Patient, 'I' had to remain patient. He couldn't really choose a day to be invited in the office, he couldn't be too suspicious or it would fail for sure. And he knew he would only have one try and no coming back.
'P' had wanted to be useful and promised he would try to do a diversion if he could.
The plan was such as : 'I' being invited in Ms Miller's office. Her going to make him some drink or be called for something, well anything to make her leave the room long enough for him to go into the conduit.
For the next part of the plan, well... he hadn't thought about ALL of it. Let's remember he was only 8 and although he was quite intelligent for his age, the kid couldn't think of everything right?
What he had thought of was once in the conduit, he would try to take ways to go upstairs, as the boys discovered, after asking innocently, that they were actually underground. You might think it was strange for them not to know, but when you had lived underground all your life, how would you?
He would later try to find the escape to the outside and then come back in some other ventilation conduit to search for his brother. He had the vague idea to bring a rope and open the fence in their room for example. Some wacky ideas like that he was really believing into. Or….. why not by the same entrance if he wasn't caught? That was unlikely to happen, but hey, he could still dream right?
The occasion presented itself one late morning. That day, in the Playroom, 'P' was playing with the unmanned helicopter he had received from Ms Miller after the holidays and 'I' was intentionally not doing much. It was boring, but he needed to look as depressed as possible to get the 'interview' he wished for.
And the fishhook got bitten that day. The woman who was monitoring them half while reading a book shut it down and got up, walking toward 'I'.
"'I' are you ok? You look pale, do you want me to call the doctor or your daddy?"
The boy gave the most pathetic face he could and shook his head, bobbling his curl.
"...Ok then, how about coming to my office? I can't bring you two inside because of...Well the security rules, but I will let you 'P' with my nice colleague when I see your brother, ok?"
The albinos nodded before going back to his game, exchanging a secretive look with his brother. It was starting right now, at the moment 'I' woke up and left, hand in his teacher's.
The operation had begun.
xxxxx
The way it went was slightly different than what he had expected. First, his nervousness was multiplied by ten if not more and his stomach was ashing, making his act more believable which was a good thing, but at the same time encountering the risk Ms Miller would call for a doctor instead.
That's why 'I' did his best to relax, breath the air in the office.
"So tell me, what is it 'I'? I told you if you needed to talk about it, don't hesitate ok? Do you want me to appoint you to the mister psychologist you've seen before?"
"No Ms Miller, it's ok. I'm sorry, it's just that I still don't sleep very well, and I'm a little tired...Do you think I could uhm...sleep in your office?"
"Oh, I understand, but why in my office? Wouldn't it be better in your room with the bed?"
Urg, not the brightest excuse that came off his mind. Now, he had to embroider this and use his imagination, the fastest he could.
"I...it's just, I can't sleep well in my room because...it's all similar to my previous ones and...I think about what happened all the time...the blood all over over, 'R'...and...And I can't sleep well in the Playroom too, i've tried before...And...they...Father and the doctors won't let me go to another room... "
Despite the uttered shaky excuses, the woman had the reaction he expected and, to his relief, didn't go too deep in exploring his story.
"..Oww, I understand 'I'. I can't let you sleep for hours, but how about… 20-30 minutes? As long as there is a security agent before the room and as long as you don't mess around, they will let me do this, don't worry!
You just have to promise me to behave, right 'I'?"
The boy gulped, starting to feel guilty. This kind of liberties even after what happened to Dr Malsinger was proof the woman had complete faith in him, and it broke his heart to deceive her that way. But he had no choice, it was the chance of a lifetime!
"Yes, I promise Ms Miller." he finally said with an innocent tone.
xxxxx
The sweet woman didn't leave him on a chair, but put her 2 chairs side by side to form a small bed. Not the most comfortable, but enough for a 8 year-old boy to be able to lie down.
He then waited for her to bring a pillow and a sheet.
When she was about to leave, fearing her to shut the light and him not being able to see, he asked her if she had a light for him, saying he didn't want to stay in complete darkness.
