Operation Shutdown

...Chapter 4...

"Ew, Emma, these clothes are so gross.  I can NOT be seen wearing these!"  Rosie was shrieking as they made their way back.

"Rosie, no one will see us.  Besides, you were the one so excited about changing out of the ones we were already wearing,"  Emma was growing tired of Rosie's constant chattering.

She was definitely not like this before.  There would be no chance of her passing The Test like this.  

"Hey, Em?"

"What do you want now?"

"Do you think Scott is cute?" Emma stopped dead in her tracks.

"Rosemary!  We don't even know them!"

"Yes we do!  The cute one is Scott and older one is John--"

"That is not knowing someone.  That is simply recognizing who they are," Emma was beyond frustrated, "Besides, knowing someone is when you know how they act, what their interests are and what not. We do not know them, and they, do not know us," Em fumed. Rosie gave her a quizzical look and was about to ask another question.

"There you two are!  What took y'all  so long?!"  Scott's expression was approaching frustration.

"Oh, you know, Rose just forgot how to use a zipper," Emma glared.

Scott looked suspicious of laughing, "Are you being sarcast--"

"It was hard!  They're so confusing!  You can't blame me..."  Rosie trailed off.

Scott opened and closed his mouth until finally stating, "Y'all know what, I'm not even gonna ask."  Emma rolled her eyes at his statement and walked ahead.

"You know, Scott, y'all isn't grammatically correct in that sentence."  She picked her way over a log with the bag slung over her shoulder.

Scott looked over at Rosie and smirked, "How do you stay friends with her?" He asked to Rose.

Rosie put up her arms in surrender, "Idek, Scott, idek."  He gave her a confused look.  "It means 'I don't even know'."  She glanced  over at Emma with a look of victory.  Emma gave up.

"Here's the bag."  She threw it as hard as she could at Scott's chest.  He caught it easily.  

"I take it your old clothes are in here?"

"No, I decided to burn them back there so I could send up a smoke signal."

He chuckled.  Chuckled.  "You know, you get sarcastic when you're tired."

"I'm not tired."

Scott shrugged and turned to yell at John.  "Hey, how long till Shutdown is activated."

"There you are. Those two cut it awful close."

"How long?"

"Approximately...7 minutes."

"Okay so ladies,"  Scott turned to address them, "in seven minutes when the fence stops vibrating, climb.  Climb fast.  When you get to the other side, run.  Don't stop running until you can't hear the helicopters anymore."

"So no running at all.  Cause I don't hear anything."

John jumped in.  "Rosemary, when we turn off the fence, it'll send an alarm to all the surveillance towers.  You'll hear helicopters.  Listen to Scott."

Rosie nodded vigorously.  "Yes, sir."  Emma knew she was going to have trouble dealing with being outside the wall and with Puppy Rose.

So she asked, "How are we supposed to survive?  We've never slept outside before."

Rose started on a shocked speech about outside, sleeping, and bugs.  Scott ignored her.  "Well we can't use any tracking device but if you run along the path marked, you'll find a road.  Someone will come pick you up."

"Marked p--"

"Fifteen seconds!" John interrupted.  

Scott went into soldier mode.  He rushed them over to the fence.  From the close proximity Emma could clearly hear the vibrations.

And she could clearly hear when they stopped.

.....

When Emma started to climb the fence, Rose hesitated.  She had left my bracelet at home.  They're always told to not go anywhere without our bracelet.  But when they have the test, they interfere with the system, so Rose left hers at home.  She saw Emma put hers in the black bag with their clothes.  She should go back for it. Just as she started to turn around she heard Emma yell.

"Rosemary, climb!"  Emma was halfway over the barbed wire on the top.

"One minute--"  She wanted to explain what she needed to do, but she was picked up and flung into the fence.  

"I told you to climb!"  Without another word, she climbed.  She didn't like being yelled at.  When she was halfway over the barbed wire though, she got stuck.  Everyone was still yelling out for her to hurry up.  John was counting out how many seconds were left until the fence came back on.  And she was stuck.

.....

"Twenty-six seconds!"  Emma knew Rosie wasn't going to get untrapped.  She leaped back onto the fence and climbed as fast as she could to the top.  

"Eleven seconds!"  She worked to untangle Rosie's pant leg from the wire.

"Seven seconds!"  She finally got it.

"Jump Rosie!"  This time it was her voice.  

"Three..two!"  Rosie jumped before she could let go of Emma.  She pulled Emma down with her.  Emma hadn't had the time to move her arm out of the way of the the wire.  She let out a cry of pain as it sliced down her forearm.  

When she regained her footing, the fence was making the quiet vibration sounds.  The only sound for a full second.  John stood with his hands on his head in silent relief.  Rosie glared at the top of the fence.  And Emma stared at Scott through the fence. The expression he wore was somewhere between recovering regret and premature grief.  He snapped out of it quickly.

"RUN!  NOW!"

So they turned.  So they ran.

......

Emma's arm was bleeding, Rosie noticed.  Not just "owie, papercut" but all out "call for help" bleeding.  And she was slowing down.  Rosie could still hear the helicopters in the background but Emma was having trouble staying upright.  

"Emma, we can stop."  She wanted to stop anyway.  Her legs were tired.   

Emma hesitated, "No, I can still hear them."

"Emma you look like your two seconds from passing out.  If you pass out I'll get lost."

"If I pass out, follow the trees with the line of blue paint on the root."

"What?"

"That's the trail."  Rosie looked around.  Sure enough, every two hundred feet or so, a tree had a line of faded blue paint on the bottom of it.

"I didn't notice."

Emma had stopped running.  She was hunched over.  "Scott...said there was...a path...I just...looked for...it."

"Ok, Emma, seriously.  We need to stop," Rosie had gotten ahead of her.

"No... I'm fine," Emma stood up straight, but immediately doubled over.  Rosie grabbed Emma's arm and tried to pull her along the path.  "Rosie," she gasped, "Wrong arm," Em gritted through her teeth.  

"Oops, sorry." Rose was really worried about Emma.  She looked a little sickly.  

"Rosie?  Do you hear that?"  Relief was all over Emma's face.

"No.  Hear what?"

"Exactly.  Nothing.  We can't hear the helicopters anymore."  Rosie was thrilled, but it was short lived when Emma collapsed on the ground.