Scarlet's Escape

by Katrina Cope

  Jayden gulped.

  “Oh, and then when I was taking one of my many bathroom trips, I was approached by something strange that looked nothing like what they claimed to be.” She paused for a moment. “This something scared the heck out of me, appearing out of nowhere and causing me to burst into fierce Tae Kwon Do moves that I executed in thin air.”

  “Oh… kay!” Robert scrutinized her face as though she had lost her sanity. He looked at the other two. “Do either of you know what she’s babbling on about?”

  “Nope, not a clue.” Aaron shook his head.

  “Uh…” Jayden lamely began but then stopped.

  “No, you wouldn’t have a clue, would you, Jayden?” Eva’s voice was edged with venom.

  “Uh…” he began again, looking down at his feet. “It’s going to sound just as screwy as Eva appears right now.”

  “What is?” Aaron asked.

  “Oh, there you are!” The relieved tone of a strange voice sounded behind the small group interrogating Eva.

  Jayden was instantly aware who it was as they all spun around to look toward the sound together. There, standing in among their group, was a girl with hair the color of orange flames and piercing blue eyes. Her face looked troubled.

  “Whoa.” Aaron took a step back. “Where did you come from?”

  “Who cares about that? She’s gorgeous!” Robert said.

  Eva sighed as the doll-faced redhead shook her head in disbelief at their reactions.

  “Hey, Scarlet,” Jayden said in a monotone voice.

  “Wha—?” Aaron looked at Jayden then back to Scarlet in utter confusion.

  “Yes, guys,” Eva said before slurping the last of her coffee. “This is what I was talking about that was making me appear crazy.”

  “Scarlet, you escaped!” Robert’s mouth dropped open. “And damn, you look good. You’re not old!”

  “Gee, thanks, Robert. I think. Trust you to like anything that is technical. Yes, I have kind of escaped.” Turning to Eva, Scarlet smirked. “Nice hair, sunshine.”

  The coffee had kicked in by now, and Eva realized what she was referring to. She straightened her long dark hair with her fingers.

  Scarlet continued, “I know this is exciting, but I don’t have time for giving out information yet.”

  “Aw, I want to see how you’re doing it.” Robert pouted.

  “Later. Right now, I’m worried about Professor Anna.”

  Seeing that the worried look on her face remained, Jayden knew that she was serious. He asked, “Why’s that, Scarlet?”

  “A few hours ago, I saw her leave quickly. She looked panicked or flustered and ran out the lobby door. I haven’t seen her since.”

  His brow creased in concern. “Any idea which direction she was heading?”

  “No, but I do know that the external technical workshop has been down for a couple of hours.” Scarlet appeared to be biting her nails.

  “Where’s Niles?” Eva asked, knowing that he almost lived there. “Isn’t he taking care of the problem?”

  She shook her head. “He was running an external errand for Avando, and while he was gone, he was going to do some clothes shopping for himself.” She rolled her eyes. “With him, that could take all day. You know how he likes his fancy clothes.”

  “Yes, we do.” Robert nodded. “Well first, let’s go check out the workshop.” He turned to Scarlet. “Are you coming with us?”

  “Only if you manage to turn the power back on in the workshop. For some reason, the generator didn’t kick in.”

  Robert sounded unsure. “Okay,” he said, turning to the others. “Come on then, let’s go.”

  As they hurried along the inconspicuous grass path, they passed close by the garden, the mini-mountain, and the shed where Charlie was often found working or fixing tools.

  “Why don’t we see if Charlie is in the shed and see if he’s seen her?” Aaron said.

  “That’s a great idea, Aaron,” Eva said.

  They turned off the path toward the shed, and relief spread through the four students when they saw the shed door open and heard banging sounds inside. Aaron increased speed as they approached the door. “Charlie?” he called not far from the entrance.

  The banging subsided, and Charlie’s weathered face appeared at the door. “Would you look at that? I’ve got visitors.” His faded-blue eyes sparkled to life.

