The Anomaly Project

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

TODD

"Hey!" I shout, as I'm shoved roughly through a tiny doorway. "Watch it, will you?"

The guard merely stares stoically at me and slams the metal door shut. I sigh, fall backwards onto the concrete floor, laying down and staring up at the ceiling.

It's a tiny room. No windows, only one small door. The floor and walls are cold, hard concrete. And that's... it. Nothing else inside, except for me.

Splendid, I think sarcastically. And here I was thinking my day couldn't get any better. Nope, we've just got to top it all off with bloody solitary confinement!

A few minutes pass. And then a few more. I'm already starting to lose it. I hate just sitting around, period. Being trapped in a tiny cell with no light and barely any room to move? Absolute torture for me.

A couple more minutes. Maybe more than just a couple. Maybe it's been hours. I already can't tell the difference.

I wonder how Tessa is doing. Probably better than I am. Hopefully she is, at least. No doubt she's enduring the same conditions.

I start tapping my fingers on the floor, on the wall, trying desperately to find some way to entertain myself. My thoughts turn to Autumn, and the others. I hope Autumn's found some way to meet up with them, and that they're on their way here to break Tessa and me out of these bloody cells. I'm already going nuts in here.

More time passes, but I can't tell how long it's been since they locked me in here. An hour? More? Less? I've got no clue. I lose track of what I'm doing. I think I sleep for a while. I wonder about Tessa, and my other friends.

Footsteps. Do I really hear footsteps or am I just imagining it? I'm probably imagining it... no, no wait, I'm not; I hear voices too. Footsteps plus voices means something is happening, right?

Or maybe I've just gone completely crazy. Not even a full day in here, and I'm already way off the deep end.

A door clangs. Probably the door to Tessa's cell. I sit up a little straighter, hoping that if what I'm hearing is real, then they'll be opening my door next. And I'm not going to waste the opportunity to get out of here while my door's open.

I stand and go to the door, body tense, fists clenched, ready to take out whoever comes in. Sure enough, just a few moments later, there's a loud creaking sound and the door to my cell starts to swing open.

Here's my chance. I snap my foot out and kick the guard hard in the stomach. He doubles over, winded. I shove him into the wall and sprint out the door, almost blinded by the bright fluorescent lights that line the hallways.

Two other guards advance on me, but I'm not going down that easily. I start fighting back as hard as I can. I steal a guard's gun and whack one of them over the head with it, knocking him out. The second one grabs me from behind, trying to throw me back in the cell, but I jam my elbow into his neck. He chokes and I push free of his grip.

More are coming. They must have been given orders not to kill me, because otherwise they'd have shot me by now. I level the gun and back up, startling myself when I hit a wall. The guards start to move toward me.

I've literally got my back up against the wall. By now at least ten guards have congregated in this hallway, and all of them are coming at me.

How am I going to get out of this one?

***

AUTUMN

"You know where my father is?" I repeat Erik's words, dumbfounded.