Thunder and Storm

The Runaway.

TWO MONTHS LATER.

Two months. I've spent two months in this hell going through training after training every day. It was pure torture. Kowalski hadn't gone easy on me either. It was like he loved seeing me in pain. He always brought up such arduous tasks as exercises and if I failed, I'd get beat up.

I was Petra's punching bag. Those two were my greatest nightmare in this place. But it hadn't been all that bad, Margot and Hakeem had made it bearable. They were my only friends in this place.

For two months, I had not heard anything from my parents. Not a phone call or a letter. Radio silence. It was almost like they'd forgotten about me but I knew they couldn't forget me. They couldn't leave me here. They were probably out there trying to figure out a way to get me out of here.

But I couldn't wait for them anymore, I needed to leave this place tonight. One good thing that came out of the training exercises Kowalski had been putting me through, I was stronger than before now. I was somewhat in control of my ability, though I still couldn’t control it well yet. It was a bit tricky but I'd been practising how to break out of my power dampener and now it didn't hold me down anymore. Not even the white room could hold me down.

They thought they were keeping me under control but they were wrong, they were teaching me how to be in control.

The doors to the treatment room slid open and I stepped into the room, followed by my ever-present shadows. Bertha and Michaelson. They followed me everywhere. Despite the weeks, that's passed, the criminal treatment I've been getting from the guards hadn't lessened, it had gotten worse. Bertha and Michaelson were always stationed at my door and followed me everywhere I went. The only time I was ever free of them was when I went to the washroom and even then they stood outside by the door.

Dr Reynolds got up from his chair immediately I entered and smiled at me. "Good morning, Sally. How do you feel today?" He asked as I moved to the bed and lied down. Today was Tuesday and it was time for another check-up.
"Good morning, doctor. I'm as chipper as a chipmunk."
"Hmm! What's got you so excited today?"
"Oh! It’s nothing. I just have a good feeling about today.”
He laughed and placed an EEG machine on my head. Over the weeks, Dr Reynolds and I had developed a bit of a friendship. He was like the grandpa I never had. Even he didn't want me to be here but there was nothing he could do to help me, all he could do was patch up my wounds and made sure I stayed alive. I couldn't enlist his help in my escape plan that's why I'd be going solo.
"Let's see what this tells us then."
He turned on the machine and moved to the monitor. I closed my eyes and tried to calm myself down. I hoped my excitement wouldn't show through this test.

I opened my eyes and glanced at Dr Reynolds. The look on his face wasn't good. He moved towards me and took off the machine.

"Sally, do you feel good? Are you okay? You're not in any sort of pain?" He looked worried as he spoke. Through his glasses, his eyes moved over every inch of my body.

I chuckled nervously. "I'm fine, nothing is wrong with me."

"There can't be nothing wrong with you.” He moved back to the monitor, his gaze flickering over the screen.

"According to this result, you're supposed to be having a stroke right now."

Oh!

Trying to break out of my room took a tremendous amount of power and energy, it left me drained every time I tried. There was also the occasional nosebleed and shocking jolt of pain in my head. He didn't need to know about all that though.

I laughed it off. "As you can see, I'm perfectly fine," I got down from the bed and lifted my arms, turning around so he could see me clearly. "Maybe it was a glitch or something. Or the machine is malfunctioning."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "I think you should go back to your room."

"What? Why?"

"You're not in any condition to be training today. You're going to stay in your room till I can ascertain what's wrong with you."

"Guards!" He called and the doors slid open. "Take her back to her room, she won't be training today."

I didn't say anything as Bertha and Michaelson escorted me back to my room. Staying in there till nightfall was going to be hard but it would give me enough time to build up my energy.

*************

"You missed training today," Hakeem said as he placed his tray on the table.

"Yeah, the lucky bitch,” Margot grumbled and I laughed.

I took a spoonful of beans and shoved it in my mouth. "Thanks to Dr. Reynolds who thinks I'm going to die of a heart attack very soon."

I took two consecutive spoonful of the beans again and swallowed. It wasn't that delicious. That was an understatement, it was beyond horrible. It was mushy, the chef seemed to have added too much water and little spice. It was like I was eating mushy beans soup.

Hakeem frowned as he looked down at my plate. "How do you seem to be enjoying that?" He grimaced and looked down at his plate. "I can tell it'll be horrible from the looks of it."

"It doesn't taste that bad to me.” I shrugged. Maybe it was because I knew I would be out of here tonight and be able to eat my mom's cooking again. As a celebratory dinner, she'd probably make me the veggie lasagne I liked so much.

Margot took a spoon of her dish and shuddered as she chewed. "God, I can't wait to get out of here. I'm tired of this place already."

"You think we'll get out?" I asked.

"Yeah, we have to. We can't possibly spend the rest of our lives down here training every day,” she answered.

I nodded. It was on the tip of my tongue to tell them about my plan to escape tonight but I wasn't sure how that was going to play out. Margot’s room was far away from mine and even though her door wasn't guarded like mine, getting there took a whole seven minutes out of my escape time and I didn't have a lot of time to work with.