  “Sorry, Charlie.” The edges of Aaron’s mouth turned down. “We’re actually dropping in to see if you’ve seen Professor Anna?”

  Charlie shook his head, and his eyes faded again. “No, I haven’t seen the lovely professor.”

  “Can you keep an eye out, please?” Jayden asked him. “Scarlet says she’s been gone for a very long time.”

  “Sure, I can.” Charlie wiped some black grease off his hands and onto a rag. “Where are you off to now?”

  “Scarlet’s also told us that the workshop is down. So we are going to see if she is there and at the same time see if we can reboot it,” Robert said.

  “She would know. In a little while, I’m heading off in the other direction. So I’ll let you know if I find the professor.”

  “Thanks, Charlie,” Jayden called over his shoulder as they turned to leave.

  It wasn’t long until the small mountain that housed the external workshop appeared not far in front of them. It looked just as it usually did, rocks, dirt, and grass with a couple of small trees growing out of it. They hastened their approach, and Robert went to scan his hand. Nothing happened.

  “Oh, der!” Robert slapped his palm on his forehead for being so stupid. “There is no power, so the door is not going to open, you idiot!” he spoke critically to himself. He backed away from the rock door and went around the side of the mountain, leaving the others standing at the door, looking bewildered.

  “Let us know if you need help,” Aaron called after him, fidgeting with his clothes and shuffling his feet.

  “Are you all right, Aaron?” Jayden asked. “You’re more active than usual, and that’s saying something.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Aaron swiped his hand at them dismissively. “I would hate for something to happen to Professor Anna.”

  “We all would,” Eva said.

  Robert reappeared from around the corner, wearing a puzzled look. “Okay, should be fixed. Someone had disconnected the generator.” He shook his head. “I have no idea why.” He reached the doorway and placed his hand on the hand identity scanner again. The door slid back in an instant.

  The students entered the office, which was naturally lit by the light shining through the well-disguised windows that appeared from the outside to be rocks. Robert continued through the office, turning on the light into the lab. Sitting on the shelf, where Robert had left her, was the deactivated Shelly. A sad look washed quickly over his face when he looked at her.

  Eva came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll get her sorted soon.”

  Robert wiped his sleeve over his eyes and pulled it away with a slight damp spot. Nothing else of any interest was in the lab. They passed through, approaching the simulator room. Robert was about to reach for the light when he saw Scarlet out of the corner of his eye. He jumped then placed a chubby hand over his heart, trying to calm it.

  “She’s not here,” Scarlet said. “Excellent job getting this back up and working, by the way. But she is not here.”

  “Can you turn on the light anyway, please?” Robert asked then frowned. “Seeing as you’re here. It’s weird asking you to your face.”

  “Sure.” She smiled brightly at him, not lifting a finger as she flicked the light on.

  Once the room was lit up, Eva let out a loud gasp, and Robert froze.

  “What is it?” Jayden rushed forward to look with Aaron following not far behind.

  The room was a mess. It looked as though a cyclone had ripped through. Chairs were upside down, electrical cords were ripped out, paper was strewn everywhere, and screens were broken in places
.

  “Oh my!” Eva said.

  “Why is it always this room?” Robert shook his head in despair. “It’s always the one to get messed up.”

  Eva put a hand on his back. “We’ll help you clean up later. I promise. But first, let’s see if any of this equipment works and see if it gives us any clues as to where she might be.” She walked toward the tables and equipment then turned on switches and started checking for activity. She picked a computer monitor off the ground, and they were thankful that it wasn’t cracked. She pressed the button and turned it on. Luckily, the keyboard to go with it was also in usable condition.

  Jayden and Aaron started sorting out some of the mess in the room to help as much as possible while they were waiting.

  As the computer was booting, Scarlet made a strange noise. All four students spun around to look at her. She was staring straight ahead, and her eyes were glazed, giving her the appearance of being absent from them. They were about to turn back to what they were doing when she raised her hands, indicating for them to pause.

  A second later, her eyes flickered back to looking normal. “I know where she is.”

