The Marked People

Unplanned plans

Indigo

With the hope of finally being able to escape I sleep well, my nightmares about torture for once giving me some peace. Phoenix too seems to sleep well and by the next morning we both look more energetic than we have in a long time.

What's even more surprising is that no one comes to record my reaction to another seizure. In fact apart from someone giving us breakfast not a single person visits us.

By the middle of the day I'm growing worried and voicing my fears I say, "Why haven't they come yet?"

Phoenix is as tense as I am. "Perhaps they've found the stabiliser and are testing it, to see if it will work."

"They're testing the cure without using it on me? That doesn't seem like something they'd do." My voice is full of disbelief.

Phoenix shrugs "Maybe they're using one of the blood sample they took from you to test it. After all if they try it on you straight away and it doesn't work then they lose their only test subject."

His logic makes sense, after all it's not like they've shied away from hurting me. The only reason they wouldn't immediately use the cure on me is if they're still worried it could kill me. I am, after all a rare commodity.

Phoenix sits down beside me, and leans his head against the glass wall that I'm sitting against. In a low voice he murmurs "Which means if they've got all the data they need and they've got a cure close to being ready we don't have much time."

He's right as far as we know they could have the cure ready today or in two years time. With no real way to know when they might decide they don't need Phoenix alive or me to conduct further tests on, our window of time to escape is closing.

"Then we try tonight." My voice is just above a whisper and Phoenix nods, it's not like we've got much of an alternate anymore.

All Phoenix's ideas about carefully planning our escape are useless now. After all, plans can't help us if they've already got the cure.

For the rest of the day we're tense, watching the frosted over glass for any movement. At any moment I imagine Aradonious strutting in proclaiming loudly they've found the cure.

While a day inside our prison normally moves at a sluggish rate today it seems the sun is actively fighting against us. We try to keep busy. Phoenix and I take turns on the chin up bar and we play a dozen or so rounds of cards that have been left for us in the draw of the bed side table.

"Do you have any two's?"

Phoenix half shakes his head "No, go fish."

I sigh and pick up a card, "I forgot how boring this game really is."

Phoenix grins and begins to pack up the cards, our half finished game of go fish forgotten " Well we could have played some card games that my people devised but you didn't want to learn."

I lie back on the couch and turn my head to watch him "I hate cards, the games always have too many rules and are boring after a few rounds. There's a reason I only know one card game."

Phoenix half smiles "Well we've still got a couple of hours before they give us dinner which means it's still day. What do you suggest we do?"

Standing from the couch I stretch before walking over to the bed. "My plan is to sleep. If everything goes to plan we won't be getting much sleep tonight and it will pass the time."

"Yeah good idea, maybe it will stop you from prowling about like a tiger for a bit" Phoenix says while turning his attention to the beginnings of a card house he's building.