Cosmic Collisions (Novel)

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen:

After being thrown back into her cell with such force that her head banged against the opposite wall, Isla groaned clutching her head. Both she and Estelle had endured a hell of a lot that day. She looked over at the young man who was in the cell next to hers and realised he was gone.

They started the day by being dragged out of their cells and told they were doing a different experiment. Isla had fought and ended up biting the Intergalactic Officer's arm, earning her a punch in the face making her see stars for a second. She was still sitting in the cell, head pounding and not being able to see in the eye where the glass had penetrated it and thought back to that day. Isla and Estelle had been taken to yet another from and Isla wondered, not for the first time where the room with the other cells were.

The two men had dumped the young ladies into the same glass containers only just large enough for both of them to sit in. They were told that it was up to them to escape from the small round hole above them. If they couldn't manage it within 20 minutes they would press the electric shocks. Isla had lared at them; it was impossible and they knew it. Estelle started to try and wriggle her way into the hole and cut herself on the invisible pointy edges.

"Shit," she had whispered. Isla and Estelle had tried multiple times to crawl their way out, both of them getting more angry by the second. Mrs. Thomas, the one who seemed to be on their side the day before was the one to push the button and immediately Isla hated her. The pain they felt was 100x worse than the glass columns they'd been trapped in. 

Now crawling over to where Estelle sat in the cell next to her, Isla glanced over at the Space Suit and the shattered glass of the visor plus the rope. Why hadn't she thought of this before? With a sudden burst of energy, Isla stood up and limped over to the suit, sweat dripping down her face from the exertion and pain radiated across her body.

"What are you doing now, Isla?" Estelle asked quietly, panic in her voice.

"Don't you want to get out of here, Estelle? To see your family again? Your friends? I don't know, boyfriend, girlfriend, partner?" Isla said, irritated by her lack of protesting.

"Of course, I do, but other people have tried to escape and they're all dead," Estelle hissed.

"Anything is better than here," Isla replied fiercely, tying the rope to the chain of the padlock, hoping that she was strong enough to pull it off. Just then the ominous sounds of the bolted door unlocking made Isla freeze in the process. She ran with great difficulty towards the back of the cell collapsing in a heap just in time as the person entered. Seeing that it was Mrs. Thomas, Estelle visibly heaved a sigh of relief, but all Isla did was glare at her. As the officer approached they could see she was carrying bags of food that she'd stolen from the food and drink machines. Isla's stomach growled and she didn't realise how hungry she had become, her thoughts taken up with how to get out of this place.

"You hurt us both today," Isla said to her, not taking the food she was offering her.

"I know and I'm really sorry. I had to, otherwise they will start suspecting me for being on your side," the woman whispered back, pleading as she shoved the bag of food between the gaps in the bars. Isla took it and started eating, not saying a word.

"How is the plan going?" Estelle asked eagerly.

"Nearly there. Two more days I think. Then we'll all be out of here," Mrs. Thomas said.

To Isla's surprise the young man on the other side of her who she thought wasn't even there back out of the shadows as he said, "Mrs. Thomas. You've been saying that for the last three weeks. What the hell is going on?"