Silence Falls

Everyone seemed to leap back at once when they all heard the same voice that came from within the confines of their own separate minds and turned to share looks of distress to each other asking with their eyes if they had heard it too. It was clear then that they all had.

What was going on?

Suddenly, it felt like a thick cloud of mist of panic and peril was suffocating them all at once, making the goosebumps rise from their flesh as they looked around in a state of paranoia. This young boy that they've finally got around to releasing suddenly seemed to screamed as unnatural to them and they didn't know what to make of him or anything anymore. It was like they were stuck in some kind of wonderland that didn't exist with a single drop of rationale. Nothing made sense!

Meanwhile, green and blue eyes darted across each of their tormented expressions and mentally scanned their inner turmoil that only heightened the air of panic in the room. He immediately sensed their terror as each of their minds sought to formulate an endless amount of questions pertaining to their odd experiences tonight. Carefully sitting himself up so as not to alarm them, the boy with green and blue eyes sought to relax their chaotic minds by lifting two pale soft hand in their directions for a short moment before lowering them back down until his palms laid flat on the cold floor at on each side of him.

Every suffering mind in that room was immediately relaxed enough enough to form clear thinking thoughts that they couldn't do before. Now that they were able to suddenly think rationally once again, they completely forgot about interrogating the kid they just released from confinement to now back to questioning each other of the strange events that had unfolded tonight. It was no longer something they could overlook what with the many oddities that kept appearing before them in one night over and over again. Cris, Bam, Otep, and Bert all instantly turned to each other in a circle and finally vented about everything that took place for them in loud voices while Alexis anxiously stood back and watched with eye filled with fear. With her back to him, Alexis had no idea that she now held the attention of the blue and green eyed boy still sitting on the floor.

“Alright, I've had just about enough of this bullshit!” Bam began first, his hands diving into his hair to tug on his dark curly strands in frustration. He felt like his head was about to implode with rage from not knowing what was going on around them. He felt like they were stuck in some kind of movie where they had no control of anything that was taking place around them. It was genuinely terrifying for him, but Bam never reacted the way he was supposed to. He only knew how to react with anger, that was his problem. He only knew anger.

“I'm telling you there is something freaky going on here!” Bert went on, ignoring Bam's frustrations because he too was as well. Never had he been through so many strange occurrences exploring the facility at night, hell he's never seen one! And now all of a sudden, after exploring a sector he's never been in, he was getting knocked off his feet from left to right by nothing that made any sense. If he honestly found out someone was pulling a prank on him right now, he wouldn't be surprise. In fact it might actually be a welcome compared to this constant uncertainty. “First of all, how the fuck did this kid even survive down here on his own? From what we've all gathered we've been the very first people down here for...centuries, probably!”

“How the fuck would we know?” Otep chided him, flinging a hand out towards the mysterious boy. “Why don't you ask him?!”

“I-I don't feel comfortable talking to him.” Bert objected with a shake of his head, avoiding following the direction of her hand. Not only has this night been the most uncomfortable experience of his life, but...that kid gave him the creeps. Just simply looking at the guy made time stop for him, and he didn't like that. It was an odd sensation he's never experienced before and made him even more uncomfortable than he already was! If that's even possible. “He might be some kind of murderous lunatic that collects eyes and teeth for all we know!"

“I mean, I wanna say crazy people in this facility don't respond in that kind of manner, but we've all seen in the past when the medication begins to liquefy your brain it can turn you hostile for sure." Cris confirmed nervously as he pointed out the worse possibility.

Alexis bit her lower lip, trying to focus on the overlapping voices as her friends begin to fall into a heated argue that she had every intention on interjecting in...once it felt safe enough to do. But before she could grow her confidence to step into the center of their battle, she let out a small gasp of alarm at the sensation of being touched by something unfamiliar. Her right hand froze in the grip it was held in as her wide brown eyes lowered to check on the safety of it. She confirmed it was indeed enclose in something but hadn't expected it to be within the grip of a cold pale hand that was connected to the mysterious boy they saved. Brown eyes connected with his blue and green eyes locked on her face in a blank stare. Tentatively, his pale fingers interlaced with her delicate fingers in a hold that made her think of two different metals being welded together to form into one. That one motion erased the fear held in her brown eyes completely as the blue green eyes seem to blanket her into his invincible but warm protection. Her newly flooded confidence was now boosted to a high level she hadn't felt in years since being thrown down in this underground facility. Gradually, his hand reluctantly let hers go, his eyes beckoning her to go on now that she was ready to stand up to the others. Alexis nodded once in silent understanding before turning around to confront the others.

