Alone (2 page)

CHAPTER two

I finally caught my breath and glanced back down the corridor, left then right, just to be sure that there really was nothing there. I continued to make my way down towards the very end of this corridor before turning another sharp left onto the next, which of course would eventually lead all the way back up towards the first dim room with the pod beds where I had begun my random wanderings.

As I had noticed on my recent spontaneous run around the corridors there were another two opened doorways along this final stretch of corridor, although both seemed to be a part of the same lighted room. The first door led into a small shiny room with solid metallic cupboards at chest height scattered all around two walls while shiny metallic worktops lay underneath them. Was this maybe some kind of kitchen area I thought. This room then connected openly with a larger area next door containing two metallic tables surrounded by four chairs on each table. At the far end of this room was the second doorway which led back out into the final corridor. I left these rooms for now and continued back up the final corridor towards the dim pod room as I had a slight itch to investigate the other sealed pods lying inside.

I entered the room and curiously approached the row of six pod beds. My pod remained opened and the computer screens and buttons surrounding it looked dead and inactive while the other five pod's computers and screens all flashed away wildly, but there was one particular overly large flashing button that stood out from the other buttons on each pod. On my pod it was no longer active, but on the remaining five pods it flashed a faint red upon three of them and a faint green upon the other two which rested side by side next to mine. I was very confused and approached the nearest green flashing pod. Here I took a closer look at the pod's active and numerical filled computer screen. The numbers on the screen read: 10 11 03 02 23 16 23. The last number 23 seemed to be counting down in seconds. I approached the second green flashing pod's computer screen which read exactly the same as the previous. I was very confused and felt a sudden frustrated urge to touch or slam a couple of buttons on the pods and their digital screens just to see what would happen but I managed to refrain myself. I turned and scanned all around me looking for something, anything else which caught my eye that I could perhaps make sense of. Finally my eyes settled upon another active but larger looking computer system standing all by itself and situated right against the back corner wall of the pod room, almost hidden away from my view. I walked towards it. There were various buttons and keypads decorated all over this large computer system. Nothing made any sense here. I studied a series of six buttons that stood out, three of which were flashing red, two flashing green and one not flashing at all. This made a little more sense to me and resembled a similar pattern to the flashing lights on the pods across the room. Right beside the top flashing button was a small digital screen with writing. The writing read EMERGENCY DE-HIBERNATION. I hovered my hand over the third and fourth flashing buttons, the green flashing ones, and pushed down upon the fourth. One of the pods behind me made a beeping noise and I turned around to face it. I noticed that the fourth flashing pod, the first of the two remaining green ones had begun to flash orange while bleeping out. After a thirty second delay the pod lid began lifting open as if by magic and a vast amount of steam began seeping out into the surrounding air, just as it had done from my pod earlier. Suddenly the sleeping machine on the ceiling sprang back to life and opened up its sucking jaws to the room, drawing all of the new wafting steam deep inside it. I remained where I was, watching curiously as the remaining patches of steam evaporated into the ceiling, and then, quite suddenly, a young and pretty brunette woman, groggily sat upright from inside the pod like a frightened and fragile little animal. The woman wiped the sleep away from her eyes as she began scanning around the dim room looking just as nervous and confused as I did. Her eyes hadn't fully adjusted yet and she didn't see me standing at the back of the room and away from the pods. The woman took a deep breath and with a great effort, began pulling herself up and fully out of the pod. As she stood to her feet I could see that she was wearing a thin white gown which fell down to her lower thighs, fitting her body snugly. I watched the woman with a great fascination as she, looking even more disorientated by the second, stepped fully out from the pod. She scanned the room again and as she turned in my direction I could see that she was looking even more scared and nervous and like me I could also sense that she had no idea where she was too. She then crossed her arms over her breasts and shoulders, like she was trying to hide her vulnerability, while continuing to make darting and confused glances all around the room. Suddenly the woman's gaze finally fell upon mine and there was a long silence as we both stared curiously at one another. I looked the woman up and down. She was pretty, pale and thin, but even though she had a very slim outline to her body there were still some nice curves there particularly on her hips and breasts. I let my gaze linger for an overly long second where the woman's gown came to a smooth end halfway down her pale thighs and I felt the slightest stir in my loins. The woman, feeling uncomfortable from my lingering stare, moved her hands away from covering her chest and began tugging at the lower end of her gown. Feeling her discomfort reflected back at me I immediately broke my stare and returned my gaze to the woman's pretty but pale face.

