Welcome back! Been a while hasn't it? Well, I won't keep you waiting, here you go!
"Words" Speaking
'Words' Thoughts
"Words" Demon Speech
'Words' Demon thoughts
Scene change
It has been ninety days since my arrival here at Sigma Labs, over twelve weeks, almost three months.
The date is January twenty-ninth.
All the Sigma Subjects were alive and well. Eating dinner together.
Even Sunny was eating with us now!
How I was able to get him to open up is a different story for his friends only, But he was finally able to talk to us, I'll be it, sparingly.
Over the past few months, I've learned a lot from my fellow ESPers.
Mathias taught me leadership skills and how to resist mental attacks from either other ESPers or empowered Masks. Matt also told me how to empathize and support others in times of stress.
Akiza taught me how to fight and use weapons in both human vs. human and human vs. Mask battle. Most of the hand-to-hand combat was something akin to Krav Maga and Judo. Akiza also taught me how to make use of weapons, spears, crossbows, and grappling hooks. We were able to train in hand-to-hand easily due to one-on-one fights being a test, and the weapons were done when I was against a Tamed or another beast.
Ryan trained me physically. With his knowledge of the human body, he made a complete training plan to get me into the best shape as physically possible. Now I'm able to sprint long distances with extra weight and have extreme flexibility, and even my strength has increased where I can bench my own body weight, but not for many reps.
C taught me how to survive in the wilderness. From books and hide and seek tests, she showed me techniques like making traps, what plants were edible or poisonous, how to make shelter, how to start a fire, and how to collect clean water.
K taught me more about morphogenetic fields. K is a receiver like me, so she taught me how to reach out and listen to my transmitter. Now I can listen to Emma's thoughts or see through her eyes whenever I concentrate hard enough.
Penny told me about technology and programming, her forte. Penny was able to show me it's the ins and outs of our Nulls and the tech we'd find at the Rhizome. She also taught me how to make an untraceable connection so we could communicate without anyone listening in.
Tikvah showed how to be stealthy. While in survival tests, she taught me how to paint my body to conceal myself, mask my scent, and walk and hide without making any noise.
We learned a lot more, like the locations of the four Rhizomes here in the demon world. But most importantly, we got more pause buttons to hide our location, one for each of us, and we got the promised pens, which we'd use to locate and unlock the Rhizomes.
We were days away from our escape. We had most of everything we needed, all packed up and hidden thanks to Lieza's help. We just had one more thing to do, get rid of the trackers inside us.
After dinner, we all headed to bed. Later tonight, we'd use our pause button to meet up in the hallway between our dorms and discuss the final steps of our plan.
Sunny and I lay in our respective beds as we read more books on fauna and survival.
"Hey, Sunny? Get ready to lie down. It's almost dark." I told the Clift-faced teen.
Sunny closed his book and turned to me. While he was still quite monotone in expression, he was much more outgoing, now that he had faced his demons and overcame his inner self to master his .
Sunny nods and puts the book on his desk before laying down.
I copied his movement and lay down just as the room was automatically plunged into darkness.
'Just one hour, and then we meet the others.' I thought, trying to keep my mind occupied to not accidentally fall asleep.
I closed my eyes and steadied my breath, focusing on one thing.
'Emma.' I thought, opening my mind to accept her thoughts.
We know that we are far from B06-32. Our pens say we are at C78-97. If the maps we have are to be believed, then we are over two thousand miles away. From the images I've seen from Emma, the time is also different. Right now, she and the other Goldy Pond inhabitants are eating dinner.
"That's when I realized it's not just me. Everyone's like me. Everyone lost someone close to them. They all have feelings of anger, regret, and sadness." Theo said, holding onto his slice of bread.
Theos hands started to shake as he continued.
"I'm-I'm just so angry! Cause of Monica and Jake! Cause I got the ax and couldn't do anything! Cause that monster was laughing at them!" Theo said, tears starting to fall.
"We can do this. I want it to be over. I want to end this nightmare. I'm scared, but no matter how scary the enemy is, even if we're so tiny compared to them, even if they trample over us and throw us into hell. We will rise. We will overcome anything in our way! Humanity isn't weak!" Emma said, looking into Theos eyes.
"I'm not pulling your leg here. We're going to end this next hunt, and then it'll all be over." Emma continued.
"The next hunt…" Theo repeated.
"Right, That's why you have to eat and rest, so you have the strength you need!" Emma said, smiling.
'She's still okay. After getting to know the others, she's still a positive ray of sunshine.' I thought with a smile.
Soon though, the happy-go-lucky emotions stopped when the sound of a horribly distorted song reverberated around the town.
'The hunt… during dinner?! They just prepared for the plan. Do they have everything ready?' I worried.
But Oliver's reassurance gave me peace of mind. 'They'll be fine. I know they can do it.' I thought as the worry was replaced by hope.
I get jolted from my morphogenetic connection with Emma back to my room when Sunny shakes me slightly.
I looked up at him with fully awake eyes and nodded.
I activate the button in my pocket and get up from bed.
The two of us walked over to the door, opening it with the secret key we got from Makoto a couple of weeks ago.
Outside, Ryan and Mathias were waiting, in their PJ's just like us.
"Took you two long enough," Ryan said impatiently.
"Come on, Ryan, we just got out a few seconds ago. Now, let's meet the girls." Mathias said, walking to the door.
Mathias used the key to open the door into the hallway between the dorms. Ryan and Sunny followed the eldest Sigma subject, with me quickly behind.
The girls were just walking out of their dorm, in their PJ's just like us. The nine of us huddled up in the center of the hallway and began the meeting.
"Okay, first things first, we need the mice that will take our trackers once we remove them as well as the remover gun," Mathias began.
"Sunny and I have a check-up with Ludwig next week as the last activity, we can use the buttons and take the mice and the gun then, we can also get some Soporil to put the mice to sleep," I tell them.
"Good, everything else is ready in the laundry room, thanks to Lieza and the others. Let's go over the actual escape plan one more time." Mathias suggests, causing the rest of the ESPers to nod.
"First, we are going to separate into three teams. Team yellow will be Akiza, Penny, and myself. Team magenta will be Sunny, Tikvah, and C. and team cyan will be Spencer, Ryan, and K. Thanks to Lieza and Makoto's investigation, we know that Roj goes to bed at five, leaving the monitors to his assistant Zule. Zule is lazier and passes out at around midnight. That is when we leave. Next week, the eighth, we will remove the trackers in ourselves using the graph we got from Dr. Sigma, in our watches, and in our Nulls. Then we will put them in the mice and go to bed. At midnight we will get up. Team Magenta will get the supplies from the chutes and leave to the secret exit in the game room. The passage is completely invisible and unknown to everyone but Dr. Sigma and us. It leads outside, about a day's length away. It's completely safe and ends up in a safeish area. Sunny, Tikvah, and C will go through the passage as they are the physically weakest. Then the rest of us will jump down the chute one at a time and get our supplies down there." Mathias explains.
Taking a breath, he continues.
