Past Lives New Lives

by Dark Wish

Journey for the Answer

Kevin and his friends all drove to the military base. The military base was deserted and military vehicles were left unguarded.

"Do you think Robert will be okay alone?" Kevin was seen clearly worried about Robert's safety.

"We don't know anybody else who we can trust but he is a twelve year old kid. I bet he been alone many times before. I told him to stay under the bed with his doors lock and microwave the food if he is hungry," Daniel reassured the team.

"Why the point of having a military base when we do not have enough people who been in the army?" Kevin commented as he slide his finger on a tank, "The robots must have been keeping it clean."

"Maybe we are protected by an army of robot. I hope they don't turn terminator on us," Will laughed as he climbed on a jet plane, "Wow. I have never gotten to this before."

"Get back down here," Daniel yelled, "This is no time for jokes. I have a bad time being dragged here and I don't want to think of killer robots."

"Kill joy," Will slide down and did a back flip, "Still got the moves."

"Stop messing around and find some kind of sign or something."

They all stood there while looking in every direction until one of them yelled out that he found something unusual in the middle of the airway. They all approach it and find a newspaper box with maps in them. Patrick pulled it open and took out the maps. As all the maps were taken out, the newspaper box disappeared like dust.

"Creepy but we got our objectives," Patrick handed out the maps with their names on it, "Why put our names on the maps?"

They noticed they were all given different location across the military base. "Shit. We are splitting up! This is like one of those bad horror movies. Even the back of the map said that we could not stay together."

"Okay let me see the map so we know where you heading to," Daniel collected the maps, "Kevin, the IT room. Dexter, the basement. Xing, the armory. Me at the operation room. Patrick, the security camera room. John, the delivery room. Mick, the psychology room. Nick, the kitchen. Zac, the training area in the forest. Po, the sea shore. Will, the special convert operation room. We are really far apart from each other."

"What should we do?" asked Mick, "Do you think we will be okay?"

"Not sure but we have to complete the mission. If you are in trouble, just scream for help. That is the best we can do."

Everybody walked off in different direction to find the drug.
___________________________________________________________

Patrick's Security Camera Room

"Okay. Where are you hiding those syringes?" Patrick looked under the panels and found nothing, "Nothing but dust and crap."

I wonder if the cameras are still operating. He pressed the big red button. All the screens showed up of different rooms of the military base. "Still functional. I wonder if I can see them."

He saw all his friends in their located room. "They look alright. I guess we are still looking for the syringes."

He took his eyes away from the screens for a second as the door closed behind him. "Must be the wind," as he looked back, he found all his friends were in a predicament. "What the crap just happen?!"

He saw Kevin was tied up in cable wires, Dexter trapped in the basement punching the door to let him out, Xing was held at gun point by levitating guns, Daniel was zip-tied to the commander's chair, John was being drowned by unending flowing of letters, Mick was duct taped to the sofa, Nick was trapped in the walk-in freezers, Zac was trapped in a hole, Po was buried neck deep in sand and Will was held down by a robot.

"I need to help them," he tried to open the door but it was locked, "How the hell? How could it happen if you can unlock it from the inside?" The unlock button switch was jammed and bashing the steel door down is out of the question.

He stared back at the screens and found that one by one, the screens were turning blue. "Stop it! I need to make sure my friends are safe." He pressed random buttons and switches to stop making it worse. "If there is a god, please save my friends."

Words appearing on the screen. It read LET'S PLAY A GAME over and over again. "I like games but this is bullshit. If you're watching me, come out and face me like a man!" he stood in a fighting position with both his arms held in front of his face.

IF YOU WANT TO ESCAPE, TAKE THE DRUG

A green syringe rolled in front of him from the shadow. "Sorry. I never took drugs before. I only let doctors do syringes for me." The syringe floated in front of him and toward his arm. "You really have thought of everything, haven't you?" The syringe stabbed into his arm and the green fluid drained into his body. "Well, this is goodnight for me."
________________________________________________________

"Tell me what you know! I know you see stuff you shouldn't be seeing." Patrick heard voices in his dream but everything was just darkness.

"I am not telling you anything," a second voice spatted.

"I give you one more chance before I get really angry. You saw how I tortured your comrades. Tell me what are you doing here!"

"Fucking your mother," a punch sound echoed through the room, "Nice hit but your mother hit harder."

"That's it! Bring in the knife!" after a while, he once again give the other voice a warning, "I give one more chance before I cut your wings. Tell me what did you steal."

"Your sister's virginity," another punch was heard, "Ha. Doesn't matter. I'm doing it for the Queen. I rather die than speak to some filth like you."

