Sargent Meza was a terrible man. Neither of us knew why we were here. Neither of us knew where here was. Neither of us knew if we could be together as it was not allowed. You see we are against his rules. There were about twenty people on this 'team', we don't know for sure what the team is. I think we were kidnapped. Well, let’s start from the beginning.

Day 1:

I was taking a stroll with Eden through the fall leaves in the park near our house when we blacked out. We woke up in this grand hotel with massive head-aches. All the doors were locked and there was no way out. Around us were 18 other people but we seemed to be the most injured. Eden had a gash in the top of his head which blood was running out of and I had a bruised hand mark on my arm. I pulled him off to the side and we spoke quietly.

Eden: W-w-where are we?

Dillan: I don't know.

Eden: Are we going to die?

Dillan: I hope not.

Just then a big man walked in. When he spoke, his voice was calm but his words were harsh.

Meza: Up! I am Sargent Meza but just call me Meza.

I watched Eden try and stand but his whole body was shaking like he had been standing in the cold to long. I felt his racing heartbeat and helped him up.

Meza: You there! What’s your name?

Eden: Um . . . E-Eden.

Meza: What kind of name is that? Only a name for the weak.

Dillan: I find it a wonderful name.

Meza: Was I asking you and what’s your name?

Dillan: My names Dillan and I am entitled to my opinion.

Meza: Yes, you are entitled to your opinion but I am in charge and if I don't like it then you will not be happy.

Dillan: Understood. Anything else that annoys you?

He stood there listing the things he hates and he hates everything. Most definitely we have to hide our relationship because we were one of the things on his long list.

Meza: Anyone else have any questions? Say your name and your question.

Marry: I'm Marry and will we be able to pick where we stay?

Meza: You will stay here. Each room will have two people and you will get to pick who you room up with. At some points, I will be popping in to check on you. Understood? Well, go find your roomie and head to your rooms. There are ten floors and each floor will be for two of you.

We were assigned the top floor of the building and with the top floor we were the only pair with access to the roof. The floor had a front door right when you get off the elevator, we walked in and locked it. Locked it both with the chain and with the actual lock. Meza can open the regular lock but the chain lock can only be opened from the inside. This place was huge and grand. We both walked into the bigger bedroom and laid on the massive bed.

Dillan: Watch the bed your head had blood all over it.

Eden: Where’s the bathroom?

Dillan: Let’s go find it.

It did take us a few minutes to find it but when we did it was just as grand as anything else. I took his hand and led him to the sink where I sat him on the counter. While wiping the blood off his face, I realized that it actually said something. I clean it a bit more and it clearly read 'STOP'. Someone carved it into his head extremely deep. It will not stop bleeding. Looking in the cabinets I found everything we could ever need. I grab some gauze and medical tape to wrap it up. He probably needs to know but at the same time I know it will destroy him.

Dillan: Eden, you alright?

Eden: Far from it.

Dillan: I need to tell you something, but I need to make sure you’re okay first.

Eden: You can tell me, I will be okay.

Dillan: Your cut on your head spells out the word stop.

Eden: Do you think they were trying to tell us something?

Dillan: We do not even know who they is. And they are most definitely trying to say something but we will not listen.

Eden: Thanks for helping me.

Dillan: No problem.

Just then we heard a loud knock and Meza was at our front door. I gave Eden a kiss and helped down off the counter. We walk to the front door making sure to let go of our hands before we opened the door.

Dillan: Hey, Meza.

Meza: Do you like your place?

Dillan: Yeah, it’s very spacious. I might need a map.

Meza: Glad you like it. It is the grandest of all and you even have the roof. Eden why are you not talking?

Dillan: He is usually quiet around new people.

Eden: Yeah.

Meza: Okay. How do you two know each other? How did you meet?

Time to lie, sort of. I mean I will tell the truth on how we met but leave out certain things.

Dillan: I met him at a bar and we began to chat and finding things that we had in common. He is one of my best friends, someone I could trust.

Eden: Yeah, same.

Meza: Nice, it is great in life to find someone you could trust. May I come in?

Eden: Of course.

He stepped in with his heavy boots and carefully taking them off before stepping on the new rug. He started to walk around and we followed shortly behind.

Meza: This place is nicer than I thought. All the others had pretty terrible and basic floors. You guys have everything.

Eden: It's nice.

Meza: Just wanted to tell you that there is a catalog to buy food, home goods, clothing, and anything you need. You have thousand a month but if you need more we can always adjust.

Dillan: Sounds good. Who do we give the catalog to?

Meza: You can give it to me, I will be back in the morning. I will let you get to bed or let you get back to what you were doing. Bye.

Dillan: Thanks.

He left and I chain locked the door. I went to the kitchen with Eden and we picked out some things that we will need to the month. Afterwards, we sat on the sofa and tried to find a movie on the television. We ended up watching horror and comedy movies until two in the morning. At two, we went to bed on that massive mattress. Four hours later we woke with someone pounding on our door. As we had no time to get dressed, we both threw on a robe and I went to the door. I let Eden stay in bed. It was Meza.

Day 2:

Meza: Where’s Eden?

Dillan: I can go get him.

I leave Meza in the doorway and head back to get Eden. He got up right away and followed me back to Meza who was waiting. We were still half asleep.

Meza: Morning, did I wake you?

Dillan: Yeah, it’s only six in the morning.

Meza: Sorry, I wake up at four every day. I will remember you two wake up later. Do you have a catalog filled out?

Dillan: Yeah, give me one second to go grab it.

I left Eden with Meza and went to go find the catalog. When I came back, his bandages were on the floor and blood was running down his face.

Dillan: Here’s the catalog. What’s going on here?

Meza: You tell him.

Eden: I-I did this.

Dillan: Okay, Meza need anything else?

Meza: Nope, I must be going to check on the others now.

Dillan: See you again later. We need to go back to bed.

I brought Eden to the kitchen this time to clean up his head.

Dillan: What really happened?

Eden: Please don’t be mad.

Dillan: I won't be.

Eden: I lied, I did not do it. Meza ripped it off. Sorry. I did not want to lie but he forced me, I was scared.

Dillan: You’re alright. Like I said I am not mad. I suspected something to be off. Let’s get this blood off you pretty face.

Eden: Thank you.

I sit there and wipe off lots of blood off of his face. Whoever carved this must have done so with a sharp knife and lots of anger to go this deep. I think it may need stiches.

Dillan: Does Meza have a number?

Eden: Yeah, it’s on the table. Do not do something stupid.

Dillan: When have I ever. Keep this on your head.

On the table, there is a phone and only one number would work which is the number for Meza. I ring it and ask him for medical help but I was told there was none.

Dillan: We are alone here.

Eden: That’s not good and I think I need something else to put on here.

Dillan: I can get that.

I run off to go and grab something else.

Dillan: Here you go. Any idea of how to fix this?

Eden: There is a sewing kit on the table over there.

Dillan: No, I cannot.

Eden: You have to because I cannot do it to myself.

Dillan: Fine, let me go grab it and some alcohol to clean it.

I went over to the table to grab the sewing kit and then to the bathroom to get the alcohol. After I gathered everything, I went back to the kitchen and started to put thread through a needle.

Dillan: This might hurt a bit because I have to clean your head.

Eden: Got it.

I dump the alcohol on a paper towel and wipe it on his head. Of course, it stings but he did not even move.

Eden: Can we move somewhere else before we start?

Dillan: Was just going to say that. Let’s go to the sofa.

Eden: Okay.

I help him off the counter and we head to the sofa. He squeezes my knee as I start to slowly stich his head. I got halfway done when there was the loud knocking again.

Dillan: Stay here for a moment, I will be right back. Hold that there.

Eden: Got it.

I got up and walked back to our front door. As I suspected, it was Meza.

Dillan: Yes?

Meza: You requested help earlier and I wanted to know if everything if alright.

Dillan: I got it under control.

Meza: I got some of the things on your catalog. Actually, everything on your list.

Dillan: Well that was fast.

Meza: Everything was already here, we just had to put it together. Can you two help me put it in?

Dillan: Eden is busy but I could help you.

Meza: I see him sitting over there. Come here.

Dillan: Eden, careful.

Eden carefully gets up while still holding the paper towel to his head. A bit of the string was hanging down.

Meza: What's that?

Dillan: I told you I got it under control.

Meza: Whatever, Eden you sit back down. Dillan you help me.

I started to help Meza while Eden went back to the sofa. We eventually got everything inside and Meza left. I continued to sew up his head.

Eden: Thank you, do you think we could visit some other people today?

Dillan: Yeah, we could visit floor nine a bit later. Maybe after some breakfast.

Eden: I have been dying to meet some new people.

Dillan: Me too.

We make breakfast and head to our wardrobe. Neither of us have an idea of what could possibly be inside. When we looked, there was an assortment of clothing. All the way from formal to pajamas. Eden and I decided on some cute, plain button up shirts along with plain black jeans and the shoes we were wearing. I made sure his bandage was secure because we did not need the others to see it. We head on the elevator and press the floor down from us. Once there, we were greeted with an old, splintered wood door and two people. They were older than us, maybe in their forties.

Ivy: Hello.

Dillan: Hi, I'm Dillan and this is Eden. We just wanted to meet someone.

Eric: Nice to meet you, I'm Eric and this is Ivy.

Ivy: We were actually going to head up to meet you and look at someone else’s floor because ours is not so nice.

I look around and see dirty carpets and sofas. The sink is leaking and everything is outdated.

Dillan: You are welcome to come up if you want.

Ivy: We would love to.

Dillan: Hop on the elevator.

Eric: You don't say much.

Eden: Sorry.

Dillan: He's shy around new people.

Ivy: That's pretty understandable. Can we talk more when we get up?

Dillan: Yeah.

The rest of the elevator ride was silent, I mean it was only less than a minute. Our door was a beautiful white door with a golden trim. I unlocked the door and their eyes searched the whole place. We sat down on the white sofa and began to talk. The needle, still covered in blood, was sitting on the coffee table.

Ivy: Your place is wonderful.

Eric: Mind if we look around.

Dillan: Fine with me if it's fine with Eden.

Eden: Yeah, it's fine.

Dillan: Promise me one thing. That you will not tell Meza anything you see or hear.

Eric: You can trust us. Promise me you will not say anything to him either.

Eden: As long as you keep ours will keep yours.

Eric: Sounds good.

They started to walk around looking at everything. We have not even opened the second bedroom door so this was the first look at that. Inside was the ladder to the roof.

Ivy: Are we allowed to go up?

Dillan: Maybe some other time.

Ivy: Okay. Do you have a bathroom?

Eden: This way.

Eden shows them to our massive bathroom. Afterwards, we head back to the living room to talk.

Eric: Not being mean but are you two dating?

Dillan: Yes and do not tell Meza. He will hurt us more.

Ivy: I don't think he would.

I turn to Eden and whisper in his ear.

Dillan: Could I show them?

Eden: Why not.

I carefully take the bandage of Eden's head, revealing the terrible looking mark. He winced as I had accidently put tape on the end of it.

Dillan: I think he would. We showed up here like this. I have bruises on both my arms and Eden came here with a gash in his head. There is no medical attention so I had to sew it up myself.

Ivy: Sorry, I did not know him to be like that. He was kind to us. That looks awful, you must be in pain.

Eden: A lot of pain but I will be alright.

Dillan: Do you know why we are here?

Ivy: Neither of us know but you two are the only different ones here. We all have terrible rooms, we all are in our forties, we all have one male and one female per room, and we all arrived here with no harm.

Dillan: We are in our early twenties, we have a grand room, we share a room, and we arrived here with some harm.

Ivy: All I have to say is be careful, we have no idea what Meza is planning.

Just then we heard a loud pounding at our door. Definitely Meza, he is the only one who pounds that loud.

Dillan: Eden, put the bandage back on. Ivy and Eric you might want to hide in the kitchen.

Ivy: Why?

Dillan: I don't know how he will react.

Eric: Do not worry we are hiding but watching.

They ran off to hide and Eden placed his bandage back on his head. I opened the door to see Meza along with a little, petite woman wearing red and white.

Meza: Need to bother you again, we need some blood.

Dillan: Blood?

Meza: Yes, from both of you.

The little woman pulled out two small jars and a knife. No needles but a knife.

Meza: Missy, can you head back down to lobby and while you’re there bring the others.

