Please, Won't You Push Me for the Last Time

~Kellin~

I think Vic has passed out. We are on the rails. I have no idea what to do.

It probably looks like he just fell asleep on me to be honest, there was no dramatic falling or sound, and nobody is really looking at us except the security camera, and no alarms for safety calls have gone off. I am actually kind of surprised. I kind of wish someone would notice. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what to do, he’s still breathing, why haven’t I called for help? Oh shit. Was he drinking maybe? I didn’t see him drink anything but from what we learned in school some people don’t take much to pass out if they drink alcohol. I never believed that after reading in the journals about people who drank a whole bunch and still did things, usually stupid things, but maybe…
I shake Vic a little bit, trying not to look frantic or worried. Surprisingly he comes to a little bit, smiling at me lethargically.

“Hey Vic,” I whisper, trying not to sound too worried, maybe he’s just messing around, “how you feeling?”

“I think I need a nap or something,” he babbles, still looking zoned out. There’s no way I can let him go home like this. I glance at the clock and realize we only have about an hour til curfew. I quickly make a decision.

“Do you think you can sit up, look awake?” I ask him gently and he thinks for a moment.

“Kellin I feel weird,” he says.

“It’s gonna be okay,” I say, trying to sound sure, “stay here. Don’t move, I’ll be right back. Okay?”
He nods slowly, I’m not sure if he understood or not. I go over to the rail communicator two seats up and hit the button to talk to a director at the station. A cheerful face of a young engineer pops up on the window.

“How may I assist you?” he asks.

“I just realized we don’t have time to make it to our friend’s before curfew, so my friend and I would like to go back home, from the station we came from, can you get us there?” I say innocently and smile.

“Of course, transfer to the other direction at the next stop,” he tells me, “you came from station 52897, correct?”

“I believe so, yes. Thank you!” I reply, nobody knows the station numbers except the engineers really, but they always ask anyway.

“Of course kid, remember to plan better next time!” he replies cheerfully and disconnects.

I go back to Vic, who seems to be sleeping again, and try to wake him gently since we are already arriving at the next stop. Thankfully, he manages to get up with my help and we make it onto the next rail. He still seems so out of it though. I’m so scared. I hope Jack and Alex are still in the tunnels. I hope I can get Vic there. I don’t even know how I’m gonna do that. Oh God what if something goes wrong, what if he gets sick because I don’t want to call for help. Why don’t I want to? What am I afraid of?

I keep trying to talk to Vic but he mostly responds in grunts or the occasional giggle. He doesn't seem hurt as much as just… well, drunk. We finally get to the tunnel where we met Jack and Alex earlier and thankfully, Jack is standing outside. He gives me a confused look and then notices Vic. To my surprise, he doesn’t look too worried, though he doesn’t smile.

“Think you can get him through the tunnels?” he asks me.

“Um,” I don’t know to be honest. I say looking at Vic, who doesn’t quite seem to understand what’s going on. Jack looks at Vic too, but he smiles, which is actually incredibly comforting.

“Don’t worry,” he tells me, “he’s just having a bad reaction to mixing alcohol with cures. It’s happened a million times. We can handle it. You should call your parents. You won’t make it back tonight. Tell them you and Vic met some new people and their parents wanted you to stay for dinner, and you lost track of time so you’ve been invited to stay the night.”

“Oh, uh, okay, thank you,” I reply and call my mom from the nearby communicator, which thankfully doesn’t have a video attachment. She is totally understanding, actually she seems really proud of me for making friends.

We start trying to get him through the tunnel, which isn’t as challenging as I thought, Vic is coherent enough to crawl, if slowly. Alex and some other people are there with one of those folding beds for Vic, and they tell me they’ve already handled the alibi, since they talked to Mike and found out he’d been drinking and got him to call his parents again, and say Vic was with them. It might be suspicious, but they can help them figure it out. I’m surprised how organized everything is. It’s not like I read about, where everyone from the beginning of the cures was spread out and scared, and they all gave in, eventually. After they left their things of course. But now it’s so different. There seems to be a million setbacks they can handle that I never could.

