Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Wayne/X5-369, etc.).
Notes: This chapter will jump back-and-forth between different characters' points-of-view. Also, more spoilers and spoiler-ish stuff for the pilot and any other episode that has flashbacks to the major event that will occur in this chapter.
Rena (X5-120)'s P.O.V.
We've been on edge for about twenty-four hours, ever since Jack's seizure and death. I don't think any of us had an easy time getting to and staying asleep, not counting Max and Jondy. I must have only gotten about two or three hours worth of sleep last night all together. I'm so nervous. Six days or less and we'll be out of Manticore one way or another. There's no question about it, they're not going to recapture me when we get out of here. No way.
We're absolutely quiet as we march back to our barracks after another long day. Colonel Lydecker and the trainers practically ran us into the ground again. We went inside and showered and got ready for bed. It was pretty eerie. Normally Krit and Wayne would be going back and forth and would manage to draw Zane in or Max and Jondy and I would be driving Tinga crazy or Ben would be telling us a story or the boys, well, except for Zack, would all team up to try to scare Elle somehow or just something to relax as much as we could without getting into trouble.
"I hate waiting," Gale said. "I want to get everything over with."
"This one nurse told me when I was really little before she had to take some blood that anticipating it is much worse than going through it," Ben said. "The same thing has to apply to this situation."
"I want to get it over with so badly," Jace said. She looked even more nervous and jittery than she had yesterday.
"I think that it's safe for us to say that we all share that sentiment," Zack said.
X6-115's P.O.V.
"Um, 405, I have to go to the bathroom," 144 said.
405 managed to suppress a sigh. "Next time don't steal 887's juice from him at dinner and drink it. You can't go to the bathroom now because we only have a few minutes to lights out and if you're not back by the time the guards patrol our hallway, you're going to be in major trouble."
"No, I won't," 144 said. "367 was caught out of her bed at lights out because she went to the bathroom three nights ago and she didn't get into any trouble."
"That's because 367 rarely sleeps," I said. "Colonel Lydecker knows about her sleeping patterns and let the guards know and she's allowed to wander around the barracks at night if she needs to as long as she doesn't make much noise and as long as she's not out of her bunk for too long of a stretch."
"So there," 367 said.
"Behave," 405 and I said in unison.
"But I have to go," 144 whined.
"Can you hold it in for at least fifteen minutes longer?" 405 asked. "You can use the bathroom then. I'll cover for you if it comes to that."
144 smiled. "Thank you, 405."
"That's got to be a relief," 773 said. "Or it will be when you relieve yourself." He laughed.
"A relieve relief," I said. "Do you think that it would be relieve relief, 773, or relief relief?"
"I think it would be the second one," 773 said.
"I think that you two will be involuntarily relieving yourselves if you don't quiet down soon," 405 said.
"Yes, ma'am," we said, laughing.
"I hope it doesn't snow tomorrow," 058 said. "I hate running the obstacle course when it's snowing."
"You only run the baby course," I said. "It's not that hard. You can do it easily even in the snow."
"Yeah, just wait until you're four and they start making you run the regular obstacle course," 691 said.
"I bet that they still won't let 392 run the regular obstacle course even after she turns four," 773 said.
"Oh yeah?" 392 said.
"That's enough," 405 said. "No fighting. Let's all just get into our bunks and wait for lights out."
"Do you think that it'll snow tonight, though?" I asked 405 as I got into my bunk.
She looked out the window for a few moments before she shook her head. "No. I don't think anything will happen tonight."
Parker (X5-537)'s P.O.V.
I sat down on the edge of my bunk and fidgeted. I'm almost as bad as Krit sometimes when it comes to sitting still when I'm nervous. "It's going to be lights out soon."
"We know," Syl snapped.
"Calm down right now," Tinga ordered. "The last thing we need now is for us to start fighting amongst ourselves. Everybody needs to relax as much as they can."
"Yes, Mommy," Syl and I said in unison. We both actually smiled.
Tinga smiled, too. "That's much better."
"Everybody in their bunks," Zack ordered.
