Episode 3: The Transport Museum (6)
I searched around the perimeter and the wardrobe, near the door, was wide open. The white suits, that the 'staff' members wore, were inside. I took one and put it on.
Time was ticking as I stared at my watch.
"What if..." I thought to myself. "What if this gas was giving me hallucinations by blinding my senses?"
I waited for a few seconds staring at my watch.
----------
6:50 am.
6:51 am.
...
6:58 am.
6:59 am.
----------
The time stopped. I waited for one second and looked again.
----------
6:59 am.
----------
The time didn't increase by one minute; it didn't turn to 7:00 am.
I slightly tapped my watch and it opened the clock app. Time was resumed normally. Each passing second I counted was the same as the display.
"I was correct," I thought to myself.
I turned my head towards the giant machine. The smoke was pumping out much slower than what I witnessed before.
"It seems like this machine-generated a gas that makes time fast forward for the person who breathes it in," I muttered to myself. No one could hear anyway. There was no one here, plus the plastic cover on the suit blocked out the gas and kept my sound inside.
I continued to search around the room looking for more clues but it was pretty empty.
I turned around and started to walk out of the room. I peeked, but there was no one outside. I slowly walked towards the entrance trying to make my footsteps as silent as possible.
After reaching the edge of the entrance, I peeked outside again and similarly to the first time I arrived here, there was no one.
Carefully, I shifted towards the side of the building and disappeared into the distance, far away from it.
* * *
After consistently running for a while in the warm white suit, I arrived at a relatively smaller building. It was a storage building containing clothing of some sort. I took off the bulky suit and hid it amongst the rest.
"I probably should hide it deeper," I said to myself. "I need to ensure no one finds this 'cause I might need it again later on... probably."
I think I'm being more like Sam... did I get influenced by him?
After hiding it, I headed towards my room where Sam and Rose are.
* * *
The time flowed as usual but I had a slight headache; it was like multiple needles stabbing into my skull. I tapped my head lightly and squeezed my temples but it didn't help much; in fact, I think it made it worse.
Everything was normal here, well not normal but the same as before. People were still on their knees praying for salvation since yesterday; well for my it was only a couple minutes but for them, it must have felt like an eternity. I could see their faces. It was as if they were crumbling apart, losing their senses as time goes by. I could still see the old man from a moment ago. He has lost all his strength and now lying flat on the ground.
I approached him slowly but I couldn't see any signs of movement.
"Hey..." I said lightly. "Hey, mister? Ar-are you okay?"
I shook him slightly but no sign of movements. I placed my fingers near his nose; he wasn't breathing. To confirm my doubts, I then placed my fingers on his eyelid and gradually opened them.
"Well... shit."
His pupils were dilated; this meant all his muscles relaxed.
He has passed away.
"Haa... if Rose was here, she would not be able to watch any longer..." was what I thought to myself.
The world... it's fallen into chaos. It brought tragedy and misfortune. Not even an elderly man can pass away in peace. Is this going to get any worse?
My mind was blank for a moment but then it was filled with some memories, or rather people, people close to me.
"I need to protect those close to me."
* * *
I quickly made my way towards our room. It was quite a distance but I managed to find my way back - due to the monolith close by the building I hid the white suit in.
~~~~~
"Hm..." I thought to myself. The monolith was displaying the map of the entire TMRS. I looked closely and saw the red 'x' indicating my position. I looked across the map and easily found the drawing of the tallest building on the map. The building I was staying at was located near that place. I took a photo of the monolith and headed back.
My phone was at 6%.
~~~~~
* * *
I stood in front of my room.
----------
"Scan complete. Good morning and welcome back."
----------
A robotic voice greeted me as I slowly opened the door.
I saw Sam and Rose, they were still fast asleep. I don't blame them, they've both had a hectic day. Many things happened, which lead to the three of us being together.
"Rose... why where you the only person left in that building?" I said quietly. "Sam... who are you?"
I quickly unpacked all the fruits and placed them beside Rose's bag.
My phone slipped out of my pocket as I knelt down. It was at 5%. I took my phone and placed it back into my pocket as I stood up and walked out of the room again.
It was 7:44 am.
* * *
The soldiers continued to hand out rations, but not in bags this time. Surprisingly, it was on a plate. They were serving breakfast!
On the paper plate, there were freshly made crumpets with butter spread on top of the bubbly surface. It was glittering brightly as the light from the ceiling reflected on it.
"Hot food!" I heard many people say as they rushed their way towards the soldiers.
It was like the soldiers were giving the citizens hope for survival in this cruel situation. People scoffed the food instantly and went for seconds.
"Alright, everyone! Please calm down, we should have plenty for you all!" I heard a man speaking and calming everyone down. "Please form a queue!"
Unfortunately, I was near the back of the queue. As soon as it was my turn, there were only three crumpets left. The soldier passed them to me and I started to walk away.
"Sorry, everyone... there aren't any left! It will take at least another hour before the next batch!" I heard the same man said.
People started to curse them and rioted in front of the soldiers. The soldiers held their guns up and the weak citizens backed off.
I was near my room when I heard a child talking.
"Mama, did you get the food?" the kid said looking up at her mother with innocent eyes.
"No, dear... let's wait for a bit. The food will arrive soon," she told him while patting his head.
"But I'm hungry..." the kid said and he started to tear up and sniff.
"Yosh... yosh... yosh... my baby, please don't cry and be a good boy. Let's wait for a bit, I'm sure food will arrive soon."
The mother shifted her hand around the kid and hugged him tightly. "Let's go back to see your sister." Her head was resting on top of the kid as she closed her eyes. I could see slight tears falling down the side of her face.
The kid moved his little hands wrapping his mother's back and said, "my hair feels weird. Is it raining mama?"
She shook her head and said, "No, dear... let's go."
She got up and I looked closely at them. I saw her face clearly and it was the mother from before, the one we met when we descended the first escalator.