Lazarus Peak

His hands twitched in excitement and nervousness, he didn't know if it was a cruel prank the world was playing on him and he was just hallucinating. Has he finally lost it?

No. Her breathing was real, this was real.

He couldn't stop the smile forming on his face as he ran both hands through his hair, he let out a laugh of relief. He wasn't alone anymore!

He wanted to shout out in joy but he wasn't sure if the noise would attract danger, he didn't want to but her in danger. He rushed forward and was about to hit on the lid to wake her up but he paused.

He looked down at himself, his face turning beef red in embarrassment. His hands instinctively hid his nether regions, hiding it from only god knows. He hadn't cared about his lack of clothing earlier because of the grief he had been passing through but knowing Eleanor was alive started making him feel conscious about it.

If he woke her up now, it would be too awkward from the both of them. And guessing from how he woke up with nothing on, he was pretty sure she had nothing on as well and that was nothing neither of them wanted to experience.

He thought of a way to solve their problem while looking around the room for anything that could help and that was when his eyes landed on the cupboard side the see through operating room. He carefully looked around the room and walked carefully close to the capsules as he made his way there to hide his crown jewels.

He reached the closest capsule to the cupboards and took a deep breath before sprinting towards them, his face red as he did. The tall cupboards were pure white and in rows of five and rectangle handles. They were the most mundane thing in the entire room.

He inspected its exterior not looking for anything in particular. When he didn't find anything that could endanger his life, he relaxed. He readied himself and held onto the handle, taking a deep breath to get ready for what might happen. He closed his eyes and looked away, pulling it open.

After a while of nothing happening, he slowly turned his head back to the cupboard to see shelves filled with folded white lab coats, surgery scrubs and gowns. The last shelves filled with gloves.

He checked the other cupboards and they looked almost similar, the distinguishing features being that some shelves where lab coats were meant to had white boxes instead.

They were in different sizes and he could already guess what was in them but didn't dwell on it and instead grabbed a large lab coat and draped it over himself, closing up the buttons quickly before grabbing a smaller one he thought would fit Eleanor.

He also opened some boxes and of course found some surgical tools like he had guessed. After grabbing some scalpels and putting them into the pocket pocket of his lab coat, he ran back to her capsule since he needed nothing else from there.

When he approached her again, she still showed no signs of waking up anytime soon. Her face pale and weak, probably because her body had been starved of nutrition for three days just like his.

He wondered how they were even alive.

She looked really peaceful and he didn't have the heart to disturb her rest, especially after what they had been through but he knew that they could both rest better once they were off this death cruise.

She had to be woken up.

His hands connected heavily to the lid of the capsule near her head hoping to wake her up faster, he didn't stop hitting it and calling out her name till it yielded results.

Her eyes fluttered lightly before closing it shut almost immediately due to the harshness of the light above the capsule. He saw she was having trouble opening her eyes and quickly put his head over the window.

He blocked out most of the light so she was able to at least open them up better. She was disoriented and her vision blurry but after a bit, things started clearing up.

The first thing she saw apart from the bright light earlier was Alrick's smiling face, making her somewhat relieved even in this strange situation. The second was the sad look in his eyes that immediately made her feel uneasy.

She looked around the capsule she was in, barely able to move her body properly. She couldn't help herself from feeling panicked, the feeling of the world closing in on her making her heart rate spike.

She was highly claustrophobic.

He could already guess what was happening and shook his hands over her window to calm her down.

"Breathe... calm down... sit up", though some of his words were muffled, she could guess what he was trying to say. How was she supposed to sit up in such an enclosed space? She couldn't even move her head properly.

Sensing her doubt, he sighed and used hand signals while talking to demonstrate what he meant better, "The lid... vanish... trust me... palms up.... push up"

So he truly meant what he was saying? She thought it was crazy but she felt she'd suffocate if she didn't get out. She first tried to move her hands up and after a long struggle she finally did. She pushed palms against the lid like he had said.

Alrick was able to witness the lid disappear this time and it was truly a spectacle. The lid looked like it had pixelized into thin air leaving nothing behind to remember it was there. 

He wondered why it was able to open from the inside if it was a kind of coffin and why he wasn't able to open it from the outside no matter how hard he tried? Was it a Le Karnice kind of coffin? Did it require a key to open it from outside?

He had always been a geek for science and this kind of technology in the twenty first century was really a sight to behold.

Speaking of sights to behold, he quickly turned is already red face away before his embarrassment and the fact he saw something was quickly noticed, tossing her the lab coat he had gotten for her.

"You might uh... you might want to cover up", he stuttered, not daring to look back at her reaction but the scream that followed after told him all he needed to know.

He could literally hear her putting on the lab coat and his body wouldn't stop heating up, 'Stupid Alrick, get a hold of yourself, this isn't the time to be letting your hormones distract your rational side. You're stronger than this'

He began thinking of cold things; the freezer, winter, a cold shower, lemonade. It worked. 

He finally felt himself calm down and and relax but he suddenly heard a thud from behind him, he turned around to see Eleanor sprawled on the capsule breathing heavily.

"I feel like shit", she managed to croak out after much effort. He knew she was experiencing the same backlash he did, but he wondered why it took longer for her than it did for him.

It wasn't as instantaneous wondered what made their cases so different, she even had the strength to put on the lab coat but didn't even turn his head before collapsing.

"Are... you gawking? Why do you... keep staring?", her hoarse words brought him back from his trance and he seemed to have understood she had mistaken him for a staring idiot.

"Sorry, my mind was elsewhere", he replied. Realizing how insensitive he was being, quickly walked up to her to see if she was okay then began explaining to her. Relating his own similar experience, making sure not to stare too much.

After a while, she was able to move her body again like normal, but not with the strength she would have liked to. He noticed her recovery time was shorter than his as well, was because of the difference in physique? But he had a better physique, did that mean the weaker ones would have it easier? That made no sense!

He would have loved to think more about it but it obviously wasn't the right time. When Eleanor was fairly better, she looked at Alrick who was sitting beside her on the capsule. She had so many questions but asked the most important one first.

"Are we dead?", she looked at him eagerly and it was hard to tell if she wanted a positive or negative answer but he decided to be direct.

"No... Not yet at least"

"... So all the stuff i dreamt of?.. It was real?", her voice was shaky and expectant, hoping it wasn't true. Alrick sighed, running his hand through his head. It was something he did when he was stressed about something.

"Yeah... it was", the air between them was silent. Soon, the silence was broken. "Where's Nana?", she asked, he pointed to the capsule behind them, just beside hers. Eleanor jumped down and made a bee line to Nana Mae, the old woman laid lifeless and moving.

"Nana? Nana! Wake up!", she began pounding on the coffin and screaming hysterically. Alrick had to get off her capsule and pull her away from Nana Mae.

"Alrick? Why isn't she awake like us? Why?!", she struggled to pull away from him but he held on tight, not letting her go no matter how hard she screamed or hit him.

"I don't know Ellie, She's dead. They all are", he knew he sounded harsh but he wanted her to understand quickly and not waste her time. She cried and reached out for her grandma before turning around and hugging him tightly, "Nana!", her sobs broke his heart, he reciprocated the hug not minding that they were only wearing lab coats.

The two remained hugging in a room filled with corpses.