2074

Chapter 6: Clara

 "So then, we go through the vents and try to find our way to the exit..."

Sylvia was explaining a plan for us to escape. We were discussing it in the bathroom while 'brushing our teeth.'

She had seen a vent high over the desk and thought we could find a way out.

After she explained, Al raised her hand.

"I have a question," she asked.

"Yeah?"

"Why are we trying to escape? Jonathan is giving us a place to stay, and food as long as we agree to let him experiment with us," Al's facial expression was slightly confusing. It was mixed between sadness and confusion.

"Well... If you didn't know we just got kidnapped and got fed some green potion that poisoned us and made us puke green crap and blood. I, personally, would like to escape," I said sternly, confused about why she didn't want to leave.

"But what if we get caught?! We could die! Maybe we should give Jonathan a few more days. We've only been here for like, one day!"

"We have a higher chance of dying here than dying trying to escape, and I would rather die while trying to escape. It would be a more adventurous death."

"I guess I'll go with your plan," Al agreed, looked away guiltily, and sighed.

"What's with her?" Sylvia whispered.

"I dunno."

We each took a turn brushing our teeth. After, we walked out, then parked our butts on the floor. "What are you doing?" Jonathan was confused.

"We're sleeping on the floor," I stated.

"That's obvious," Jonathan rolled his brunette eyes. "But why?"

"We thought we wanted to give you more space on your bed today. After all, It is your bed," Al said considerately.

In reality, while we didn't mean to be considerate. As we were planning to escape from the vents in Jonathan's room, we didn't want Jonathan to be uncomfortable in the chair, because that would mean that he would be easily awakened, and if we wanted to escape from the vents, we would make a lot of noise.

"Ah. I could just sleep-"

"No! No, it's fine! It's not healthy to sleep in the chairs anyway."

"I see... I assume I can't change your mind about this," he said.

"Nope, good night!" Al said.

Approximately half an hour later, Al and I carefully stepped up on the desk. We moved with absolute silence. Al made her way in first. She pried open the vents as quietly as she could, and slid in. When she was safely up there, I followed suit. Sylvia mirrored our actions, and before we knew it, she had already managed to crawl into the vents with us. "Yes!" she exclaimed.

After, she grabbed my hand and pulled me in. I did the same to Al, and we got in. "Let's go!" Al cheered.

"Yes!" I smiled.

After a while, we realized, The space inside the ventilation shaft was surprisingly spacious for at least two of us to fit comfortably side by side. Sylvia took point and started leading us forward into the darkness. My heart raced with anticipation as we moved through the tight corridors in a single line.

Suddenly, I heard some rustling from ahead of us. Sylvia immediately stopped in her tracks and motioned for one of us to go take a look. I quietly crawled forward.

Al went to the front of the line and peeked forward. "Uh... Who the hell are you...?"

I peeked from where I was and saw two grimy sweaty men crawling through the vent.

"Al? Clara?"

"Wait... I recognize that voice," I mused.

"Really? I thought I did too," Sylvia said. "But these are grimy boys. We don't know many grimy boys."

"Is that... Xander?" Al asked.

"Yeah! Also, I'm here too. It's me, Juem," the other guy chimed in.

"How did you get here?!" It's been like three months since you guys disappeared! it's the end of summer!" Sylvia exclaimed.

"Well, we got kidnapped, and Rafael died, but we're over it. Maybe not Xander, but you know, people die. Anyway, we knocked out the weird scientist man, and you know, yeah. Here we are. We find openings in vents that lead to rooms, open them, crawl in, and loot the rooms.

"Oh, wow," Al said. "For three months?!"

"Yeah. I bet you wouldn't last long enough," Xander bragged.

"Shut up."

Then suddenly a voice was heard faintly over the PA. Or I guessed there was a PA. "Test subjects B-13, B-14, and B-15 have escaped. Search the premises."

Ohhhhh...

This sucks. This really sucks.

"Well, we should keep moving," Juem said.

"No duh, Juem," I hissed.

We started crawling faster, each of us going in front of the other, trying to get in the front.

I crawled in front of everyone, so I was at the front, and Al and Xander were at the back. Suddenly, Al started moving backward.

"What? Uh, Xander?" she asked.

"What do you want- Oh, what?!"

"Yeah, Uh," Al was three feet away. "I'm being pulled by something."

Xander grabbed Al's hand and started pulling her back. "Hngh- What's pulling you backward?! Whatever it is, It's really strong!"

I then noticed them struggling. "Al!" We all hurried to help her, but alas, we couldn't do anything. We were just pulling against an unstoppable force.

We screamed her name over and over again; refusing to accept that we wouldn't be able to save her. Tears streaming down my face, I watched in horror as Xander and Al were slowly moving backwards, despite our efforts.

"AL!" Sylvia screamed between sobs "I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE!" She wailed desperately.

"I KNOW!" she said, tears falling out of her eyes. "I'LL MISS YOU! I HOPE YOU ESCAPE!

"NO! WE WON'T LEAVE!" I pulled harder. "GUYS, KEEP PULLING!"

"LOOK, IT'S FINE!" We shook our heads at her and pulled for another minute. There was no- no way that we could leave Al. Soon, Sylvia and I started sweating as we were pulling on both of Xander's shoes. Our grip then slipped, and Xander and Al were pulled out of sight, down another path, their brown eyes widened in fear.

"AL!" Sylvia screamed.

"WHERE DID SHE GO?! WHY?!" The tears kept flowing from my eyes faster than ever before.

"XANDER!" Juem exclaimed.

After a while, we realized we still had to keep moving, or else we'd be next. Including Juem. We decided to escape so we could bust Al and Xander out later.

Tears were still falling out like a downpour. I sniffed as I crawled through the vents.

Juem looked down, sadly. "I lived in a friggin' vent with that guy! He just left!"

"Must be hard for you," Sylvia looked at him, tears threatening to come out, still shaken about what happened earlier.

"Yeah, but we should still keep moving," Juem sighed. "No time to be sad. Clara, stop crying. You're not five."

I looked at Juem. "My friend just possibly died."

He nodded. "Fair."