Inside, Pt. 2

by Kyra Anderson

  Clark and I did not speak. I ran through the codes in my head, remembering the thirteen cells I had to break humans out of. Clark had twelve cells, but he also agreed he would break Julie and Miranda out while keeping the money launderer and armed robber inside the cell. I had finally won the argument, stating that if we didn’t get them out Dean would do something drastic and risk the rebellion.

  We looked at the clock on Clark’s phone every three minutes, watching the time crawl by.

  8:00…8:04…8:07…8:13…

  When it was 8:15, Clark opened up the application on his phone to gain remote access to the security. I had no idea what he was doing, but watched in fascination as he navigated his way around and got ready to deactivate the mainframe.

  At 8:22, we crept forward and I gently pushed the latch, pulling the shelf to the side and listening for the guards. Clark peeked around me, listening as well.

  “I fucking hate being left behind on a Sweeps night…” a voice droned around the corner. Seeing no one in the expanse of the hallway in front of us, Clark ducked around me and stepped into the hall, glancing at his phone. I followed, cautiously sliding the shelf back into place. We remained where we were, knowing we were out of sight of the cameras.

  8:23…

  “Quit your bitching,” a female voice snapped. “At least you get to go to the North-East Region next week. I get stuck here to do Sweeps locally.”

  I peered at my watch, watching the second hand tick closer to the eight, and then on to the nine.

  “I haven’t even been on a Sweep yet,” a man called, further away from the other voices, standing at a different post.

  “You haven’t completed your training, yet, you dumbass,” an older male voice called from an even further position.

  Clark’s thumb hovered over the button, both of us watching the second hand on my watch approach the eleven…

  Three seconds before 8:24, Clark pressed the button on the touch screen.

  Just as the second hand hit the twelve, the lights clicked off and the constant buzzing of machines that ran the heaters and air circulation units ceased, making a wheezing sound before silencing.

  “What the fuck?” one of the voices hissed.

  Dim emergency lights that gave off an orange glow came on. My brain was frozen, no longer thinking only of the next sequence of events.

  “Shit, is this another fucking drill?”

  “Alright, group at post one!” the oldest guard called, his footsteps echoing as Clark and I stepped forward, pressing ourselves to the wall as we reached the intersection of the halls.

  “This is bullshit,” one of the men groaned.

  “Oh, whatever, it’s good for you, trainee,” the woman teased.

  “Weapon check,” the older man ordered.

  They clicked their weapons, checking them out of routine, when a message sounded over the one of their speakers.

  “All units, be sure you gather and check your weapons.”

  “Unit Four, cleared,” the man in the car elevators said.

  “Unit Six, cleared.”

  Two other units called in over the speaker as I waited, my breath held.

  “Unit One command,” a man said. “Can you confirm our orders?”

  “Not at this time.”

  “Holy fuck!” a voice echoed through the static of the communicator.

  “Who was that?!”

  “Come in. What’s wrong?!”

  “Talk to me! What do you see?!”

  “Fuck! Three Tens are out! I fucking repeat, three Tens are loose!”

  “Fuck, it’s not a drill!”

  The four in the car elevators area turned and ran toward the door to the holding cells, yelling at one another as they burst through the door.

  “All units to Ward Ten! We have a fourteen-four! Eight Group! Get your fucking asses to Ward Ten!”

  The door remained open as Clark peeked around the corner, pocketing his phone before turning to me and nodding.

  As thrilled as we both were that the plan was working so far, we were not smiling, anxious and worried. I prayed that the timing would work.

  We slipped around the corner and stood at the door into the holding cells. The cavernous room was far larger than I expected. The cells had large glass doors that acted as the fourth wall to their prisoners. The people who could see us from their cells stared in shock as we darted forward when the security guards were halfway down the halls, shouting orders to one another, echoing as they screamed.

  “Fucking Goliath!”

  “Seventeen men down!”

  “Contain the fucking ward!”

  “He’s already out!!”

  Clark and I hid next to the cells on the main hallway on opposite sides, waiting for the guards to clear the entire area.

  The people in the cell in front of me started banging on the glass. I tried to ignore them, particularly since I was leaving that group behind. I had to remind myself that a lot of them were legitimately dangerous criminals.

  The soundproof glass kept their voices from reaching me, but I felt their desperate pleas all the same.

  “Lily!” Clark hissed. I saw that the final group of guards reach the far end of the holding cells. Circling, I darted between the cells, the faces of the frightened and confused prisoners becoming a blur as I reached the next long hallway, turning, counting to the third hallway on my left and darting down it, glancing at the top of the doors to find the cell number I wanted.

  BD-2.

  I looked briefly inside and nodded to the obviously-much-calmer prisoners as I typed in the override number.

  “2977641,” I murmured as I punched in the code. As I was typing, I heard the holding cell area go very quiet. The security guards were out.

  Half of the glass slid sideways and the cell opened.

  “Come on!” I hissed, leading them to the main hallway. I heard them follow and I glanced up and down the main corridor, seeing Clark lead his first group out of their cell. I ran down the main hall, eight prisoners following me.