"Down in the laundry room, team cyan and team yellow will separate and go into the water system and ventilation system, respectively. Problem is, they are both flooded with water or air 24-hours a day, seven days a week, along with fans and filters that block any movement through. But once a month at midnight, they shut the system down to check the compressor pumps and filters. All the fans stop, and filters are ejected to be cleaned and replaced automatically. A maintenance hatch is automatically opened for the water system at the end, leading outside, and the ventilation systems access hatch opens outside. The air ducts are mostly vertical with some horizontal parts, so we'll need to climb up to the top and leave through one of the exhaust vents. It's about one-thousand feet up the ventilation can be accessed through the laundry room. The water pipes are large enough for people to run down. From the laundry room to the hatch is about a mile. The hatches will only be open for ten minutes. After that, they close, the fans start up again, filters come back, and water will fill the pipes. So we need to move as fast as possible to get to the hatches to escape. Spencer, Ryan, and K will go through the water pipes as they are the best runners. Akiza, Penny, and I will go through the air vents, as we have the best strength-body weight ratio. Once out, we go to three different Rhizomes, Yellow goes to D10-55, Magenta goes to A44-15, and cyan goes to B06-32." the eldest ESPer explained.
"If everything goes right, people won't notice us until the morning when we don't leave our rooms at six-thirty, that gives us about six and a half hours to make it as far as possible before Andrew starts to hunt us down. If he does catch us, we use the self-destruction feature on our Nulls Penny programmed in so he can't find out anything when we check in with each other every other day." Akiza continued.
The two eldest continued their explanation, with the rest of us listening in. Suddenly I felt something, anxiety like I've never felt before, like something terrible was about to happen.
It wasn't like when I used my precognition. This had more dread, more loss.
I closed my eyes and focused on the feeling, trying to find the cause.
I focused on the emotions, trying to find the source of them.
My connection to Emma activates as I see her in the middle of her battle with Leuvis. Ray and Mister, who I was told by Makoto are named Yugo, along with Aubrey, Adam, and Kel were shooting Leuvis with everything they had. Adam was in the rubble of a house while the rest fired on the hatted demon.
Suddenly Leuvis appeared behind Emma and stabbed her in the abdomen with two of his sharp fingers.
"Game, set, match," Leuvis said as he retracted his fingers.
"Emma!" I exclaim out loud.
The others look at me in confusion at my sudden outburst.
"Emma, she, she was hurt while fighting that mask Leuvis guy, really bad. I, I feel her slipping, K! Please help! Let me talk to her. I can bring her back. Please use your GIFT for me!" I pleaded.
K knew how important Emma was to me, so she reached over and placed a hand on my shoulder without a word.
"Calm down, Spence. You need to calm down if you want to talk to her. Just focus on your breathing and reach out as I taught you." K said in a calming tone.
I steadied my breathing and once again focused on Emma, her feelings, and her being.
Slowly my feelings became numb. No longer could I hear my comrades breathing, nor could I feel K's hand on my shoulder.
The inky blackness around me became thick like water. I looked down to see the silhouette of Emma sinking into the abyss.
'I may not be able to see or hear her, but I know she's there.' I thought as I swam down.
"Emma, Emma, Emma, Emma!" I called out as I swam down.
I saw the silhouette tilt her head upward towards me as I grabbed her hand.
"Emma, don't let go," I said as I began to swim up to the surface.
On the surface, I could see Emma's actual body lying in a pool of blood.
"You have to keep fighting, Emma. If you lose now, I won't be able to see you again…" I told her as we got to just below her body.
"I'm proud of you Emma, I've seen all you accomplished in the time we've been apart," I said as I looked at the face of Emma's silhouette.
"Don't worry, just keep struggling and live, Emma. I'll see you soon." I told her before embracing the shadowy figure.
I took one last look at the body above before pushing my closest friend back into her body.
"She's okay, she's okay," I repeat as I sigh in relief.
"Good with that crisis averted. We have to get to bed," Mathias says.
"Right, Spencer, Sunny, I don't want you two worrying about anything but getting the mice, the remover gun, and the Soporil," Akiza said.
"Right," Sunny and I said at once.
"Ugh, Drama," Ryan said in irritation.
The nine of us went back to our rooms and deactivated our pause buttons.
"Goodnight, Sunny," I said to the black-haired boy.
"Night," Sunny replied.
As I fell asleep, I focused on my connection with Emma. I felt her there, but I only saw darkness, like she was sleeping.
'Well, after getting an injury like that, she's bound to pass out from pain or blood loss. I can only hope that the others have the medicine to save her…' I thought with a twinge of fear.
With worry for my childhood friend in my head, I enter the dream world once again.
Next week. February eighth, just after lunch.
Today was the day. The nine of us escape tonight. I just finished an obstacle course with Sunny, and now we were waiting for a guard to take us to Dr. Ludwig's office to get a check-up.
'This is it. Sunny and I need to go to our check-ups, push our buttons while Dr. Ludwig is "out of the room," use Soporil on nine mice, and take them. Get some more Soporil, and steal the removal gun.' I thought.
The door opens, and a familiar face walks in, a person whose presents caused the blood to drain from mine and Sunny's face.
"Sargent Left, you will be taking Sigmas five and nine to Dr. Ludwig's office. After that, you can go about your own business." The lead scientist explained.
Andrew grunted and nodded before looking at the two of us. We immediately walked to the door as he opened it and walked behind us.
The three of us walked to the elevator in silence. 'If he finds the pause button in my pocket, the entire escape plan will be ruined! I can't let him find it.' I thought as we approached the elevator.
Anxiety builds in my stomach as the elevator doors open and Andrew steps inside. Sunny and myself close behind.
Slowly, the elevator doors close as we ascend to the tenth level. I know not to look at Andrew directly, as he gets angered by it. However, I start to shift uncomfortably at the man's intimidating presents.
Suddenly, my worst fears were realized when Andrew stopped the elevator halfway to our destined floor and looked directly at us.
"Tell me what you're planning, and I won't hurt you." the blond man demands.
'Shit, he knows something's up. If we want to succeed, he must not find out. Got to play ignorants.' I thought as I mimicked a face of confusion.
"Sargent Left? What are you talking about?" I ask in a confused tone.
Sunny copies my confused expression and tilts his head.
The tall man sighs and closes his eyes.
"So it's going to be like that, Huh? I give you an order, and you disobey me. You know what that means…" Andrew says as he approaches us.
Quick as lightning, Andrew punches Sunny in the face and kicks me in the stomach, sending us to opposite sides of the elevator.
Still dazed, I looked up to see Andrew grab my hair and throw me into Sunny as he was trying to get up.
I could see a red liquid flowing from Sunny's nose down his face in my blurred vision. However, my sight was cut off as Andrew kicked me in the ribs.
The sergeant then grabs both mine and Sunny's heads and smashes our heads together.
I could see stars as I fell and saw Andrew punch Sunny in the stomach, causing him to spit up his stomach contents.
I could feel blood pour from my nose as Andrew grabbed me by the color of my shirt with one hand, using the other to do the same to Sunny.
"So, are you going to talk about your little plan now?" Andrew askes, a slight smile on his tanned face.
'This… guys. A psycho.' I thought as I tried to form words.
"What. Are. You. Talking. About?" Sunny manages to say under heavy breathing.
"Oh, so the mute can talk? Never heard your voice till now. I know you little lambs have been plannin something for a while, but recent events have made me more suspicious. Tell me what you know, now." Andrew demanded.
"We don't know what you're talking about, sergeant. The only plan is Mathias's graduation party in two weeks." I say, trying my best to seem sincere.
