Author's Note: I'd just like to mention that I am not following events
exactly. I have, and will continue to manipulate some events to suit my
little author needs. :-)
Also, please bear with me if updates begin to have slightly larger gaps between them. Between being a full time student, and lack of creative inspiration, some chapters make take longer then others.
Those things aside, I'm glad to hear that everyone seems to be enjoying my story! It is my first, but, when I finish this one, I do hope to write more. And thank you to all the people who have been reviewing my story! I appreciate it a lot!!
Now you can go read the next chapter in my story. It's a longer one. ;-Þ
* * *
Chapter Five: Escape to Freedom
If we'd stayed, they would have taken Max first thing the next morning, and then Eva's death would have been for nothing. We weren't going to let that happen...not after she'd been so brave.
We'd planned well into the night, and when we were ready, we had set our plan into action. The norm soldiers stuck on duty were just going on rotation, right on time...like good little soldiers. The lock on the barrack door had been dealt with ages ago. It was incredible how lax the security was considering how valuable, and equally dangerous, we were. Oh well, it just made our lives easier. So without so much as a glance behind, we all crept out and made our way silently down the hall. It had been so quiet. I could hear our hearts beating, nothing else.
Through a few doors, and even through a few guards, we crept completely silent. If it hadn't been for the sound of my own heartbeat I'd have thought that the whole world had gone mute...it was suffocating. Seconds, minutes, hours later, who knows...it was all a blur. But eventually we got to our designated location. And there we were...lined up in front of several large glass windows, staring out into the cold December night.
The ground was covered in snow, and lights on the side of the building, and ones that would be on the perimeter fence, would make traveling unseen more difficult...but not impossible. After all, that's what we'd been made to do. If we could make it out of Manticore...if we could make it out alive...then there really was nothing that could stop us.
That was it. Our road to freedom. We'd have been free no matter what...so long as we kept going forward. If it hadn't been freedom in life, then it would have been in death, because anything was better than what we were leaving. So there we stood...patiently.
The silence had been threatening to suffocate me completely. I was sure that even a norm would have been able to hear my heart beating right then, that's how loud it was. And then Zack gave the signal. I remember the crash...the sound of the alarms going off before we'd even hit the ground. We'd shattered the windows like the alarms had shattered the silence. Then it was cold...cold and damp. The snow was already melting on our bodies. It was up to our ankles...I hardly noticed...I don't think any of us did. As soon as we'd hit the ground, we'd taken off...all of us running in different directions, not knowing what was happening to the others.
We were to meet at a pre-designated location. Once there, Zack would give us orders from there. I don't remember much now...I didn't even remember much then either...just running...running as fast as I could to the rendez-vous point. It all flew by. All I remember was lots of trees and snow, and the cold...cold, hard fear. Yes, fear. I was afraid because I didn't want to go back...afraid because I wasn't sure I wanted to go on, and that felt like a betrayal to all my siblings...dead and alive. But I continued running. Like I said-a blur, in more ways than one.
What I do remember is hearing all the shouts from the base behind us...the chaos that had reigned since the moment we'd shattered the glass. I remember seeing the alarm lights casting red shadows all around me...it had reminded me so much of Eva...her death...her blood...the reason we'd been running for our lives.
I remember arriving at the rendez-vous point and panicking because I didn't see anyone else. I had been terrified that the rest had been shot and that I was the only one who had made it. I nearly had a heart attack when, first one, then a whole group of little heads popped up from behind a snow drift...they all had had familiar faces. I immediately jumped behind the snowdrift with them, soldier instincts kicking in. We could hear the echoes of guns and tasers in the distance. But the Blue Lady must have been watching over us that night because within minutes, the rest had arrived-no casualties.
I didn't get the chance to celebrate the relief I had felt when we'd all arrived. Zack was already pairing us off and giving us orders-with the well known hand signals we'd been taught-to split our pairs up later on. He'd point to two of us, then point in a certain direction, and off they'd go. I remember getting a knot in my stomach whenever a pair of my siblings ran off. I didn't learn until much later that it had been sadness that I had been feeling that night...Anyway, it had made me sad, but I understood...I understood Zack's reasoning, I understood why. So when he had pointed to Tinga and I, and signaled our orders, we'd run off without any hesitation.
