Doctor Paige and young me stood in an elevator. An awkward silence tensed between us. My jaw was clenched, and I was afraid everything that could come out of it would be snappy.
"Before we see your bow skills..." She broke through the wall of silence. It almost made me jump. "I'd like you to meet someone."
I replied with just a nod, but when Doctor Paige raised her eyebrows, I had no choice. "Who is it?"
"A man." She started. It annoyed me she needed me to speak before she would explain. "He will be.. a sort of personal trainer for you. He'll help you with stuff, give you injections sometime, check if everything is alright.. all that."
"Okay."
We stepped out of the elevator, which was going down before. It seemed to be a sort of basement. Everywhere was darkness, but it looked giant. Once Doctor Paige turned the light on, it indeed was enormous.
We stood in a big room, that had multiple doors attached to it too. The walls were brown and the smell was a bit weird, but not disgusting. It was like dust.
"You'll be spending most of your time here the next months." She explained as she started pointing at things. "Behind that door, you find a design room... for something we'll explain later. There's a weapon room to practice, a special operation room, and a room with files."
A shiver went down my spine. "Special operation room?"
"Let's just go to the Weapon Room, okay?"
She talked around it. And that scared the hell out of me. Whatever would happen in that room wouldn't be good.
Doctor Paige opened the door, revealing the Weapon Room, and a man standing there. First, I looked around. It was just as dark in the room, but the smell was different... this smelled like something new, as if it was just built.
A few weapons hung on the wall. Multiple bows, dozens of arrows, and two guns. Fake human targets and round targets were included too, together with a big screen.
Then I looked at the man. He wore a grey turtle neck, covered by a leather jacket. He wasn't much younger than Doctor Paige. His dark hair was short and almost turning grey.
"Lenora, this is Janson." She motioned at the man. His smile was weird and scared me. It was more like a grin.
Hesitantly I shook the hand he held out to me, mine disappearing in his large one. And now that I stood in between these two grown-ups, I could see how small I actually was. Maybe even smaller than normal people my age. I barely came to their waists!
"Hello, Lenora." Janson greeted. His voice was stern, but not as scary as he grinned. Doctor Paige pushed a bow in my hands, and motioned at a fake human target.
It all went so fast, that it kind of overwhelmed me. Two adults were expecting a lot from me, and I was just a kid.
Quickly, with sweaty hands, I put an arrow in the bow just the way my dad taught me. Janson crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, his eyes burning in me as Doctor Paige said some sweet things.
I shot the arrow, hitting the target right in the stomach. It was meant for the head, but Doctor Paige seemed satisfied.
"Could you do it a few more times?" She questioned. I nodded and shot more arrows, honestly having no idea why I didn't talk. Maybe I was scared.. but of what?
I hit the head, chest, and stomach a few more times. "Guess she's a natural talent," Janson commented. "Perfect."
I looked at Doctor Paige, and she nodded, giving me a sign it was done. I put the bow back and walked over to the target to get the arrows out.
"Woah, sweetie. What are you doing?" Doctor Paige interrupted worriedly.
Confused I turned around, staring at her frowning face. Was it that weird I cleaned up the target?
Janson chuckled. "Does she talk?"
"Janson." Doctor Paige warned. She gave him a stern glance. "Easy."
I swallowed and took the arrows out of the target anyways. Janson gave me a bad feeling.. his energy made me feel weak. And I didn't like it.
"I can talk," I confirmed quietly.
"I was hoping that." He replied. "Can you draw too?"
"I'm six years old, what do you think?" I blurted out, snapping. "My fantasy is bigger than your brain."
He gave me a very nasty glance, then cleared his throat. "Good. Because we will need some fantasy for this."
Doctor Paige told us she had other work to do, so she left, and Janson took me into the room Doctor Paige had described as the design room.
Pencils, pens, and markers were stocked all over the place, and there was a small, wooden table in the middle of it all. It was like a little girl's dream, except Janson kind of ruined it.
He commanded me to sit down on the chair as he shoved a white paper in front of my nose. "Alright. What you're gonna do is... you're gonna draw a monster. Not a dragon, or spider, no, a real monster."
"How?" I peeped.
"We've been thinking ourselves, but we need your fantasy that's apparently bigger than my brain to get into action. Mix animals together, and make it look scary."
I took a ragged breath. "How scary?"
"Scary enough to give older people nightmares," Janson stated. "As I said, we've been thinking. Let it have a weird stinger... some sort of syringe. Also, a long tail that can hit targets, and spikes on the back."
"Why do you need me to draw it if you know the description so well already?" I sighed quietly.
He grunted. "Because we don't know what it has to look like! Okay? All we know is that it has a stinger, tail, and spikes. Now draw."
I nodded quickly and obeyed, not wanting him to yell at me more than he already did.
It all went surprisingly fast... and good. The body was slimy and green, like a slug. It had four mechanical legs and a robotic tail at the end, since Janson told me to add that. Both the tail and the legs made it look like a spider, or scorpion. The face was made according to a bug, but thousands of times scarier. The creature had dozens of teeth. And lastly, the stinger, which was attached to one of the legs.
Janson stared at the sketch for a few good seconds. Slowly his face lit up, and his weird grin grew again. "Perfect." He complimented. "On with the next thing."
It was quite tiring to work all day, but I listened and followed Janson to the 'special operation room'. It was way lighter in there than in other rooms. The walls were white, there was a chair with all sizes of wires attached to it, a table, and two more chairs next to the table.
"What's that for?" I blurted out, pointing at the wired chair.
The grin stuck onto Janson's face. "You'll see... sometime."
I didn't say anything else and followed him to sit at the table.
"Okay, kid." Janson started. "You know about the chip we inserted.. and this is how it's gonna work. In a minute you'll close your eyes and focus on your mind. Try searching for beeps. I'll explain the rest of it later, alright?"
"Alright." I nodded. It made me nervous as hell, especially since I had no idea what the beeps were for and how to find them.
I closed my eyes, only seeing blackness and hearing Janson's quiet breaths. I focused on my mind, as he said, and tried to look for something.
It was there, but blocked by a thick wall. I tried to break through it... it tickled the back of my brain. The world around me soon completely disappeared, and all I had attention to hearing the beeps. And not long after, I did.
"I hear it," I whispered. It sounded the same as the beeps of a heart monitor.
"How many?"
I concentrated on them again. "Too much to count. After about ten seconds they stop, wait two seconds, and then repeat. Some are louder than others."
"Very well," Janson said, his voice full of victory. "Listen to the beeps well, and try to, I know it sounds weird, but try to imagine a picture with the beeps."
I had no idea what he meant by that, but tried anyways. Maybe I didn't even want to find out what the wired chair did.
Then it just came automatically... a picture of a map. It was the United States, with dozens of yellow dots on it. "I see it."
"Good." He responded. "Tell me where you see the dots. Every single one of them."
And so I did. They were all over the country, so it took a while. As I talked it sounded like Janson wrote it down. Once I was done, I opened my eyes.
"You did great." He complimented again. "Get some rest now. Tomorrow is a big, and busy day."