As promised, longer chapters
We couldn't talk much because of the cameras, but Michelle knew I was dying to know about what life on the outside was like. Every chance we could she would tap the hand I had shoved through the bars and send a snippet of something they had experienced (warm water, restaurants, the beach, the basics) before we pulled back to avoid a white coat getting suspicious. I began to doze off after a few hours, desperately needing rest. I'm snapped back to consciousness mere minutes after drifting off by the sound of squealing wheels, white coat chatter, and rabid growls. A clawed hand bangs on Sam's cage, making him jump.
"Up up, time to go birdies." The eraser growls out, snapping its jaw hungrily. A second wolf man flings Michelle's cage onto a cart, Sam's following soon after. "All good?" The eraser seeks approval from the white oat overseeing the pick up. I hold back a small noise, praying this wasn't leading to what I thought it did. She shakes her head.
"Go ahead and add that cage too, its going to a close enough place." The eraser complies, he and his buddy becoming impatient as I thud onto the trolley.
"Can we go now?" She nods, still not taking her head out of the clipboard it was buried in. They push the trolley down the hallway and towards the Yard. I could smell the blood from here. As we get close to the Yard the hallway splits, leading to two doors. One in the training portion of the Yard, where they take the bigger creatures to test their abilities, and the other was eraser target practice, where they released hopeless or disobedient things for erasers to have fun with. My cage picked up by an eraser and carried towards the training side while the trolley started off towards the eraser death grounds.
"No! Michelle! Sam!" I start screaming, not holding back any tears that sprang forth now. There was no way that after being reunited with my friends I was going to watch them go to their deaths. This couldn't be happening. The eraser carrying me slams my cage into a wall causing my head to crash into the bars. I taste blood in my mouth and was dazed into silence long enough to make it through the door. I could see Michelle and Sam through the wire fence that divided the sides as they were set down in the center.
"Amanda, don't look." Sam said, his voice carrying the mere yards that separated us. I was dragged out of my cage while a chain was placed on my ankle. White coat chatter buzzed around me but I could not focus on anything other than my friends; every drop of sweat that tore a track in the dirt coating their faces; the bars gleaming in the sun; the dust hanging in the air; the blood, bones, and flesh littering the dirt.
"Adv3si45n, pay attention." I received a sharp jolt right between my wings that paralyzed me for a few moments, causing me to fall to my knees in a silent scream. I stare at the grass as growling and yipping starts up, but everything feels numb and I can't move. I am hauled back to my feet where I manage to catch another small glimpse of Michelle and Sam poised bravely, trying to be fearless as the timers are set to release the cage doors for all the erasers. They would be trapped in their cage, waiting for their door to be torn off while death waited off to the side. I wanted to puke, and my stomach sure churned like it was going to oblige. I feel them chain my wing together so I don't try to fly and then they try to get me to start doing jumping jacks, but they end up shocking me again as the timers start counting down. The sky grows dark as if responding to the mood. Michelle glances up and starts grinning, Sam following lead. My neck was numb by now but the white coats had begun screaming and running for the building. I see a giant bird tear into a white coat from my limp position on the ground. Adrenaline kicks in and I manage to sit up. Someone lands among the flurry of feather and disables the timer, then picks the lock on the cage holding Michelle and Sam. Reid. He was so much taller than I remember but just as thin. I grin and pull myself up using the fence while the three begin running towards me.
"Amanda! I had calculated the chances of you surviving to be 1 to 194560! I thought you were going to be dead." He rushes, evaluating the chains through the fence. I could see the gears in his head turning as I struggle to understand everything through a haze.
"How did … hawks. Erasers. Failed. Dead. What." I knew that didn't make sense but I couldn't force out a sentence. Reid, Michelle and Sam close behind, flies over the fence. He starts picking the locks while Michelle tries to explain.
"We knew we would have to get inside to find you, so we had to be captured. Reid had the photographic and eidetic memory here so he planned out what would happen afterwards and figured that we would end up near your cage if you were alive, and then we would be taken outside. Honestly, you being brought outside was an unexpected surprise, so now we don't have to raid the building and deal with erasers." She was babbling slightly, she and Sam watching the door for any signs of retaliation. I managed to understand most of that, the effects of the electrocution wearing off. Reid finally makes a triumphant noise and I feel the ankle shackle click, releasing my foot. I let go of the fence and step forward, holding my weight. Reid quickly untangles the chain on my wings and begins running.
"We have to hurry, they could have erasers out here any second." As he said this I heard growling and stomping from inside the building, the few hawks that had made it indoors on white coats being killed off by erasers without their strength in numbers. Reid takes to the air closely followed by Sam. Michelle grabs my head and quickly bursts over the information on how to fly, giving me a raging headache, then starts running. I follow her and take to the air, copying her movements and adjusting to my wing type. Soon enough we are steadily rising, Michelle staying close to help me if I need it. We fly furiously for several minutes until the laboratory is a speck on the horizon, the giant birds beginning to follow. My lungs were heaving and my muscles sore from the strange new exercise but at least I learned endurance in that hellhole. After the panic fades we begin to look at each other then laugh. It starts slow then escalates to hysterical before topping off at euphoric. We made it out. We were free. We were free together.