Missy: Of course, sir.

Meza grabbed the supplies from her and she went back down the elevator. A minute later four men the size of Meza showed up from the elevator.

Dillan: What are you doing?

Meza: Gathering what I need, just a sample.

Dillan: Why is one jar bigger than the other?

Meza: For one of you I need a bigger sample. Don't worry we won't get any on the carpet or sofa, we brought a plastic sheet.

Dillan: I won't let you.

Meza: Remember you don't have a choice. And I have them. Guys if you could help me here.

The four men entered and soon enough we were being held down. One of the men had laid out a sheet while the other was preparing. I shot a look to Ivy and Eric who were still hiding to continue hiding. They could see us.

Meza: Well since we need the most from Eden we can start with him. Please don't fight back, it just complicates things.

I watch as they slowly slit his palm. His muffled screams were still heard through the dirty hand of one of them men. He started to try to fight back but he was being held down so one of them knocked him out. Whilst they were taking his blood, Meza walked over to me and slit my palm. It was the worst feeling. After 15 minutes, they had collected enough.

Meza: We don't have any medical centers so you need to stop the bleeding on your own and he might wake up later. Have a nice day. Almost forgot, Eric and Ivy you might want to talk to me sometime.

He walked out the door with the four men and disappeared down the elevator. I weakly stood up and locked the door. My whole body trembling as I tried to move. Ivy and Eric came out from their hidden spot.

Ivy: That was the worst thing I have ever seen in my life.

Dillan: Help Eden.

Eric: I have Eden, Ivy can care for you.

Dillan: I'm alright.

Ivy: Your stuff should be in the bathroom, right?

Dillan: Yeah.

Ivy rushed off and came back in two minutes with towels and a couple other random supplies. She handed one to me and went over to wrap another around his hand. His blood had run down the plastic and collected in a pool at the bottom.

Dillan: He knew you were here, please stay safe.

Eric: What do we do with this sheet?

Ivy: Put it on the elevator with a note that says dispose of this.

Dillan: I second that. Let’s put him in the bathtub so his blood does not get everywhere.

Eric: I can help with that.

We carefully put him up and carefully place him in the bathtub. We go back and place the sheet in a bag and onto the elevator.

Dillan: Remember to be safe, thank you.

Eric: No problem. You can come down at any time.

Ivy: Bye.

They left with the trash bag riding with them and Eden has woken up. He has his one his right hand and mine was on the left.

Eden: Are they gone?

Dillan: Yeah, come on let’s get changed and get a shower.

Eden: Why did they do that?

Dillan: I don't know.

We both got a shower and got fresh clothes on. Both of us still needed a towel because the bleeding was not stopping. Then, we heard a loud pounding on the door.

Eden: Please don't let him in.

Dillan: I won't.

I gave Eden a kiss as I walked to the door. I left the chain on so he could only see a sliver of us.

Dillan: What?

Meza: Can I come in?

Dillan: No.

Meza: I have every right.

Dillan: And I have every right to deny you as you just drained my blood. If you want to speak, you speak from there. We also need more towels.

Meza: I can get you more towels. I needed to see if you’re alive.

Dillan: Why would care now?

Meza: I cannot lose my subjects.

Dillan: We are good, now leave.

Meza: I need to see both of you.

Dillan: He is lying down.

Meza: Fine your towels will be in within an hour.

I shut the door and heard the elevator go down. Eden was laying down on the sofa searching for a movie. His skin was pale and he looked sick. The rest of the day was spent watching movies and replacing towels on our hands.

Late at night on day 9:

We were laying down watching more movies when we heard a loud crash followed by two screams followed by shots. It was from the floor below us. Instantly we knew what was happening. They were hanging around with us and now they were being punished. Eden shuttered at each shot because after the two there were several more. Tears began to stream our faces as we knew that we had lost our new friends.

Day 26:

We stayed in on our floor every day since. Eden was too scared to leave and so was I. Neither of our hands heal correctly so if we bump them in the right spot, they will bleed. We also have not heard from Meza in a while. Eden and I began to make a rope out of sheets and towels because we were planning on escape. All of a sudden, we heard a loud knock on the door. The knock of Meza.

Eden: I will get it this time.

Dillan: You sure?

Eden: It’s not fair to you that you have to open it every time.

Dillan: Okay, make sure to keep the chain on.

He walked up to the door and open it with the chain still on. I could still tell that he hated to talk to him because his voice was shaking.

Eden: Yes?

Meza: There is a mandatory meeting/dinner tonight.

Dillan: We don't want to go.

Meza: It’s mandatory.

Dillan: Fine.

Meza: Good, meet in the lobby at six.

Dillan: We also need more towels.

Meza: Where are they all going?

Dillan: I think you very well know the answer to that.

Meza: They will be brought up in an hour. See you at six.

We shut the door before he could even finish. Eden was now pacing around the room frantically.

Dillan: Take a seat before you hurt yourself.

Eden: I don't want to go.

Dillan: Me neither but we have to. Let's just have some fun and be the best looking there, even though you already are.

Eden: You are too. What are you thinking?

Dillan: Give me five seconds.

Eden: Okay. 1, 2 . . .

Dillan: Not literally.

I race off the wardrobe and pick out two black suits.

Dillan: Here you go.

Eden: Fancy. There is even a white tie.

Dillan: Also, there are white gloves to hide our hands.

Eden: Smart but we better wrap our hands well so we do not get blood on the gloves.

Dillan: We can do that. It is four right now so if we start getting ready we should be done by six.

We both put on our suits and the tie. Then, we head to the bathroom to put on a bit of make-up to cover up some blemishes and fix our hair. By the time that was all done it was about 5:15. The only other things to do were wrap up our hands before putting the gloves on and put on our shoes. He wraps up my hand in a thick layer of gauze and I do the same for him. We throw on our shoes and gloves and look in the floor to ceiling mirror.

Eden: Gorgeous.

Dillan: Stunning. Ready to head down?

Eden: It only 5:58 and I do not want to go down until I have to.

Dillan: True, also do not eat the food they give you. I do not trust them. I will cook us dinner later.

Eden: I did not even want to eat their food.

We waited another five minutes, making us three minutes late. In the elevator I gave him a kiss and told him not to worry. The doors opened and we stepped into the lobby and there were only sixteen of us, there should be eighteen.

Meza: Thought you were not going to show.

Dillan: I didn't want to but it’s mandatory.

Meza: Yes. You two look like you are going to a wedding.

Dillan: Just showing off.

The Meza turns to everyone.

Meza: Good evening! As you may notice four people are gone. Yes, I know it’s sad but they are no longer with us. Everyone seemed to have gotten comfortable, too comfortable. None of you listen to me, I am in charge and you need to know that.

Everyone agreed silently, well almost everyone. And we were called to dinner. Dinner was in this massive dining hall where chandeliers were hung and the table was lined with bland food. Food that did not fit with the elegance of the room. It was gray, thin soups and stale breads. Along with plain cupcakes. We never took a bite.

Meza: Why are you not eating?

Dillan: Not hungry.

Meza: And you?

Eden: Not hungry.

Meza: You can be dismissed, go back to your floor and nowhere else.

Dillan: Got it.

We got up and went into the elevator. We were not going to our floor but floor nine. The floor below us. Caution tape was on the inside of the old, splintered wood door.

Eden: We probably should not be doing this.

Dillan: We have to do it though.

Eden: Okay, let’s hurry before we get caught.

Dillan: I only need a few minutes.

We enter a dark room and search for the light switch. Once found, the room was brightened up and we could see that it was destroyed. There was most definitely a struggle before shots were fired. I searched the living room while Eden was searching the kitchen and the bathroom. There was nothing so we moved to the bedroom which is the last room. Neatly tucked under the blanket was a nicely folded note.

Dear Eden and Dillan,

We know they're coming for us, we knew since we left your place. Your secret will die with us, we would never tell. Both of us enjoyed meeting you and promise us you will make it out. That is our last wish is that you have to survive. We think they are moving closer to you, try and escape in a month.

Hopefully you found this,

Eric and Ivy

This saddened us greatly, they were are only friends here. Then we heard the door creak open so we hide under the bed. Heavy footsteps enter the room and another set of heavy footsteps follow suit. One of them is Meza and the other I do not recognize.

Meza: Yes. Yes I know.

Unknown: Should we go talk to them?

Meza: They're asleep, we can go in the morning.

Unknown: When are we going to exterminate them?

Meza: After a bit more testing, there’s no hurry. We need to make sure.

Unknown: Let's find what we came here for and leave.

We heard them rummage through some things and then we heard the wooden shut and the elevator buzz down. We crawled out from under the bed and walked into the elevator. Back on our floor, Eden fell on the sofa while I went into the kitchen to make us some dinner. Surprisingly, the food here was fresh and back home I knew how to cook. I made dinner and went to the sofa. We sat there silently for a moment before Eden finally said something.

Eden: Were they talking about us?

Dillan: I think so but don't worry nothing bad is going to happen to either of us.

Eden: What tests were they talking about?

Dillan: I don't exactly know but hopefully we will never figure it out. Like I said I will not let them do anything to us ever again.

Eden: We have to get out of here.

Dillan: We have to wait because we need information to help the others.

Eden: Smart idea. Thanks for dinner.

Dillan: I said I would.

Day 32:

The last few days we were gathering information and taking pictures with a small camera which I am pretty sure we are not allowed to have. We found out that this is called Operation Experiments. Basically, they brought a bunch of people in here to watch their reactions. The only file that was missing was ours. There was nothing for us.

Eden: I wonder why they have hidden it and where?

Dillan: I have a few ideas but the file is probably with Meza.

Eden: Can you share those ideas?

Dillan: My first one is that they wanted to give us the best room and everything because we were the main focus point of the experiment. The others were brought here to make it seem normal.

Eden: That sounds correct, I don't even want to hear the others.

Dillan: We should be able to leave here in a week or two.

Eden: Let's head up to the roof today to make sure we have a clear way to leave.

Dillan: Let's go up now.

We walk over to the ladder in the unused bedroom and climb up. It was what you would expect from a roof. Small puddles of water, big metal boxes holding electrical things, and a railing along the edge. When we look over there is an invisible barrier, about a foot and a half out, that was surrounding the building. This building is in a heavily guarded compound. Soldiers marched around in black uniforms with massive weapons, high stone walls surround everything, and barbed wire was randomly placed. It looks near impossible to escape.

Eden: What are going to do now?

Dillan: We are going to escape.

Eden: We are going to die.

Dillan: I would never let that happen.

Eden: I know you would not but some things are out of our control.

Dillan: I know that but I also know that we are going to get away.

Eden: How?

Dillan: I guess we have to figure that out.

We stayed on the roof for a bit and watched the soldiers march around. Meza came out at one point and the soldiers stopped marching. There were only so many times we could see them walk around so we decided to go back down the ladder. The inside was considerably warm compared the frosty air of the outside. Our 'rope' was getting bigger as the days went on, I guess it would need to go down almost eleven floors.

Day 41:

Our floor became the only place we would be. The 'rope' was almost long enough to scale the building. Meza had not bothered us in a while which I find unnerving because when we were in Eric and Ivy's room they said they needed to talk to us. It’s probably something bad but it was eating away at my brain.

Eden: When are we leaving?

Dillan: Well, if today is day 41, then I thought we could do it on day 50.

Eden: Not too far away.

Dillan: Exactly, we have to last nine more days here.

Eden: That’s pretty manageable.

We were just sitting there chatting when we heard a loud bang on the door. Even though we were expecting it, the knock scared us both. We both stood up and opened the door with the chain so he could only see a sliver of us. He was standing there with a man we have never seen but we most definitely heard him before.

Meza: May we come in?

Dillan: Why?

Meza: We just want to chat.

Dillan: You said that last time and last time it looked like a horror movie. If you want to chat, you can chat right there.

Meza: I understand your worries but we need to talk.

Dillan: I don't think you do.

Meza: Let me in, that's an order. I will not ask again.

Dillan: Can we have a minute to talk first?

Meza: You have two minutes.

Dillan: Thank you.

I shut the door and walk Eden to the bedroom. I wanted to make sure that Meza could not hear us.

Dillan: We have to let him in.

Eden: I don't want to.

Dillan: Nor do I but he is making us. Remember we have to follow his rules in order to escape this place.

