I couldn't shake the notion I was about to make a very bad decision.

Upon newly entering Lintern's Gym through the main entrance I noticed all of the fresh-faced and worried teenagers with orange-lit Meters being led deeper into the building, all of whom likely had no idea the hell they were about to experience. Some of them took notice of us, since we stood out thanks to our blue overalls. I didn't know whether to feel like a VIP or a freakshow. Maybe Tiffany, Mikayla, Blain, and I had become a mix of both those things.

The Pied Piper officer in charge of our small group led us to an elevator. He thumbed the button and the elevator door opened. He waited for us all to make our way inside before entering himself. Thankfully the elevator interior was spacious, leaving plenty of room for me and the others. Even so, I couldn't help but feel 'stuck' with the small group I was with. I felt an urge to make small talk, but none of the others were talking nor looked like they were interested in doing so. I remained silent, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention to myself. It also didn't help that I felt socially exhausted. No amount of sleep could fix the need I had to spend at least a day or two on my own with my thoughts. Until that time came I would feel like my bandwidth for socializing, and thinking in general, was steadily decreasing. If unchecked I would eventually be left spiraling with negative thoughts and an overbearing sense of dread. The exhaustion brought about from the treadmill torment had put this issue on the back burner. Now that crisis had passed for the time being my mental state was becoming a fresh concern again.

The elevator door pinged and opened on the top floor of Lintern's Gym. This floor was incredibly busy, not with teenagers, but with Pied Piper officials hurrying about their work. At a glance I could see some officials surveying the progress of the teenagers downstairs on the treadmills, showing readings of heart rates, body temperature, and so on. I felt a kind of disgust at what these officials were doing; they had seen the torment I had gone through, and what hundreds of others were going through.

Somebody has to keep track of everything my more logical, detached inner voice told me. Sure, I thought, But that doesn't excuse them willingly watching people go through hell.

The Pied Piper officer led us along the left side of the large open space, bringing us down a hallway. It became something of an obstacle course to avoid the officials which were busily coming and going. At last the Pied Piper officer opened a glass door and waited for us to enter.

The officer didn't enter the room with us. Instead he closed the door and left. When the glass door closed all the noise from outside became heavily muffled.

Abigail Hoffman was sitting at the end of a long conference table, with four folders set out in front of her. She stood up and smiled, welcoming us all and shaking our hands.

"We don't have much time so I'll get right to it," she said.

She gestured to the folders on the table, "There is a contract for each of you. I suggest you take your time reading the contract closely to avoid any misunderstandings."

"I'm not signing anything until I talk to my Dad," said Blain. He spoke with the kind of stoic confidence I could only dream of.

"Of course," said Abigail.

She held up a smartphone, "If you would like to speak with your family, or management, then now is the time to do so. You'll need to take the call in here since none of you have permission to be anywhere else in this building. So, who would like to go first?"

Blain held his hand out for the smartphone and Abigail placed the phone into his palm.

"Ten minutes," she said, "No more than that. When you're done pass the phone onto the next person. I'll go grab myself a coffee."

Abigail politely excused herself, leaving the room and heading down the hallway; within moments I could no longer spot her among the hustle and bustle going on outside.

Blain dialed a number and wandered off to the corner of the office, taking a seat.

"Yo," he said once whoever it was on the other end picked up, "Yeah, it's me. Yeah, nah, I'm alright. I'm good. Look, listen, there's something I got to ask you about…"

Out of politeness the rest of us stopped listening into the conversation. As one we turned our attention to the window, looking out to down below. My stomach clenched with a nasty pang of dread at what I saw.

Teenagers, exhausted, most limping, were being led by armed Pied Piper officers through the forest below. I looked up a little more to see denser forestation above which prevented a clear view of what was going on up there. But I could easily guess where the teenagers were being led to.

"The Remote Zone's up there," I muttered.

"It's disgusting," said Tiffany, "But what else can they do?"

I shrugged, feeling the look of disgust on my face tighten.

I spotted Mikayla dancing in the window reflection and turned to look at her. She was pretty good at dancing, and seemed to be lost in her own world doing it silently. I got the idea right away that she likely welcomed the attention but also didn't care what I thought about her deciding now as the time to try out some dance moves. She muttered some song lyrics under her breath which to me sounded like it was from some kind of rap video. I was about to force myself to look away when Tiffany started to join Mikayla in the low-volume rapping and on-the-spot dancing. Both girls egged each other on, their enthusiasm infecting the other.

I forced myself to look away. People handle stress differently, I guess.

There came a sudden boom. Ahead the dense forestation shivered from a concussive blast. I tried to spot any sign of a golden light but it must have been too far away. That nasty feeling in my gut gripped twice as hard as before to the point I nearly fell to one knee. I held my stomach, my face tightening from the pain. Someone's son or daughter had just blown up.

The four of us, including Blain who peeled his attention away from the conversation he was having on the phone, felt Lintern's Gym rattle from the residual blast.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

I moved over to a seat and sat down. Tiffany and Mikayla stopped goofing around.

"Burg, you alright?" said Tiffany, pulling up a seat opposite mine.

"Just a stitch," I muttered, "It's just stress."

"Do you want some water?" she said, "Maybe we can get you something?"

I shook my head, "It's fine," I said, "Leave it, please."

Thankfully Tiffany listened. She started chewing the skin around her nails again whilst she waited for her turn to use the phone.

When Blain was finished he handed over the phone to Mikayla. She spoke on the phone with her grandmother for ten minutes; Mikayla spoke loudly on the phone so it was hard to ignore what was being said. In short Mikayla and her grandmother agreed two grand a week and the increased safety of being right where the most up to date research on this whole crisis was being done seemed worth signing up for.

