The Awakened - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When I first got involved in the project study it was just for the extra cash. I had lost my job, and really needed the money to feed my two boys and myself. My husband had been killed 2 months before I lost my job, and things were tight. We were about to be homeless, and working at the fast food restaurant was not the long term answer. So, when Dr. Demetrius (Deana) approached me about the study she was conducting and offered to pay me for my participation, it was like a God send. That seems funny now, but you’ll see. Yes, I was just a normal person up until that point, with the normal day to day frustrations of life. Look at me now; ha…..life is funny sometimes.

The first few months were nerve racking. The testing, the noise, the chamber, but the bills were getting paid and I could see daylight at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. But after all the initial stuff, it became quite fascinating. I was learning things in the sessions in the chamber. I was changing. And no, I don’t really mean like the “lawnmower man” movie. I wasn’t becoming evil bent on world domination; I was learning how to help people. Dealing with my two teenagers and their daily dramas wasn’t so hard, I could sense what they needed to calm their frazzled nerves, to sooth their fears. But it wasn’t just my kids, it was my crazy neighbor Vonda and her dual personality, I could feel her fears, and I tried to help her overcome them…..maybe if she was around now I could. I could sense the tension at the grocery store and the impatient lady with the screaming 2 year old…..the overweight man and his dilemma with what was healthy and low cal, yet didn’t taste like cardboard, the teenage bagger and his issues with sexuality….and the “I could care less” check out girl. I could hear them all, feel their fears and anxieties, I was changing.

When I would mention these things to Deana, she would say it was good, and here would come the questions. She told me it was all normal, and not to fear it, just ride it out. Easy for her to say, she didn’t hear people’s thoughts, fears, and so on. But I could feel she was right, and that it would be ok….and I was a little scared myself.

About 6 months into the project, Deana asked me if I would consider letting my sons participate in the project. At first I was opposed, but as we were talking I could connect with her and I could tap into what she wasn’t telling me. So, I agreed. Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision, and now I know I did. I would have grieved terribly without them.
The boys took to the project faster than I did. Their age allowed them to except the changes quicker and easier. Considering they were dealing with puberty their bodies adjusted faster and more easily.

You see, when I started the project I was 70lbs overweight, now I was a healthy, fit 130. No, this was not a diet. By adjusting the body’s moods and attitudes, removing the stress and enhancing understanding I shed those extra pounds of stress induced weight. And the daily cardio test didn’t hurt either. The boys being active in sports and all adjusted much faster, no weight loss but muscle gain.

Of course, the boys didn’t much care for the pods at first either….but they adjusted to that too. And to my surprise were even receptive to the new senses.

Then the day came we had been preparing for, although we were not supposed to know that. The big war had started. We were rushed to the underground bunkers to be placed in the chambers until it was safe to come out. When the helicopter landed in our backyard, we were waiting. It was hard to leaving, knowing we would never be back, they we couldn’t call our friends, or our other family members to say goodbye, but we had taken an oath of secrecy. That was the hardest part of all of this. Leaving behind everything, but we did have each other.
At the bunker we met with the other participants in the project. They were men and women from all over the country. And we spoke over the satellite with the participants in other countries. None of us had ever met, but we had communicated psychically with each other inside the chambers. I was impressed with the president in person; he was really down to earth, realistic. This was his project after all; he was the real mastermind in all this. He knew someday we would have to take this step in order to preserve the human race. And even though the plane with his wife and daughter was lost in transport to this site, he was holding up strongly. Just like a president should, like a true leader. God rest his soul, I wish he was still with us now.
I need to clarify here; the big war was not with any other nation. It was natural disasters, earthquakes, typhoons, tsunami, floods, tornados, that type of war. Our earth was changing, and we had to change with it. We lost some of the participants in all the chaos, but we knew that it could happen.

In the bunker we were at there were 8,496 people. This was a huge underground facility. Out of that many only 3,000 were participants. The rest were doctors, technical staff, soldiers, and additional personnel and their families. There were 4 other facilities in the United States, 12 in the other countries, all with approximately the same amount of people.