Because his plan didn't involve escaping in the dark, yes?
She fortunately agreed to this and lit a small lamp she had on her office. She then wished him a good nap and finally left.
'I' couldn't believe his idea would pay, but he had succeeded to buy much more time than he intended by inventing these insomniac excuses!
He waited a few minutes to be sure his teacher wasn't coming back before sneaking out of his makeshift bed and hurrying to climb the shelf again.
Removing the rusty fence without making noises to alert the security agents was challenging, but he managed to create the opening and didn't hesitate: he went right into the conduit.
He lifted back the fence behind him the best he could, to at least not spoil away his way of exit, although it would not need a genius to figure where he had left.
And now, he was faced with the unknown, and one thing was sure, he didn't think about the darkness he would meet there. It's not like he had a lamp to bring, but maybe he could have asked for a luminous toy, anything. It was too late to go search for one though.
To be fair, it wasn't complete darkness, as the conduit would give opening to other rooms, some being lit.
It helped his eyes to adapt to the obscurity and to notice that 'R' had actually entered the conduit before him, leaving a trail of what seems to be rust.
The tall boy didn't manage to go very far because of an obvious lack of time, but he had left a few meters away an instrument : an old rusty tube of metal.
The brunette wondered if he had intended to trace his way in the labyrinth that was forming before him, so he could have escaped more efficiently. But the deceased boy never had the time to even go further.
'I' took the metal bar with him, as it could be handy to open the screws, and went further and further in the conduits maze.
Often, his way was a dead end and he had to go back. Sometimes, there was no light and he also went back, preferring to find a conduit for the upper area with eye's sight available. Because well, darkness was kinda scary too.
Numerous times he had discovered conduits that would go down, meaning there were more underground floors below them. And from these conduits, he had perceived faint strange noises. There was of course the usual metal, materials being moved by machines, but behind this mechanical sounds, growls and screams could be heard. From living beings. Living beings 'I' knew nothing about as he was pretty sure they weren't human.
It gave him chills down his spine and he had decided to avoid these conduits at all cost.
He did also find conduits to the upper floor, but would be blocked by height. The walls were too smooth for him to climb.
But finally, he found one, in more darker places, that would gradually go up instead.
He climbed again, his hands and clothes dirtied by dust and went to face a steam of hot air.
The first floor was globally more luminous than the second, and there seemed to be a lot of activities there. 'I' wondered if Father was working here all day.
He was hearing sounds of conversation from here and there, and had to wait sometimes so he could pass without being noticed,as the fences could expose him.
At the same time, he was a little curious about that place, and sneaked peeks from here and there.
There were staff rooms first, one lit for some guy in white gown talking with some others, sometimes wearing more casual colorful clothes 'I' had never seen and badges.
'I' wondered if it was a way to identify them, like for his collar.
Other rooms seemed to be labs, and at one point, he saw a storage place for bulbs full of the serum 'R' and 'C' were regularly injected with. People were presently preparing some, and the smell that was coming in the ventilation was neither good or bad. It smelled mainly chemical.
The laboratory's assistants were talking and the kid succeeded to grasp some words.
"...serum….Still difficult to make…"
"...really needed..?...Number 3 and 6 ...Stable.."
"...the 4th floor …. need them…..crazy woman…. like in horror movies…"
"..Shh...higher ups...Pr Arko...lesc and...Travasco's…...military purpose...…dogs, rats...….Wait be careful, only 3 drops of compound C for the mixture, not more!"
Even if he was intrigued by the first part, the discussion became too technical for him. Besides, he didn't have time for this and pursued his goal to go further above, but couldn't find a conduit to lead him up, no matter how long he searched.
His heart became heavy with the thought that he was trapped there, and that at any seconds, they could find him.
But he didn't slack off, and searched for a room where the light was shut off.
And as he did, the hot air became colder at some point. Something told him to follow the cold instead of fleeing it, and he proceeded until he found a molded fence where cold air was leaking. Mold, like in photos of the outside.
It could mean only one thing, right? He didn't know how, but it was the exit!