"A birthday? Really?" Andrew says, almost a little disappointed. "Is that all? You better not be fucking lying to me now. I will be able to tell."
"We have only been planning Matt's Birthday," Sunny says.
Maybe it's because our heart rates are already elevated from the beating, but it seems like Andrew could not see through our lie. With a huff, the sergeant drops us on the ground.
"Fine, but I got my eyes on you little lambs." the tall man says, once again pressing the tenth-floor button.
As our ascension continued, Andrew turned his back to us, facing the elevator door.
"When we get to the Doctors office, tell them you got like this during the obstacle course, or there will be consequences." Andrew orders.
"Yes, Sargent Left," I say, and Sunny helps me up to my feet.
Finally, the elevator doors open, and we begin walking to Dr. Ludwig's infirmary. Sunny helps me walk as I limp slightly to the room.
Andrew scanned his Null and shoved into the room before walking away, the door closing behind us.
I let out a massive sigh of relief as Sunny began breathing heavily. It seems we were holding our breaths for the entire encounter with the crazy Security sergeant.
Hearing the commotion, Dr. Ludwig walks up to us, then rushes over when he sees our condition.
"My God, what happened?" He asks as he looks over our injuries.
"Take a guess," I say as we walk over to the beds.
"Andrew, of course." The doctor says with venom, "give me a moment to get supplies to fix you up. Then we can conduct the check-up." He says, winking at us.
'This is it. Andrew did not find the pause button. Let's just hope he didn't break it when he was wailing on Sunny.' I thought as I watched the older man walk into the side room.
I look through the corner of my eye to Sunny, who has his hand in his hidden pocket.
When the button is pressed, I hear the audible click. Sunny gets up and walks to the mouse cages.
I got up and walked over to the medicine cabinet. I quickly open it and look for the antithetic.
"Soporil, Soporil, Soporil!" I say as I find the vials of the powerful drug.
I grabbed four of the one hundred milliliter vials as well as an injection gun and rushed to Sunny.
The mice only need a small amount to be knocked out for twenty-four hours as we planned. I loaded the gun with one of the files and aimed it at the first mouse. I set the gun to inject ten milliliters into the mouse.
Almost instantly, the mouse falls to the ground, ultimately passing out. As I got the rest of them, Sunny looked for the removal gun in one of the drawers. After a moment of rummaging, Sunny found the device, putting it into his hidden pocket.
By that time, I had drugged nine of the mice. I picked them up from their habitat and put them into my pockets.
The two of us then returned to the observation beds and deactivated the pause button.
After a couple of minutes, Dr. Ludwig returns with a small cart of tools.
"Sorry for the wait. Now Let's get to work." The good doctor says as he begins to treat our wounds.
After a few hours of treatment and testing, we were finished.
"Well, that's it, I will escort you today," Ludwig says.
"Thanks, Doc, you're the best." I compliment as we get up from the beds.
"Your welcome, Spencer, and thank you for the compliment." The man says.
Before we left, I walked over to Archimedes' perch as he looked at me.
"See you later, Archimedes," I say as I pet the white docs back.
Archimedes gives a thrill of pleasure at the attention.
The three of us then left the bird to his own devices, leaving towards the elevator.
We silently approach the elevator doors. Dr. Ludwig uses his Null to open the door and enter.
As we descended, I could help but notice Ludwig's smile. It wasn't creepy anymore. It was genuine and filled with joy.
'He's happy that we'll be out of this hell hole soon.' I thought as the elevator slowed down.
The elevator doors open to our home floor, the three of us walking out.
"Well, this is it, see you later, boys." the doctor says with a smile.
On pure instinct, I hug the man's side, "thanks for everything, doc, really." I said.
Stunned, the old doctor smiles and pats my head.
"You welcome my boy, now go. You have a busy day tomorrow," Ludwig says as we separate.
The doctor gave one more wave before entering the elevator once more and ascended back to his infirmary.
'Now, all we need is to go get dinner, then to bed. After that, we disperse the mice, remove the trackers, and escape.' I thought as Sunny and I approached the cafeteria.
The two of us entered to see everyone else there waiting in line to get food. The other ESPer looked to see who had entered.
"Hey guys, how'd the check-up go?" Tikvah asked.
"Not bad, we got beat up pretty badly before, but we are all good. Some bruising but no big issues." I explained, getting in line with Sunny.
"Well, that sucks, but you're good for tomorrow, right?" Akiza asked.
"We're good," Sunny replies.
I got my dinner, which was beef stew, a bread roll, and cinnamon-covered apple slices.
That night, we pushed the tables together and ate all together. This was the last meal we'd have together, after all.
That evening we laughed, joked, and talked as a family. Sure, it wasn't Grace Field, but we didn't need to be. All of us had gone through hardships never before experienced and suffered unimaginable pain, but we did it together and survived.
After dinner, we all made our way to our dorms, still laughing and joking around. The boys and girls separated into our dorms. Now, all we needed to do was sit in our beds, activate the pause, and then reconvene to remove the tracers within our bodies and our devices.
Sunny and I got ready. In our beds, we posed for the camera, acting as if we were lying down and sleeping before pausing and getting back up.
"This is it," I whispered as the two of us exited our room. Mathias and Ryan were once again outside their rooms, waiting for us.
"You got the stuff?" Ryan asked.
"Yep, let's get this over with!" I said with excitement.
We left the common area and entered the hallway between the boy's and girl's rooms with a nod.
The girls were also just exiting their rooms as we did, and wordlessly we got to work.
Sunny took out the removal gun as Mathias got the chart showing where our trackers were.
"Each of us has trackers in different parts of our body, depending on our numbered designation," Mathias explains.
We got a diagram showing the human body with circles and numbers indicating where each tracker was from Makoto a couple weeks ago. On the pack of the neck was number one, two was on the base of the spine, three was on the left forearm, four and on the right upper arm, five was on the right, six was on the lower left abdomen, seven was on the outer right thigh, eight was on the left shin, and nine was on the right heal. These, along with our trackers on our ears, were to be removed and placed inside the mice, allowing them to still detect blood flow and remain working.
I took out the mice and gave one to everyone. As Penny got to work removing the tracking chips in our Nulls and watches, Akiza and Mathias began to remove our trackers inside us.
Removing the chips in our ears was easy enough. Only leaving a piercing after the removal gun did its job. And injecting them into the mice was simple, not even leaving a mark.
But now was the real hard part.
First to go was Mathias, as he was the most dangerous, one wrong move, and he would become a quadriplegic. With a steady hand, Akiza places the tip of the removal gun on the back of her boyfriend's neck, carefully aiming for the part where the tracker was located. With bated breath, Akiza squeezed the trigger.
Mathias let out a yelp as he felt the tracker get sucked out of his neck.
But he moved, touching the back of his neck to stop the bleeding.
"Looks like it worked," the eldest of us said, looking at Akiza as she looked at the chip in the gun.
Without a second to waste, she injected the tracker into the mouse, again with no mark remaining.
C was next, having her tracker at the base of her spine. Once again, after a tense moment, the chip was removed.
Next was me, being that my chip was right in front of my heart. I took off my shirt, revealing my now-toned body, looks like all Ryan's training did me well.
Akiza carefully positioned the removal gun over my heart. 'One wrong move and I'm dead.' I thought as I slowed my breathing.
