Dream: Cataclysmic Facility

Date: 1/24/2019

I was about 20 and part of a family who ran a huge facility on a once deserted island. The facility would take “degenerates” and “rejects” to test ways to better help cure autoimmune diseases… among other nasty health issues. The family built this place for me. I was weak. Most the stuff in the air could hurt me. But in this facility I was safe. I could run like any other person. Fight like any other person. Laugh and play like any other person. I talked with the people they brought here. I gained friends from doing that. I hadn't really had friends before. The person I had grown closest to was Razmiv. He was a kind charismatic 23 year old. He helped me understand how to read social cues, watch body language, and just talk to people. He taught me more than I had ever learned being cooped up in my home most my life. Though with him being one of the “occupants” (the people they brought for testing) and not one of the “associates” (the people who ran the facility) there were lots of people on both sides who didn't agree with our friendship. To the point of one associate attempting to pull a gun on him when he'd been alone. I heard about it from some of the others I'd gotten close to and bitched her out. I stole her gun and hid it where I knew no cameras would find it. At least not very easily. Razmiv and I continued our friendship. He introduced me to some of the others he spoke with. There was Desric, a security guard of the facility. I think he was about 32. Then we had Arya. She was a former dealer. She had come to the facility to turn herself around. Do something good. Surprisingly she was only 18. The final member was Erik. He was a bit quiet and awkward. He’d been an accountant and lost both his job and family due to cutbacks. He came here hoping to have a better life. I wanted to believe they could all start over but I really didn’t know. I myself didn’t know how much i trusted my family and the majority of associates. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------     I had learned the truth of the facility. They had made a pill of sorts that made it so I could be out in the real world. I managed to download all the data for it when no one had noticed. However… the facility was killing off people. Or rather, they had killed people when trying their previous formulas. No one stopped the work. No one shut down the facility. It got swept under the rug and the people… oh god. The videos I found when I went to the lab. Desric had to keep me steady. I felt sick. He was enraged. We had lost Arya to this… this nightmare. I wasn’t going to let them take Razmiv, Erik, or anyone else. Not if I could stop it.     “Isaiah, be careful from now on.” Desric told me.     I just nodded. He went to guarding the door so I could hack into the system. I attached everything to a couple flash-drives. One he would have. One I had. He got to leave the island once in a while to return to his son. He was leaving tonight. He would call my cell and let me know if he managed to get through safely. If he didn’t make it back tonight, his son would call me. His son was 16 and stayed with his mother whenever Desric was here.     “Got it.” I told him and handed him the duplicate flash drive. I flipped the screens back to where they were and removed the data that showed i’d downloaded anything. I shoved my flash-drive in my bra, which greatly unsettled Desric since he had to see that.     “Really didn’t need to see you do that.” He said and slipped his flash drive into an inside jacket pocket.     “Well we gotta put them where they won’t be easily found.” I told him stubbornly.     He shook his head and I printed out my schedule of the day.     He looked at the paper quizzically, “What’s that for?”     “You escorted me here so I could get this without any possible hiccups, didn’t you?” I asked him with a wink.     He shook his head at me. “I suppose so. Now let’s go.” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------     I felt a sinking sensation in my stomach as I watched the mayhem crossing the island. Desric had made it back. He went to his friends who were in the FBI and told them everything. Once shown the contents of the flash-drive they believed him. Razmiv, Erik, and I had done what we could to get as many people out of the facility as possible. My family weren’t ready to let go and we’d forced their hands. The institute was revealed for the slaughterhouse it was. So its associates were fighting back as the occupants attempted to escape. Erik didn’t make it. At least… I was forced to believe he didn’t. We heard lots of gunfire as we got into the boats.     “Erik!” I shouted as we ran to the boats. I saw him get shot. I heard him hit the ground.     Razmiv pulled me along. His eyes pleading with me. “We have to keep going! Isaiah, you have to get off this island!”     I followed him onto the boat with much reluctance. I cried most the boat ride back. I felt sick leaving him behind. Razmiv had packed a few bottles of the pills that kept me from getting sick outside the island. He’d made sure I had a few months worth. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------     I opened my eyes to a room with faint light and few belongings. The dresser next to me seemed foreign. The bed I lie on even felt unfamiliar. Despite all that I wasn’t really afraid. Just a bit confused.     “What… where am I?” I muttered as I blinked to see if maybe it was a hallucination or something.     I heard footsteps from across the room. A light flicked on and there stood a young man. He walked over to me and held out a bowl of water with a cloth on it. He seemed skittish when he saw me but continued to walk over.     “He really has a knack for this stuff. Called a bit ago saying you’d be awake soon.” the young man told me. He sat on a stool that was by the bed and placed the bowl on the dresser.     I got a closer look at him and realized he was younger than I’d thought. “You’re Desric’s son, right?”     He gave a weak smile and nodded. “Yeah. Dad’s been helping your friend look after you. The two of them had to go take care of some stuff so I got stuck baby-sitting.”     I could almost hear the bit of teasing in his voice. “Stuck watching someone about four years older than you. Cuz I move around so much.”     “Ah so you do have a bit of bite in there.” he said and placed a hand to my forehead, “Feels like the fever’s finally going down. You’ve been bed-ridden most the day. Prior to this encounter I was told you’d been a zombie. You slept, ate minor food, barely drank water, and were mostly unresponsive. With what they told me I really can’t blame you.”     I looked down at that. “I lost two of my friends. My family turned out to be villainous beings. Plus without the pills I have I really can’t survive long in the normal world. Shell-shock is kinda good compared to remembering all of that.”     “My name’s Byron. What’s yours?” I assumed he was being kind and changing the subject.     “Isaiah.” I replied and looked up to see him giving a sincere smile.     Byron ran his fingers lightly over my cheeks and wiped away tears I hadn’t known were falling. “Well, Isaiah, I think you’ve done far too much crying and far too much hurting. There’s a change of clothes for you in the top drawer. You’re friend, Razmiv I think was his name, got some for you earlier today. You should probably grab a shower. I’ve heard those tend to help clear the mind.”     I nodded. “Where’s the bathroom at in this place?”     “Out this door, down the hall, first door on the right. Towels and supplies are in there.” He told me and added in. “I should talk to Mom about helping you get a new look. Might help you feel better.”     “You’re a sweet guy, Byron.” I told him as I slowly stood up and dug out some clothes from the dresser.     Byron smirked. “Yeah well don’t get used to it. Most people in this world are assholes.”     I heard him leave the room. His footsteps a bit heavy compared to his father’s lighter ones. I gathered the clothes to me and let out a faint breath. “Trust me, I know.” My voice came out quietly. With that I awoke.