The little experiment used the metal bar 'R' had left for him to try lift the screws, and it took its time but the fence finally gave away, leading into what seemed to be a cave. Half a cave actually , as there were rays of light signalling it was open above.
'I' needed adaptation to this new environment, his eyes not used to the sunlight, but his fascination took over and he let himself slide from the fence and fall on the molded rocks.
He touched with his hand, his eyes open, his nose sniffing with intensity. It was so overwhelming that if he wasn't a fugitive at the moment, he would have passed hours in here, feeling the roughness of nature.
Splashing into the small river that was flowing beneath him, he followed it, until facing the base of a cliff. He could see huge trees above, and the sky, the real sky!
The rocks seemed to make a pass he was able to climb, as if there had been a floor once which collapsed at some point. Maybe way before the facility was built.
Using the trees' roots, 'I' made his way to the surface, which was even more stimulating for his brain to take than what he had seen in the cave.
Nature was everywhere, wild,with so much variation of green he couldn't have imagined inside of his white, barren room.
'I' eventually started to cry at all this magnificence. How much he would give for 'P' to see it too, he was already missing his brother so much but he needed time to hide, and then retrieve him. Maybe if he could seek help outside?
Bare feet started to run in the grass now that he was on the surface. He had to find someone, and most importantly, to hide far from his former home before they catched him!
xxxxx
He ran and ran until he couldn't breathe anymore, falling against a trunk, in between his huge roots. How long had he ran, he couldn't tell, but it felt like miles away.
He didn't hear anything indicating someone was chasing after him and relaxed a little, until he heard footsteps and people talking.
Mixed feelings welcomed this news : there were people here but….what if it was employees of the facility?
'I' didn't really want to go check, but he had no choice, he had to be brave.
Slowly, he walked behind trees reaching for the noises, all effort to avoid being seen.
And one tree after, the individuals talking were at reach for his eyes.
There were 2 men. One being dark haired and with almond eyes, and the other with blond hair, green eyes and...oh wow….what the hell was those huge eyebrows. Heck he didn't even know it could grow that big!
The pair was talking in english for the most part, but sometimes switching to a language he couldn't decipher. Since they weren't wearing white, he assumed they were not working with Father.
His lips trembled a bit. It appeared he was shy with strangers and even in his dire situation, it was difficult to move. What if he made a mistake by revealing himself?
"Hey! Japan, England, wait for us!"
Another voice made all ideas to move vanished from him, and the boy retracted on himself. The sudden call had startled him, but what really shocked him was the source of this voice.
'I' froze in place when he saw a brunette with a curl rushing to the ones named after countries, then hide behind the tree, eyes almost out of his sockets and jaw open.
That man looked EXACTLY like an older version...of himself. Clones, countries...The truth struck him harder than he thought he would react: He was the clone of this man. Supposed to be a copycat.
And now, he didn't know what to do.
He fell on his buttocks, back against the living wood. There was no way the exact people he would be the clone of would be there. How was that possible? Why was fate going after him relentlessly? Or...what if it wasn't a coincidence? What if they had heard of him and were searching after him?
Would they hate him? Would they hurt him ?
'I' stayed like that, paralyzed by a turmoil of emotions and questions about what was the right choice to make, and eventually, the group of 4 people, turned their back to him and went away.
Even after noises of forest's life came back to normal, 'I' was still lost as ever.
He never had the impression to be useless, to not be needed, because nobody would make him feel that way.
But encountering his counterpart made him feel superfluous somehow.
This time, it was tears of sadness and loneliness that blurred his eyes. He wanted to be back with 'P' and forget the idea to go outside, he regretted everything. He was so scared.
But still, he remembered his promise to the albinos and stood up, walking again like a zombie, a shadow of himself.
He was so preoccupied with his thought that he didn't hear the discrete footsteps behind him, and what would happen….happened.
He felt pain behind his neck, and his hand just had the time to feel the dart before he suddenly got sleepy and fell on the ground.
2 militaries approached and took him off, back to where he shouldn't have escaped….