The brief time while we'd been waiting and given orders, had given the soldiers time to get mobilized. I could hear the sound of motors...snowmobiles, speeding along behind us, gaining on us. They were gaining fast...too fast. We'd had a ways to go before we'd been supposed to split up. But Tinga and I both knew, between training and instincts, that we'd have to split up sooner. It would split their attention and as a result, cause some confusion which would buy us some time. We never exchanged so much as signal...we just knew, instinctively through all our training and our bond, what we were going to do. We stole a fleeting glance at each other before we'd each run off to whatever fate awaited us.
I was alone...truly and completely alone. Cut off from everything...my siblings...my home. Yeah I know, Manticore's not exactly what you'd call home material, but it's where we'd lived since we'd been made. It's all we'd ever known. And as I was running, my heart pounding louder than I can ever remember it doing, I started to become aware of unconscious doubts. I remember thinking that even though I might make it to the perimeter...even though I might make it over the fence and even make it to the point where I'd lost the soldiers for good...what use was it? I'd be free yes, but I didn't even know what freedom was, and even that depended solely on whether or not I actually did make it beyond the perimeter fence and safely into some hiding spot.
Then it had occurred to me that even if I did all that...even if I did learn what freedom was...I might never see my siblings again. They could all die and I might never know. I might even live my life without ever seeing them again, either because our paths never crossed or because they had died, and some...some I never did see again.
I hadn't had time to dwell on those thoughts much longer. The perimeter fence had come into my field of vision. There were soldiers everywhere. Norm soldiers, yes, but still soldiers and lots of them...and they were armed. I had known then, instinctively, that they'd been given the order to keep us from escaping by whatever means necessary...and in that moment I hadn't cared...I hadn't cared if I lived or died. That's when I'd changed...that's when I decided that death would always be more welcome than going back...that's when I decided I was going to escape, and that I was going to escape by whatever means necessary.
I remember becoming fully conscious of the fact that, up until that moment, I hadn't been sure...I hadn't been sure that escaping was what I'd wanted. Sure I hated it there, but escape to what? I had a sort of little mini- epiphany then. I had realized that it wasn't what we were escaping to that mattered...it was what we were escaping from.
It had been with that thought in my mind that I'd pushed a little harder...run a little faster, and flown by the soldiers in a burst of speed that carried me over the perimeter fence and into the woods beyond. It still amazes me that I made it, even now. I had been tired, and very cold. There had been so many soldiers, yet not one of them...not one of them reacted fast enough to shoot me before I'd disappeared into the freedom beyond.
Also, please bear with me if updates begin to have slightly larger gaps between them. Between being a full time student, and lack of creative inspiration, some chapters make take longer then others.
Those things aside, I'm glad to hear that everyone seems to be enjoying my story! It is my first, but, when I finish this one, I do hope to write more. And thank you to all the people who have been reviewing my story! I appreciate it a lot!!
Now you can go read the next chapter in my story. It's a longer one. ;-Þ
* * *
Chapter Five: Escape to Freedom
If we'd stayed, they would have taken Max first thing the next morning, and then Eva's death would have been for nothing. We weren't going to let that happen...not after she'd been so brave.
We'd planned well into the night, and when we were ready, we had set our plan into action. The norm soldiers stuck on duty were just going on rotation, right on time...like good little soldiers. The lock on the barrack door had been dealt with ages ago. It was incredible how lax the security was considering how valuable, and equally dangerous, we were. Oh well, it just made our lives easier. So without so much as a glance behind, we all crept out and made our way silently down the hall. It had been so quiet. I could hear our hearts beating, nothing else.
Through a few doors, and even through a few guards, we crept completely silent. If it hadn't been for the sound of my own heartbeat I'd have thought that the whole world had gone mute...it was suffocating. Seconds, minutes, hours later, who knows...it was all a blur. But eventually we got to our designated location. And there we were...lined up in front of several large glass windows, staring out into the cold December night.
The ground was covered in snow, and lights on the side of the building, and ones that would be on the perimeter fence, would make traveling unseen more difficult...but not impossible. After all, that's what we'd been made to do. If we could make it out of Manticore...if we could make it out alive...then there really was nothing that could stop us.
That was it. Our road to freedom. We'd have been free no matter what...so long as we kept going forward. If it hadn't been freedom in life, then it would have been in death, because anything was better than what we were leaving. So there we stood...patiently.
The silence had been threatening to suffocate me completely. I was sure that even a norm would have been able to hear my heart beating right then, that's how loud it was. And then Zack gave the signal. I remember the crash...the sound of the alarms going off before we'd even hit the ground. We'd shattered the windows like the alarms had shattered the silence. Then it was cold...cold and damp. The snow was already melting on our bodies. It was up to our ankles...I hardly noticed...I don't think any of us did. As soon as we'd hit the ground, we'd taken off...all of us running in different directions, not knowing what was happening to the others.
