Xavier.

　　I opened my eyes and found myself in an open grassland.

　　I breathed in, trying to recover my breath. The smell of freshly cut grass drifted across the meadow with the clippings scattered over the turf. The branches of the giant oak tree swayed to and fro in the wind, shaking the leaves, so they fell like raindrops, their green color fading and replaced by patches of brown.

　　The weather seemed perfect as the sun was shining and no clouds were in sight. The meadow was spacious, with a collection of trees and bushes guarding the perimeter.

　　Before me was a gathering of thick white fogs and I couldn’t see into it or past it no matter how hard I tried. Suddenly I saw someone appear before me and I looked closer to see a lady standing before me. She looked like Lena and the same time looked like…..Valerie. She was smiling at me.

　　She stretched out her hands towards me and I stretched out my hands to receive hers. As I tried to grab her, she was being drawn backward and I kept moving closer towards her.

　　“Grab my hands,” she said and I ran forward to grab her hands but she was drawn backward even more. I tried again and she continued being drawn backward.

　　“Grab my hands?” She screamed and I ran forward, her screams dying out as she got sucked into the fog that became black.

　　*

　　I slowly opened my eyes as I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. I looked up and saw Nathan staring at me, looking worried.

　　“Xavier, are you okay?” He asked and I gave an assuring nod.

　　“I’m fine.”

　　Really, I wasn’t. First, I’m tired and my body aches terribly, but there was something else too. My nightmares about Lena were becoming more frequently.

　　They came even when I briefly close my eyes and I’m confused about what’s causing this. She was dead a long time ago so why do I have to keep being tormented by nightmares about her.

　　“The vehicle has stopped,” Jordan said as I felt the vehicle come to a halt. I signalled all of them to stay quiet as the door to the driver seat opened.

　　They would most definitely find us here while trying to offload, but if we’re lucky, this place doesn’t have one of those power negator and we can fight our way out.

　　We remained there for a while expecting someone to come and open the storage door, but no one came.

　　I moved forward a bit and slowly opened the door, peeping out. There was no body in sight.

　　I opened the doors wider and gently stepped down, signalling the rest of them to remain there while I confirmed it was safe to go out and it wasn’t a trap.

　　I looked at the compound we were in and there was no sign of life around. The gates that led into the compound was widely open and there was a building in the compound.

　　“You can come out,” I said silently and they all climbed down one after the other. I pointed at the gate and was about to go out when I looked at the name written on the building.

　　“Nexus Laboratory 01.”

　　“Wait.” I stopped them and they faced me, all staring inquiringly. I pointed at the building and they looked at it before glancing back at me.

　　“It’s one of their laboratories. I think nobody is around and this is our chance to know what exactly they do here and probably gather evidences,” I said and they didn’t look supportive of it.

　　They were probably right. We get a very easy chance to escape and going there would only jeopardise our safety.

　　But I kept feeling this strange urge to look inside and I wanted to find out what it was.

　　“We’ll be brief as possible and if there are guards there, we’ll leave immediately,” I said and Nathan nodded. Jenna did too and I faced Jordan who stared at me for a while before finally giving a supportive nod.

　　I cautiously ran towards the building with the three of them following behind and I looked at the door that led into the building. I grabbed the door knob and tried twisting it.

　　The door surprisingly opened and I glanced at them before walking into the building. The entire interior was painted white and there were rooms at both sides of the corridor.

　　I didn’t bother to open them as I kept getting the urge to move further.

　　“Xavier, do you know where you’re going?” Nathan asked and I looked back to face him.

　　I sighed and shook my head, “No, but let’s just take a look further so we can find their experimental laboratories,” I said and he nodded. I continued walking and the corridor forked into two paths.

　　I looked at both ways and felt the same urge to go left so I went left and the three of them followed behind. A small distance into the corridor, I saw rooms at both sides. The room had transparent glass walls and they contained someone lying on a bed and held down by chains.

　　There were various chemicals sitting on tables in the room and identical machines and computer screens displaying vitals.

　　There was also a green and a transparent liquid being passed into their bodies through drips.

　　“What in the heavens are they doing to this people?” Jenna asked and touched the glass wall, looking into the room.

　　I continued walking and there were more rooms like that. They looked like they were all under observation.

　　This place was in an isolated area, but that didn’t explain why there wouldn’t be guards here. Where were the doctors supposed to be here too.

　　There was a second building behind this one and the men who drove us here went there so maybe there was an occasion or a meeting.

　　I continued walking through the corridor and suddenly stopped walking. I looked at the room on my left and I gasped as I saw the person lying on the bed and being held down by chains.

　　I gritted my teeth and I suddenly threw my elbow in the glass wall, the entire wall shattering to the ground.

　　“Lena.”