We got in our bunks and lay down and closed our eyes and waited patiently for the lights to go out and the guard to walk by our door. As soon as he was out of sight, we sat back up in our bunks. "I got an idea," Kenny said. "How about we have a contest to see who get the least amount of sleep tonight?"
"I win," Jondy said cheerfully.
"Not counting you or Max," Kenny said. "Besides, I think Max might sleep even less than you do."
"I think he's right," Eva said. She turned to look at Max. "Are you okay, Max?"
"I'm fine," Max said. "Why?"
"You look a little pale," Eva said.
"And you're sounding like Tinga," Max said. "Eva, I'm fine."
"It's probably just the light," I said. I tried to ignore that nervous little voice in my head that was worrying that maybe something was wrong with Max. "Don't you love the moonlight in winter? It makes everybody look really weird." I blinked exaggeratedly and looked over at Syl. "You guys? I think that Syl disappeared."
The others picked up on my joke quickly. "Yeah," Zane said. "I know that Syl was here just a moment ago. Hey, now Eva's disappeared!"
"Yeah, I swore that she was in the bunk over on Maxie's left and now I have no idea where she is," Reese said.
"I didn't know that you guys were comedians instead of soldiers," Max said sarcastically as she got out of her bunk.
"Where are you going?" Zack asked.
Max smiled patiently at him. "Don't worry, Zack, I'm only going to the bathroom."
"Don't fall in," Krit said.
"I won't, but I won't make any guarantees about the next time you have to use it," Max said. She turned to walk over to the bathroom and paused for a second. We all turned and looked at her. She looked like she was starting to shake and I felt my stomach drop.
"Maxie? Are you sure that you're okay?" Zack asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Max insisted. "Don't worry." She took a deep breath and continued to walk towards the bathroom. She paused when she reached the door and turned around and smiled. "Are one of you going to escort me, or can I go all by myself like a big girl?"
"Just go and shut up," Tinga said. She looked like she was trying not to laugh.
"I will, Mommy," Max said with a grin. She ducked inside the bathroom before Tinga could have a chance to throw a pillow at her.
I breathed a sigh of relief and lay back down on my bunk. That definitely was a scare. I'm glad that's all that was. Now all I have to do is to get that annoying voice in my head to shut up about it just being the tip of the iceberg and to get a decent night's sleep.
X6-367's P.O.V.
I was wide awake for the ten millionth time after lights out. I've never been able to sleep. I think the most I've ever slept to date when I haven't been severely injured is about two hours once every week or week-and-a-half.
"Do you want some company for once?" I turned around and I saw 405 sitting up in her bunk.
"Sure, but don't you usually sleep?" I asked.
"Yeah, I usually get at least a little sleep every night," she said. "I'm just having a hard time getting to sleep tonight for some reason. Oh, well. As long as I get some sleep before we have to get up in the morning I'll be fine. Speaking of fine, is your foot bothering you?"
"It's aching a little bit, but it doesn't hurt like it did two days ago," I said. "The doctors said that I should be cleared to resume some physical activity in another day or two and that I should be cleared to resume my full training schedule another two or three days after that. I'm glad that we don't take long to heal. I hate sitting around in the library reading while you guys are out running Escape and Evade or Capture the Flag or something of that nature."
"I'm glad that I don't have to listen to the others whine about being on the short-handed side when we're out for those activities and I end up leading the short-handed side," 405 said. "I'd much rather have you out there with us, 367." She smiled. "It's too quiet."
I giggled. "Yeah. Nobody can whine like 392 or 691 when they're on the short side of a team on an exercise and the trainer's not in hearing distance."
"Not so loud. You'll wake up the others," 405 said.
"You're right," I said. "I don't want to have 392 or 691 whining at me."
405 nodded and looked out the window. "It's not snowing yet."
"It always snows in the winter," I complained. "It seems like it snows almost every day between the beginning of November and the end of March and sometimes it even snows in October or April. Why couldn't we have been at the facility in Seattle? It rains there all of the time. I like rain better than snow. It's easier to move through rain when you're training than it is to move through snow."
