Chapter eighteen – someone new is in town (actually, someone old is in Manticore)
What if, in the escape of '09, Max hadn't escaped with the others? What if Jondy had tried to save her when she fell in the ice, but in the end they both got caught?
…
'12
Jondy walked down the empty hall, bored out of her mind. All of the other X-5's were on a training mission, but she hadn't been allowed to go as a punishment for being caught out of bed after lights out. So now, instead of doing some insane mission, she was told to stay in her barracks. Not her room, but the barracks. So they couldn't give her more punishment for not being in her room, because they hadn't told her to stay in her room.
The only problem with staying in the barracks was the fact that Jondy knew the barracks of by heart. She could walk around blind-folded and still be able to tell some one where she was, whose room she was in, and how many bars there were on a particular window. So, tired of following orders like a good little soldier, Jondy decided to go wandering.
The first place she ended up outside of was the dining hall. It was only when she heard a noise inside that she decided not to go in and try to steal some food. Instead, she decided to go and check out the medical wing, and see if Dr Aly was in. Having to frequently hide from guards along the way, Jondy began to wonder what all the extra security was for. But, unless she wanted to risk being caught and punished more, she would have to try and stay out of everyone's way.
Walking up to Dr Aly's door, Jondy saw that it was open. Looking in, she saw that while no body was in, the computer was on. Being quite curious, Jondy walked over and sat down at the desk, and turned the screen on. Looking through the windows that were up, she saw one titled ''09 escapees.' Getting more and more intrigued, Jondy opened the window to see what was in it. After looking at the first few lines, Jondy gave a gasp, and quickly turned the screen off and ran out of the room. She ran down the corridor, made sure that there were no guards coming, and entered the next corridor. Down the very end were a group of rooms that served as a place to keep sick or ill soldiers who were known to fight back. In other words, jails cell for the sick. Noting that there were two guards posted outside one of the rooms, Jondy turned back and looked around for a storeroom.
Finding one, she went in and started looking around. Pulling a tray off the shelf, she grabbed a jar of sedative, two syringes, a bunch of cloths, a bottle of painkillers and a bottle of green liquid that didn't have a label on it. Jondy didn't really want to know what was in the bottle, but it would do for her purposes. She also found a nurse's outfit that was three times too big on her, but put it on anyway over her cams, as well as putting on a hair net that would hide the fact that her hair was only centimeters long. Picking up the tray again Jondy walked out of the storeroom.
Walking down the hallway towards the room, she saw the guards look up, and stare at her. Sauntering up to them, she shifted the tray in her hands and tried to look like she knew what she was doing.
"Good morning gentlemen, just here to give the prisoner their meds, and do a bit of a check up. Just routine, nothing else. Would one of you please open the door for me, my hands are full?"
"Sure thing miss, won't be a moment. But you be careful in there, heard that this one's even dangerous in her sleep. You want one of us to go in there with you?"
"I'm sure I'll be fine, but thanks for the offer. If I need anything I'll call. And be sure to close the door after me, we don't want her to get out now do we?"
"Yep, got ya miss. Will do."
Walking past the men, Jondy entered the room. It was plain, with the only furniture a single bed against the opposite wall, that was occupied, and a table next to the door. Gently putting the tray down on the table, Jondy waited until the guards closed the door before yanking off her outfit, and shaking the person in the bed.
The girl sat up quickly, and wrapped her hands around Jondy's throat. But when she looked into Jondy's eyes, she let go of her throat.
"Jondy?"
"Star."
"Why are you in here?"
"I think the more important question is why are you in here?"
"Me? Well, I had to go save Tinga, but I got caught."
"Tinga? She's okay? Where is she?"
"She's safe. I can't tell you where she is. I can't tell you where any of them are."
"You know where everyone is? How? Did Zack tell you?"
Jondy immediately got a bad feeling about the look on Star's face when she mentioned Zack. "Star? What is it? What's happened to Zack?"
"We don't know. He's alive, don't worry about that. But two years ago, something happened to him. There were five of us in one place. Syl and Krit and Tinga had found each other, and then Micah and I found them. Micah and I were going to leave town that night anyway, but Zack found us, and I guess he just got angry. That's what triggered it. He came crashing through the skylight, and we had a fight. The other four got knocked down at the very start, but he and I fought. He broke my leg. I knocked him unconscious.
"When he woke, he was acting weird. First he was just Zack, being the stern CO, and then he was all guilty. I told him that he broke my leg, and he broke down. I guess that all the stress of being CO and the guilt over the escape and hurting me just got too much to handle. He hasn't been the same since. He's alright, I mean he's not crazy, but he's not CO. He's got a normal life, a small place, a roommate, he was even thinking of getting a job the last time I saw him."
"So you're the CO?"
"Yeah. I didn't want to be, I thought that Ben or Tinga should be, but Zack wanted me to do it, and so did the others. It's not that bad. 'Cept when things like this happen and I end up back here."
"How are you going to get out?"
"I don't know Jondy. But I have to do it soon."
"There are two guards posted outside this door, and heaps more patrolling this wing."
"I know that. Will you help me?"
"I don't know if I can. But I'll try."
"Where are the others? Where's Max and Scout and Skye and Lyn and all the rest?"
"Skye and Lyn are dead. So are Tim and Jed. They died trying to get out in '09. Max and me got caught trying to get out. Max fell in some ice, I tried to save her, but we both got caught in the end. The others, well they either got caught as well or never got out at all. But at the minute, everyone else is on a training mission in the woods. I'm being punished. I got caught out of bed after lights out, and aren't supposed to be out of the barracks. But I got bored."
"How did you get caught?"
