The Ink Infection [Brief hold and Editing]

Chapter 20

I tapped my feet on the ground, out of patience as the machine on top of the table whirred and clicked, creating a long piece of metal.

We had decided to escape this miserable school, now knowing that all our hard work was going to the dumpster. Seriously, we spend all our time and risk our lives for a cure that we may never receive. When the announcement ended, Cody, Derek, Thomas, and I decided to create weapons from the machines and escape from this horrid school.

"Come on..." muttered Derek, impatiently glaring at the rod of metal.

"It's been hours!" Complained Thomas, crossing his arms over his chest.

I gave out a huff and continued to stare at the machine as if staring at it would make the process go any faster.

There was a final beep, and the metal rod popped out, and I grabbed it, holding it in the air in triumph.

"Finally!" I shouted, shaking it in front of Cody and Derek's faces.

"Can we start now?" Asked Thomas, holding his rod.

"We need a plan first. We can't just walk out of the room and get caught..." I started eyeing the room. I silently cursed when my eyes caught a camera on the ceiling.

"Guys, act like we're having a sword fight," I whispered to them. 

"The cameras are watching us," I added when they gave me puzzled glances.

Eventually, they understood and brought up their rods, and we started to have a very boring play with them.

Cody yawned, "I'm tired, guys, let's stop."

We gave in and plopped down onto the floor, our backs against the tables.

"This is tiring. We have to keep up with this stupid act." Said Derek, throwing his metal on the floor. The sound attracted a few glances our way as the other students looked up from their work.

"My bad," Derek apologized, holding up his hand, and the students continued looking at their microscopes.

"You know," began Cody, "We could start by heading into the air vents."

I nodded my head. The air vents had many places to go. Plus, if the school wanted to find us, they would have a very hard time tracking us down inside those twisted air vents.

"Cody, could you lead us to the camera room for us?" I asked. If we could make it back to the room with all the camera access, maybe we could delete the footage of us escaping before the school saw it first.

"In case we have to delete some necessary footage from the school's camera," I added, in case I confused Cody with what my intentions were. Cody just nodded and stared at the ceiling.

"We have to wait until it's night, so the cameras won't see us crawling into the air vents," Derek noted, sinking to the floor.

Tonight felt like it would be a long day, even though we already had dinner, and it was only a matter of hours before the lights dimmed. My stomach started doing flips, and I was half excited about this escape route. I just hoped that we would successfully escape the school without losing anyone or getting caught.

There was a knock at the door, and we peered around the corner of the table. There was a figure dressed in black standing outside the door. The figure's outfit differed from those of the guards, and I eyed my friends with a puzzled look. The figure's face wasn't visible, as the black fabric covered it.

Another knock.

We exchanged glances.

At the third knock, I slowly crawled out from behind the table and approached the door with heightened caution. The figure didn't move an inch and stood there, giving me the chills down my spine. Its presence was ominous, and the bright lights above me seemed dark once I approached the door.