The Scarlet Knife

The Plan

"So what's the plan?" I had to get out. We had to get out. Buy how?!

"I don't know, the facility is surrounded, but you already knew that. How did you get out last time?"

"I played dead." There was a bitterness is my voice yet I found myself smiling at the ugly memory. "I took the pill... but not all of it. Just enough to put me to sleep." I was a smart kid. But I can't do the same thing twice.

"We don't give pills anymore. We just give shots. Then BAM. You're out like a light." Romeo's voice matched mine. Bitter. Yet there was a scary edge to it. He had a blank stare, seemingly lost in space.

"So where does that leave us? You can't fake your death again. They won't fall for it."

"Yeah I got that, thanks." Was he always this stupid? "Let's see... Your dad will never help us." At this Romeo laughed.

"He's the one doing your operation." Just great. Absolutely great. "I wish he wasn't my father anymore."

"You don't mean that."

"But I do! He's done nothing but lie to me my whole life. He doesn't love me, I'm like a chore to him. The only reason he keeps me around is because he needs someone to take over after he dies." There were tears in Romeo's eyes. Actual tears. And I wanted nothing more than to make them go away. I didn't know why, but I did.

"Maybe he's better off dead..." is what he whispered coldly. I almost didn't hear it.

"You'll regret it."

"No. I won't." But we both knew that was a lie. He would, and he would never forgive himself. It was all talk. But it did lead to a new idea.

"Romeo, we're getting out of here. And I know how."

...

I awoke in a dark room. Well... shack anyway. My head pounding, I had a splitting headache. Get it? Splitting? Okay, too soon.

I sat up very slowly, knowing that sudden movements would increase the pain. Looking to my right I saw him. He was asleep, dirty, a complete mess. But so was I.

I picked up a pebble. Tossed it at his back which was facing me. He stirred, so I did it again. This time he jumped up so fast you'd think I electrocuted him.

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!" Romeo cried out, I could practically see his heart racing in his chest as he took shallow breaths. I flinched at the sharp sound of his panicked voice.

"It's ok, it's just me." Calming down he looked at me. I saw relief flash in his eyes, then hope, then it was gone and all I could see was a blank emotionless void.

"You're up." Was all he said. No hi, no how are you, no glad you're not dead.

"How long was I out?" I could be all business too if that's what he wanted.

"A few days. I stitched up your head with some stuff I stole before we left. You're heavy by the way. It was hard to carry you out."

"Well I'm so sorry." Suddenly I regretted showing any emotion towards him. I touched my head, which was wrapped in cotton. Caked with dry blood.

"You should take that off. It'll be a dead give away." Nodding I slowly unwrapped it. I felt the bumpy stitches where my cut was. He did a descent job.

"You found the shack."

"I just kept running. The alarms went off a few moments after I left the building. I'm sure by now they've figured out what happened." Romeo sat back down. "We're dead if they find us Aura."

"If they find us. If. The point is, we're not dead now. Don't think too far ahead and psych yourself out. The last thing we need is to be irrational and get caught."

"Nothing about this is rational!" He yelled. But not really. It was more of a whisper, but his voice was angry giving the impression of a scream. "I should be at the facility with my poor excuse of a father. I should be working, wrong or not that's what I was raised to do."

"Listen, I thought that when you decided to help me that you were going to be loyal. That you realized what you were getting into. I thought we were in this together. I may be 17 but I can handle my own. I don't need you to drag me down because you have no faith. And trust me, your little world is nothing like reality.

You need me out here. Whether you like it or not, you can never go back. It's better that you realize that now and just let me do my thing out here. You can't go back Romeo!" My words seemed to shock him. As if this was the first time he'd actually thought about what we had done. Good. It was time for him to grow up.

"You're right. You are right." He took a deep breath, coughing on the fumes. He was just pushing his emotions aside. Ignoring them. He'd pay for that later. "Here," he pushed a bag towards me. Inside was a mask. A red mask, one that was so familiar to me I almost cried.

"Well Scarlet, what's next?"

"What's next is we rest." I didn't think we'd get this far, truth be told I had no clue what I was doing anymore. But if anything was going to be done, it would be done after I was healed. "I can't go walking around the city with bandages wrapped around my head, it's a dead give away."

"But I'm not injured, that worker never saw me coming!" The pride in his voice didn't match the sorrow in his eyes.
...
"...I know how."

"Okay little miss genius, what's your plan?" The sarcasm in his voice was noted. He'd pay for that later.

"You give shots to kill people off..."

"Noooo, we give shots to finish failed experiments."

"Whatever! You give the 'experiment' a shot and they go bye bye, right?" He nods. "So use one of those on my operation person!"

"Wait, that's my dad!" I knew it would bother him to kill his dad. But I had that planned out too.

"Convince your dad to have someone else do it. Tell him that he should work on something else and have someone the dirty work for him. Then he can take the credit later. Tell him you'll stay in the room with me and make sure everything goes according to plan. But whatever you do, make sure it's someone you don't know."

"I don't know Aura. I can't kill someone that easily. The kids they end up injured or sick. This person would be perfectly fine."

"It's him or me Romeo. Choose."
...
"You're not injured but I'm willing to bet that they have people out there looking for you. We can't risk it." He looked at me. Emotionless. Cold. Almost dead.

"So we're stuck here." I nodded and sighed. This was going to be a long recovery, I just hoped that Romeo would cut out his mood swings soon. They were getting out of hand and I was tired of them.