Awakenings: Chapter 1

[Shalimar]

Dreams. Dreams are funny things... they never truly tell you what your thinking, they always twist things, make the impossible seem possible, make the improbable seem likely. Yes, dreams are indeed funny things, there is a single constant in dreams, only one, in th end, as wonderful a paradise as a dream can be, as horrible of a hell, in the end, you awake from them, shedding the rules of the dream world for those of the real world.

You weren't suppoused to dream in coldsleep, thats what you were told. It was all suppoused to be a simple thing, an anesthetic to send you into blissful unconsciousness, and then they were suppoused to perform the procedure. You weren't suppoused to feel a thing, just the needle and then the sleep. It was suppoused to feel like you were only sleeping for a moment, blink your eyes for a moment, and you were suppoused to awaken years later, in a time where there was a cure for your disease.

Unfortunately for you, Coldsleep is not what its advertised as, its a natural assumption that they exagerated the truth to make all of you more pliant, less willing to fight the procedure. Whether they did know and lied, or they did not, you did have dreams. A series of endless dreams, strange dreams, dreams in which you did things that weren't normal, weren't human. Now, unlike most dreams, these dreams were different, but they always had the same elements, you always did the same thing, you always used the same unnatural power.

With a hiss of escaping nitrogen, the lid of your of casket slides to the side, opening, allowing you to take your first gulp of air in who knows how long, as consciusness finally returns to you. Flashing red lights illuminate the room, showing a room full of vertical coffins, each with a bewildered teenager falling out of it, gasping for breath as they try to take in their surroundings. Everyone in the room, male and female, is wearing a black body-stocking tight enough to know that there is nothing under it. When one boy staggers and falls, you can all clearly make out what appears to be a barcode on the back of his neck, as well as a gold set of numbers going down his right arm, 00199.

The room is a a swirl of chaos as close to 40 voices starting asking questions all at once, bubbling over each other. A girl that looks rather familiar to all of you falls to her knees between the four of you. She is shivering, and her blonde hair has swept down over her face like a curtain.

 

[Calinon]

Connor staggers ungracefully out of his chamber, pushing the heel of his hand to his temple. Head throbbing from the sudden waking, he blinks his eyes free of sleep and and rises up to his full height.

"Where are the doctors," he says aloud with a moderate scottish accent, his loud voice adding to the cacaphony in the room. He looks about a bit bewildered, seeing the one lad fall, and looks down at his own arm, and his own numbers and puts his hand to the back of his neck reflexively. "What the hell is going on? Red flashing lights probably doesn't mean everything is..."

He trails off as the girl falls to the floor between himself and the nearest people. He kneels down and puts his massive hand on her shoulder, and tries to pull her upright to look at her face. "Lass, don't I know ya?"

 

[Corinthi]

Demetrius Walker

'Trey' smacks into the floor with an audible thump as he tumbles out of the clod sleep capsule. He winces, eyes watering a touch at the cries of protects from his knees upon impact. Groaning just a touch, he shields his eyes from the impossibly bright lights in the room as he tries to look around. He can't help but feel a bit intimidated by all the black suited figures about the room.

As the girls falls, Trey looks over and notes the large fellow with the funny accent speaking with her. He shakily crawls over toward her on his hands and knees. His voice, hoarse with disuse croaks as he askes, "Choo aw'ight?" His speach patterns seem definatively urban.

He does kneel slightly to conceal his 'male bits' and seems more than a touch uncomfortable to be in a room filled with 25 naked peers.

 

[Keia]

Josiah felt the sleep and dreams slowly fade away. Desperately trying to hold on to the dreams and images, Josiah felt himself falling – the solid impact upon the ground jarring him from any hold he thought he might have had. Brightness was flashing against the closed eyes, noise, which was almost too much all at once assailed his ear. Josiah was surprised to realize the close noise was from his own lips moaning from the pain.

Muscles atrophied from disuse, refused to respond to Josiah’s impulses. Not understanding this upon awakening, Josiah was frightened that he was paralyzed, though it passed as some functionality returned to his limbs. When he opened his eyes, blurry shapes colored in red then not was all that he saw. Blinking away the time of disuse, Josiah focused on the target as his father had told him when he used to go hunting with his father . . .

Setting those memories aside, Josiah saw others dressed in black standing and or laying much the same as he was. Looking at himself, he noticed that he was dressed the same as the others. A girl mere feet away was on her knees, her golden hair looked familiar to Josiah. Others were reacting to her as well and Josiah thought perhaps they knew her as well. Figures, Josiah thought, the first person I recognize and I’ll probably be the last person she’ll notice . . .

Josiah rose on shaky legs and continued to glance around bringing more people into focus. He looked at where he had fallen from and tried to think back to the dreams he was had while with the coffin . . . he was somebody in those dreams . . .