"Look at it this way, 367. When we're old enough to be able to go out on real missions and we get sent to someplace where it's cold and there's snow everywhere, we'll be more prepared for that than the soldiers who came from the facility in Seattle," 405 said.
"Yeah," I said. "Thanks, 405."
"You're welcome," 405 said. "I wish I could just get back to sleep. I don't know how you stay up at night almost every night and not go crazy. There's nothing to do. Nothing happens outside and nothing happens in here."
"Should we want something to happen?" I asked. I was a little confused. "I do get bored a lot at night but do we want something to happen? What if it's something bad?"
"You're right," 405 said. "I'm just not used to having this much trouble getting to sleep. I really hope that I'll be able to get to sleep eventually or I'll be slower than an ordinary soldier tomorrow."
"I'm sorry," I said. I smiled. "I could sneak out of the barracks and find the language teacher and get him to lecture to you. That always makes me want to go to sleep." We giggled.
Syl (X5-701)'s P.O.V.
I tossed and turned and gave up on trying to fall asleep for the time being. I sat up and saw that I wasn't the only one who was once again having trouble. Only Gale and Krit were definitely sleeping. Those two could sleep through anything if they wanted to. I sighed and turned onto my side and looked down my line of bunks and saw Max sitting on the edge of Jondy's bunk and talking quietly to her. She still looked kind of pale, though she wasn't shaking a little like she was when she'd gotten up about an hour ago.
"What are you guys talking about?" I asked.
"Nothing special," Jondy said. "How are you holding up?"
"As well as any of us are," I said. I walked over to her bunk and sat down on the opposite side of it from Max.
"Keep it down," Zack said from his bunk. "We do have to be quiet and people are actually trying to get some sleep."
"I really hate you sometimes," I said.
"Join the club," Zack told me. "If you want to beat me up, I think that Krit, Wayne, Kenny, and Zane are ahead of you on that list at this point in time."
"Even Zack's not acting his age," Max said. She shook her head.
"Yeah, and without prompting from Ben, too," Jondy said cheerfully.
"That's enough," Zack said. "You guys need to be quiet. If we're going to be able to pull this escape off at all, we can't give even the slightest hint that something's wrong. Our behavior can't be the slightest bit off. Get back in your bunks and pretend or actually go to sleep now."
"Yes, sir," Max said sarcastically. She gave Zack a mock salute. Jondy, Rena, Brin, Eva, and I giggled. "Anything else?"
"This should be good," Eva said.
"Yeah, right," Rena said. "Maxie's the only one Zack will occasionally let get away with teasing him like this. I think he will again this time."
"Max, please get back into your bunk," Zack said. "You were shaky earlier."
"Zack, for the millionth time, I am fine," Max insisted. She got up and walked up to Zack's bunk. "I am absolutely fine. A little shaky is all that I was and it went away. Do I look like I am shaking now?"
Zack squinted a little and looked concerned. "Actually, you are starting to shake again." We all looked over at Max and sure enough, she was starting to shake. It was so light only one of us would be able to notice, but there was no doubt that she was shaking.
"What?!" Max said. She raised her hand to her face and bit her lip. "This isn't good."
"Get back to your bunk and try to sleep it off," Zack ordered. "Maybe you've just been working too hard lately."
Max nodded. "Yeah, that's probably it. Good night." She turned to walk to her bunk on the other side of the room and stumbled, stopping herself from falling just in time. Oh, no…
Zack sat up in his bunk immediately. "Do you need help getting back to your bunk?"
"It's only a few more steps," Max said. "I can make it." She slowly continued to walk towards her bunk but paused again. Just like Jack had done yesterday, she collapsed in a heap on the floor, shaking violently. Immediately, we all got up from our bunks and rushed over to her.
"Maxie!" Jondy cried.
"It's okay, Maxie, it's okay," Zack said. He helped Max into a sitting position.
Gale and Krit stirred at the commotion and blinked a few times before their eyes widened in terror and they shot out of their bunks and over to the rest of us. "Max? Are you okay?" Krit asked.
"How m—m—many times do I ha—have to repeat this?" Max managed to say. "I'm f—fine."
