Winter We're Here Now

"Winter please sit down."

"I'm trying to search for access to a latch," She whispers while frantically searching the walls with her hands. "If I could only see."

"A latch?, that's ridiculous," Mr. Wilson retorts. He seems annoyed that Winter is trying to escape. She always does that. She hardly sleeps.

"Lockets usually have two latches," Winter expounds. "On the opposite side is the protrusion that when pushed in two opposing directions opens it"

"We all know that the Overseers have thought of every possible escape plan. Besides, if you open this lockett, Winter, we all die."

"How do you know?," she shouts in a whisper so as not to disturb the other members of the group. "For all they could have lied to us - wanting to keep us down here - to experiment on us.

"Who’s that making noise?" That's Miss Parker. She's the self-proclaimed leader. Before the so-called nuclear blast she was a school principal. She's stronger than any of the men here, except for Puppet. Puppet is a sheep dressed in wolf's clothing. Most of the time he just stays quiet; he sounds smarter that way.

"Do you want to alert the Overseers?," Miss Parker seethingly rebukes Winter, making sure to stay under a certain level of volume. They know when they’re speaking too loudly because they can hear their voices make a slight echo off the metallic walls.

"I apologize, Misses Parker, I am just looking for a way out. Would you mind helping me look for a latch because opposite to the..."

Miss Parker interrupted Winter. "Shhh! I hear the Overseers''

This is common. Whenever they hear the Overseers they all remain silent. Not even a whisper is uttered until Misses Parker gives the go ahead.

"Ok we are clear. Now Winter you go back to your section next to Mr. Wilson. I will not fall on a sword for a 14 year old who doesn't know what she is talking about. Escape to what? Escape to where? Enough of this." Miss Parker shakes when she's angry, but now she seems like she's scared that Winter will find an escape and get everyone killed.

Winter begrudgingly listens and quietly returns to her section next to Mr. Wilson. She sits down on her makeshift bed consisting of her change of clothes and backpack. That's what she was carrying when the alarms rang in the city two years ago on that July morning. When I first saw her, she looked like she couldn't weigh more than 75 lbs soaking wet.

She stays in her spot contemplating escape like she always does. She's never one to think to herself inside of her head.

"Fall." "Fall on the sword." "Fall, yes, fall." "That's it, Mr. Wilson. We must fall."

"What in the blankety blank are you talking about?," he replied.

"We get our oxygen from a pipe that goes straight up. Our waste also goes straight up, and we can hear the pump coming from above. That means that the locket must open downwards. It cannot open upwards because a pipe is not designed to be bent."

"Winter we've tried to look for an escape hatch, remember? We were all helping. Besides, even if there was a latch you wouldn't be able to access it from inside. You'd have to be outside."

Winter falls asleep. She wakes up sometime later with Puppet shaking her and stuttering. "Ma Ma Misses Parker -ker says -s you need to g- g- g- go see -e her now."

"Ok, I will. Thank you." Puppet always smells bad because he sweats so much. During their first day there I witnessed them discussing their sleeping arrangements. She was adamant about being as far away from Puppet as possible. She chose the spot next to Mr. Wilson probably because he seems the most docile and least likely to try anything on her.

Winter moves herself to the other side of the room. "Yes Miss Parker."

"Winter I have a plan. I've already told everyone else about it."

I couldn't hear anything else because they kept so quiet that the microphones could barely pick anything up. I was starting to get worried even though the Overseers designed this room to be inescapable from the inside. I felt comfortable enough, however, not alerting Julio, the second shift observer. Julio would sometimes throw little pebbles down the chute just to mess with the subjects. I felt that was cruel but I didn't say anything about it.

…

It was 9pm and I was just starting to go to bed in my apartment in Henderson, NV when I heard a knock on the door. It was a soldier with a note in his hand.

"Mamn, I have orders to transport you to Base Eleven immediately."

I know not to ask questions. Our experiment is G-14 classified. The soldier wouldn't know anyway, nor would the helicopter pilot.

"Just let me grab a few things and I'll be right there."

The soldier stands by my door dutifully until I grab water and a cookie. I take a bag with me that is designated to be brought only in emergencies. It’s big enough for me to sleep in. It contains my lab clothes and hazmat equipment in case I need them. The soldier offers to carry my bag, which he says looks heavy, but I refuse. I struggle a bit, but I carry it myself. I arrive later on base in a military transport helicopter. I am taken to Base Eleven in a Humvee by the same soldier who escorted me to my flight. As soon as the door opened I see Julio leaning over the controls with the commander next to him standing straight up with his arms crossed.

