In The Dark

Escape

One yard... Three yards.

My heart racing, I pump my chest with oxygen. It's behind me now. I have to keep moving. I can barely see, but I can't slow down. I can hear the dogs. They know I'm gone.

Five yards... Eight yards. I can feel the rocks cutting against my feet. The cold rain is pelting my skin, like bullets of ice. It hurts, but I can't stop. I can't let them catch me.

Twelve yards....... Fifteen.

They've released the dogs. I can hear them. I need to hurry!

Seventeen yards... Nineteen...

A sudden beam of light blasts in my eyes. I'm almost there! I'm going to make it! I just need to hold out a little longer...

Twenty one yards.... Twenty three- SNAP!

A sharp pain radiates from my left foot, arching across my entire body. The pain... My ankle's twisted! I can't move it, but I can't stop now! In desperation, I crawl.

Twenty four yards... Twenty five. I can hear the peddle of foot prints. The dogs. They're getting closer! They're gonna find me! I need to move faster!

Twenty six yards.... There it is! I'm at the gate, but how do I climb?! I try to pull myself to my feet, but my left foot cries out in pain. With bitter feeling in my body, I grasp the rungs of the metal fence. My left foot was officially out of comission. I have to use my arms.

I reach up to grab another rung. I can hear the dogs barking in the backround. The sound grows louder, as I reach desperately. I'm almost half way up now. I feel the warmth of light move across the back of me. The tower. It's only a matter of time. I pull myself higher. Higher.

I'm over half way! I can see across the forest now. There were hundreds of soldiers. Almost the whole Battalion! I'm never going to make it! They'll catch me for sure. I increase my pace. I reach out as fast as I can for another rung. Now another, and another. Finally!

The top! I reach out for the edge, but my hand grips barbwire. It cuts through my hand like hot butter. Drops of blood slide all the way down my arm, as I try to hold back my screams, the sounds of feet stomp across the veranda. I'm running out of time. I pull, but the barbwire only cuts deeper. I'm trapped.

A shot is fired, but misses it's target. Perhaps an act of God, or maybe just luck. They fire again. I know it's over now. My arm starts to go numb. The pain is giving way. I feel a dart stick through the right side of my neck. Silence.

I wake to find myself in a bright room. It's like a blank canvas. Is it Heaven? I know I'm hoping too hard. I look in front of me, and I see a mirror. I can tell it's two-way. They can see me, but I can't see them. I look at my hand, they stitched it, and placed it in a sling. My foot has been wrapped in a cast.

I look for the door. Like everything els, it's incased in the bright shade of light that absorbs the room. I didn't make it. I didn't escape...

The latch on the door opens, and two men in black suits, and hospital masks grab me. I try to struggle, but it's no use. They stick a needle in my side, and I'm out again.

I wake up on the floor again. My body feels numb and cold. It was as if my body died, but my soul refused to leave. I look in front of me, there's a plate of food. It's a struggle to move, but I manage take it.

It isn't anything speacial. It looks like pale slop, but I accept it gingerly. I opened my mouth, and took a bite. It tastes foul, but I've grown used to it over time. I feel my muscles awakening as I ate. Pretty soon I finish my plate. I want to get up, but the energy isn't there. I close my eyes, and lay back down. With no other choice, I decide to let the moment take me for the third time. Within mere seconds, I'm unconcious once again.

This time I woke in a chair. I look across from me, and find a doctor standing in front of me. He had on a white coat, with a mask in front of his face.

"Patient Thirty four. Heart rate, medium. Eyes, pupils slightly dilated. Skin, flushed." He writes on a pad as he speaks.

Once he's finished, another man takes his spot in front of me and sits down. He is skinny wearing a grey and yellow striped sweater vest. He has low cropped blond hair, and glasses.

"Blake? Can you hear me?" He talks slowely. "I'm Doctor Hayes. I'm going to help to you today. Is that understood?"

I know I don't have a choice in the matter, so I nodded slightly.

He fixes his glasses. "I understand, you tried to leave. Am I correct?"

The words are hard for me. "Yes."

"You realize that you are a part of a great process? You are the first to make it this far. All the other usually let go after the first three tests. So far, you have completed five."

I grit my teeth, but don't speak a word.

"We are well on our way to learning just what it is we need to know. Why would you want to take that away from us?"

I don't respond. I simply look at him in silence.

"We will resume experimentation tomorrow. Until then I suggest you get some rest, or you may not make it."

He said, his expression rough as if part of him is hoping I don't.

I have nothing left. It's over. All I can do was wait for the end. I rise from the chair, and walk around the room. I feel my head, where they had shaved it. The scar is just as fresh as it was once the pain had went away. Two jaggad lines like twin lightening bolts lay still on the back of my skull. Just another reminder. Another statement that I was no longer human. I am property. A prisoner. And that isn't going to change anytime soon.