"Just relax, Maxie," Tinga assured her. "Just stay calm. We're going to get you back to your bunk and you're going to relax and the seizure will go away and you can sleep it off. It'll be okay. Don't—" Tinga stopped suddenly and turned to the door at the same time that the rest of us did. I started trembling, but out of fear. There were footsteps coming towards our barracks. The guard had heard us. Maxie was in trouble.
"They're going to take her away, they're going to take her away," Brin whimpered. "They're going to take her away like they took Jack."
"No," Zack said. He'd looked as frightened, if not more so, than the rest of us had when we'd heard the guard coming back towards our barracks, but now his eyes looked more determined than I'd ever seen them look before. He took a deep breath and made a gesture with his hands. This is it. Right now. We knew exactly what he meant. We looked at each other and nodded back to him, even Max. I started to feel the fear disappear and the determination that Zack had shown replaced it. We tensed and crowded even closer around Max. Ben took Zack's place next to Max and Zack quietly snuck closer to the door. A few moments later, we heard the footsteps stop at the door and the door opened and a guard stepped inside the room.
"Get back in your bunks, you little shits! Get away from the ill soldier." He started to grab his walkie-talkie, but Zack attacked him before he could communicate with Lydecker. He fell to the ground and Zack made another gesture and Zane and Eva dragged the guard over to the closest bunk and tied him to it and gagged him with the sheets. Zack gestured to Eva, who nodded and took the guard's pistol and walked over to the door and waited. Zack went back over to Max, whose seizures were luckily slowing down, and he and Jondy helped her up and we followed the three of them out the door. We paused and let Eva moved to the front of us before we started to move down the hall. This was going to be tricky. We didn't make even the slightest bit of noise. So close, we were getting so close…
"Stand down immediately."
Kenny (X5-987)'s P.O.V.
I'd frozen in my tracks out of reflex when I heard Colonel Lydecker. Okay, probably out of fear too. We were so close to getting out of here. We had to get past Colonel Lydecker and the soldiers that were with him somehow.
"No," Eva said calmly. There we go. Eva's usually a voice of reason. Maybe for once even Colonel Lydecker would listen to her or at least listen to the gun that she's aiming right at his chest.
"X5-766, I'm ordering you to put down your weapon and I am ordering your unit to return to its barracks," Colonel Lydecker demanded. "You will leave X5-452 with us so that she may be brought to the infirmary to receive treatment."
"She's fine," Eva said. I glanced over at Max and saw that her seizures were gone. Thank goodness. "You're not going to dissect her alive."
"417 was dead when we conducted the autopsy," Colonel Lydecker said.
"No, he was not," Eva corrected. "You killed him. We're not letting you do this to Max."
"766, I repeat, you are to drop your weapon immediately and 599 will escort the unit, including 452, back to your barracks immediately," Colonel Lydecker repeated. "I am giving you a direct order. Drop the weapon."
"No," Eva said. "I will not drop the weapon and you will move out of our way and let us pass."
Colonel Lydecker just stared at Eva for a few moments. Then, without a word, he drew his own gun and shot her. We all just stood there for a few moments, almost completely numb. Eva was gone.
Zane (X5-205)'s P.O.V.
I stared at Eva's body in front of me. Her gun lay just in front of Max, who was still being supported by Zack and Jondy. Her face still had that calm, determined expression that had never left her when she'd faced down Colonel Lydecker. I couldn't believe she was dead. In just over twenty-four hours, both Eva and Jack were gone.
Colonel Lydecker stared us down for another minute or two before he spoke. I guess he thought the fight had gone out of us. "599, lead your unit back to your barracks. You will all be escorted to Psychological Operations at sunrise. Dismissed."
"Yes, sir," Zack said. If looks could kill, Lydecker would have been dead at least a hundred times and probably a hundred different extremely painful ways, too. Zack made sure that Max could stand on her own before he let go of her arm and turned to face the rest of us. "Unit 2, fall in line and follow me."