Eden: Okay, let’s go.

I gave him a kiss and we walked back to the door where we unlocked the chain and opened it fully. He was standing there with that unknown man.

Meza: Thank you, we need to talk to both of you.

Colby: Hello, my name is Colby Reed.

Dillan: Nice to meet you. I am Dillan and this is Eden.

Colby: I know.

We walked in and sat on our white sofa.

Colby: Mind if I asked some questions? It's for a . . . um article.

Dillan: Ask away and may I ask what article?

Colby: That's confidential. First question: when did you arrive here?

Dillan: I think 40 days ago but I could be wrong.

Colby: Next question: Who is Eden to you?

Dillan: A very good friend, I have known him for a while.

Colby: And you Eden, what is Dillan to you?

Eden: A very trustable friend, who I have known for a while.

Colby: Always great to have a good friend. What would you do if you left this place?

Eden: Try and retrace our lives.

Colby: That's a good idea. Last question before we need some tests: Are you dating him?

Dillan: No.

Colby: Okay, thanks for your time and now we need to run some tests.

Dillan: No, not again.

Meza: It's not like you have a choice.

Dillan: I do.

I stand up and grab Eden and walk towards the kitchen. I grab a knife from the block and told him to stand behind me.

Dillan: I think I do have a choice.

Meza: No you honestly don't. I could call my security in a second and in the next they could have you down.

Dillan: I know that but I don't want you to hurt us again.

Meza: Too bad, Colby call my security up.

Colby: Can do.

Dillan: Wait, I will do as you say just do not hurt him.

Meza: A sacrifice. I guess I will take it. Eden you're lucky you have such a nice friend.

I hand Eden my knife and walk towards Meza and Colby. Meza grabbed me and pinned me down, as if I were a dangerous monster. Eden looked over at me helplessly, there was nothing he could do. They put down a plastic sheet and took blood from the same hand they did the first time. Then, I watch as they carefully place a needle in the vein of my arm and my blood spilling out of my palm. I was getting very sleepy and it was very hard to keep my eyes open. My mind was getting fuzzy and my eyes closed.

Day 42:

I opened my eyes and blinked many times. It was now very dark out so it must be a while later. My mind still is not clear but it was getting better.

Eden: Finally.

Dillan: Could you help me sit him?

Eden: Of course.

Eden sat me up and the room started spinning. I felt nauseous and my hand was pulsating.

Dillan: What did they do?

Eden: A lot. They drew your blood and injected you with something. Then they scrapped a lot of skin off your right leg and just a bunch of other small things.

Dillan: Thank you.

Eden: For what? I did nothing.

Dillan: Exactly, I am glad that you did not step in because you would have also looked like this. That would be the last thing I want.

Eden: Let's get you off this sheet, it cannot be comfortable.

Dillan: It's not.

He helped me to my feet and helped me to the bathroom where I clean the blood off of myself. Most of it was dry by now but I insisted on getting a shower to clean the rest of it off. After my shower, I helped Eden pick up the bloody sheet and throw it into the elevator. I do not think they like having it in their elevator but that’s what they get. When we came back in, Eden sat down and wrapped my hand and leg. On my leg they really took a lot off.

Eden: I do not think that it is safe here.

Dillan: It's not safe and we need to leave now.

Eden: Right now?

Dillan: Yes.

Eden: You can barely stand. Tomorrow night might be better.

Dillan: You're right. We just cannot let anyone in the room tomorrow.

Eden: Okay, we can do that. Do you feel any better?

Dillan: It is extremely painful but I will live. If we do manage to get out, I will not be able to run.

Eden: Then, we will walk carefully.

Dillan: Alright. Can we explore this place a bit more? We have been here over 40 days and have not seen everything.

Eden: Yeah, sounds fun. I will help you up.

Dillan: Thanks.

As soon as we stood up, pain was shooting up my leg but I was trying to push it out of my mind. We got up and went to the bedroom we never used. Inside was the ladder to the roof, so we decided to climb up to find our exit point. Climbing the ladder was extremely difficult and extremely painful. At the top, I had to take a break and sit on the ground.

Eden: You okay?

Dillan: Not even close to it.

Eden: You could have let us take it equally instead of you taking it all.

Dillan: I said that I would never let him hurt you again.

Eden: But it hurts me to see you like this.

Dillan: I'm fine, it’s just a little bit of pain.

Eden: That’s a lie, I can easily tell.

Dillan: You caught me there but I will be okay. Help me up.

Eden helped me up and helped me walk to the edge. Soldiers still marched in the darkness, we could hear their boots hit the ground. There was a total of two gates to leave this place and both were heavily guarded.

Eden: What we going to do now?

Dillan: Find or make a small hole in the wall and crawl through.

Eden: We better bring some tools then.

Dillan: We don't have any so we will have to use our hands.

Eden: Might take a while but I agree. Let's head back down.

We climb down the ladder and just sit on the bed. Whoever was here last had a doll house sitting in the corner. I was very curious so I open it and inside was a note. A rather old note by the looks of it.

If you’re reading this then you need to leave this place. We were living in this floor before you, Mike and Henry our names were. Meza was a cruel man. We were experimented on and tortured. The people before us left a note of an underground safe area in the grounds. Follow those directions if you need help.

That would be helpful to us tomorrow. Since they left a note, we decided to leave one too and place it back in the doll house.

Eden: Can we go back up to locate it?

Dillan: Smart idea.

Climbing was still painful but we made it to the edge of the roof and looked out. Quickly we located the spots it said to look for. The east guard tower, a blue statue, and a small concrete building. The safe area was under a hatch next to the concrete building. In order to enter, we have to use the code we were given. Back down in the kitchen, we cooked up some food and went to the living room to watch the news. Funny thing is that all the news stations did not have a date, a time, or anything of the matter other than boring headlines.

Eden: You are limping.

Dillan: Yeah, it hurts.

Eden: Let me see.

Dillan: No, I'm fine.

Eden: Let me see.

Dillan: Fine. I just don't want to hurt you.

Eden: It’s okay, I want help you.

I lift up my pant leg revealing my blood stained gauze. Climbing the ladder really did hurt me, my leg was severely bleeding for just losing a few bits of skin. I started to peel off the gauze which actually stuck to the blood. Eden took my hands to stop me.

Eden: Stop for a second.

Dillan: I want it off.

Eden: You will get it off, just wait a second. I can find or get something to help your pain. Just wait here a second.

Dillan: Okay.

He stood up and looked around. Finding nothing, he picked up the phone and dials Meza. He asked for some pain medicine and extra medical supplies. Just like he was expecting us, he was up here within ten minutes. With another loud knock on the door he was here, Eden open the door with the chain still on.

Eden: Thank you.

Meza: Did we hurt your sacrifice too bad?

Eden: Goodbye.

Eden tried to close the door but Meza put his foot in before he could. He shot me a look of worry as Meza did so.

Meza: Hey, I want to come in.

Eden: We are busy right now.

Meza: And I was busy before you called me. So I would like to come in.

Eden: Do you know that it is like 4 in the morning?

Meza: You are the one who called me.

Dillan: E . . . Eden let him in.

Eden: Give me five seconds to take the chain away.

He closed the door and opened it again fully. Meza stepped in and Eden led him to where I was.

Meza: Thank you. I wanted to talk to you.

Eden: Last time you said that this happened.

Meza: Nothing to say about that, but I needed to talk to you about the floor below you two. What did you hear that night?

Eden: I heard a bit of rummaging and a couple of bangs.

Dillan: That's what I heard.

Meza: Okay. Sorry about your leg but things need to be done.

Eden: I have nothing to say to that.

Meza: Well, here is what you asked for and now I think we all need to go to bed.

Eden: I agree with that. Thank you.

Meza left and Eden locked the door. He brought back a glass of water for me to take the medicine.

Eden: It might take a little while for it to kick in.

Dillan: I really appreciate you helping me.

Eden: Not a problem.

We wait half an hour for the medicine to kick in and then we take it off my leg. He rewrapped my leg after he took it off.

Dillan: I am getting hurry, do you want to cook something?

Eden: Just what I was thinking.

Dillan: Let's go then.

We went to the kitchen to cook some stir fry. It took us less than an hour to make it and we were just sitting on the sofa eating it. Eden ended up falling asleep in my lap and as I had been knocked out for most of the day, I did not fall asleep til much later. At some point we ended up on our bed.

We woke up around one in the afternoon which is roughly seven hours of sleep. I stood up out of bed and fell the ground. The nerves in this leg are very agitated. Eden was now sitting next to me.

Dillan: I'm good. Carry on with your morning.

Eden: I cannot just leave you on the floor.

Dillan: True, do you mind lending me a hand?

Eden: You can have both.

He gives me his hands and carefully pulls me off of the ground. My nerves are sending shooting pains up my leg to the point where I had to sit back down on the bed. Eden took a seat next to me.

Eden: You sure you are up for tonight?

Dillan: I have to be, we have no idea what else they are planning.

Eden: True, but you cannot even stand.

Dillan: Then you go.

Eden: Not without you.

Dillan: I will go it will just hurt.

Eden: I'm so sorry, I should have stepped in. It was the worst thing in the world to watch them do that to you. I was too scared to do anything.

Dillan: Aw, don't cry. I told you to stay there and what good would it be if we both were like this.

Eden: I guess so.

Dillan: Come here, scoot closer.

He scooted closer to me and laid his head on my shoulder. We sat there for a moment and I could tell that he was also scared. Neither of us knew what the future held. If we were going to be dead, tortured, freed, or trapped in the next 24 hours. I just wanted to stay here forever but we needed to get ready. When we get back home I can lay with him without any worries.

Dillan: We need to pack up a few things.

Eden: I agree.

Dillan: I can make breakfast while you put some things into a backpack.

Eden: Sounds good to me. Can you make it to the kitchen?

Dillan: I can try.

Eden: Okay, do you know where the bag is?

Dillan: I do believe that it is in the bathroom.

Eden: Thanks.

I got off the bed with one leg and limped to the kitchen. Whilst I was cooking, Eden came up behind me and scared me. He started to laugh when I dropped the spoon on the floor. I bent down to pick it up, forgetting that my nerves are screwed up, a pain shot up my leg and I fell to the floor.

Eden: I guess I scared you good.

Dillan: I guess so and can you turn off the burner?

Eden: Already did. Is it cozy down there?

Dillan: Yeah, a bit chilly but nice. You should sit down here with our one o'clock breakfast.

Eden: Be right there, let me grab some forks.

Dillan: So how do you like the cool floor?

Eden: Pretty nice. Not the best but I like it.

We sat on the kitchen floor leaning against the oven and ate our food. In the middle of eating we heard a knock on the door. A normal one this time, not the harsh banging that we are used to.

Dillan: I know you said not anyone in but we might have to.

Eden: The door is unlocked and I don't plan on moving.

Eden shouted for the person to come it and that the door was unlocked. It was indeed Meza but he was acting stranger, almost nicer. That was something I did not trust.

Meza: Where are you?

Eden: In here.

Meza: Why are you on the floor?

Eden: One of us scared the other. The other got scared and fell. Now we are here. We also woke up late.

Meza: Mind if I join.

Eden: You’re welcome to it.

Meza took a seat across from us. One of his hands was inside his jacket so I was bit on edge but who knows what he was up to.

Meza: Dillan I can see the worried look on your face but I come here as a good person this time. I come to bring you both smiles.

Dillan: Sorry just a bit on edge after you did this to me.

Meza: No pain this time, I promise. It’s a little more than two weeks to Christmas and I wanted to give everyone a present. You two got the biggest one. Well, its small but its big. Here let me show you.

He starts to take his hand out of his jacket revealing a small furry kitten. To be exact a little Siamese no older than two weeks old. Eden now had the little kitty in his lap.

Meza: My men found this little thing on the side of the road and I figured she would bring joy to you.

Dillan: Thank you and she will.

Eden: I love her and I hate to ask but could I get a red collar with a bow.

Meza: Of course, give me a second to make a call.

Meza dial someone on his phone and whoever it was agreed with what he said. Eden was sitting next to me playing with our new friend.

Meza: You will have it in ten minutes. Do you mind if we sit on the sofa to talk?

Dillan: Not a problem.

Eden handed me the kitten and helped me off the ground. Meza stood there analyzing our every move.

Meza: Need a hand?

Eden: I have it but thanks.

