CHP: ONE: Want to Escape?
The question arises at night in quarter 12 of the red room. The lights are switched off; room bare of windows or any other source of light. There are two single beds in the room, one occupied by someone who is known as Black Widow 035 while the other is clumsily used by Dark Wolf 039. The red head turns her face from the ceiling to the Dark Wolf, raising her eyebrow and calculating what the blue eyed, black haired room-mate wanted to say. When Natalia doesn't respond, her room-mate asks again.
"Do you want to do it? Do you want to escape from this?" The voice is thickly coated into a whisper, heavily accented in Russian because English isn't that natural on her sharp tongue. Her back is against the head board, legs under the thin sheets. She looked dead serious but young Natalia couldn't make out the degree of seriousness yet. She replies nonetheless.
"You know we can't." Natalia's English is better than the wolf's and her voice is an octave higher than her. The light fog coming out of their mouths is a subject of little concern now. They are in the peak of winter but having a conversation like this really gets the red room girls heart race faster and suddenly the room is too hot to have the sheet wrapped around her.
"Why can't we? Are you scared, little Natalia?"
"No" Her voice is determined. She isn't a coward, she is just living by the book-or else. "They will find us and leaving the building without setting off the alarm and passing the guards is impossible. And if you have forgotten, we are in the basement of the building that is 4 stories down."
"I know, you know, you want to do it." Those were the last hazy words as Natalia shut off the Wolf's words and slipped in to a dreamless sleep.
Her name is Regina, the Dark Wolf's. The other was Natalia, the black widow. This was their home, quarter 12, floor -4, the Red room. To the outside real world, the red room is non-existent, a rumor and maybe even a grandma's tale. But to the girls confined inside, the red room was their home, their world and everything they have known. They were taken at a very young age, too young. They were young enough to forget where they actually belonged from but old enough to follow orders once taken to the Red room.
Quarter 12, level -4 will tell the story of two of the one thousand, six hundred and fifty promising red room products. It begins with the story of Regina but they call her Dark Wolf. Her black hair and blue eyes physically earned her the name. Her wit, sharp tongue and intelligence gave meaning to the name. She is 17, was 5 when she entered the red room and is currently one of the red rooms in charge's favorite. Coming in close to give her completion was Natasha. She has crimson hair and a knack for seducing people, Black widow for a reason. She is younger than her room-mate, marking her 15th birthday with a bruise on her back for slightly puffing out breath after ten long hours of continuous ballet practice. She was bought in when her home was being burned down and hasn't understood the concept of the red room yet.
The Red room functions in a somewhat simple way; grab girls, train them to be spies and then when they come to a certain level in training, they are assigned to one of the three groups. Natalia belonged to the Black Widow category for the obvious talent and skill in obtaining the required information from her targets. Regina belongs to the Dark Wolf group, who specialize in using their wit and tongue to complete the mission. The final group was the Eagles, training meticulously in weaponry and sniper-ing. They were the best in hunting down their targets and even thought hand to combat wasn't their forte, they were damn good in killing. Distance was their strong point. Together they formed the three tiers of the red room. And while they were always taught to be alliances, there was always some lingering competition among the three groups. The group that impressed the trainers the most by the end of the year would receive a surprise bonus luxury for the following year, as an individual if you show the expected potential you would receive a new room-mate of equal competence if not more.
Natalia was showing immense capability and so was rewarded with a new room-mate, her old one was just too naïve. Names were a big no-no in the red room but since Natalia had moved into her new quarter she couldn't help but notice Dark Wolf's nonchalant attitude towards the rules. She called her young Natalia while Natalia herself, playing by the book kept things in a formal acknowledgment of Wolf. When the nights came and young Natalia was plagued with nightmares about fire, Wolf would be the one to wake her up. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Natalia remembers an older lady hugging her when she woke up from such dreams. In English class they teach her too call the lady a mother. But mother is a word that Natasha never had or doesn't remember, her life, as she thinks, began in the red room and will end here. But Wolf asks the same question in different words to catch up on the fluency of English: would you like to escape from here? The word escape seems wrong at first. Why would anyone try to escape from their own home? Yes, Natalia was the Black Widow but she yet hasn't developed the meaning of the world. She is an animal born in captivity, freedom unknown.