"Julio what's going on?," I inquire.

He looks confused. "The oxygen supply has been cut off from inside the room. Their oxygen level was at 100% three hours ago, 90% 2 hours ago when we sent for you, and now it's 65%."

Julio looks like he needs oxygen himself. His nervous tone aggravates the commander. The commander is a Lt. General and oversees, what I believe to be, about two dozen other rooms with subjects in them just like this one. After the nuclear blast report on the television the military collected as many people who arrived at makeshift bomb shelters set up by us. As soon as the subjects were collected they were given sleeping gas and transported to our facility about an hour outside of Las Vegas. In the two years we've had these subjects no one has ever escaped.

The commander turns sharply towards me and jabs "Fix this now, I'll be back at 2330." That means I had a little over 45 minutes to fix this.

The cameras shows all of the subjects in their usual places. But they have cut off their own supply of oxygen. Why would they do that, I think to myself? I told Julio to drive a metal rod down the pipe to break the blockage. It doesn’t work. They had jammed something tightly into the hole and there was no chance oxygen was getting in.

"Jessica, I hate to ask this too bluntly, but couldn't we just let them die," Julio timidly asks.

He isn't a very bright guy. I have no idea how he ever got this job. I knew he served two tours in Afghanistan and won a Purple Heart for bravery, but the guy was no genius to say the least.

"No Julio, if they die then both of us are not only out of a job, but they could throw us in prison."

"It's not our fault. They're doing it to themselves," he rebutts.

"Julio, they are our responsibility. Now let's get to work. We have to open it up and fix the blockage ourselves."

"Jessica, I'm not sure that's a great idea. They'll rush us and then we'll be forced to shoot them."

"I've never killed anyone, and besides I'm a terrible shot. I'm not going to start killing people today. Besides, we will blind them. They haven't seen light for two years. We'll open the hatch. If anyone tried to run out you push them back, gently, and I'll quickly unblock the pipe then we'll be good to go."

"That sounds like a plan, but if anyone gets past me they're getting shot."

"That won't be necessary." I knowJulio isn't smart but I also know he isn’t lying. He will shoot them without even thinking about it.

"Okay open the latch Julio.

"Latch opened."

"Julio, open the room."

The room opens from top and bottom, like a clam shell. Immediately upon the first ray of light entering the room the subjects start yelling and rushing for the exit. All I can hear is yelling, screaming, and gunshots. There are so many gunshots. I look over my right shoulder and Puppet was laying on the ground covering his eyes with one hand and a gunshot wound with another. My life is flashing before my eyes and I need to get out of there. I don’t want to go to prison.

Julio yells for me to grab the extra gun we were issued.

"Jessica, grab the extra gun in the drawer under the control table. Hurry! Hand it to me now."

I’m running over to the control table and grabbing the gun underneath the table. It’s so heavy.

"Good Jessica, now come give it to me."

I quickly move across the room jumping over Mr. Wilson, who was fatally shot. Julio looked as if he was enjoying himself. The thought of prison goes through my head, and I panic. I aim the gun toward Julio and shoot him twice. He falls to the ground in agony. One of the shots must have penetrated his heart.

I gather my thoughts for a second. Everything is happening so quickly. Just 90 seconds ago everyone was alive. Now everyone is dead. That's when I hear a slight whimper from inside the room. It’s Winter! She didn’t get shot.

"Winter! Listen, you must trust me. I have known you for two years since you've been here. If the soldiers come in here and see you here we are both in big trouble." The observation room was sound proof, so there was a chance that nobody heard the shots. I quickly grab the big bag I brought with me, dump out all of the equipment onto the floor and tell Winter to get in.

"This is our only chance of survival. I will tell you all about what happens when we get out of here if we do get out of here. I need you to trust me, sweetie."

Winter just experienced the shock of losing everybody she's known for two years. She doesn’t verbally respond but she seems to comprehend what I was saying. She enters the bag and I enclose her inside of it. I quickly walk out of the observation building. The soldier that had transported me here is standing at a post across from the building. I place the bag down next to me and tell him I am done here and that I will be going back now. I remark that I would gladly accept help with the bag., if offered. He obliges.

As I unzip the bag, I remember what the response from the commander was when I asked why the rooms were shaped like a heart. He replied that the operation was called Heart Shaped Locket because they were experimenting how the loss of humanity would affect our subjects. It was done out of an act of love, he said. Either way, Winter and I needed to get out of Las Vegas fast, I thought. The military would be looking for me, and if this experiment was an act of love I hate to see what their act of hate is.

"Winter, we're here now. You can come out."