens looked at Kai to see what he would say. He was silent, lost in thought. Then he noticed his friends staring at him. "What are you looking at me for?" he snapped. "I'm just as confused as you guys."
Adam crossed his arms. "Well, we did run---"
"My program. I know." Kai groaned. "I wish I knew what was going on; really, I do. I mean... this could be real life. It could be another virtual world. But I don't know and it's not a part of that program I've ever heard about."
Adam sighed. "Well... wherever or... whatever reality we are, I think we should get a handle on our surroundings," he announced. "The sooner we find out where we are, the better." He turned and marched toward the door. Like the closet, it was unlocked. He cautiously edged it open and poked his head through the gap.
An empty hallway stretched across the way, with no visible end on either side. The walls were a dull grey, and the air had a metallic flavor to it. The corridor was spacious and well-lit--- meant for frequent traffic, Adam realized. He gave the door a nudge and let it open further as Mira and Kai approached. He stepped aside. "Take a look."
His two friends stood in the doorway and looked from side to side. "Where do you think we are?" asked Kai.
"Some sort of complex, looks like," Mira replied. "Let's look and see." She stepped out of the room, each footfall resonating with a quiet metallic "thmp". Adam joined Kai in the doorway to watch. She wandered down the left side of the corridor. She paused and strained her neck to get a look around the blind curve. "There's more doors this way," she announced.
Adam and Kai approached cautiously. "Anyone down there?" Adam asked.
Mira began to turn the knob of one door. "Don't see anyone." She pushed the door open and peered inside. "There's nobody in here either."
Adam stopped behind her and took a peek for himself. It looked exactly like the room they had just left--- only it was empty. He felt the smallest pinch of unease. "Let's go down further," he suggested. If this place was as big as it seemed, there was bound to be someone somewhere.
The teens continued down the corridor. They found not only other doors, but more intersecting passageways that were full of even more doors. This whole place was starting to look more and more like an impossible maze. Adam kept a mental note of the direction the door numbers were counting so they could find their way back to their room. He didn't know why he felt the need to consider one of many interchangeable rooms their home base, but it was as good as any at this point.
"Wow. Just how big is this place?" Kai asked aloud.
"That's anyone's guess," Adam murmured in response.
Kai gasped. "Oh wait, hold on!" The other two paused and turned to look at him. The redhead appeared to be thinking intensely about something, his brow scrunched and his fingers pressed to his temple. "Need to find some... oh, what's the word... Scheme... Stem... Schematics! That's it! We've gotta find some schematics!" Kai dashed ahead of his friends with purpose. Mira and Adam followed.
Mira called after him. "Where are you going, Kai? We don't even know where a schematic is!"
"I have a hunch!" Kai replied.
They ran until Kai skidded to a halt in front of an indented section of wall. Built into the wall was a screen. Kai smiled and turned to face his friends as they stopped beside him. "I saw a few of these things along the way," he announced, breathless. He started to feel around for a power button. "I was hoping we could see if there's any information about where we are or what this place is. If there's screens, there's gotta be computers, right? And where there's computers, there's gotta be info." He huffed. "If I can find a power switch somewhere..."
Mira leaned in and tapped the screen with one finger. It activated. Kai drooped, embarrassed. "Of course it's touch-activated," he grumbled to himself.
The screen showed a white background with a light blue text logo in the center: AARC. Text reading "swipe to enter" flashed softly below the logo.
"Aarc?" Adam wondered aloud. "What does that stand for?"
Kai swiped the screen. "Let's find out." The screen morphed into a menu. A series of four options presented themselves beneath the AARC logo: Floor Info, Floor Map, Patient Info, AARC Helpline.
"Try 'Floor Map'," said Adam.
Kai did so, but not without an irked glance sent in Adam's direction. The teens looked up at the screen as a map appeared. Adam leaned in closer.
"Pretty good hunch, huh?" Kai asked.
Adam ignored the proud remark. There was a red dot in one hall which indicated their current location--- in the middle of a tangle of halls spotted with rooms--- nothing they hadn't already seen over the past twenty minutes. "Try widening the visible area."
