84437 (Part Two)

84437 (Part One) here if you missed it

Waking suddenly, he was left with the after-image of tiger bounding away into the jungle and when he opened his eyes, the room was somehow wrong. The usual box lighting had come on, only instead of being white, it was a dull red, something he had never seen before. He sat bolt upright. The door was open too, stopped midway, which in itself was highly unusual as it was always kept shut unless he was being taken to the testing room.

Not moving from the bed, he waited, listening and watching. After a while, a warm draft started to blow down the corridor and in to the room. He had already noticed the absence of the hum of air conditioning and in the quiet could make out other sounds too. A distant ringing, which he guessed was an alarm, and muffled voices so far away they were hardly there.

As nothing like this had ever happened before, he was unsure what to do with this unexpected potential for freedom. Escape. It was an impossibility. A pipe dream at best, only now it was one that had been handed to him on a plate. He allowed himself to briefly think about making a run for it, but it was too good to be true. No doubt there would be someone along soon to check on him who would lock him back in. He waited, but no-one came.

If he was going to escape, it would have to be now or never. He would have to seize the moment, but had become so conditioned, that he was unable to even set his toe outside the door. He wondered if he really could do it, if he could command his body to move and override the program that it was so used to running. Was he wise to even try? If he did where would he go? He didn't have a card, so unless other doors were open too, he would get nowhere. And if he got caught outside his room, what would they do to punish him?

It wouldn't hurt to take a look, he decided, he could do that without having to leave the room. Cautiously he rose from the bed and padded over to peer out through the gap in the door, tentatively leaning as far as he could whilst hovering behind the threshold of the doorway, an invisible force field that he was unable to cross.

The corridor was empty. What had happened whilst he had been sleeping? Why wasn't there someone out there on guard? Where had everyone gone? The ringing was still there he noted, but was a ghost now against the deafening silence. The sound of voices had gone.

Before reaching a decision as to what to do, he noticed a thin contrail of smoke drifting along the corridor, then heard a muffled cough and the tap-tap of footsteps. He wavered, holding his breath, feeling faint with terror, listening as the awkward scuffle and scrape of shoes continued to approach.

Whoever it was, they moving slowly, giving him plenty of time to rush back inside the room to his bed. He lay down and closed his eyes fearful of the punishment he would receive for being found where he shouldn't be. The sound got louder and louder until the person entered his room and, no surprise, it was a white-coat and one he hadn't seen before.

Wearing small silver rimmed glasses, this white-coat was much older than the others, in his late fifties maybe. The man looked worried, his face rough and pale. His clothes were shabby and dusty. He had been injured. There was a ragged gash on his forehead, with a dribble of blood and more drops staining his lab coat just below the collar and he hobbled badly.

After coming into the room the white-coat waved his card against the door and it slid shut. In his other hand he carried a metal briefcase, holding on to it so tightly that it made his knuckles turn white.

The man spluttered and coughed. “There’s not enough time to explain, so you will have to trust me. You must leave right away,” and the man brandished the briefcase.

“What’s going on?”

“Everything you’ll need is in here,” the white-coat said. “Don’t open it until you’re certain that you’re safe.”

“But…”

The white-coat coughed again. “Take it, please.” And as he leaned towards the bed, the ends of his lab coat swung open revealing a device strapped to his body. There was a small display showing orange-red digital numbers. 00:30.

“What’s that?” The numbers changed to 00:29, then 00:28. It was counting down. “What’s going on?”

The white-coat grimaced, quickly covering it up and considered him with sad, regretful eyes. “Something I should have done a long time ago.” The smoke was filling the room now, coming in through the gap at the bottom of the door and he rasped as it caught in his throat. “Quickly,” he urged when he could speak again. “Take it. Time is running out. And remember, don’t open the case until you’re certain that you’re safe and alone.”

And when 84437 took the briefcase the room exploded into a ball of fire.

Continued...

When the world settled it was very different to what he had known. There were no flames, he was not in the testing room and there was no debris or the ruined shell of a building. Whatever had happened, he was free, lying unscathed in the middle of a windy, grassy valley underneath a deep blue sky. He must have dropped the briefcase in shock as this was now lying at his feet, and a shard of ancient looking grey stone lay half buried in the ground where his bed had been.

This vast wilderness was breathtaking and dizzying and bewildering after being in the dark testing room and the seclusion and whiteness for so long. It was so large and there was so much to see he didn’t know where to look first, everything was demanding his attention all at once.

A strong wind blew, fresh and full of smells he had forgotten. He breathed in deeply. cherishing them and wishing for it to last forever. The sun in the sky, and the fact that he was seeing the sun and sky themselves was a joy. These were things he hadn’t seen for so long, like the smells, that they had ceased to exist for him. He stood there bathed in sunlight for as long as he dared, letting the wonder of it fill his mind until he was drowning in it.

When this glorious world remained and he wasn’t snatched away from it or waking up in the testing room, the white-coat’s words came back to him…don’t open it until you’re certain that you’re safe and alone…and he saw the case lying at his feet. Would it be a large debt and when was it due? It was too exposed to open the case here he decided.

Ahead of him was a stony hill. He planned to reach the top of the hill where he could survey his surroundings. Then, he would find a place to hide. A cave, or if there were none to be found, somewhere in the woods and once safely in hiding, he would open the briefcase.

