Tangible impossibilities
The bus bounced out of a pothole, jarring the teenagers in their seats. Excited chatter permeated the air, audible over the rumbling engine of bus. Dust was kicked up by the tyres. Tall evergreen trees whizzed by as the bus sped along the dirt road.
Mark slumped loosely in his seat, dozing while the bus bounced and jostled. They had been driving for a couple of hours and he peered meekly out of the dirty window focusing on the country tree line. He felt ill as the vehicle hopped over another stone, the tense feeling of nausea clutching at his gut.
"Looking a little green around the gills, aren't you", remarked a short boy sitting next to Mark. He lazily flipped his black hair out of his eyes, revealing a cheeky grin. The boy knelt on the seat, arms crossed on the head rest. He had been talking to Jessica and Shannon, two girls who were sitting behind us. "Shut up, Zain!" Mark groaned, taking on a green hue as the bus started to bounce again.
Zain smirked, "It's not my fault if Marcy warcy is sicky wicky," Mark glowered, "too bad this bus doesn't come with barf bags", he continued ,"I'm kind of curious about what type of cereal you ate today"."Bite me" Mark said, while Zain laughed, taking pleasure in his friends discomfort. Mark quickly decided to even the playing field. "Well at least I'm not afraid of my younger sister". Zain paled, the smirk gone from his face. "Shut up, you promised not to talk about that", he hissed. "Why not? Who could resist talking about a sixteen year old guy getting beaten up by his ten year old sister?" he grinned relishing in the boy's discomfort, and the giggles from the girls behind them made it all the sweeter ."Really Zain, how could such a cute little girl beat you up?" remarked Jessica, pulling a strand of her red hair out of her eyes. "The little demon fights dirty, okay! Besides she would probably cry about it to my parents if I did hurt her. I'm in enough shit from last time", he said shrinking into his seat. "What happened last time?" Shannon asked. Zain glared daggers at Mark, telling him to bite his tongue. Mark let a grin spread across his face as he remembered what had happened. Zain's sister had chased him around the house with a baseball bat, after he broke the little girl's favourite doll when she had thrown his Xbox out the window. His parents had come home to a mess and a wailing daughter, who had kindly pointed out her brother as the culprit. Mark's grin turned into a grimace as the bus bounced over a particularly large stone.
He returned his attention to the scenery, while Zain continued to defend himself against the mockery of the girls. The bus slowed, much to Mark's relief, as it turned off onto a small tarmac road leading into the forest. The wheels glided smoothly over the well laid road. Mark was able to relax, the nausea fading slowly allowing him to breathe again. Ahead a solid concrete wall ran off into the distance, it was about six meters high. Long steel wires lined the top. As the bus approached a large steel gate in the wall began to open. Surveillance cameras were mounted on the wall, red lights blinking as the bus passed into the forest. The forest road was shaded; the sunlight breaching it speckled the road in long golden shafts. It was a welcome change from the hours spent being bounced and jostled with only fields and the occasional cow.
A small gate house was visible ahead. It stood before the mouth to a small tunnel. A man in a stiff blue uniform sat inside. He looked up, gave a curt nod before pressing a button to raise the gate. The bus passed through, picking up speed as it approached the yawning hole. Mark noticed an inscription above the tunnel, which had gone unnoticed until just before the bus passed into the darkness. It simply read:
"Through this gateway lies a whole new world."
The teenager smirked. The inscription was unbelievably conceited for such a serious facility. Did the scientists really think they were that good? The facility couldn't be that great. He had been imagining something flashy based on how the place had organized the field trip and had left out finer details. The whole thing had an aura of the unknown about it. The people who had organized it probably thought that the confusion and lack of information would make the trip a little more interesting. It did. It gave Mark freedom to daydream about what they were doing at the facility, and why they had such an isolated location.
Some of the girls shrieked and giggled as the bus proceeded into the tunnel, the dark taking them by surprise. Mark rolled his eyes as Zain made stupid remarks to the girls. He stared out the window, wondering why the tunnel was so dark and so long. He felt his ears pop, a chill running the length of his spine. Mark began to think about the inscription above the tunnel. What did it mean? Why was it there?
A sharp pain on his right ear, made him yell and turn in the darkness. "Wasn't me", Zain lied innocently from Mark's right. Mark flung out a fist into the darkness, but failed to hit his friend. "Missed me slow po-OW", he yelled rubbing at his shoulder where Mark had struck him. "Wasn't me!" Mark replied an invisible grin on his face.
"There's light ahead" yelled someone, as the gloom brightened. The end of the tunnel was bright. As the bus passed through, Mark found himself looking at what appeared to be another forest. This one was different somehow; the trees were packed densely around the tunnel's mouth. Many of them looked old and twisted, their emerald leaves blocking much of the light. Mark wondered how old they were and why their growth had been so stunted. As they drove the forest began to thin out. Ferns and smaller plants grew all about the tall evergreen trees. The light once again pierced the canopy to fall on the undergrowth.
