Scarlet's Escape

by Katrina Cope

  Jayden turned his attention back toward William and Dr. Ernest and was horrified to look at the screen and see his surrogate’s face on it.

  “Oh, crap!”

  “What?” Robert stood over his shoulder.

  “They saw me.” Jayden pulled out the electromagnetic radiation device and focused it on the surrogate’s eyesight. To his dismay, it didn’t distort the vision on the screen.

  He saw William start to get Dr. Ernest’s attention to alert him, and that was enough. Jayden spun in the opposite direction and ran as fast as he could, distorting each security screen on the way back and ducking every window attached to a lab, trying not to let anyone else see him. An alarm sounded throughout the underground building. He was nearly at the end of the hallway and only one corridor length away from the chairlift area when he saw a thick metal security door start to come down from the ceiling right in front of the elevator, blocking his way. He wasn’t sure if he was going to make it, but he ran as though his pants were on fire because, in reality, his dark-skinned surrogate butt was about to be burned.

  - Chapter Six -

  Scarlet’s Freaky Games

  Jayden dug his toes in and bolted. He ran faster than he had ever run before. He had never really enjoyed running, nor had he been very fast at it in the past, but he was sure that if there had been a timer on him, he would have beaten the fastest runner in the world. The security door was closing, and he was determined to make it out without being caught. He continued to block the security cameras’ view with his device so that they couldn’t play back any footage of him later to see what he looked like—not that it would make too much difference, as he was only known as a shadow. But in case he needed to blend in as a student in the future, he didn’t want them to have the footage. He wasn’t worried about the people in the labs seeing him, for he was running too fast for their eyes to register his features.

  He was approximately four feet away from the door, and he could see it was nearly closed. He decided to go for a dive under it. Gliding across the floor, he slid under and just made it by turning his feet to the side to fit through.

  “That was close.” He moved to the seat, sat down, found the button, and pressed it. He was so glad to see that the surrogate was lifted up and out of the secret underground. He hoped that the lockable garden didn’t have an extra security lock on it for situations like this. His chair arrived in the garden, and he stood up and made his way toward the door. He grabbed the handle to give it a turn. It wouldn’t budge.

  “Oh, crap!” he said to himself. “What now?” He changed his communications to be able to talk to Eva. “Eva?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’ve been seen and have tried to escape. I made it past one security procedure, but I’m trapped in the garden. Any ideas?”

  “Damn it! What’s the door look like?”

  Jayden focused on the door to give Eva a better view.

  “No pin pad, huh?”

  “No, unfortunately.”

  “Then you’re just going to have to hide and hope they don’t find you,” she said.

  “Are you serious?”

  “You do you realize who you are talking to, don’t you?”

  “Okay, okay! Bad question. But you gotta give a guy a break. I’m under pressure here. Where am I supposed to hide?”

  “You work it out. You’re the camouflage expert.”

  “Gee, thanks for your help.” Jayden laced his voice with sarcasm.

  “You’re welcome,” Eva said with extra pleasantness. “Seriously, though”—she changed her tone to caring—“there is nothing I can do about the lock in such a short time, and we have checked the wall and floors already for any hidden buttons and levers, so your best option is to hide. You’ll be fine. I have faith in your hiding abilities.”

  Jayden searched all the plants and shrubs to see if they would be a good hiding spot. Nothing seemed to be thick enough. He was starting to get worried that his surrogate would be caught, which would mean the possibility of them keeping a good eye on the school for terrorist behavior would be jeopardized. As a last resort, he checked around the waterfall, but he wasn’t hopeful, because little could be done with solid rock. The pond was undoubtedly not deep enough to dive into.

  He touched the side of the waterfall, accidentally knocking it a little harder than he meant to. It gave off a funny sound. He looked closer at the rock and realized that it wasn’t rock at all. It was fake rock. Fake rock is usually hollow. Although he thought they wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave an opening in the back to a hollow fake rock, he still had to check. Peering around the corner, he found a tiny gap, just big enough for a hand to go through. He stuck his hand in and felt around. He found plenty of room to hide. He just needed to be able to fit around the edge into the hollow. The surrogate was not quite thin enough to fit. However, he was able to nudge the gap open a little more and squeeze through.