'Who... who are you?' Said the woman nervously. I paused, more in shock at hearing her talk and hearing another voice speak in this strange, isolated place and I struggled to think of a reasonable answer to her question. Nothing would come to my blank mind.

'I... I don't know...' I said meekly. 'I was hoping you might be able to tell me. Do you know who I am?' But the woman ignored my question.

'Where am I? Where is this place?' She continued.

'I really don't know.' I could see tears forming in the woman's eyes and I could sense that she was almost ready to break down in a fit of sobs as she began shaking her head in despair. Finally she glanced nervously around at the sleeping pods again and soon her eyes settled back down upon her own.

'I have one too.' I said, blurting out the first thing that came to my mind. Like I was trying to somehow make her trust me by relating this fact to her. I moved closer towards her and pointed down towards my own fully opened sleeping pod lying two down from hers. She glanced over at it before raising her hands to her head, distressed.

'My head... It hurts so much.'

'Mine too.' I said. 'But it goes away... eventually, well, once you start moving around.' I let out a half hearted smile which made the muscles around my mouth ache a little. When was the last time I had ever smiled I thought. To my relief the woman let out her own faint smile back at me and it felt good to see it. Then, without thinking, I reached my hand out towards the woman and beckoned her to take it.

'Come with me.' I said 'I want to show you something.' The woman's smile faded and was replaced with a look of confused curiosity, but without words she trustingly took my hand. Wow, it felt good to feel her skin against mine. Her hand was so soft and warm to touch, it was another good feeling that flowed through out my entire body. I clasped her hand even tighter and led her out of the dim pod room and out into the bright main corridor. Like me, the woman took a few moments to shield her eyes from the brighter lights on the ceiling as they adjusted.

'What is this place? Where are we?' She asked.

'I told you I don't know, I really don't.' I then led her down the first corridor and directly towards the large black window at the far end. The window which gave such an intense feeling of dread, deep inside the pit of my stomach every time I thought about it.

'Where are we going?' Said the woman, but I ignored her, and she continued to glance all around at the lit up corridor in awe. We reached the large black window and I brought us to an abrupt standstill just a yard or two away. The woman focussed all of her attention onto the window as her eyes widened and she stared hard, right at it and in great fascination.

'What is it?' She asked.

'Look.' I said, motioning her past me with my hand and urging her to move right up next to the window to get a closer look. She let go of my hand and approached the window and just as I had done myself previously she began gazing at her own reflection in great wonderment. She let out a little burst of childlike laughter as she pointed at both of our reflections in the black window, turning to me for approval and to check if I could also see this wondrous apparition. She turned back and moved closer, touching at her face and hair as if checking to see if this reflected image would mimic her own movements and then seemed shocked and baffled when the image did. She moved closer and eventually pressed her face right up close to the window, looking past her own reflection and eventually out into the deep and never ending regions of darkness outside. Suddenly the woman backed away from the window frightened, just like I had done before her, after realising that there was something out there, something beyond the window. The massive blanket of twinkling darkness.

'What is that? What is that out there?' She said turning to me anxiously. I smiled back to her, also baffled.

'I have no idea.' Suddenly the woman's facial expressions changed and she began to sob gently, immediately placing her hands up to cover her face and eyes as she did so. I felt very uncomfortable and couldn't think of anything to say or do. My instincts took over though and I moved closer towards her, raising my arms as if a little unsure about what to do next. And then without thinking I raised my hands and arms uncomfortably higher and wrapped them around this strange and mysterious woman, bringing her into me tightly while she buried her head deep into my chest.

