Human Error

No Man Left Behind

The kids camped out until the night grew as dark as it could, that was the best time for them to sneak in. As the night drew out, they crept closer and, eventually, they were at the obelisk and trying to find ways inside. They had to go through the school to get there. They took deep breaths and searched for the best place to climb in without being caught or even noticed.

The windows to the bathrooms.

They headed there and Guardian helped a few up, then was lifted in himself. The last two, Vines and Fox, climbed in easily since they weren't injured. Being as quiet as they could, they exited the boy's bathroom and snuck down the hall, taking small breaths and walking heel-to-toe. For the most part, they were silent.

They reached a narrow corridor and lined up, Guardian in front and Historia in the back, the rest wherever. They held a hand each of the person in front of them and the other for the person behind. They began walking again, looking around and hoping they were headed the right way.

"Hey!" came a whisper yell, then approaching footsteps. It was a little boy, so small he could be 4, with rabbit ears, a little tail, and antlers. A jackalope. "Where are you all going?"

They looked at each other, then Historia knelt down some. "Kid, we're gettin' out of here. Now you go back to bed, okay?"

"I'm 9 years old, I'm not a little kid. If you're leaving then you're taking me with you. I don't wanna be here anymore," he said, his country accent slurring the words or making the pronunciations weird. It was cute, though.

The group conversed quickly and quietly.

"Fine, but you better not make a single sound, got it?" Fox hissed.

The boy nodded and joined them, holding the harpy's free hand now. They continued on their way and found themselves in a different building with space ships, big and small, everywhere.

"We made it," one of them whispered, barely audible.

"We're not out yet, come on."

They kept going, the lights dim but they could still be seen if anyone looked hard enough. There were a few smaller ships, and above them lit boxes that gave a list of numbers, which corresponded to their own test subject numbers.

Each of them saw their own, but some were on different spacecrafts. Historia, Vines, and the jackalope kid were on one to planet YUNALE-8; Guardian and Silencer to TRAPEL-1; Eyes and Fox to FREIOD-3.

Did they have to separate? Would they die if they all went to one planet? This was their biggest question, and one they didn't have a lot of time to dwell on.