CE 63
Before Sarik could say anything else, two boys decided to take their seats next to Stella. One had dark brown hair and blue eyes, while the other had black hair and what appeared to almost be amber colored eyes.
"I can't believe how many losers there are here," the brown haired boy remarked to the black haired one. He glanced once at Sarik and rested his gaze on Stella.
"You guys aren't losers, right?" the brown haired one asked jokingly.
"I don't think so," Sarik replied, hoping this was the correct answer.
"Thought so," the brown boy remarked. "I'm Alex, and he goes by Grey."
"That's my actual name!" the black haired boy said defensively.
"Whatever," Alex replied, unconvinced. "So what are your names?"
"I'm Sarik," he introduced.
"Stella," she answered quietly.
"So, you guys know what this place is?" Alex asked.
"Maybe a summer camp?" Sarik suggested.
"I don't think so," Grey remarked.
"It's as good of an idea as any," Alex said.
"It's a punishment," insisted Grey.
Everyone remained silent for a moment, thinking.
"Why do you say that?" Sarik questioned.
"Because I tried breaking out of a place just like this, and they sent me here," replied Grey.
"What were you doing there?" Sarik inquired.
"I don't know," Grey replied. "I don't THINK I did anything wrong. One day these guys just showed up at the orphanage and took me in the night."
"You're an orphan?" Sarik asked.
Grey looked away from him for a moment before he replied.
"Aren't you?" he questioned.
"No," Sarik replied. "I'm staying here with my brother."
"What about her?" Grey asked.
"I don't know, we were just talking," Sarik told him.
"What, did your parents dump you at some orphanage?" Alex asked her cockily.
Stella started crying.
* * *
William stepped silently into the observation room, though, despite his attempts at concealment, was still noticed.
"Welcome, sir," one of the room's occupants greeted.
"Good afternoon," William replied, his irritation evident in the way he held his shoulders. However, rebuilding his composure, the businessman strolled in and sat in an empty chair located along the room's monitor array.
"Sir, do you know where Director Hellice is?" the same man asked William from across the room.
"He has been reassigned elsewhere," William informed the younger man. "I will be taking his place as the director for now."
"Oh...yes, Director."
For the next hour, a team of psychologists, along with William, watched the hundreds of children as they bustled about the cafeteria. He observed how the children grouped themselves into units of various sizes. Some of the more secure ones grouped into smaller units of three or four, while the more independent children sat among the various groups, though remaining separate. It was sadly noted that roughly half of the children found a place out of the way and kept to themselves, showing overly-submissive and dependent behavior.
They could prove to be a problem down the road, William thought about the shy ones.
William was glancing over the various arrays when he spied a nearly empty table at the back of the room occupied by four children. He quickly realized that his brother among them.
Interesting.
"Doctor Fredrick, please put cluster fifty on the main screen," William requested.
Soon after, the main screen in the observation room was concentrated on the children.
"Zoom in," William ordered, not needing to specify on whom.
The camera zoomed in on the four. Sarik and one of the boys appeared to be attempting to calm the young girl, who was crying, though for what reason was as good a guess as anyone's.
"Can we get sound?" William asked.
"No, sir, too much noise in the general area," replied Fredrick, who controlled the monitors.
So we can only go on speculation, William thought.
"Doctors, I believe that perhaps these are possible candidates," William observed. "What say you?"
"I think it's far to early to begin speculating on units, don't you think?" commented one doctor.
"I believe we should put them through standard testing and conditioning before we jump any conclusions," agreed another. "However, I do believe we should attempt to test them together. Such familiarity so early on is good for a working unit."
"Second opinions?" William asked the others.
Most of the doctors agreed, while some either disagreed or believed that all unit training should be postponed until after all of the testing ended.
"Then it's settled," William said. "Have the guards separate them. We're going to begin unit training immediately and see how things go from there."
* * *
"What did I say?" Alex asked defensively.
Grey and Sarik simply glared at him before returning their attention to Stella.
Eventually, they managed to calm Stella enough that she started speaking in a familiar manner with the boys, albeit not as much.