The alarm blares loudly, signaling the beginning of another day and waking Natalia from her slumber. She looks over to the Wolf, who is sitting in the same position since she fell asleep. Noticing that she is awake, Wolf heads towards the bathroom adjoining their room. Being paired to the Wolf who was just two levels away from completing her training, gave Natalia the luxury she had never known. She now had her own personal bathroom, although she had to share it with the Wolf but it didn't matter now that she no longer had to use the common bathroom with the hundreds of other girls. She now had a room-mate who she honestly likes and isn't going to kill. Her English class taught her the word sister the previous day and Natalia thinks the word immaculately fits Wolf.
She walks in to the bathroom, occupied by Wolf, who is stripping herself of the uniform gray shorts they are given as pajamas. To any other girl Natalia's age such nudity should have been a problem but Natalia isn't any other girl and there comes a point in the training when all girls stand naked in a line to dive in to the icy glaciers, if you are lucky then icy glaciers are the best but if not then you are naked for your punishment. Natalia grabs her toothbrush from the counter and starts brushing her teeth, perfectly timing how much longer it will be before she has to ditch the shower for breakfast. The steam, another luxury of hot water, rolling off from the shower Wolf is under shows that maybe she couldn't take a shower today. Rinsing her mouth, she asks out of sheer curiosity
"What is it like outside?"
"Why? Haven't you been out twice?" the outside world was an obsession to the red room products, the cars, the people, the buildings, everything. They were allowed to watch world war two clips to teach them about history but Natalia gave a little more attention to the video then the actual lesson. Sure she had been allowed to leave the red room premises' but that had been for missions, not to mention that she was back in three days. Those days were the best of her life. She's loyal to the red room, but this didn't compare to the immense happiness that flooded through her when she saw actual people, not dummies, cars and not explosives. This was heaven; heck she dare say it was better than the red room. But those were just two, cherry pie mission. Wolf on the other hand had been out a number of times because of her level of training and each time she came back from another mission, she was more determined to stay out. "Come on we have to go to the mess otherwise we have to have left overs."
There were tables and benches by the row in the mess hall, walls were gray and patterned with blood. Natalia and Wolf arrived in the near empty mess hall and walked over to the counter to receive breakfast. A splat of chunky oatmeal later they had finally sat down to push the goo down their throats.
"What is your lesson plan today Black Widow?" The trainers were around and everyone who had sense slipped back their mask into place. She had to be Black Widow 035 now.
"I have combat training at 6am, followed by weapon class at 8."Scooping out the last bits of the goo called oatmeal, Black Widow stood up. "Well I am off now; hope you have a good day Dark Wolf."
As wished by the Black Widow, Dark Wolf did have a good day; Natalia on the other hand wasn't faring so well. She was distracted by Wolf's offer. Combat classes went well, ended with a jab in her sides but nothing of concern. Weaponry was hell. She missed her aim by a millimeter and then the punishment for being anything less than perfect was bared down on her. Clothes off, she was now sleeping on her stomach on a thick ice slab. The trainer had a whip in her hand and an unpleased nod in her head. One by one the whips lashed her skin, her back was a patch work of pink and red before the final whack was delivered.
"Turn around, Black Widow 035" The trainer roared, Natalia complied. The stung the ice delivered on her back was unbearable but screaming was inacceptable. Taking punches on her stomach and developing tender breast Natalia realized what Regina meant by escaping. And yes Natalia just called Dark wolf by her name because this was what she was under all the names and expectation.
She missed lunch and dinner by the time her punishment was over. She gingerly wore her clothes again and made her way to Quarter 12. Wolf didn't expect a ray of sunshine when Natalia entered her room, she being the wise one knew what happens when one is missing lunch and dinner. Natalie made no comforts to talk to Regina and despite her wounds gracefully fell down on the bed. The lights were switched off no sooner than that.
"How?" she asked when the lights were down and the hallways she knew would be empty.
"Well, I have a plan but it will take a few days for the situation to build up and"
"I just want to know how?"
