Outside the Box - Chapter 4

4 

White noise, silence. And then only the sound of my rapid breathing. My chest rises and falls. Up, down, up, down. 

Am I breathing? Dead people do not breathe. 

I try to move, I try to prove I am not dead. Dead people do not move. And I cannot move, no matter how hard I try. 

Up, down, up, down. Dead people do not breathe. 

Am I dead? 

I can’t feel anything, my body feels numb like a brick. Maybe I am a brick - a breathing brick. 

I can’t taste anything, it all tastes the same. My throat is dry and sore. 

I can smell only a strong scent of doctor’s office. Air freshener maybe? Definitely pine fresh air freshener or cleaning supplies. 

I can hear my own, ragged breaths. 

I can see. And I think that means I am alive. Dead people can’t do anything of these things, so I must be alive. But how? I jumped off a building! Does that not kill people anymore? 

Suddenly, I gasp as I can feel my body once again. I can see. I must be alive. 

I’m lying on my back, hands at my sides. Fluorescent lights are shining above me, their pure white glow nearly blinding. I try to move, but I still can’t. I feel tiny pricks all over my body, but I can’t tell where they’re coming from. 

I wait a moment and my head can then move. 

I find out that I am lying on a table, the surface blue and clean. The pricks I felt earlier are actually wires poking into my skin, along with adhesive patches on my arms. I’m wearing very thin white clothing, my feet are bare. 

I try to get up but the wires are pinning me down. When will someone notice I’m alive? 

I turn my head to the side. Beside me is another table, another person. 

It’s a man, he looks young but older than me. Thin, black wires poke into his skin, wrapping around him like the vines of a jungle. His eyes are closed, his breathing slow and steady. On his arms are white patches like mine. Am I the only one awake? 

An alarm sounds above me, piercing my eardrums with its wails. 

“Code Green. Code Green. Row 42H, 133.” An automated voice calls out above the noise. I hear movement but my body is still stiff. 

You have to get up! You have to run! I tell myself to go, but my body seems detached. It won’t listen. The sirens continue to wail, and I turn my head again. About ten people dressed in all black are coming towards me. Even scarier - they all have guns. 

Masks obscure the faces the people. “We’ve got a Live One.” One of them says, their voice low. 

“Someone stop the alarm. We just need another patch and then we’ll drop him into the chambers. He won’t last an hour with those temperatures. Just another body.” Another person says. 

“Just another body.” Another repeats with a mix between a scoff and a laugh. 

Someone slaps a patch onto my arm, and any movement I had a moment ago is gone now. I feel the wires recede from my skin, slithering away from me and into the table. Some of the people obey the commands of the second person, heading to turn off the alarm. Two more wheel over a moving cart. 

Someone picks me up and places me on the cart, and my body has gone numb again. 

A hot ball of panic rises in my stomach. Chambers? Dead? Another body? What is going on here? 

I want to move. To scream. To wake someone else. My head is lolled to the side and I can see the rows upon rows of sleeping people as we pass. I think I recognize a curtain of dark hair, but we’re past that row before I can check. I see people of all genders, colors, shapes, and ages. The rolling trolley comes to a stop at the edge of the room. 

I hear the sound of metal on metal, scraping and scratching. I feel my body get lifted again, seeming like a feather to whoever is holding me. 

Then cold, cold metal. I feel myself drop like I’m on a slide, and a moment later the lights shut out. Sliding, sliding, sliding. Down, down, down. Into the darkness below I slide on the freezing metal. 

Finally, I collapse with a thud, something hard catching me. Then I see what I’m laying on. Bodies. This must be where they dispose of the bodies - whoever they are. 

The temperature is what shocks me next. Cold. Cold. Cold. That’s what my body feels. Freezing. My body shivers, my teeth chatter. Cold. Cold. Cold. 

One time in the city we got about four feet of snow. It was freezing, touching the ice with my bare hands was terribly cold. But now? This feels like snow is everywhere, getting colder. The people were right. I won’t last an hour in here. 

Part of me wants to pass out, my I can’t. The patch the people applied has only paralyzed me. I can’t sleep, I’ve been sleeping for so long - or have I? 