Sarik had eaten a few more bites of his now-cold food when four large men walked over to his table.
"Time for bed," one said gruffly.
Sarik glanced around at the rest of the children, some who were just now sitting down to eat.
"What about everyone else?" Sarik asked.
"Time for bed!" the same man insisted in a more threatening tone.
"What if we're not tired?" Alex asked in a brat-like tone.
The guard standing next to Alex backhanded him, causing his nose to bleed.
"Do as you're told!" ordered the man who hit Alex.
The four sat unmoving, not sure what to do next. After he recovered, Alex spat at the man who struck him.
As the man made a move to grab Alex, Stella did something unexpected. She yelled as she jumped up out of her seat and threw herself at the man antagonizing Alex, tackling him in the stomach and causing him to stumble.
Stella's assault proved to be the final straw. All four men grabbed their charges, picked them up with their limbs pinned, and quickly carried the kicking and screaming children out of the cafeteria. They were all carried through the maze of hallways to another part of the facility. In this area, metal, windowless doors lined the hallway.
Sarik struggled with a renewed vigor, afraid of this place for some irrational reason. He heard a large 'CLANK', and one of the doors cracked ajar. He was dumped inside, the door quickly slammed shut behind him.
After his initial surge of adrenaline passed, Sarik stood up and observed his surroundings. The room was only a couple meters wide, with a ceiling that appeared to be several meters tall, though in reality, it was only three. The walls and the interior part of the door were colored a gloss black, initially making it difficult for Sarik to gain his bearings. At the top of the wall opposing the door, bordering the ceiling, there was a large, open window letting in a cool breeze. It was so large than an adult could easily crawl through it, much less a child. However, Sarik could find no apparent way to get up to the window, as the room was completely empty accept for a small light fixture in the center of the cieling.
Within a few minutes, it flickered off, plunging Sarik into complete darkness. He walked to a wall, found a corner, and started crying.
Why did he bring me here? Did I do something wrong? Do Mom and Dad know where I am?
* * *
William sat in the faculty lounge, completely alone except for the facility's new head doctor. He took another swig of scotch from his glass, letting the alcohol sit on his tongue for a moment before swallowing.
"You do realize that your brother probably won't make it through the summer," the middle-aged man across from William pointed out before taking a sip of alcohol from his own glass.
"Yes, Doctor Spence, I realize that," William replied. "I'm confident, however, that he will provide us with the information we need."
"We've never performed any of our procedures on a Coordinator before," informed Dr. Spence. "The results could be fatal to him, for all we know. Even our most basic, most refined operations might kill him."
"And with the same odds in mind, it could improve his body far more than any pure-blooded Natural," remarked William. "Considering the fact he has the some of the physic of a Coordinator, he could easily survive the drugs we give him, even in dangerously high dosages."
"But what of the new drugs that he will be subjected to?" asked Spence. "They were completely designed with Naturals in mind."
"If the Coordinators begin experimenting in performance enhancement of any sort, do you think they would stop when it gets a little dangerous? " William asked. "We have to get the edge on them NOW, leaving room for error in case of unforeseeable problems in the future."
"Are you not even remotely concerned for your brother's health?" the middle-aged doctor questioned.
William emptied his glass, then refilled it with more scotch.
"Sarik is no more a brother to me than any other Coordinator," William declared.
William paused for a moment to take a another sip from his drink.
"You are starting to sound like you have some doubts," William told Spence in a very serious tone. "Are you sure you can handle the tasks required of you, Doctor?"
"I am the most capable doctor here," Spence replied arrogantly. "I simply find it disturbing that you would so quickly turn on your own, Coordinator or not."
"He is NOT one of my own!" William yelled, having become somewhat drunk by this point, his restraint failing. "He was alienated from my family when my 'oh so loving' parents decided to 'give him the best' and make him into the abomination he is!"
Both sat in silence for a moment, finishing what alcohol remained in their glasses.
"I'm no expert in psychology," started the doctor, emboldened by the strong alcohol, "but it sounds to me like you're somewhat jealous."