  “Where is she, then?” Aaron moved forward, eager to help the professor.

  Scarlet opened her mouth to speak and then stopped. Her shoulders slumped in frustration. “I can’t say.”

  “What? Why not?” Aaron reached forward to shake her shoulders in frustration. Instead, the frustration increased when his hands passed straight through her body. He looked down at his empty hands and then back at Scarlet in confusion. “What just happened?”

  Eva giggled. “She’s a hologram, bright spark!”

  Robert jumped up and ran his hands through her several times.

  “Okay, okay.” Scarlet rolled her eyes. “I know I am very interesting, but I need you to focus,” she added with more urgency.

  Robert cleared his throat, embarrassed by his distraction, and jumped back to the computer, concentrating on trying to find Professor Anna. He had several surveillance screens up and was flicking through them quickly. He wasn’t having any luck until suddenly he remembered something. “Wait!” He spun around in his chair. “Scarlet, you said you knew where she was. Why can’t you tell us?”

  Jayden answered for her. “Someone has programmed her, prohibiting her from telling us any vital information. She’s been trying to tell me information for weeks but has failed. If you can read lips, then maybe you’ll have more success in finding out what she is trying to say.” He turned and faced Scarlet. “Show them.”

  She immediately started to talk. Her mouth, hands, and body were moving appropriately to go with words, although the words didn’t come. Anguish spread across her face as her eyes pleaded with them to read her lips. Robert and Aaron shook their heads in disappointment.

  “I’m sorry, Scarlet, I can’t understand you.” Aaron looked sadly at the hologram.

  Robert jumped to his computer to try to set up some reprogramming for Scarlet.

  “Forget it, Robert,” she said. “We don’t have the time. Professor Anna needs your help.”

  “What? Why didn’t you say so?” Eva chastised her.

  “I was interrupted.” Scarlet shrugged. “Besides, she is okay but not comfortable, and she definitely needs help.”

  “Well, where is she?” Aaron was close to yelling.

  Scarlet’s mouth immediately started moving, and her arms flung wildly around, pointing in different directions while scooping around corners. The students stopped and stared at her with their mouths wide open. Seeing their expressions, she stopped, stomped her foot, and crossed her arms. She then stood, silently tapping her foot on the ground.

  Right as the students were about to turn around and start searching the screens again, her face brightened. “I think I’ve got it!” Cheerfulness entered her voice. “Robert, over here.” She flicked to the far corner of the room. He jumped up and followed her as quickly as he could, weaving through the mess. “In the corner, there is a button. You need to push it.” Robert searched for the button.

  Jayden went over to help, letting his eyes wander to the ceiling. There, just within reach, was a small button. He pressed it, and a small screen appeared out of the wall. The screen lit up, and what they saw filled their eyes with dread.

  There, dimly on the screen, was their beloved Professor Anna. Her eyes were swollen, puffy, and half closed with what looked to be large bruises around them. There was a trickle of blood on the side of her face. A cloth was tied around her head, gagging her. Her matted hair fell loosely around her shoulders. Rips tarnished the blouse she was wearing, and her skirt, which otherwise would have been beautiful, long and flowing, was bloodied and tucked in around her legs as she sat cramped in the corner on the floor. Her head rested against the wall, and her hands were tied behind her back.

  - Chapter Nineteen -

  Room Without A View

  “Sparking wires!” Eva stood behind Robert and Jayden, with Aaron not far behind her. “And this was not urgent?” She glared at Scarlet.

  “Her vital signs are stable.” Scarlet crossed her arms.

  Aaron’s expression clouded. “Where is this?”

  Scarlet’s mouth moved to answer him, but again, nothing come out. He turned in frustration and hit the wall, letting out an angry groan.

  “Is it on the school grounds?” Jayden asked.

  Scarlet nodded.

  “Right! Now that’s a start.” Jayden placed a finger up to his mouth and stared at the horrific image on the screen. His face lightened, and he turned around and wandered off to the entrance of the workshop building. Puzzled, the other three followed him, and Scarlet joined him when he reached his destination. As Jayden had thought, near the entrance, as with most large building complexes, there was a plan of the buildings set up for fire evacuation.

