𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐎𝐒 | liam stewart [1]

3. escape

Pandora watched as the new Doctor woke the girl up from her unconscious state. "Ruby?" The woman asked, making Pandora's eyebrows rise slightly. So her name was Ruby. Pandora had never seen the Doctor before which was unusual because she came into the infirmary almost every day. "So, Dora, how're you feeling?" Dr Jenner asked, a kind man with a skill in setting bones. He shut and locked the door, putting the small key back into his pocket as he pulled up a chair. He acknowledged the new Doctor with a nod, the woman nodding back but keeping her eyesight flickering betwene Pandora and Ruby. Pandora had seen Jenner on many occasion, when the Captain was having an especially bad day. "Jenner," She saluted, letting him wipe the blood from her nose with a towel. "I think Captain's jealous of my natural beauty, he always seems to go for the face," She feigned disappointment, not missing Jenner's stifled smile. "Would it kill you to keep your mouth shut? I don't know how much strain your body can take," Jenner told Pandora who stare at him with a disapproving face. "Absolutely no faith in me," she tried to throw her hands up jokingly but the handcuffs just rattled against the bar. "Right, we're ready?" He asked, getting a small nod from Dora before he quickly pushed her broken bridge back into the right-ish place. They didn't have the necessary technology to perform actual surgery, although Pandora had given up having a nice looking nose after her third time having it broken. 

Pandora smiled as most of the pain disappeared, her heterochromic eyes sliding to her right to see Ruby stare in horror at the bloody face. "Nice to meet you Ruby, I'm Dora," She grinned, realising that she probably looked satanic. "I would shake your hand but you know," She waved her hand up, letting the sweet jingle of handcuffs rumble in her ears. "Ahh, Pandora Drakes, I've heard quite a bit about you," Ruby's Doctor smiled. "All good things I suppose, I'm the Captain's secret favourite," She winked, the Doctor labelled as Kate Bigby smiling at the girl's antics. "Of course," She nodded, watching as Jenner left the caged room. "Time's up," A masked guard banged on the infirmary walls, making Kate stand. Dora watched as she purposefully left the clipboard on Ruby's bed, leaving with a nod to the guard. Pandora watched slyly as Ruby flicked to the back of the flipboard. On it was a note along with a key for their handcuffs. It read: They know you're orange. They are going to kill you. If you want to live meet me in the boiler room. Bring Pandora. - A friend. 

...

"Orange? Didn't see that coming," Pandora smirked as her and Ruby sat in the overheating boiler room. "Welcome to the band of misfits," She put her hand out, Ruby shaking it with shaky hands. "Wh- what-" Ruby's question was cut off by the Doctor who ran down the corridor with a package of clothes. "Put these on quickly. They'll know that you're gone soon," She practically threw the clothes at them before rushing to turn on the steam at the opposite end of the boiler room. "It'll take them a while to get past that," She shrugged, brushing the sweat off her forhead. Pandora quickly pulled her top off, not feeling any shame as Ruby stared at the scars and bruises which peppered her skin. Long white scars jutted from her stomach and ribs, purpling lesions filled any place not covered in scar tissue. "Battle scars," She shrugged, pulling on a white shirt, flannel and pair of jeans. 

"Okay come on, let's go," Kate gave them masks and raincoats as she directed them to her car. Rain littered the place, a red siren and AI voices shouting over the terretial downpour. "Get in," Kate ushered them into the car, getting in line to leave. "Hey, I've got Dr Rojas and Dr Nects with me," Kate said, telling the man about their contagious flu and showing them the ID cards. Pandora had seen both of the Doctors before, bascially family with all of the time she'd spent with them. "Dr Roja's can you please remove your mask," The man repeated to Ruby who looked scared out of her wits. "Dr Roja's, Dr Nects, I'm going to need to see your faces," He said. Pandora slowed her breathing, focusing on the purple heat her eyes felt as she pictured Dr Nects. She felt her nose shift into a button shape, just like Nects did, her hair shortening from her long black hair to Nect's blonde pixie cut. It was the first time Pandora had ever shapeshifted fully and prayed to God that it was enough. She pulled down her mask and hood, coughing manically as she forced herself into his vision. Her hand slipped onto Ruby's giving the girl a few seconds to morph into Rojas before turning Ruby as well. "Sorry, we feel really bad, can we go," Pandora coughed again, her voice nasaly just like Nects. "Yes, of course, thank you," The man nodded, letting them through. 

Pandora let her hand slither off of Ruby, watching thoughtfully as the girl's feature reappeared. "What the fuck was that?" Kate asked, Pandora staring thoughtfully at Ruby who also stared back. "I'm not a Green," Pandora swallowed. "Yeah no shit," Kate babbled whilst driving as quick as she could down the road. "I-I'm a purple. I think."

...

Soon enough, the adrenalin of their escape ran out and Ruby and Dora fell asleep on the car windows. When Dora awoke, her eyes scanned the horizon. The sun was hot in the sky and greenery surrounded the landscape. "Where are we?" Dora asked, moving her long-stilled muscles as she realised that she was now in the front of a different car. "Just passed the Virgina border, I met a friend who helped me move cars," Kate responded, looking in the back mirror at a still-sleeping Ruby. "I- I can't have anyone know what I am," She told Kate, rubbing her nose which still have a giant cut along it. It would most definitely leave a scar. "Why? You could be exactly what we need. I-" She was cut off by Pandora. "It wasn't a suggestion," She told Kate coldly. "I didn't survive 6 years of beatings just to be killed by my own kind because I'm different," She spat, looking out the window. It was silent from then on, until Ruby woke up. 

"Where is everybody?" She asked, emotionally marvelling at the views. "Dead," Pandora told her, Ruby's head snapping to the bloodied girl. "What?" She asked, her voice cracking in fear. "No, no they're not," Kate told her hastily, glaring at a smirking Pandora. "What? I find myself hilarious," She shrugged, biting into an apple Kate had brought for them. "Most people moved to the city for work, no kids means no economy," Kate explained. "No kids?" Ruby asked with teary eyes. "Get over it, everyone grows old and dies anyway," Pandora waved her appe about before offering it to Ruby. 

"How long will it take to get me home?" Ruby asked, ignoring the wavering apple. "Home?" Kate asked, her eyebrows furrowing. "Yeah, you're taking me home right?" Ruby asked, moving forward to look at Kate. "What? No, no, Ruby I can't take you home. It's not safe," She told the girl, Pandora ignoring the quiet sobs which left Ruby's mouth. "Damn, why are people so emotional. You're parents haven't seen you for 6 years, you think they've been looking for you for that long? Pull yourself together. Only person you can trust is yourself," She shrugged her shoulders before tossing the finished apple out the window. "You're telling me if you couldn't see your parents one more time, you wouldn't?" Ruby said with a new found resentment for the girl with no empathy. Pandora let out a loud laugh. "My mother's dead and if I were to see my son-of-a-bitch father again, I would strangle him with my bare hands. Best stay out of my family relations," She told Ruby before blowing her a sarcastic kiss from the reversing mirror. 

"If we ever get separated, I want you to take these," Kate pulled out two metal necklaces with a button on the end of each. "Hold it down for 3 seconds and it will tell me your exact location. Just me though," She handed the jewellery to each girl. Ruby strung it around her neck whereas Pandora shoved it in her jean pocket and breathed in the fresh air from the window. Pandora stayed like that until she saw Kate pull into a gas station, a man with a giant rifle stood waiting for her.