Some of the other people are examining Vic, much like doctors do, checking his pulse and shining lights in his eyes. It’s strange to see teenagers doing, considering you aren’t allowed learn anything about medical work until you’ve declared it as your Life Path when you turn 18. I’m wondering how they learned what to do when Alex pulls me aside.

“It was smart of you to bring him here Kellin. Most newbies would have taken him straight to medical.” Alex says, watching my expression carefully. I try to think of something to say, somehow explain my actions, but I don’t fully understand them myself. Why didn’t I call medical? Maybe I knew we’d be in trouble? It’s not that I don’t care about Vic, because I care about him more than I’ve ever cared about anyone… not that that’s saying much. Then I realize why I did what I did.

“I don’t trust them,” I say, to myself as much as to Alex. He smiles knowingly.

“I know. That’s why you’re here.”

“So… Vic?” I ask, looking over at the boy I brought here sick.

“He’ll be fine,” Alex reassures, “they’ll probably give him a detox drink. Don’t worry, it’s not complicated or anything, just a few herbs and stuff that’ll get everything out of his system. Then, he’ll sleep it off. He’ll be all himself by morning.”

“When you say everything…” I respond, thinking hard.

“Cures too, yeah. It might be a bit of a rough morning, but nothing we can’t handle I don’t think.”

“Think?” I say, worried, is he not sure? Are there things they can’t handle?

“Worst case scenario you take him home and get him his prescribed pill, everything will go back to normal. Sometimes people’s natural ailments are physical, or are more than we know how to deal with. Everything is in one, individually tailored pill, we don’t know what’s in each person’s unless they have asked their doctors before. It’s rarely anything extreme though. You know all of this Kellin, you go to school, have good grades too I bet, or you wouldn’t have gotten away with being alone and unmedicated all this time.”

Alex has a point, and I relax, knowing Vic will probably be just fine, if not a little disoriented. I remember my first day off cures, I was losing it. Partially because of the lack of regulation and the withdrawal, and partially because of what had happened the night before…I shake away the thought.

“There’s some things I want to talk to you about Kellin.” Alex says, showing his serious side again, which makes me a bit uneasy.

“Uh. Okay, like what?”

“Follow me,” he says and I do, through another, rather short tunnel to another large, seemingly hand carved room. It seems to have been set up like a conference room of sorts, with a large table in the middle and a series of chairs around it. It looked rather iconic, like something you’d learn about in history class about ancient Europe or something. Alex and I sit down, and I wonder why we can’t just talk in the room where everyone else is, is this something secret? Alex seems to somehow read my mind.

“Kellin, what I am going to tell you right now I need you to keep to yourself, and with anyone who is a part of our revolution. You gave your word that you were in one of the first times we met, and we take that seriously here, but we are very careful about who we invite. Jack and I decided to rush things a bit with you, because we can tell you want this, and we think you are ready. But don’t let us down. Understand?” he asks seriously, though not threateningly.

“Of course I understand,” I reply, trying to match his tone.

“This place, all the rooms you’ve seen tonight, was built for us. For the teenagers of this generation. We are the ones that our grandparents and theirs wanted to change the world. This place is temporary. There’s plans in place, Kellin, plans we’ve altered of course, since the times have changed, but plans that have been in the works for over 50 years. I think you will be a part of it Kellin, if you want to be,” he explains, and I start to see some excitement and even a hint of mischief in his eyes.

“I’ll do whatever you need me to, of course I want to be a part of it, I want to know what the plans are. Will things be better? Will people be free? Will there… will there be music, and art and writing like there used to?”

“We hope so. We will get into the details tomorrow. I just wanted to make sure you understand. Kellin, things are gonna happen soon… We might have to leave, and I don’t know if your boyfriend is going to be ready in time. I guess we will see how tomorrow goes, and the next few weeks, but you have to be prepared to leave him, if you have to,” he says slowly, giving me a sincere look. My heart drops as I string the words together, realise what he is saying.

“I- maybe I can help convince him… I know deep down he doesn’t want things to be the way they are… I know he sees… he wants…” I stumble over my words. I hate that I am so attached to Vic after so short a time.

“I know Kellin, just do what you can, be ready… Does this change anything? It’s not customary but… if you want, you can back out now. I won’t stop you.” I consider his words for a moment, but I know my answer.

“I care about him a lot. It’d be hard. But I care about this more.”