"One, two, three." Akiza counted before activating the removal gun.
A sharp pain pierced my chest as if someone poked it with a needle. Then Akiza pulled back, revealing the chip within the gun.
"Done," the crimsonette said as she took hold of my mouse and injected the chip into it.
I put my shirt back on without much issue, the pain already subsiding.
While the others got their chips removed, I approached K.
"Hey uh, K, can I get your help for a sec?" I asked the dark-skinned teen.
"Sure, Spencer, what's up?" K replied.
"Can you use your GIFT to allow me to talk to Emma? I want to tell her what's going on…" I ask.
"Aww, of course, Spence. Anything for you and your Girlfriend." The older ESPer teased.
I blush at her words before shaking my head and closing my eyes. I felt K, hand touch mine as I focused on Emma.
'Emma, can you hear me? I know you're in a coma, but that shouldn't be a problem.' I thought as I connected to Emma through the morphogenetic fields.
Just like before, I saw the silhouette of Emma standing in front of me,
"Emma. Emma. Emma! Emma!" I yelled, trying to get through to her.
I saw the silhouette turn to face me. And I smiled as I began to speak.
"I can't talk much right now. We're escaping tonight. Today is February eighth, and It might take a few weeks, but I'll see you soon, I promise." I told the girl.
The silhouette moved as though it was trying to talk, but no words came from it.
'Morphogenetic fields only work one way,' I remembered as I continued my speech.
"I know you're asleep right now and might stay asleep for a while, but try to wake up before I get there, okay. I've missed you so much… and more can't wait to tell you about the adventure I've had. Anyways, See you soon!" I said as I brought myself back to reality.
I open my eyes, and K lets go of my hand.
"Good?" She asked.
"Good," I replied.
With a smile, K walked up to Akiza to get her chip removed.
The rest got their tracers removed. Penny was already done with our Nulls and watches. After the orange-haired girl's chips were removed, it was time to go back to bed and wait till eleven-thirty.
"Well, this is it. Remember, every other day, we will check in using coded language on an untraceable line programmed by Penny. If at any time you are about to be captured, use the self-destruct word of the Nulls. This is the fight of our lives, our chance at freedom, our chance to change the world." Mathias said, motivating us.
"I guess this is goodbye for now to Tikvah, Sunny, and C. You know where to go once you receive the supplies," Akiza said.
"Right, I'm really gonna miss you guys," Tikvah said in a saddened tone.
"It's going to be weird being so far away from you, sis," C said to her twin.
"Come on guys, it's not like we're never going to see each other again. Once the heat dies down and we make a plan with the other kids, we will reconvene and see each other then." I said with positivity.
The others smile at my words. Reminded of my hope and innocence.
"Right, we can do this," Sunny said.
We said our farewells to the ones who were going to the secret path.
"One more thing, we have to synchronize our watches, it's almost nine pm. Set your watches to nine and start them on my mark." Mathias said, looking at his wrist brace watch.
The rest of us set our watches to the designated time. After a minute or so, Mathias gestured to us to get ready.
"Okay. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Mark!" Mathias said as we all started our watches.
We finally went back to our rooms. Now we just needed to wait for two and a half hours before we left. Then after half an hour, we would run.
Sunny and I arrived back in our room and went to bed.
'We have to be careful and only sleep until eleven-thirty.' I thought.
At eleven twenty.
Later that night, I felt someone rubbing my shoulder.
I look up to see Sunny sitting on my bed, looking at me.
"Hey Sunny… it's almost time, isn't it?" I ask.
Sunny nodded in response.
We sat in silence for a moment before I spoke up.
"You're worried that you won't see your friends from home aren't you? And now that you have made connections with everyone, you're afraid to lose them…" I said, sitting up.
The ebony-eyed boy looked down at his hands and nodded.
"Sunny, if we are going to make it, you need to have faith in us. If you're scared you won't get the chance to apologize to your friends, you have to have hope. This is not the end, Sunny. It's the beginning." I told the older boy.
Sunny moved closer to give me a warm hug. I responded by hugging him as well.
"Don't worry, I'll tell them, I'll hum that song to prove it. And once we're ready, will come to get you." I said.
Suddenly my Null started beeping, indicating it was time.
We separated, and I placed my mouse in my bed. I walked over to my laundry chute, and Sunny walked to his as he waited for the supplies to arrive from his chute.
"Well, Sunny, see you soon, my friend," I said, waving to the boy.
Sunny looked back at me and gave a genuine smile as he waved back.
'Finally got to see his famous smile.' I thought as I climbed into the chute.
"See you Spence." Sunny replied.
Once I got in, I held myself up by leaning on the walls. I looked at my watch to see the time.
'I'm too jump down at eleven thirty-six. Just one minute.' I thought as I kept my eye on my watch.
After a minute, my watch hit my time, and I let myself slide down the chute.
It was dark as I slid down the metal chute. After a couple of seconds, I felt the slide begin to tilt before I saw a light at the end.
I was suddenly met with a bunch of clothes cushioning my landing.
Team Yellow and Team Cyan were already there, along with Lieza and Makoto.
"Good, now we must move quickly, Lieza, send the supplies to the other three," Makoto said calmly.
"Yes, sir." The female Mask replied.
I got up and quickly moved over to the others, who were putting their backpacks on and triple-checking the supplies.
As I also got mine on, I looked to see Lieza use some sort of extendable pole with the backpacks attached to the end to send them up to team Magenta.
Makoto walked up to me and kneeled down.
"I've already said this to the others, but I want to tell you how proud I am to see you off like this. For years I watched my fellow ESPers die without any chance of escape. And though I may be unable to join you on your journey, I will always keep you in my thoughts and help in any way I can." The older man said. "You'll need this," Makoto added, handing me a bookmark with a Clover on it. The word "Love" was written in gold on one of the leaves.
I took the bookmark and put it in my secret pocket, where my picture of Ray, Emma, Norman, and myself was located.
"Thank you, Makoto, for everything," I said as I reached around to hug the adult ESPer.
The man patted my back before pulling back.
"Before you all go, we have one more gift for each of you. We already put team Magenta's gifts in their bags, so don't worry." Makoto said as he stood up.
The six of us gathered around Makoto as he beckoned Lieza to come over.
Lieza approached us with a large box. With her long bony fingers, she opened the box revealing six smaller boxes, each about the size of our palms.
"This one for Mathias." The Mask said, picking up the box with the letter 'M' engraved on it. "This is Akiza's," She continued. "Penny's, K's, Ryan's, and Spencer's." The young demon said, finishing handing out the gift.
The box itself wasn't too impressive. It had a latch that kept the lid closed. Inspecting it, I noticed a crank on the side.
"As you can see, their music boxes. All of us, Ludwig, Chise, Iroh, Kyoko, and even Dorthey, put a lot of effort into making them have a unique song for each of you. For Mathias, the song is called "The Proto-man whistle." For Akiza, a song called "Lilium." For C, a song she liked was known as "Blue Bird Lamentation." For K, "Togetherness one." For Ryan, "The First Layer." For Penny, "Schala's song." For Sunny, we used "By Your Side." For Tikvah, we used "Clockwork Quick, Lightning Slow." And for Spencer, we used "Oracion." Each song was selected with care, and these boxes will prove invaluable to your quest." Makoto explained.