There are so many questions bouncing around in my head. I can almost hear them… 

Those aren’t my thoughts, those sound like other people! 

I can hear a banging noise like someone in something heavy walking on a metal surface. Voices, though I can’t distinguish what they’re saying, echo through the corridor. 

Please, come find me. Save me! I want to cry out, to tell them I’m here. But I can’t move except my uncontrollable shivering. I wonder if my fingers are blue yet. Probably not, but they will be soon. 

The footsteps grow louder. Something beside me shifts, and I tumble downwards. 

“Argh!” A voice yells not far away. “I really thought that someone would listen. But no, they’re all brainwashed…” 

“Seriously, keep it together. It’s creepy enough with all the bodies down here. You want to get the Ninjas too?” Another voice hisses. “Keep checking. I’m sure someone got your message.” 

I feel something else shift. Someone is climbing through the mass piles of bodies. Someone is looking for someone alive. They’re looking for me! 

A small figure appears above me. It’s a boy with sandy hair and pale eyes. I must look like the rest of the bodies, he doesn’t say anything right away. A gloved hand reaches for my neck, tentatively touching the skin. 

The boy recoils in shock after a moment. “Um, I might have found one.” 

“Check it again!” The other voices cries. 

The boy wrinkles his nose before touching my neck again. His gloved hand is warm. He looks warm in a thick jacket and pants, boots on his feet. He holds his fingers there, I know he can feel my pulse. My eyes flick sideways to see if I can see the other voice. The boy screams. 

Another figure appears over me, this one female. She looks older than the boy, though not by a lot. Her hair is a similar color to the boy’s, although her eyes are much dark and blue. 

“This one?” She points at me. The boy nods and the girl slaps him. “You didn’t even think to get out the blankets? He’s alive for now, but he’s going to freeze before long. 

I can see now that our breath is showing in the air like clouds. I must be alive! 

The boy pulls a satchel away from his chest and removes a silvery blanket. He lays it over me, and immediately I feel warmer. The girl pulls a bag off her back and rummages through. She hands a silvery lump of cloth to the boy and holds a gray stick in her hand. 

“This might hurt,” She addresses me. “But it’s the only way to get you unsedated.” 

The girl peels the patches off my arms, even though it doesn’t make a difference. She plunges the stick into my shoulder and I realize too late it’s a needle. Excruciating pain fills my limbs with fire, but in a moment it’s gone. The girl hands me the silvery package as I sit up. I unwrap it to find a small coat and pants like the boy’s, as well as gloves and a hat. 

The boy helps me into the clothing, letting me keep the blanket. When I stop shivering, I mumble a thanks to the pair. 

“Don’t mention it.” The girl blushes. “I’m just glad we found someone alive. We’ve been searching all this time.” She pauses, looking at me again as she helps me climb out of a cart of bodies. “My name is Aspen, and this is my brother, Ezra.” 

“I’m Jacob. Jacob Tristan.” I smile, shivering once again. “Or Jake.” 

“Jake.” Ezra says, staring down at his tongue. “What an odd name.” 

“He is from the Box.” Aspen elbows Ezra, sticking out her own tongue. 

“The Box?” I ask her, confused. 

Aspen waves her hand. “I’ll explain along the way.” 

I follow Aspen and Ezra through the tunnels, carts full of bodies lining the walls. They seem to know their way around well enough, which surprises me a bit. But then again, I just found out jumping off a building doesn’t kill you anymore, so everything else kind of dulls in comparison. 

And then an alarm sounds, the wail similar to the one that went off earlier. Aspen sighs. “Never mind, we’ll tell you in the car.” 

“The car?” I ask, but Ezra is already pulling me along. We break into a run as a door opens at the opposite end of the tunnel. People dressed in black pour out into the tunnel like a dam that has been breached, guns in their hands. 

“Get them! Hurry!” One of the people yells. I turn so I can’t see them and keep running, pulling ahead of Ezra. The boy struggles to keep up with Aspen and I. “There’s a Live One!” 

“C’mon,” Aspen banks a sharp turn and I follow suite. I can see light ahead, and not artificial light. Real light. We’re almost out. 