"Holy shit is that fox on fire?", shouted a girl from the front of the bus. Mark saw the fox dash into a bush, a fiery tail vanishing into the bushes. "No way! Dude did you see that? It looked like a Vul-", Mark quickly cut Zain off "It was just a trick of the light!". He didn't believe his own explanation; he was still shocked by the sight. 'That couldn't have been', he thought, 'that's IMPOSSIBLE!'. He continued to deny what his eyes had seen, putting it off to his own wishful thinking.
He could not however deny what the others were claiming to see. They yelled out as they saw other strange creatures roaming the forest, darting in and out of shadow. The creatures were both strange and familiar, playing on the childhood fantasies of the teenagers. Mark recalled the words above the tunnel:
'Through this gateway lies a whole new world!'
'It can't be real, it's impossible ' he thought, the words ringing in his head as the bus broke the tree line, heading towards a large complex of buildings walled in by another concrete wall with an electrified barrier. Another set of steel gates was flanked by two security guards. They eyed the bus coldly as the gate swung open and the bus drove through. One picked up his radio and spoke into it, while his partner looked away. "This place must be doing some high end stuff to have so much security, I wonder why they asked us to come?", someone said, thinking out loud. "Whatever it is I can't wait to see it!"one of the girls giggled in excitement.
The bus stopped in front a tall glass facade building with Remment Science Inc, proudly embellished on the wall. The teenagers got up making their way to the exit of the bus, as the pneumatic brakes hissed. The doors swung open and the teens slowly disembarked, stretching after the long ride. Mark shuffled into the aisle after Zain. They walked past the driver, a large man in his thirties. He didn't pay them any attention, his uniform cap obscuring his face. "Thanks for driving", a slim be speckled girl quietly thanked the driver. He grunted, his face twitched indistinctively, beneath the hat."Someone's grouchy", Zain commented, and tripped over the driver's outstretched leg falling down the stairs."And someone needs to learn to not insult people who are already in a bad mood", Mark told his friend as he hopped of the last step. The bus door hissed and the bus drove off, driving behind the large building."He probably wants to get to the toilet, he was drinking coffee the whole way here", Mark reasoned picking his friend up off the floor. Zain dusted himself off, passionately cursing under his breath. The rest of the students had made their way towards the building. Mark shrugged and left Zain to trail behind and sulk.
A neatly trimmed garden flanked the building, complete with foreign flowers. A large water feature was filled with strange horned koi fish and large lily pads which slowly moved around on the surface. The flowers twitched and swayed in the breeze, giving off a comfortingly sweet aroma.
"Welcome to Remment Incorporated Research Facility, I am Doctor Rico Giovanni. I'm glad you all arrived safely", said a tall handsome man with a well trimmed goatee," please follow me inside so we can get this operation going". Smiling, he guided the batch of teenagers into the large entrance foyer of the building. The foyer was large, with white sterile walls and was well lit by the light streaming through its glass front. The room was furnished with sophisticated sitting chairs and couches, arrange neatly about.
"Now before we begin the tour I will need to ask you to make your way to one of the changing rooms to either side", he lifted both hands, pointing to two doors," the females changing room is on my right and the males is on my left, please remove your clothes and electronic equipment, and put them into one of the lockers. Then change into the protective uniforms provided". "Why do we need to change clothes?" asked a high pitched voice from the front of the group. "It is to insure your safety while in the facility and helps to decrease the risk of you contaminating the research done. It is only a precaution and nothing more, so don't be alarmed", he explained a large, assuring smile on his face. At this the group began to separate heading into their allocated changing rooms. Mark began towards the boy's changing room, but stopped and looked around for Zain, who was strangely quiet for once. He was headed to the changing room. Although it was the wrong one and he had a sly grin on his face. A hand shot out grabbing him by the ear. "Not so fast Mr. Tyler, your changing room is over there!" snapped Ms. Fink, one of the teachers chaperoning the field trip. Zain hung his head and quickly walked over to the boy's changing room. 'He's lucky', thought Mark as he followed his friend inside, 'who knows what would happen if Evangeline had caught him peeping.
"Ah that reminds me, could you teachers accompany Ms Lucas to the lounge, and she will show you the way. My staff and I will be able to handle the group", Dr. Giovanni said, stroking his goatee.
Mark entered the changing room, found an unoccupied locker. He found a set of turquoise clothes inside. They were of a similar material to medical scrubs, but slightly thicker. He quickly changed out of his clothes, tossing them onto a small shelf in the middle. He changed quickly into the uniform. It clung to his neck and irritated the skin, making him scratch.
He left the room and found Zain, who was scratching at his neck and back."These things must be made of hair!" he moaned, scratching all the more at his irritated skin." I'm so glad we got to keep our underwear on else I'd be scratching my b-OW", he was cut off as a fit looking girl in a salmon pink version of the safety clothing, elbowed him in the ribs. "Shut up idiot!" she said angrily. "Okay Evangeline. Geez why do you always pick on me?" he innocently intoned, rubbing his bruised ribs.
