“When are we supposed to know when to come out?” Brian asked Howie.
“Um, I think she said that she’s coming here…” Howie shrugged his shoulders. I’m sure that we’ll find out when the time is right.”
“There’s a window right there,” Brian pointed upwards, “do you suppose we’ll have to break it?”
“I guess.”
Everyone stared uncomfortably around the room. For some reason, none of them could strike up a good conversation. They all felt like strangers to each other now.
Most of them hadn’t changed much either, besides Brian, who still suffered from infections and unbalances in his blood. He knew deep inside of him that this was silly, but he feared that he would get another infection in his blood that would try to take his life a second time. But he feared mostly that it would succeed in doing so. He inhaled deeply, and felt his raspy breaths in his trachea. Brian concluded that he had another infection, this time in his lungs. Bronchitis, it was, and it shortened every breath that he took. He knew that he would be in trouble once his whooping coughs began. The reason why he knew so much about bronchitis was that his brother Harold had gotten it every year around Christmas, and it plagued him until the holidays were over. Brian always felt sorry for his brother, who had never opened a Christmas gift without the infection.
Nick watched Brian stealthily from across the room. He could tell that Brian was still sick, and that frightened him. He didn’t know what he would be without Brian around. Nick started to get depressed when he realized that he was being selfish. That the only reason he was afraid that Brian would die was because he knew his life would be over. The rest of guys were nice and all, but he felt that the only one who really understood him was Brian. Brian always knew just what to say when he was down, or not to say anything at all.
Nick decided that he was being selfish again, and crawled across the room to where Brian was sitting and apologized like a madman. When he finally stopped, Brian took Nick’s shoulders and shook him slowly, back and forth, back and fourth.
“What the hell are ya sorry for?” Brian wheezed. He hadn’t meant to wheeze, and he hadn’t meant to swear either.
“I’m a selfish bastard.” Brian’s eyes widened when Nick said that. He checked to make sure that Nick wasn’t playing around and when he was sure that he wasn’t, Brian replied.
“Why, why are you selfish?”
“See? That’s exactly why! I’m talking about myself again, thinking about my welfare again. Are you okay Brian? Are you feeling all right? Do you need anything?”
“You’re crazy, kiddo. If it makes you so happy, we’ll talk about me. Okay, let’s see, um, I’m fine, I need a haircut and a shower, but I’m fine. Honestly I feel like shit driven over twice, but let’s not go there yet. I think I told you what I need, but you can’t get it for me, if that’s what you’re after. It’s hard not to think about yourself Nick. You’re a great friend and I wouldn’t want you looking after my welfare, as well as yours.”
“Well, you see I was thinkin’, awful stuff really…”
“What were you thinking?”
“Like if you…died, how I, wouldn’t be able to live without you. You…you’re…”
“Nick, first of all I’m not planning on dying anytime soon. Not here, not now. Plus, I feel the exact same way about you. I don’t know about suicide, because that sentence sounds so suicidal, but I’d definitely miss ya.”
“See, but when you say it, it doesn’t sound selfish!”
“You’d miss me too, wouldn’t you?”
“Of course, but…”
“See, there you go, you’re not selfish, now let’s drop this.” Brian hugged Nick, and they started talking about other things, like what they would do when they got out of there.
*************************************************
“The guard is coming, the guard is coming!” Kevin whispered frantically. “Oh God he’s in the room!”
“Hurry, pick up Jansin, let’s move!” Samantha darted across the lawn towards a bushel of trees. Kevin picked up Jansin, briefly noting how light he was. Then he dashed after Samantha.
“What about the guys? We have to rescue them! I promised to come back…”
“Don’t worry, we’re going in the right direction. I know this place inside out. I’m positive I remember how and where the tunnels curve. There are only two rooms in this whole place that have windows, and they’re both in the same wing. Don’t worry Kev, I know what I’m doing.”
Kevin glanced quickly behind him and noticed that no one was following them. “There’s no one following us. I can’t believe this!”
“That’s because they’re rallying up the troops. They should be on to us soon. Meanwhile we have to keep going as fast as we can.”
“Do you… know why the guards and stuff are so loyal?” Kevin was breathing harder now, and was slowly running out of breath. But Samantha didn’t seem phased by it.