William's face grew red.
"I will forgive your insolence this time, Doctor, but choose your words FAR more carefully in the future," William threatened before stumbling out of his chair and leaving.
* * *
Sarik had finally cried himself asleep to a deep slumber, accompanied by a vivid dream.
In this dream, he was trapped in the same room that he was sleeping in now. It was pitch black, and he waited for hours for sleep to come. It would not. He started to scramble about the room, trying to find some way out as desperation set in.
He was so desperate that he tried to climb the flat walls towards the window, though to no avail. He kept trying and trying, failing each time. For some reason, he decided to try once more. The last time he attempted to scale the wall, he felt an irregularity along one corner. When he got back to his feet from the last fall, he decided to explore the wall with his sense of touch.
As he did so, he found small breaks just large enough for him to fit his fingertips and toes into. He found more of the indentions all along the corner. He forced his way up the corner with his right foot, using his right hand to quickly find the next hole, and his left limbs to balance himself on the wall. He continued with this routine, eventually reaching the the window. As he was about to pull himself up through the portal, the metal frame slammed shut, crushing his fingers and forcing him to let go.
He was falling, blood-curdling screaming dominating the air around him.
* * *
Sarik woke up abruptly, right as he had felt himself hitting the ground.
Dim morning light shone in through the window, causing the walls to glow an eerie red. Sarik stared up at that tempting exit for a few moments, then sighed. There was no way that escape could be so easy as in the dream.
As Sarik balled up to try to fall back to sleep, he noticed something odd about the wall. Parts of it were shadowing others in excess.
A stake of hope buried itself in Sarik's mind as he jumped up and ran over to the wall. He felt along those irregular areas and, as in the dream, the breaks were there. Someone wouldn't notice the indentions unless light from a partially obscured source hit it just right and the person searching knew what they were looking for.
However, remembering his fall in the dream, Sarik decided it better to wait before attempting to climb the wall. Instead, he simply memorized the indentions' apparent locations.
When the light from the sun was a bright yellow, from around nine or ten o'clock in the morning, the metal door to the room opened. Sarik jumped enthusiastically to his feet as a tall, large man with a metal whistle in his mouth walked in. He let out a half-second burst before he realized Sarik was standing right in front of him, completely awake and alert.
"Good, an early riser," the man remarked. "I'll be your instructor today. Whatever I say, you do. Understand?"
Sarik nodded his head once with a smile on his face, though his happiness was not directed at this stranger.
"Good. Now before we get started, we have to get your friends."
Sarik followed the instructor as he walked over to the door next to Sarik's cell. He opened it up, and inside was Stella, sleeping peacefully in one corner. The instructor walked inside and blew his whistle as loud as humanly possible for several seconds, causing Stella to wake up immediately. She jumped to her feet as quickly as she could, stumbling as her body's blood pressure adjusted from a relaxed state to a state of sudden activity.
Rather than wasting breath on remarks, the instructor simply ordered her, "Follow me."
As she left her cell, Sarik caught Stella's attention and flashed her a smile, which was quickly returned.
The instructor walked across the hallway and retrieved Grey and Alex in a similar fashion, both whom were less jumpy than Stella. In fact, Alex came out of his cell yawning, less likely out of exhaustion and more likely an odd attempt at annoying the instructor.
"Follow me and don't get lost, or it's an extra week of nights in the cell," the instructor informed the four.
Sarik, Stella, Grey, and Alex all followed their new instructor, keeping up as best as they could, even though it meant jogging at times to match their instructor's long and impatient stride.
The instructor lead them into a large locker room where dozens of children and several instructors were bustling around. He walked over to a set of four blue lockers. It appeared all of the lockers were color coded, some in groups up to twelve, others by themselves.
"You four are now considered Blue Team," the instructor informed the four. "Your group will work together during training, and your individual performance performance will be judged by the team's overall accomplishments. Out here, failure is not tolerated, and WILL be punished. Failure to work together over an extended period of time may result in this team's permanent...removal."
