CHAPTER 36
~T-minus 0:39~
Few souls in Patmos had the opportunity to see the inner workings of Jameson Labs, and under different circumstances Will may have even been excited, though the handcuffs and the gun in his back did an excellent job of deadening the thrill. Even so, he took advantage of the opportunity, fleeting as it was, to study his surroundings. There was a waiting room, a cold and uninviting place that had clearly welcomed few visitors - more of a front administration office and final checkpoint. At the end of the tiny room was a security door made of dense, bullet-resistant plastic, metal shutters on either side ready to snap shut at the first sign of an emergency. Beyond that, there was a hall, stretching off for what seemed like a mile. The area looked abandoned, filled only with the persistent hum of the equipment.
"Whoa, where is everyone?" said Will. "Hey, are they all in the big lab? Can we go there? Front row seats!"
"I'm not going to tell you again." The guard pressed his hand to a plate next to the security door, which slid open. "You'll have plenty of time to talk once we get to the security section."
A rush of air greeted Will as the security shutters rushed open, the sound of the door followed by the gentle click of security devices scrutinizing him for risks unnoticed by human eyes. Beyond was another soulless room, a smaller one, crowded with armed men. There was one odd figure out, a researcher by the looks of him - dark-haired and complected, his slight build vanishing into his lab coat. "Yang Y." read the badge affixed to his lapel. The guard gave Will a nudge and he fell into the seat next to the researcher.
"Hey," said Will. "You're the guy, right? The engineer? Were you the one sending stuff to me?"
"I don't know," said the engineer, his speech so hushed that the drone of the air conditioning nearly overwhelmed them.
"What are they gonna do?" said Will.
"Enough talking. Eyes forward." The guard took his place by another door. "Dr. Richter wants to see you. Try anything and you will be dead before the thought leaves your head, clear?"
The door whooshed open, greeting Will with wait, this isn't right. None of this makes any sense.
I couldn't have heard about this from Will, I was already in the shelter. It's not like he could have called me from inside the lab, not with their security measures, not with me underground. I had to have made this part up. That means I couldn't have seen them take Will away, either. Why didn't I see this? What's wrong with me?
How much of this was fiction? Come to think of it I never saw Will get harassed at all. Those were just rumors I heard from the other kids. For that matter, the stuff about lab and Rudra being a threat was just another story floating around out there. How much of this was rumor? I didn't actually see most of it, but I'm sure Lidia was...that's right, I never went into that room, they kept me outside. I never saw Lidia, or Aaron Bellamy for that matter, or Ben Jameson, or his father. That was the story I told so that it would make sense. But it was also to make Will look better, wasn't it? Putting him in contact with all of these significant people, front and center at all these events, standing in the way of this doomsday plot? How much of this is my own fantasy?
A fantasy, that's what it was. I wanted to remember Will as this great protector, as a crusader, even a savior. I listened to all of his conspiracy theories and big schemes and I believed it all because I wanted it to be true. This little world that I described in those pages was there to make him look heroic. I wanted everyone else to see how great his was, just like I always did. But he was never a hero, was he? Maybe Will really was the loser they always said he was.
Maybe I'm no different.