Reclaim

Sky

                                 Griff
Waiting for Cal to get back was so stressful. So much could go so wrong, Jeff could wake up, Cal could get caught, or we could get checked on by an H-rag, and it was hard not to think about it. Sure, I had faith he'd come back alive, but I couldn't help stressing out. I checked the clock, and sure enough, we had about 9 minutes before shifts ended, and everyone in the cafeteria sector would be released. Thankfully, the manufacturing sector only had about 25 minutes before they got out.

I didn't care about the people, I cared about the H-rags, they would start going down the halls, making sure order was stored in the sectors, even though it was a holiday and most would be off duty or off guard, it still bothered me.

Now we had 7 minutes, and he wasn't back yet. I wanted to check down the halls, but I didn't wanna seem suspicious in case a stray H-rag or sweeper happened to be walking there when I did. If Cal didn't get back very soon, they'd see we didn't meet our quota by a long shot and bump security up lookin' for us.

For every tick and tock the clock made,
2 more precious seconds were being cut down, and when you're stressed, you start to notice it go a little faster every time. 5 minutes, then 5 and a quarter, 5 and a half, 5 and three quarters, and then just like that, yet another minute is gone. 4 minutes turns to 3, then 3 minutes turns to 2. Then... the door cracked open.

Anyone could've come through that door ranging from Cal to the an H-rag who knew what we were doing all along and was ready to bust us. But it was Cal, with two sets of H-rag fatigues and armor plates, as well as two batons.
"Thank God Cal, you had me worried sick."

He shoved the goods into me and his dad's hands.
"Dressed. Now."

We slipped out of our clothes and into our fatigues and armor. They were surprisingly snug and felt pretty durable too, like a punch would break on it, which it would, I've seen.

The second we were outfitted, we held a nonchalant quick power walk out of the room. We made our way down the hall and through the H-rag door and into the part of the world we lived in that we could never see, The H-rag corridors.

Outside of the buildings were walkways on second or third floors, where we couldn't reach, all connecting each other to other buildings and the wall keeping us inside. They were the H-Rag corridors.

The insides were... insane.
Colors I'd never seen before, patterns I'd never seen before, technology and equipment, and music I'd never seen or heard before. The temperature felt right in between cold and hot, burning a nice comforting way, not the monitored ways inside the buildings, but better. There were plants and desks, and all this neat stuff that wasn't outside, where we resided, along with signs pointing us in the places we needed to go.

It was all incredible, but we weren't here to admire the place. We were here to get out, and that's exactly what we would do. The manufacturing sector building was neighboring the wall, so that's exactly where we would go. A hallway pointed us in the direction of the exit, which we took. There weren't very many people out in the halls because the rooms we passed by were filled with H-rags, sweepers, and Instigate agents, as well as other people that worked in the Instigate agency.

We continued down the corridors, following the signs. The floor was a nice vacuumed carpet, the walls had a nice feel to them, and the windows had nice tints and patterns, along with the great bright lightning that wasn't too harsh and very welcoming.

I wondered why the entire Instigate wasn't like this. They could afford it, right? Why weren't their workers kept in the same conditions? The more and more the Instigate was opened up to me, the more I realized how truly unfair it all was and that my dad was right...
Then my dad came into my mind.
I was doing what he had wanted me to all this time, I'd made him proud.
But maybe we should've brought him so he could experience the outside and all it had to offer as well.

I wanted to believe we could've brought him, but I knew it was well out of our hands. We were already hammered for time, and he probably wouldn't even come, or maybe we would've gotten caught even easier. I tried not to think, but it happened either way. It just kept coming, making my what if's worse and worse.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and nearly jumped completely out of my skin. It was Cal. He must've noticed me sweating through the helmet. He just gave me a nod reassuring me. It was a small gesture, but it made things... better, I guess.

We were one step closer to freedom.
We made it to what looked like the outside of the wall. There was a huge window curving around what must have been the entirety of the Instigate with an astounding view outside, unlike any I've ever seen before.

Stretching across the vast land was dark green grass, not like the light green grass we had year round, but it wasn't darker in a sad way. It looked alive and beautiful. There was a large forest wrapping around us, and looking down around the side, the entirety of the Instigate facilities must've stretched for miles. In the forest there were tall dark trees with needle like leaves, trees with different colored leaves, and even trees that stood tall and low compared to others, it wasnt just green, it was orange, red, and yellow too. There were flowers of what must've been billions of colors and shapes spread across the fields.

There were birds of all different types living in the trees, a variety of animals ran around ranging from big to small, black to white, even brown to blue. And it was all under the amazingly colored sky, dark but brightening up as the sun rose from behind the horizon, showing me it's full beauty, an endless span of red, orange and yellow pushing away the black, blue and purple, and revealing the mesmerizing grey and white clouds blending in beautifully with the scenery painted in front of us.

I would've stood there for hours with them had Cal's dad not awoke from his trance and reminded us why we were here.

"We'll get to see so much more out there. Come on, let's go."

I couldn't wait to go out there and see the great outdoors for myself, I couldn't wait to feel true sunshine hit my face and breathe in the fresh air outside.
I couldn't wait to be free under the sky for the first time.