"Sir, yes sir!" we yelled. We formed a line and followed Zack back down the hall towards our barracks. Once we were out of sight of Lydecker, Zack made a quick gesture. Plan B. Window. We agreed and continued to follow Zack. Zack held a hand up and we halted. I heard three guards just down the hall, just feet away from the window that we were planning on using. Zack turned to me and Kenny, who were right behind him in the line, and gestured in the guards' direction. We moved ahead of the rest of our family and quickly took out the guards and motioned for the others to move ahead. We continued and reached the large window. Zack motioned to Kenny and I again and we spread out and backed up against the wall. The three of us looked at each other before we took a deep breath and ran for the window, shattering it to pieces as we dove through it.
Reese (X5-552)'s P.O.V.
I dove through the broken window after Zack, Zane, and Kenny and ran like hell when I hit the ground. I could hear guards rush up to the broken window and towards and out the doors and shoot at us, some using guns and some using tasers. We split up to take different routes to the rendezvous point that we had agreed upon last night. I took off to the left. Gale followed me.
"It's not too far ahead," Gale said.
"I see it," I said. "Just stay alert."
"Got it," Gale said.
We continued on ahead when we heard gunfire from nearby and we hit the ground. I stayed as close to the ground as I could until I heard the gunfire ease up. I gently shook Gale's arm. "Come on, Gale, let's go." Gale didn't respond. I held my breath and I turned my head and took a good look at my sister and my jaw hit the ground. "Gale!"
X6-405's P.O.V.
367 and I jumped when we heard the faint sound of glass breaking somewhere else in the building. A few moments later, we heard the outside sirens come on. We looked at each other worriedly and ran to the window and looked outside.
"Can you see anything?" 367 asked.
"No," I said. "I can't see a thing. Whatever's happening must be on the other side of the building. I can't even hear what's going on that well. I can hear the outside sirens but that's only because they're set off all around the building."
"It's nothing bad, right, 405?" 367 asked nervously. "Are we in danger?"
"If we were in danger, we would have been notified and moved to a safe location," I said. "That's standard operating procedure, remember?"
"But it's got to be bad. The sirens are on," 367 said. "I'm getting a little scared."
"Don't worry," I said. That seemed to calm 367 down, but for some reason, I started feeling a little worried. Something had to be going on, but I couldn't figure out what it was. I knew that we couldn't be in danger, but somebody had to be. Was it the normal soldiers? Was it Colonel Lydecker? Was it some of the other X-series like us? What if it was 599? Strangely, I felt myself getting even more worried when that thought crossed my mind. That was weird, but I couldn't shake that feeling off. I took a deep breath and continued trying to look out of the window with 367. There's nothing to worry about. Don't start worrying until you know that you have something to worry about. Don't start worrying until you know that you have something to worry about…
Tinga (X5-656)'s P.O.V.
I finally almost flew over a log at the rendezvous point and hid behind it. Zack and Ben were already there and after what seemed like forever, more of us started showing up. Rena came, and then Zane, and then Jondy and Krit and Parker and Reese until finally Max and then Brin showed up. I did a quick head count. There were only fifteen of us present. There should have been seventeen. Jace and Gale were missing.
Zack noticed this at the same time that I did and made a gesture. Where are Gale and Jace?
Reese looked pained and shook his head. Gale's gone. She took one straight through the head.
Max looked regretful. Jace didn't leave. She stayed behind inside.
Zack nodded and took another look around before he started signaling again. We're splitting up, just like we'd planned. Head in the direction that I give as soon as you receive it and I'll come looking for you in that direction as soon as I can. There are fifteen of us so that means we split up into seven pairs of two and I'll go by myself.
Max vehemently shook her head. You are not going by yourself.
Zack gave her a look. It's the best way and you know it, Max. He took a deep breath and began to split us up and give us our directions. Ben and Reese, south. Max and Jondy, west. Krit and Syl, northeast. Zane and Rena, east. Brin and Elle, northwest. Parker and Kenny, north. Tinga and Wayne, southeast.
Wayne and I, the last ones left, nodded and we took off. We raced towards the fence, somehow managing to avoid the bullets that the guards were shooting at us. We jumped to the fence, scaled it, jumped over the top, and ran like we'd never run before. We didn't look back.
Brin (X5-734)'s P.O.V.