He followed us as we walked to the sofa. And he watched every move.

Meza: What I wanted to talk to you about was your leg. We seemed to have done a bit too much. He is no longer here anymore, he was fired.

Eden: As he should be.

Meza: Dillan it looks like you are in a great amount of pain.

Dillan: Correct.

Meza: I think it is affecting your nerves and I wanted to know if you wanted to get medical attention.

Eden: I think we got it down here.

Dillan: That’s what I was thinking, but thank you anyways.

Meza: No problem always call me if you change your mind. Eden I think your collar is here for your kitty. Do you have a name?

Eden: I was thinking Misty if it’s alright with him.

Dillan: Of course, it’s a lovely name.

Meza: I could have it engraved on a piece of metal to attach to her collar. I will bring it up in half an hour.

Dillan: Thank you, bye.

Meza left and Eden laid his head on my chest. We sat there silent for a second until he broke it.

Eden: Well that was unexpected.

Dillan: Very but now we have a new member of our family.

Eden: I love her.

Dillan: Me too. That’s probably the only good thing he would do.

Eden: True. Did you actually like her name?

Dillan: Yeah, it’s wonderful. Would you be able to get me some more gauze and things to help my hand? I would do it but it would take me ages.

Eden: Of course, it is just on the counter.

Dillan: Thank you, I will repay you somehow.

Eden: You do not need to worry about that. Let me see your hand because you cannot do it yourself.

Dillan: I mean I could but it would not be the best.

He unwraps my hand revealing that it was completely stained red from the blood. It was also painful because it healed once and was cut open again. Eden was trying to get some fuzz out and accidently poked something that sent a jolt of pain up my arm. I few back when it happened too.

Eden: Sorry.

Dillan: It’s alright, sorry to scare you.

Eden: Just was trying to help.

Dillan: I know, you're fine. Just a bit pain.

Eden: Okay, let’s just wrap it up so we can do your leg again.

Dillan: Should be fun.

Eden: Should I put extra wrap on it?

Dillan: Just do the normal and since we have that safe area, we could be able to fix anything there.

Eden: Okay.

He put the wrap on my hand and started to take it off my leg. He put something on it to help it heal and then wrapped it again. As he was finishing wrapping my leg, Meza was knocking on the door. He had to wait a few minutes. Eden helped me up so we could walk to the door.

Eden: Hi, sorry I was trying to finish something.

Meza: It’s alright, here is your collar. Red, engraved, and a little bow.

Eden: Perfect. She will love it.

Dillan: Let me go grab her.

I slowly walked to the window and brought her back to where they were standing. She was so calm.

Eden: There we go.

Dillan: She is adorable, thank you so much.

Meza: Glad you like her. I also recommend not walking on that for a week.

Dillan: Thanks for the advice.

Meza: I must be going now, enjoy your new friend.

The time was roughly five and we were going to leave around midnight. We have seven hours til we leave.

Dillan: Hey, I think we should take a nap so we can have all our energy.

Eden: Good idea. We are going to need every drop of energy we can get. Let's get to bed right now.

Dillan: Okay, we are going.

Day 43 (Basically, even though it is only eleven o’clock on day 42):

We walked to our bedroom and fell asleep. I woke up to Eden playing with Misty next to me. I sat there watching them play.

Dillan: Adorable.

Eden: You frightened me. Did we wake you?

Dillan: No you did not wake me. She is so playful.

Eden: I know, here you play with her.

Eden placed her on my chest and her legs wobbled as they were getting used to it. She started to paw at my blanket and then she curled up and went to sleep. Her purr sounded louder than it should be.

Dillan: Aw, I don't want to move.

Eden: You don't have to its only eleven. All I have to do is finish packing.

Dillan: Do you want me to help with it?

Eden: No, you just stay there. I will be back in ten minutes.

He patted little Misty's head, gave me a kiss, and hopped out of bed. Fifteen minutes later he showed back up with the bag and a cut on his finger.

Dillan: You finished?

Eden: Yeah, do you want to see?

Dillan: Sure. Come take a seat next to me.

I sit up and he takes a seat next to me. He placed a bandage on his finger and unzips the bag. Inside was medical supplies, clothes, food, and pretty much everything we could need.

Dillan: Ready to go then?

Eden: Yeah, how’s your leg?

Dillan: It feels good while I am laying down but I think it will act up when I stand.

Eden: Only one way to figure it out. Ready to stand?

Dillan: Remember the last time.

Eden: I do but it will not happen this time.

He takes both my hands trying to pull me off the bed. To mess with him, I would not let him pull me up. He started to laugh so hard I think he might fall over so he sat at the edge of the bed, almost sitting on my feet.

Eden: Now that’s not helping.

Dillan: I never said it was.

Eden: You got me on that one. Come on no more fooling around.

Dillan: Okay, try again.

He tries pulling me up again and again he could not pull me up. Again he laughed and slapped my shoulder.

Dillan: Alright, I will get up. Promise.

Eden: You better this time.

Dillan: I will.

This time I let him pull me up which was not success because the pain went up my leg again and I fell back on the bed.

Dillan: Sorry, I know I promised.

Eden: It’s not your fault. So it’s not a broken promise. Let’s try again but with less pressure on that leg.

Dillan: Okay.

He pulls me up again but this time only on one leg. It worked like I thought. Tonight if I have to run, I will be screwed.

Dillan: I got Misty, she will be held safely in my jacket.

Eden: We need to leave a note.

Dillan: Okay, there is a pen and paper in the living room.

Eden: We can write it there.

We head to the living room and he begins writing a note. He would keep asking me what I wanted to say.

Meza,

We did appreciate that lovely present, she has been amazing. Unfortunately, you did cause a lot of pain which I am sure you intended. We no longer wanted to be your experiments. We no longer wanted to hide the love we had for each other. Yes, we said it and we are pretty sure you knew. You just wanted us to say it but we are smarter than that. Enjoy the rest of the experiments even though they were probably just a distraction for us. To make us not feel isolated or scared.

-Dillan and Eden

He finished off the note with a cute picture of us. We took one final look at this place and then we went to that bedroom and started to climb. The ‘rope’ was already up there. Eden had the bag and I had the kitten. Eden tied it to a pipe on the roof and tugged on it a few times.

Eden: Ready?

Dillan: Not at all. I am so scared.

Eden: You will be okay.

Dillan: I cannot run and I do not want you slowing down because of me.

Eden: I will not slow down because you cannot run, I will slow down because I love you.

Dillan: I love you too.

He gave me a kiss and embraced me. His hand was running through my hair while my head was placed on his shoulder. He let go of me, gave me another kiss, and started to climb down the rope. Misty actually being really calm. It was difficult to climb because the pain was the worst it has ever been but it went right over my head due to rush of escaping. Eden got the end of the rope and stopped. I don’t think the rope was long enough.

Eden: We are off by four feet. We need to jump.

Dillan: There is no way.

Eden: We have to. I know it will hurt you badly but there is no other way.

Dillan: I guess so. Please be careful.

Eden jumps off and lands on the ground with a thud. With him watching it was my turn to jump. I took a deep breath and jumped off the rope. When I landed, I immediately collapsed because it felt like electric shocks going through my leg. Misty was alright, I made sure not to harm her. Tears were streaming down my face. I tried to fight it but it did not work.

Eden: You told me to be careful, it should be the other way around. Are you alright? Dillan.

Dillan: Yeah, I’m okay.

Eden: No, you are not fine. I can hear it in your voice.

Dillan: We have no time to stop, you can help me when we are in the safe area.

Eden: Fine, but you are not walking on it.

Dillan: How am I going to get there?

Eden: With three legs. Two of mine and one of yours. It might be slower but it will be less painful.

Dillan: I agree. I need a hand to help me up.

Eden: Good thing I have two.

He pulls me up just to be pulled back down because a soldier came past. We were laying ditch which he stepped right over. His boots were so close to both of our faces that I thought he was going to see us. He did not and as soon as he left Eden pulled me up and rushed me to the landmarks. Eventually, we made it to the concrete building and to the secret hatch. He entered the code and jumped in. I jumped in and shut the hatch behind me. The light flickered on when Eden flipped a switch. The lights showed us layers of dust and cobwebs. No one has been in here for a couple of years.

Eden: This is lovely.

Dillan: I can finally breathe.

Eden: Probably not the best air to breathe but I know what you mean. Your hand is dripping is blood.

Dillan: Honestly, I had not even noticed. We just have been hurrying so my brain might have turned it off.

Eden: Sit down.

Dillan: Where? Everything is covered in dirt and dust.

Eden: I brought a blanket we can lay it on one of the beds.

Dillan: Thank you.

He helped me to a bed, placed down a blanket, and helped me sit down. I released Misty from my jacket and let her wander off. Eden turned to me and placed his hands on my knee. I started to take the gauze off my hand revealing blood stained skin and blood pouring out of the middle of my palm.

Dillan: Do you have something to help stop this?

Eden: I do and I have already got it out. Let me see.

I held out my hand and he tied the towel around my hand tightly. I had to bite my lip to keep myself from screaming. He finished tying it and my lip was bleeding.

Eden: Sorry.

Dillan: No, you’re good.

Eden: Can we do your leg?

Dillan: Yeah, you might want to find something to put over my mouth.

Eden: I can do that but I will not like it.

Dillan: I know but some things have to be done.

He hands me something to muffle my screams and begins to take off the gauze. Every time he would touch it, there would be a shock pain going up my leg. He rewrapped it and I put a dusty pillow on my head which was a bad idea because it induced a massive coughing fit. With a bunch of coughing and wheezing, I managed to talk to Eden and get some water to help stop it.

Eden: You good?

Dillan: Kind of. Thanks to you.

Eden: You look so pale.

Dillan: I have a head-ache and the whole room is spinning.

Eden: Your forehead is warm too. I think you are getting sick. I guess this place is home for now.

Dillan: Do we have enough supplies to last us a few days?

Eden: We should. Let’s get a few hours of sleep. Wake me if you need anything.

Dillan: Okay, is there a way to dim the lights?

Eden: I could just turn off the light and turn on a lantern.

Dillan: That will work, thanks.

Eden: No problem and good thing I took that blanket from our floor.

Dillan: Yeah.

He got up, lit the lantern, turned off the main light, and went back to the bed. This place was not as warm as the hotel so it was a bit chilly. For just waking up, we were both tired and fell asleep. Hours later I woke up to horrible sounding sirens, Eden was already awake next to me. I think Meza found our note and informed his soldiers. Then, an announcement was made which we heard very faintly.

Attention! Two males have escaped the compound. We have no idea if they have weapons, approach with caution. One is injured severely so he would be easy to catch. They might have even left already. Keep your eyes out.

The sirens still blared and made my head-ache even worse. I thought my mind was going to explode. I closed my eyes and placed my hands on my face.

Eden: That makes our escape much harder.

Dillan: It does but we still can do it.

Eden: How are you feeling?

Dillan: My mind is going to explode but I will be fine. We have things to do.

Eden: Remember we cannot do anything if you are dead.

Dillan: I know that.

Eden: What do we have to do today? We are stuck in here.

Dillan: We plan our escape and explore this place. It seems pretty big.

Eden: We have to be quiet because I do not know if they can hear us or not.

Dillan: Okay, do you any idea of why this is here.

Eden: No but we might figure it out. Make sure Misty does not leave this room.

Dillan: I will. Let’s just stay here until later.

Eden: Agree, I want to lay here for a bit.

He puts his head on my chest and we just lay there talking for a few hours. My leg and the arm wrapped around him started to fall asleep.

Dillan: I would hate to get up but a few parts of my body had fallen asleep and one of them is my good leg.

Eden: We should get up to wake our sleepy limbs.

Dillan: If I get up, I would fall back down.

Eden: I would not let that happen. Let me turn on the light so we can see what we are doing.

Eden got up to turn on the light and to blow out the lantern. He then turned to me and pulled me up. I was now leaning against his shoulder because my sleepy leg was not the best and my other leg was very painful to stand on. Eventually, it woke up and I was able to stand on that leg. We started explore this place and found out that there was only two rooms. The one we were in and one where there was a few more beds. On one of the beds was a diary of one the other men before us. We decided that we would bring it back to where we were to read it. Eden opened it and there were only three small entries.