***

It took the woman some time to compose herself and when she was ready I led her by the hand again back down the corridor from where we came and into the small immaculate kitchen room which I had briefly came upon before. The woman was quiet the whole time I led her like some frightened, sad child. The black window revelation had really taken its toll on her. We entered into the kitchen and I let go of her hand so that I could study the large metallic and sealed cupboards more closely. The woman's attention though drifted over towards the other open room beside the kitchen where the row of two tables and chairs were situated. I began to explore the kitchen counter and cupboards, frustratingly pushing, pulling and pressing at all of them one by one, but they just would not open. The woman then focussed upon a fountain shaped pedestal and bowl with a small metallic tap on top which stood beside the kitchen counter on the dining room side. She began pressing, pulling and pushing at the metallic little tap, but nothing happened, nothing at all. I glanced at the woman with a look of defeat and turned towards the first set of tables and chairs in the next room and motioned for us both to sit down. The woman followed me to the table and I watched her closely as she sat down opposite looking a little unstable. I waited for her to get comfortable before speaking.

'What is the last thing that you remember?' I said. The woman paused for a long moment and stared at me with weary and tearful eyes.

'I don't remember anything else but you... Just you, here and now.' I ran my hands through my hair and sighed, I was annoyed that neither of us could remember anything prior to waking up.

'I don't understand any of this.' The woman muttered. 'And my head... It hurts so much. You said it would stop. But it won't stop.' The woman sobbed out again as she lowered her head down and away from me. I continued to stare at her with curious eyes as I fell deep in thought, suddenly feeling a sense of familiarity about all of this, about this place, about this woman in front of me. Something was happening inside my mind right now and a small piece of memory triggered off inside... And then I could remember something... It came to me in a flash and blurry haze, but it was something. In my mind I could see an attractive looking blonde woman, older than the woman sitting in front of me by about ten years, perhaps in her late thirties, but very attractive still as she made my loins stir immensely. Her face was right in front of me now, filling up my mind as she smiled warmly. And then she spoke, well it was more like a loving whisper.

'Ian...' She said. And then in a flash of pure instant terror her face was screaming and screaming and screaming at me and her warm smile had disappeared. Her screams were horrific. I shook my head violently to shake these terrifying images from my head... They stopped, but still I continued to shake my head in distress. Trying to shake away those startling, shocking images. What an horrendous memory. And then I placed my hands on my head and covered my eyes. Suddenly I felt a tight hand grip upon my wrist and stopped shaking my head. I opened my eyes and glanced out in front of me. The brunette woman had ceased sobbing and was now holding my wrist, but staring at me with great concern.

'Are you okay? What's wrong?' She asked. I looked deep and hard at the woman, staring into her pale blue eyes that looked so dull and soulless.

'I think...' I said struggling to find the words. 'I think my name... is Ian.' The woman let go of my wrist and started to wipe away at the remains of her streaming trail of tears which had stained her cheeks.

'Ian?' She said.

'Yeah.'

'But how do you know this?'

'Just some thoughts.' I quickly replied. 'Some new bursts of thoughts inside my head that just don't make any sense at all.' The woman continued to stare at me curiously, still wiping away her tears.

CHAPTER three

Eventually I led the woman towards the dark computer room with the massive viewing window and the broken skeleton somewhere inside. The woman was rightly cautious at first about this new dark and eerie place and from the comfort of the lighted corridor she was a little reluctant to go in any further as she glanced around at the lingering darkness inside, desperately trying to let her eyes adjust to the dim light. I edged myself further into the room though, walking beside the first row of broken computers while tugging at the woman to follow me as I continued to lead her by the hand. A loose wire from one of the damaged computers sparked out suddenly beside us and the woman's attention was drawn wildly to it and like a fascinated child she let go of my hand and reached down to examine the source of the spark. She edged closer to the loose wire and reached out her hands and fingers to touch it. I watched her curiously as she did this. Not feeling any urge in the slightest to stop or discourage her. She touched the small sparking wire with her finger tip and quickly jumped back in fright at the electric shock she received. I continued to watch her as she tried to compose herself. She then giggled out in awe before sticking her shocked finger inside her mouth, nursing and numbing the tingling sensation. I turned my attention back towards the huge viewing window at the far end of the room and continued to make my way towards it. As I got closer I paused for a second near the row of three chairs where the crumpled old skeleton remains still lay in a heap upon the floor. The woman also paused behind me and quickly followed my gaze down towards the rubble of broken bones. She looked a little distressed but equally fascinated when her eyes finally met the pile of bones and in particular the still intact decayed skull.