Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine. Well, some of them are. But the
important ones are all property of MTM and NBC Productions and used without
permission. I'm not making any money out of this . . . . Blah, blah, blah. You
know the drill.
Final Countdown
By Nicky
Chapter 5
It's a good 20 minutes after we get to Miss Parker's office
before she starts to come to. That was
a good thing, too. I couldn't imagine
dragging her up here, kicking and screaming.
Which is what it looked like I was going to have to do initially.
"Jarod," she mumbles, her eyes still closed. But slowly they begin flutter and she
tentatively looks around, trying to figure out where she is.
"We're in your office, Miss Parker," I say to
her. Broots was at her side, lovingly
holding her hand and helping her sit up.
Poor little geek. I think he has
a crush on her.
"Where's Jarod?" she asks me. "Willie, where is he?"
She's persistent, I'll give her that much. She's not letting this go. I don't even know what to tell her. So I tell her the truth.
"I don't know," I confess. And then I have to close my eyes because the
look on her face is truly heartbreaking.
"But you said that Raines . . . " she whispers,
the tears already starting to stream down her face. She was holding onto her stomach, gently rubbing it as if it were
giving her strength.
"That's where Lyle said he was taking him," I tell
her. "It was part of Jarod's
plan.
"Jarod's plan?" she asks, lifting one eyebrow and
staring at me intently.
"Maybe I should just start at the beginning," I
say as I realize the explanation wasn't going as I had planned. "It all started this morning . .
."
6 Hours earlier
I take my normal walk down the long, gloomy hallways at the
Centre. And for the first time, I
noticed what kind of terrible prison that place really is. It's never really bothered me before. I guess I had just blocked out all the weird
stuff going on. Like the freaky looking
twins that Sydney experiments on. Or
the horrible screams of the other people they test on. And the children. All the children. Taken
from their families with no choice given to them. I assume that's how they got me.
And because of that, I originally came to work here to investigate my
past. But I got caught up in trying to
be . . . . I don't even know anymore.
Because all I see are monsters.
Am I one too?
"Did you hear the news, Willie?" It was Lewis. One of the newer sweepers.
He always talked to me like I was his mentor or something. I think he sees how Raines trusts me. And he wants the kind of power I have. Not like that's saying much. But then again, how many people can get away
with shooting the chairman's daughter?
I still don't understand why I'm still alive to this day.
"What news?" I ask him. But I know what he's talking about. I figured it wouldn't take long for word about the accident to
spread.
"The Ice Queen.
She's dead," Lewis says with glee.
"Rumor has it, her own brother did her. Ran her car off the road early this morning. There wasn't anything left. Not even teeth and bones."
Lewis stands there rambling on about I don't even know
what. I tune him out after a few
minutes. Especially when I see Raines
and Mr. Parker together at the end of the hallway. And I have to wonder to myself what's going on with that.
"Aren't you supposed to be doing something?" I ask
him to get him out of the way. "You don't want Raines to see you standing
in the hall gossiping, do you?" I
nod my head towards the end of the hall to show him where Raines was.
"Good lookin' out, Willie. I'll see you later, man," Lewis whispers before going down
the hall in the other direction.
I wait until he out of view before going down the hall
towards Mr. Raines and Mr. Parker. I
try to look nonchalant, like I don't even notice them.
"Willie," Mr. Parker calls to me. "I see you made sure that 'special'
matter was taken care of for me. I see
now how loyal and trustworthy you are."
"No need to thank me, Sir. Lyle took care of it."
"I know. I just
came from seeing him. But he only did
it because he knew that if he didn't, then you would take care of them
both," Mr. Parker continues.
"Now that my daughter is out of the way, I'll need for you to keep
an eye on Lyle. Make sure he stays
loyal as well."
"I think you're forgetting that Willie belongs to
me," Raines rasps.
Belong to him? I
don't belong to anybody. Is that all
they see me as? Their property? I guess this is how Jarod feels. Fighting for freedom that he deserves just
by being a human. Who did they think
they were? I guess technically, I'm one
of these people. But all that is
changing now.
"Come along, Willie.
We have work to do," he gasps again. What is keeping this old sack of bones alive, anyway? He always sounds like he's on his last
leg. Don't get me wrong, I guess my
life here at the Centre has been pretty good.
But when I think about all the horrific things I've done, I can no
longer respect this man. Because this
is the person I allowed him to make me.
"Don't forget about this afternoon. Four o'clock. Conference Room C," Mr. Parker reminds Raines. "By now, I'm sure the director has
heard about the Triumvirate and the . . . accidents," he says with a laugh
and Raines joins in.
I look at them both and try not to act surprised by their
coldness. They did something to the
Triumvirate. Arranged for their
deaths. And now . . . what? I know that whatever Jarod and the others
are up to, this little development is sure to throw a wrench in those plans.
For the next few hours, I have to follow Raines around,
dragging along that oxygen tank for him.
I can't believe I've done this for all these years. Too many years. And I can't believe I ever respected this man. Looked up to him. Like a father figure.
Maybe it was the fact that I was searching for myself. For my family. And he promised me
answers. But now, I see those answers
aren't worth it. I'm shaken out of my
thoughts that moment by one of the other new sweepers running madly down the
hall.
"What is it?" Mr. Raines asked the out of breath
young man.
"Sir. Sublevel
12. The silent alarm has been set
off," the young sweeper informs us.
I have no idea where the other are. At least I didn't until that moment
there. They should have told me they'd
be snooping around down there. I could
have been prepared. Nevertheless, they were
counting on me not to get them caught.
I had to do something.
"I'll go check it out," I offer. "It's probably nothing."
"Go ahead. But
I'll get a team together and send them after you for backup," Raines says.
A team? I didn't
have much time to warn the others. I
get down to SL-12 as quickly as I can and find the room they're in. I guess they weren't expecting me because I
meet the ends of two guns, pointing my way.
"You scared us," Lyle says when he realizes that
it's me at the door. He puts his gun
down with a sigh of relief.
"They know someone's down here," I tell them. "I told them I'd come down to check it
out. But I know more sweepers will be
behind me any minute now."
"This isn't good," Jarod says. "I think we're done in here, but we're
not going to have time to get out of here safely." His eyes kind of glaze over and I can tell
that he's simming all the different escape possibilities. "There's only one way out of
this," he says after a few minutes.
Miss Parker goes kind of nuts. She didn't like the idea at all.
It was too dangerous for Jarod to give himself over to the Centre. I could tell she was terrified for him. He tries to reassure her, but I can also
tell that he's terrified for himself.
With one last kiss, they say their good byes, and we all leave. Miss Parker and Broots stay behind.
"Please make sure she's alright," Jarod whispers
when we're down the hall. "No
matter what happens, make sure she's alright." He stares at me intently.
And it's shocking that he would trust me with his family. Somehow he reaches my soul. And I can feel the heartache he's going
through right now. It almost brings
tears to my eyes.
"I'm going to make sure that YOU are alright,
Jarod," I promise him. "That
way, you can take care of her yourself."
I give him a weak smile to reassure him. But I can't be sure of it.
In my heart, though, I feel that I'm going to do whatever's in my power
to keep him safe. I feel as if I have
to.