_____________________________________________________________________

We would write the date but we have no clue what it is. We think that it is spring but neither of us quite know. Henry’s leg is not healing well. At the moment he is very ill.

This next entry is just a few days later. We are still down here. They have not located here yet. Henry is more ill than before. He is losing too much blood. The experiments or tests as they called it were taking a major toll on him.

We are going to try and escape today as I fear Henry is getting worse. At the moment he is extremely weak and really pale. To whoever is reading this, we wish you luck in escaping this terrible place.

_____________________________________________________________________

Eden: That’s sad. I wonder if they ever got out.

Dillan: I bet they did.

Eden: It sounded like they were being treated in a similar way to how we were being treated.

Dillan: I know, it’s rather strange. I want to know how long they have been doing this. We know that there was someone before Mike and Henry but what about before that.

Eden: Maybe we can stop it all, so we can be the last ones.

Dillan: Yeah, this is terrible and it hurts.

Eden: How are you feeling?

Dillan: Awful. Can we take this towel off my hand? It is getting heavy.

Eden: Should not be heavy but we can take it off.

He started to take off the towel and when he did my hand was dripping in blood. The towel was heavy because it was also soaked with blood.

Eden: How deep did they cut this?

Dillan: Could not remember.

Eden: I packed the sewing kit so I could try and fix it.

Dillan: Go for it.

Eden carefully tried to wipe off the blood and I put thread through a needle. I handed him the needle and he started to pull it through my skin. Only a few bits hurt but the rest was pretty easy. That was probably due to the pain in my leg. He finished up and put more gauze back on my hand.

Dillan: How much of that did you pack?

Eden: As much as we had in our floor. Make sure not to use your hand too much today, I don’t know how good my sewing is. Be careful with how you move it.

Dillan: I am sure your sewing is great but I will be careful with how I move it.

Eden: If we are staying here for longer, what are we going to be doing with all this spare time?

Dillan: I don’t know but we will figure something out.

Eden: I wonder if there is something else down here. I know we explored the obvious but maybe there is something hidden.

Dillan: May need a bit of help but I am down for a bit of exploring this place.

Eden: I will be all the help you need.

Dillan: Thanks, it’s great to have someone like you.

Eden: It is also great to have someone like you.

I gave him a kiss and he helped me up. He was my crutch and without him standing would be a bit difficult. We looked at all the beds and took everything that we found. One of the last beds in the row had blood on it which I would guess was from the last pair in here. In the other room under one of the two beds was a handle on the floor. When we lifted it, there was a ladder going down a floor.

Eden: Any guesses to where that goes?

Dillan: My guess is that it goes down.

Eden: That would be correct. You okay to go down?

Dillan: Yeah.

Eden: I can hear the uncertainty in your voice. If you need help, I will help.

He let go of me and began to descend the ladder into the darkness. I then began to also descend the ladder. It was long ladder but at the end was the thing I hated most, jumps.

Eden: Come on, I know it hurts but you have to.

Dillan: I am coming just give me a few seconds.

I count to ten and jump off the ladder. Landing on the ground sent shocks through my leg. I got up immediately and we searched the area for a light switch. It was at the far side of the wall with the ladder. The light showed us a big room. It had a huge metal table in the middle surrounded with wooden chairs. A whiteboard was place on the wall and on both sides was bookshelves. Layers of dust was on everything. I don’t think a person has been down here for a long, long time. Eden wrapped his arm around my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around his and we began to slowly walk. This is how I need to walk for now because Eden does not want me to put pressure on it.

Eden: This is wonderful.

Dillan: Truly. Sit me down somewhere so you can go and explore this place.

Eden: I want you to explore with me.

Dillan: You sure? I will slow you down.

Eden: I would rather be slow than not having you.

Dillan: Okay, let’s go.

The first thing we went to was the bookshelves. It was lined with dusty, old books. Most of them are military tactics or thin journals filled with notes. Eden opened one of journals and one of the entries read.

_____________________________________________________________________

June 21st, 1990

Two of the distraction group people were eliminated. We were worried that they would distract our two main subjects. We also hired my son, Meza, to continue with my work just like my father did with me and his to him. The two subjects seemed to have done well with the first few tests. We just wish that we can finally have some test subjects that make it alive through the duration of our tests. The farthest we have gone is to the fourth round and we have a total of ten rounds.

_____________________________________________________________________

Dillan: How long has this been going on for?

Eden: Seems like generations. It runs in the family.

Dillan: We were only on the second round of tests.

Eden: Correct. This place must have died with the father because that is the last entry.

Dillan: We need to stop this before it happens again.

Eden: Agreed.

Dillan: Can we sit for a second? I am a little dizzy.

Eden: Of course.

He sat me down on a dusty wooden chair and went back to go grab some things off the bookshelf. He brought back a handful of journals and we sat there reading through them. Many of the journals talked about experiments, tests, and some really disturbing things. We discovered journals dating back to 1981. So many people must have been hurt or killed because many of their “tests” ended in death or a severe injury that would later lead to death. There was not a single journal entry saying why they did this. Eden helped me back up and we continued to explore. There was not much more here but cabinets filled with uniforms and empty desks. I wanted out of here, the dust was bothering me and it just gave me the chills.

Dillan: Can we go back up now?

Eden: Yeah but before we should take some of the journals as evidence.

Dillan: That is a great idea.

Eden: I will grab them you just stay here.

I stood there standing by the ladder and watched him grab nine of the journals. He came back and I went up the ladder first. Eden said I had to go first so I would not fall. It took us five minutes to get up the long ladder and it probably would have taken a normal person three minutes. Back up top, Eden sat me down and stuffed the journals in the bag.

Dillan: Do you think that Meza knows this place?

Eden: Possibly but maybe it died with his father.

Dillan: Let’s hope so. We don’t want anyone showing up here.

Eden: That was the last entry in any sort of book so his father must not have told him.

Dillan: I can believe that. I have one question, what are going to do when we get out of those gates?

Eden: There will probably be a city around so we can go there to figure out where we are. From there we can make our way home.

Dillan: Tomorrow night?

Eden: We will see how you are feeling.

Dillan: I think I will be fine.

Eden: I will see when that time comes. Let me see your leg, you have been putting a lot of pressure on it.

My leg was not as bad as before but it was still not good. He rewrapped it and he got up to turn off the light and light the lantern. He then got into bed next to me and we fell asleep.

Day 44:

I woke up an hour or two later with a pounding head-ache. I sat up silently in the dark. It was so silent that I could hear the soldiers marching above us. Misty was sleeping at the bottom of my feet and looked up at me when I moved. The silence was so peaceful and calming minus from the pounding that came from my head. I sat there for a moment and then laid back down. Earlier on we beat these pillows to remove most of the dust. Right now, I think it is three in the morning and the soldiers switch shifts in thirty minutes. Eden rolled over sleepily and opened his eyes.

Eden: What’s wrong?

Dillan: Nothing, I’m okay.

Eden: Then go back to sleep.

Dillan: I cannot sleep.

Eden: Lay your head here. Listen to the march of the soldiers and soon close your eyes to sleep. Listen to the beating of my heart, close your eyes, and fall asleep.

I laid my head on his chest listening to the soldiers march and the beating of his heart. I do not know when but I went back to sleep. I woke up still laying on his chest. He was still sleeping, even snoring a bit. I would hate to get up but I needed to go to the bathroom. In this place, the bathroom barely worked so we used it as little as possible. Standing on one leg is easy, walking with one leg is not. Eden was still asleep when I came back so I just took Misty and played with her on the floor. A little while later, I heard him turn over and then I saw his messy hair stick out of the side of the bed.

Eden: She really is a good kitten.

Dillan: Your hair is a disaster.

Eden: Thanks.

Dillan: I mean it does not look bad.

He ruffled my hair with his hand trying to make it look more like his. I guess he succeed because once he was finished he let out a little laugh.

Eden: Now, your hair is a disaster.

Dillan: Always what I needed, thanks.

Eden: Not a problem.

He reached down to give me a kiss and then got up to switch on the lights. Eden sat down next to me and placed his cold hand on the center of my back sending chills throughout my body but it was nice. Comforting really. Misty patted off leaving us on the cold concrete. Without saying another word, he kissed me for a few minutes. Once finished, he sat there looking at me silently, starring into my eyes. We could hear voices and footsteps close above. Meza and some other voices were trying to pull open the hatch.

Dillan: Hurry, grab everything and go down into the meeting room. I will find Misty and head down after you.

Eden: Can you walk?

Dillan: I have to.

Eden: Be careful and hurry.

He rushed off to grab everything and I walked off to find Misty. Putting any pressure on this leg caused pain but I was too panicked to care. Misty was hiding in the corner because the banging on the hatch scared her. Eden had already gone done a minute ago but I now started to climb down. Before I did, I tried to pull a bed over it to try and conceal it. At the bottom, Eden was waiting nervously and hugged me tightly when he saw me.

Dillan: You can hug me in a minute but right now we need to hide.

Eden: We will hide Misty and the bag. Then, I want to listen to what they day.

Dillan: Let’s do that then.

We went off to hide Misty and our bag inside a cabinet. Eden and I then went back to the bottom of the ladder to listen to them. My legs were wobbling and I felt unsteady. Eden must have saw it because he was now standing next to me, holding me up. Meza and his men have successfully made it into the place. He was talking about a secret place and his soldier was telling him no such place existed. Now, the footprints halted above us. They were near the hatch.

Dillan: Eden hide.

Eden: Come on. You know I will not hide without you. Dillan do not start with me again.

He pulls me into a cabinet just as they open the hatch down. We cover ourselves with uniforms to hide from the people. Eden was sitting on my bad leg but I could not speak to let him know. I heard heavy boots hit the ground. Meza was shouting something but I could not tell what. He was opening things, throwing things, and basically destroying this place. We were both praying he would not notice us. Glass was shattering and voices were raising. It must have been a few hours until we heard them climb up the latter and even longer until we heard the main hatch close. Both of us fell out of the cabinet after few minutes after the main hatch closed.

Eden: That was so close.

Dillan: I know. Eden, you were sitting on my leg and squeezing my bad hand.

Eden: I did not realize. You alright?

Dillan: Don’t worry about that right now. We should stay down here just in case they are still here.

Eden: We can stay down here today. There are books we can read and things we can look through.

Dillan: Sounds good.

Eden: Listen to your voice. It sounds weak and unsteady. Take a seat. I know you just want to leave and we will but only when one of us will not die along the way. Your leg is literally dripping in blood.

I took a seat and tried to lift my pant leg. It was stuck. I then saw a pair of rusty scissors which I grabbed and Eden took off of me.

Eden: No, you will stab yourself.

Dillan: Can you do it then?

Eden: I have a steadier hands so yeah. Do not move.

Dillan: Should I stand?

Eden: If you can.

I stand up and grip the table for support. He starts to cut the top of my jeans and then moved down. A brownish-red line went all the way down my leg from the rust. It revealed my blood stained skin. Eden tried to remove the gauze but I took his hands to stop him. He looked up at me and then took a seat next to me.

Eden: You know that I have to.

Dillan: I do but it hurts.

Eden: Sorry.

Dillan: No, I am sorry. You can continue.

He kissed my hand and continued to peel it off. By the time he was finished, I wanted to bang my head off the table. A few tears were falling down my face, something I could not control.

Eden: We will leave it unwrapped for now. Want to do some reading?

Dillan: I call reading first.

Eden: I will go get a book, you stay there. Also, these books are probably just more military ideas and strategies.

Dillan: That’s okay. I am a bit bored so this might help.

Eden: Here you go. A hundred facts about naval war.

Dillan: Sounds lovely.

I start to read the book and we take turns reading sections. We continue to read book after book and we learned so many new things. Most of those things we will never need again. I continued to look down at the current book confused by the drawings that were on there. I think they were some sort of battle field plans. Eden laughed at my expression and kissed his way down my face. There were no more books to read so we moved onto raiding the closets. Inside the one we were hiding in was many old uniforms from the soldiers. Most of them were black and did not change much from the ones they are wearing now. We were messing about in that closet for a little while until we were bored with it. There was also a cabinet filled with old report papers. Some of them were really basic like just insubordination which resulted in training courses but then there murder which led to nothing. I got really scared by this so Eden stopped reading them, and moved on to the next this which so happens to be a massive map on the wall. He pulled my chair over to it. We saw our home area of Montana and all I wanted was to be back home. I wonder what are friends were thinking. Did the report us missing or did they not notice?