I hear Ezra trip behind me, although he manages to stay on his feet. I grab his hand, pulling him along with me. Bullets begin to whiz by my head, some sparking and some bursting with a shower of lights. They must not be normal bullets.

“Get to the car!” Aspen shouts from ahead of me. A bullet strikes the wall above her head, missing by mere inches. “Hurry!” 

Ezra speeds up, fulled by adrenaline I suppose. 

My heart is pounding in my chest, my legs are burning. But I run - run as fast as I can like I never have before. Another shot embeds itself in the wall above my head as we make another turn. Stopping means death. 

At the very end of the tunnel is a green jeep, the sides painted to resemble camouflage patterns. Aspen throws open the driver’s side door and hops in. Ezra jumps into the passenger seat while I open the back door and pull myself in. 

I’m barely seated when the vehicle jerks awake. “Can you even drive?” I ask Aspen as she shifts the gears in the center console. 

Aspen turns to look at me, a wild look in her eyes. “Legally, no. But that never stopped me before.” Aspen jams her foot onto the pedal and the car almost flies through the air. Ezra laughs joyfully while I try to hold down my stomach. 

Suddenly, I hear the roar of engines behind us. “Aspen…” Ezra warns, glancing in the mirrors. “We’ve got company.” 

“Tell Jake to handle it. I need to focus.” Aspen barks at Ezra, who turns to face me. 

Ezra points to the seat I’m balanced on. “Under your seat should be a tiny bin. Pull it out.” I listen, pulling the plastic bin from under the seat. The car lurches left, throwing me into the wall. “There are several guns in there,” Ezra continues, unphased by the jeep’s sudden movements. “Be extremely careful with them, but find the one with a blue wrap around the handle.” I search through the guns, finding the one Ezra described. I hoist it up. The window rolls down beside me, the loud roar of speeding filling the jeep. 

“Aim and fire at the other trucks!” Ezra shouts over the wind. I nod once and place the gun on the window, aiming it backwards. 

I aim the gun at the closest truck, my fingers wrapping around the trigger. I pull once and there’s a sizzle of electricity as something barrels out of the machine. It lands on the truck, and immediately little bolts of electricity surround the car. It stops moving. “Awesome.” I whisper under my breath. 

I continue to fire, my head out the window now. I can barely make anything of the landscape around me. My fingers pull on the trigger again and again, hitting the trucks until there is only one chasing us. 

“You left the worst for last.” Ezra tells me, his voice almost inaudible due to the open window. I nod, showing I heard him but I don’t care. 

Just as I’m about to fire, something whizzes by and strikes my arm. I cry out in shock and pain, releasing about four shots at the truck. The first one hits and stops the truck, the next few launch it into the air before it slams down on the ground. I notice the armor on it, the tiny holes in the front that look like gun barrels. 

“Did you get hit?” Ezra asks me as he rolls up the window. I nod, and the boy beckons for my arm. I give it to him, not even looking at the wound. 

There’s a pinch in my arm and Ezra holds up a tiny, black dart triumphantly. “What does that do?” I ask him, worriedly glancing at my arm. “Will it kill me?” I look back up at Ezra. Will everything have been for nothing? Will I die? 

Ezra shakes his head. “I don’t know what it’ll do. I’ve never seen a black one before, but…” He doesn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. 

Immediately, I start to cough. My body shakes as it tries to expel something. I close my eyes, begging it to stop. I want to breathe. Breathe. I open my eyes again, finding blood splattered on the seat. 

I shiver, peeling off my coat, gloves, and hat. One of the sleeves of the coat is ripped, but everything else seems undamaged. I need something to lay on, my head feels light. The world is spinning like a top. Suddenly, I’m burning. My clothes are smothering me. I try to peel off the thin, white shirt but someone grabs my hand. Or something. 

A bloody, mangled hand is grabbing my arm. I scream, trying to throw the thing off. I see another hand with similar features holding what looks like a silver knife. It hops towards me, if hands can hop. 

“Jake? Jake?!” Something calls, but it isn’t the hands, they don’t have mouths. 

“Get away from me.” I try to shout, but my voice dies in my throat. I clutch my neck, feeling the burning sensation spreading. “Bad dog.” There’s a canine dashing at me now, its fangs exposed and dripping salvia. 