"Oh okay. Well since I am just two levels away from graduating and becoming a full time agent, I have access to the card keys in the security room. You can seduce the guards while I break down the alarm system. Once that is done, we have to reach the ground floor." She wets her lips, rubbing her hand and reaching under her bed to take out a blue print. "This is the floor plan of the ground floor. We have five doors leading us outside, guarded by three men on each door. That makes a total of fifteen guards. But we have to be really quick in taking out three guards before they call the others. And then we are free. Of course the field outside is rigged by I can go to the security room and diffuse them." She finishes and looks over to me with happiness. "I am so glad you are coming."
"What do you mean? And how come this plan takes days to develop?"
Young Natalia, you don't understand do you? I would have gone whether or not you accompanied me. And as for the plan, we have to make copies of those key cards before they get suspicious." The talk dies there; Natalia is adjusting herself on the bed so that the pain is minimal while Regina is off like a fuse.
Another day, another practice, the talks of the previous day was buried deep down in their minds and both were just too smart to bring up the topic with the sun. Ballet followed by combat, then shooting, closing by the time she was finished with resistance practice, this was Natalia's time table. Interrogation technique, extensive practice on bio-poisons and final combat, this was Regina's day. And while Regina being superior to Natalia, she only had three subjects per day while young Natalia had four. This was the very motivation for Natalia to keep pushing herself harder every day, this was the only reason Natalia was the best. It was always Regina, who Natalia wanted to be transformed into. Regina in Natalia's mind was the epitome of success as she slowly came to realize that the Red room isn't what it seemed. It wasn't her home, no English lessons taught her the definition of having a home, they were even asked to call the Red room their home but it didn't fit well in Natalia's mind. Regina could distinguish things, she knew right from wrong, she knew life and although Natasha knew ballet, combat, martial arts, weaponry, it never compared to the value of things that Regina did.
The plan slowly took shape in their minds and on paper. The plan in their mind was stationary and bullet proof, the plan on the paper wasn't water proof and always flushed down the toilet after being torn into innumerable shreds. Copy card keys were stolen by Regina one day when once on a rare occasion given the day off. Confidently walking into the security room, she opened the locker she knew contained the keys and picked up the right one. She turned around every now and then to confirm that no one was there behind her although she probably knew one was there. Her long black curls played a veil around her fair face, as she whipped around towards the door, successful in finding what she needed.
Natalia returned to her room that night to find Wolf expertly making card copies in the room. She looked up to Natalia and flashed the duplicate key in her face. "You see this. This is our ticket out Natalia. We are almost free, start packing your stuff and we can leave this hell on Saturday."
"On Saturday, really? Are you sure? Besides shouldn't we be making fake passports too?"
"Yeah, way ahead of you young Natalie, I have already taken the liberty to make four sets of fake passports and have enough money hidden in a building in the neighboring town to last for at least a year. All you have to do is pack your bags"
Saturday came faster than ever but their plan was delayed further. All the Black Widows had a special training session and were asked to shift in to the temporary quarter from the Friday that was before their plan day. Not wanting to be reminded of her punishment on the ice slab, Natalia obediently followed without hesitation. The plan had to wait. Somewhere in the heart that Natalia was taught to ignore, she knew that Regina would wait for her.
Unsaid things happen behind the closed door on the Black Widow quarter and each day another body bag would make its way to the furnace. Natalie was no exception to the rule. Things that happened to her behind those door made her harder, made her colder, made her better than perfect but more than anything made her determined to get out of here. It wasn't combat training, it was a fight to survive, it wasn't weaponry class, it was becoming bulletproof, it wasn't escaping techniques, and it was being left behind for death to consume you. The fun was strangled out of ballet and now all Natalia had to look forward to was finishing the training session and coming on with the plan. Behind those walls, they were being drugged, experimented to find their breaking point and put together back again, guinea pigs labeled on their backs. It's really hilarious she doesn't feel like a Black Widow, she feels more like a-what is it they call that in English-ah yes, she feels like a lab rat. Between the training session and the sleepless nights she feels her loyalty towards the red room fading like the hope to ever make it out of here. This wasn't the Red room she called home; no this is the red room Regina calls hell. The sleepless nights are thought provoking and hollow, was she always so blind to notice the real sins that take place her? Or did she just choose to ignore it for the past ten years? Answer is unacceptable and thought like these are just another excuse used by the trainers to kill them, one less mouth to feed according to them.