"Can I have your attention!" a small plump man with a large moustache said, he was wearing a pristine white lab coat, with a black band on his left arm "I am going to divide you up into groups, listen for your name!" "Hey look its Mario" giggled Zain, hiding his smirk. Evangeline was about to hit him with her elbow again, when her name was called. She quickly joined the group of teens standing in front of a stern, well built man at the front of the room. A voice at Mark's shoulder made him jump. "I wonder why they're splitting us up?" wondered Jessica out loud. She was standing right behind Mark and had probably just lest the changing room in her own pink uniform. "And aren't these uniforms weird? I feel like some sort of human guinea pig in a straw clothes." She absently scratched her neck underneath the collar of the uniform."It's probably so we can get around quicker. You know smaller groups are easier to manage, or something like that" guessed Mark, ignoring the guinea pig remark. He had been feeling odd ever since they had gone through the tunnel.
"Mark Calhoun". Mark looked up as his name was read, and saw that the group had grown smaller. He walked up to a broad and hirsute man at the front of the room, and stepped behind him joining a blond girl and a dark haired boy. They looked exactly the same, except for a few gender influenced aspects. The girl was picking distastefully at the pink top, grumbling about how ridiculous it looked. The boy's head was drooped, dark rings under his eyes. Mark mumbled a greeting to the Mills twins. Kyle Mills mumbled back, while Helen continued to fiddle with the material of her uniform.
Soon Zain joined our group, holding the back of his head and casting wary glances at Jessica. "I didn't do anything, I swear", he professed, falling in with the rest of us. Phoebe Barnes, the quiet be speckled girl, was called next. She looked sheepish and stared at the floor as she made her way to the group. Finally Jessica's name was called, much to Zain's dismay. She joined the group, keeping a wary eye on Zain. "I can't leave you alone for thirty seconds can I?" Mark sighed in dismay. Zain replied by grinning mischievously.
The hairy man removed a small notepad from his pocket and scribbled something on it. "Follow me!" he gruffly commanded, putting the notepad back in his lab coat pocket. He turned and walked abruptly down a long corridor.
The small group of teens followed. The corridor reminded Mark of a hospital. It was clean and sterile, with large tinted mesh screen windows for each room. Blinds on the inside of the rooms stopped the teens from seeing what was inside the rooms. They walked on in silence. 'This is some tour' Mark thought, as paranoia clenched his gut. ' I have a bad feeling about this, but what could happen'.
The group approached a large set of steel reinforced doors with a small electronic locking system on the wall next to it. The scientist quickly punched in a complicated series of numbers into the small wall mounted console. There was a series of clunks as the door slid open. The room beyond was dark. "Go inside" the scientist said cracking his hairy knuckles. The teens entered the room.
The door slammed shut behind them making Mark jump and Jessica scream. The room was completely dark save for an eerie glow emanating from six cylindrical glass tanks.
Mark heard a breath and a footstep behind him. Then he heard someone yell in surprise. He was about to turn but was grabbed by a pair of strong rubbery hands. "Let us begin shall we!" a loud voice boomed, as the lights flicked on, illuminating the chamber. "What's going on I thought we came here to look at science experiments?" Jessica screamed, struggling against two men in biological MOPP suits. "My dear girl, you are the experiments!", the voiced laughed evilly. Mark struggled against the grip of the men holding him, but they constrained him easily. Another man in a white laboratory hazard suit removed a syringe from a sterile plastic wrapping. Mark eyed the needle with caution, his voice caught in his throat. The man removed a small bottle of a clear liquid, the label hidden by his thumb. He drew some of the solution and tapped the glass, settling the air inside before expelling it. Mark looked at the man in the lab suit, his eyes pleading. The man's face was hidden by the tinted visor of the suit. He quickly jabbed the needle into Mark's neck, squeezing the plunger.
Mark's world went fuzzy. His body felt limp and everything became a haze of fluffy shapes and cottony sounds. Mark absently noticed that there were more men injecting the other teens. He heard his schoolmates screaming. He heard a muffled whirr as the tank in front of him was opened. He was dragged over to the tube, his feet felt like they were miles away, as they trailed on the floor.
He felt tired as a nasal drip and oral breathing tube where inserted into him. The man in the lab suit came back, a blur of hazy shapes. The man inserted an intravenous tube into his floppy arm. He removed an injection gun from a steel case mark hadn't noticed before. He also withdrew a small florescent vial, which he screwed into the pressurized gun. He rubbed Mark's neck with an icy swab, before firing the contents of the vial into his neck. A distant sting was all the teen felt.
He was left to slump inside the tank, his eyelids fluttering. A transparent viscous liquid gushed into the small space. The fluid was warm and comforting. It soaked Mark's uniform, 'at least it isn't itchy anymore', he dumbly thought, as that thought and every other one swirled into oblivion.
"So when will the process be complete?" a shadowy man with a widows peak asked over a video call."In about a month, sir" said a handsome man with a well trimmed goatee, looking at the screen. "Excellent!" the shadowy man smirked stroking a strange cat, with a bright jewel on its forehead.
Well that's the updated version of an old and forgotten story. I Hope I have kept with what I set out to do and didn't become too verbose. Well I'm going to be updating the rest of the story soon and hopefully I can iron the kinks out of the plot before I get it rolling. So review it feedback is always welcome and helpful.