I’ll never really know why I was chosen; I never thought to find out until Deana was gone. She never made it to the bunker; she was also on the plane with the president’s family. Whatever the reason, I believe it was because the almighty had a plan for me.

Three days after we arrived, after our briefing, we were scheduled to enter the chambers. To begin our suspended animation until such time as it was safe to resume normal life. That seems funny, because nothing was ever normal after that day. Everyone entered their appointed chamber and prepared to wait it out. While we were in suspended animation we were still continuing to learn, our brains were still communicating with each other and gaining knowledge. We knew what was happening outside in the world around us. We could feel the changes, hear the changes, and sense the changes.

Those left outside in the bunker to take care of us, to overlook the maintenance and keep the machines and computers all in tune did their job, generation after generation. We lost over half of the participants the first 1000 years, including the president. The natural disasters were still going on; earthquakes took out four bunkers in Europe. Somewhere in Antarctica there are two bunkers frozen under the ice…we lost contact sometime before we reached the 2000 year mark, we couldn’t even communicate with them telepathically now.

Then one day, I was Awakened. I awoke in a nice warm and comfy bed. And the confusion going thru my head was horrible….so many voices…..so much confusion and fear…..I cleared my mind. Thought peaceful happy thoughts, soothing waves of emotion swept over them….and they quieted. They all turned to look at me as I stood in the open doorway of the bunker down to the valley below. No one spoke, they all just stared. I reached out my mind to the others, the Awakened, I found three. My sons who rushed from below to greet me and the professor who strolled up beside me were the only other Awakened alive. At first my mind kept searching for them amongst the others, but they were not here. And telepathically the professor explained to me that some of them did not survive the awakening. It was the same over the rest of the world too. Only a handful of us survived. We were the lucky ones.

Out of the original 8,496 people we started with in our bunker we had 3,964 descendants and 4 Awakened, 6 still in chambers. Now we were in the time of Change. The earth was not the same; the people were not exactly the same. Although all of the descendants were healthy, intelligent, they were different than us, and we had to teach them how to live in this new world. This is that story.

The Awakened - Chapter 1

Chapter 1 - Into the Pods

I closed the door and looked around for a second and then looked at the boys standing around waiting for some kind of explanation. “Boys, get your clothes and shoes on, we have to go. Its time. Kissyfur, grab the dogs lead and get him ready.”
“Mom, don’t call me that, please.” Chris replied as he picked up the dog and went to his room. “Is Flash really going with us?”
“Yes. Sgt Lewis said it was alright.” I replied.
Robert was leaned up against the wall in the hall and looking a little frustrated as usual. I waved him on and he shrugged then turned around and asked, “Can I take my PSP?”
I was halfway thru the kitchen; I stopped and turned to look at him before speaking. “You won’t need it.”
“Just to play in the van on the way there.” Robert said.
“Ok, but lets get a move on, Sgt Lewis is waiting.” I turned and headed back to the master bedroom to get my clothes and shoes on, all the while wondering if I had made the right decision.

We all sat quietly in the van on the way to the lab. Even the dog was still and quiet. There wasn’t much traffic, which was strange for a Saturday. I didn’t even see any people on the sidewalks as we went threw town. I saw some of the shops open, and two or three people in the diner, but it was like a ghost town.
Just as we reached the lab I turned to look at Sgt Lewis. There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but there was no need, any doubts I may have were too little and too late now.

Inside the lab everyone was busy with one machine or another. I saw the Johnson’s, and the Dimpsy’s. They were already in their gowns and heading to their units. I put my hand on Kissyfur’s shoulder and he shrugged away. Flash sat down at my heels and looked up expectantly. Robert was looking around like he was bored, as usual. Teenagers, I know I was one once myself, but was I that moody?