It's another month before, thankfully, the training session is over. The halls are torn pages of memory, she remembers them but then again which way was her quarter located? She shakes her head a couple of times and suddenly those holes in her memory are fixed together, Quarter 12, level -4 and a plan to get out. She reaches her room, her now empty room and just for a fleeting second her world stops, her mind froze. Did Regina leave her? Pictures of the Dark haired girl flashed through her muddled mind, blue eyes twinkling with ecstasy when she agreed on the plan, 'Young Natalia' her name always a tease for her naïve and blind ways. When the reminiscence of her only happy memories ends, she acts on impulse and yanks the Wolf's chest drawer open. They are there, her clothes are there. She cautiously reaches the secret compartment in the bathroom sink behind a tile and finds both of their fake passports and card keys. And just like that getting oxygen back into her lungs is the main priority.
Dark Wolf return a good twenty one days later. Sneaking around, in the ways her trainers had taught her to do; she grabs information out of thin air. Dark Wolfs had to assemble for a similar training session like the one Natalia underwent. And while Natalia experiences a wave of changes in her (she doesn't like any of those), Regina is yet Regina, nothing changed but everything improved, no doubt. They nod their head to each other out of the sheer respect and the little fondness they had developed. 'Never act on your emotions' that's what they had for dinner, one night behind those awful doors.
"Tomorrow" she says but her eyes seem more desperate. It's the first time that they are talking about her mutual plan while the lights are still bright and people breathing outside, in the hallway. The monosyllabic word conveys all.
The nights are turned off not a minute later or a minute earlier than the expected time, but this isn't the end of the night for them. They play around the darkness, hand expertly stashing what little clothes they have in to the small backpacks they are given for mission. Three plain T's, two jeans and two dresses for the right occasion is all they have to pack. It's a mockery of little they own in the place she, Natalia always called home. The small bag seemed to laugh at them at what little clothes they had until Regina and Natalia both pull out a box from underneath their bed. 'Artillery' and just the word seemed to fill the space in the bag. Regina skips past the Natalia murmuring something about cash. She yanks another drawer of her chest and reaches on to the roof of it; she feels around for a second and then pulls out a damn load of cash. A squeal of surprise on Widow's part earns a well-deserved grin on the thin rosy lips almost recognizable anywhere.
The cash is stuffed in to their bras. For some reason, she voices her wonder, her breasts are bigger than a month ago and she feels a bit more like a woman. Yes, there are things that change behind the big metal door of the training session. Yes there are memories erased and memories created and by the time you are out, thank god and count your lucky stars that you are lucky. There were 150 girls that underwent the training session, along with the Black Widow 035 aka Natalia and now only sixty seven came out. Once they are sure that have everything that they would need, checking and then double checking things once over again, they settle into their respective beds.
"You know, young Natalia, we probably have to scout in the forests outside for a few days before the matters cools off."
"Wait. Are you sure there are forests around here?" Natalia ignored her nick name; it was already growing on her. Calling her the Black Widow seemed to cold now, she was finally developing her own opinions and thoughts. That in her mind, apart from freedom, was the only thing that the Red Room had no control over. She was the master of her own soul now. Funny how only two months ago, she was the most patriotic product of the red room facility and now she can see herself as the rebel, Now she is something more than the product, more than Black Widow 035, She is Natalia.
Regina combs her fingers through her long black hair and wraps them in a bun, she digs through what little she owns and then finally settles for the shorts they were given to escape and honestly it would be the first thing she would burn once she gets out of this hell hole but for now she has to manage. Natalia copies her moves except she leaves her short auburn curls free. They estimate the time when escaping would be the easiest and decide it would be best if they do it just a couple of hours before sun rise.
"Don't call it escaping. It sounds to-criminal and we aren't criminals, we are just going for our rights and living life how it is meant to be lived." Natalia says before they pop their heads out of the corridors to check for the guards. Finding none they stealthily make their way to the main access door. They climb the eight flights of empty bloody stairs and are finally on ground level. This is it.
