Septiplier One-Shots

And Alive (Awake pt II)

The lovely author144 has written another chapter! It's just as fanfriggintastic as her previous one-shot too :) Enjoy~!

Mark had not been the kind of man to break the law. He was the kind of guy to abide by the rules, and he’d never really had a reason to try to go his own way. Now, as he sat in the car and stared at Jack sitting in the driver’s seat, he wasn’t sure where his life had gone. He’d taken Jack’s hand back at the hospital, jumping out the window and rolling onto the overhanging roof. They’d jumped off that, dodging around several cars full of men trying to get them, and shooting nonetheless, and finally Jack got into another vehicle and driving away after pulling the driver out and taking his gun.
Now they were speeding down the highway, their assailants lost but not far behind them, and Mark wasn’t sure what to do. Jack was in a coma for ten years, never showing signs of movement or understanding until recently, and then he just popped to life one day and was fully aware of what was going on. His hands gripped the wheel, and he was focused on the road with a bright and cheeky grin.
“Man, I feel so alive!” he shouted suddenly, and Mark leaned away from. Jack looked over at Mark before shaking his head and chuckling softly. “I suppose I owe you an explanation now, Mark. To put it in short terms, the hospital you work in is in cahoots with some secret organization operative, and they’re trying to topple the government. They’ve been slipping sedation treatments into all the patients they receive, and the more people that enter the hospital to visit, the more people that have been slipping into a “coma.” The Disease Control Center thinks its a virus spreading, but I worked at that hospital undercover before you arrived and I was trying to figure out what was going on. Once I knew, they put me under sedation as well.” I frowned in confusion.
“That doesn’t explain how you woke up. If you were under such heavy sedation for ten years almost, then how did you just wake up? Surely you didn’t build an immunity.” I said, and Jack only laughed at this, turning to shoot me a cocky smile that sent shivers down my spine.
“I have you to thank for that,” he said, and I narrowed my gaze in confusion at this. “You see, you’ve been giving me that little water IV treatment to keep my hydrated, but it's laced with the sedation. However, one of the new nurses they hired fucked it up one day, I could still hear and comprehend while under, and so before they could fix it you gave me normal water; and a single change to break free, which I did.” I looked at him with a doubtful glance, and he grinned. “Believe it or not, my body reacted well with the tiny break in sedation. I’m used to this.” I rolled my eyes, glancing up to the ceiling of the car.
“Yeah, okay. Next you’ll be telling me that you’re immune to chloroform.” I muttered, and looked over at Jack when he didn’t respond. He shot me a cheeky and proud grin, and I shook my head, my mouth gaping open. “You’re fucking kidding me.”
“Nope. I started building that immunity a long time ago by knocking myself out with it. I’m not entirely used to it, but I won’t stay under for long,” he said proudly, and I shook my head. He sighed, arms relaxing and gaze focused on the road. “This must be strange for you, I know so much about you through the stories you told me, and your personality. Your handsome face matches your voice, and it's just so one sided; so weird.” Jack whispered, and I looked over at him. He peeked a glance at me, red faced, before staring forward.
“Do we have a plan here?” I asked him, and he thought for a moment. “I mean, we hijacked a car, we stole a gun, we’re running from the government as well as an organization trying to kill them and us. What the hell are we doing?” I felt myself beginning to manifest panic. There were so many loose ends to this plan, so many ways to die, too many risks that weren’t being accounted for. Jack leaned over, resting his hand gently on my upper arm and instantly relaxing me. There was an awkward silence that stretched between us for a moment.
“I, uh, heard while I was sleeping that contact with your upper arms and shoulders calms you.” Jack admitted with a red face, and I turned to him. He wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t make the situation any better.
“That’s kinda fucking creepy.” I said, and Jack only laughed, rubbing my shoulder now and calming me further. While it was perturbing, it was also a fact, and I relaxed greatly. “What’s the plan, Jack? We can’t run forever, and we can’t just ignore the fact that there is a group sedating everyone and causing a nationwide ‘epidemic.’” I said, putting air quotes around the word. Jack nodded, his hands back on the wheel.
“You’re absolutely right,” he said, and then said nothing else.
“So what the hell are we going to do?!” I demanded after a moment of silence, startling him. Jack chuckled.
“Sorry, I was thinking to myself there for a moment, and was wondering why you weren’t saying anything about my plan.” I found myself smiling at how goofy this guy was, and he sighed, gripping the steering wheel a little tighter. “I know who’s the main guy behind everything going on, and I know where’s he hiding. I figure if we can avoid everyone else and get there, then we can blackmail him into stopping the project. I just need to get into contact with my advisors somehow. Or maybe they’ll contact me, I’m hoping they do.” Jack checked his pockets, and he snorted. “Of course, they took my phone. I couldn’t be as lucky.”
“What are you, some kind of spy?” I asked, looking at him for a moment. He looked back at me and threw his head back, laughing loudly and letting the sound out. He laughed so hard that he leaned over his wheel and nearly swerved off the road, his voice growing hoarse with the noise and how long it had been since he’d laughed.
“Some kind of spy, he says.” Jack quoted me, wiping his face and staring out the windshield. “Yah, I am. Meaning you’re stuck with me until I can get you to safety. We can get to know each other.”
“More like I can get to know you.” I muttered, and Jack looked at me with a genuine smile.
“There’s a lot more to know than one person’s ramblings on a job site, Mark.”