“Being a guard here is almost as awful as being a prisoner. In fact, it’s almost exactly like being a prisoner. If one of them proves to be a traitor, they get killed. Many of them have families they never see. The reason why they don’t side up with the prisoners or with each other is that they know they’ll never escape and that they will be killed. Plus, if they have no prisoners, Robyn will order them to use guards for their experiments.”
“Wow.” Kevin couldn’t say much more than that, not only because he was completely out of breath from running, but also because there was not much else to say to describe it.
***************************************************
Robyn paced nervously on her office rug. Ash had never seen her so nervous before. She finally stopped pacing after about twenty minutes, and turned to face Ash.
“The guards haven’t seen them?”
“No, ma’am.”
“You know, I’m this close to giving up,” she held her fingers a centimeter apart, “and I never give up! In about two weeks, if we don’t find them, I want you to bring me more subjects just like them. Make them singers too. I like singers. It’s fun to listen to them scream because they have such a high vocal range. But this doesn’t mean that I’m giving up. I just need to continue with the experimentation. Our time is near.”
“Will everyone die ma’am?”
“Everyone except us, safe in this castle. Most of the ingrates who live here will have to die after the second plague. It’s too bad that I didn’t get to pick who lives and who dies by hand. But there’s just no time for that. I did pick you of course, and that was a good decision.”
“Thank you, ma’am. But what’ll happen to the people who never leave their homes? They won’t get the plague…”
“They never come out of their homes anyway, so why should we care? The people who happen to survive will need some kind of a leader. What’s the human race without a leader right?”
“Right.”
“Who knows? Maybe someone will get lucky, and I’ll give them the cure while they are sick.” Robyn instantly thought of Kevin, while Brian crossed Ash’s mind.
“I could tell that you liked that short boy, Brian,” Robyn said suddenly. Ash’s eyes widened. “But don’t worry, I knew that you wouldn’t interfere with the experimentation, so I went along with it. Plus, I couldn’t bear the thought of ruling the planet with some kind of bimbo by my side. In case you haven’t figured it out, I think that Kevin is a babe.”
Ash smiled. “We know each other too well.”
“Yes, but I’m afraid he’ll die if he escapes. I may even consider postponing the plague until the summer if I don’t find him in time. We’ll look for Brian too, don’t you worry.” Ash’s face lit up like a lantern.
*************************************************
Kevin could barely feel his legs by now. They were already sore from before, but now they were unbearable. Samantha could tell that he was totally worn out, so she encouraged him along by saying stuff like, “We’re almost there,” and “You can do it!” Despite how corny those phrases sounded to her, they actually helped Kevin along.
“Oh my God, I see the window! Two feet ahead!”
Kevin nearly collapsed with relief when he heard. Jansin looked up at him wearily and Kevin noticed that he wasn’t as lively as before. He also didn’t feel as light as before.
When Samantha got to the window, she dropped to her knees and signaled for Howie to break the window. She could see Howie tell everyone to stand back. He picked up Nick’s helmet from the floor and threw it toward the window with all his might. The helmet only cracked it though, but severely. When he threw it for a second time though, it shattered the window into a million crystal-like pieces.
Samantha saw the helmet go through the window, and then she picked it up and started removing the jagged glass that protruded from the window’s frame. Howie then started to lift all of the women out of the window first. Samantha helped them go all the way through, but reminded everyone to hurry because they were being followed by now.
When it was Nick’s turn to go out, he lifted Brian out of the window instead, despite all of his protests. Then he lifted Howie out, making himself last.
By the time Nick got out, they could all see the specks of white coming towards them. They were the men in white, of course, and they were already on their trail.
Everyone ran like mad when they spotted them, except for Kevin, who was nearly too tired to move. He still had Jansin in his arms.
“Leave me here, you’re so tired…” Jansin whispered to him.
“No, I can’t do that! You’re my friend and I have to get us out of here somehow…” He slowly got up and limped towards the direction where everyone had gone to. The men were getting closer now, and Kevin was getting more paranoid by the second.
“Kevin, come on, I’ll help you.”
Kevin looked up and saw Samantha by his side once more. Before he could protest, she put her arm around his waist and dragged them along.
“That’s enough of being foolishly noble today,” she said.
About twenty more minutes passed as they trudged along the forest. And two minutes after that, they had spotted the group. For some reason, they had stopped by a highway. Kevin recognized this highway as the same one they had been captured on.
As they got closer, they found out the reason why the group had stopped. They were completely surrounded by men in white, coming from every direction in one immense circle.
Chapter 19
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