Picking up the case he started across the feathery grasslands towards the hill until he reached a stream where he drank deeply. Once his thirst was quenched he used the stream as a guide, going upriver and following the thin bubbling body of water that wound its way through the grasslands. He felt the rise of the land through his aching legs, which were unused to walking so far, even though they had let him exercise, it clearly hadn’t been enough.

While he walked, he pondered about the identity of the white-coat who had released him, a seemingly benign man amongst the ranks of remote strangers. For what purpose had he been set free? Freedom was very sweet and it tasted great too, but was it going to come at a cost? The device that had been detonated had obviously been some kind of explosive and he remembered the room filling with fire as it had ignited. There was no denying what had happened, but where was he now and what was he supposed to do?

He considered the briefcase he now carried. What was inside it? Something precious? Was it stolen? Was it dangerous? It could be another bomb. He had been told not to open it until finding somewhere safe, and although it appeared he was alone, he couldn’t be completely certain of it. The people from that place were bound to come after him and not seeing anyone didn’t equate to them not being there. They could easily be in hiding, this place was vast and unknown to him.

The gradient of the land sharpened and the stream had narrowed and was reduced to a trickle, reaching what looked like to be the source of the stream. The ground was getting harder underfoot and full of half-buried slabs of stone, outcroppings that jutted out from the overgrown turf, forming giant steps. Smoothed by the weather, these stone steps had circles of weathering etched all over them, some containing water.

It was windy at the top of the stony hill and as it blew, miniature waves rippled across these tiny oceans, until they spilled over onto the stone, leaving behind splodges of dark patches. Plants too had found their way into the cracks and crevices, clinging on bravely and flourishing in this challenging of places.

All around him there were swathes of grassland and thick woods. The valley twisted, matching the course of the river creating a long gully with hills on either side. From where he stood, he could see many openings in the hills, covered by wild grass and shrubs bent over from strong winds. Seeing no signs of people, or for that matter animals, he explored the openings on the hill looking for a cave.

It didn’t take long before he found a small hole in the side of the hill not far from where the stream rose. This made a suitable place to hide and rest in safety. Fronted by a boulder shaped rock, the entrance was to the side, disguised by a surge of ivy that fell over it like a waterfall. Inside, it was dry and sheltered from the wind. It did not feel cold yet, his jumpsuit must be doing a good job at keeping him warm. Going outside again he gathered leafy branches to make into a bed, wondering if he would be able to make a fire if he needed to.

Finally he sat on one of the stones and taking a deep breath, opened the briefcase. He had worried that it was some kind of bomb and was extremely relieved when the bolts clicked open and nothing happened. The case held several items. Some stones and a squarish object. The stones were very pretty, egg shaped and very, very smooth. There were five of them and each looked like a large polished teardrop of amber.

He picked up the square object and the surface instantly came to life at his touch. It was a screen of some kind. A series of dots appeared and arranged themselves into a circle and turned round and round, indicating that something was happening. Then a voice spoke. He recognised it as the white-coat who had released him. It was a recording.

“If you’re hearing this then it means that I have been successful in destroying the facility. It also means that you’re alive and I’m most probably dead.” Sounding tired he continued, “84437 is your ID number. I’m afraid that I cannot tell you your name as it is too dangerous.”

“As for me, I’m a scientist.” He sounded angry. “Please understand that the experiments they were performing on you were not done by my approval. My theories were an exercise in thinking. Practical application was not my intention, but when my theories were stolen they were developed by those who had more terrible and evil motives in mind. After many regrettable failures there was only one success. You 84437. Against all the odds, you were a complete success.”

The white-coat had paused, a silence that was full of resounding remorse and he wondered just what these failures had been. By the tone of the man’s haunted voice, nightmares wouldn’t begin to describe it. And how was he classed as a success? What had they been doing to him?

“I’m sorry for everything you’ve had to go through,” the voice apologised. “And for what they, and by proxy I, have done to you. It was never my intention and I will gladly accept my place in hell if that is what God deems my penance to be.”

With his apologies and regret over, the white-coat said. “I know you want answers, but you must be patient. All will be revealed in time, but my primary concern is to ensure your immediate safety. This unit is fully interactive and holds information on survival and other subjects which will guide you. When you are ready, please hold the unit up to your eyes so that it can perform a retinal scan.”

He carefully put the unit down onto the dusty floor and stood up, wary and uncertain about putting all his faith into a machine. He peered out of the mouth of the hole, looking through the ivy curtain. Opening the case hadn’t done anything bad and it didn’t seem any different. There were no signs of human life or people coming to recapture him. He thought for a long time, finally deciding that as he didn’t know how to survive there really was no other choice in the matter. This machine might mean the difference between living and dying.

Returning and picking up the unit again, he held it level with his eyes, uncertain as to whether he was doing it correctly.

A new voice came from the unit. “Hello 84437."

I'm on the edge of my seat! What happens next?????? Intriguing story!

Well done! Looking forward to the next chapters!!

a reply to: YarlanZey

Very Good Addition to Your Tale! Very Good indeed!! I look forward to more!!! Syx.

[www.abovetopsecret.com...]84437 (part 1)[/url]
[www.abovetopsecret.com...]84437 (part 2)[/url]
[www.abovetopsecret.com...]84437 (part 3)[/url]
[www.abovetopsecret.com...]84437 (part 4)[/url]

Really enjoying this story.
Onto the next part.....