Dillan: What do you think everyone back home is thinking?

Eden: Well, I know our friends would have noticed by now. Remember the day after we had that walk that we were supposed to go hiking with Trey.

Dillan: I almost forgot about that. He probably thought we cancelled on him.

Eden: Or he knows that something happened because he does have the key to our apartment.

Dillan: I guess so.

Eden: Maybe we will make it back for Christmas. Eden said it is two weeks away.

Dillan: We will not have any gifts to give out.

Eden: Don’t worry about that, we will find time to get gifts.

I place my finger on the map to point out something and a drop of blood started to run down the map followed by another. The only possible answer could be my hand and when I look down I was correct. A pool of blood was forming in the palm of my hand and dripping on the ground. I unwrapped it when we first got down here and I could see some of the strings were broken. All I could do was stand there frozen because I had no clue on what to do next. Eden took control by grabbing something to wipe the blood off and to put pressure on.

Dillan: You did say that you were bad a sewing.

Eden: I did but this is not what I wanted to happen.

Dillan: I will fix it. Can you pass the kit?

Eden: No, you cannot do it to yourself?

Dillan: I have to.

Eden: Here, please be careful.

Dillan: Can you thread a needle for me?

He put thread through a needle and I began to sew. My right hand was shaking so bad that sewing my left was nearly impossible. Sometimes I would miss and stab myself with the needle. I was getting frustrated. Eden could see it and stopped me.

Eden: You will hurt yourself more. Stop and take a break. It hurts me to see you do this.

Dillan: Okay, ten minutes. I will try and calm down.

Eden: I can help or try to.

Dillan: You will calm me down better than I can calm down myself.

Eden: I can try but what I usually do is not going to work in this is situation. Maybe some more reading. We could go back over those confusing battle plans.

Dillan: I am over them, they hurt my brain.

Eden: Same here but they did give me a reason to kiss you.

Dillan: You do not need a reason for that.

Eden: Oh.

He tilted his head and kissed me. And then kissed me again. He made me feel good and happy but at the same time I felt like I was tied to this chair.

Eden: Was it that bad?

Dillan: No, I was just thinking of other things.

Eden: Try and think of something happier. You look better with a smile.

Dillan: Thanks. Can I continue with my hand?

Eden: Yeah, you are calmer now. Take your time.

I continued to pull the needle through my hand until I finish a few minutes later. He wraps up my hand and then moved down to my leg which was still painful to the touch. By the time he was done, he had used a whole roll. I put a pair of clean pants on and sat back down. Eden pulled me immediately up and wanted to show me something on the wall. It was an old picture of a group of people standing in front of the hotel. An older man that looked just like Meza might be his father and he was holding Meza, I think.

Dillan: Interesting.

Eden: I know. I was wondering if we could go back up to go to bed.

Dillan: Yeah, we are going to need rest. I will grab Misty.

Eden: Please be careful.

I started up the ladder with Misty in my jacket. I was trying not to put too much pressure on this leg but climbing the ladder with one leg is nearly impossible. About eight minutes later we made it to the top. The only issue is the hatch could only open a few inches due to a bed or something being put on top.

Dillan: It won’t move.

Eden: You sure?

Dillan: I don’t have much strength in the hand I am using and that hand will not hold me.

Eden: Alright. This is an issue. Is there a way we can switch places?

Dillan: Go the very edge of that side so I can go back down.

Eden: I do not like this idea. Please be even more careful.

He scooted to one side and I slowly but painfully moved down the ladder. Back at the top, he used all his strength and pushed the bed enough for him to get out. I climbed back up and handed him Misty to which he released and let run off. He reached back down and pulled me out. We sat together on the bed looking at each other. Neither of us knew what to say next.

Eden: Any idea of how this is going to work?

Dillan: We get out here and head to the wall. There we will try and find a weak spot to get out. But we will have no idea where the guards are.

Eden: We just have to hurry past them.

Dillan: I cannot hurry though.

Eden: I will help you.

Dillan: Eden, you will die if you are with me.

Eden: I would rather die than be without you. Also, you will not slow me down, I want to stay with you.

Dillan: I cannot . . .

Eden: Enough, please. I hate to raise voice especially to you. I love you so much and I hate to see you like this. I will stay with you and that is final.

Dillan: Alright.

Eden: You never go this silent. Sorry that I raised my voice. We both are scared to do this but we have to get out of here.

Dillan: You are right. Let’s go to bed.

After I laid down Eden got up to turn off the light. He came back, kissed my forehead, and went to sleep. I woke up to him shaking me a little while later.

Day 45:

Eden: It is late at night, time to go.

Dillan: Okay.

Eden: You might want to wake up first because you sound like you are talking in you sleep.

Dillan: I think I am still asleep.

Eden: Standing up might help. Come on.

He pulled me up and walked me around. My mind was still not aware of what is happening. Soon enough we were standing below the hatch getting ready to head out. He went up first and made sure the coast was clear. I then went up with Misty in my jacket. Eden helped me to the edge of the wall and we just looked around for an area to escape. All we found were small ditches, none of them big enough to fit us. We might have to dig. I pick a secluded spot and we sat down to begin digging. He may have been getting more done as he would only let me use one hand. An hour or two or three later we made a big enough hole to squeeze under. Eden went under first, I handed him Misty, and then I went under. It was in a desert with literally nothing around for miles.

Dillan: What now?

Eden: Get as far away as possible. We better get moving.

Dillan: I agree. Shall we go?

Eden: Yep. Do you want to take her?

Dillan: Yeah.

Eden: Okay, which direction do we go?

Dillan: Straight.

Eden: We can start there.

I grab Misty from him, he swings the bag over his back, and we link arms around each other’s shoulders to begin walking. We walked until sun rise and then we took a break on a rock. My stomach started to growl and so did his. We have not eaten since yesterday morning, probably due to the fact we slept all day yesterday. He handed me a granola bar, gave one to himself, and then gave Misty her food. A bottle of water was shared between all three of us. The temperature was rising as the day went on, it felt like it was going to melt us. My head started pounding again and I felt really weak. We continued to walk for hours.

Dillan: Are there snakes around here?

Eden: I would assume so.

Dillan: Is that one of them over there?

Eden: Looks like it. Let’s stay away from there.

Dillan: I think I see a building up ahead.

Eden: Amazing because you like you are going to pass out.

We rushed to this place and was met by a couple of nice townspeople who brought us to the town leader. He sat us down in his house and gave us glasses of ice water.

Dillan: Mind if I put her down?

Ken: Go ahead. My name is Ken by the way. What were you guys doing out there?

Eden: Before I say that, I am Eden, this is Dillan, and the kitten is Misty. Sir, have you seen what is in the desert?

Ken: No, I have not but I am guessing it involves what happened to you.

Eden: You guessed right.

Ken: I noticed you were not using your one leg.

Eden: Yeah, that is one of the many things that happened in that place across the desert. We want to head home soon but can we stay here tonight?

Ken: There is an inn a few houses down. In the morning, I will drive you to a bigger city so you can get home.

Eden: Do we have to pay for the inn? When we were taken they kind of took everything.

Ken: I will pay. There is a restaurant a few streets away get some dinner and then have a nice sleep. See you in the morning.

Dillan: Thank you.

Ken: One other thing. Do you know two other men? They came here a while ago. One looked terribly ill.

Eden: That may have been someone else who came from the same place. Thank you again.

I scooped up Misty and Eden helped me to the restaurant. We ate some food and went to the hotel. The woman at the desk ended up calling Ken due to her not believing us but it the end we got a room. It was much nicer than the dusty bunker back in that horrible compound. All we wanted was a warm shower and a comfortable sleep without worry. Instead of showering, we decided to turn off the lights and turn on a film. Both of us were too exhausted to shower at the moment.

Eden: This is lovely.

Dillan: I do not feel one hundred percent safe but laying here is nice. I feel calm and safe.

Eden: Same here. Let’s get a good night’s rest before we head home. I know some people would love to see us.

Dillan: Especially Trey who thought we were going on a hike with him.

Eden: Yeah.

Day 46:

He leaned over kissed me and then went to bed. In the morning we woke up to knocking on the door, Eden rolled out of bed and opened the door. Ken was standing there.

Eden: Oh, sorry. We must have slept to long.

Ken: No, it’s understandable. You probably loved a comfortable bed to sleep on. I will wait out front.

Eden: Thank you so much. We will be out in less than ten minutes.

He turned to go back down to his car and Eden turned back to me. We both put clothes on and went down to meet Ken at his car. His car drove down a dirt path which turned into black asphalt when we reached the city. Ken let us off at a bus station and we boarded a bus to go home. Hours later we arrived home, finally. Our apartment was actually only a few streets away so we walked sort of. Along the way was missing posters flapping in the wind, now we know people missed us. We had a spare key under the doormat to let us in. Inside was just like we left it. Old breakfast dishes were in the sink growing a bit of mold and the living room light was twitching from being left on this whole time. A box was carefully placed on the counter with our wallets, phone, and anything we had in our pockets that day.

Dillan: I am so glad to be home.

Eden: Me too. We should call Trey and only Trey. I just want to chill without lots of people.

Dillan: I feel the same.

I called Trey and he arrived in five minutes like he has been waiting for us to call. Eden helped me to the door and Trey greeted us with hugs.

Trey: Where have you guys been?

Dillan: That is a long story.

Trey: I have all the time. Are you okay?

Eden: Doing better.

Dillan: Mind if I go take a shower?

Eden: Do you need help to get there?

Dillan: Yeah, thanks.

Eden: Trey I will be back in a second.

Trey: I will be right here.

Eden helped me to the bathroom and then helped me unwrapped everything. The warm water washed off the dirt and dried blood. I felt much better when I finished. He helped me to the sofa and went to go shower. Trey sat next to me hold Misty.

Trey: That looks awful and painful. What happened to you?

Dillan: I may need Eden to help me answer that. Can I have a napkin?

Trey: Here you go. Your hand bleeding?

Dillan: Yeah, they said they need to take some blood.

Trey: Some? I think they drained you. Where did she come from?

Dillan: A present.

Trey: Cute. Oh, here comes Eden now. I am ready to learn this story.

Eden: I do not think you are but here goes nothing. Dillan, I will wrap your leg when we are finished.

Dillan: Got it.

Eden started the story with the walk in the park and moved on day by day. I put in my part when I was needed or when I felt it was right. Telling the whole story took an hour or two and by the time we finished both of us never wanted to leave the house again. Eden then began to wrap up everything.

Eden: There you go. What are you thinking at the moment?

Trey: I have no words for that. You guys should go to the police.

Dillan: We will but it is great to be back home.

Eden: I think tomorrow we will go. I just want to stay here for now because we both have been waiting a long to time to come back home.

Trey: Understandable. Mind if I stay here today?

Dillan: Of course.

-

We sat there catching up on what we missed when we were gone which so happened to be a lot. Trey ordered some pizza for dinner and I turned on a movie to watch while eating. Sleeping next to the person I love whilst having a purring kitten on my feet and having a best friend sleeping on your sofa is the best possible thing. I slept the best in long time, it was knowing that I was safe and no harm could be done to me or him. We both woke up at six in the morning with our friend still snoring on our sofa. Instead of getting up, we cuddled together and watched the morning news. We must have fallen asleep because sometime later Trey came in and woke us up. I was laying across his bare chest and his arm was wrapped around me.

Trey: Sorry to interrupt but it is like eleven. I wanted to wake you up but you can go back to bed.

Eden: Thanks. I guess you’re here so we should get up.

Trey: Nah, you guys go back to sleep. I can play with Misty and watch your television. I might even go to sleep.

Dillan: You are the best.

Trey: We will see about that when you are actually awake.

He shut the door and I huddled closer to Eden as a cold breeze hit us. Neither of us could go back to sleep so we just sat up in bed and chatted. I leaned over to kiss him as I was getting up to get dressed. I loved putting on my own clothes instead of the ones that were picked for us. We both got dressed and sat back down.

Dillan: They know where we live.

Eden: I suppose they do. I also suppose they know who we are, who our friends are, and everything about us.

Dillan: Eden you really know how to make someone feel better.

Eden: Hey, it’s honestly alright. We will report it to the police soon and they will find them.

