Who wants to live forever
Chapter 3


Darkness all around them, as far as they could see, not that they could. They climbed in darkness for several minutes. Going deep below the surface. They had almost started to believe there was no end to all the climbing.
The paranoia was getting to John, this was too strange for him. That coupled with his slight claustrophobia made his nerves go on edge. He felt as if they were being watched, they could meet up with anything in the darkness and easily be taken out by surprise.

"Hey George, put that flashlight back on will ya!" His voice echoed loudly throughout the tunnel.
"I would... But Who knows how long we'll be in here without any other lights to rely on. What if the batteries die out when we really need em? "
"But we really need them right now. Can't you feel it, we're being watched. They're all around us, observing us and waiting for the right moment to strike. We will all be eaten if we stay in the darkness forever."
"John, are you ok up there!" Christine asked with a worried tone to her voice. Something that got lost in all the echoing.
"Do I sound like I'm ok?! It might eat us any second now!"

George turned on the flashlight and pointed it up. "Look, what are you so afraid off. Are you scared of the darkness or something?"
"Don't try to say that you ain't afraid of 'this' darkness"
"Stop acting like a baby. If there is anyone down there they must surely have heard you"
George turned the flashlight downwards and saw the light hit the floor. "Seems like we're at our destination kids."

A minute later George's foot hit solid ground. He quickly moved out of the way so the other two could get down as quickly as possible. They were all relieved to finaly be standing on a real floor again. They were all tired of climbing and didn't even want to think about climbing the other way to get back up.

Christine put her hand on John's shoulder and asked. "Are you ok now?"
"Not really, this place gives me bad vibes. I still feel like I'm being watched. Maybe I'm just paranoid."

George shone the flashlight down the corridor, it was just as empty as the vertical one they had just climbed down. One long straight line with shiny metal walls as long as the eye could see. He disappointedly sighed. "Atleast we can walk this time."

They walked for hours in the darkness, always a a slight slope upwards, not enough for them to even notice. Always touching the walls to feel for something, anything. Sometimes the corridor turned, sometimes it forked off in several directions. They always stayed together because who knows how lost you could get in this seemingly infinite labyrith of steel. They all stayed strangely quiet for the whole time. Finally, they hit a wall infront of them. George turned on the flashlight and they all froze. They stood quiet for several minutes, looking at just another cold, empty wall of metal.
Suddenly a loud bump behind them made them all turn around as if one. Another wall had appeared not far behind them. John ran up to it and looked for a way to push it out of the way but there was niether any handles or ways to get a grip on the shiny surface.

"I knew it, we shouldn't have gone down here!" As soon as he'd said it, the wall they had walked into earlier opened up and revealed an opening into a room with plenty of small dim lights shining from the walls.
George pointed the flashlight at the opening. The opposite wall was covered in old electronic equipment. Surely many decades old. They slowly walked towards the opening and as soon as one foot peaked out into the room some lights turned on automatically. It startled them for a second, then they proceeded into the open room.
One side of the room had its walls mostly covered in surveillance screens, all showing the three of them from different angles. But as much as they tried, they couldn't see a single camera. The other side was longer and tilted along one wall there was a row of glass containers filled with some sort of blue liquid. Most of them had people in them. Most of the people looked very old and skinny, having long hair that filled out much of the containers. And a tube leading into their mouths. A few of them had wounds on them. It was like walking into some sort of weird hospital from a forgotten age.

"Maybe they couldn't take it?" Christine said.
"Hmm?" John was still thinking of just how bizarre this place really was.
"The heat and starvation I mean. Maybe they are here to sleep until a time when the world is once again a better place to live for the old and sick?"
"Yes." A strange voice had answered her question. They all looked around themselves but saw no one.
"Who are you!" Asked John nervously.

One of the screens on the wall switched picture to a view of the garden and its gate. It slowly zoomed in on the empty metal shell with its arms stretched out, standing outside the gate. "I am the guardian of these people... I would have stopped you at the gate if it had been in my power."
"Why would they need a guardian" John asked and took a step forward.

At that very moment Christine gave out a short shout that died out as soon as it started, she fell to the floor unconcious with George doing the same not more than a second after. John quickly turned around and got hit in the arm with something pointy that quickly went away, he followed it upwards with his eyes as his arm went numb and saw that the ceiling was filled with a variety of mechanical arms with differnt attachments, moving arounds like snakes in a pit. He had Been stung by a needle with some quickly working drug. The others had been stung in their necks, they never saw it coming.

"They need a guardian to keep them from leaving... Their better life is here, as part of me, and so shall your life also be made better."

Mechanical arms had been lowered from the ceiling and picked up Christine and George from the floor. They grabbed John while still standing. He was too numb to resist, but he was still conscious.
Their clother were ripped off. Three of the glass containers were emptied of their liquid, the lids on top were opened and the three people were placed inside of them. The lids were shut and tubes came out of them, entering their mouths to let them breathe. The containers slowly got refilled with the blue liquid. John's eyes were open and when the liquid touched his eyes it burned like hellfire, but there was nothing he could do. He didn't even have the power to close his eyes. Soon he lost consciousness, and everything once again faded to black.


End Chapter 3

Written by Bo
20-01-2010 - 21-01-2010