Page 11 of N8
She was crying. Not loudly, but he was aware of her sniffling and wiping the tears from her eyes as they blurred her vision. In this psychic state, he could not manipulate her. Not her body nor her thoughts. Neither could he speak to her, either mentally or some other way. She was a vehicle and he the passenger. What she saw, he saw. What she heard, he heard. Any communication she had with someone, even if she was simply speaking aloud to herself, he registered. He could even taste what she tasted, smell what she smelled, and feel what she touched. The whole nine yards. It was spooky and sometimes downright creepy at times, and it had taken him a while to grow accustomed to it. Thanks to the guys, this possession so far was much like what he’d experienced with them.
N8 stared in disbelief as Cydney went past the decontamination booth without stopping. Most astonishing was the fact that the guards on duty made no attempt to stop her and make her go back around to go through the process.
Why not?
She continued down the hallway until she reached an elevator. He mentally grinned. This would be the first time any of them would discover what was contained in A Block, where the rest of what remained of civilization lived. If he was lucky, he might catch a glimpse of some of the businesses they’d been told about. The fact that there’s supposed to be a real city-like environment, where people came and went and worked. Did they have a centralized cafeteria like there was in C Block? More importantly, if there was an A, C, and D Block, was there a B or E Block?
How many people actually live in this community? Were there other communities in other locations around the planet? Surely there has to be.He and the others had spent many hours discussing that probability. In a way, it gave them hope there might be more like them. More people who could do things ordinary people couldn’t.
When Cydney exited the elevator, she walked straight to another door. N8 immediately noticed there were no guards posted there. In fact, there were no scanners or digital locks where she needed to swipe her card.
She simply walked up to the glass door and—
Glass door. Facing…
He remained in a brain-frozen state as she exited out…
Out…side…
He couldn’t process the information, until she paused and glanced up. For the first time in his life he saw the stars. The actual stars, and a quick glimpse of the…
Holy shit! Was that the moon?
She inhaled, and he caught a sweet scent he couldn’t recognize. What was it? Where was it coming from?
The view of it blurred again, letting him know she was tearing up. Before she cleared her eyesight again, she spoke.
“Sweet heavens, you’ve never had the chance to live! You’ve never felt the wind in your face. Or the rain. Or heard a thunderstorm. You’ve never seen a real ocean, or tasted its salty waters. You’ve never even witnessed snow.”
Snow? Wind? Rain?
It hit him harder than that time when P8 had accidentally creamed his noggin with a basketball, and he’d lost consciousness for a few seconds. Except this time he was totally awake and completely aware.
I’m outside. I’m outside! On the surface!
He barely had time to grasp the implications of what he was discovering when he heard a sound, faint and distant, but recognizable.
A train. That’s a train! A real train!Not one on film or video. An actual, real live, fuckingtrain!
Cydney took a short path from the building to a bigger building. Inside were rows upon rows of vehicles. Real cars and trucks, not the little carts security and other bigwigs rode around in. He watched as she got inside one, started the engine, and pulled out of her parking space. When she reached a small gate, she pulled her key card over her head and swiped it over the pad. The gate opened, and she dropped the card onto the passenger seat.
N8 could hardly contain himself. This was bigger and more fantastic than he’d expected, much less anticipated.They lied to us. They’ve been lying to us this whole time! All these years, the war, the radiation, the end of mankind, all lies!
She sniffed again. This time he caught odors he couldn’t identify, and that excited him. New smells. New experiences.The guys are going to have a fit when they find out!
She parked near a brightly-lit building. Walking briskly inside, she grabbed a little red basket and headed down an aisle. N8 caught brief glimpses of items as she scanned for whatever items she was seeking. He wished he could stop her at certain moments and go back to look at something that intrigued him.
Are we in a supermarket? Is this a supermarket where people once got to buy any type of food or food product they wanted?
He barely managed to catch some of the labels they passed. Beans. Corn. Aspar-something. Saltines. Boxes and boxes. Cans upon cans. Packages, signs, bags, bottles, and bins of vegetables and fruit. It was more food than he’d ever seen in one place, and it just kept on going and going.
She stopped in front of a section of what appeared to be medication, and grabbed a bottle, glancing quickly at the label. Sleeping pills. She was buying sleeping pills? He continued to muse over why she was buying the sleep aid, and for a second a dreaded thought came to him that she might try to overdose herself on them. After all, wasn’t that what people usually did when they wanted to commit suicide? That, or shoot themselves?
N8 mentally slapped himself.Quit thinking that what you’ve seen in videos is real life. It’s all fake, remember? That’s why some guys you’ve seen get killed on one show miraculously appear a month later on another show and get offed there, too.
She paid for her purchases and returned to her car. As she drove away, she muttered, “If any of them even catch a common cold, it’s a major disaster.” He had no doubt she was talking about him and the guys, and he had to smile. She was thinking of them. It felt good.
They didn’t stop anywhere else until they reached what he recognized as an apartment complex, having seen plenty of them on video. When she exited her car, he caught more new and undeterminable smells. The air was like nothing he’d experienced. It was almost invigorating. Fresh and clean.