He kissed me and pulled me underneath the cover of our bed. We were both hidden.

Eden: Now we cannot be seen.

Dillan: That is half correct.

Eden: True. We should probably get up and go with Trey to the station.

Dillan: Okay.

Eden: Please smile.

I tried my best to put a smile on my face as he pulled me out of bed. He kissed me one more time and we walked to our living room.

Trey: Can Nathan come over? He is starting to worry.

Dillan: He can come over any time.

Trey: That’s goo he usually is with me. Did you get more sleep?

Eden: No, we just talked and laid there. Neither of us could sleep.

Trey: Oh, racing minds are hard to put to sleep. Nathan should be here any minute. Take a seat, you look like you are losing balance.

Eden: I think he is. Come on.

Eden sat me down and took a seat next to Trey. Our doorbell rang a few minutes later and I told Eden I was going to get it as I did not want to feel useless. With one leg, I hopped over to the door and opened it with the chain first. After I registered it was him, I opened the door fully. When I was walking back, I tripped over something on the ground. Since it is an instinct I used my hands and my legs to try and stop falling. It did not work and I crashed to the floor. Within seconds Eden was next to me helping me up.

Eden: You did something with your stiches. Look at your hand.

Dillan: Not again.

Eden: What did you even trip over?

Dillan: The air.

Nathan: He okay?

Eden: Not really. We will tell you everything once I fix this.

Trey helped me to the sofa while Eden went off to find some things. I started to take the wrapping off of my hand and then off my leg.

Nathan: What the hell?

Dillan: There is a lot you need to know.

Trey: Two things. Dillan stop that because I doubt Eden would like you doing that. And two Nathan come here. I am sorry that I did not come home but I thought they needed me. Also, they said to not tell anyone.

Dillan: You could have told him. He could have thought you were gone too.

Nathan: Exactly but it’s alright, I am here with you now. Dillan please stop that it looks painful and awful. Let me have look.

Trey: Is the doctor side of you coming out?

Nathan: Technically, but I cannot do anything with friends or family.

Trey: That did not stop you from cracking my finger back into place.

Nathan: That was out of my control because you were freaking out and I needed to calm you down.

Trey: Usually when your finger is crooked you would freak out.

Nathan: Okay that is correct. Please show me your hand.

Dillan: It is not that I do not trust you because I do but I would feel better with Eden here.

Nathan: I understand. I would do the same. Look here he comes now.

Eden: What did I miss?

Nathan: Nothing much. Dillan can I see your hand now?

Eden: Do get blood on the sofa.

I flipped my hand over and Eden dabbed away the blood with a paper towel so Nathan could see the actual wound.

Nathan: Can you tell me what happened? I want to know how this got here.

Eden: Sure thing.

I started to tell the story whilst Eden put a lot of pressure on my hand. Eden did pick up in places I did not remember or that I pushed out of my memory. My mind was starting to go dizzy again and I felt sick. All I wanted was to get to the police station so I kept quiet.

Nathan: That is quite tale. A horrible one.

Eden: I think we have to go to the station now. I promised him that we would go this morning.

Trey: Let me drive you.

Eden: Good idea. I might be a bit rusty at driving.

He placed the wrap back on everything and we all head to Trey’s car. It was only a ten minute drive there but a half an hour wait to get called back. By the time we did get called back, my was head pounding and the room was spinning. Eden gave them everything we had collected, they took our statements, and then took pictures of every mark we had. It must have taken three hours and lots of questions. Eventually, we were done being questioned and Nathan drove us back home. All four of us ordered food and sat inside all day.

Nathan: I was talking to Trey and we wanted to know if we could stay tonight.

Dillan: Yeah. Eden do you want to come with me to clean out the guest room because the sofa is not big enough for two people.

Eden: We do need to do that. You two pick something to watch when we come back.

Trey: I think we can do that.

The guest room was filled with boxes and anything we needed to store. All we did was organize everything into one corner and put new sheets on the bed. We came back in and watched a movie.

Eden: We also put towels in the guest bathroom.

Nathan: I was just going to ask for one. Night.

All at once we said good night and we paired off. Before laying down, I looked out the window wondering what was happening. Even though I knew Eden was in the room, I jumped when he placed he hand on my shoulder. Somewhere out there is that group of soldiers and a group of helpless people being held against their will at a rundown hotel in the middle of stone walls. I do not even want to imagine what they are doing to those people as they were just part of the distraction group. Meza probably got rid of them and buried them six feet under the ground. Eden pulled me out of my thoughts by wrapping his arms around me and pulling me away from the window. It was almost like he knew what I was thinking about and when to stop me.

Eden: No more thinking about that. The police have it handled.

Dillan: But there are still so many innocent people still there. With us gone he does need them anymore.

Eden: They will be fine. I bet they are still on their floors watching the television and living just as they were.

Dillan: You’re right. I apologize. We should be going to bed.

Eden: Dillan.

Dillan: I know there is nothing to worry about. Can we lay down or at least sit down? My one leg is starting to wobble.

Eden: Yeah.

He lifted me an inch off the ground and placed me carefully on the edge of the bed. With a gentle kiss, he took a seat next to me and thought about what he was going to say next.

Dillan: All you want to do is help me but all I am being is mean. Sorry.

Eden: You were never mean to me so there is nothing to apologize for. Do you need help fixing your smile?

Dillan: No.

Eden: I think you do.

He poked at my sides which caused me to laugh and fall backwards. I now have a smile on my face as he lays down next to me. We talked about past memories until early hours of the morning. At that time we were yawning often and our eyes were closing so as soon as our heads hit the pillow, we were asleep. Sometime later there was a knock on our door and our two friends entered with four plates. We sat up and scooted close together coving ourselves with the blanket so they could take a seat at the end of the bed. Nathan handed us both some breakfast and Trey gave Nathan his.

Trey: We wanted to respect your privacy but when it reached noon we wanted to wake you for some breakfast.

Dillan: No it’s alright. Thanks for breakfast.

Nathan: What time did you guys go to sleep? It must have been late for you to sleep until noon.

Eden: We would have been sleeping a lot longer than noon. I do not exactly know when we went to sleep but it was early morning.

Trey: You woke up late yesterday too. Get some better sleep tonight.

Eden: We will try.

All four of us sat on this bed chatting and eating breakfast until one in the afternoon. Nathan stacked the plates with the forks placed on the top. Trey then pulled him up from the upper part of his arms.

Trey: We will let you guys get dressed and then we all can have a walk around town.

Eden: Sounds good to me.

They leave the room shutting the door behind them and we both get up to get dressed. Eden linked his hand with mine, a comforting hand as we walked out the front door of our apartment. This is the first time we left our apartment since we got back minus from the police department but for that we drove and parked in the closest spot to the door. As we were walking down the stairway, I felt like this was a bad idea. I could not explain where the feeling came from but it was there. Instead of telling anyone, I just kept it to myself because I wanted them to have a nice time in town. We walked around talking to friends we have not seen in a while. There is an open piece of land that separates two parts of town, it is about a mile long which they decided to walk so that we could meet up with other friends and walk the park there. I made it a half of the way with the tip of my shoe dragging along the ground. I stopped Eden for a moment while the other two continued to walk ahead.

Dillan: Stop for a second.

Eden: I can do that. What’s the matter?

Dillan: My leg is achy and tired so I was wondering if we could take a break. I was waiting and going for as long as I could.

Eden: Yeah, I was getting tired too. We should catch up to them to let them know.

He shouts ahead so they would stop and we would catch up. A ditch in the side of the road is where we sat for the next few minutes. Nathan pulled me up from the ground and we continued our way to the other section of town. There we talked to more people and look at all the changes. For lunch we sat at a little café on the corner of town. About halfway through lunch I spotted a shady guy in the corner and I noticed that he was starring. To get his attention I squeezed his thigh and whispered.

Dillan: Meza is in the corner. He is alone but I do not know if he is armed.

Eden: Okay, we have to act as we were. Nathan speak quietly.

Nathan: Why?

Dillan: The man in the corner is Meza, the guy that was holding us in the compound and the one who did harm to us.

Trey: How did he find us?

Eden: Blood. The amount they took was ridiculous. They filled up jars.

Nathan: Jars? That would have taken almost an hour.

Eden: I was not exactly counting as I was scared for my life but I think it took 20 minutes. They slit it very deep as you could see and they squeezed it to make the blood come out faster.

Trey: That’s awful.

Dillan: I realized you never told me what happened when I was not conscious. Could you tell me?

Eden: I do not think now is the time but I guess I will. Here is not the place so let’s go to the inn. Trey and Nathan is that alright with you?

Nathan: I suppose it is bad if you did not tell anyone. So I think it is better to be there.

Trey: I agree. We will run ahead to get a room so when you get there we can just enter.

Dillan: Thanks. Here take some money to pay.

Nathan: I can pay.

They speedily walked off with their arms linked. We paid the bill and slowly walked toward the hotel where we were greeted by them and a room key to room 14. All the windows were locked, all the blinds were closed, and we all sat on a king a size bed waiting for Eden to begin talking. This room was actually big. There was a hallway with a couple rooms and the bathroom at the end. He sat there thinking for a bit unsure of what to say. It obviously hurt him.

Eden: Dillan the last thing you remember was the needle going into your arm. Right?

Dillan: Yeah.

Eden: Well when you were unconscious more happened than you think.

Trey: You did not say anything to protect both of you.

Eden: Exactly. I think all of you know that I would never hurt someone.

Dillan: I do and I think I know where this is going.

Eden: I did this sort of. Th . . . they had a gun pointed to my head. They made me start it. I am so sorry and I know no amount of apologizing can fix this.

Nathan: That’s not right.

Eden: Let me go into better detail.

He went into detail on what he did, how he did it, and what they did to him. This is the worst thing they did because it hurt him more than everything else.

Eden: I am going to be sick.

He got off the bed and ran towards the bathroom. A light glow was shining through the darkness from under the bathroom door. I waited a second before deciding to do anything.

Dillan: I am going to check on him.

Trey: That is probably a good idea.

Nathan: Do you need help?

Dillan: No but thanks. I got it.

I hopped and drug myself to the bathroom where I knocked on the door and quietly entered. He was sitting against the wall with his head in between his knees not really acknowledging my presence. I closed the door behind me and stood there for a second. A few seconds later I took a seat next to him. Without raising his head he began to speak.

Eden: Do you hate me?

Dillan: I would not be here if I did.

Eden: Look what I did to you.

Dillan: You did nothing. I mean you did but you were held at gunpoint. Eden, look at me. They did this not you.

Eden: Sorry that I hid in here. I felt so sick as images came flooding back into my mind. And I still do.

Dillan: Now, I am hiding in here with you and if you want we can stay in here until you feel better.

Eden: No, I think we should get back to them because I feel bad being here.

Dillan: Make sure you feel okay first.

Eden: I just want to go home. Meza is out there somewhere.

Dillan: That reminds me that we need to call the police so they can find him.

Eden: Can you put it on speaker?

Dillan: Of course.

I dialed the number I was given and we both reported everything that happened. They were sending out officers and checking cameras. We helped each other back to our friends and almost immediately there was a knock on the door that made us all jump. Outside was a beaten box that I picked up and placed inside. I opened the box and my hands were covered in something red. The entire inside of the box was painted with this layer of red. Panic hit me as I realized what this is but before I panicked too much I made someone read the note.

You two thought you could get away but you’re wrong. Blood can be used to get you identities and with identities I found out your lives. It can also be used as paint. Watch your backs. Oh and tell your friends they are in the same boat as you. Thanks for sending the police but we disposed of all evidence. My soldiers and compound was relocated. The others were disposed of and were buried elsewhere. Do not forget to tell your lies Eden. See you soon.

The panic has now hit me as I realized what my hands were covered in. It was either my blood or his. I got up and ran to the bathroom with Eden following me. All I wanted was to get this off my hands, I did not feel the pain of standing on my leg and I did not feel the pain of running water over my hand. I only felt the pain after I was finished scrubbing my hands. It was pulsating and splotches of red marked the white gauze covering my leg. He was standing next to me with a hand on my shoulder as tears that I could not control fell down my face.

Eden: Mistakes were made.

Dillan: Yes.

Eden: Everything hit you at once?

Dillan: Only the pain not the words.

Eden: I thought he would them alone, maybe even release them.

Dillan: We killed fourteen people.