  When he was inside the dark interior with his dark-skinned surrogate, he felt safe. He grabbed the side of the waterfall and pulled it back into place, if not a little more closed than its original position. He turned up his audio function and waited for the pursuit to be over.

  Not long after he had secured himself a good hiding place, he heard noises progressing outside in the garden.

  “How did someone get into this garden, let alone find their way down into the underground?” It sounded like Dr. Ernest.

  “I have no idea,” another voice answered.

  “Did you recognize the face?” the doctor asked.

  “No, it’s no one I know or remember seeing on the campus. I spend a lot of time in the lab with very few people, remember? I definitely know it isn’t someone who is allowed access.”

  “It isn’t good that someone who’s not approved saw our workshop.” Tension was evident in Dr. Ernest’s voice. “We can’t have this information getting out to the general public. Imagine the unwanted attention we would receive. We have to find this person.”

  Scuffling and rustling sounds from shrubs and bushes made their way to Jayden’s ears as they searched the room and garden.

  “Where could he have gone? He couldn’t have escaped from the room, surely? This door locks when the security door down in the lab closes from an alarm.” Even through the roar of the waterfall, Jayden’s robotic ears could hear the frustration in the doctor’s voice.

  “Well, I’m certainly not finding him, are you?” said the other voice, which Jayden guessed was William’s.

  “No.”

  After an extended search of the garden, Jayden heard them opening the outside door to head out into the main part of the administration building.

  He didn’t dare venture out yet. Instead, he thought it would be better if he waited for quite a while to make sure no one would be coming back into the garden.

  ~~~~~

  LIAM, DRYDEN, HAYLEY, and Brendan had finished their science lesson and didn’t waste one minute before looking for Dr. Ernest.

  “Where do you think we should start looking?” Liam asked the other three.

  Brendan already had an idea from watching Jayden. “Why don’t we try the obvious place first?”

  “That is?” Hayley’s brow furrowed in confusion.

  “The administration building,” Brendan said.

  “Great idea!” agreed Dryden.

  They marched on out of the science building and headed to the administration building, only to come to a halt as a frantic-looking Dr. Ernest stormed on out of the building with an older student, William. Both of them were wearing lab coats and appeared to be frantically searching for something.

  Curious as to what was going on, Liam stopped them. “You look as though you have lost something, Dr. Ernest. Can we help you with anything?”

  “Oh. Hi, Liam,” the doctor said with an air of distraction. “That would be fabulous. We are looking for a dark-skinned teen, probably about your age. Last we saw, he was wearing a lab coat. Have you seen anyone matching this desc
ription?”

  “No, sorry, we haven’t.” Liam shook his head.

  “Darn it!” The lines of concern spread so far on the doctor’s face that they also creased his balding head. “It is crucial that we find him.”

  “We’d be happy to help you look,” Brendan said, thinking of ways to help take the attention away from Jayden’s surrogate.

  “Thank you!” Dr. Ernest breathed a sigh of relief.

  “What do you need him so urgently for?” As always, Hayley’s curiosity got the better of her.

  “He was spotted acting strangely, and we suspect that he might be taking important items from the school,” Dr. Ernest said absentmindedly as he continued his search.

  “You’re one to talk.” Hayley scoffed softly, loudly enough for the boys to hear.

  The boys muffled a soft chuckle.

  “Well, we can’t have that,” Brendan said, blocking out the chuckles. “We’ll start looking over this way.” He indicated away from the usual spots he knew Jayden frequently hid the surrogate. He knew that soon, Jayden would be bringing the surrogate out of hiding in the garden room to hide it in time to get ready for the next session of scouting the school undetected.

  “It seems strange to have someone sneaking around the school acting suspiciously, don’t you think?” Brendan tried his luck at trying to convince them that no one would sneak around the school.

  “After the explosion last year and the culprit not being found, I wouldn’t write off anything anymore,” Hayley said.

  They searched around and inside the buildings, looking for anyone acting a little strangely. “Really, it was such a broad description. It could be any of the dark-skinned students who are our age,” Dryden said after several minutes of looking.

  “So true.” Liam already sounded sick of searching.

  “What about that one?” Hayley asked, indicating back to the administration building.

  To Brendan’s horror, he looked back to see Jayden’s surrogate darting around the side of the admin building. He didn’t seem notably different from the rest of the dark-skinned students. Although he had ditched the lab coat, his location and the style of covert movement placed him in the suspicious category.

  “He does seem a little suspicious!” An edge of excitement filled Liam’s voice.

  With Hayley in the lead, they all went off to follow the dubious character. Trekking across the school grounds at a fast pace, they reached the admin building and followed the suspect’s footsteps down the side of the building. When they had reached the other side, they couldn’t see him anywhere. Looking past the building, all they could see were open spaces with a few tall trees, which were too high to reach the first limb to climb.

  “Where could he possibly have gone?” Hayley’s face filled with bewilderment.