We all put the boxes into our backpacks before all hugging Makoto.
"Thank you so much, Makoto. You've helped us so much," Akiza said, tears falling down her cheeks.
"Yeah, you really put your neck out for us. Thank you so much." Penny thanked.
"Your welcome kids, it was my pleasure to help you," Makoto said, returning the group hug.
After a moment, we all broke away from the hug. Makoto looked at us with a warm smile.
"It's almost time." The adult said.
"Yes, it is, I will lead you to the water system entrance, and Lord Makoto will lead the others to the ventilation." Lieza explained.
"Right," Mathias said before turning to the rest of us.
"Well, this is it, remember, we have to move fast if we want to make it out. It's also going to be dark, so please be careful." Akiza said.
"We're ready," Ryan said.
"We can do this!" Penny exclaimed.
The teams separated. Team Yellow stayed with Makoto in the laundry room as he moved one of the dryers revealing an air vent.
Lieza led us into a closet with all kinds of pipes and a manhole cover on the ground.
Ryan picked up a crowbar leaning on the wall and used it to pry the manhole open, and then the buff ESPer picked up the two hundred and fifty-pound cover.
"Well, children, this is it. Even though we never got the chance to really get to know each other, it makes me happy to see you leave and gain freedom. I hope that next time we meet, it will be in a world where we are all free." Lieza says as Ryan starts to climb down the ladder.
I walked up to the female Mask and hugged her around her waist. "Thank you for everything, Lieza. From the background, you have been such a great help to us, hiding all the supplies we send you," I told the young Mask.
Frozen with shock at the sudden hug, Lieza smiled under her Mask and put her boney hand atop my head.
"No, thank you, Spencer, for seeing me as more than a slave and for becoming my friend," Lieza told me.
I separated the hug as I saw K climb down as well.
With one last smile, I followed my ESPer companions down the ladder into the large pipes below the facility. I looked up to see Lieza putting the manhole cover back on, plunging the world into darkness.
As I descended into the pipe, I heard rushing water below me. Looking down, I saw Ryan using his flashlight on his Null to shine the fast-moving water below.
I looked at my watch to see how long until the water would stop.
'Eleven fifty-nine. One minute left.' I thought.
"We have a minute until it shuts down," I said out loud.
Slowly the rushing water began to slow down, and the water level shrunk. Ryan kept moving down with the water.
Then the floor of the pipe could be seen. Ryan instantly jumped down and began to run down the pipe. K slid down close behind.
I was right behind K when my shoes hit the still wet floor. I began to run.
It was completely dark in the tunnel. I could not see K or Ryan in front of me, only knowing they were there because of the splashing on the ground.
The smell of the pipe was musty, like mildew. It was so thick I could taste it.
'So dark, I can't even see my legs.' I thought as I ran.
We only had ten minutes to get to the exit hatch. We have been running for about three minutes in this pitch-black pipe, and there was no way of knowing how close we were to the end.
We ran in silence, only focused on getting to our point. If we don't make it, the pipe will fill up with water, causing us to drown.
Far off in the tunnel, I could see a very faint light.
"That must be the exit!" Ryan said as we picked up the pace.
However, I slipped on some slime on the ground, causing me to fall down.
I picked myself up, a little dazed at the fall. I couldn't get my bearings and, for a moment, had to wait to shake the dizziness before sprinting to catch up.
The light at the end of the tunnel started to get clearer. I could begin to make out the shapes of my two companions in front of me.
Suddenly the light shifted. I looked closer to see a steel door rising from the ground of the tunnel.
"It's the hatch! The door is closing!" K yelled.
The tree of us ran as fast as we could as the hatch slowly closed. Slowly I could feel the water level rising once again.
Ryan and K stepped over the hatch to safety. However, I was still behind as the water began to flow faster.
"Spencer! Come on, hurry up!" K yelled at me.
I started to run on the side of the pipe in order to not be impaired by the flowing water.
The hatch had already closed halfway. There was only one way I was going to make it.
I used the side of the pipe. I jumped through the hatch just before it closed. Ryan caught me before I could fall face-first onto the ground.
"Good job, you're alive. Now come on, we have to move." Ryan said, putting me down.
With a nod, we ran down the exit pipe, reaching the exit to see a lake before us.
The moon was full, reflecting perfectly on the calm water.
I took a deep breath. For the first time in ninety days, I could breathe fresh air.
"No time to enjoy our escape. We still have to get as far as possible. Ryan, what does the compass say?" K asked.
Taking the compass from his pocket, Ryan looked to see which was west.
"That way," Ryan said, pointing down to our right.
Without hesitation, we began to run once more. If all things go as planned, we should be miles away before the Sigma lab staff find out we escaped.
'I hope Mathias and his team got out in time… we won't know until tomorrow night when we call in. Sunny's team should be fine, but I still worry.' I thought as we ran along the shore of the lake.
Soon we reached the end of the lake and entered the forest. It was dark as the moon was being hidden by the giant trees.
"We have to start being careful to hide our tracks, don't step on things that will leave a track. And as soon as we find something to mask our scent, we will use it." Ryan said as we ran.
"Right." K and I respond.
We continued at our pace for the next couple of hours, not slowing down as we got as much distance as possible.
That morning.
The sun had risen on their first day of freedom.
It was a beautiful day. Even in this forest, one could tell there wasn't a cloud in the sky.
We had found a plant that had a particular smell we used to mask our scent. Our pace had slowed down now that it was the morning, and we were tired.
Ryan suggested that we climb one of the trees and rest up there. Luckily we found a vigorous vine we could use to climb the towering trees above us.
We stood on one of the thick branches of the tree that were large enough to hold all three of us with no issue.
There we sat and ate some of our rations and drank some water, allowing our bodies to rest.
After eating, Ryan uses his knife to carve a spear out of a branch from the tree. After it was carved, he used a shard of sharpened rock as the head. The buff team used the rest of this time to make arrows from K and me.
I took out the music box that was given to me by Lieza and Makoto.
I opened the box to see the normal mechanisms one would see in a music box. I twisted the key on the side of the box causing music to flow through the air.
"Oracion, a lullaby to calm the fiercest rage…" I said as the song played.
"It is calming, isn't it? Let me try mine," K said, taking out her box. I closed my own music box to allow us to hear hers.
With the wind of the box, the music started to play from it.
"Makoto called it "Togetherness one," right? Wonder what it means..." K said as we listened to the music.
"It's nice like even if we are far apart, we are still in this together," I said.
"Ryan, take out yours! I want to hear it!" K said enthusiastically.
"No thanks, I don't want some gift from traitors, Spence, you can have it. Maybe you'll take care of it and appreciate it more than me," Ryan said, tossing the box to me.
I stumbled a bit but finally got a hold of the music box. I looked at the box before turning my gaze up to the toughest member of the ESPers.
"Are you sure? Makoto said it will help us in our mission?" I asked the older teen.
"Keep it. I don't care. Sure, he helped us, but he's still a slave to the Masks at the end of the day. You like him, though, so I think you'll keep it safe. I might accidentally destroy it," Ryan told me.
I looked down at the music box and twisted the key, starting the music to play.
"Makoto called it "The First Layer," Right? Wonder what that means." I asked as the music played.
"We can think about that later. We should head out again now that we are rested and fed," Ryan said as he started to pack up.
