Barely Human

Chapter 21

hey guys. got another chapter for you. let me know what you think.

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Chapter 21

“Casey,” a timid voice asks from the door. I sit up quickly and rub my eyes. When did I fall asleep?

“Huh?” I say still bleary from sleep.

“Hey. Can I talk to you?”

“Yeah,” I say not really comprehending what the other person said. I feel a dip in the couch where the person must have sat down. I open my eyes and look at them for the first time.

Wait.

“Sam?”

He smiles and my heart melts. “Hey Casey.”

“Oh my God, Sam!” I leap toward him and wrap him in a hug. “Your eyes! They’re blue again!”

He hugs me back, gripping me tightly as if he would never let go again. “It’s good to be back,” he mutters into my hair.

After a few minutes of just breathing in the relief of having Sam back to normal, I pull back. "What happened to you?"

He shakes his head. "I don't know. One minute I was happily lying on my back watching the stars with you beside me and the next I was mentally plotting your downfall. I wish I knew what happened."

“Do you remember anything from when you were... well..."

"Every second. I remember all of it and it was not pretty. I turned you in. You and everyone else in hiding.”  He hugs me back, gripping me tightly as if he would never let go again.

"It's good to be back," he mutters into my hair. We sit in silence before Sam pulls back, running his thumb along my cheek. “But I have to go,” he says. “Now.”

“What?” I exclaim. “But you just got back.”

Sam shakes his head. “I’m not sure how long this will last, but apparently one of the ‘recruited’ guards,” he uses air quotes, “had a memory lapse and mashed up some super-secret controls. Everyone here that’s like me was set loose. The building is in an uproar.”

“Why haven’t I heard anything?” I ask. “Surely is there is a lot of noise being made I would have heard it by now.”

“Your room is sound proof. Now,” he says, “if we are getting out of here you’re going to need a map of the place.” Sam reaches into his pocket and produces a scrap of paper roughly the size of a napkin and hands it to me.

I unfold the paper and look on in awe. Drawn roughly across the sheet is a floor plan of what looks like the entire building and- the best part- there is a route marked in red pencil that leads to the back entrance. Sam leans over my shoulder and points to the red line.

“That’s the easiest way out of the building. Those hallways are always deserted during meals and after eight pm. If you plan on taking anyone with you I would leave here around then. Shifts don’t pick up again until nine in the morning. And this,” Sam says handing me a square of plastic, “is a keycard that could get you into just about every room.”

“Wow,” I breathe. “Thank you.” I lean forward and press my lips against his in a short but lingering kiss.

Sam smiles. “A few of the kids from the cliff were brought in earlier today. They are in the next couple adjacent rooms. I think Lillie was one of them.”