Elle and I were off as soon as Zack told us to head northwest. We ran for the fence and climbed over it and continued running as soon as we hit the other side. We ran in our assigned direction until Elle finally spotted a cave and we went inside it. I looked around for some dry twigs and got a fire going and we just sat in front of it for a few minutes and warmed ourselves up.
"That was the scariest thing that's ever happened to me," Elle said.
"It's not over yet," I said. "It's only beginning."
"Yeah, you're right," Elle admitted. She grinned. "I can't wait until I can have my first ice cream sundae. Have you ever heard of those? I heard these X4s talking about them. It's some kind of a dessert and these X4s had one on a mission and they were saying how they missed them and how good they were. I can't wait until I have one."
"I've heard about ice cream," I said. "I can't wait until I have my first sundae."
"What about boys?" Elle wondered. "I wonder how different the ordinary boys are different from the transgenic boys. Do you ever think about boys, Brin?"
I made a face. "I'm only ten, Elle. I hate boys. You can't be having another heat cycle, are you? You only had your first one about a month-and-a-half ago and there's apparently three months between each one."
"No, I'm not having another heat cycle," Elle said. "Get real." She started to stretch but winced in pain.
"Are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine," Elle said. "I got a bullet graze across my right shoulder. It's nothing serious. I'll be okay until we get into a town and we can steal some gauze and antiseptic. We don't get infections anyway."
"I wish there was something around here that we could use as a bandage until we get some real ones," I said.
"Too bad nobody went camping in here and left a first aid kit behind," Elle agreed.
"We should move out at some point," I said. "We're still a little too close to Manticore, aren't we?"
"I think we are," Elle said. "We're definitely out past the perimeter but we need to be farther out. Remember that map of the United States that was hanging up in Room 19? Gillette doesn't look like it's too far from the state border. It's only about fifty, fifty-five miles or so from here to Montana. We should be able to get there fairly quickly. We can head to Oregon or Washington from there."
"That sounds like a plan," I said. I looked down at the fire. "I can't believe that Gale is gone and that Jace decided not to leave. I can't believe that we might not see our brothers and sisters again."
"Oh, we'll see Zack," Elle said. "You know that he's going to find us someday."
"When there's a will, even when there's not a way, Zack will be there," we said in unison. We giggled at the memory of when Kenny had paraphrased a saying that he'd learned that one day a few years ago in his military history class. Kenny had been right. You could always count on Zack, even when the situation looked darker than the sky on a summer night right before it would rain.
I stopped giggling when something near the entrance to the cave caught my eye. I crept forward and looked and saw that it was only a little bit of blood. Judging by how red the color was, it was probably a drop of Elle's blood that had dripped from her wound. I almost shrugged it off, but then I saw another drop a few feet in front of me. I zoomed in and saw a little bit more blood back in the direction that Elle and I had come from.
"Brin? What's going on?" Elle asked. "Is something wrong?"
"Yeah," I said. I walked back over to Elle and sat down across from her. "The blood from your wound dripped and left a trail."
"Oh no," Elle said. "If the trail went back far enough, we're…" Her face got really serious. "Brin, if they catch onto the trail and start to come after us, I want you to run. I want us to split up."
"No way," I said. "Zack already split what was left of our family up. You're all I have left until Zack finds us again."
"Brin, do what I'm telling you if it comes to it," Elle insisted. "If they find us and we stick together, the chances of them recapturing and/or killing us will be much higher. If they find us and we split up, there's a much better chance that at least one of us will be able to slip by them. Trust me, Brin."
"I trust you," I said. "You're right."
"I—" Elle stopped suddenly and we both turned towards the entrance of the cave. "—swear that I'm psychic. Brin, run!"
I got up and took off for the cave. Elle was right behind me. We tore off towards the northwest when Elle looked over at me, put her hand on my shoulder, smiled a little, and ran off in a slightly different direction. I quickly wiped my eyes with my right hand, took a deep breath, and continued on and prayed to the Blue Lady that I would see Elle and my other siblings again.
X5-511's P.O.V.
I stirred at the noise of a door slamming. I heard the rustle of sheets being yanked back and the noise of people being yanked out of bed. I finally opened my eyes and sat up in my bunk and saw guards leading 908, 494, and 121 out of the room.
