Chapter Five
Day 230
"I just realised something".
Her neighbour stated suddenly, interrupting the few days of silence they'd been subjected too.
"What's that?"
She asked.
"I didn't ask your name… or if I did I forgotten".
He laughed weakly.
"Hehe, hey yeah… I can't remember either… must be that CRAFT".
"CRAFT?"
"Can't Remember A Fucking Thing".
She explained, with a feeble chuckle.
"So, what is your name?"
He asked again.
"Rangimarie… or just Marie if you can't get your American tongue around it".
Before he could answer the door opened and Perceptor walked in. Saying nothing he approached the cells, he reached up and threw a switch on the wall next to the top shelf. There was an electrical surge, followed by a few screams then the all to familiar smell of burning human flesh. Perceptor activated a few more switches and the remaining cells were purged with the same electricity. She felt the pulse rip up her legs, she cried out and dropped to the floor, pain tearing through her tiny human form. She was aware of a few more screams and then silence, which was then interrupted by the footsteps of Perceptor leaving the room.
Marie wasn't sure why she wasn't killed by the electricity. Her neighbour, who's name she never heard, was dead, his skeleton covered with blackened flesh, smouldering, and the smell filling her nasal cavity. The doors of the cells had all opened and she had her escape. As she stepped out of the door she turned and looked at the back wall, where she had pulled for a few moments was several large cracks, perhaps she'd done more damage then she'd assumed. But her neighbour had put just as much effort into the hole as she had, perhaps her cell was of shoddy construction. Regardless, they were all dead and she had a possible escape route, no point looking a gift horse in the mouth.
She climbed down to the shelf below, the cells there also filled with charred human remains. Obviously the experiment was over and they were of no use to those beasts anymore. She didn't envy the poor schmuck who was going to have to clean up this mess. In a way she was glad they were going to make some bastard's day unpleasant. She was able to walk along the lower shelf until she found herself directly over the desk; it was only two metres below. Dangling from her fingers she let go and fell to the desk below. She landed hard, but not hard enough to do any damage. Of course she still ached all over from the numerous experiments. She walked across the desk, mostly ignoring the computer consoles and stacks of digi-pads. She did stop to give some attention to the skeletal remains of some poor human. There were bones of a few other creatures, aliens from other conquered worlds most likely. She jumped down to the stool and then holding on for her life slid down the leg.
The lab was quite massive from her vantage point on the ground. She wasn't sure which way to go to get the hell out. She certainly didn't want to go the way Perceptor had exited. There was another exit, but that could just lead into a closet or another lab. A chill passed through her blood as she realised just how much of a mess she was in. She didn't have time to contemplate her circumstances or waste too much time on where she was going to go. She was just going to hope and pray she made the right choice. Her questioning was answered when she noticed a vent next to the door at floor level, wherever it went, it was probably safer then walking out the door – if she could even get it open. She squeezed her way through just as she heard the door open and clanging indicated one of those bastards had entered. She heard him talking to himself in a language she didn't understand, but given his tone they were probably profanities. Deciding not to wait around and analyse his semantics in case he noticed he was minus one charred Caracas she turned left and headed down the vent.
She could see a light near the end of the tunnel, as it were. It could either be an exit or some Autobot's office. She'd find out very soon, she realised as she got closer to the source. There was a rather unpleasant aroma that wafted down the vent, she hoped it wasn't her, and she hoped that what ever it was would mask her smell… however long she'd been trapped in that mad mans… bot's lab she certainly hadn't had access to showers, she knew she was less then savoury at this point. Thank goodness Rita the infection control nurse wasn't around to… before she could finish that train of thought she realised Rita was probably dead, or in one of those damn camps, or worse… Chances are that everyone she'd ever worked with in that hospital were dead now too. She quickly re-adjusted her concentration as the last thing she wanted right now was to think of those she'd lost, friends, Whanau… pretty much everyone and everything. Thankfully she'd now reached the light source.