Professor Lipton was walking towards us.
“Aw, Bev. Glad to see you this morning, I wish it could be under better circumstances, but..” Doctor Lipton said.
“Good morning Tom, we understand. I was hoping it would never come to this, but, well…you know what I mean.” I said.
“Indeed I do.” He replied. “Well, shall we get started? Good, this way, you know the routine.”

And we were off. First we changed into our gowns, then the inspection by Nurse Connie, and then finally to our unit. Even though we had done all this before in drills, and gone threw all the training, I wasn’t ready. This was the scary part. What if we never came out? What if something went wrong? All the what if’s running through my head, was this really the right thing to do?

As we entered the unit the techs’ were finishing up. They looked up and smiled and I could tell they were just as nervous as we were. I wondered if their families had gotten here yet.

I looked over at the boys, Robert was getting into his pod and Kissyfur was talking with Dr. Lipton. I walked over to them and hugged Chris and patted Flash’s head. Robert looked over at me and smiled. “We can talk to each other in the pods Mom; don’t go getting all mushy on me.” Robert said.
I smiled and said, “I know.”
Dr. Lipton said, “its ok Chris, Flash will be fine in his own pod. The Dimpsy girl brought Lady Belle too. So Flash won’t be the only dog on this journey, and we have other pets and animals back in the other pods.”
As I lay down in my own pod I tried to clear my mind of all the confusion I was feeling inside. I settled back and went over in my mind the steps the professor taught us and eased into my trance as the tech’s hooked everything up and closed the lid. It was like drifting off to sleep, the steady beat of my heart, the gases must be helping me to ease into the trance. I could hear the boys, Robert had already set his music to playing, and sometimes I wondered how he could hear the other things with his music going. “Mom, I can hear you too, you’ll get used to funneling all the info too.” His words drifted into my mind. I still wasn’t used to all this, and it had been months since we started the training. Hearing my boys speaking inside my head when we were in the pods was stranger than coming out and remembering all the info the pumped into us. I still didn't understand how they could feed all that info to us, in a criostate.
I started to dream, misty things floating threw my mind, the flood of words with the info had started, and the boys were arguing, but it was also so peaceful, this drifing in awareness.

In the Beginning Prologue to The Awakened

The Awakened

Written by Betty White

Prologue

So, where do I start? Do I start from the beginning, before the time of the Awakened, or do I start in the middle and give you little details about the past? How can I explain to you what I don’t quite understand myself? Well, I suppose that answers my question, so let’s get this started. There is so much you need to understand, and yet you won’t believe what I have to say. You’ll wonder how this could happen, but you will see, yes, you will see.

It’s been so long now; I don’t remember the exact day it all started. But once it started it hit high speed all of a sudden, and then….I was one of the Awakened. My heart still races at what all happened to make this life I now lead possible. Can you imagine your world ending, everything and everyone you knew before is gone, dead, but you are not alone. The young ones surround you when you awaken. Oh, but I’m jumping ahead again.

Alright, let’s start at the beginning. I’ll skip some of it, only because it isn’t important.

It was mid July, hot and sweltering. Although the air conditioner was on I still felt hot and sticky. I knew before I opened my eyes something was wrong. My youngest son was standing beside the bed talking about the dog wanting out and a strange man being at the door.

I dragged myself out of bed and headed towards the front door. My son and the dog were at my heels. My oldest son met me in the kitchen asking what was going on. I only shrugged and walked on to the front door.

Standing outside was Sgt. Lewis of the United Nations World Survival Task Force. He smiled weakly as I opened the door. I could tell by the look in his eyes it wasn’t good news.

“Miss,” he said, “it’s time. Get the boys and let’s go.”
“Can I get a shower first?” I asked.
“No time, they’re expecting you.” He replied as he started towards the van.
“What about the dog? How can we leave him behind?” I asked.
He shrugged and kept on walking, and then he paused and looked at my youngest son. “Bring him along, it couldn’t hurt.” He said.
I smiled and said, “Give us a minute or two to get some shoes and clothes on.”
“Sure.” He replied.

Just like that, it's started.