Caught

Chapter Six

Rules were created so that they can be broken. I thought, walking through the halls of the Institute.

They want to keep me in. Well, I'm breaking out. I told myself. I told myself that I was gonna escape again, no matter what it takes. Mom can't expect me to stay here after what she did to me, to all of us. It's a permanent scar in my memory.

It's not like I'm going to willingly stay here, where all my nightmares take place.

They're gonna have to try harder to make me stay here.

I pass dark hallways, leading to rooms where danger takes place; horrid games, difficult tests, dorms full of scared children, kidnapped from their homes.

To my right is the hallway where my old dorm was, two years ago. I stop to take a peek at it, expecting to see a clear, quiet hall with a guard in the corner. Instead, I hear the sound of a boy's cries.

Children are lined up, backs straight against the wall, forced to watch a boy being whipped at. Blood splattered the white tiles below him as blood dripped down his back and his legs to the floor. He probably wasn't much older than twelve.

The guard showed no sign of regret. He didn't note the boy's pain. He just kept whipping him. For what, I didn't know.

"Stop!" I cried, not being able to stand the abuse. "What are you doing? I doubt he did anything wrong."

The guard turned around, glaring at me. He looked familiar, very familiar. Something about his face...

"You," He snarled, the mustache on his face twitching.

My heart leaped. "You're supposed to be dead." I left him for dead, didn't I? Me - or Spencer - shot him in the head.

"Well, I was rescued after you shot me in the head," He explained. "Was in a coma for nine months, missed the birth of my child." He gave a bitter look. "You happy 'bout that?"

"Kinda." He wasn't focused on the children, I gestured for them to leave, get out of there. There was only one guard - Mr. Mustache - as far as I was concerned. The injured boy was struggling to get up, a girl was quietly helping him up.

Mr Mustache must've been deaf in one ear because he had no clue what was going on behind him. The sound of their footsteps were silent and the doors creaked silently as the children entered their dorm. The injured boy stepped inside with the girl who helped him up.

"The boy tried escaping, if you were wondering," He finally answered.

"And that's a bad thing because..."

He looked at me straight in the eye. "After you and the boy escaped, we were instructed to keep a very close eye on all of the Evolutians. Anyone who tries to leave is punished."

"That's not right." Anger built inside of me. "This place isn't right! Can't you just leave those kids alone, you aren't even their parents."

"Actually," Mr Mustache clarified. "That was my son who entered my daughter's room."

-- : --

I stood in the very place where I turned back to look at the Institute, expecting to never return back again. The fall colours surround me as I look past the tall fence into the woods I called a haven for months.

They added the fence so that even if someone managed to leave their dorms and the building, they wouldn't be able to make it into the forest. It was also built so that you couldn't teleport to the other side, apparently disabling all the Evolutians' powers for a kilometer outside the fence. And once landed, they'll immediately pass out.