The Isle: Chapter seven

Read the first 6 chapters here!

“What’s going on?” I asked, still half asleep.
“They’re moving us. We don’t know why.” Hugh spoke from somewhere beside me. That got my attention. I sat up, rubbing my eyes.  There was movement all around me, and people speaking a language I couldn’t understand. People where moving all of our belongings, and the boys were being loaded into wheelchears seeing they couldn’t walk far yet. Hugh was packing some of my clothes into a bag, then went to get my things from the bathroom. I got up and quickly finished packing my bag. Now they’d started to move the boys out of the room, leaving Hugh and I alone with the men. Once our friends were out of ear shot I thought I’d try my luck, so I asked one of the men who were moving our things; “Where are we going?” 
The man I spoke to was short and skinny, he looked startled, and spoke nervously. “A.. VIP room.” 
“Wh- why?” I asked.
He looked down below my chest and comprehension dawned on me. “Docter Ameile confirmed girl is pregnant. Very special day. Drugs working, you all get better room, uh?” 
I looked at Hugh, who shrugged. I said, “Um, yes. Thank you.” I looked him in the eye as I said it, and I thought I almost saw him smile. 
Another man made me sit in a wheelchear too, despite my complaints. Only Hugh was allowed to walk to the new room. With my bag of belongings on my lap, we set off before I’d had time to look back one last time at our ward. Even though it was morning, the corridors were dimly lit with those familiar pink lights along the sides of the floor. Moving through the hall past these lights reminded me of being a little girl and sitting in the car as my mother drove down roads lined with street lights. It made me feel oddly nostalgic, and extremely home sick. A lump was stuck in my throat, tears bloomed in my eyes. Again, I felt that fluttering in my belly. Placing a hand over my lower stomach, an unfamiliar calm spread through me. I didn’t feel so lonely, with Hugh walking beside me and with this new life growing inside me. As we continued through the hallways, it dawned on me how many doors there were. I wondered just how many people were being held in here, just like us. I had a sudden image of a graveyard, trapped bodies hidden from view, decaying and silenced. I flinched away from the walls at that. Hugh caught the movement and looked down to find me cringing into the wheelchair. He etended his arm, taking his hand in mine. As the nameless guards reached the end of the corrodor, we (Hugh, me and 4 guards) reached an elevator. As we were escourted into it, a thought flashed in my brain and my heart seemed to stop and drop through my stomach. Of course, the other boys could just be ahead of us, already in the new room, but what if they were seperated from us? Of course, Hugh and I could just be left alone in the new room. We were, after all the parents. 

My fears, however, proved to be unnecissary. We went in the elevator (there were no buttons inside so I couldn’t tell if we were going up or down) for a moment and then we were taken down another long corrodor, then another. Finally, we reached a door that opened before us. We were taken inside, and I was engulfed. The smell of vanilla and orchid greeted me, the colour scheme was warm, inviting, cosy, yet open. To my right, a staircase led upstairs. Beside the door was a floor plan of the lower level, it read:

(copy image URL, open and paste in a new tab to zoom and see all of it)

Passed the stairs, three doors stood side by side, then a wall extended all the way out in front of me, to another door that appeared to lead outside. To my left, a wall stretched out in front of me, paralell to the wall to my right, for several metres. The guard steering my wheelchair wheeled me forwards, and I found myself in an open plan living space. Behind the wall that was to my left, lay a cosy looking area of cutions and blankets, with seating like an expensive couch in a square, in the middle, a pit, filled with more pillows of different colours and shapes. A huge, black wide screen TV was mounted to the wall. On the far right side of the living space, beside the door leading outside was a shiny, fancy kitchen. In the middle of the kitchen and the tv area was a U shaped booth, a dining table in the middle. Perhaps the biggest, and best feature though, was the window. The entire wall, from the TV area to the kitchen was made of glass. The window looked out into a green world. Moss covered trees dotted a floor of ferns, rocks, grass and bright, exotic flowers. A small stream wove through the little garden, heading to the right. But perhaps the best part of the garden was the absense of a fence. I assumed there was one out there somewhere, but it wasn’t visible through the lock of trees. A rare mist hung heavily in the garden, it looked like it might rain. That was the first time I’d even seen clouds around here. Inside, flower pots were dotted around the place, some of the flowers I’d never seen before. Exquisite paintings hung on the walls, and the whole room looked amazing. I missed our old room, but this was amazing. However, as I said, my fears of being separated from the boys evaporated, when they turned up at the bottom of the stairs by the door. 