K and I quickly follow him, putting the boxes away getting ready to climb back down and begin our move once more.
Before we climbed down, I took out the pen to check our current location. I opened the pen, and a hologram appeared before me, displaying an owl with a circle around it and the code C77-83.
"We still have a long way to go…" I said as I looked at the set of coordinates. Dr. Sigma told us the coordinates are set in ten-mile squares, so from here to B0-32 are about 135 coordinate squares or about 1350 miles.
I closed the pen and put it back in my safety pocket before following the other two down to the forest floor.
Ryan handed K and myself five wooden arrows with glass shard heads.
The teenage boy looked at the compass once more before pointing in the direction of east.
We kept walking at a quickened pace for a while, now that we were pretty far from Sigma, we didn't have to run, but we shouldn't walk either.
For about an hour, we kept going at a steady pace, observing the environment around us.
However, Ryan suddenly stopped, touring his fist up as a sign to stop.
K and I stopped in place, not taking another step as we looked around, trying to find out why Ryan ordered us to stop.
Ryan points three fingers up, meaning we are to take out our weapons.
I took out my foldable crossbow while K took out her standard bow.
I took one of the arrows Ryan made me and loaded it. Calmly I raised my weapon and looked around.
It was quiet in the dense forest. No wind blows for the leaves to move. The three of us slowly moved back to back, facing out, so there was no blind spot.
K raised her bow with an arrow in place. Ryan held his spear in both hands, ready to use at an oncoming enemy.
The silence was broken by a deafening roar as a towering Mindless Wild charged toward K.
Quick to shoot, K aimed for the hulking demon's middle eye, only to miss and hit one of its many adjacent eyes.
"Split!" Ryan orders, causing us to all jump out of the wild demon's way.
The Mindless demon slid as it turned to face us again, opening it's largemouth of serrated teeth, dripping with saliva.
I took aim and shot at the Mindless. The shot landed on its neck, causing it to growl in pain.
'Must have hit its Trachea. So at least it won't be calling for more.' I thought as I took out another arrow to load.
But before I could load the shot, I felt my GIFT activate. I fell down to the ground as the Mindless pounced towards me, its razor-sharp claws reaching to swipe at me.
The monster flew above me, missing me entirely.
I quickly got up and sprinted in the opposite direction of the Mindless, as it turned around and began to chase me.
I ran as fast as I could, finally getting my crossbow loaded. I glanced behind to see the demon hot on my trail.
'I can't stop running to aim. If I do, I'm done for. Best I can do is keep running until I get to a better position, I thought as I continued to sprint.
Suddenly I see a clearing with Ryan standing, his spear in his right hand aimed to throw it.
"Jump!" Ryan yelled, pointing to a branch between us.
Trusting him completely, I jumped up and grabbed the beach above me, swinging up until I was on top.
Ryan threw the spear at full strength towards the monster.
Before the monster could even react, the spear shot right through its central eye.
The behemoth fell, sliding on the ground before coming to a complete stop.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I climbed down.
Ryan approached the monster to retrieve his spear and our arrows.
K walked from behind a nearby tree and rushed over to me.
"Spencer! Are you okay? It didn't hurt you, did it?" K asked as she grabbed me and looked around my body for any wounds.
"I'm fine, *gasp* I'm fine. *wheeze* just a little out of breath." I tell her as Ryan approaches with our arrows.
"Here, we gotta get going. It might have brought friends with all the commotion." Ryan tells us.
We instantly got moving east once again. For the rest of the day, we didn't stop and luckily didn't encounter any Mindless.
At sundown.
The sunset was beautiful. The oranges and reds reminded me of a sight I saw not too long ago. But while that sight was a tragic one, this was a freeing sight.
We found a cave in the roots of a tree. It was very well concealed, underground, and had two exits we could use in an emergency.
I had collected some firewood and started the flame, cooking some rabbit Ryan and killed along our journey.
Soon it was time to contact the others, so K got her Null out and entered the video chat.
"This is June, Quatro, and V. Do you read us?" K asked.
K was using our students we made for each other during the month at Sigma. K's name was June, as her number was six, and June was the sixth month in the year. Ryan was number four, and therefore, his nickname was Quatro, after the Spanish word for four. I was number five, so I chose the name V, as it is the roman numeral for five.
"We read you, team Cyan. This is Sensei." said the voice of Akiza. Her name was from the Japanese word Sen meaning three, and the fact that she wanted to become a teacher. "Mono and Chakra are all good." She continued, referencing Mathias and Penny.
"Team Magenta is here!" Tikvah said through the call. "Lotus here, along with Nona and Twin are here as well." She said with Sunny and C in the background.
"Well, looks like everyone made it out safely, at least. Anything to report?" Akiza asked.
"We are still in the tunnel," Tikvah said.
"We had an encounter with a Mindless, but we got out with no injuries," K explained.
"Good, we had no issues either. It's good to hear your all okay, team cyan." Akiza said.
"No doubt Sigma labs knows we escaped now. Andrew and his forces will be coming after us. We have to keep moving and make sure he can't pick up our trail. We aren't out of the woods yet guys, get some rest. Goodnight!" Akiza said before closing the video.
With the video call over, we ate our dinner and started the guard rotation. I would keep watch first, then Ryan, then K.
Luckily nothing happened that night, and the sun came up from the horizon.
Over the next week, we kept on a serpentine path towards east-north-east. We came in contact with a couple Mindless here and there, but nothing too major until a week after we escaped.
February thirteenth. Noon.
Over the past seven days, we have made good time. This morning when I checked our coordinates, we were at C55-55. If my math is right then, that's thirty-five coordinates away from Sigma. Leaving us with about a hundred more to get to Emma and the others.
We had a few run-ins with the Mindless, one resulting in a horde of them running after us, but luckily we got away unscathed.
It was about noon. The trees had become much shorter and less dense. The sun shone through the leaves that were regrowing for the coming spring.
Ryan was once again in the front as we walked steadily through the forest with me in the middle and K brought up the rear.
I could hear birds chirping in the light breeze that rustled the trees, the calm atmosphere bringing my guard down.
"It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" K said as we walked.
"It really is. Even though it's still winter, you can tell spring is coming." I said.
"We're in the southern part of the continent. Winter isn't going to be as bad as up north." Ryan said.
"Yeah, but you can still admire the beauty." K response.
"Yeah, I guess…" Ryan said dismissively.
I sighed at Ryan's lack of enthusiasm. 'Well, that's Ryan, I guess, hyper-focused on one goal with no room for the journey.' I thought as we continued in silence.
The three of us continued on our path, unaware of the event that was about to befall us.
Suddenly men jumped out of the bushes in ghillie suits with guns aimed at us.
"Down on the ground!" They all yelled as they surrounded us.
K, Ryan, and I quickly were pushed over on the ground with the gunmen pushing us down. Then a voice we hoped to never hear started to speak.
"Surprised to see me? I guess you knew we were following you but had no idea how easy you were making it." The voice of Sergeant Andrew Left said, walking from behind a tree.
"I will give you Lambs credit. It was a good escape attempt. However, you should have known I'd come for you." Sergeant Andrew said as we approached us.
We were brought up to our feet as the soldiers held our arms roughly behind our back.
"You are the first ones we came into contact with, so tell me, where are the others? I figured you'd separate, but you know where the others are, right?" The blond asked as we looked down at us.
