Jacqueline Druga: Reset

Nora wanted to scream. It was a mix of anger and anguish that swept over her. Stomach knotting and tensing, it took Nora all that she had not to vomit. Instead she cried. Unable to move, unable to go on. Nora stared at the poor young woman, and in an added state of confusion, she sobbed.

John found her. In the old cliché, that it was like a train wreck, Nora couldn’t turn from the science fiction Madonna in Genesis Unit Eleven.

“Come with me,” John said, holding down his hand to Nora. “Jason and Malcolm are helping the ones that survived. I opened the door at the end of the hall. Let’s go explore.”

Nora used his hand to stand and took one more look at the woman and child.

“Makes you wonder how long we were in those things.” John said.

“Yeah it does.”

“A lot of thought and science went into this project, whatever it is. It’s sad to see it fail so miserably. And it did. People died. They weren’t supposed to.” At the door, John led Nora to the hall, shut off the light in Room eleven and slid the door closed.

“How are the ones that made it?” Nora asked, walking with John.

“Confused. I’m not really sure what they remember and what they don’t, I didn’t talk to them much. Here…” John handed her a small LED flashlight. “I got that from storage. It’s pretty dark on the other side of the door.”

“How far did you go?”

“I opened it and thought, I’m not doing this alone. I wasn’t scared, mind you. It’s just not something I want to do alone.” They walked further and arrived at the door. John turned on his light.

“Do you think we’ll find answers?”

“I want to say yes. But I don’t believe so. Not all. We are going to have to put it together. Ready?”

“Yes.”

John pushed on the bar of the door and it squealed as it opened.

They stepped into complete blackness. John’s light illuminated what looked like another hall, only shorter. After resting the ax in the doorframe to prop it open he moved forward to the next door with Nora.

“From what I figure,” John said. “We are part of something. I mean physically part of something else. Someone else may be here or is supposed to be. Those monitors are hard wired. The wires lead somewhere.”

He placed his hands on the horizontal silver bar. “Let’s hope this isn’t locked.”

It wasn’t.

He pushed the door open and again was greeted by a blackness. Only this dark carried a stench of dust and old.

An immediate tickle hit Nora’s throat and she coughed.

“You’re not scared, are you?”

“No.” Nora shook her head. “I don’t feel I know enough to be scared. If that makes sense.”

She coughed again and noticed how it echoed as they crossed the threshold.

“A big room?” John said. His voiced bounced off the walls. “Stay still.”

He moved the beam of his light around, it only spotlighted things. Tables, doors, a metal staircase. The steps led to a second floor with a metal railing and more doors.

“Looks like a prison,” Nora commented.

“Oddly it does.” John took a step and aimed his light around. “This is the door, there has to be…” He moved to his left. “Yep.”

“What is it?” Nora asked.

“Looks like a circuit box.”

Nora watched him walk to the wall space a few feet from the door. She aided him in shining her lights. John flipped open a metal cover and after an ‘A ha!’ began flipping switches.

They clicked and shifted as he did and with each breaker he switched on, lights came on.

“Oh, wow.” Nora said and turned.

The room was spacious. It held six, eight seat tables, a counter and refrigerator were against the far wall, along with other kitchen items.

“We found our dining room,” said John.

Nora noted the rooms. Five on the bottom, five on the top. Positioned on one side of the dining room. No other exit doors. At least not that she could see. The other side of the room was just a wall.

“They expected us all to survive,” John said. “What do you remember, Nora?”

“Not much. I remember being put in unit and feeling very panicky. I believe I have a husband and children, but I don’t know if it is a dream or real. It doesn’t feel it.”

“According to that video, you’ll know in two days. Hopefully.”

“Hopefully.”

“I think after everyone gets mentally oriented, we should sit down and start talking about what we remember.”

“Piece it together,” Nora said.

“Exactly. Pin down the president.”

“He says he doesn’t remember.”

“He’s full of shit. “

“Jason believes him.”

“Jason is a preacher.”

“No.” Nora said.

“Yes. Sounds odd, doesn’t it?” John asked. “I mean, really, one would think if he dedicated his life to God, even if he didn’t remember his life, spiritually he is vested enough to know he has a connection to the big guy.”

“That’s true. But it makes sense. Jason is very kind. What about Malcolm?”

“Don’t know. I do know the president is here. This was a government thing.”

“What if it was a terrorist thing? A kidnapping. Something new.”

“It’s possible,” John said. “Whatever happened, we were in the same place. All of us. Or at least you and I.”

“I’m so sorry I don’t remember. Were we talking?”

“Laughing,” John said. “I don’t remember, but you said something funny.”

“Really? Where were we?”

“New York.”

“But I’m from…” Nora paused. A slight lightheadedness hit her. “Wait. Wait. I was in New York.”

“You remember.”

“Not why. I know I was there. I just can’t recall the reason.”

“It’ll come. Let’s go check out these rooms.”

Nora agreed. “Do you think its day or night? There are no windows.”

“It’s afternoon. Mid afternoon. Close to four by now.”

“How do you know?”

“The clock at the bottom of the monitor. I looked for a date and saw the time,” John said. “The message played at 3:22 PM.”

Nora was impressed that he had done that. It was simple, yet something she herself didn’t think of.

They began to explore.

Of the ten rooms, eight of them contained lockers. Each with a number. John guessed and told her since there were forty-eight lockers; he supposed they were numbered according to the rooms.

They were locked.

“Where are the keys?” Nora asked. “Do you think there are any?”

“I’m gonna guess they are in our rooms or storage. I mean, have we had the chance to check?”

Nora shook her head. “No. We haven’t been up all that long.”

They left the locker rooms. Not much they could do there. The final room on the top floor was locked, and something they knew they had to investigate. And the last room checked, on the bottom floor, was a computer room. None of which were turned on. There were file cabinets and boxes.

“Should we dive in?” Nora asked.

“I would love to, but we should check back with the others. Maybe see if anyone else wants to come back. Also, we need to look for keys. They’re here somewhere.”

“Maybe behind the locked door?”

“That’s possible.”

“The video said we might not comprehend. I know I’m not thinking clearly,” Nora said. “When we all have our wits then…”

“Hello?” Jason’s voice called to them.

Nora and John stepped from the small computer lab.

“Look at this place,” Jason said. “What is it?”

“Near as we can tell,” John explained. “This is our dining area. We have locker rooms with lockers that are… locked. Yet numbered.”

“Forty-eight?” Jason asked.