One Down
"Wait a minute!" Daniel shouted, "we're not all here yet." Any fear he had of getting the Override device turned back on was, at least for the moment, gone. "Where's David?"
Gassan, Jake, and Pammy were dumbstruck. It wasn't that they had forgotten David, but after all they had been through, they weren't about to challenge the scientist.
"I'm sorry," the scientist said, in a sweet voice that barely concealed the mockery behind it, "David was uncooperative, so we had to turn his Override back on. He's been sent to a separate wing of the facility, for subjects who simply can't be trusted with free will. Really, I'm sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "Now," he went on, suddenly all business, "Jake, please follow me."
As Jake and the scientist disappeared back into the exam room, the three remaining companions turned to one another in desperation.
"What do we do?" Pammy whispered hoarsely.
"What can we do?" Daniel shot back. "If we even try to rescue David, we'll be Override zombies before we can even get out the door." There was, in fact, another door in the waiting room. Nobody had even bothered to check it yet, but they guessed that, if it was even remotely possible to escape through it, the door would be locked. Besides, there were cameras everywhere.
"Hey, guys," Gassan said absurdly loudly, "I really have to use the bathroom. I wonder if the bathroom is behind that mysterious door. While I'm not trying to be uncooperative," he addressed the nearest camera when he said this, "I feel that I simply must poke around. Nature calls, after all." At this, he leaned hard on the door in an attempt to force it open.
It opened perfectly easy, having not been locked at all, and Gassan stumbled into a small bathroom. "Crap," he muttered, "it really is a bathroom." He closed the door and sat back down.
Slowly, the horrible truth began to dawn on the group. As far as they could tell, there was no escape, and no hope of rescuing David. He was gone now. "You know," Pammy said, turning to the group with the faint glimmer of tears in her eyes, "I bet David put up one hell of a fight."
"Pammy," the scientist called. She started, unsure of whether or not she had been overheard. "It's your turn." The thick, soundproof door of the exam room was open, and Jake was nowhere inside.
"Where's Jake?" Pammy asked.
"Teleported," the scientist replied nonchalantly, as if that was all the response that was necessary. With that, he led Pammy into the adjoining room and closed the door, leaving just Dan and Gassan.
Written by Zodiac on 17 August 2008