 

[Velmont]

Samir was walking behind Mohammed. He had to keep the pace, even with his 7 years-old legs. He was following the small group with some packed ammo on his back. They needed to sabotage an israelite electrical plant. They were inside the plant and is was strangely calm. No guard no where, even if we are in the middle of the war, even if this power plant was the source for many military industries, but Mohammed didn't find that strange, and so Samir didn't tell his fears, as he would be seen as a kid, and he was a man in spirit as every man here, ready to give their live for their nation.

When Mohammed finish to place the last bomb, all the men were starting to move out of the plcae. It was at that moment the guards appreared, they were two dozen, four time their numbers, and they surprise his small group. Sounds of gunfire, sound of bullets could be heard, and he saw every man of his group dying under the fire of th enemy. It is at that moment the bomb explode in a great flash, but without any flame. A great bolt of ligthning arc to Samir. He felt all the energy entering his body. It was painfull. During many minutes he felt the energy entering his body. It was like a bomb who was waiting before exploding.

When the bolt dissapeared, he saw all the guards around him. They were speaking of how he was the shame of his family, how he let his mother died. Her death was his fault. They speak of his sister, how much pleasure everyone has taken with her, how submissive she was. They told they already had killed every man in the camp, and they had torture his father and brother before they let them bounded in the desert of the desert, under the sun. Samir felt the anger escalating into him. That anger canalized all that energy, and with one shout, a great ball of ligthning forms around him, burning all the guards in a moment.

He looks at the body. He smells the perfume of the burned corpse. They were all death, and his skin was glowing with spark of energy. At that moment, he heard a noise. part of the roof had broken and felt on his head.

When he opens his eyes, his head was hurting him. He was lost. He was no more at the power plant. Instead he was in the middle of a room where many young men and women were talking. He saw them getting out of some kind of coffin. He looks behind him and saw that he was surely in one, and when the door opened, he fall and when his head hit the ground, it wake him up.

He starts to replace himself. The war was over, the plague had striked, his sister was alive and pretty well, her father and brother was killed by the plague, his mother had been kill during their escape. All those lie from the dream was false, he knew it, even if he still felt a bit guilty.

After taking back his sense, he start to llok at the other people in the room. No face seems familiar, except that girl, but where did he saw her? When she start looking his his general direction, he shout over the crowd of confusing youngs people "What is happening?"

 

[Shalimar]

The gold lettering along the girl's black clad arm reads 00023, and the barcode on her neck becomes clearly visible as she sweeps her hair up and behind her ear. She pulls herself up using Conner's arm for support. She seems positively tiny next to the mountain of a person that is Conner, the girl has to be over a foot and a half shorter then the Scottish boy. As she stands, it becomes even more clear that you know her, but your still not entirely sure of where you know her from.

People begin to mill about, not sure of what was going on. If a cure had been found, where were the doctors? If it hadn't been found, why had everyone been woken. No one seemed to know, and the flashing red lightd heightened the fear, what could have gone wrong?

"I don't think I know you, but you might have heard of my father, Doctor Kerensky, he's the one that came up with the Vaccine." She explained as she tried to get her bearings. "I..." she would have continued, had the automated door not opened admitting a gun barrel, followed by an armor clad figure baring the insignia of the Federated Commonwealth. The soldier, for that is obviously what he must have been, walked in slowly, scanning the room, his rifle passing over each of you. He was wearing what appeared to be a human skull on his head, although it was somewhat obvious that it was only a helmet, the glowing red of its eyes were certainly disturbing to say the least. A second soldier followed by a third and a fourth entered the room, scanning it just as intently as the first had. The quartet of soldier took up positions flanking the door, two kneeling, the other pair standing behind them, all weapons were trained on the black-clad teenagers who had emerged from the pods.

The soldiers had been in the room for 30 seconds without bothering to speak, even without seeing their faces, you could all tell that they were tense, their fingers on their triggers. Finally a fifth soldier entered the room, unlike his comrades his body armor was a startling blood-red instead of the unrelieved black the others wore. He slowly and deliberately unclipped his helmet from his armor with a soft hiss, indicating, at least to Josiah, that the armor was air-tight. With a swift movement, the helmet was gone, resting in his hand. His eyes were a clear brown color that was almost dark enough to look black in the lighting, his salt and pepper hair lent him a dignified appearance, but even without it, he had an aura of menace, everyone could tell that this man was used to getting his way, or else... and no one wanted to know what the or else was, it had probably never came up.

"I am Colonel Black. For now, I am God, you will follow my orders as if they come down from on high, or I will shoot you myself. I do not have time for spoiled babies or questions. You will know exactly what I need you to know, and you will comply with every order." His voice rings out like a trumpet, echoing throughout the large chamber. "We do not have a lot of time here, be ready to move in 2 minutes, anyone who is not ready will be left behind, something that you will not enjoy in the slightest." An explosion can be heard through the open door behind the Colonel, followed by a few bursts of noise that none of you are able to identify, although the scream that follows one of them is quite easy to identify.