Tiffany took her turn after Mikayla. Her turn however was brief since she tried two different numbers with neither picking up. Frustrated, almost chucking the phone across the room, Tiffany handed me the phone for my turn.

I felt very stupid for not knowing the numbers for any member of my family. Not even the home phone (since we had moved from my childhood home to a small flat, meaning I hadn't memorized that number yet). There was a number I did remember however. My friend's number.

I dialed it in. I was about to call the number before stopping myself. No, I thought, even if he does pick up then I would be betraying his trust. He went on the run to avoid any contact with the government, calling him on Abigail's phone would undermine that effort entirely. For better or worse I had to keep in mind that, as far as I was concerned, moving forward when talking about myself, my friends, and my family; my friend simply didn't exist.

I put the smartphone on the table. Shortly after Abigail returned with a piping hot cup of coffee in hand.

"You guys had a chance to make your calls?" she said.

"I couldn't remember any numbers," I said.

"Oh," said Abigail, "We'll sort that out later. We're short on time so I guess you'll need to come to your own decision, Burgess."

I gave a tired but understanding nod.

"I have a question," said Blain.

"Go for it," said Abigail before taking a sip of her coffee.

"You know who I am," he said.

"I do," said Abigail.

"So you know how famous I am right now," he said, he was telling rather than asking.

"Sure," said Abigail.

"So," said Blain, "I don't think two grand a week is going to cut it."

"Oh I see," said Abigail, "That's just the initial payment. As things develop we may increase the payment to match your level of value to our research. Just think of the current payment as a starter offer. The contracts cover a three-month basis. After that you'll be at liberty to renegotiate."

Blain gave a slow nod, seemingly satisfied with Abigail's answer.

I looked at the folders on the table and saw the one with my name written in sharpie on it. I reached over and grabbed it. Rather than being a dense set of legal papers there were maybe less than ten pages in total.

"These contracts are more of a formality at this stage. Just between us anything you sign right now is more of a gesture of good will. If I can be real with you four for a moment I want you to consider this: let's say you're unhappy with how things go at the research facility. And let's say, hypothetically, you take issue with something we do and decide to take legal action. Do any of you have the funds or connections to take on the government and Pied Piper's legal team?"

"I know some good lawyers," said Blain.

"Great," said Abigail, "What about the rest of you?"

"They'll join me in a class-action, you get me?" said Blain.

Abigail smiled in a way that made me think she was proud of Blain, rather than upset.

"That's great to hear," she said, "Then I guess that little point of mine falls flat."

Blain sat back in his seat looking too cool for school. It made sense given his background. I was looking forward to explaining the little I knew to Tiffany later.

The four of us spent the next ten minutes reading through the contract. Like Abigail said, the contract stated we would be agreeing to three-months of voluntary stay and assistance at Pied Piper's research division's facility. For which we would receive two thousand pounds per week, to be paid on a weekly basis.

"Okay," said Abigail after checking her phone, "The flight is due to leave in the next ten minutes. If you're going to sign now's the time."

I raised my hand. Abigail must have found this funny because she smiled and gestured for me to speak up.

"If we don't stay the full three-month period do we still get paid?" I said.

"It'll be on a weekly basis as far as payment is concerned," said Abigail, "So rest easy with that."

"Okay," I said, "Thank you."

After this the four of us signed the contracts. Once we were done Abigail scooped them up.

"Thank you everyone," she said, "Now hold onto your butts because we are getting outta here. Let's go."

Abigail led the way out of the office. We had to walk briskly in order to keep up. Abigail led us to an exit door. The mayhem all around us sank away, replaced by the narrow confines of a steep set of stairs leading upward. I was the last out of the five of us to make it to the door.

A burst of light followed and the oh-so-cold open air. We were on the roof of Lintern's Gym and before us was a helicopter with its rotor already gearing up to fly.

"Let's go! Let's go!" said Abigail, ducking low and shouting over the sound of the spinning rotor.

We hurried aboard the helicopter and took our seats. I couldn't get my seatbelt on quick enough, my hands, numbed from the cold air in just a few seconds, tried to get the seatbelt buckled as quick as they could. The sound of the helicopter rotors continued to climb to ever more unpleasant heights. We were each given headphones to wear to better handle the noise. Was this really my life right now? Was I really someone who might have superhuman abilities about to be flown via helicopter to a secret government facility? How had my life changed so much in such a short span of time?

Two Pied Piper officers boarded the helicopter along with Abigail and the four of us. They closed the door behind them greatly muffling the sound of the spinning rotors. Less than a minute later the helicopter lifted off the ground. My stomach lurched and a giddy feeling took hold of me. My heart raced. Lintern's Gym rapidly fell away along with the picturesque little village and all its beautiful greenery. The helicopter climbed higher and higher, my ears popped from the change in altitude. I looked at Tiffany who gave me a sheepish look back. She was doing her best to handle the continuing craziness of it all.

Mikayla had her face to the window looking like a child simply in awe of what she was experiencing. Blain, ever the stoic it seemed, moodily glanced out of the window with almost bored indifference. My gaze landed on Abigail. She looked back at me calmly.

"Can everyone hear me?" she said. We could hear her voice in our headphones. We all mumbled affirmatives, except for the Pied Piper officers who simply sat and listened.

"Because we're heading to a top secret facility we'll need the four of you to put on masks in the next few minutes. It won't be too long a journey."

The Pied Piper officers handed out little face masks, which we each took. Blain in particular seemed to take offense at this. I wondered if he would kick up a fuss about it, but he seemed to think better of doing so.

I thought about my mother then, and how much greater the distance was growing between us. For some reason I felt suddenly very guilty for having signed the contract.