“Jake!” One of the hands jabs the knife into my shoulder, making me roar in pain. “Jake!!” The calls are getting more urgent and the fiery pain is fading. Something is shoved down my throat. Is it poison? Lead? Poison? 

“He’s coming back.” A voice says, this one sounding more human than the others. 

I open my eyes, wiping away the drool on the corner of my mouth before propping myself into a sitting position. “What’s going on?” 

My vision clears and I see Ezra and Aspen both staring at me from the front seats of the car. Both seem relieved but also terrified at the same time. What is happening to me? Am I dead? Maybe I’m actually in heaven or something. 

“I found out what the black dart does.” Ezra smiles nervously, blushing. Aspen rolls her eyes before turning back to the steering wheel. The jeep begins to move again, slowly this time. 

“You’re lucky we keep reversal pills on hand.” Aspen sighs, focusing on the road. “You collapsed to the seat, and you began drooling like crazy - which is disgusting by the way, especially since there seemed to be a lot of blood. Then you started mumbling and screaming, which is when you scared Ezra and I into action. We tried using an injection that usually works on the attacks from the Box. But it did nothing - they’re getting stronger. So Ezra had the idea to give you a reversal pill. Luckily, it worked.” 

I groan, rubbing my head as I glance at the now blood stained seat. But it seems dry, and it wasn’t that long ago that I started to cough. I glance at Ezra for explanation. 

“You were out for a long time, Jake.” He points outside the window. “We’re nearly to the Forgotten Site by now. Aspen did speed a bit though.” 

“It isn’t speeding if there isn’t traffic.” Aspen releases the steering wheel as the car stops. “And to be fair, we were being chased.” 

“Excuse me,” I decide to butt in. “I know we were being chased and all, which is great. I loved it - except for me almost dying, but hey, that happens a lot apparently. But could you please explain what is going on here? Ever since I jumped off the building this morning…” 

“Give us a few more minutes, Jake.” Aspen sighs, impatient. “We are at the Forgotten Site, which is our home. Once we get inside we’ll explain everything.” 

“Everything?” I ask, uncertain. 

“Everything,” Aspen nods. 

“Well then, what are we waiting for?” Ezra practically leaps out of the car. “I’m starving.” 

Aspen laughs and I hop out of the car too. 

The area around me is dimly lit and I realize we’re in a forest grove. The jeep is hidden carefully under the shadows and a rock face, making it nearly invisible to those who wouldn’t be looking for it. 

Beside the jeep is a trapdoor in the ground, covered by leaves and vines. Ezra brushes them aside and opens the hatch, revealing a ladder deep into the ground. 

Aspen turns to me. “This is the back entrance, so you’ll be entering through the back of our hideout, obviously. There’s four of us, five including you now. Well, unless you count the Hidden. But the Hidden and the Lost are two different things... “ She notices my confused expression and falls silent. “Later.” 

Ezra descends the ladder first, followed by me and then Aspen, who closes the hatch behind her. 

When the trapdoor closes, tiny blue lamps spring alive. They line the walls at equally spaced intervals, providing dim light. The floor is cement but the walls are smooth and metallic, almost modern. 

The hallway continues a bit longer before it stops at a pair of large doors. Aspen places her hand on a hidden scanner by the wall. It clicks once and the doors swing open. 

My first thought when I see the hideout: homey. There’s no other way to put it. 

You can tell that the hideout is underground, there’s a lack of natural light. Lanterns are hung from the ceiling, providing flickering, orange light. Two small wooden tables are pushed up against one wall, the other has several curtain covered holes. 

Cushions are stacked in one corner besides several bean bags and comfy looking chairs. There is a small kitchenette in another corner. The walls wooden here, although they looked like the wood is just barely hanging on. Hand prints decorate the walls in an eerie pattern, like dead children have been framed in this very room. 

More lights flicker on, these artificial. The lights are scarce and very dim, but they chase away the shadows from the corner of the room. 

“Welcome to your new home.” Ezra says with a broad smile. “Come and meet the others.” 

“Don’t move or I shoot.” Another voice says from the now exposed corner.