Blood of My Death

Blood of My Death: The Ancient Earthscrapper - Chapter Thirty

It took a few more minutes to help me into the exoskeleton, and to my surprise, Dr. King had left his glass tablet behind on the table. Diane was already looking through it.

"What's on that thing?" I asked.

"Everything! Notes, research data, and the layout of all the buildings. We've been underground the whole time in some extensive bunker system," Diane revealed.

"What about Kristonia?" I questioned impatiently.

"She's underground doing an isolation-type test. I'm not sure what they are doing," Diane replied.

"Let me see," Rachel said, reaching for the glass tablet.

I patiently waited for her to come up with anything that would help shed some light on my sister's plight as she studied it for several minutes.

"I think they are trying to break her mentally. They design all the tests to push her mental state to the limit. It's been like this every day since we got here, and it gets worse," Rachel explained.

"What do you mean?" Diane asked.

"Yeah, what does that mean? It gets worse?" I asked.

"So far, it's been one day at a time. Today it has increased to three days at a time. They paired me with you because I would have seen this from the start," Rachel said.

"They put you with Diane and me with my sister to hide what was happening?" I questioned.

"It looks that way," Rachel responded.

"That makes the most sense. I specialize in spinal surgery and would be the most familiar with your condition," Diane explained.

"I specialize in neurology. So there's no way they could have snuck that by me," Rachel stated.

"What do we do then?" I asked.

"We can't leave her here alone. We don't know what will happen to her if we escape. They are trying to drive her insane with these tests," Rachel informed.

"I'll stay behind, and you two can make a break for it," Diane said.

"No, stay with Kristen, and she'll need you. But, at least I can monitor her condition and maybe prevent or slow down the effects," Rachel announced.

'I wanted to stay behind, but what could I do?' We'd escape this place and bring back help for my sister and Rachael. The thought of leaving my sister behind was tearing me up inside. Someone had to go for help. Diane stuffed our clothes in a small pouch on the back of my wheelchair. I was going to take this exoskeleton too. It would be proof that this place existed. Before we took a break, we would put on the appearance of following instructions. I hopped into the pool at the shallow end. The water came up to my chest. With this heavy suit, I would sink to the bottom. I attempted to swim and found that I could move quickly.

"I took off the resistors. You should be able to move normally," Rachel announced.

"Thank you! I might have drowned," I replied.

This exoskeleton made swimming easy. I hadn't been able to swim since my accident. My legs didn't hurt while I swam with Diane and Rachael for a few laps. After about half an hour, Diane and I exited the pool. We pretended we were going to the nearby bathroom. Diane helped me put my clothes over my swimsuit after we dried off. There were plenty of other people walking around here in hospital scrubs. If we kept our heads down, we could do this. Diane had the glass tablet and could pinpoint where the external camera feeds were. In contrast to the underground facility, there were a lot of blind spots and areas that were not visible.

"We will be back for Kristonia and Rachael," Diane said determinedly.

"I know. We will not let this go on any longer," I said with resilience.

For a moment, we put our heads together, holding each other. Diane smelled like flowers. We'd spent enough time here, and it was time to act. I sat in my wheelchair, and Diane covered my legs and shoulders with towels to hide my exoskeleton. She pushed me out and made our way along a path with no camera. I kept my head down just in case someone saw us. My heart was pounding with anxiety and fear of being caught. Several times we had to backtrack and duck into another area to stay out of sight of personnel we recognized. If I wasn't mistaken, they looked to be on patrol. Within an hour, we reached an area behind the entire facility. We had to walk from here on, and I said my goodbyes to my wheelchair. There was no way to take it with us. The airport had to be miles away from here. Diane rechecked the tablet. The perimeter wall was two miles away.

It took us longer than expected to get through the dense trees and shrubs to the outer wall. Upon arrival, it wasn't as significant a barrier as I thought. Diane checked on Rachel with the tablet she got from Dr. Travis. They had not checked on her yet, and I didn't know how long we had before they figured it out. After climbing the wall, we found ourselves on a steep ledge leading to a dense forest. Without a second thought, I took Diane into my arms. At first, my actions surprised her, but she understood my plan after looking over the ledge.

"You're jumping, aren't you?" Diane questioned, looking up at me.

"Yeah, the exoskeleton will lessen the impact. We won't feel a thing. Besides, I don't see another way down, and we don't have time to search for one. So, our only option is to jump!" I answered.

"Well, I trust you. Let's not waste any more time!" Diane said, smiling.

"No, stay with Kristen, and she'll need you. But, at least I can monitor her condition and maybe prevent or slow down the effects," Rachel announced.