"So this is like a game?" Alex asked.
"You can say that," replied the large man.
Sarik didn't buy this, but kept any remarks to himself.
"Now, for the assignments," the instructor mumbled out loud.
"Sarik Ostheim, front and center!" yelled the trainer.
Sarik strolled in front of the instructor and looked up at him, making eye contact.
"You do not make eye contact at attention, Ostheim!" scolded the instructor. "Eyes forward, back straight, arms at your sides!"
Sarik corrected himself.
"Better," said the instructor. "From now on, you will be known as Blue One."
The instructor walked over to the blue locker farthest to the left and pulled out a dark blue sweatshirt, a pair of gray sweatpants, and a set of underwear. Over the left breast of the shirt was a large white number one. The instructor handed Sarik the articles of clothing.
"Get dressed," the instructor commanded.
"Where?" asked Sarik.
"Right here," he replied.
"But..."
"You will strip your clothing and change this instant, or you will have two days in the cells added to your team's current five for your tantrums last night!" yelled the instructor.
Sarik turned his back to the four and did so as quickly as possible, somewhat squeamish and embarrassed about it. He was still debating from yesterday whether or not it was appropriate.
As he changed, the instructor assigned Stella, Grey, and Alex as Blues Two, Three, and Four, respectively.
"Now, your numbers have nothing to do with who's the leader or who's superior," informed the trainer. "I will not tolerate any arguments of this matter in my team. It will earn the team at least five days in the cells. Am I understood?"
"Yes, sir," replied all four of them, some more enthusiastic than others.
"Now get your rears through that door and outside!" ordered the instructor.
The four started walking towards the door until their instructor struck Sarik on the shoulder with the thin side of a flat-handed blow.
"Faster!" he yelled, and began striking whomever he got closest to.
Running down the hallway in the opposite direction from which they came, they eventually came upon a large, automatic door. It lead outside, where a gigantic running track and several obstacle courses were located.
"You have five minutes to stretch," the instructor informed Blue Team as he came to a stop near the track
* * *
"What should we do?" Sarik inquired.
"Get creative," the instructor replied coldly.
Sarik personally only remembered a few stretches from his physical education classes in the the school he went to, which didn't have the most emphasized physical testing program in his age group. Anyway, he was used to someone else telling him what to do.
"Try to touch your toes," Sarik suggested to the others as he demonstrated.
As the others bent down to attempt the stretch, the instructor walked over to Sarik and kicked him over, causing him to flat onto his stomach, skinning his arms and chin.
"I did not give you permission to speak!" yelled the instructor.
Sarik got back up, a tear streaking down his cheek.
"Oh, did I make you cry?" the instructor remarked mockingly.
Sarik glared at the large man as he wiped the tear away and proceeded to do the few stretches he remembered. The others imitated him without a word.
A few minutes later, every child stretching was gathered onto the track. They were then lined up, side to side based on their team's color.
"Stand at attention!" each instructor yelled, including Blue Team's.
Sarik stood at this new position as best he could, but found that he was unable to keep his eyes from wandering once he saw someone walk out of the facility, followed by several other men. The distinguishing thing about this man was that he was Sarik's older brother, William.
William walked to a distance in front of the line where he could be seen and heard by everyone.
"Hello, children," he started enthusiastically. "Welcome to this facility. I am the director here, and I will personally be informing you on the activities you will be participating in during your stay."
He took a moment to breath.
"You will be participating in a series of tests and competitions against the other teams. There will be no rewards for successful completion of your tasks. However, there will be punishment for lack of performance, and repeated failures will be rewarded with elimination, which will result in the ultimate punishment."
William let this set in.
"Here, you will be trained to be the best you can be, to surpass your fellow Naturals, eventually to become the ultimate soldiers."
This isn't a camp! thought Sarik.
From that moment on, Sarik began contemplating a way to escape. He associated soldier with war, and he had always been taught war was not a good thing, at least by his mother.
"If you fail in this, your life's options will be severely...limited. However, I have the utmost confidence that you will not fail."