Kai tried--- he dragged his finger across the screen in any direction he could, growing more frustrated every second he failed to change the display. "Ugh! I can't get it to show any more."
"Go back and try 'Floor Info' then," said Adam. "There's bound to be a list of rooms there. See if you can find some sort of main office or control center."
Meanwhile Mira had been standing back, arms folded, sending the occasional glance over her shoulder. Now she stood with with her head turned back, focused on something. "Adam? Kai? Did either of you guys hear that?"
Adam turned his head. Dead silence. "Hear what?"
"Those shuddering, groany noises. They're gone now, but I swear I heard them."
"Probably vents or pipes," said Kai, who still faced the screen. He was scrolling down a list. "There's all these rooms, but there's no main control area or directions to any of these places." He turned to his friends and pointed at the screen. "On the bright side, at least there's a kitchen mentioned."
"Thank goodness," Mira breathed.
"Even better, there's bathrooms!" Kai exclaimed. A look of horror then crossed his face. "Wait... if we were in those... pods or whatever for however long it takes for us to forget how to walk... how did we go to the bathroom?"
Of course that would be the most burning question on Kai's mind. Although, Adam had to admit, it was a good question. They obviously hadn't eaten or gone to the toilet at any point while in those pods, yet they all seemed to be healthy besides the initial footing problem. They had been in there for a while, no doubt--- that is, if any of this was even real. "I'm... still not willing to discount the possibility of this still being some hologame. However we ended up here."
"Believe me, I hope it's a hologame," said Mira. "I really do hope it's not real. I can't explain it, but... something inside me just tells me that it is."
Kai had returned to the map screen to once more attempt to get it to load further paths. "I believe you, Mira," he said. "There's no way all this is in my basic diagnostic program." He flusteredly swiped at the screen, to no avail.
"I know, but..." The sense of unease rose in Adam once again. He sighed. "C'mon guys." This was all too real for comfort. Too... familiar. It was like the Hollow all over again, only more perplexing. "Kai, we can try the map later. I want to find that kitchen. We'll all feel better once we've eaten something."
Kai grunted in frustration and swiped back to the main menu. "Great! If only we knew our way to the kitchen," he steamed.
"We'll find it," Mira assured him. "Where there's a will..."
"There's a way. I know." He paced closer to Mira and Adam, clasping his chin with one hand. "Now. If I were a kitchen, where would I be?"
Adam turned away with a subtle but affectionate roll of his eyes. "Let's just keep walking," he suggested. "We're bound to run into it eventually." He forged ahead in the direction they had been going.
"Adam, wait," Mira spoke. Adam stopped and turned to face her. There was a spark of excited inspiration in her eye. "One of those B hallways we passed a while back, close to where we started. It had less rooms. And bigger doors."
Adam raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"Let's just say I have a hunch too." She gestured for the boys to follow her and turned back to go the way they came. Together they fast-walked through the endless string of doors and secondary hallways. Adam was sure to count down the room numbers again, just to make sure Mira was leading them the right way. But as usual, her sense of direction was impeccable, and the teens were soon drawing close to their starting point.
Just as Adam observed this, Mira drew to a halt in front of one secondary corridor. "This is it." With no hesitation, she strode inside. Adam and Kai followed. Mira paused in front of the first door. She let out an excited gasp and stepped inside. Adam could feel his heart beat faster as he picked his pace up to a jog. Could she have found it?
His heart leaped as he peered into the open doorway. Inside was what appeared to be some sort of food prep area--- and there was an entire wall lined with some form of compartmentalized food storage system. Yes! "Mira, you're amazing!" he blurted.
Mira sent him a pleasantly surprised smile. "Thanks! I mean, it was only a guess, but..."
"I wonder if this food's any good?" Adam wondered aloud.
Kai skidded to a stop beside Adam. "Mira, did we actually find it?" He looked at her first, then at the compartment wall. Then he locked up. Kai's pupils dilated at the sight of the compartments full of fruits, vegetables, and nuts before him. "Food," he said. He made a beeline toward the shelves, resembling a zombie in dire pursuit of brains. Adam grabbed his friend's arm before he got too far. "Hey! Leggo!" Kai snapped.