The three of us remained silent. We had no plan to rat on our companions.
"Gonna stay loyal, ay? Oh well, more fun for me…" Andrew said with a wicked grin.
Andrew approached K looking intently into her eyes, trying to intimidate the dark-skinned girl. However, the twin to C just stared back, unshaken by the older man's glare.
Frustrated at her stubbornness, Andrew shaped the girl hard. Causing Ryan to let out a yell in anger.
"Hands of her, you freak!" The buff boy yelled.
Andrew turned to the angry teen with an angry glare of his own.
"Oh, I'm the freak?! You are nothing more than livestock! Food! Even more egregious, you have abilities only one person should have! My master! I know what it means to be a freak. My dumbass father is to be thanked for that! Let me tell you, you are beyond a freak. You animals are monstrosities!" Andrew yelled before punching Ryan in the face, knocking a tooth.
Ryan spat out blood and continued to glare at the Sargent.
"You Lambs have no clue what you're doing," Andrew said, stepping away from Ryan.
"Your kind isn't meant to be in the human world. Only the chosen, the perfect, should be allowed to live. My talent was wasted being a herder to your sheep, but now, with the permission of Peter, I'm going to hunt each, and every one of you stray lambs down, including the Grace Field and Goldy Pond cattle as well." The man monologued.
As Andrew talked, Ryan allowed his Null to drop to the ground, causing a soldier to pick it up.
"Oh holy father, holy Brother, holy master... My sacred mission is almost complete. With these two hands, mankind will be saved. I am your will-made flesh. In your name, I give thanks." Andrew said.
"Justice!" Ryan yelled.
The Null in the soldier's hand suddenly exploded in a blinding flash of light, causing his hand to be blown to smithereens.
"Ah! Fuck!" The man yelled in pain.
Ryan lurched back and used the distraction to grab the blinded soldier holding him. Using his strength, he flung the man over his shoulder and grabbed his neck before twisting.
A sickening crack rang out, and Ryan dropped the now dead soldier before rushing toward the one holding K.
"I'll fucking kill you all!" Ryan yelled.
*bang* *bang* *bang*
Three shots clearly rang out and were followed by absolute silence.
I looked on in horror as I saw three red dots start to grow and drip Ryan's chest.
"Huh, guess I'm out for this one…" Ryan said hoarsely before falling to the ground.
"Ryan!" K and I yelled in absolute horror.
"Oops, my finger slipped, total accident." Andrew said to one of the other soldiers. "Right?"
"Yes, Sargent Left, total accident." The soldier agreed.
"At least the brain is alright. Get it to the truck." Andrew ordered.
"You, you monsters!" K yelled, tears falling down her face.
Andrew didn't answer as two men picked up Ryan's body and walked into the trees.
"You'll wish you were him when we get back to Sigma," Andrew said.
K jumped out of the soldier's grip and quickly pulled out her Null and threw it out into the air.
"Luna!" The ebony-skinned girl yelled out.
The Null in the air suddenly exploded in a bright flash of light with a loud bang.
I knew what she was doing, so I closed my eyes, shielding them from the flash.
While all the soldiers were recovering from the flashbang, K yelled again.
"Run, Spence, I'll be okay. Go!" She yelled.
I hesitated for a moment before sprinting towards the tree line.
Behind me, I heard shouting as a furious Andrew tried to recover.
I didn't look back as I flew through the trees faster than I'd ever run before.
'Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh god! This is actually happening! Ryan, he's, he's gone. And K, please be alright. I'm sorry I'm not strong enough to help. I'm sorry!' I thought as I ran through the trees.
I couldn't hear them anymore, but I continued to sprint through the trees.
'I'm sorry.'
Hours later, late at night.
The sky was dark, the new moon making the night dark minus the stars.
I haven't stopped running since the attack. By now, I was running on fumes. My adrenaline and fear were running out.
I found myself at the edge of a steep dirt hill when it hit me. The exhaustion.
My legs gave out, and I tumbled down the hill.
I rolled down, too tired to feel anything. I bumped into stones and stumps.
'I can't feel anything.' I thought as I fell down the hill.
I finally stopped in a ditch. I lay there in the dirt, unmoving as my muscles were no longer responding.
My last thought before sleep took me were. 'I hope they don't find me here, Andrew or the Mindless.'
Almost twenty-four hours later.
I don't know how long I was asleep, but I woke up to drops of rain hitting my face.
I opened my eyes and winced. My whole body ached. I stayed lying down and took a look at my surroundings.
I was in a ditch, one that was between the tall dirty hill I fell down and a small hill with a lip making a cover.
The rain started to come down hard, so I crawled my way under the hooded ditch.
I leaned my back on the wall of the small hill and looked down at my dirty clothes. I took out my Null, which was still in tacked, and checked the date and time.
'It's been a whole day… how did they not find me?' I questioned, putting my Null back in my pocket.
Slowly I started undressing to assess the damage tumbling down the dirty and rocky cliff did to me.
Dark bruises littered my legs and abdomen, but luckily nothing hit my head. I started to treat my wounds from the first aid supplies in my backpack and eat some food and drink some water. I also used the rain to refill my water supply.
For the duration of the rainstorm, I sat in silence, giving myself some time to think about what had occurred.
'Ryan, he's gone… I've seen death like this before but, to know that I may not be able to see him again, in this timeline… why, why did Andrew do it? It was no accident, and I'm sure he was told not to kill us. After all, they need us.' I thought as I stared out at the cloudy sky. Tears started to fall down my dirt-covered face.
'K… I can still feel her, so she's not dead, but she has definitely been captured and is on her way back to Sigma. She's probably told C about it. How are we going to get her? After this, the security will be tightened to the extreme. It will be impossible to escape from there any time soon.' I wiped my eyes, trying to stop myself from crying. Luckily nothing in my bag was damaged in the fall, but I barely had enough supplies to last another week.
'I have to take care of myself now, none to be by my side and help.' I thought, lying back down, using my bag as a pillow.
'I'm going to rest for another day before I head out. My body is still bruised and sore.'
Sleep quickly took over me as I was still exhausted.
That night.
Later that night, I woke up to my Null vibrating.
'The others…' I thought.
I sat up and took the device out, opening it and going to start checking in.
'Here we go…' I already thought of what's to come.
"Team Cyan Come in? Does anyone read this?" The voice of Mathias said through the speaker.
"... this is V. I'm here," I said in a hoarse tone.
"Spe- I mean V! Are you okay? Twin said something happened to June? But she can't make contact anymore! What's going on?" Mathias said in a worried tone.
"It's, I. We… I'm so sorry!" I cried out, tears falling down my face.
"V, calm down, take a deep breath," Akiza said from behind Mathias.
"*Hic* *Gasp* we, we were just *Sniff* walking when Andrew and his men ambushed us," I said, trying to regain my composure.
There were gasps from the Null.
"He started interrogating us… when. When Ryan used the self-destruct on his Null to catch the man holding him off guard. After snapping his neck, Ryan went after the man holding K." I explained.
"Then...Then, Andrew shot Ryan in the back. He, he's gone…" I said, tears streaming down my face.
There was silence from the other ends. The other teams was just trying to process what I told them.
"After that, K destroyed her Null too and told me to run. So I did. I just ran away." I said. My teeth grind together as rage at my own cowardice took hold. "I didn't even try to help her! What's wrong with me?! I should have stayed with her! But I just ran!"
