Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

84

"Everyone on guard," I breathed, and then suddenly we were in an airplane hangar-sized room.

The ceiling was at least thirty feet high, and the only windows were narrow horizontal slits maybe a foot or two below the ceiling. The stone walls were hung with tremendous TV screens, several on each wall. The rest of the room was filled with gray metal bunks, each covered with a kicky olive drab army blanket suitable for bouncing quarters off.

You had to give it to them: These guys sure knew how to party!

The mutants filed off into the rows of metal bunks, and we found ourselves alone at the edge of the room.

Instinctively we formed a circle, our backs to one another, and cased the joint.

"This is so nice," said Total. "I want my room at home to look just like this. If we ever get a home."

"Shh," I said mildly. "Everyone keep an eye out, mark your emergency exits, and let's see what's going on."

All around us, everyone had moved with purpose to what I assumed were assigned chores: The products of the finest scientific minds in the world were busily sweeping, dusting metal beds, polishing their boots.

Nudge and I looked at each other at the same time, and Angel read our minds. In the next moment we had each found boots in our sizes beneath various beds. Ari copied us, managing to find some extra-large ones. In seconds we had laced them onto our feet and hidden our filthy, shredded sneakers.

"Oh, yeah," said Total. "Now we blend."

I made a face at him and then turned my attention to the TV screens. There were three screens on each wall, and if they'd been showing, say, a soccer game, I would have been in pig heaven.

However, they were broadcasting the earnest face of a fair-haired woman who was speaking in consecutive languages. We tapped our feet through German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese, with our room's occupants scarily shouting agreement and praise every so often.

Nudge frowned. "Who does she remind me of? I feel like I've seen her before."

I thought, then shrugged. "No idea."

Finally the whitecoat got to English. "The time of the Re-Evolution is here!" she said forcefully. Various voices in the room cheered.

"We have begun implementing the By-Half Plan! Even as you watch this, the weak, the unnecessary, the ones who drain our resources, are being eliminated!"