Beyond the Horizon

31. Game Plan

Inukashi kept shooting Nezumi poisonous looks from the other side of the socialization room. Their lower lip was puffy and red where Nezumi's knuckles had split the skin; the cut looked sore and scabbed over.

          Nezumi didn't feel guilty. His impromptu brawl with Inukashi would make necessary collaboration difficult, but he didn't regret it. Landing a solid blow on the kid's face had been just the outlet Nezumi needed for the aggression Horizon Labs had pumped into him.

          Even so, repairing the damage quickly and pushing forward with his escape plan was a priority, and Inukashi's distrust of him created an obstacle. Ever since Mirai shoved Nezumi back into the concrete socialization room less than an hour ago, Inukashi had avoided any manner of contact with him. Spotting him, they'd quickly scurried to one of the corners, putting as much distance between themself and Nezumi as the room would permit.

          Nezumi clenched and unclenched his fingers. He needed to be smart about this. Inukashi hating him was a definite setback, but nothing he couldn't overcome. He was making a risky gamble by involving Inukashi in his escape plan, but the benefits of the plan's success outweighed the potential consequences of his failure to recruit Inukashi.

          He'd pieced together his plan in the late hours before Mirai had swept around the corner, two guards fresh on her heels, to haul him off to socialize. She'd already informed him that Rashi was "otherwise occupied," and that she'd been left in charge of Section M's residents in his absence.

          Good. Out of the two officers, Nezumi liked his odds at outwitting Mirai.

          The two guards flanking her were familiar. Nezumi riffled through the list of names he'd heard as one of them, an older guy with salt-and-pepper hair, unlocked his cell to lock his wrists together and drag the burlap sack over his head. Eventually, he settled on the name—Benkei—and tried to store it. Names might have been useless knowledge under other circumstances, but if Benkei was one of the guards Nezumi could get the drop on, knowing his name might make slipping into his mind a bit easier.

          Nezumi tried counting his steps as Mirai and her guards led him to the socialization room. He made a mental note of each twist and turn they took, which directions they guided him in. Without his vision, his mental map of the Lab didn't quite have enough detail, but muscle memory worked better than nothing. To survive, Nezumi needed to take advantage of all resources available to him.

          As he marched along, hanging his head to appear defeated, he sent his awareness out and probed through the air for his intended targets. Finding them proved easier than the first time; their signatures sang out to him, each one lighting up until he could count five of them. A quick brush through the patterns of their thoughts assured him these were the prisoners he'd located the night prior.

          The other signature he'd felt didn't appear, but Nezumi shook it off. Five targets would suit his needs. Counting Inukashi, he had six pawns to utilize in his escape act. Six more than he'd entered with.

          Pulling himself from his thoughts, Nezumi's eyes flickered to Inukashi. They sat curled against the wall, knees tucked to their chest. Nezumi hadn't known them for long, but in their brief interactions, Nezumi deduced that Inukashi made themself smaller when they felt uncomfortable. A smaller target was much harder to strike.

          Inukashi was young; it was possible they had no recollection of the world outside Horizon Labs. Perhaps they'd been born inside these walls, an experiment that hadn't turned out the way the Lab intended. Nezumi wouldn't put it past that creepy doctor to try "breeding" superhumans in sterile rooms, just to see what might happen.