Divagate

Chapter 16

                                          Darwin
                                             •••••
   "About six months after being at Myer Laboratories: Facility 3, Vince, Siggy and I formed a plan during the classes we had together. I was awarded with 'outdoor recess' time by myself for being on good behavior and getting good grades in school. Well, I wasn't entirely by myself. I had an assistant with me.

   While I was outside, I faked a panic attack. If a panic attack gets really bad, we get what a few assistants call 'knock out'. I made it seem bad enough to get it. Before the assistant gave me the shot, I quickly turned it on him. Within seconds, he was out.

   I took his keycard and uniform and headed back inside. With the surgical masks that the assistants wore all the time, combined with the fact that I kept my head down, nobody knew it was me. I made my way to Vince and Siggy's rooms and used the card to let them out.

   We made it to an exit, and as we were leaving, a guard saw us. We ran for it. I ditched the card and the labcoat. Vince hotwired a car in the staff parking lot and we drove off. Later, we found a small house. We left the car a ways down the street and walked to it.

   Siggy wanted to split up and hide in different spots near the house, but I said that since we had escaped as a team, we should work as a team. Vince agreed with me, and Siggy hesitantly did, too. The three of us went inside the house and found one woman and two kids inside. I said we should kill all three at once, like a team.

   Siggy and Vince were ready to kill them, but I... couldn't. There was just something in that little kid's eyes that made me realize what I was about to do. That I would be the cause of their death. Their blood would be on my hands."

   I pause, shivering a bit at the eerie memory of the little boy's pleading eyes. Lia stays completely silent as she waits for me to continue.

  "I was a fucking idiot. I chickened out. I let the kid go. He ran off while Siggy and Vince chewed me out and tried to convince me to do it. I refused and argued back. Then, guards from Myer Labs broke in. They gave each of us 'knock out', but before I was out, I saw the little boy with the guards. The little shit must've seen them looking for us and told them where we were.

   Anyway, I woke up in the back of a transport truck alone. I was strapped in and couldn't move." The sheets shift ever so slightly as Lia tenses. She must be remembering the straps holding her down.

   "I was in there for a few hours before an assistant came in to give me 'knock out'. I came to at a different facility, which I later found out was Myer Laboratories: Facility 8. This was the one you were in."

   I stop talking. Not only am I giving Lia an opportunity to ask questions that I know she has, but I also need a minute to breathe.

   "Huh," Lia laughs softly. "I thought your first escape was going to last longer than an hour at most."

   "You really thought that three sixteen year old boys were smart enough to make a long-term escape plan?" I say, deadpan. I use the monotone delivery to hide the smile that pulls at my lips.

   "I never said that you were smart. I just thought you'd be free for at least two hours." This time, I don't hide my smile,

   "Yeah, that's a major overestimate." Lia giggles at my attempted joke. I feel myself relaxing as I listen to her laugh.

   "So were Vince and Siggy at Facility 8?" She says when she's done giggling.

   "No," I shake my head, promptly dropping the smile and playful attitude. "Siggy was transferred to it later on, but I have no idea where Vince was or how he escaped again." Lia nods slowly in understanding,