"Max got the shakes. Alec and me had to go to the High Place to get some tryptophan, which stops the shakes. Max made me walk Alec back to his room, but one of the guards saw me just about to enter mine and Max's room."
"Wait a minute. What's trypto-whatever it is? Who's Alec? What do you mean by yours and Max's room?"
"Well, after the escape, they split us up, boys in one corridor, girls in another. Then they paired us up, and put us in rooms in pairs. And a doctor here, Dr Alynyn Schinkoff, told us that tryptophan will stop the seizures. You can get it as pills, in a bottle. It's also in milk, and turkey, and cashews, and soya beans."
"So to stop the seizures, all you have to do is have one of those things?"
"Not really. If the seizures really light or you think you're about to get one, then you use milk or stuff. The only thing that will actually stop the seizures, stop not pause, is a couple of pills of tryptophan."
"Ok. I'll have to tell the others that. But you haven't answered my other question. Who's Alec?"
"Alec is Ben's twin. You see, there was another lot of X-5's created, twinned off of us. They are the Beta X-5's. We are the Alpha X-5's. Each of us has a twin in their unit. About six months after the escape, their unit was moved here, all twenty-two of them."
"Hold on a sec, twenty-two? I thought that you said all of us had a twin in their unit?"
"We do, but some got killed, or died. But that's who Alec is."
"Okay then. Who's my twin? Is she alive."
"Yeah, 664. Her names Anna. She's not that bad, unlike some of the others in the Beta unit. But enough of that, I can't stay in here much longer, or the guards will get suspicious."
"How did you manage to get in here anyway?"
"Well, I dressed up as a nurse, and told them that I was doing a check-up on you. Bit of a gamble, but I had to see if it was really you in here."
"What do you mean? How did you know I was here?"
"I was looking around, cause I was bored. I decided to see if Dr Aly was in her office, and talk to her for a while. She wasn't, but her computer was on. I had a look, and there was a window open about the '09 escapees, I had a quick look, and the very first part said that you had been captured, and needed medical attention. I had to know if it was true, so I came."
"Oh..."
Star was cut off by the door opening. One of the guards looked in, and saw Jondy standing over Star.
"Hey, you!" He called out, as he turned to get his partners attention.
"NO!" Jondy cried, as she blurred over to him, and gave him a swift kick to the head, before knocking him unconscious. His partner came over to see, and Jondy quickly took him down as well. Behind her, Star struggled to get up and out of the bed.
Jondy ran back, and helped her up, and took her over to the table. Taking some of the painkillers out of the bottle, Jondy told Star to swallow them. Once she had, Jondy stuffed some more tablets into the pocket of Star's gown, and dragged her out of the room. Before they got far however, Star stopped her.
"You have to kill those guards."
"No. Star I won't."
"Then I will. We have to Jondy. Unless you want to get punished for being a traitor to Manticore, which could kill you. Remember one of our first lessons Jondy, dead soldiers can't talk. We have to do this."
"Fine. I'll do one, you do the other."
"I'll do them both little sister. You don't have to."
"Let's just get this over with Star."
Star and Jondy quickly walked back, and snapped each soldier's neck. When she heard the sound, Jondy winced, she hated killing people. She didn't wait for more than a second over his body, before getting up, and with Star, ran back to the barracks, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. Surprisingly, the encountered no guards as they ran along.
Once back at the barracks, Jondy pulled Star into hers and Max's room. Pulling a spare pair of cams out from under her bed, Jondy told Star to put them one. As she did, Jondy tried to form a plan for the escape.
"Ok," Jondy started when Star was ready, "You remember the High Place?"
"Sure, how could I forget?"
"Well, if you climb up to the roof from this room, you can go across to the other side, and get to the High Place. From there, you can climb down the drainpipe to the ground, and get out through the woods on that side. The fence won't be patrolled on that side, and neither will the woods. But if you meet anyone in the forest, hide or run away. You can't risk being seen."
"I'm sorry for doing this to you Jondy. I don't mean to cause you any trouble."
"It's alright. It's been good seeing you again Star. When you see the others next, tell them that we miss them, please?"
"Sure. But, Jondy, what will happen if they think you helped me out? Won't you get punished more?"
"I have a simple answer. Knock me out, and break one of my fingers or my wrist or something. Then drag me out into the hallway, where someone will find me. That way, they will think you took me out, and I can say that I tried to stop you, but couldn't, and that you got out through my window. They will search that side of the woods then, not the other. But you will have to be fast. Get out of here Star, and do it quickly."
"I'm sorry for having to do this Jondy. But, if you want me to..."
"I do."
Star knocked Jondy out, and dragged her out into the hallway, and laid her outside her open door. She couldn't bring herself to break any of Jondy's bones so instead she just punched her in the jaw, hard. Then she ran back into Jondy's room and climbed out of the window. She climbed up the drainpipe, and ran across the roof. She knew that she didn't have much time, and so instead of climbing down the drainpipe, she slid down to the ground. Looking around for any guards, Star found none, and so blurred across the open training yard to the woods. Once in, she slowed down a little so that she could watch where she was going and not trip over anything.
After just minutes of running, Star reached the perimeter fence. She was just about to jump over when a hand grabbed her elbow. Turning around, Star was about to kick the person, when they spoke.
"Star?"
"Maxie? You have to let me go, I have to get out of here soon."
"What are you doing here? What happened?"
"Ask Jondy some time. She'll tell you. But I have to go, they'll be after me soon. Please Maxie, let me go."
"Okay. It was good to see you Star."
"You too. Look after yourself little sister."
Max quickly hugged Star, before letting her jump over the fence. When she turned around, Max gave a quick wave, before going back to the mission. Star watched her leave, before turning around and running away, to the real world.