Renegade

Renegade Chapter 15

It really was him. Aria was shocked and horrified. He was looking weakly up at her through the grate. His hair, which was normally bright red, slightly curly, and pulled back into a ponytail, was now just a matted, tangled, and dirty mess. His normally bright, blue eyes had a glazed look to them, possibly because of whatever sickness was causing him to cough. The right eye had the remnants of a bruise around it. His face and body looked gaunt, and his already pale skin had a sallow tone to it. Aria wasn't sure, but she thought she saw scars and one or two open wounds under the yellow jumpsuit he was wearing.

"Aria? It can't...be you," Rex said weakly. "Am I dead?"

"No, you're alive, I'm really here, and we're gonna break you out," Aria replied, trying to hold back tears.

Rex coughed again. "I don't believe it, and who is we?" he said.

"I'll explain later, but I have this feeling something is about to go very wrong and we need to leave now."

Aria stepped back to let Nils and Caleb figure out how to open the grate. Eventually they gave up trying to figure out the locking mechanism, they just grabbed it and pulled it until a large enough opening was made. Nils laid down on the grate with Caleb holding his feet and grabbed the arm Rex had extended.

Getting Rex into the environment suit proved to be less of a challenge than getting him out of the holding cell. To get him out of the holding cell, Caleb and Nils had to carefully pull Rex out of the cell, while trying not to cause any more injury to him. Now the recently enlarged group of four were carefully making their way down the spiral staircase. Nils and Aria were supporting Rex between them. Every so often, they had to stop and rest because even with help, Rex couldn't move well or fast because his muscles were weak and atrophied. That coupled with barely getting enough food over the past six months made him look almost skeletal.

On one of these breaks, the group talked for a bit.

"What happened to you, Rex?" Aria asked hesitantly.

"I don't really want to talk about what happened...recently. Not yet, at least," Rex said.

"Do feel up to talking about some of the earlier stuff?" she asked again.

"Sure, I guess. When I first got here, after, well, you know, I was put on a work detail like most of the others. Breaking and moving rocks for no apparent reason, that sort of thing," Rex started.

"Others? How many?" Nils interjected.

"I don't know. Maybe about a hundred thousand? Work crews were kept separate. Not all of us are human, though. The R'Nari are oppressing their own people, too.

"Anyways, after about a month or so, I made my first escape attempt. It failed, and my entire work crew was punished publically, and I was sent to isolation for a month. I didn't try escaping on my own a second time. Between then and two weeks ago, I acted quiet and submissive. Actually, I was organizing a camp-wide insurrection, revolt, rebellion, or whatever the correct word is."

"How'd that go?" Caleb asked.

"About as well as trying to make a camel go through the eye of a needle. My little...incident...was staged about two weeks ago. Main reason why everything is pretty damaged. I shouldn't have expected it to succeed. All of those lives lost...because of me. Within a day, the camp garrison stopped us. Most of the others were...executed...and I was transferred to the lab. I don't want to talk anymore. Let's get moving again."

Aria stood up and brushed some dust off her suit. "He's right. Let's get going," she said.

***

"I have a question." Nils stated. "Why didn't anyone think to replace the glass that got broken and repair anything else that needed it after your rebellion?"

Caleb, Nils, Aria, and Rex had reached the lobby of the tower again. They were leaning against an unbroken pane of glass adjacent to the broken one Aria, Nils, and Caleb had entered through.

"I don't bloody know, mate. Probably had their attention elsewhere. What's really bothering me right now is how we haven't seen anyone, and yet I feel like we're being watched."

"Quite right he is," Aria heard a new voice say. It was male and had a posh accent resembling her own. She also heard multiple sets of feet crunching glass. "Except you're also being followed. Or should I say were being followed, since we've caught up with you."

Aria was afraid, but more than that she felt betrayed and angry. Standing up, she turned around and faced the new speaker.

"Nathan," she growled.