The others continued to remain silent as I continued.
"All day, I ran away until it was dark. When I finally stopped, I was too exhausted to move. I fell down this hill into a ditch where I passed out for a full day." I finished, allowing the silence to fill the voice chat.
"How, how are you? Physically I mean?" Sunny asked.
I was quiet as I tried to formulate how I felt.
"I'm sore and tired. After sprinting for several hours straight, I don't think I can move for at least another day, and the fall did a number on me. I have a lot of bruises all over my body." I told him.
"V, don't for a second blame yourself." C said through the Null.
"What?" I said, confused.
"You had no way of combating Andrew and his men, and the two of you wouldn't have made it. She knew that she wasn't fast or endurant enough to make it.
"She's right, you got away, and that was her plan. I know she's still alive, so don't worry." Mathias said.
"*sniff* thanks…" I said, relieved to hear no one blamed me for it. Even if I still blamed myself.
After the other team explained what happened to them, we said goodnight, and I closed my Null.
I looked out at the rain, wondering how K was doing in the clutches of Andrew.
"I'll avenge you, Ryan, don't worry," I said out loud before falling asleep once more.
One day later.
I had sat in that ditch for an entire day. All I could do was slowly recover my strength after the ordeal I had just suffered from.
Once I had enough energy, I slowly got up from my sitting position and stood up.
My sore body ached as I moved my muscles. I took out the pen to check my location.
"C50-48, over eight coordinates, no wonder I feel so dead. If I want to keep going without my body quitting on me, I'm gonna have to keep it slow and careful." I said as I put the pen back into my pocket.
I began to slowly walk on my way. Without Ryan's compass, I had to use the position of the sun to find the direction I had to go, luckily. It wasn't too hard.
My slow pace made it easy for me to keep my tracks well hidden, as well as going in a serpentine path, so if Andrew was tracking me, he couldn't predict where I'd be going.
It was agony at first, but soon my muscles began to regain their strength after a week of slow movement, stretches, and plenty of water. I was at 100% once again.
I was lucky to not encounter any Mindless over the next few weeks as I made my way to the Rhizome.
I had crafted a mask out of some wood so that If I encountered any Masks, they could just brush me off as some child playing in the woods.
My aim with the crossbow also improved dramatically with practice. By March, I was able to hit a rabbit while it was running away.
I was in a forest only a few miles away from the Rhizome when I felt Emma in danger.
Quickly I ran towards where I felt her presents, desperate to see her in one piece after all this time.
When I saw her, she was running from a Mindless. Quickly I climbed a tree, and as the monster approached her, I let out a whistle gaining its attention.
Using the grappling hook, I swung down and shot the beast in the eye, killing it.
Present time.
"And that's how I got here," Spencer said, finishing his story.
Some of the younger kids had already fallen asleep. The story is too long for them to keep their head up to hear the end. Yvette slept resting her head on Spencer's chest while Dominic was trying to stay awake but obviously near it himself,
"God… Spencer, I. I'm so sorry for all you've been through." Ray said with genuine sadness at his friend's painful past few months.
"Ray, we live in a world where monsters eat humans. Sad stories are bound to happen." the blond boy said with a serious face.
Emma was still trying to process everything Spencer just told her, particularly that she was an ESPer like him.
'I have powers like Spence? How come I never noticed.' the orange-haired girl thought.
"So, how are Sunny and the others?" Aubrey asked impatiently.
"I'll tell you guys later. For now, we should get the kids to bed. They have had an exciting day, no?" Spencer said with a smile.
Reluctantly, the pinkette nodded and began by picking up a sleeping Salem to bring her to her bed.
Slowly the other kids followed suit, but as Emma and Ray approached Spencer to pick up Yvette and Dominic, the boy with the ponytail reached around their neck and brought their ears near his mouth.
"Tell the kids ten and older to meet in the observation room after the children are asleep. I skipped important information that the little ones don't need to know," he tells them before letting them go and handing them the two sleeping kids in his lap.
As everyone got moved to bed, Ray and Emma quickly and quietly told the older kids to meet where Spencer had told them.
Ray told the Grace Field kids and the kids from Goldy Pond, while Emma told Yugo and Lucas and the other leaders of Goldy Pond.
Soon the lights were out, and children were in bed.
Spencer was sleeping in the bed next to Emma, simply looking at each other as the sound of gentle breathing filled the room.
"It's been so long since I've slept so close to so many people," Spencer said.
"..." Emma didn't answer him, simply looking into his eyes.
"I really missed talking to you and sleeping near you," Spencer told the girl.
"Me too. Then again, you were listening to me the entire time." Emma said back.
"Yeah, it really must be weird knowing someone is listening to your thoughts… but don't worry, I have to actively think to listen to you," Spencer said, a little embarrassed.
Emma blushed at the thought of Spencer listening to her own thoughts, her desire to be next to him constantly.
"After I tell you guys what happened, I would like to sleep next to you. Like we used to." Spencer said with a blush of his own.
"Yes! I mean, sure, I'd love that…" Emma responded.
The two young teens continued to wait until they thought all the younger children were asleep before silently getting up and leaving the room.
As Emma and Spencer walked to the monitor room, Emma thought about what was so crucial that Spencer wanted to tell them that night.
'What happened during the two months Spencer skipped? And what about the two weeks Spencer spent traveling alone?' The girl thought.
Soon after, they arrived in the room, the adults, the other Grace Field kids, and the Goldy Pond leaders.
"Is this everyone?" Spencer asked.
"No. We're still waiting for Kel and Basil, but knowing Kel, he might have fallen asleep. They should be here soon." Gillian said.
"Okay," Spencer responded.
After about five minutes, a yawning Kel arrived with Basil close behind.
"Everyone here now. Good." Spencer said. Going to the head of the table with the monitors behind him.
Spencer took out his Null and, using the charging plug, connected his Null to the Rhizomes system.
"That is for later. But for now, I want to warn you. What I'm about to tell you must stay between us for the time being. If the enemy learns we know this, it could be devastating. Furthermore, it's not good news, and I don't want the children to feel hopeless. That's why I'm giving you all the chance to leave now. If you don't want to learn something that may give you despair, you should go to bed now…" Spencer told the group of leaders in the room.
There was a moment of silence as the kids and adults in the room contemplated Spencer's warning. Ultimately, No one left the room.
"I see, well here goes," Spencer said to himself.
With a deep breath, he began. The new leg of his story.
"During the two months I left out, the nine of us Subjects were sent to the human world."
Chapter 18, end.
There we go, the bedtime story of Spencer's adventure during his time at Sigma labs. With one story over, a new one begins, one I have to apologize for. I left such a juicy cliff hanger and it wont beagle to come to fruition for a while, Like I said, my schedule is fucked. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter! All the music boxes used are in the links below.
The Music Boxes.
Mathias's song /9kE3kuMA81w
Akiza's song /OZB-n8ouFGc
C's song /zDxXZQplJzU
K's song /h6nbOEcA7Ys
Ryan's song /wiPGOpioFVQ
Penny's song /QfdOPStz0uc
Sunny's song /qB-ESmPH5Hk
Tikvah's song /uGBZMwXnHMU
Spencer's song /5RtUF-tl_8U
Wish you all the best!