Sarik felt as if someone was boring holes into his forehead, and he percieved that those last few words were meant for him. Sarik couldn't tell from here, but he thought he caught his brother attempting to make eye contact.
One of the men that had been following William remained where he was, rather than following him and the rest of the faculty, who were filing back inside the facility.
"All right, here's how it works," he yelled. "A single lap on this track is three kilometers. You will be required to complete this course in less than thirty minutes, or your team will spend three days in the cells. The last three teams to complete the course will be eliminated."
From somewhere on the facility, a horn went off, followed by a man's monotone voice saying, "Thirty minutes left."
All of the instructors began yelling at their charges to begin running. Some did so immediately, others required "encouragement".
Blue Team began running as fast as they could, trying to get ahead of their progressively abusive instructor. After a couple minutes, however, they began to grow winded, and Sarik's legs were beginning to grow sore.
Sarik, remembering the man's briefing, ran forward of the group for a few minutes, trying to finish the lap for the entire team. Then, he remembered the instructor's words about "overall accomplishments". He didn't know how this applied, so he slowed down, waiting for the rest of Blue Team to catch up.
"Fifteen minutes," said the facility's speakers.
Sarik was barely halfway through, and it appeared that the rest of Blue Team wasn't doing nearly as well. It seemed that Stella was having the hardest time, and as a result, Grey and Alex were intentionally slowing down to take the beatings the instructor was so eager to give out.
Sarik stopped, then turned around and ran back towards the rest of Blue Team.
As he passed Stella, he could hear her heavy panting and see how red her skin had turned.
When he fell back to where Grey and Alex were running, barely outside of the instructor's grasp, he noticed several bruises and bumps on their heads and knew there were bound to be more on their backs.
"What the hell are you doing, Blue One?!" yelled the instructor. "Get your ass in gear!"
Sarik allowed slowed himself down, maneuvering himself between Grey and Alex as he did so.
"My turn," he told them as he pushed them forward. They needed no more encouragement.
Sarik kept altering his speed in an unpredictable fashion, keeping just ahead of the instructor, taking only a few beatings, though they were with the instructor's full force.
The instructor had realized what Sarik was trying to do from the beginning, and quickly grew frustrated. He darted past Sarik, quickly gaining ground on Grey and Alex, who were trying to motivate Stella into moving faster.
Something in his subconscious clicked, and Sarik suddenly had the urge and adrenaline to run after the instructor.
Somehow, he managed to catch up with the large man and, without thinking, swept one of his leg outwards. He caught the large man by the ankle, and he smashed face first onto the concrete, letting out no sound as he made contact.
Sarik ran past the fallen instructor to catch up with the rest of his team.
"Five minutes," the facility speakers announced.
Sarik was almost caught up with Grey, Alex, and Stella. Stella wasn't holding up at all, and the other two weren't much better off.
"We better start running faster," Sarik told them when he caught up. "I tripped the instructor. He won't be happy when he catches up to us."
Alex let out the closest thing to a chuckle he could muster, then ran ahead at his fastest pace.
Grey looked Sarik in the eye and he immediately realized his concern.
"Go!" exclaimed Sarik.
Sarik continued to follow immediately behind Stella, keeping an eye out for their instructor. He had to get her moving. The boy doubted she would appreciate the man's attacks anymore than he or the others did. Pain was not a desirable thing.
"Four minutes," the speakers said.
"Come on Stella, there's only a little bit left!" Sarik encouraged, panting heavily now. "If we can get this done, we can take a break."
"I can't," Stella huffed between her heavy breaths.
"Three minutes," informed the speakers.
Sarik kept pace with Stella, staying at her side. He glanced back to see if the instructor was following them or not. He spotted a man with a bloody face running past all the children and instructors at a sprinting pace. He looked EXTREMELY unhappy.
"Stella, we have to run!" Sarik exclaimed. "He's coming!"
"Two minutes," informed the speakers.