"That's what I am going to do." Nothing but the sound of loud scream of pain and agony filled the room.

WAKE UP!
_______________________________________________________

"Wake up, buddy," Daniel shaking Patrick's body, "You having a nightmare."

Patrick woke up and saw everybody were standing around him, "Man feel like I got hit in the head with a bat. How long was I out?"

"Yeah. We all got drugged. We been knocked out for about 15 hours. Come on. Lets go to the hospital and have our health check and talk about our dreams." Daniel drugged Patrick to the cars.

After Patrick cleared his head for a second, he asked a serious question, "How did you escape?"

"We don't know," replied Kevin, "We just woke up and we found ourselves lying on the ground. We gathered at the entrance and notice you weren't there. We ran to you and found you lying on the ground, drooling."

"Really? Than what's the point of scaring us. Why don't they just give us the drugs?"

"I think it is related to our dreams," Dexter responded, "After hearing the reports that most of the dreams are correlated with the scenario they were trapped in. I dreamed that I was a prisoner like I was in the basement. I bet it is the same as you."

"Yeah, doesn't matter. Let just go to the hospital and check if Robert is okay."

As they reached to the car, Kevin pulled out his phone and found it was off, "That's strange why was it off. What about you guys?"

All of his friends pulled out their phones and found that they were off as well. "I hope Robert didn't call us." As it was finish loading to his menu, he found a voice message stored by Robert.

"We all got a message from Robert," Daniel was in shock, "Everybody give me your phones!" Daniel played the messages according to the time.

First message: "I heard knocking. I hear robot voices. Please hurry."
Second message: "I called the police! Robot are now bashing the door. Telling me to come. Hurry!"
Third message: "Help! Now they are breaking down the door! Help!"
Fourth message: "I want my mummy! Help! Please come! Please!"
Fifth message: "They got in. Please rescue me. Anybody. I am hiding under the bed."
Sixth message: "I hear breaking stuff. They said they are looking for me."
Seventh message: "They rattling my door. Please hurry. They will find me!"
Eighth message: "I don't want to die. Please. *Sob* Please hurry."
Ninth message: "Why won't you pick up? There's no police to save me. Help."
Tenth message: "No no no. They are breaking in. Please save me! Help!"
Eleventh message: *Breaking door sound* "No! Argh!" Sound of Robert's screaming filled the air and robots saying that they completed the objectives. Sound of rattling and scratching faded away until silence. It was a long ten seconds of silence before the phone hang up. The last message was recorded about three hours ago.

"Forget the Hospital! We need to save Robert. He's just a kid!" Daniel jumped into the driver's seat, "Get fucking in! We need to get him!"

"Do you think we can save him? We are fighting an advanced human civilization," Patrick buckled his seat belt as Daniel revved up the engine, "I don't think it is possible to rescue him."

"We have to try," Daniel clutched the wheel and stared at the road, "He just a kid for fucking sake. I can't forgive myself if they hurt him in some way. Out of all of us, he's one who least deserve it."
____________________________________________________________

When they reached Daniel's home, where Robert was hiding, there was police tapes and police officers around there. Daniel ran up to them and demanded answers. "Where is Robert?!"

"Calm down, sir," a female officer held her position, "Is this your home?"

"Yes, my name is Daniel Low, the resident of this house. I requested to enter the house, immediately," he pointed at his home that was broken into.

"No can do sir," the female officer wrote down the conversation on her notepad, "We have the robots cleaning the mess before you can enter."

"Those bloody robots kidnapped the kid. Let me at them," the officer pushed him back, "Let me in. I have to find him."

"Please. Let the police do the work," she flipped over a page, "Can you say who was living in your residence while you were away on your mission?"

"A freakin' child!" Daniel bellowed out the answer, "Robert Nguyen. 12 year old male."

"A twelve year old kid?" the officer pulled out her tablet and scrolled through the list of residence detail, "Shit. How did I miss that? This is a lot worse than I thought."

"That's why I need to save him. Please let me in for god's sake."

"Sorry. I wish I could help but it is protocol for no citizen may enter a crime scene. I recommend that you stay at your friend's house until we clear up the crime scene."

"You're no help. Let me in so I can bash those robot's brain," he was held back by a taser pointing toward him, "Hey. No need for that."

"Sorry but I have to follow orders. If you keep disobeying, I would have to tase you. So back off so we can do the job."

Daniel tried to argue back but was pulled back by all his friends, "Sorry, he had a bad day. Thank you for not tasing him."

