The trucks stop in the vicinity of the concrete funnels.
Kelly seriously freaks when she sees kade heading for the elevator, “No way Kade! On no account do we go out there,” she screams this sentence with such an insanely high pitch that I actually have to cover my ears.
Kade runs to her, “Calm down, Kel,” he says, in his soothing voice. But Kelly keeps trembling and kind of chanting, “No, no, no – please make them go!”
He shakes her gently, “Kel, we’re safe down here, you know that. If it makes you feel better I won’t go out. We can watch what they’re doing from the monitors – OK?” He says, giving her a reassuring back rub.
She shakes her head, “No, I don’t think we’re ever fully safe from these people. I can’t stop thinking of what they were gonna do to me; surgically slice away my freaking muscles! When The Surgeon is determined to do something she makes sure it's done,” she looks at me, “Tanya, you know that, don’t you?” she asks, with a pleading tone.
I approach her, “Yes, I do. But now, there’s a difference. I was trapped, I had no where to hide, I was alone…” Kelly cuts me off, “But we’re trapped!” she shouts again, in the same high pitch screech – jeez, it hurts my ears!
Kade shouts over her, “We have a way out through our escape tunnel, Kel, you know that. Plus we have the panic rooms, but we won’t need them, cos we’re gonna beat The Surgeon!”
I do my best to reassure her, “They did what they did to me because I was alone, I had no one to help me – we’ve got each other, Kelly. There’s strength in numbers.” I say.
Kelly continues to tremble, “And we’re outnumbered – look,” she says, pointing a shaky finger toward the large monitor in the chill-out area.
……
Men are exiting from the back of the main truck.
We watch each man perform a strange ritual as he leaps from the truck: they look upwards, then drop to their knees and kiss the ground before taking their place in an orderly line along the side of the vehicle. Also, they’re all dressed in identical, surgical green work wear.
“What the fuck is going on?” asks Kade, not taking his eyes off the screen.
I count fifteen men, all standing in a row with their arms hanging rigidly by their sides; their heads are tilted upwards, all at the same precise angle. This is like, military precision.
More men in green clothing spill from the smaller trucks and indulge in the same ritual before standing by their vehicles.
…….
Kelly’s panic continues to rise, “They’re like an army. There’s only three of us and we don’t have weapons,” she manages to say this through hacking tears that have taken the edge of her high pitch.
Kade’s firm and confident in his response, “Kel, we have to watch and wait. With the limited information we’ve been given, we know these guys are here to construct something for the wedding.” He averts his gaze from the screen to Kelly, “I see no evidence of weaponry, these guys aren’t here to fight. What do you think, Tan?”
His question takes me off guard, I’ve not been looking at the monitor, I’ve been looking at Kelly – I’m worried about her, big time. “Yep, I agree, totally.” My response is designed more to help Kelly rather than a real belief in Kade’s opinion of what’s happening above us.
…….
While Kade continues to observe the goings on outside, I continue to observe Kelly. Her trembling is turning into a full on body shake and she keeps grasping her throat.
