I am SO dead, huh?
Well, to excuse myself: for the first week I missed I was actually sick. Second week was Holy Week, so my family was out the whole day and the day after. Third week, we visited our grandmother (lola) in the province. Last week… It's all a blur of time-travelling and doctors, to be honest.
So in return, I am updating this with FOUR chapters! Woot!
Here, the Fantabulous Four's reactions are a little more... realistic. So yeah.
Same disclaimers apply.
"Shit…" Andy muttered, rubbing her forehead. "I really should stop drinking sugar before bed… goddamn killer headaches."
She was about to get up, when she realized she wasn't lying down. She was sitting down, restrained, in a windowless black room. Andy froze for a second, hearing a gentle hum from under them.
She screamed.
"WHAT THE FRESH HELL?"
"DUDE. Seriously, don't scream in the fucking morning!" Nick yelled, sounding slurred. "Ah shit, headache…"
"GUYS! What the Hell happened?" Andy panicked, trying to escape her restraints. The belt around her waist wouldn't budge, and neither would her seat. She turned as far as she could to see where her friends were.
Tammy and Mel were just stirring from unconsciousness. Nick was rubbing her forehead, swearing under her breath. Andy looked around once more, though only seeing lights and a set of speakers hanging overhead, a metal ladder leading somewhere up there, and a lack of windows and a clue of where they were.
"Wha… where are we?" Tammy asked quietly, rubbing her temples.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say we're in a Shroud." Mel answered. The other three girls stared at her.
"Shit." She said, in shock.
"There's no way…" Nick said, sounding worried. "This is all just some elaborate dream we're all having, right?"
"If it is, then we drank way too much Coke last night." Tammy said.
"This is a joke, right?" Andy asked, pissed. "If this is a joke, we're not laughing!" She shouted at the ceiling.
"Andy! No one can hear us." Mel said.
"If there is someone up there." Nick added.
"Maybe the pilots can't hear us…" Tammy suggested.
"Hell no! This can't be a Shroud! We're not going to H.I.V.E., and THIS ISN'T FUNNY!" Andy screamed.
"ANDY." Nick said sharply. "Stop screaming. It's only making all our headaches worse. Besides, we've gotta stay calm here."
"Stay calm? We're in a metal room, unable to escape, in who knows goddamn where!" Andy exclaimed. "What if there's some crazy freak up there who's going to kill us?"
"You've been watching way too much Criminal Minds, Ands." Nick said. "Think about it: This is exactly how the Shroud would look like; at least, in the place Wing and Otto were in the third book. Besides, aren't you the one who kept telling us that the teachers back in school were the H.I.V.E. characters?"
"Yeah, but they were people who could copy anyone and anything!" Andy replied. "They weren't a situation we had to face!"
"Mister Fanchu was more like a SituAsian…" Tammy muttered under her breath.
"So in this situation, we have to calm down!" Nick retorted. Andy looked angry at first, and then she sighed, slumping in her seat.
"Why're you so angry anyways?" Mel asked. "I mean, we might me going to H.I.V.E.! What's wrong with that?"
"I dunno…" Andy answered, thinking back to her… her last conversation with J.J.
"We're graduating this year! You know she's transferring to another school! You may never see her again!"
'Hell yeah, I'm never seeing her again.' Andy thought sadly. She turned to her friends, who were still expecting an answer.
"I mean, I guess this is cool and all, but what about our families, huh?" Andy asked.
The thought made them flinch. The others hadn't thought about them.
"Well… I'm guessing they knew." Nick said. "I mean, the way my mom reacted… it was as if she'd never see me again."
"My parents did say something weird to me on the phone a few days ago." Tammy added. "They said something similar to what Nick's mom said… as though they'd never see us again."
"Me too." Said Mel.
Andy nodded. "I guess mine did too."
They sat in silence for a while, before they heard a voice through the speakers.
"Well folks, we'll be landing in a bit. When the doors open and when your belts are released you are to strictly follow the orders of the people who will greet you. Thank you for complying, and welcome to H.I.V.E."
The Fantabulous Four almost fainted right there and then.
"Ugh… What the flip?"
J.J. stirred from his fitful sleep, waking with what felt like World War II happening in his head. He tried getting up from his bed, when he realized he was strapped down. Then, he realized he was in a chair, in a closed off room with only a ladder leading up to Gube-knows-where.
"What the…" J.J. words trailed off, when he looked to his right and saw a familiar face strapped down in a similar way.
"Jess?" he said. The girl beside him did not stir.
J.J. struggled to get out of his seat, which had him down like a criminal ready for interrogation.
'I've got to stop watching Criminal Minds.' He thought to himself, as he slumped against his seat in defeat. He looked to his right, and saw that his sister was still asleep. 'As long as she doesn't wake up and start panicking, I think we'll be okay.'
J.J. relaxed into the chair for a few moments, before assessing his current predicament. He was in a metal room, with nothing to decorate it but a ladder leading to who knows where, a few lights and a set of speakers. There were no clues as to where they could be, except for the muted humming of what sounded like an engine below them.
"Where are we?" J.J. asked the ceiling. When he heard something stir to his right, he focused his attention away from the ceiling to his sister.
"Whaa… Jayj?" the girl asked groggily, trying to focus her eyes on her brother.
"Ah shit!" she exclaimed, grabbing her head in her hands. "Why the Hell does it feel like World War II is happening in my head?"
J.J. laughed hollowly, rolling his eyes. He waited for her headache to die away, to ask the universal question.
When his sister lifted her head from her hands, she looked around, shocked. She slowly turned to him, bewildered.
"Jayj… Where are we?" she asked slowly. J.J. shook his head in dismay.
"I honestly have no idea, Jess." He replied.
"Don't call me that." She snapped reflexively. When she realized what she'd said, Jess slumped against her seat.
"Sorry. Reflex." She muttered.
"Nah. 'M sorry too, J." he replied. They both relaxed into their seats, equally perplexed.
"Where the heck…" J wondered, looking at her brother. J.J. merely shrugged, and was about to answer, when a crackling voice from the speakers cut him off.
"We will be landing in five minutes. I repeat, we will be landing in five minutes. When the doors open and when your belts are released you are to strictly follow the orders of the people who will greet you. Thank you for complying, and welcome to H.I.V.E."
J and J.J. stared at the speakers for a while, before slowly looking at each other, sharing the same look of confusion.
"H.I.V.E.?"
Tell me what you think!