They release him when he was a good distance away from the crime scene. Daniel shrugged his shoulders and stared menacingly at his friends.

"You should have back me up. We could have save him!"

"Shut the fuck up and listen to them!" Kevin yelled back, "He got kidnapped by robots and we don't know how to stop them. If we have kept disobeying the officers, we would be all in jail."

"Sorry, is this a bad time?" a woman with a notepad and voice recorder approached them, "Are you the resident of the house?"

"No, it's alright and yeah that is my home," Daniel pointed at his house, "How can I help you?"

"Hi, I am Jessica Ivanov. I am a news reporter. I got information that would benefit you."

"Hey," Patrick noticed that name, "Aren't you the girl from the cabin?"

"So you must be Patrick Death. Funny that is how we meet up irl," she chuckled.

"Thank god for real help," Daniel praised her, "Let's just go to Kevin's house and we can talk about the kidnapping."
_____________________________________________________

Kevin's House

They watch on the tablet which was recorded by a bystander. The robots were carrying Robert in a sack as they walked toward the closest underground bunker's entrance. People tried to shoot it down but the bullets bounced off like rubber.

"I should have been there," Daniel covered his face with his hand, "I bet the guy plan this so he was unprotected. I wonder if it was the right for leaving him alone or find a random stranger to protect him."

"It's not your fault," Jessica tried to calm the situation, "The robots just walked right in and pulled him out like it was not a problem. There is nothing we can do even when we are there."

"So what will happen to him?" Dexter replayed the video and seeing Robert being dragged away, "Is he the only one?"

"Nope there are 10 others," she showed 10 different people being dragged from the home like Robert, "All at the same day and at the same time."

"Is there any connection between them?" Patrick was confuse why the robots only take 11 humans, "Is there any common traits between them?"

"Nope after researching their backgrounds, they have no connection between them. Race, religion, gender, culture, background, believes and even blood type, I have checked them all and find no connection. Check the internet if you can find something. They have all our details."

"Can't we save them? Maybe the SWAT team."

"No can do. The SWAT team manages to reach to level -3 but the entrance to level -4 is blocked. That is where they were taken. Level -4 and -5 are inaccessible at the moment. They tried using explosives and power tools but they could not make a dent."

"So, what do we do now?"

"I am sorry but the best we can do is for you to go to the hospital and report about your dreams. After that, try to leave your lives as normal. The police and the ministries are doing their best."

"How could we when they kidnapped a child? He would be emotionally scarred."

"I don't know but this is what it is," she packed her stuff to leave, "Just don't do anything rash and stupid. We just lost 11 people and breaking the rules would not help our cause. Leave it to the police."
________________________________________________________

At Princess Twilight's Castle

Twilight signed as she was reading the newspaper. It shown eleven people, including a child, were taken against their wills to a place where they couldn't be rescue. The last official report of kidnapping (or foalnapping for pony terms) in Equestria was more than 200 years ago. Equestria haven't had experience these kind of problem for a long time.

"I wish I could help them but I am useless when the forcefield is still up," Twilight signed as she sipped her coffee, "At least they are cooperative creatures. They are working together to save or at least control the situation despite their differences."

Her sandwiches grew legs and danced on her plate, "Discord. I am not in the mood for games."

"You are never in the mood for games," Discord was swinging on her chandelier, "You so caught up on human's civilization that you forgot to visit me. So I visit you instead."

"Not right now," Twilight blocked the view of Discord with her newspaper, "They are in serious trouble. However they only picked eleven citizens but why?"

Discord pulled the newspaper from Twilight and closely examined the kidnapped people with binoculars. "Hey give it back!"

"Not right now," Discord kept staring at it, "It is serious to check those humans."

"You being serious. Ha! That's a joke," Twilight joked.

"First time for everything," Discord kept staring at the pictures for a long time which was really creepy.

After waiting at least a minute, Twilight coughed to gain his attention. "Found anything."

Discord dropped the newspaper and stared distantly away from Twilight, "Twilight. Have you ever heard the saying that the eyes are the window to your soul?"

"Discord?" Twilight was clearly confused and scared at Discord suddenly quoting a famous phrase, "What are you saying?"

"I seen those eyes before. Throughout my entire life, I seen those eyes before even when I've never met a human."

"Discord, what are you saying?" Twilight waited for a response.

"I am trying to say that I have seen those eyes before. The way they look. They were important to me before but I couldn't remember. Why is that?"

"Do they remind you of anypony important?" Discord didn't say anything back, "Please, I need to know." Discord disappeared before she could say anything else.

Discord. What are you hiding?