“There’s a recreational room upstairs, you should check it out.” Tyler grinned. The guards left the room then, and I gave my wheelchair to the guy beside me to take with him. I felt like running over and hugging Tyler and the others, but instead I grinned back.
“I wonder why they moved us in here.” Noah said. Hugh looked at me, and nodded once.
“It’s me.” I said,  ”I’m-” I paused, “I’m pregnant.” Tyler, who was standing close to us, looked like he’d just been whacked over the head. Noah held his fist to his mouth, and Stephen’s mouth popped open and formed the shape of a little O. I giggled at the tableau in front of me, and Hugh stepped up behind me and placed a hand around my back.
“The thing is though,” I began, “when they operated on me they gave me this new drug they’re testing… It speeds up pregnancy. Apparently they’re really happy it’s working, so they’ve promoted us. I guess you could say.”
“Do they know what will happen with this drug?” Noah asked,
“Well they seem to have some idea but I guess they have quite a few girls at their disposal so it wouldn’t really matter anyway.” I was shocked at my own words. 
“Maybe that’s what that other room was.” Stephen said, breaking the sudden silence.
“What other room?” Tyler asked.
Together we all went upstairs and I found myself in a large open space, brightly lit by the surrounding windows. The room held a good range of gym equipment, a pool table, table tennis, air hockey, and a foosball table, as well as another flat screen and a collection of gaming consoles. There was a door in a quite corner on the left side of the room, I could see how they could miss it. I went first and opened it, and inside was a master bedroom with a babies bed and changing table, a fully decked out nursery. It was beautiful. Suddenly I burst into tears, and realization hit me, I was going to have a baby, who knew when. We had no idea how the birth was going to go, or even if I could get there. Of course, the baby could be deformed… Then I realized I was in darkness and it was dead quiet. I felt inhumanly cold. The next thing I knew I was lying on my back, on a soft surface. My back arched and my stomach heaved, and I was guided onto my side, where I vomited. I opened my eyes and found my face in a bin, staring at bile and puke. The site and the smell made me reach again but nothing came up and pain ripped through me. I screamed and I heard rushed voices all around me. I couldn’t tell what they were saying. My fringe stuck to my forehead with cold sweat and I was trembling all over. I blacked out again and woke up with cool, certain hands around my body. 
“Nicole? Can you hear me? It’s Sam, your doctor.” I was relieved to be pulled out of the darkness again. “How do you feel?”
“Shit.” I groaned. Somewhere in the room I heard a soft chuckle.
“Ok. Looks like it’s just a case of bad morning sickness. I’ll take some bloods anyway. Have you eaten today?” The room looked clearer in front of me now, we were still in the master bedroom.
“Not yet. I guess I just got a bit overwhelmed, seeing this room you know.” I explained.
“Fair enough, I don’t blame you.” He laughed kindly. “But the boys said you screamed, was it painful to vomit?” He asked, 
“Yeah..” I said, looking up to find everyone still in the room.
“Ok. I’m not surprised, you’re still recovering from your surgery.” He said, “Little scratch-” He added, before jabbing me with a needle. He took about 4 tubes of blood before he bid goodbye, and I managed to sit up with only a little pain.
“Do you wanna move down stairs? We can get you some food.” Hugh asked, once the doctor had left. 
“Yeah, sure. Can you help me up?” I was about to swing my legs over the side of the bed but before I could, Hugh scooped me up and began to carry me from the room. Giggling loudly he carried me downstairs, the others trailing along behind us, yelling “Don’t trip!” “Careful she might barf down your shirt”, as we got to the bottom of the stairs, Hugh turned around so I could aim a playful kick into Tyler’s chest, he’d been the one to make the joke. He wailed dramatically and pretended to die painfully, withering on the floor. Suddenly he jumped up, making me squeal, and tickled my socked feet. As I laughed, Stephen and Noah, laughing also bound Tyler’s arms behind his back and told us to run for it, as they wrestled him to the floor. Hugh took me to the kitchen, leaving the bellows of laughter and yelling behind us. I think we were all feeling the high of this positive turn of events, and the light atmosphere was alleviating my nausea. Hugh sat me down on the highly polished, black bench in the kitchen and opened the fridge. It was packed with all sorts of food, lots of fruit and vegetables, juices, red meats, baking, snacks, beer, preserves, dishes of cooked food, dairy products, cheeses and cold meats. 
“Dude.” Hugh said. The boys burst into the kitchen area, raiding the cupboards with shouts of “Yes!” and “Oh man, I haven’t had these in so long…” Emerging with Oreo’s, chips, and other snack foods. Hugh passed out beer and offered me a bottle of organic juice, with a look of sympathy on his face.
“Oh right. No booze.” I said, with the feeling of someone who’d just lost a family pet.
“That’s harsh, homeslice.” Tyler said through a mouthful of Oreo’s. I threw the cap of my juice bottle at him and it hit him in the face. By now Hugh had started cooking bacon and eggs, and I picked up an apple from the fruit bowl beside me and started eating it. I hopped down off the bench and hugged Hugh from behind. 
“You wanna go lie down in the, pillow thing over there?” He asked,
“Mm, yeah.” I went and joined Noah and tyler, planting myself between them in the pit and pulling a blanket over me. I was wearing a big t-shirt, and wooly socks and nothing else. Feeling cosy and luxurious, I snuggled down as Tyler grabbed a DVD from the self by the TV and inspected it. Outside it had started raining suddenly, and heavily. We debated over which movie to watch, and decided on a horror film. By the time we’d chosen, Stephen had joined us, before informing us what the other three rooms were by the entrance. One room held a toilet and sink, another had a big shower and an in floor bath. The third room was a collection of bedrooms, four in total. Hugh brought over bacon and eggs for everyone, and we all settled down to start the movie. I was squished comfortably between Tyler and Noah, and Hugh was behind me, his legs around my sides, and I was leaning against him. After eating till I was full, I fell asleep. I don’t know how long I had been snoozing before the alarms went off, but suddenly red lights were flashing all around us, sirens were shouting in my ears. The boys were yelling, and then all the power was cut out. We were left in the gloomy light coming from the windows, somewhere in the distance thunder rolled. I don’t know if it was the horror film that had made me paranoid, or if I had right to be afraid. But I had the feeling that something had gone wrong inside Terra Delta. 

Stay tuned for chapter eight!