The Escape ~ Gally TMR

Chapter Two

The helicopter ride seemed to last only minutes, but that may have just been the fact that we were so damn tired that once we had fallen asleep, it took only moments before we were reawakened, the helicopter planted firmly on it's landing pad. Sleep wasn't voluntarily,it was rather the fact that we couldn't keep our eyes open.

"Come with us. You're safe now." A woman 's voice echoed from outside the helicopter as the propellers gradually slowed to a halt. The stray ends from her tight bun of her graying, cinnamon colored hair were whipping violently around the thin frame of her face as she guided our reluctant souls out of the helicopter.

"Welcome," she said, what little warmth appeared in her voice was obviously forced.

"to your new home."We were guided briskly away from the helicopter, my eyes still puffy and red from the crying, and my voice hoarse from shouting over the noise of the helicopter. Shai looked completely shaken up, almost as though she was still in shock from the whole thing. She was trying to be strong, for my sake, but I knew how much pain she was in from being torn from Minho. I knew exactly how she felt. Well, not exactly.

"We'll bring you straight to your new living quarters, give you some time to clean up and recooperate, I'm sure those last few tasks within Maze A were far from relaxing." The woman stated, an obvious attempt at coating us in a blanket of false comfort. What was this place? It was different from the headquarters I attended when I was first brought into Group A. It was no where near as big, but that wasn't the only obvious difference. This building was made strictly out of bricks, with no windows whatsoever. The building was completely fenced in by a steel bars, an obvious emission of radiation pouring out of the top to prevent anyone from scaling the thing. It looked just like a prison...a torture prison.I heard Shai swallowing hard, anxiety and concern filling her eyes as we neared the black steel doors that served as most likely the only entry way into this God foresaken building.

"Don't let the appearance mislead you, it's actually a state of the art research facility." The woman said, her voice showing no trace of enthusiasm or humanity. She didn't look at us when she spoke, almost as thought she knew what we must have been thinking.

"Then why does it look like a torture chamber?" Shai said flatly, her voice showing obvious lingering traces of horror and frustration as she clutched her fraile arms across her chest, shrinking down slightly as the wind piked up, sending grains of sand flying in every which direction as they attacked our fragile skin. I squinted so as not to damage my eyes with the flying sand, but the woman didn't seem to notice. She must be used to it. The helicopter had landed within the perimeters of the giant, towering fence that separated us from our the rest of the world, but as I scanned the entirety of the fence, I didn't notice a single gate. Great, that meant that that helicopter was essentially the only way out of here. I gave Shai a sideways glance, nodding towards the fence as she slowly caught wind of what I had just realized. Rolling her eyes, we continued to be paraded towards the entrance of this prison replicating torture chamber. The large guards garbed in hefty black protective armor, tinted shields covering their faces outnumbered us greatly. I wasn't positive whether the shields that covered their faces were to protect them from the sand, or from the shame of showing their faces to the innocent people whom they abducted and forced into retaining prisoner residency in these God awful places. I considered making a break for it, bolting towards the safety of the helicopter, but I knew it wouldn't do an good. Even if I did make it to the helicopter...which wouldn't happen considering I was already extremely weak from escaping the maze and I was surrounded by giant, ape like creatures who served as ruthless killers to anyone who disobeyed their Marshall Law of the land. But, on the off-chance that I actually made it to the helicopter, what then? It's not like I knew how to fly the helicopter away to safety, so most likely I would just sit their like a helpless duck, waiting for my inevitable doom as they shot violently at the helicopter windshield, just waiting for the glass to collapse and let them have their best aim at my head. It would be the reckless decision, that would most likely compromise any safety and/or rights I still had left. Sighing to myself, I continued walking as I was helplessly guided through the heavy, almost certainly fire proof double doors that lead to our inevitable doom. As soon as we entered, my eyes widened at the sights before me. Nothing was as dingy or filth ridden as I had expected. Much cleaner, with stainless, marble white floors, industrial bright white lights, and stainless steel stair cases. I was immediately bombarded with the sights and smells of a giant, science lab. Smells of burning, experimental chemicals, and sights of bright, unnatural liquids in large, glass beakers. As far as I could tell, the building possessed three floors. The first, most obviously the experimental level of this giant lab.