  On the third hallway on my left, I turned and motioned for them to keep running. Mark had made everyone aware of the plan, so everyone knew where to go, but I still felt like I needed to direct them.

  I went to my next cell: AG-3.

  Releasing the next four people, I pointed where they needed to go, quietly ushering them out of the cell before following them, continuing to ignore the other prisoners pounding on the glass, pleading to be set free. I went to the next cell, AG-4, and opened their door, adrenaline pushing me faster.

  After hissing at them to hurry, I turned the other direction and ran up the hallway to another long hallway, not wanting to be in the way of the humans running toward the Dome. I did not allow my thoughts to wander to how Mark and Griffin were doing breaking experiments out, or how the Eight Group was faring against Goliath and the other escaped Ward Tens. I focused entirely on finding my next cells and freeing the humans.

  I ran faster than I ever had in my life. My breath was short and I was hot from adrenaline, but I was focused—almost frightfully focused—watching the numbers and hall fly by, able to ignore the horrified and pleading faces in the cells I passed.

  AL-6…AN-4…

  I saw out of the corner of my eye the other humans quietly running down the middle hallway as Clark let out the prisoners from his assigned cells.

  I darted across the hallway, avoiding another group of people Clark had freed.

  BO-5…

  Back across the hall, down one hallway…

  AP-7…

  I led the group out, running down the main hall and sliding into another hallway, letting them continue on.

  AS-8…

  Leading them as well, I focused on numbers and hallways. No one had a face yet. I was running, racing against the clock, playing the incredibly dangerous and exhilarating game against time. The orange glow of the emergency lights only excited me further, the dark making me feel like I was moving that much fas
ter, and making me feel that much more powerful.

  Down another hall.

  BU-1…

  Into the main hall, down one corner and across…

  AV-8…

  Straight across the main hall, to the very end, stopping in front of the last cell on the left…

  BW-8…

  I led them, pointing to the open door as I circled into the next hall and opened cell BW-4. Leading the prisoners down the same corridor, I hissed at them to run, not sure how long we had left before the backup security system would kick on. I did not waste time looking at my watch to see how many minutes had passed, worried about getting to my last cell.

  I turned down the next hallway, stopping at cell BX-2 and leading them to the main passageway, running fast, passing Clark who was freeing another cell.

  I ran straight through the open door and into the hall to the room connecting the Dome and the experiment wards. I wanted to stop and listen for possible signs of trouble, but I saw a member of the Eight Group standing in the room beyond the open door, so I knew everything was going according to plan, since the door was still open.

  I only had to run a short distance before I caught sight of the far cells of Ward Nine, their glass doors facing the hallway. I stopped in front of the first one, quickly motioning for the humans to keep running around me.

  I glanced at the teenager standing at the door of his cell before looking up above his door, my heart pounding as I checked the cell number.

  Barely remembering in time that I had to use a different code, I quickly punched in the correct number and the door slid open.

  I did not wait for the experiment to move, running toward the room that connected all the wards just as another experiment darted out of the door the member of the Eight Group was standing next to.

  I almost halted completely when I entered the smaller orange-lit room.

  There were bodies everywhere, littering the ground with blood and broken bones. They startled me, and apparently startled the people running into the room behind me from the gasps I heard.

  The experiment ran in front of me, straight across the room, ignoring the bodies and running to the open door to the Dome.

  I forced myself to ignore the bodies as I ran to the door marked “Ward 10 – East” and found the number pad, typing in the next code. The door slid neatly to the side.

  Remembering how the ward was laid out in the blue prints, I turned left at the first corner and ran to the dead end, ignoring the confused and inquisitive looks of the observing experiments. I turned right, breathing hard and shaking with excitement. I watched the cells on my left, reading the numbers and stopping at the second cell I reached, seeing Tori waiting for me.

  I typed in her number, barely glancing at the cell next to hers and noticing it was empty.

  As I hit the last number of the code, my hair stood on end and I shivered, feeling as though I was being watched.

  The door slid open and Tori darted out as I stepped back, throwing a quick look around, noting that all the cells further down the hall were empty, except for the figure I saw in the very last cell in the corner.

  I was frozen, staring at the familiar face, my eyes wide as his bright hazel eyes stared back at me, his face pale and his hair matted. His chest had scabs from where the spikes had cut into his flesh the last time he was chained and his skin was marred with dark bruises.

  Eyna stared at me, his eyes powerful, dangerous, and predatory—a caged animal ready to pounce at the nearest opportunity.

  I could not tear my eyes away, captivated by the feeling of his eyes staring me down, telling me how powerful he had become. It was clear that he was more powerful than Dana, and while that should have terrified me, it gave me hope that, one day soon, Dana’s favorite experiment would kill him.

  “Lily!” a female voice snapped as hands grabbed my shoulders. I whirled around, shocked out of my trance. “We have to go!”

  I threw one last glance at Eyna, who was still watching me, but Tori’s strong hands guided me at a run out of the ward, leaving the Machine of Neutralization prototype staring after us.

