The alien was right. Mr. Sacury's lab was basically what we needed to find the secret lab where the antidote was hidden. The question was, why bring us here? Was it simply to rub our noses in that the Yunitides had gotten to the only thing that could save everyone first? But all they had to do was show us the antidote in their possession–or whatever was left of what they'd most likely destroyed. They didn't need to keep us here.

   My mind flickered to the conversation we'd had with this Yunie before we were shocked by the revelation of where we were.

  Wait, the Yunie mentioned how he was helping us by putting us here and giving him...

"...what we both want!" I found myself saying out loud. My eyes grew wide as everything he said suddenly made sense now. "Of course!"

"Beth?" Dorian stared at me with a bewildered look similar to that of the others.

"They only know about the antidote," I said, "but they don't have it. The lab is the only thing they have access to, which is clearly, well..." I gestured to the bare room. "...nothing."

"That's why we were brought here. They've been waiting for us all along to get into Zavlon." Camila shook her head as the truth began to unfold before her eyes. "They think we know where the antidote is."

"I'll admit, Sacury did a really good job in keeping it hidden." Alien Mr. Speck's voice turned sour. "But he should have thought about doing the job himself instead of leaving it in the hands of some teenagers I barely lifted a finger to bring here. Now that you're all up to speed, here's what's going to happen; no one is leaving this room until you've found what we're looking for. Before you decide to come up with some stupid predictable plan to escape, I'll have you know that all your weapons were confiscated before you were brought here."

   For the first time since we'd been here, everyone instantly reached for the various pouches scattered on our body armour. Sure enough, my hand found every single one empty.

"And," The alien proceeded, each word sounding more taunting than the last. "even if you somehow find your way out, there are more than fifty Yunitides outside these walls, thirsty for blood."

"We don't even know where the door is!" I wanted to scream.

"So you might as well start searching now."

"There's nothing here!" Rav snapped, running a frustrated hand over his head.

"That's what Mr. Sacury wanted us to think when we tore this place apart after his departure," the Yunie scoffed. "But I refuse to believe he sent out those secret messages for nothing. Seeing as this is a life or death situation, I suggest you get to search before it becomes the latter."

"Did you just threaten to kill us?" Landon's jaw dropped.

"Nothing or one is going to stop–."

"Your sick idea of an alien invasion?" Dorian's harsh query cut off the alien's response. "It's species like you that will contribute to this world's already brewing hatred for aliens!"

"Humanity will show me nothing but gratitude by the time I'm through with every single one of them!" It snapped back at Dorian with equal rage. "This twisted, corrupt world has gone on long enough!"

"A few bad eggs?" Landon shook his head. "That's your reason for all this?

"The reason for all of this is far greater than any of you could comprehend." Mr. Speck's reply held a sneer of contempt.

"What could possibly be your excuse for enslaving so many minds?" I asked.

   The room stayed silent for a while before my question was finally answered. At least that's I think that's what this alien was doing...?

"Attila the Hun, Bloody Mary, Emperor Hirohito, Genghis Khan, Caligula, Nero, Jeffery Dahmer, Jim Jones, Saddam Hussein, Leopold II of Belgium, Osama Bin Laden, Mao Zedong, Dr. H. H. Holmes, Hitler, Elizabeth Bathory, Fidel Castro, Idi Amin. What do all these people have in common?"

"Uh... they're all dead?" Camila's pinched face mirrored everyone's confusions to this bizarre question.

"That's one similarity, but no." It replied. "They were all responsible for the tainting of humanity one way or another."

"But like Cami said, they're all dead. They've been dead for many, many years." Rav said. "They are simply people only existing through history books now.The world has come very far since then."

"No, it hasn't!" It bellowed, ending with a frustrated sigh. "Don't you understand what I'm trying to say? These people are an indication that at every point in time in the world, they are terrible people who make the world a dangerous, depressing place! And we may not have colonisation or holocausts or massacres today, but we still have serial killings, dictatorships, terrorism, poverty, modern day genocides, starvation, climate change, threats of nuclear wars and cyber crimes, just to mention a few. We have become these people in history we read about and are basically continuing the destruction that they either initiated or succeeded. Look at the world around you! This world is a fucked up place filled with toxic people who would completely tear their fellow man's life apart for some mistake he made years ago that he himself has to be reminded about with the click of a button and some comments. And what about the selfish pricks who put profits over the planet and refuse to pay heed to countless warnings that the earth is at its tipping point? Or the idiots who pretend to be open-minded, but will barely even notice it when they're being discriminatory to traces of diversity in race, colour and species?

"Humans have no one else but themselves to blame. There have been multiple opportunities to change, to start caring, but the wrong choice keeps being made every time. But no more. With the right vision–"

"Your vision?" Cami scoffed.

"With the right vision, everything is going to change. The world is going to finally be as it should be. Under my vision, people will do what's right, the earth will be saved, and the concept of a utopian world would no longer seem impossible."

"The whole idea of people finally thinking straight sounds great," Rav remarked, "but if you can't even go through the right means to make that happen, how can anyone trust you to ensure this perfect world you speak of?"

"One of the most important things human beings have is the freedom to choose." Dorian spoke up, "That is what has led to incredible creations like democracy,–"

"An illusion." the alien cut in with a huff.

   Dorian did not stop though, "–the fight against hundreds of years of slavery and oppression, protests, ideas, inventions and innovations that positively affect all these terrible things you've spoken about. But most importantly, the choices of every human has shown us that the skeletons of the past do not have to be determiners of and hindrances to an incredible future. Yes, not everyone makes the right decisions, but that's what makes choices what they are. And the beauty of it all is that just because you make a single bad choice doesn't mean the rest of your life is ruined forever. There are many future choices that could overturn your mistakes of the past. What this tells me is that with the freedom of choice comes the hope of humanity becoming all that its been created to be."

"You know what your problem is? You actually believe," that last word was said by the Yunie with so much contempt. "that'll actually happen. The optimism in you all sickens me. Especially since I was exactly that way when I was your age. But then I grew up and every bit of reality made me understand how embarrassing it was to have even a shred of hope for humanity. It also made me realise how crucial one's teenage life is. The most important stage of a person's brain development is during their teenage years, especially at the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in decision making and cognitive control and other higher cognitive functions. When you're a teenager, that part of the brain is still developing, making it very easy to be manipulated into believing so many myths about life which could stick to and influence important aspects of how your mind works for as long as you live. Think of what a mind-control tech could do to a brain like that. I didn't choose teenagers for no reason."

   His mouthful of words took a while to make sense, and when it finally did...

"What's all this talk about teenagers? We aren't the only ones you're controlling." My eyes narrowed. "You haven't really done much to disguise our principal's voice, alien. We don't need eyes to see how you're using him right now."

   There was a long pause. Then a deceptively simple response that exploded my brain into a million pieces and scorched those pieces to ash was given.

"Who said anyone's using me?"

A/N: 🤯

Be honest, who saw this coming all along?

HAPPY NEW MONTH EVERYONE!!! I hope this is the first many other surprises you get in this new month! Hopefully more pleasant though lol!

So excited for you guys to read the following chapters! Thanks for reading! Please don't forget to vote and comment!