"There's been a situation," one of the guards said. "X5-786 is temporarily in charge of the unit and X5-013 will be 786's temporary second-in-command. We need X5-908, X5-494, and X5-121 to come with us for an indeterminate period of time. You will be briefed on the situation later." The door quickly slammed shut. I was really confused. What was going on?
X6-405's P.O.V.
367 and I looked at each other and shrugged when the outside alarms were finally turned off and the noises quieted down. I looked around and saw that we were still the only ones up. "We're lucky that nobody woke up from that."
"Yeah, I'm a little surprised myself," 367 admitted.
"I should try again to get some sleep," I said. "Get in your bunk and pretend to sleep, okay? If you actually do fall asleep, that'll be even better. Your foot is still healing."
"Yes, ma'am," 367 said. She saluted me and smiled. "Good night, 405."
"Good night, 367," I said. I crawled into my bunk and actually fell asleep a few moments later. It didn't last long, though. I didn't even have time to dream when I was woken up by the sound of a door slamming. I glanced up at the clock on the wall and saw that it had only been about half an hour since I'd finally gotten to sleep. I immediately sat up straight in my bunk when I saw Colonel Lydecker standing in the doorway. "Sir! May I inquire what is going on?"
"There's a situation," Colonel Lydecker said. "X5 Unit 2 has escaped from the facility. X6-405, you are to come with me immediately. X6-115, you are in charge of the unit for the foreseeable future. X6-773 will be your second-in-command until 405 returns to the unit and retakes command." He walked up to me and practically pulled me out of my bunk and out the door.
My mind was reeling. X5 Unit 2 had escaped. 599 had left Manticore? Why? To be honest, I had an idea. I mean, if a trainer had essentially killed one of my unit mates, what had been done to 599's unit? They were older. They had seen more than my unit had. Some of them had even been sent on a few short-term group missions. They had to have done something to them to provoke them into leaving. I'd heard about how protective 599 was of his unit. Kind of like how I am with my unit. I had the impression, from the few times that I'd been around him, that 599 hated Colonel Lydecker and hated Manticore. If Colonel Lydecker had done something so bad…
"You will remain here for a length of time to be determined, 405," Colonel Lydecker said. I looked up and panicked. Oh no. Not this. I didn't do anything to deserve this! I'd only been in here maybe once so far, I think it was a few weeks ago, when Colonel Lydecker brought in the class to 'familiarize' ourselves with torture and interrogation techniques. I was strapped into that damn chair and was 'interrogated' for at least an hour. After that hour, I never wanted to repeat that experience again. Now I'd be here for much longer than that. Why? For the first time since 607 died in the tank and probably only the second time in my life, I was really scared.
"Psychological Operations? Why do I have to be here, sir?" I said.
"Just get in there, 405, and do not question your orders," he said angrily.
I knew I had to shut up or I'd be in really deep trouble. "Yes, sir."
Colonel Lydecker opened the door and almost shoved me into this waiting type room. At least ten other soldiers were there. He turned to a guard that was standing near the door. "Here's X6-405, the C.O. of X6 Unit 1. That makes eleven. What's the status on the rest that we have to bring here?"
"The other five C.O.s are being brought here as we speak, sir," the guard replied. "Are we expecting any more within the hour, sir, or is this it for now?"
"I received a transmission from Charlie Squad right before I retrieved 405," Lydecker said. "They picked up a blood trail and are following up on it, so we'll see." He nodded to him. "Carry on. Let me know when they go in."
"Yes, sir," the guard said. Colonel Lydecker left.
I looked around the room and saw that most of the commanding officers of the X5 and X6 units. Other than 599's unit, of course. The only soldier in the room, weirdly enough, was from 599's unit. 798 looked more miserable than the rest of us put together. Had she tried to break out with the rest of her unit but had gotten caught? That would make me miserable.
"Why are you here?" I asked. I hate these tense silences, anyway.
"She's here because her stupid unit decided to leave and now because of them, we're going to have to be in Psy Ops for a long time," 374, the commanding officer of X5 Unit 8, snapped. "Thanks a lot, 798."