"Okay look, this is getting too out of hand and too aggressive too quick! How about we just forget about everything that's been happening and move on from this because there is nothing we can do about it anyway.” Cris suggested loudly, waving their discussion with a wave of both hands. Everyone was getting lost in their anger and he was trying to prevent himself from following suit too. “What we need to worry about right now is our Grand Escape because that's the only thing down here we have still control of, right?”

“Cris is right,. Escaping should be our main objective right now in stead of fighting about...whatever magical bullshit prank this night has turned out to be.” Bert agreed, uncrossing his tense arms to place his hands on his hips as he took a couple of deep breaths. “Of course, what comes with our escape plan is the few minor details we still need to remain concerned about as well.”

“Do you mean the amount of people you're trying to save?” Bam asked Bert, heavy irritation in his blue eyes. “Do you wanna know my opinion on all that?”

“No.” Otep answered for Bert, crossing her arms over her chest and shooting Bam a glare because she knew exactly what crap he was gonna say before he even opened his mouth to say it. In their short time together, she could read him pretty damn well, and she didn't like anything of it.

Bam threw her a warning glare back before sharing with an uninterested Bert. “You can't save all these people, Bert, it's not possible. Hell, I don't know where you ever got the idea that you ever could! There's too many security guards in here and too many of us at the same damn time. You can't get us all out of here, and I believe deep down inside you know that. When the time finally does come, you're going to have to start making some damn decisions of who's going to make it out and who won't.”

“Fuck you, Bam!” Otep shouted, reaching out to shove Bam away from Bert's presence. If she had to, she was prepared to beat his pretty boy face into the ground no problem. He wouldn't be the first guy she fought and he won't certainly be the last. “Everyone who isn't fucking inane is getting the hell out of here whether Bert is gonna listen to an asshole like you or not!”

Bert stepped in between the two the moment he saw Bam lurch forward with violence in his eyes. Otep might not care if she received a punch in the face, but he did! “GUYS, STO-”

“ENOUGH!” Alexis shouted, making every turn to see her standing close by with her arms crossed over her chest and disapproval written all over her face. Now that she had all of their attention, she began to speak her peace, something she didn't have to balls to do before. “Look, I know this is an overwhelming night for all of you, believe me, I know, but you can't allow it to make you turn on each other like this. I know it's easy to do just that, but that's how you know it's wrong. We need to try and stick on hard times like this or else we won't make it to the surface.” She then turned her attention to Bert who appeared dead on his feet from stress. Her eyes soften at this. “Bert I can't even begin to imagine the stress you're going through what with the amount of people you want to save, but...we just can't abandon them all to suffer this fate for the rest of their lives. They need us, even if the ones that are lost causes can't figure that out on their own that they do. If the sane ones stay here any longer they'll surely become insane themselves, and you'll have to live with that on your conscious. Trust me, Bert, I know we can do this! We can make it if we only work together on this, it's that simple.” Her eyes then drift to Bam who stepped back a bit away from the knowing look in her eyes that seemed to peel back his tough layers and see his emotions for what they truly were. “I know you're scared, Brandon, but it's ok to be scared. We're all terrified of everything that's been going on here since our first day too but that doesn't mean you have to give in to defeat. Even if you had your way with this escape plan of Bert's, you too would regret going through it for the rest of your life.”

Bam frowned during her speech when something caught his attention. He couldn't remember if he ever told his name before. If not, then how does she know his name was Brandon? Tilting his head to the side in confusion, he inquired. “Wait a minute, how did you know my name was Brandon? I don't remember telling you that was my name.”

Bam glanced away towards Cris who had been standing right next to Otep, but was now crouched next to the kids they just release staring into his eyes just as Alexis had done before while the others argued. Cris was enthralled by this mystery patient. What he saw but the others couldn't see was that the mystery patient had a bright red apple in one hand and a loaf of bread in the other that had to have come from....nowhere. There wasn't a kitchen or food storage in sight down here. All the doors but the mystery patient's was locked up tight so there was no way Cris was seeing the patient indulging in such delicacies right now. It wasn't possible at all except...the medication Cris and the others were fed daily was making him hallucinate. The staff played Russian roulette with those pills and so one day you can be fine and the next have your brain wake up liquefied. It happened often, sadly, but neither Cris or his friends had ever noticed any odd changes in their health yet. Until now because Cris was staring into the mystery boy's unrealistic highly pigmented eyes in awe as he watched him consume food. He couldn't tear his eyes away until he felt a hand plant itself firmly on his shoulder before pulling back out of the hypnotic state he was trapped in.