"Kai, hold on a minute. We don't know if it's safe."
"Well we'll never know if we don't try!" Kai insisted. He shoved Adam's arm away with surprising force. "Besides..." His tone softened. "I'm the most expendable of us anyway."
Mira gasped. "Kai, don't say things like that!"
Kai slumped, upset from her words. "Sorry," he muttered. "I think it's this place. Something about it." His eyes turned distant.
Mira sighed. She turned back toward the storage compartments. "I'll try it."
"Mira!" Adam exclaimed.
"Kai's right. Someone has to find out if it's safe to eat," said Mira. "I led us here. I should be the one to do it."
"Maybe there's another way," Adam suggested. "Like... an expiration date or something."
"If there was, it wouldn't be helpful anyway," said Kai. "We don't know how long we were in that machine but it might not have been that long. I say one of us goes for it." He paused. "Fifty-fifty chance of living, right?"
Mira nodded. "It's better chances than starvation."
Adam knew his friends were right. If the food was safe to eat, it could sustain them all for a while. If it was bad, their quicker death would still be preferable to a long, slow, pitiful death from starvation. He may not have known whether this place was real or not, but he thought it best to treat the situation with as much consideration as possible.
"OK." He squared his shoulders and marched toward one container of apples. "But I'll be the one to try it." He pulled a lever beside one compartment. The drawer unlocked with a click.
"Adam, wait!"
"You're not stopping me, Mira," said Adam. He opened the compartment drawer.
"Let's all do it together."
Adam hesitated.
"Each other is all we've got now," Mira told him. "If we go through with this, we should all do it together."
"Yeah," Kai agreed.
Adam sighed. "All right." He grabbed three apples and tossed one to each of his companions. "Together."
And they all took a bite.
It tasted... fresh. It was a bit cold, but it tasted fine. Almost too fine for Adam--- He was automatically suspicious of anything that seemed perfect. But even he had to admit it was better than aged, rotten food.
"Seems harmless enough," Mira remarked, taking another bite.
Adam was going to ask Kai what he thought, but the redhead's enthusiastic munching told him all he needed to know. He chuckled. "Slow down, Kai. It's not as if it's going to run away if you stop to chew."
Kai mumbled a response, unable to speak around the apple.
Mira laughed. "Kai! You look like a chipmunk!"
Kai scrunched his eyebrows. He finished chewing, swallowed, and immediately started talking. "I can't help it! This is the best apple I've ever tasted!" He crunched into it again.
Mira turned to Adam. "He is kinda right. This is a good apple."
"Yeah," Adam agreed without enthusiasm. That nagging concern of this was too perfect rose again in his mind, and this time, he couldn't choke it back down. He forced down the bite that was already in his mouth and stared at the partly-eaten fruit, no longer hungry. The uneasy feeling from before had settled into his stomach and stolen his appetite. How could this feel so real yet so... wrong? This apple tasted fake. Even food in the Hollow tasted more real than this.
Disenchanted, he wandered away from his friends and took a quick tour around the kitchen. There was an island in the middle of the area where they now stood. An open doorway led to another section which contained various cooking supplies and appliances. There was an industrial stove, a large sink, and many more cabinets and shelves full of dishes and silverware. It seemed to be a place where many had their meals prepared for them.
"So where are they?" he whispered to himself.
Mira overheard him. "Where are what, Adam?"
Adam turned back around to face her. "Where are the people?" He threw his arms outward. "There's all this space. All these rooms, all this food storage, all these appliances. And the only people here are the three of us." He plunked his apple onto the center island. "Nothing about this makes any sense."
There was silence from both Kai and Mira for a few moments. Adam paced around the island to rejoin them. "I don't know what to make of any of it," he admitted softly.
"Maybe there was some big disaster and everyone ran away," suggested Kai.
"Everything looks fine to me," Adam replied. "I mean, we're all alive and breathing. The lights and food storage are both working. Obviously those pods had to have been working. I'd think if there had been some big disaster, then things would look a lot worse around here."
"But that's what makes it so mysterious!" squeaked Kai, his electric blue eyes wide. He took an excited bite of his apple.