Stella knew exactly what Sarik was talking about, and somehow found the energy to bolt forward. She and Sarik ran their all. A short distance ahead, they could see Grey and Alex pacing around in an attempt to cool off from their run.
"One minute," the speakers reported.
Sarik and Stella kept running, not looking back.
"Thirty seconds," the speakers announced.
The speakers started to make a ticking sound in cadence with the seconds passing by.
They just kept running, hoping.
"Twenty seconds."
No stopping.
"Ten seconds."
A burst of energy and the final bolt.
"Five seconds!" yelled a lady dressed in a blue t-shirt standing on the edge of the track as they passed the starting line.
Stella walked over to the dirt area surrounding the track, then collapsed onto her knees.
"Walk it off, kids, walk it off," she ordered.
Grey spotted Stella and Sarik, quickly running over to assist them, the uninformed Alex following a short distance behind.
When Grey arrived, he helped Sarik pick Stella up and make her walk around. After she was moving on her own, Sarik wandered a little from Blue Team, not paying attention to his surroundings as he caught his own breath.
Then he noticed the instructor running at him only a few meters away, followed by two security guards.
Sarik dove into the crowd around him in an attempt to use it to his advantage, but the enraged instructor bulled right through them and smashed into Sarik, knocking him to the ground. Sarik was stunned by the blow, never having experienced anything so immediately painful, nor ever having had to defend himself.
The instructor started to kick him, hitting Sarik in the arm, the stomach, the chest...
Suddenly, it stopped. Sarik opened his eyes and looked over at the instructor. He was being pinned to the ground by the pair of security guards, the ones who were chasing him seconds before.
"Let me go, you idiots!" the instructor yelled.
The enraged man attempted to struggle, receiving a blow to the mid-back with a tong fe for it.
"I'll kill you, you little bastard!" he yelled at Sarik with a crazed expression. "You and your little bitch friends!"
The guards attempted to drag the crazed instructor away, but when his struggling grew too intense for even the two of them, one pulled out a syringe and stabbed it into his arm, causing him to relax almost instantly.
Sarik rose to his feet, wiping the blood out of his eyes and off his face.
"Are you alright?" the lady in the blue shirt asked in a truly concerned tone.
Sarik sniffed in once, then spat in disgust as the foul tasting blood entered his mouth.
"I'm okay," he replied.
"Let's get you to the infirmary," she insisted.
"What about the team?" Sarik asked.
"They can't do anything without the full team, so they're coming with us," she answered.
After reuniting Sarik with Stella, Grey, and Alex, the assistant instructor spoke with one of the doctors, who shook his head, indicating a yes. She told them to follow her, which they did, more willingly than with their instructor. This one seemed relatively nice.
* * *
"The boy has guts," commented Doctor Spence. "It's unfortunate he is a Coordinator."
"It won't make a much of a difference," replied William. "Most of these children will die before they finish the modification process, and most of those remaining will die in any wars to come. He is merely an experiment so that we may get the most out of them."
"So you believe there will be a full-fledged war?" the doctor asked.
"When we are strong enough as an organization and have enough weapons," he said, indicating at the screens observing the children.
"Mentioning our 'weapons', what are we going to do with the children who fail?"
"We will use some of them as test subjects for our newer drugs after they have been tested on Blue One. Others will be reintegrated for use as practice runs. IF any survive, we'll possibly use them for a test run to estimate an Extended's full combat potential."
The doctor grimaced.
"So you plan on using those gruesome tactics for the elimination process?" he asked.
"They worked on the earlier subjects, didn't they?" replied William.
"The few who are still alive," replied the doctor.
Few Extendeds were still alive in the present day from Blue Cosmos's original experiments, something that those running the current program were not allowed to forget.
The last remark brought about a short moment of silence as William remembered this and some of the horrible things that happened to those who didn't make it.
"What are your projections for failure?" William asked, breaking the silence.