Eden: Words just kicked in. We will talk later but for now we need to back to them. This is not over. Think better.

Dillan: Trying.

He kissed my forehead and helped me back. Trey put the box in the trash and we began to walk back home. Walking that mile was terrifying for two reasons. One Meza is somewhere near here and two I feel like I am about to collapse. By the time we finished that mile Eden was basically dragging me. None of us wanted to stop because we were all afraid. Our red brick apartment building was in sight. The elevator was not working so we would have to climb up the steps which I do not mind going down but going up is not what I want to do. He handed the key to Nathan and they ran up to the apartment so their safe inside. Our apartment was on floor ten of this ten floor building. This was the only time I did not like living in the best apartment on the top floor. I bit my lip and gripped the railing as I began to climb the steps. My entire body was shaking by the time we made it to our door.

Nathan: I hate to be going but my job called saying they have nineteen bodies. My usual day deals with alive people but this is a special case. If I am welcome, I would love to come back later.

Eden: Of course, you can come back. You guys always have a place here.

Trey: Then, I will run out and grab some food.

Dillan: Great.

They left together but separated ways outside. I threw myself down of the sofa letting out a loud sigh. He threw himself down next to me and I laid my head on his shoulders. All we want, the only thing in this world, was for this nightmare to end. Just to wake up back on that fall day and stay inside. That is not going to happen though and we will have to survive this. His hand was placed at my side and we both laid there mainly due to that we were both exhausted.

Eden: Are we going to talk now?

Dillan: I guess we have to sometime.

Eden: I guess so. Did you want to say something first?

Dillan: So many people died.

Eden: Not because of us.

Dillan: We were the point of this horrible experiment and those other people were brought there to distract us. With us gone, they were no longer needed and killed.

Eden: Listen to me. They did this. They brought us and them here. The only thing we did was love each other and from what I know that is nothing to be guilty for.

Dillan: You are right. I just felt bad that we escaped but they all lost their lives.

Eden: I do also feel bad. I wish we could have taken them all with us but that unfortunately is not possible. We would have all died. Who knows what else they would have done to us if it was only test two. Look at you.

Dillan: I know.

Just then my phone rang. Eden got to get it off the coffee table and sat back down as he put it on speaker. It was the lead investigator, Harry, for our case and the case of everything that happened inside those walls.

Eden: Hello.

Harry: Hello. We have located the last location of Meza through the security cameras. He was walking into a red brick, eleven story apartment building. Stay away from that area. My officers are on their way there now and should arrive soon. They are coming from a different town so it would be about ten minutes.

Eden: Can you give me the name of this building?

Harry: I think it is called the red brick plaza.

Eden: We live there. We are in our apartment, sitting on our sofa.

Harry: Lock the doors and turn off the lights. Do not make a sound and do not leave. We will get there as fast as we possibly can.

Eden: We can do that.

Harry: Be careful.

He hung up the phone and we sat there for a second.

Eden: I better check and make sure everything is locked.

Dillan: Help me up and I can too.

Eden: You look exhausted, are you sure?

Dillan: Yeah. I want to help.

He helped me up, made sure I was stable, and then went off to make sure things were locked. I also went around locking things. It only took us two minutes to make sure things were locked. We did realize that Trey would be coming back with some food soon so we called him to tell him to stay wherever he was. We now sat in the darkness with only the sunshine shining through the curtains. I lay silently with my head on his shoulder and thought about Meza walking up the steps coming to get us. It really does shake you up when you think about that. Your life could end in a second and you would have no idea. I know it made me shake.

Eden: Your face cannot get any weirder at this moment.

Dillan: Gee, thanks.

Eden: I do not mean it in a bad way. It is just mixed with so many emotions and feelings that should not be combined.

Dillan: Like what.

Eden: Correct me if I am wrong. Pain, worry, a tad bit of sorrow. On the opposite side I see a sense of calmness and happiness.

Dillan: I think you got all of them spot on. I think you know I am only calm and happy in this situation because I am laying here with you.

Eden: You’re sweet.

Just then a loud banging was heard on our door. Only one person bangs like that on a door, Meza. He was hitting it so hard that the door was shaking and bits of the wall were falling. He was knocking down the door. Without any thinking Eden took me off the sofa and sort of carried me to our bedroom. He locked the door and then locked us inside our massive closet. I was the one this time to dial Harry with my shaky hands. Eden and I sat very close in the back of this dark closet.

Harry: Hello.

Dillan: He is here.

Harry: Meza?

Dillan: Yeah, he knocking down our door as we speak.

Harry: Hang tight and stay hidden. We are driving as fast as we can. Should be there in a few minutes. Look we did research there is more to him than what you know. He is dangerous.

Dillan: That made us feel safer.

For that Eden smacked my arm and thanked Harry. After hanging up the phone, it got eerily silent for a second and then back to pounding. Maybe he was calling someone. About a minute later we heard a thud and then heavy footsteps on our wooden floors. He was shouting something that I could not hear because my head was buried in his chest and we were both covered in clothing to try and hide us even more. Things were shattering and smashing and breaking. Within another minute he was pounding on our bedroom door. Eden and I were curled up in the tightest ball when Misty came up to us. We forgot to make sure she was safe but I guess she was sleeping in here. It all stopped again, silence. A long period of silence. Then the creek of the door opening. He picked the lock. All we heard now was the clinking of small metal tools as he was trying to open it. In the silence, more steps were heard and the clanking stopped. Someone knocked a bit lighter on this door.

Dillan: Don’t.

Eden: It’s alright.

Dillan: Make sure.

Eden made the person confirm that they were here to help. Actually the person was Harry. He got up to thank him for saving us but I just stayed in the corner holding Misty. I did not feel safe enough to move. Harry walked away and Eden came back to me.

Eden: You can come out now. They caught him at the bottom of the fire escape.

Dillan: That’s good.

Eden: Let’s go speak to them.

Dillan: I look like an absolute mess.

Eden: You’re fine. You look cute.

Dillan: Thanks. Same to you.

He pulled me up to my feet and kissed me before walking to the living room. We talked to them for half an hour and they left leaving a few officers for our protection. He called Trey to tell him it was safe to come back. Everything was smashed. Our picture frames were thrown from the walls and things that were on the counter were on the ground which was now covered in broken glass. When Trey came in we had him keep his shoes on so none would pierce his skin.

Trey: I’m glad you two are okay.

Eden: I’m glad you brought food.

Dillan: Me too.

We sat down to eat some pizza and to chill out. They continued to talk whilst I went around picking up some glass off the floor. The bigger pieces were easy to get up but the tiny ones were a pain to get. Every minute or so I would get one stuck in my hand that I can usually get out. I swear I am the clumsiest person in the world. I can honestly trip over the air and that is how I got a handful of glass. While they were talking, I was trying to secretly remove it from my hand and I was kind of successful. There were only three pieces left that I could not remove so I just continued picking more off the ground. My hearing was gone, I was just focusing in what I was doing, and I was unaware of my surroundings. I was zoning out as my mind was full with thoughts. So when Eden came up and tapped on my shoulder, I nearly jumped through my skin.

Eden: Dillan, we were calling your name for a few minutes. You alright?

Dillan: Yeah, sorry.

Eden: We just wanted you to slow down so we could do some off the work. You should take a break.

Dillan: I’m good.

Eden: You look a mess but I will not stop you until you cannot take it anymore. Then I will be there to catch your fall.

Dillan: Come on, there’s some glass over there.

Eden: You never fail to put a smile on my face.

He laughs and walks over to the area I pointed to and started to pick up the glass. Trey walked over to another area and started to pick up the debris. It did take us an hour or so to get this place in some sort of order. Nathan is still dealing with dead people, there is still glass in my hand, and our door is barely hanging on a hinge but I was happy to be here safely with people I love. We all ended up sleeping on the sofa until Nathan arrived. The officer at the door was convinced that he was an unsafe person and therefore was not allowed in. Eden was trying to convince him but he was saying that his orders were to not allow anyone in. I think Trey convinced the officer by leaning up to kiss Nathan and Nathan leaning in to kiss him back.

Dillan: Sorry about that. We do not have a door currently so he has to act like one.

Nathan: It’s fine. Are you guys okay? It scared me to know that he was that close to you.

Eden: Just a bit shaken and tired.

Nathan: It is late.

Dillan: My mind is too busy to sleep.

Eden: Your mind is too busy to do anything.

Dillan: Hey.

Eden: Joking. I will not be able to sleep either.

Trey: I can stay.

Nathan: So can I.

Eden: Do you two ever go home?

Trey: No.

Nathan: We will go home later tonight but for now we are staying.

Dillan: Fine with me.

Trey: What are we going to do with a bag of glass?

Dillan: I will take it down to the bin. It might help me clear my mind.

Eden: I do not think the elevator is working.

Dillan: Then I will have more time to clear my thoughts.

Nathan: I think this is a bad idea. That looks heavy.

Eden: Usually I would be against this but I say let him. Take your phone with you.

Dillan: Got it.

I grabbed the heavy bag of glass off the floor and walked to the top of stairs. Ten floors to go down. I just want to be the person I was before this entire thing. I want to be able to walk down a set of stairs or hold things in my left hand. After a little while, I got down to the bottom and to where the bin for the glass is. Basically this is an area that the residents can go to chill, kind of like a tiny garden. In the far corner of this place I have a little hiding spot that I go to get away from reality. It is hidden behind a hedge and is one of my favorite spots. That is where I went and I texted Eden to tell him I might be a while so I can clear my head. I did not tell him where I was though. All I did was take a seat, close my eyes, and listen to the sounds around me. Christmas carolers were singing, a bell was dinging, and tires were slipping on ice but somehow it was peaceful. This peace only lasted half an hour before I heard someone coming through the hedge. As I should have known, it was Eden.

Dillan: How did you manage to find me?

Eden: I know you very well and this is a peaceful spot to clear you’re mind.

Dillan: Until it was interrupted. I mean I do not really mind. You’re a good interruption.

Eden: I can shut up if you would like.

Dillan: No, I prefer to talk with you. We can be silent in a bit. I am glad you showed up here.

Eden: You sound exhausted. Maybe you will get a better night’s sleep knowing that you are safe.

Dillan: Hopefully. Either that or you will have to knock me out.

Eden: I don’t think so.

Dillan: Take a seat. Sorry I only have one so we have to share.

Eden: I don’t mind.

He took a seat next to me. We both did not exactly fit on the chair. Snow began to gently fall and as time went on the snow was falling so hard we could not see. Neither of us cared as we just sat there getting covered in a layer of snow.

Dillan: Come on let’s head back up. It’s only getting worse.

Eden: I agree. We don’t want to be out in a blizzard.

Dillan: Certainly not.

We got up from the single chair, stretched our achy legs, and walked to the door taking us back to the stairwell. He helped me climb the stairs where at the top we were yelled at by the officer for being out too long. We respectfully listened to him scream but did not care to follow what he was saying. Neither of us were in harm and we were in a secluded area. Trey and Nathan who were sitting on the sofa playing with Misty and watching the television, got up to come over to us.

Trey: Looks like someone dumped frozen flour on you.

Nathan: Frozen flour? Sweetie I think you twisted something in your mind or you are just tired because that is confusing.

Trey: A bit of both. Anyways, we tried to tell him that you were safe but he was buying it.

Officer James: This is my job and I want to keep it. Right now, I need make sure you four stay alive or I get fired.

Eden: We will stay here from now on. He just wanted to clear his mind.

Officer James: Whatever.

He turned around to face to staircase and went back to his post. Getting angry over something small is ridiculous.

Nathan: You two go get dressed into some warm, dry clothing. Trey and I will set up something on the television and make some cocoa.

Dillan: You guys are the best.

Trey: Glad we can help. You would do the same for us.

Eden: We would.

We went to get this cold, wet clothing off and they went to the kitchen. The rest of the night was spent on the sofa watching a new program with friends. Snow was piling up outside as the Christmas blizzard hit.

Two days later the officer left and a new door was installed. Christmas was spent with our friends and many phone calls to family. Meza and his whole operation were stopped and nobody else was taken. Everything was fine again. Trey did get to go on the hike we promised him before all of this. Everything healed okay but I still walk with a limp. All four of us ended up moving out of the city to a much quieter area almost like a farm. This whole experience turned out for the better. We are a lot happier now