Hidden Under Perfection

Chapter 26: Claire

The guard that takes me to the showers today is someone I don't want to see, and I made that abundantly clear the last time I saw him. Liam helps me stand, and my joints scream when all of my weight is put on my feet. "Let me help you walk there," he offers holding out his arm. I shake my head and he starts walking to the door.

As soon as we enter the hallway he whispers, "Me and Doran made an escape plan about an hour ago." I take a step away from him and wince as my shoulder starts cramping. He continues, "I know you don't want to listen to me, but this is important. Tomorrow night I am going to administer the same drug they used on you to all of the guards. Then I am going to bring you all dinner, I will unlock all of you and I will give you my holo-notebook. We need you to turn off the cameras in each section of the building five minutes before we move into that area. Wait 30 minutes before turning the cameras in the cells and hallway off, do this with your back facing the corner above your bed. Once the cameras are off, wait one minute before exiting. Set each camera section to be off for thirty minutes with a fifteen minute overlap for each room. This will make it so that we can move undetected throughout the facility. I will get sleeping gas from te medical room and then unlock the elevator and press the right floor, I'm staying behind so they think that you escaped on your own. Release the sleeping gas when you get to that floor, throw the canisters out of the door and the gas is colored so you don't have to worry about the cameras. Doran knows the rest."

"Okay, I still don't trust you, but you couldn't have come up with that on your own." I step away from him and walk into the shower room. I grab my clothes and I head into the shower, this is the one place I am unobserved and I take advantage of that. I step into the shower and I let the water run off my hair. I ready myself for tomorrow, I think of everything that can go wrong, there are a lot. This plan is not a very good one, but it is all we have. I quickly wash up and I come out of the stall, covered in white clothes but without shoes. Lynn is standing at her locker and turns to face me when she hears my stall close. She turns to face me and she says, "have you heard the plan?"

"Yeah," I sigh.

"Are you excited?" she asks.

"Yeah, but this plan relies on someone's shoulders. I don't particularly enjoy that person's company."

"Do you mean Liam?"

"Yeah, he and I had a thing before The Clandestine took me, turns out he is the one who told them about me looking outside when the generator turned off. He is the reason I got caught."

"Yeah, but he is also the reason you met Doran and me. I understand that what he did to you was wrong, but he also caused a chain reaction to get you to this moment."

"I hadn't thought about it that way, well I should probably go now. See you tomorrow night." I turn and I walk out of the shower rooms, Liam is waiting outside. I let him cuff me and then we walk back to my cell. Under his breath he says, "I will inform your mom of the plan tonight at dinner."

"Okay," I respond. We turn and walk down the hallway, we get to my cell and he unlocks the door with a key in his pocket. We step in and he unshackles me, and helps me sit on the bed. I lay down and turn towards the wall, my muscles aching. I hear him open the door, but then he hesitates before he walks out of the room. The door shuts with a loud bang.

Dinner comes and I force down the white mush and I only take one small sip of water, my nerves building as tomorrow grows closer. The guard leaves and I turn to look at my mother through the glass, her face is strong and determined, not the usual worry. I nod and she nods back, almost no emotion showing on her face. My eyelids grow heavy and soon I can't keep them open much longer. I fall into a restless sleep, tossing and turning throughout the night.