The Colonel approaches your tiny group of five, almost marching, he seems utterly calm and without any worries in the world. As he comes towards you, the other groups of teenagers seem to shrink back from him in fright. He calms to a halt in front of Kaitlen, eyeing her intently, then allowing his gaze to wander over those around her, his gaze rests the longest on Conner before returning to the petite girl. "Ms. Kerensky, I most ask that you remain close to me for the duration, it is for your own protection." his eyes flick to Conner's size and the fact that Kaitlen is still holding onto his arm. "The four of you will be keeping close to Ms. Kerensky as well, again, for her protection." He turns and walks back the way he had come, heading towards the door, only saying a single word, "come." He obviously expects the 5 of you to follow his order without a thought about it. As he moves back to the door he clips on his helmet again, leaving you staring at a disturbing skeleton mask with glowing red eyes.

 

[Calinon]

Connor didn't recognize "Black" but did recognize a bully when he saw one. He'd dealt with his fair share in school, but seldom did any have such a frightening air of superiority about him. It unnerved him nearly as much as the soldiers, gun and deadly threat, though he tried to hide it as best as he could.

"We better do what he says," he says loudly enough for the others in the room to hear. Just heard by the four near him he whispers, "for now."

He looks around the room, seeing where the other teens are that are having problems recovering from their sudden awakenings. "I wish I was as strong as I was in my dreams," he says, managing a grin to the four "Black" had paid the most attention to. He makes sure the girl hanging onto his arm is able to stand, and starts towards some of his fellow teens that are having troubles in order to help them.

"If ya see someone having trouble, lads and lasses, help 'em up," he calls out over the background noises, his booming voice carrying well. "Leaving one behind to gun toting soldiers mercies aint somethin' we want ta do. We're in this together, an' we gotta help each other. An' don't ye be worried. That one be keepin' us alive for a reason, an obviously aint too scared of gettin' infected with any disease we might have."

He reaches down and helps pull a scared and crying teen to his feet. "Don'tcha worry, pal. Things'll be fine," he says, giving the boy a comforting pat on the back before offering his hand to the girl sitting on the floor beside him.

 

[Velmont]

"I still feel sleepy. If I was in good shape and if it wasn't so long since the war, I sure would have taken one of the bully, point his gun on this guy who prentend to be better than Allah, and I would have give a free trip to him, and after that, we would have seen who is a god."

Samir start to help anyone nears who don't seem too well so they can stand up and leave when the order will be given.

 

[Shalimar]

"Umm, guys, your not being very nice, if he is being so serious, there has to be a reason. That was councilor Black, the Commander of all of the Federated Commonwealth's forces, if he's here, something very very serious is going on. Besides, you all know him, he did save almost everyone here from Absolution, the first one I mean." Kaitlen says, and you all realize she is indeed correct you do all know him, or of him. It was he and his soldiers that spread the word of the vaccine, it was he that led the transportation of everyone to Hope so that they could be saved.

"Maybe we should like, do what he says, I know we can trust him, he's just trying to save us again because something must have gone wrong." the tiny blond continued. "I mean we don't even know how long we've been in here. I mean, Mr. Black was liek 30 something when we went in, now he looks like 50 or something, it has to have been a long-time. So can we just do what he says for now, at least until he has time to explain whats going on?" she pleads with Conner, holding fast to his arm, and trying to pull him over to where the Councilor was standing with his back to them, intently looking at what appeared to be a holographic map.

Those closest to the Colonel can see the immense sigh he gives before turning back to the teens. "Ms. Kerensky is entirely correct, I am not here to be a bully, I'm also not here to coddle you either. I am here to save your lives, and I don't need you to be fighting me every step of the way. If your fighting me when I am trying to save your lives, then you are going to get my people killed as well as yourselves. Get this straight, this facility is coming under assualt by hostiles, I have turned off the Coldsleep pods to evacuate you, to save your lives. I need your cooperation to get as many of you and my men out of here alive as possible." he says, looking at his watch, he adds, "a minute and a half left unil the transport arrives, when I tell you its clear, you will board it asap, and I will get us back to Hope. Now, Ms. Kerensky, you and the four I named need to come over here, now, for special instructions."

 

[Calinon]

"I agree with ya about the god comment, lad," Connor says,to Samir, clapping him on the shoulder. "But I aint quite ready to see god just yet, somethin' trained soldiers could likely make me do. What's yer name then?" He asks.

Turning to look down to the girl, he says, "Don'tcha worry, wee lass, I'm always ornery when I first wake up," Connor says patting her hand. "My dad says I'm worse than my mom was. And we're doin' what he said. We dun got two minutes, an we best use 'em to help so our companions don't be gettin' left behind. An' everyone's scared. I don't like to see folks scared."

The other teens do seem to be helping each other though, and Connor soon lets himself be lead over to Councillor Black.

"Ye know, lass, ya know my name's Connor, but I canna remember your name, an' ya dinna say it before. An' councillor Black, if that be ya, turn off the damn flashin' lights and ya get less confused teenagers."

He waits there until the others that were singled out with him come up and asks the other two of them with a natural smile, "So what's yer name?"