8

"Yes Dark, just go and run on the treadmill while looking around, or play around with an exercise ball." Jaimie whipped at me and then pushed me out from behind the building into the public. I relaxed a bit remembering that Gar and Jaimie were there with me but I was still on edge. I walked in the doors, and went up to the front deskman.


"Hello, and how can I help you?" The fat man at the desk asked.


"One day pass to the gym." I replied.


"Okay miss...?" He asked.


"Veronica Wa- Spartnik." I didn't want to use my real last name in fear of being hassled. He typed in a few keys, stood up and went over to a machine. He took a piece of paper out of it. He walked up, and handed it to me.


"Okay, enjoy the complimentary water and give me this paper when your done." He smiled, and I walked away, watching the others for a moment before leaving to the stairs, all of the men and boys I passed stopping to look at my well structured body. Once I reached the top I immediately looked around, seeing a weight centre near a room labeled spare weights, a few treadmills near a supply closet, and a some rolled up yoga mats near a window looking down on the pool.


As I walked over to the treadmills where a middle aged balding man walked weakly while lifting a weight, and an old lady jogged at a slow pace. I went to the one on the end next to the man and set the speed so that I had to be sprinting to keep up with the belt. I hopped on and everyone began to stare, watching me on the two metre machine as I got down for air acceleration.


I turned it off a few minutes later, not having broke too big of a sweat going to the door that I had analyzed continuously while running. Inspecting the door and trying the handle I opened it seeing exactly what the label said it was, a supply room. I saw a few brooms, a mop, dust pan, liquid clean up box and spritz bottle of bleach. I went over to the weight centre next, discreetly going  strait for the bench press.


Once I added about sixty pounds to each side I was happy with what I chose for weight. I got onto the bench press, and looking at who was in front of me I saw a some muscley guys, a few sitting on a bench doing curls, one beside me on another bench press, and one little skinny kid looking at me like I was crazy. I grabbed the bars evenly and did one before there were a few of the men looking at me funny. I did two repetitions of ten before there were guys chanting me on and continuously adding more weight on.


I was getting sucked up in the attention before I realized that there was only one hour left on the clock for when the building consuming bomb was meant to go off. Shit. I set the bar down and pushed between the men, a few of them wandering off to find something else to do. I went to the door, and exited, leaving this space behind. I walked down the stairs and found myself pondering my childhood in the hall way to where I might find Jaimie.


It was a long ride to star city, about for hours of people getting on and off, on and off. When the train finally came to a halt at Star City, I was deep in meditation to block out the noise of a baby crying, all the way there. I realized his was my stop and jumped out the door, actually partially exited to meet someone who's life is significant to this world.


I was wondering the halls for a bit now before I saw Jaimie's familiar grey sweater, bouncing along the hallway.


"Jaimie!" I called out to the teenager who was about eleven feet ahead of me. He turned, looking worriedly towards me.


"Dark, there's only forty minutes left, none of the other groups have called in saying anything, I haven't found anything, Gar hasn't, please tell me you've got something?" He pleaded. I shook my head in a sad no, and then BB came running up to us, soaking.


"I found it!" He yell whispered. Jaimie and I both looked at the soaking wet boy in front of us and ushered him on to lead the way.


By the time we got there we only had half an hour left, and I was getting impatient. He led us through a door, that led to stairs, and following them we came to a dark room, which contained a chair sized hunk of metal, with a small timer engraved in the side and a control panel underneath.

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