They silently swap their fake key cards and the door to the final security passage hisses open. There are a total of three guards in total and two of them are already dead before they could turn their heads to acknowledge whoever entered through the final pass way. The third guard reaches for the alarm system and it was simply a bad move because now he lies twitching with his head turned a complete 360 degrees.
And they are just teens but what lies behind those well placed mask is entirely different. They have been through things that even those impeccably experienced forty year olds haven't heard off. The things they have seen would make the normal citizen have a panic attack and initially so did all the products of the red room did when they were first brought in but the sand of time made them indifferent to all those gruesome sights. A bullet is a daily commodity, fractured bones compared to nothing but paper cuts and murders appetizers before dinner.
They snatch the real access cards out the dead guards and then freedom. The wind is so fresh and so cold and so liberal- there is nothing before them only snow, and patch of green that the snow hasn't been able to cover on the trees and then there is the blue sky. Natalia could swear to her dying breath that there wasn't anything more beautiful than what she is seeing now. They glance at one another in that look that says that they actually made it. That was easy. Well that is as much time as they took before stepping in to the cool air. One step, another, followed by another and then the fricking alarm goes off. They realize the situation faster than they could ever remember their own names. There are lights going off in the close distance and the adrenaline in their system is too high to be stuck, glued in the place. Regina grabs Natalia's hand in hers and both of them understand the gesture. They take one final breath and run. They run as fast they can with their hands clasped into one another's, but this hasn't reduced their speed in the least. They run fast, faster and faster than they ever had.
There is stomping of the combat boots against the deep snow but Wolf and Widow dare not reduce their speed. There were only two options now, run for freedom or die for it. Running for freedom is the option they would both choose without even thinking about it. No there was no way in hell that they would die in the hands of these morons. They stomping was becoming more distant and then it was almost gone. But that didn't last long enough, now it was the combat boots and guns going off in the distance. Regina was smiling, so this was what freedom felt like. The sly smile didn't go unnoticed by Natalia even as they were running for an hour now. Why Wolf was smiling was a wonder to Natalia that she would ask her about later right now all they had to do was run. That's it just run.
They changed their coarse several times in the past two hours and now they sky was tinted in that foreign shade of red that Natalia was never fortunate enough to see and they call it their first sun rise. They went down hills, they tripped through the rocky paths and they ran. They boots and gun shots were so distant now that it wouldn't be long before they finally give up their search in the forest and go in the city.
Three hours in to the run and Regina declares that they are safe but they won't stop running. They ran before to save themselves, they were running now to satisfy that light flutter of happiness in their chest. Somewhere between the run, none of them remember, but their hands had gotten free of the others clutch. Both of the teens noticed this at the same time and clutched their hands once again. Four hours of running later they find a place that is safe enough to spend the next few days. There wasn't much to place but really high trees that they could use and there was the low noise of gushing water. At first they investigate the source of water. It's cold, blue and so very familiar to the red room's icy glacier punishment but here they are no one to drown them. Once their heart rate is back to its normal level they came to realize the fact about how cold the weather was. It was the June chill and greatly not the December freeze. The water was so very inviting but the girls were smarter to just jump right in to the freezing water and succumb to hypothermia.
They spend the rest of the day catching their breath and chatting about stuff they never talked about. It felt good. Once they were at the boundary of those painful memories of their families, they stopped talking and went on a walk to familiarize them with the area. They find someone.
They name her Shelley, and it's the skeletal remains of a girl no older than them but they wonder just how in the world she got here.
"Another mystery, another story" Regina whips her hair from side to side and utters. But Natalia has a different approach to Shelley.
"Let's dress her up or at least cover her with flowers" Her voice is filled with amazement and both of the girls are too far from things that are considered normal that they actually go ahead with the plan.
Over the next four days that Regina and young Natalia managed to stay there, words were rare and both took an abnormal joy in dressing Shelley in crowns made of weed and leaves, dressing her in their pajama shorts and tops and then there is their heart wrenching confession from both of them at the same time.
"She is my first doll" Both say together.
Yes this was Natalia's first taste of freedom and she loved every minute of it.
AN: End of chapter one. Please review and let me know what you think about the story. Constructive criticism is always welcomed, if you have any suggestions please let me know And kindly drop in a review. Thanks once again.
