Momentum (Completed)

Chapter Eighteen: The Final Straw

(Lyra)

Since Marissa hadn't showed up to give me the injection that would paralyze me, after the Queen left last night, I was able to rest my mind for the first time since I'd been brought to this torture chamber they called a laboratory. I slept heavily, despite the uncomfortable stone floor and was in a considerably better mood when I woke up. I didn't see any sign of her for several days, which was nice at first, but it also meant that nobody was bringing us food, which concerned me. We were still routinely brought water, probably to keep us alive longer, but I got a feeling that they were going to starve us to death. The Queen had already told me that we’d been sentenced to death, so I knew it was only a matter of time.

Any hope I might have had a couple days ago had crumbled and my proud, somewhat arrogant demeanor, which I had never lost in the face of disaster before, had vanished. I knew that every tick of the clock was bringing us closer and closer to death, so it was imperative to me that we escaped, and very soon at that. However, this was easier said than done, especially since I had no idea how to do it. There was no way physically possible that I could break out of a card-locked cell, so I knew that I would have to convince someone else to open the door for me. After that, it was just a matter of sneaking out.

‘So,’ Dolosus muttered, reading my thoughts, ‘you have an idea?’

“I do,” I whispered, for fear that one of the other scientists would hear me. Although this is where they were keeping me, this room was used by other scientists for various tests unrelated to my torture, so I was always very quiet when they were present. I didn’t trust them anymore than Marissa.

'What did you have in mind? I stole a quick glance at the warrior stationed across the room from me, standing in front of the door to guard in case I managed to get out of the cell. Our eyes met and she smirked at me maliciously, grabbing the handle of one of her guns as if trying to intimidate me. I tried my hardest not to chuckle; she had no idea how limited her breathes were. She was my primary target. Nobody else would even be a threat once I got out. I barely moved my lips as I whispered my plan to Dolosus, my voice hardly above a murmur.

‘Good girl,’ he said proudly once I had described my scheme. ‘That seems very likely to be successful.’

“I sure hope so, Dolosus,” I sighed.

I waited patiently for the guard change. The scientists were long gone and the nighttime security was scheduled to take over soon. It would give us a very small window of opportunity to carry out the first part of my scheme, which would also be the hardest for both of us. It would require much sacrifice, but I knew that if Nephele could cut open her own partially-healed wounds to sneak into America, I could do this. Dolosus lifted his head from his right foot, where he had been slowly chipping away at the base of one of his talon's claws for the past three hours or so. When the guard finally left, he quickly flew at the stone wall as fast as he could, weakened claw extended. It hit the hard surface and with a sickening snap I heard it detach from his talon. I winced, feeling his pain, but he remained composed and handed the claw to me without so much as a sound.

I wasn’t looking forward to this next part. First, I took the razor-sharp object and began giving myself cuts of varying depth and length all over my arms, shoulders, and legs, cutting through the sheet at some points. After that was done and I was bloodied a bit, I plunged the claw as deeply into my shoulder as possible, ripping it out just as quickly and ignoring the gusting blood that followed it. The pain was horrendous, but I had to do it three more times, so I took a deep breath and repeated it so that I had four deep, bleeding, claw-shaped wounds in my shoulder. Between my shoulders and my other bleeding cuts, I soon was sitting in a pool of my own blood, which was exactly what I wanted.