Chapter 5

A Chapter by Amy Skye

Cress receives help from an unlikely source, giving her more questions then answers.

Cress

There’s just something about being strapped down on a metal hospital bed, forced to stare up at the blinding florescent lights, that really make you think about your life choices. The distance chattering of medical staff talking about how I was “a miracle”, and the eerie discussions of how to test me properly. I pulled my arm up shaking the iron shackles that held me down, which were now accompanied by two straps tightly secured around my waist and legs. It didn’t take long for my body to reject the sedative they injected me with, they must think I am still knocked out. I took a breath in trying to listen to what they were saying.

“..her fingers.” I heard coming from the hall.

“That is unethical.” Someone replied. “We should wait until the blood work comes back, and go from there.”

“We need to start testing as soon as possible, the blood work isn’t going to tell us anything new.” Another person chimed in. “I say we begin small and work our way up, see what she can handle and how long it takes her to recover.”

“Okay,” I recognized the voice to be Dr. Johansen, “But let her settle down first, give her time to except what she is now. We can begin tests in the morning.” The voices seemed to disappear down the hall, leaving me alone in silence. I looked around the empty hospital room, a different room then the one before. There were no windows, which led me to believe that we were down on a lower level. I pulled at the restrains on my legs but my strength was not the same as before. Almost as though I was stronger when my emotions got the best of me. My head fell back on the bed, and I let out a sigh. The door to my room opened suddenly and I quickly shut my eyes. I felt a presence come up next to me.

“Cress,” whispered a young voice that I recognized, “hey.” She shook me, and my eyes opened to see the young nurse, Anna standing next to me, her hand bandaged from where I sent glass shards into it. “Listen to me closely,” she began, “You have twenty minutes to get up and get dressed,” She started undoing the straps on my legs, “at exactly nine forty five, you need to be standing in the hall way,” my legs were now free, as she began unlocking my wrists restraints, “There will be a guard walking east down the corridor, follow him,” She continued, unlocking my final restraint. I leaped up, startling her. With my hands on her shoulders, I pushed her into the wall next to the door. She winced.

“What are you talking about?” I questioned; I loosened my grip but still held her to the wall.

“We are going to help you get out of here.” She looked me in the eyes, “We just want to protect you.”

“Why?” I said, “You work for them.” She looked over at the clock, it was nearing nine thirty.

“Look, I don’t have time to explain, but my family were the ones that put you in the Vat, and they did something,” she carried on, “something I was told I have to protect. So, I am getting you out of here and keeping you safe, because if they find out, it will all be for nothing. I can explain more later but for now, I need you go get dressed.” I stepped back, releasing my grip on her. She threw the backpack she was holding onto the floor. “Are you going to let me help you or not?” She said. For a moment I stood there and contemplated my options. I needed more information but my time was running out, I took a glance at the clock that now read nine thirty-five, and with a sigh I reached down and grabbed the bag. “I will be right behind you but you need to be outside in ten.” She said leaving me alone in the room. I began pulling clothes out of the bag, inside was a pair of patched up pants, a tank top and jacket as well as a pair of combat boots. I ripped off my gown and got dressed, it was the first time I felt somewhat myself since I was brought back. At nine forty-five, I opened the door and stepped into the hall, quickly closing the door behind me. There was no one around, the hall felt grey and ominous. Suddenly a man in a guard’s uniform walked out from around a corner and began walking in my direction, he did not make eye contact with me. Instead he continued walking until he passed me, I followed after. We walked until we reached an elevator.

“Head down.” The guard said as we got inside, I kept my head down, looking to the floor after I got a glimpse of our level number, we were on level 3. He pushed the button for level 1, and the elevator began ascending. As the doors opened the guard grabbed my arm and led me out, we picked up our pace. We rounded a corner and saw 2 guards leaning on a wall, chatting. They looked over to us and nodded, the guard nodded back, and we rounded another corner.

“Hey,” we heard from behind us, one of the guards was standing down at end of the hall, “Everything okay?” he said to the guard who still held tightly onto my arm.

“All good,” He responded, “Just got to get her to her quarters before shift change.” We began walking again down one hall, then another, then another. He began to pick up his pace again.

“Hey chill out,” I said as he pulled on my arm even harder.

“We are being followed.” He whispered, “Come on.” He said yanking me into a server room. He took out his radio and clicked it two times, he received two clicks back. He sighed.

“What’s going on?” I asked in a slight whisper.

“We are going to run behind schedule,” he said, listening at the door for footsteps, “We need to be at the depot hangar in five minutes or you’re not getting out of here.”

I looked around the room. Like hell I’m not, I thought to myself. I yanked open one of the control boxes that held the wiring for the level, my eyes scanning for something familiar. I began pulling out wires, flipping switches and pushing buttons. The lights went out just as footsteps appeared just outside the door. The door flew open and the guard that was helping me quickly jabbed the man in the throat, his head flew back as the guard grabbed in and placed him into a chokehold, I ran for the door closing it behind him, the only light came from the green connection lights on the servers. As soon as the man was unconscious, the guard got up and said,

“We need to go now, they will send someone to fix this,” He took my arm and we ran out down the hall, we got just outside of the depot hanger entrance when the lights came back on and the alarms began to blare. “Quickly.” He said as he pushed us passed the doors. A large industrial hangar stood before me, huge trucks and helicopters lined the sides. Lines of men and women loading and unloading into trucks, removing medical supplies, and food. The guard pulled me to keep up, as we saw five officers huddled together by one of the service doors, that led outside. The speakers in the hangar blared,

“We have a code four on level one, all officers report.” The guards by the door stiffened and began walking towards the entrance to the facility. We walked behind a large military style truck,

“This isn’t right, Anna should be here by now,” he said looking around, “you’ve got to get in.” he gestured to the back of the vehicle. I jumped in and crouched down behind several large barrels and wood pallets. The guard went around and got into the front driver seat. There was a small window that led to the cab of the truck, I peered on looking for any sign of her. The officer cursed and started the vehicle. “We don’t have time.” He said pulling the truck into the hangar runway. We sped to the exit doors and into the pitch-black night that awaited beyond.

prev chapter