The Awakening

Chapter Two: A Calculated Risk

Justin's eyelids peeled open as he blinked repetitively, growing accustomed to the bright lights above. A solid, buzzing noise droned steadily in his mind, giving him a painful headache near his temples. His body was laid against a cold, plastic table and his limbs were buckled down on the side. A cold breeze lingered in the air around him and the room was dead silent. Turning his head slightly to the left, he saw a table with a familiar looking body rested on top. The body appeared to be masculine in shape with a mop of light colored hair sitting atop his head.
"B- Brandon, is that you?" Justin managed to whisper through his dry, crackly throat.
"Brandon. Brandon, answer me," Justin cried as his muffled voice grew louder. Taking a quick glance around, he noticed there was a slew of tables scattered around the room with seemingly lifeless bodies laid across them. Many appeared to still be under the spell the tranquilizer's anesthesia inflicted on them; however, a couple bodies on the far side of the room looked mutilated. Panic raced through his mind, and his heart rate grew to a fast rate. Justin tried to get up, but he soon realized he was subdued against the table by a buckle. His eyes fluttered back and forth frantically in a last resort attempt to find anything that would be useful. Suddenly, a pair of frosted glass doors pushed open and a warm mist floated into the chilled room. Two doctors strolled in, both of them holding syringes to administer to the waiting bodies. They were dressed in a set of teal scrubs and wore matching face masks. Justin fell back against the table and held his breath hoping to blend in with the others. The footsteps sounded as if they were getting increasingly closer to where Justin was lying down. They stopped above him and whispered under their breaths. Taking a risk, Justin cracked his left eyelid open to take a glimpse at the doctors standing above him. One was a short, dark-skinned female who appeared to be in her late fifties while the other looked to be a tall white male in his early twenties.
"Dr.Wales, patient #0475 appears to be in good mental and physical condition. Please undo the buckles and take him to the testing site," the woman said.
Justin clenched his fists as Dr.Wales loosened his restraints around his wrists. The woman, realizing Justin was displaying signs of consciousness, frantically commanded Dr.Wales to stop what he was doing. In the doctors' moment of panic, Justin took advantage and lashed out at the female doctor to his right. He swung wide and knocked her to the ground. Justin leaned forward as far as he could and took ahold of Dr.Wales scrubs. He slammed the doctor's face onto the table and pushed him back. Justin frantically worked to finish releasing his ankle restraints as Dr.Wales and his companion prepared for a fight. Justin leaped off the table and stretched to loosen up his body. Dr.Wales approached him from behind and wrapped his arms around Justin's torso. Justin struggled against the older man to no prevail. The older woman, fueled with anger, came back towards Justin and elbowed him in the stomach causing him to double over in pain. Gagging on a bloody phlegm, Justin spit on the ground and gained a sudden strength. He kicked the woman into a table, and she fell to the ground. The older doctor let out a painful moan as she failed to get back up. Justin, determined to escape, elbowed Dr.Wales in the groin and broke free from his captor's grasp. He spun around and punched the doctor in the face, disorienting the older male. Justin got ahold of a tranquilizer needle and stabbed it into the doctor's neck, causing him to fall into a dreary state of mind.
Justin raced over to his friend who, by now, had regained consciousness.
"Brandon, I"m so glad you're okay," Justin cried as he rushed to undo the buckles restraining Brandon's body. Brandon leaped off the table and followed Justin who was already on his way to the door.
"Help! Please help," a voice called out. The two boys came to a halt and turned to see where it originated from.
"We don't have time for this," Justin heaved as he turned to continue on his way. Brendan reached out and grabbed his friend's shoulder, "Well, we just can't leave her."
"Can't we?" Justin half-heartedly asked. He was genuinely conflicted about the situation. They didn't have much time; however, more people would make them a stronger pack.
"Ugh fine but gotta make it fast," Justin added before Brendan could interject. The girl was laying on a table on the other side of the room. Similar to Brendan and Justin, she was tied to a table. She gave the two boys a weak smile as they untied her. They helped her off the table, and her legs shook as they grew used to standing again.
"Thank you," the girl cried. She ran forward and hugged Brendan while Justin tapped his foot impatiently, wanting to get out as soon as possible.
"There's so many just like us," Brendan exclaimed as he looked at all the teenagers still under the anesthesia.
"What's gonna happen to them?" He questioned Justin.
"I don't know! It's not important. We saved ourselves, and that's all that matters," he spat at Brendan. Ultimately giving in against his will, Brendan took the girl's hand and followed Justin to the door.