"Well, today, Azure, Vermilion, and Cyan teams were eliminated due to failure during the initial three kilometer run. Azure team consisted of a single male, ten years old, showed to be a promising lone wolf, but the psyche profile showed him to be impulsive and overconfident. He wasn't a grave loss. Vermilion consisted of ten children that we grouped together at random, showing little promise due to their inability to break past their social and mental barriers during introduction to the facility. None of them even completed the run, much less in time. Cyan, well..."
"Well?" asked William.
"They were one of our more promising units."
"Why didn't they make it?" William asked curiously.
"Because their instructor beat one of the children to the point of collapse on the track. When one of his team mates attempted to assist him, he also was beaten, to the point of unconsciousness. By the time security arrived, the run was too far gone for them to catch up. They were halfway around the track with five minutes left. This was also the problem with Azure team."
William sighed.
"Unfortunately, we can't afford to go back on the protocols WE created. This is as much a lottery as it is a test of skill."
"However, perhaps we can replace the some of the instructors," suggested the doctor. "I see the reasoning behind using some of our more...unstable members as instructors. It helps to prepare the children for war. The unfortunate fact is that too many promising units may be lost early on as a result of the use of excessive force, with which many of these instructors seem to have no restraint."
"They won't get such mercy in war," William stated.
"They're children, for crying out loud! The eldest we won't be battle ready for at least four or five years."
William thought for several long moments.
"I see your point. I want the assistant instructors to replace any instructor deemed unstable."
William walked towards the observation room's exit.
"Wait, you never did give me your complete failure rate projections," he said.
The doctor sighed.
"Fifty percent elimination during initial preparation and a forty percent death rate during conditioning."
"Unfortunate. Do you expect those figures to change?"
"Yes," replied the doctor.
"For the better?" asked William.
The doctor thought for a moment.
"Possibly," he replied solemnly.
* * *
Sarik was returned to his cell that evening after his check-up, to his disdain. The doctor who had examined him said that there was nothing worry about. Something about "micro-fractures" in the facial bones, but the doctor didn't seem too concerned about those.
Sarik hadn't a chance to eat anything today, primarily due to the fact that the infirmary was so crowded. Apparently, he wasn't the only one with a problematic instructor. The feeling hunger brought him, though, was most unpleasant. He hadn't realized it up until now, but he had never missed a meal before.
Fortunately, he HAD been given a chance to get showered and change back into his green hospital clothes. While they were uncomfortable, it felt much better to be in something clean and cool instead of those hot, sweaty workout clothes.
Night time was falling, but if what Sarik's new instructor had said was accurate, then lights out wouldn't be for another two or so hours.
During this time, Sarik practiced climbing up and down the makeshift ladder in his cell's corner.
After he perfected his climbing technique, he contemplated how it got there. It would have taken a while for someone to carve these notches out of the smooth, stone wall, then paint it so perfectly with an incomprehensible number of shades of black to blend in with the wall and not be found over a period of time. Most likely, it was a contractor's defect, one that would have taken them more time than they would have liked to fix, thus the reason they concealed it.
After what seemed like an eternity, the lights finally went out. Sarik made his move. He quickly scaled up the wall, then pulled himself out of the window without any problems.
He took a quick look around. He appeared to be in some sort of outside storage area, where large spools of wire, building materials, safety equipment, and other miscellaneous items were just laying around.
He walked towards the edge of the storage yard, looking for a way out. He found a large fence, but it was three meters tall, lined with razor wire strewn at random alond it from top to bottom.
So I just have to get passed this, Sarik speculated.
* * *
It's nearly midnight. Who is going to be awake at this hour?
The security guard was boredly watching a series of monitors connected to surveillance cameras, which showed almost no activity throughout this section of the facility.
Nothing but construction equipment and sleeping brats here.
He continued to grow even more bored as another hour passed by.
Screw it.
After quickly glancing over the entire monitor array, the security guard changed the channel on the main monitor from flashing between the various cameras to a local television news station.
Had he been paying more attention to the security cameras, he would have noticed an eight year old boy climbing down into one of the cells he was charged to watch.
* * *
Sarik curled up in the corner and started laughing quietly.
It's going to be alright, Sarik told himself. We'll get out of here. We'll be fine.