The Program

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Believe it or not, we're the good guys." She spoke. "The name you are to refer to me as is Bridget. Now, let's get started."

I sat there, coughing a little. "How are you the good guys? Don't you realize what you did was awful?"

"You make me laugh, dear." Bridget chuckled. "We aren't the people that did all those horrible things to you, we're the people trying to stop those horrible people. Tell them, Natalie."

"It's true," Natalie said. "That doesn't mean they're going about it in the right way or that they should be trusted."

Bridget grumbled, "That's enough, Ms. Daniels."

"Fine," I spoke up. My head was held high, me trying to still look strong during this time. "Whatever. So, you are the good guys. Well, guess what. You're also the person who's threatening my friends. I don't take that lightly."

She went back to the vacant bed, retrieving a few papers. "I understand, Alexandria."

"It's Lexi," I frowned, biting my lip. If I remained stubborn, maybe it would stall this conversation long enough to figure out a plan.

"Fine then. Lexi." She came back, holding the papers out in front of me as she sat down in her chair again and crossed her legs. "Here."

I reached for the papers, the words written on them looking like something only Natalie would understand, not me. "What is this?"

"That, my dear, is the formula and codes used to make the test." 

"Wait, hold on a minute," I heard my brother say. He got up from his seat, carrying that same seat with him and positioning it in a place where we could see each other. "What in the heck is the test?"

Me and John immediately exchanged glances. I hadn't wanted my family to know about an of this, not now. Not ever. Yet, it looks like I have no control over that now. 

Before I could say a word, Bridget instructed my parents and John's to also move their chairs, all of us now in a circle and able to see everyone. I gulped, not liking the eyes on me. I noticed too that John looked uncomfortable.

"Now, since we can now speak face to face with everyone," Bridget began. "Who would like to share first? Natalie? Lexi? How about you, John? Or better yet, your parents."

"We have done nothing wrong," Martha began, John facing his mom when she opened her mouth. "Nothing to cause you to hurt my son."

Bridget faced her. "I'm not hurting your son. John will be perfectly fine as long as he cooperates-"

"I have two sons," She hissed. "You aren't to lay a finger on Jack. He is also my son, not that poor excuse for a man that thinks he deserves the title of dad."

"I see. Well, no harm will come to him as long as John, again, cooperates."

"That doesn't exactly answer my son's question," My mother voiced. "I would like to hear that answer too."

Bridget turned to me, gesturing with her head toward my parents and brother. "I can tell them or you can, it's your choice."

My family was staring at me as I nodded slowly and looked around nervously, itching my arm a bit and then finally speaking, "Mom, remember how at the dinner with Jack's dad I said I few things to his dad that may have been confusing to you?"

"Yes," She answered.

"It's because I was angry at him. When me and John, and even Jack were in the first coma," I paused, waiting for the moment when John's parents or even Natalie would stop me. They didn't. "It's gonna sound crazy, but we weren't exactly...in a coma. I mean, we were but-"

"Wait, what?"" My father boomed, rising from his seast. "What do you mean you weren't in a coma? Of course you were, Lexi. What are you talking ab-"

"Don't interrupt her again." Bridget said. "Let her finish."

My dad sat back down, my trembling voice even more shown as I continued. "The night I fell asleep and went into a coma, I woke up in a place called the test." I looked down at the papers in my hands. "It was made up of computer codes. A simulated dream made on a computer and there was a group of teens attached to the same dream that we were in. A hundred and fifty of us."

My mom held a hand up to her mouth, covering her dropped jaw. My father just stared, and Marcus had wide eyes.

"It gets worse but i'm gonna stop talking now." I told them.

Bridget spoke up. "Maybe John would like to continue for you, Lexi." We both knew it wasn't a suggestion.

John began. "We couldn't remember anything about our lives, not who we were besides for our first name, not our families, nothing. This guy named Reid, A.K.A. Jack's stupid real dad, brought us there and said we would be undergoing a test to save humanity." He leaned back. "Back then no one knew he was Jack's dad. It came as a surprise to all of us. He almost killed us which was fun, sense the sarcasm. He did it with angry bears and weird monsters, wasps the size of our hands. It was weird." John paused, then said, "Okay, i'm done."

"I believe there's a tiny bit more to this story." Bridget said. "Natalie, care to finish?"

"Lexi can disrupt." She said, not missing a beat. "She was a threat to the test because she has the ability to harm it. She can minipulate the codes holding it together and in a sense 'break' it and delete things brought into it. Reid probably would have let it go, but his boss wants her dead. We don't know who the boss is."

Bridget smiled. "Thank you for that, it was greatly appreciated. But there's one final thing you're all avoiding."

I inwardly sweared at her. "What is that?"

"Why you, my dear, went back in the test and John ended up there too of course."

"We had to shut it down again, no big deal. I do what I have to." I snarled.

"That you do, and you are to be commended for such acts."

John growned in his seat. "Are we done now?"

"Almost. There's one more thing we need to do first." Bridget answered.

I continued holding the papers in my hands, pondering over my next quesion, "When we're done, I want to see Annie, make sure she's okay. Can I-" I stopped, turning to John. "I mean, can we?"

"Of course."

"And Jack," I added quickly before she could say no. "I want to see Jack too."

"Fine," Bridget smiled her creepy one again. "That can be arranged, Lexi."

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Okay, no more triple updates. But i'm gonna try to update everyday for the next few days. We'll see how that turns out... And now this story officially has more pages than 'The Test'. Looks like this one's going to be longer. But this story will only have thirty chapters(unless I hit a rough point and have to make it longer) which means five more after this one and then i'm actually thinking about doing three epilogues.

Please vote and comment if you like it :)