Subjects

15- Escaping The Grip

"Stay here."

That is the last thing they told the subjects before leaving the room. They just left them like that, like a piece of furniture. Luckily they weren't as helpless as furniture would be.

"We need to get out of here," says Ben.

But nobody answers.

"Come on, we need to leave," Ben starts pulling on his handcuffs. The slippery paste helps just a little but Ben still has to pull very hard to get his hands out. It hurts so much but he has no choice. He can feel the metal cutting into his skin but he keeps pulling, just a little more and he's free.

He falls off the chair and out of instinct puts his wounded hands forward. It hurts so much he almost screams in pain. Ben gets up slowly, he holds his wrists close to his stomach to somewhat slow the bleeding.

He looks around the room for the keys that the young alien used before, they're still on the desk right where he left them. He unties the three with shaking hands but they still don't move.

"Come on," Ben doesn't even know who he's talking to. "We need to go, now." He waves his hand in front of their faces, he tries to pull them up from their chair, except for his wrists hurting even more nothing has changed. Their cold, empty eyes are all staring at him. He doesn't have much time, the aliens can come back at any minute and they'd be doomed. Ben was never as scared as he is right now. Ever since Leo first told them the truth things became crazy, but he was never alone. Now Leo was gone, and the rest were under the influence. 'Take care of them,' Leo said. His last words, last wish.

Ben found himself kneeling in front of Eva, holding her cold, unmoving hand. "I can't do this alone," he whispers, "please, fight this."

Fight this.

Fight this?

She has to stay right where she is. This way she is safe. Why should she fight this?

Something about this voice makes her want to listen, makes her feel safe.

Why is she so scared?

Why does she want to stay?

Maybe it's actually better to...

Her eyes change. Ben can tell that Eva heard him. She blinks once, twice and then, "Thank you, Ben," she whispers. "Thank you."

"You did it!" Ben was starting to lose hope, he didn't know what he'd do if they don't wake up. But all that doesn't matter, because she did.

"You helped me do it, somehow..." Eva tries to remember what happened, "it was a lot harder to resist them, with Leo I wasn't in such a blur all the time. I can't remember anything."

"I think maybe Leo was easy on us, he wasn't as driven as they are," Ben hopes he doesn't have to tell her about Leo, but he knows he probably has no choice. "How much do you remember?"

"I remember walking here, I remember that we heard them talking, I... I don't know. I have this weird taste in my mouth but I don't know what it is," Eva looks down.

"Trust me, the aftertaste isn't half as bad as the original, that part you really don't want to remember," Ben says, managing to get half a smile from Eva. "Come on, we need to wake up Emily and Roger."

They have only one more thing to do before they can leave this place and never look back, Angie.

"That must have been her in there," Emily points to the window, it is still dark on the other side.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Eva asks.

"You were..." Ben isn't sure if it's the best idea to tell her what happened. "They were talking about it, you were probably under the influence."

"Yes, exactly," Emily confirms a little too hurriedly. "I think there's an entrance to this room through the hall where we came from, I'll go look."

Ben walks to the control panel below the window, the light switch was here somewhere...

She looks up.

It is cold, and she hurts so much. The window is dark, as always, so she keeps staring into the void, ready for the pain that always hits her at some point.

"Her hands are tied," Roger says. "I'll go get Emily the keys."

Ben and Eva watch through the window as Emily and Roger walk into the white room.

"Angie?" Emily softly asks, trying not to scare the girl.

"Please don't hurt me."

The small, fragile voice echos through the empty room and hits Emily and Roger right in the heart. How could they ever hurt this precious angle?

As she looks at them, the feeling gets stronger. They feel like they have to do anything to make sure that no harm comes to her. But they know this feeling too well.

"What are you?" Emily comes closer.

"I-I don't know," a single tear drips down on her cheak. The sight is heartbreaking.

Roger decides to take over when he sees that Emily is too shocked to react, "we're here to help you." He steps closer slowly so he doesn't scare Angie. "We know your dad. Leo, right?"

Angie nods, the mention of her dad's name seems to make her feel a little better.

Roger starts to untie Angie from the chair. She is so young, must be eight years old at most. "We need to escape this place, as fast as we can."

"Angie," Emily kneels before her so they about the same height. "I promise, we're going to help you. I'll take you back to your father."

Ben shifts slightly when he hears Emily. This will be hard. How will he tell that girl that her father is gone?

Angie nods silently. It is just so sad to see how vulnerable she's become. As Emily looks at Angie in the eyes, it almost gets too intense for her to handle. She knows that part of it is the influence that Angie has on her but she does nothing to try and fight it.

"That's it," Roger drops the handcuffs he just unlocked. Angie looks at her hurt wrists and moves her hands to get rid of this annoying numbness that comes with not moving for too long.

Emily offers Angie her hand and helps her get up from her seat. She is a bit disoriented and nearly stumbles as they walk toward the door. In the hallway they meet Eva and Ben. "I saw an emergency pod when we came in through the dock. We can use it." Ben suggests.

And since nobody brought their own spaceship, it seems this is the best plan they got.