Running

The Plan

TW: Death references

Virgil's POV:

"That's a bad idea, Ro, and you know it-" Remus sits on the edge of a plastic table in the room that we are now waiting in. It's got a water machine and everything. Pretty fancy, if you ask me.
Anyway, he's arguing with Roman because when we leave, the older twin wants to go and visit their mom and dad.

"C'mon, please! I'm begging you-"
"I'm not on good terms with them, you can go if you want or whatever."

Janus leans against the wall and sighs, knowing that this isn't going anywhere.

"Hey, Virge, you've been kinda quiet, you okay?" Zion asks, running a hand through his hair.
"Mhm, just tired, I guess."

I lied. I'm not tired at all if I'm honest. Im just thinking.

"Hey, guys?" I say, looking up from my position of leaning against the wall. They all look at me and I continue what I was gonna say.

"This doesn't feel right."

"What exactly are you inferring by that?" Logan asks, crossing his arms.

"Well, I just.. there's still thirty-nine kids in there that will never get to leave. It doesn't feel right to just walk away just because we're allowed to."
"You wanna help them get out?" Nixa asks, seeming intrigued by the idea.

"I just don't think I can leave them all here to suffer. I mean, the place has lost twelve of fifty-one kids. So they'll probably be harsher on them. And since people get moved into an adult facility when you turn 18, we're some of the oldest here. If these younger kids are ever leaving, I think it has to be on us."

Logan's voice echoes across the small room. "How do you know exactly how many kids are here?"
I shrug. "I dunno, I just do."

Remus seems to think the same as me. "I agree with Virgil- they don't deserve to be left here to die or drown or be tortured endlessly and then have their ashes mixed into a cake that is promptly brought to the staff room for all the doctors to enj-"

"Re- We get it. You can stop." Janus cuts off his friend.

Roman decides to put his input in at this point. "Maybe they need help, but we worked hard to get our freedom. I don't want to throw it away."

I sigh at his ignorance and rub my eyes. "Great, okay, Mel, Janus, Aliya, come here." I beckoned them over with a newfound confidence.

"Right," I continue on my rant. "The four of us, are the only ones in this room who grew up in a lab. Yes?" I get nods from everybody in the room.

"Great, so, none of us got the chance to have a childhood. If we walk out of here without doing anything, those kids don't get childhoods either."

Patton's face falls a little, clearly feeling upset or sympathetic.
"So you really wanna do this, kiddo?"

I nod.

Zion rubs his hands together and looks up. "Right, if we're gonna do this - I don't think all of us should. If worst comes to worst, at least some of us should be able to get out and say they had nothing to do with it."

"I'll go with Virgil." Roman says, surprising me a little.

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Twenty minutes later, we've decided what's gonna happen. Me, Ro, Pat, Logan, Janus and Remus are all gonna try and help the kids escape. Melanie and Zion wanted to come too, but I said I couldn't risk Mel getting hurt, and I want her safe. Zion and I ended up agreeing that he should go because they would probably need him to survive if I'm being honest.

So, here's the plan:

We're gonna head back into the main building since the door isn't locked, and we'll get Logan to ask to speak to his dad. He'll obviously say yes, and Lo's gonna ask to go to one of the smaller rooms to talk. When he's in there, he's gonna run out as quick as he can and Roman'll be there to close the door behind him and lock it.

While this is going on, Janus and Remus will break into the control room and unlock room doors. It's definitely going to be difficult to get into, but they know that. And besides, I don't think either of them are very afraid of knocking-out any guards or doctors.

Finally, for the sole reason that Patton is by far the best with kids, us two are going to get people out of their rooms. I'll just poke my head in the rooms of the teenagers that are 10 or older, because they'll understand what we're doing.

As for the younger ones, it's a bit more complex. The youngest is a little girl called Quinne. I used to look after her sometimes when nothing was going on. Last time I saw her was about six months ago, and she was two then, but will be three now.

Patton will try and explain to the little ones that we need to leave. I'm gonna ask some of the other teens to make sure that other kids leave too.

Hopefully, with access to the control room and certain important people out of the way, we'll be able to leave and get them some shelter.

There's got to be quite a few members of the public who'll happily help them.

While the six of us do this, the other six will leave.

Flawless plan, right?

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"...Be careful."
"I will be, Mel, I promise." She looks at me hesitantly.

"I didn't break my last promise, did I?"

Her smile reassures me, and I turn to Zion and he wraps me in a hug. "For the love of God, Virgil, don't get caught." He whispers while hugging me.

"Don't worry, we'll be alright.. I don't think the author would let anything happen to us.."

"What?"

"Anyway, I'll make sure it goes fine."

Once the hug has finished, I give Nixa a hug too and we decide that once Dr Berry comes in to tell us we can leave, we'll commence the plan.

Fingers crossed.

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Hey! So, thanks for reading the chapter to start, but I wanted to show you guys something:

@YourLocalTrashking has done a cosplay of Virgil specifically from this au, on their tiktok, which I'm gonna link here:

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZScBQ3Xk/

It's so cool, you should 100% check it out! It makes me so happy and I'm so grateful for all the interaction with this book.

Fun fact: If you've ever commented something or will comment something on this book, I've seen it or will see it. I love reading comments, and though I can't reply to all of them, I'm so thankful for it.

Stay safe!