  ~~~~~

  AFTER HE FINALLY thought it was safe to come out, Jayden hid his surrogate like he usually did and clocked out of his surrogate role. He waited with Eva and Robert for Aaron to finish his session with Ernest State College and join them.

  The lesson was over, and they headed to the dining room for lunch. Jayden’s stomach was still tied in knots, so he only grabbed a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, an apple, and some juice. He wandered over to find the group a table to share and waited for them to join him. His mind was deep in thought over his discovery.

  They slid their chairs into place then plunked themselves on the seats and their plates on the table.

  “So tell us more about what you saw.” Robert took a big bite of a hamburger and continued speaking with his mouth full. “I’m so interested to know what cool experiments they have been hiding.”

  “To be honest, Robert, I’m not sure what they’ve been hiding. Some of them were so real looking. The owl I saw looked just like the one I saw on the simulator when our surrogate got blown up. Maybe we already see these gadgets and inventions in our daily excursions, or maybe everyday people see them without even knowing it. If they’re up to no good, that’s really scary.”

  “Do you think that they’re up to something, Jayden?” Eva asked, picking absentmindedly at her salad.

  “I have no idea.” Jayden took a sip of juice.

  “Well, did anything seem suspicious?” She popped a cherry tomato in her mouth.

  “They’re hiding it down underground. Everything seems suspicious when you go to such lengths to hide what you’re doing.” Jayden shrugged.

  “Did you see what Dr. Ernest took from the lab and what he used it for?” Concern covered Aaron’s face.

  Jayden shook, and his shoulders slumped. “No. His hands were empty when I finally found him.”

  Eva grunted. “How annoying!”

  “We’ll have to keep a better eye on him and the school and try to watch the students, along with anyone else who is going into this hideout,” Aaron said.

  “Should we tell Avando?” Eva pushed her salad around with her fork.

  “I don’t know. Maybe we’ll sit on the information for a couple of days while we try to check it out. But if we find Avando, we should try to ask him some more questions as to why he thinks the school is suspect for terrorism. I mean, we have all this specialized spying equipment and technology, and we’re not terrorists. Maybe they fight terrorism as well.” Jayden took a bite of his apple.

  “Then why was Dr. Ernest so secretive?” Aaron looked confused.

  “Honestly, I don’t know,” Jayden said. “We’re not even close to knowing the answers to this.”

  “I’ll send my spare ladybeetle down there to have a look and keep an eye on them.” Robert instantly refilled his mouth with a few fries.

  “If they spot it, wouldn’t they think that a ladybeetle down there is very odd?” Eva asked.

  “True, but what else do you suggest? If I send a spider, cockroach, or fly down there, although they might pass as normal, they would more than likely be squashed. At least with a ladybeetle, people are less likely to try to kill and dispose of it.”