  Tori kept hold of my arm as we ran out of Ward Ten and into the carnage of the room leading to the Dome. She pulled me insistently, even though I wanted to stop and wait for Mark, who was running with one more experiment out of the hallway from Ward Nine. The Eight Group experiment that had been standing guard at the distorted door was gone.

  Tori pulled me toward the Dome and I ran with her, stepping into the cold air of the dark Dome, trying to catch my breath. I could not see much, but I could feel how large the space was and I was particularly surprised to feel grass under my feet and smell the scent of pine.

  Tori continued to pull me, ignoring my fascination and confusion, to where a member of the Eight Group stood, holding a rope next to another experiment who was extremely tall and broad with a hard face barely visible in the dim emergency lights.

  “Griffin,” Tori breathed in relief.

  “Go, quick,” he urged. She finally released my arm and grabbed the rope, lowering herself into the stream and climbing the rope to the wall, disappearing underwater. Another experiment leapt across the stream and took another rope held by another experiment, who followed him.

  “Everyone?” Griffin asked, turning to Mark. Mark nodded, breathing hard as he quickly took off his jacket to switch his clothes to the bloodied ones.

  “Thank you, Mark,” I whispered.

  He nodded to me once and then mouthed the word: “Go.”

  I grabbed the rope as Griffin helped me lower myself into the water. It was frigid and I lost my breath for a few moments before I forced my muscles to work and pull myself against the current. Griffin got into the water behind me, startling me, but I pushed forward until I reached the wall, where I took a deep breath and ducked underwater, pulling myself along the rope quickly. The rope moved as well, pulling me under the wall and up to resurface with a gasp, coughing as hands hooked under my arms and hauled me out of the water, Griffin’s hands pushing me. I choked and wiped the water from my eyes, shivering uncontrollably as Griffin pulled himself out of the water and onto the walkway in the dimly illuminated pipe.

  “Okay, you two,” Griffin nodded, turning to the two men manning the ropes, who I guessed were Hiroki and Minsoo. I watched the one across the stream use the rope to climb to the top of the sloped wall and pull the knot of the rope, releasing it from the bolt before jumping across the stream.

  Griffin took the rope from him and handed it to me as I rolled it up, forcing my frozen fingers to function.

  Griffin took the other rope and the two Eight Group members jumped in the stream, following the rope into the Dome.

  I watched the two of them disappear.

  When the second rope was curled in Griffin’s hands, he helped push me over the sloped wall before climbing up and releasing the other knot, dropping to join me on the other side of the barrier.

  I started running toward the pipe, motioning at Matt, who was at the junction to direct people where to go.

  “Go, go, that’s everyone!” I snapped quietly.

  “We have two minutes before the lights go back on,” Griffin hissed behind me.

  I stopped.

  “That really only took five minutes?”

  “It’s amazing what adrenaline can do, huh?” he chuckled. He guided me into the pipe and I crouched down, walking through, trying to control my shivering. I understood now why Rin had made us spend hours searching every nook and cranny of Fort Daniels for blankets and clothes, knowing we would be freezing by the time we reached the fort.

  There was a small crowd of people around the base of the ladder, all waiting for their chance. I could feel the winter air snaking down the tunnel and chilling all of us who were already frozen from the water.

  I watched as each person followed another up the shaft to the water towers, trying not to let myself think that we had successfully managed the breakout until we were all safe in Fort
Daniels. But as the last two people began making their way up the ladder before us, even the person who had been ushering people up the ladder, I began to see we had, indeed, succeeded.

  Griffin helped me up the ladder since my frozen limbs refused to work efficiently. When I reached the top, Jake, another Commish Kid, grabbed my hands and hauled me out of the hole.

  “Go, get to the fort,” Griffin told us, quickly climbing out, tossing the rope to me, which I failed to catch and had to stoop to pick up. Jake ran out of the gate, following the path in the snow. The clouds were covering the moon, keeping the snow from being illuminated, but I still saw the final people running to the hedges and slipping into the shadows.

  Griffin strained as he moved the grate back into place. Once it was maneuvered to cover the ladder, he quickly kicked the metal doors shut and fixed the padlock to make it look like it was still locked, despite being broken.

  “Come on,” he whispered, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the fenced off area, closing the gate behind us and wrapping the chain, locking it once more before running with me through the snow, being sure to keep me from falling as my body locked up from cold.

  We reached the hedges and Griffin motioned the final Commish Kids guiding people into the tunnel, telling them everyone was out. Griffin was the last one in, shutting the doors and locking out the winter.

  He caught up to me as I walked clumsily, my teeth chattering and my body quaking.

  Griffin’s arm snaked around my shoulders and pulled me close.

  “It will be alright,” he assured. “We’ll get you warmed up.” He rubbed my arm and walked with me, keeping me from collapsing into a shaking mess on the concrete ground. “Lily…you were amazing. We couldn’t have done this without you.”

  I smiled, but the warmth I felt at the statement and the sense of achievement did not fight off the chill as we walked through the quiet, cold tunnel toward the fort.

  Griffin ascended the small ladder before me into the bunk room and then reached down, pulling me up easily. The first noise that reached my ears was a dull roar as people laughed and cheered together in the main bunker.