We were to meet at a pre-designated location. Once there, Zack would give us orders from there. I don't remember much now...I didn't even remember much then either...just running...running as fast as I could to the rendez-vous point. It all flew by. All I remember was lots of trees and snow, and the cold...cold, hard fear. Yes, fear. I was afraid because I didn't want to go back...afraid because I wasn't sure I wanted to go on, and that felt like a betrayal to all my siblings...dead and alive. But I continued running. Like I said-a blur, in more ways than one.
What I do remember is hearing all the shouts from the base behind us...the chaos that had reigned since the moment we'd shattered the glass. I remember seeing the alarm lights casting red shadows all around me...it had reminded me so much of Eva...her death...her blood...the reason we'd been running for our lives.
I remember arriving at the rendez-vous point and panicking because I didn't see anyone else. I had been terrified that the rest had been shot and that I was the only one who had made it. I nearly had a heart attack when, first one, then a whole group of little heads popped up from behind a snow drift...they all had had familiar faces. I immediately jumped behind the snowdrift with them, soldier instincts kicking in. We could hear the echoes of guns and tasers in the distance. But the Blue Lady must have been watching over us that night because within minutes, the rest had arrived-no casualties.
I didn't get the chance to celebrate the relief I had felt when we'd all arrived. Zack was already pairing us off and giving us orders-with the well known hand signals we'd been taught-to split our pairs up later on. He'd point to two of us, then point in a certain direction, and off they'd go. I remember getting a knot in my stomach whenever a pair of my siblings ran off. I didn't learn until much later that it had been sadness that I had been feeling that night...Anyway, it had made me sad, but I understood...I understood Zack's reasoning, I understood why. So when he had pointed to Tinga and I, and signaled our orders, we'd run off without any hesitation.
The brief time while we'd been waiting and given orders, had given the soldiers time to get mobilized. I could hear the sound of motors...snowmobiles, speeding along behind us, gaining on us. They were gaining fast...too fast. We'd had a ways to go before we'd been supposed to split up. But Tinga and I both knew, between training and instincts, that we'd have to split up sooner. It would split their attention and as a result, cause some confusion which would buy us some time. We never exchanged so much as signal...we just knew, instinctively through all our training and our bond, what we were going to do. We stole a fleeting glance at each other before we'd each run off to whatever fate awaited us.
I was alone...truly and completely alone. Cut off from everything...my siblings...my home. Yeah I know, Manticore's not exactly what you'd call home material, but it's where we'd lived since we'd been made. It's all we'd ever known. And as I was running, my heart pounding louder than I can ever remember it doing, I started to become aware of unconscious doubts. I remember thinking that even though I might make it to the perimeter...even though I might make it over the fence and even make it to the point where I'd lost the soldiers for good...what use was it? I'd be free yes, but I didn't even know what freedom was, and even that depended solely on whether or not I actually did make it beyond the perimeter fence and safely into some hiding spot.
Then it had occurred to me that even if I did all that...even if I did learn what freedom was...I might never see my siblings again. They could all die and I might never know. I might even live my life without ever seeing them again, either because our paths never crossed or because they had died, and some...some I never did see again.
I hadn't had time to dwell on those thoughts much longer. The perimeter fence had come into my field of vision. There were soldiers everywhere. Norm soldiers, yes, but still soldiers and lots of them...and they were armed. I had known then, instinctively, that they'd been given the order to keep us from escaping by whatever means necessary...and in that moment I hadn't cared...I hadn't cared if I lived or died. That's when I'd changed...that's when I decided that death would always be more welcome than going back...that's when I decided I was going to escape, and that I was going to escape by whatever means necessary.
I remember becoming fully conscious of the fact that, up until that moment, I hadn't been sure...I hadn't been sure that escaping was what I'd wanted. Sure I hated it there, but escape to what? I had a sort of little mini- epiphany then. I had realized that it wasn't what we were escaping to that mattered...it was what we were escaping from.
It had been with that thought in my mind that I'd pushed a little harder...run a little faster, and flown by the soldiers in a burst of speed that carried me over the perimeter fence and into the woods beyond. It still amazes me that I made it, even now. I had been tired, and very cold. There had been so many soldiers, yet not one of them...not one of them reacted fast enough to shoot me before I'd disappeared into the freedom beyond.