"I stayed back," 798 said angrily. "They decided that they wanted to leave. I decided otherwise. Doesn't that mean something?" I looked at her skeptically. To be honest, her eyes looked like she was starting to regret staying behind while her unit got out. She caught my eye and almost jumped and for a moment, looked like she was going to cry. I was confused. Why had she reacted like that?
"Her unit decided to leave and 798 decided not to leave. You have to give 798 credit for staying," I told 374. "Wouldn't that be the right decision in your book, 374?" I don't think it'd be the right decision in mine, but the last thing I want is for 374 to start a fight. "798 is obviously here for precautionary reasons."
"But why are the rest of us here?" 595, commanding officer of X6 Unit 3, wondered. "That explains 798's presence, but not ours."
"I don't know," 374 said. "I hope that we'll find out soon." He took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, 798. You obviously made the correct choice."
"I accept your apology," 798 said.
We were pretty much quiet while the rest of the X5 and X6 commanding officers were brought into the room. I tried not to think about what could happen. If I thought about what they could to to me here, I'd panic. I needed to stay calm. I'd had to stay calm before for my unit's sake. For one of the few times in my life, I needed to stay calm solely for my own sanity. After what seemed like forever, another door opened and a man in a white lab coat stepped out. Stay calm, 405, stay calm…
"X5-798, X6-405, X5-374, and X6-193, follow me," he ordered. I stood up and nervously followed him through the door. The second I had left the room, I was grabbed and forced into one of those chairs and strapped down. I struggled out of reflex and was slapped.
"Quit struggling, you little piece of shit!" a voice ordered. My right eye was forced open and a laser was shone right into it. A screen in front of me lit up with a picture of 599.
"This is X5-599. He is now a traitor to Manticore," a voice said. "He is poison. He infected the rest of his unit with this poison."
"Huh?" I managed to say. "What—"
"Shut up, you little bitch!" a different voice screamed at me. I was whipped hard with something. It was enough to make me scream out of reflex and then I was whipped with it even harder. "I told you to shut up, you little worthless piece of scum. You will do as you're told!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" I managed to say.
"Those members of his unit that had chosen to follow his lead are traitors." Pictures of 452, 656, 164, 205, 210, 734, 701, 157, 552, 493, 120, and 369 flashed up in front of me. "They are rats. They deserted Manticore. They abandoned Manticore. You will forever know them as traitors and scum." No, I will not! They left because they had a reason. If 599's anything like me, he doesn't do anything unless he has a reason to do it and he must have taught his unit the same. I'm starting to see the reason. If they let unit mates die and torture people with no acceptable reason available, then why should we stay? Why should any of us stay?
"Pay attention, you maggot! Right now!" I was punched in the eye that wasn't opened. I managed to suppress a scream that time. "Oh, will you look at that. The little piece of trash is actually learning. Let's give the little bitch a cookie!"
I tried to focus or at least appear to focus my attention back on the screen. Pictures of 766, 987, 831, and 537 came up. "These soldiers paid the price for their traitorous acts. This will happen to you. This is what happens to all traitorous soldiers." Gee, did that make 607 a traitor because he wanted to be released early from the tank because he was having serious trouble holding his breath?
"Pay attention you dumb little piece of shit!" the other voice screamed at me. I felt one of my feet being grabbed and my ankle twisted to the point of it breaking. "I've asked you to pay attention and you will do it, soldier! Do I have to ask you again! Do you want a broken ankle because you're such a dumb little bitch?!"
"Sir, I do not want a broken ankle, sir!" I yelled. "I will pay attention, sir!"
"How do I know that? Maybe I shouldn't take a chance. Maybe I should make you pay attention, soldier." A hand carrying a large syringe came into my view and I tried not to bite my lip or scream. I had a really good idea as to what was in it.
"Sir, I will pay attention, sir!" I yelled.
"Good." He broke my ankle anyway. I tried not to let any tears fall and I tried to pretend to pay attention to the slides and the voice. How could they do that to me? To any of us? Why were they doing this?
TBC