Writer's Wednesday || Part 8 - The Escape

- Part 8 -

The Escape

Sean admired Clarity's ability to stay calm, considering the circumstances.

In the four years he had spent living at the orphanage full of angry, abandoned children and attending public school with bullies like Drew lurking around every corner, Sean himself had developed a talent for composure under pressure. This was a considerably worse situation than being jumped on by Drew and his group, but Sean found his talent still worked.

The only asset they had for their escape was surprise and even that would run out quickly.

"Ready?" Clarity whispered out the side of her mouth. If anyone was listening on the surveillance bugs or watching the cameras, all they would witness at that moment was Clarity and Sean sitting where they had been for the last ten minutes, planning their escape as they typed on the phone.

Sean nodded, once.

Clarity rose and went to the door. She pounded it with her fist and yelled through the crack, "Hey! We've made a decision! You can come back in."

She didn't sit back down. Sean stood too, and together they waited for a few breathless seconds. Finally, the lock on the door clicked and Dr. Stallings entered the room again. Just before the entrance shut, Sean caught a glimpse of the security guard, John, standing outside. He threw a glance at Clarity, who acknowledged it with the slightest of head shakes.

Sean faced the Doctor. He forced his voice to stay steady. "We want to join you."

Stallings eyes sparked, though his expression was unreadable. "I'm glad to hear it."

Clarity took over for Sean. She seemed to work with deception as easily as a potter with clay. "But only on the condition that you try and get me back to my family if at all possible and that you try to help Sean get his memory back."

The memory thing hadn't been discussed, but Sean supposed it made Clarity's lie seem more believable. He watched the Doctor carefully, wondering if he doubted their intentions. If he did, the man didn't show it. Sean was slowly realizing he was much shrewder than he seemed.

"You have my word that I will do everything in my power to help you. Just so long as you help us," Dr. Stallings smiled widely at them--plastically--and continued, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions and I'm sure you're hungry. Shall we retire to more comfortable arrangements?"

With Stallings leading the way, they exited the interrogation room and began walking down the long hallway. John followed. Along the hall were only four doors, two on each side, directly across from each other. Sean recognized one at the end as the door that led to the cell they had woken in. Past the hallway sat three elevators and another door. A sign on it indicated it led to the stairwell.  

"What's behind the doors?" asked Clarity bluntly.

"They are all identical, and you have already been in one," Stallings answered, easily cookie-cutting around the fact that they were really holding cells for abductees.

Sean bit his lip as Clarity said, "Well, a chair or two wouldn't hurt."

Just as they reached the elevators and the Doctor was about to press the button, the doors dinged open and a pretty, blond girl with square glasses and a ponytail walked out. She held a clipboard tightly. She looked to be about twenty.

"Oh, uh, Dr. Stallings, sir--" the girl glanced between the Doctor and Sean and Clarity. "The labs have been cleared--"

"Yes, yes, alright. Thank you, Destiny," Stallings cut her off sharply. "Please inform Drayga Towers now that the 401 has been cancelled."

Did that have something to do with them? What would have happened if they had said no? This 401?

Sean gripped the handcuffs and key hidden in his pocket tightly. Leaving them with Clarity and him had been Stallings first mistake. Sean glanced at Clarity as the Doctor spoke. She gave the slightest of nods. Her electric eyes were static with determination.

In a heart-stopping instant, Sean pulled the cuffs from his pocket, slipped one ring over John's wrist and the other over Stallings', then clicked them shut. The locks engaged. As astonishment dawned over their faces, Sean yelled, "GO!" and Clarity tugged open the door to the stairs. John grabbed after them, but being attached to Stallings slowed him down.

"Stop!" screamed Dr. Stallings. "Children--STOP!"

They raced into the stairwell.

"Down, go down!" ordered Sean, just before they heard the bang of a door floors below and the pounding of footsteps. Guards in black uniforms began flooding up the stairs. John must have sounded the alarm.

"Up, up!" Clarity ordered instead, shoving him up the staircase. They raced up floor after floor, the pounding of men growing closer by the second. Any calm he had had before was lost now, left behind on the stairwell landing that now seemed like miles away. Sean's heart threatened to leap out of his mouth. He felt sick with adrenalin.

What would happen if they were caught? This was their only chance.

Clarity pulled him up the last staircase. A door faced them. Slamming it open, they ran together into blinding sunlight.

Sean threw a hand up to shield his eyes. They were on the roof of the building. Shock and then panic flushed his veins.

All this time he had thought they were still in the I.T.A. building. After all, they couldn't have been out long enough to be transported anywhere. Their plan had been to get back to the school group before they left. Get back into civilization before they could be abducted again.

But he had been wrong. They were nowhere near civilization now.

This wasn't I.T.A.

Surrounding this building was a broad wall, on all four sides, eight stories tall. A tower stood at each corner, guards along the parapets. And beyond the wall, miles upon miles upon miles of evergreen tress spread, until, at last, the waves of the ocean.

This wasn't the I.T.A. building. This was a compound.

And it was on an island.

Sincerely,

~The Scribbler in the Attic