Hakeem on the other hand was in another section. The male section was on the other side separated from ours by a door only the guards could access. I could try to open the door but it was still on the other side and I couldn't do all that and still be able to get out on time.

"None of you seem to be asking the main question here," Hakeem spoke up in a quiet tone and we both stared at him.

He licked his lips nervously before bending to whisper to us conspiratorially. "What are we training for?" he said like it was some kind of government top secret.

"If you think about it, we've been here for eight months training and learning control over our abilities. They can't just be training us just like that yet keep us in control with these nasty power dampeners." He moved the collar around his neck and I saw a flash of the skin underneath it. It was red.

"My theory is they're training us for something. Something much bigger and they're taking out only the strong ones amongst us. The rest of us are expendable." He moved the collar again. He seemed to be uncomfortable with it.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"He's right, Sally. That's why I try my best to train and get stronger every day. I don't want to be part of the missing kids," Margot said. She looked down at her plate gloomily and moved the food around.

"Missing kids?" They were confusing me more and more.

"Haven't you noticed?" she asked. "It has been going on since before you woke up, that's why a lot of the kids here hate you for bringing them here in the first place."

The hatred I'd felt from them when I had first woken up here wasn't gone. They hated me because I was the catalyst that brought them here. If the government hadn't found out about me, Medex wouldn't have had to clear all enhanced kids from public scrutiny. An ill-feeling churned in my stomach and I pushed my food away. Here I was daydreaming of getting back home to my parents yet they were going to be stuck here because of me. They deserved a chance to get out too but I couldn't save everyone.

"People go missing in here. The ones who've failed at practice so far are gone. Look around you, do you see the number of people in the cafeteria now? Are they the same as when you first woke up?"

I looked around the tables and she was right. They had lessened. How didn't I notice it before?

The chairs around each table used to be filled with people before but now there were a lot of empty seats. A knot formed in my stomach and I bent my head to whisper to them.

"I have a plan. I'm getting out tonight."

Margot gasped. "How? I heard your room is different from ours, embedded with some special kind of device that stops you from using your powers,” she said worriedly.

A smile curved on my lips. "Yes, it is. But I can break through it."

"How is that possible? Even I can't break through my collar," Hakeem said, moving the collar around his neck again. Hakeem's ability was the power to destabilise things. Electronics and other Enhanced powers.

"Is that what did that to your neck?" I asked and he nodded.

"I can't control it. The collar keeps activating by itself in my sleep, creating burn marks around my neck."

"It looks really painful," Margot said as she moved the collar aside and looked at his reddened skin.

"It is,” he replied. "But I'll live.” He shrugged and looked down at his plate.

Margot and I glanced at each other, both of us sharing the same thought. If the guards notice the burn marks, he would be taken like the rest of the missing Enhanced and we'll never see him again.

"What if I can deactivate your collar?"

"How?" He looked at me suspiciously.

"I just can and then we can all escape together tonight."

"That would be awesome.” He smiled then sighed. “I can't wait to feel the sun on my face again."

"Yeah, awesome and foolish too,” Margot chimed in. "Do you think they wouldn't notice that the collar has been deactivated?"

"Yes, they would but then we'd be out of here anyway. I can break out of my room, I can deactivate your collars too. All you have to do is find a way to get to me when I do."

"Or Margot could just do her thing and portal us out of here." Hakeem pointed out, looking very interested in my plan now.

"You see? We can get out of here and go back home."

"That plan is not going to work, they'll be on us sooner than we can say Jack Robinson and who knows what they'll do to us for trying to escape.” She looked scared. 

Her fear was clouding her judgement. The plan was full proof and with her help, we could get out faster and easier. All she had to do was think of anywhere else other than here and teleport us there.

"You don't have to be scared, Margot. We can make it work. We have to at least try. Don't you want to go home?"

"I want to go back home more than anything. I miss my parents and my grandpa, my cat, Chelsea and my dog, Brown.” Her eyes clouded with tears. She had a faraway look in her eyes as she talked about her family.

"I miss my mom's cooking more than anything,” she said quietly and sniffed.

She clenched her hands on the table and looked down at her plate of food, her hair fell over her shoulder, covering her face. I took one of her hand in mine and squeezed it reassuringly.

"You can see them all again. Just trust me," I whispered.

She shook her head and jerked her hand out of mine. "Why do you think this place is called The Underground? It's because it's underground. There's no escape out of here. If they can rig your room to prevent you from using your powers before they even discovered you were a Level Five, don't you think they'd have rigged this place up in case one of us gets the brilliant idea to escape?"

"I'm sorry, Sally. I am but I'd rather not risk getting taken away.” She looked away trying to look anywhere else but at me. For someone who believed we'd get out of here one day, she wasn't doing anything to try to make it happen.

I looked at Hakeem and he looked down at his plate cowardly. "Even you too, Hakeem?"

He didn't say anything, he continued to look down at his plate.

"Fine then. I'm leaving tonight and nothing can stop me."