They peered around the wall, checking for any guards or other potential threats. Pressing their bodies against the wall, they tip-toed down the long hallway. The three passed a massive amount of office rooms as they turned from hallway to hallway. Making yet another left, Justin began to gain confidence that they may actually stand a chance at escaping. Suddenly, he held out his arms stopping the other two in their tracks.
"This hallway has glass walls," Justin mentioned. "It's gonna be tricky to get past this cause we'll be completely exposed. He let out a sigh and sunk to the ground. With his back against the wall, he wrapped his arms around his knees and pressed his face into his legs. Still holding the new girl closely pressed to his body Brendan whispered, "Justin, it's going to be okay."
          Justin craned his neck upwards to see Brendan holding a smirk on his face.
     "It's nice to see someone is confident," Justin joked back. Brendan chuckled and brushed his hair out of his eyes. Justin jumped to his feet and patted his friend on the back.
     "We're gonna run and make a break for it. On three! One... Two... Three...," the three teenagers jumped from behind the corner and sprinted down the glass-walled hallway. Government offices and laboratories covered both sides and most appeared to be completely empty. At the end of the hallway a loud thumping noise bellowed from beyond the glass, causing an echo to cascade down the hallway.
     "What the..," Brendan gasped as he struggled to believe what he was seeing. Justin and the girl halted beside him and gazed at the glass room that stood before them. Young bodies were encased in liquid filled cylinders all throughout the room. In addition, a table filled with dissection tools was placed next to each of the "test subjects". They assumed it was some type of government laboratory or testing site. The door was labeled: Dr. Wales' Supernatural Testing.
     "Supernatural?" Justin questioned. He inched forward and budged the door open a crack.
     "Hello! Is anyone in here? Hah! Of course there's no one in here," Justin giggled, thinking back to when he tranquilized the doctor.
     "Then what was that pounding noise we heard?" Brendan pondered. He skittered forward, pushing past Justin, and barged his way into the room.
     "Dude, stop. We don't know what's in here," Justin demanded as he left the hallway to go stop Brendan.
     "Justin, come here," I found something. The pounding noise started again and a scrapping noise joined alongside it.
     "What now?" Justin asked rhetorically. "Let's just get out of here. Come on."
     "Justin, shut up," Brendan cried. "These people need our help."
     "I- what people," Justin questioned. "There's literally no one else here but us."
          Suddenly, Brendan came out of nowhere and dashed past Justin to the front of the room.
     "What's going on," Justin said as he followed his friend.
     "Just help me," Brendan demanded once again. Brendan grabbed one of the tables next to the "test subjects" and threw all the tools off of it. Doing the same, Justin grabbed the table and raced with Brendan to the back of the lab.
     "What the heck is this," Justin cried upon seeing what Brendan was previously talking about.
     "They're trapped," Brendan said as he gestured to the two people encaged  in a glass box. "Stand back," he yelled as he swung the table at the glass in an attempt to break it. A small sliver broke on the first layer of glass and Brendan hit the box once again. Joining in, Justin took his turn at smashing the glass. The two boys switched back and forth until the glass shattered inside the container so the two people inside could slither out. The two carefully made their way out as to not cut themselves on the rough, shattered glass encasing the floor and walls. Justin studied the two people as they sprinted ahead to leave the room. It was a boy and a girl: both with platinum blonde hair. They wore dark green jumpsuits with their patient number stitched below the right shoulder.
          The five escapees met outside the room and continued their route. With Justin and Brendan leading, the group gradually grew more optimistic as they approached the building's outer doors.
"Haha! We made it guys," Brendan cried in relief. He pulled the door handle and an alarm suddenly blared throughout the building. Shock waves rattled Brendan, and he let go of the handle. Red lights, pinned on the wall, lit up the hallway, giving the room a deadly ambiance.
"Come on. We gotta move. They're on to us," the boy in the jumpsuit said. He pulled the door open and sprinted out, waiting for the others to follow. They all ran down the front steps of the Capital building, and the warning message could be heard in the distance as they ran away. Passing building by building, the wind blew in their faces as they escaped the prison of the Government. Seconds bled into minutes and minutes bled into an hour of running.
"We're... almost there," Justin huffed in between breaths. Justin and Brendan led the way back to their childhood home. The group struggled to continue, but they knew they had too in order to avoid recapture.
          "Imere. Raven. Grace! Someone let us in," Justin yelled while pounding on the metal exterior of the front door. Almost immediately, Raven appeared at the front door and the group ran in to the safe haven of the house. 
     "I- what's going on?" Raven asked inquisitively.
     "Oh! You're gonna need to sit down for this," Brendan sighed.