  Indicating the map, he asked Scarlet, “Can you point to where she is?”

  Scarlet reached out as though ready to point at a location when her arm spun around quickly and pointed in the other direction.

  Seeing this, Jayden continued, “Okay, what about blinking? I’m going to run my finger slowly across the map. When my finger hits the spot that she is being held, I need you to blink twice. Ready?”

  Scarlet nodded. Jayden began steadily dragging his finger across the glass that held the paper map on the wall, moving it up and down, starting from the bottom right and heading toward the left. It was painstakingly slow, especially since Professor Anna was hurt, possibly still in danger, and in need of urgent help. Thinking he must’ve covered most of the map already, he turned around to look at where his finger was. He was dismayed to find it had only covered a third of the surface. He continued.

  He was almost to the far edge of the map when Eva squealed, “She’s faulting!” Scarlet’s form was flickering as though she had a glitch.

  “Okay, I will take that as a blink,” Jayden said.

  He looked at where his finger was. “It’s in the middle of nowhere! There isn’t anything there according to this map.”

  “That’s correct,” Scarlet said. “It’s well hidden.”

  “How are we going to find her?” Aaron ran his fingers through his hair, and a frown creased his forehead. He was itching to leave, but he needed more information, or else they wouldn’t find her.

  Robert leaned up against a computer desk.

  “Wait!” Eva stood up straight. “She had to have been taken there by foot, right?”

  “More than likely.” Scarlet nodded.

  “Then you guys run off and grab Barney and Bessie, and I’m going to race back to the main building and find something of Professor Anna’s. It’s time we got the dogs involved and used their training.”

  “Brilliant thinking, Eva!” Robert said as they all headed out the door. “Wait, Scarlet?”

  “Yes?”

  “Are you able to contact Avando?”

  Her eyes glazed over for a moment while she processed the people on the mountain withi
n her technology range. They refocused a moment later, and she shook her head.

  He groaned in frustration. “How does he always seem to disappear when we have an emergency?” He ran out the door to catch up with the others.

  “I’ll meet you at the aviary,” Eva called as she took off running toward the main building.

  The boys started trekking toward the dog kennels. On the way, they stopped at Charlie’s shed. They were hoping to find him to help, but it didn’t look hopeful. The shed was closed, with everything packed away.

  Aaron stood in front of the rock door. “Charlie?” he called. There was no response. He placed his hand on the ID scanner and watched as the bright light flashed underneath his palm. The door slid back, and he poked his head inside the shed and called again, “Charlie, are you there?” Again, he was met with silence. He exited the shed, shaking his head at the questioning faces of the others. “He must have gone already and taken off up the other side of the mountain.”

  “You don’t think Charlie did this, do you?” Robert tossed the question at the others.

  “This is Charlie you’re talking about here.” Aaron shook his head. “How could you think that?”

  “Yeah, that’s ripe coming from someone who had to pinch his friends to see if they’re surrogates or not,” Robert said.

  “True,” Aaron said. “But I was mainly testing Charlie for fun. His reactions are too extreme to think that he’s a fake.”

  The boys continued to the dog kennels to find Barney and Bessie standing at the sides of their enclosures, wagging their tails enthusiastically.

  Jayden unlocked the gate and let Barney out, while Robert released Bessie. They attached leads to their collars. “We want to make sure we can keep up with you when you find her.” Jayden gave Barney a good pat and rubbed around his ears affectionately. “I can’t believe our cute little brown-and-white puppy grew so big so fast. You must weigh nearly as much as me.” He gave the dog a big hug around the neck. Barney gave him an affectionate lick on the face as his friendly response. “Ew! Thanks, Barney.”

  “Yeah. That lick gets you every time.” Aaron screwed up his nose. “Come on, let’s get moving toward the aviary so we can cut out some time for finding Professor Anna.”