  “You’re right, Robert.” Eva tossed her salad around her plate some more. “There is something about a ladybeetle that is respected and mystical, not quite to the degree of a butterfly or dragonfly, but it is less likely to be feared or classed as creepy and then killed.”

  Robert finished his burger and fries and sucked the last of his soft drink down, finishing with a loud burp. “I’m going to go and organize that ladybeetle now. Niles has to duck out for a bit, so he has asked me to work on a couple of things in the external workshop as well as keeping an eye on the operations here. While I’m there, I’ll work on getting the ladybeetle to the school. I’ll have it waiting on the wall in the secured garden for someone to take down to the underground hideout.” He got up to leave.

  “Great idea, Robert. Let us know how it goes,” Jayden called to him as he walked off.

  Jayden forced down the last of his sandwich so that he wouldn’t go hungry before the next meal. He was starting to feel a bit calmer but knew there was a lot of investigating to be done. He was happy that his next lesson was Tae Kwon Do, so he could work off some of the concerns and knots in his stomach. The Tae Kwon Do classes had changed so that everyone in the regular class did it at the same time to fit in with their class schedules, with the black belts attending extra classes during the week just for them.

  “I’ll see you guys soon. I’m going to go and get ready for Tae Kwon Do.” Jayden got up to leave.

  “Yeah. Sure, man. Can’t wait!” Aaron sounded happy, knowing he was about to do one of his favorite classes soon.

  “See you soon,” Eva said as he left.

  Jayden had reached the next level of the building and was minding his own business, contemplating the events that had taken place. He walked past the girls’ toilet when he heard excited chatter coming from their bathroom. It wasn’t unusual for chatter to be coming from the girls’ bathroom, but this seemed a little louder and more excitable. He saw the bathroom door open from a distance, and strangely, the light was
off inside. He then saw the door close without anyone coming out of the bathroom. More nervous chatter erupted from inside. The door opened again not long after, and the light was still off. It closed without anyone coming out.

  He had a flashback in memory to the time when he was in the bathroom after he’d had the head knock from being blown back by the surrogate simulator. Curiosity got the better of him, so he hung around to see what was going on. He was soon rewarded for his patience, as not long after, there was a deafening combined scream that burst from the bathroom. Several slightly younger girls came running out of the open door of the bathroom with the light shining brightly behind them.

  Jayden managed to stop one of the girls. She happened to be the one who had been unlucky enough to be in the wrong place on her first day and managed to be covered in urine on the day when Scarlet had locked David out of the toilets.

  “Oh my gosh!” the girl said with a shocked giggle. “Scarlet has gone mad!”

  “How?” he asked, though he thought he had a pretty good idea.

  “She kept turning all the lights off on us and opening the door then closing it before we could get out. She kept doing it over and over until all of us girls were freaked out. She then turned all the lights out, locked the door, suddenly appeared on the screen, and went, ‘Boo!’ She really is a cheeky AI.”

  Jayden smiled. “Please tell me no one smashed the screen in fright. Niles will be fuming.”

  The girl looked at him strangely. “No, the screen is good.”

  Jayden was relieved. “That’s good, ’cause the last girl Scarlet did that to smashed the screen in a defensive move.”

  “Now, there’s a thought.” A cheeky smile lit her face.

  “No. Please don’t. If Scarlet does that to you again, and you break the screen, it will make Robert and Niles furious.”

  “I’ll try not to, but I owe her one from my welcome on the first day,” she said while walking away.

  Jayden continued to his room, thinking and chuckling to himself. Scarlet had been an interesting AI ever since he had arrived at the Sanctum. She dealt with people in her own way when they crossed her. Never had he seen her go to such extremes and play with innocent bystanders. He arrived at his room and pulled out his Tae Kwon Do uniform with his blue-colored belt. He had moved up in his ranking and no longer stood at the back of the room, as new students had arrived after him, and he had passed a few levels. He dressed in the white uniform still thinking about Scarlet’s behavior, and then it occurred to him that he should ask her.