The younger teen's almost enthusiastic tone sent a wave of irritation through Adam's gut. He frowned. "This is serious, Kai."
"I am taking it seriously," Kai snapped back. "I just said it was mysterious. Besides, if you still think we're in another video game, why does it even matter to you?"
"Guys, cut it out," interrupted Mira, her brow furrowed. "We don't want to start all that again." She sighed and faced Adam, her silvery green eyes melting into his. "We're all confused. Let's just all try to get along while we're still figuring this out. Together, remember?"
Adam swallowed as he pondered what she'd said. He nodded. "Right. Together."
Mira turned to Kai. "Right, Kai?"
Kai sent a final glare in Adam's direction before he at last sighed and capitulated. "Ugh. Right." He took a final bite of his apple while sending a snarky but good-natured glare toward his friend. Adam grunted, but said nothing. It was just typical Kai behavior. Why should the redhead's antics even bother him anymore?
Mira let out a sigh of relief. "So it's just the three of us," she stated.
A dry smile worked its way onto Adam's face. "Just like old times."
"Yeah." She drummed her fingernails on the center island. "So I guess all we can do right now is get comfortable and learn as we go."
At that moment, the lights dimmed in the hall outside. Adam and Mira both turned around to look at Kai, who had Adam's unwanted apple crammed partways into his mouth. He froze and gave them a deer-in-the-headlights stare, then raised his hands in surrender. "It wasn't me!" he squeaked.
A familiar voice crackled to life over the intercom. "Attention AARC guests! The time is now 9:00 PM and the hall lights will be completely out in just thirty minutes! So, if you're not already there, head back down to your rooms. Thank you!" It cut off.
Mira laughed. "Oh my gosh. Was that Weirdy?"
"Sounded like him," agreed Adam with an amused smile.
"At least we know he's real," said Mira. Her smile shifted into a thoughtful frown. "He's not here though, is he? That sounded like a recording."
"Wait a minute! We got here like, an hour ago, right?" Kai questioned. "It was eight in the morning when we showed up here. It's like, the exact opposite half of the day here."
Mira yawned. "Well, I'm tired. If it's bed time, I'll take it."
Adam didn't want to admit it, but he was feeling tired as well. Tired and stressed. All he wanted to do was fall asleep and hope he woke up in his own bedroom come morning. Maybe this was all some fever dream. Unlikely, he knew. "Well, c'mon guys. Let's go. Don't want to be left out in the dark."
Anymore than we already are.
Adam had been tired before they'd all gone to bed. But the moment his head hit the pillow, his brain kicked into high gear. Adam found himself lost in a whirlwind of thoughts. Thoughts of this place. This situation. Whether or not this was real life or yet another elaborate computer hoax. To tell the truth, he was still waiting for Kai's mom to rip off the VR equipment at any moment. This place was weird. Everything felt more real than before, yet it also seemed... artificial, somehow. Like everything was set up for a purpose. He didn't care how real it felt--- in his eyes, this looked like a game. Too many things didn't add up.
All he wanted to do was sleep, but the thoughts kept him awake. And the fact that these pods made it impossible to comfortably lie in any position but face-up wasn't helpful either. Adam had always been a side-sleeper, and lying on his back made him want to do nothing more than to turn to either side, shift his legs around--- anything that wasn't the stiff position the pod forced him to take!
At last, he bolted up in frustration. He squinted across the room to his friends, both sound asleep. Mira's head was turned to the side, her hands folded over her torso. Kai's legs were draped atop the end of his pod, arms folded behind his neck, his head barely touching the pillow. He was snoring softly. Peacefully. Adam wondered if they were dreaming.
He jumped when he heard a metallic creaking noise from somewhere far below--- faint, but there. Adam recalled what Mira had said earlier--- that she'd heard a similar noise. And it was so far below that... oh. That meant that this place, as big as it was, had to have multiple floors. He groaned softly and flumped back onto his pillow. They had a long day ahead of them. He needed proper rest if he hoped to take it on well, with the grace and confidence his friends expected of him.
We've faced a strange, unknown situation before, he thought, slipping his eyes shut. And we got through it. He only hoped they would be able to do the same this time around.