11 – Desperate Times...
Flying has to be the most wonderful experience ever. When you're in the air, the world is so much brighter, and all your troubles get left behind on the ground. In the sky there's no walls, no boundaries, nobody trying to hold you back or keep you in. It's just you, the clouds, and the dazzling sun that shines above you.
I was soaring through the air like an eagle, suspended in the pristine blue by a pair of beautiful, broad-feathered wings that shone golden in the thinning atmosphere. They weren't just any wings, though, they were my wings. They belonged to me—they were a part of me. They released me from every fear I'd ever had, every insecurity that had bogged me down on earth. My wings filled a hole in my heart that I never knew I had, and now I was finally whole. For the first time in a long time, I felt totally and completely free.
"Ella!" Suddenly there was a second silhouette on the cloud canopy below, an angel-shaped shadow that was almost parallel to mine. I spotted the figure soaring a few feet above me on my left, and I broke out into a grin.
"Max!" I cried excitedly. Max was here, and she could see my wings!
"Having fun?" she nonchalantly asked, smiling back at me.
That was when I realized that I was finally good enough—good enough for her, for Iggy, for the Flock, maybe even good enough to save the world. "Look at me, Max!" I cried excitedly, flapping in emphasis, "I have wings now!"
Instead of congratulating me, however, Max just laughed good-naturedly. She saw my confused expression, and swooped down so that she was flying at my level. "Ella, what are you talking about? You've always had wings!"
"What?" I looked at her with a puzzled expression on my face."No I haven't."
"Sure you have!" Max pointed at her chest. "You have them in here, in your heart!"
"I... do?"
Max nodded. "I know, it's totally a cheesy thing to say, but it's true. You have wings on the inside, Ella, and that's all that really matters." Then she angled her wings upward and began flying towards the sun, going higher and higher, getting smaller and smaller the farther she went...
And then I opened my eyes, only to find myself staring at the bunk directly above mine. I rotated my shoulders (No wings, big surprise.) and whined softly. Why do dreams always have to be in your mind?
The guards had turned the lights on for the day, so I figured now was as good a time as any to get out of bed. I sat on the edge of my bunk and stretched, noticing that 'most everyone else had already crawled out of bed to fetch their rations, and were either curled up under their blankets or sitting and talking quietly amongst each other.
I knew Anna liked having time to eat her breakfast and chat before we went off to get shots, so if she wasn't up before me I always made sure to wake her up. "Hey Anna," I said, grabbing her shoulder and shaking her hard, "Wake up sleepyhead! Erin's circling around your food packets like a shark!" She didn't stir, and I rolled my eyes. "Come on, lazy, it's time to get up!" I sat on the edge of her bunk and rolled her over so that she was lying on her back. "It's probably almost... Anna?" I stared down at my friend, realizing how ghostly pale she was. Her bare skin was icy cold against my hand, which still rested on her arm. "Anna," I tried again, "Anna, wake up!" I kept shaking her, waiting for her to open her eyes and groan about interrupting her beauty sleep.
Then Kendra wandered over. "What's wrong with Anna?" she asked, growing a little pale herself.
"I-I don't," I stammered, "I don't know!" Then I stopped jostling Anna and put my fingers to her neck.
That's when I screamed.
"She doesn't have a pulse!" I cried, checking again just to be sure. Nothing.
"What!" Everyone flocked to Anna's bunk, as if crowding around her would cause her to wake up. Bailey, who had lifeguard training, managed to get everyone to clear out while she tried performing CPR, and a couple of the girls ran over to the chain link and started shouting for the guard to fetch a doctor.
But when the doctors finally arrived with the gurney and a defibrillator, I knew they were too late—we had all been too late. Anna was gone.
That afternoon I got to the hallway and finished cleaning the rooms in record time. Once that was over with, I snuck into room 142 as soon as the guard wasn't looking. "Aw, did somebody miss me?" Vera teased when I stepped inside. Then she saw the expression on my face. "Whoa," she said, taken aback, "you look about ready to kill someone."
"I need you to give me information on how to get out of here," I told her tersely.
Just as I had expected, Vera rolled her eyes at me condescendingly. "Look, I already told you, I'm not helping with your little escape attempt. Besides, who says I even have anything useful to tell?"
"You're Max's clone." Vera's jaw clenched at the mention. "There's no way you haven't been looking for a way to break out of here. You notice things, and I want to know what you know."
"Forget it," Vera replied, "There's no way that one kid can break out of this place alone."
I knew it was time to reveal my plan, the plan that had been running around in my head since this morning, when they took Anna away and I knew I was desperate enough to start thinking crazy. "But that's just it," I said to her, "I'm not going to do it alone. I have a plan that will save all of us."
Vera looked at me sceptically, but I could tell I had her interest. "Like what?"
"A hostile takeover," I replied determinately, "We're going to overthrow the staff and put the building into lockdown. It won't be easy, but if we play our cards right—"
That's when Vera burst out laughing. "Kid, you're crazier than your sister! Besides," she shifted in her cage, "what's in it for me? And 'I'll let you out if we get free' isn't going to cut it, considering there's like a ninety-nine percent chance that you're going to fail miserably and the guards will beat you into saying who helped you." At last. She had finally opened herself up for negotiation.
And, of course, anyone who's ever met an Avian American knows that there's one sure-fire way to haggle with them. "How much are they feeding you?" I asked Vera, watching her eyes light up at the mention of food.
"Not nearly enough," she replied, "Why?"
"I get four packets of food a day: two at breakfast and two at dinner," I answered, "If you give me the information I want so I can plan my escape, I'll give you half of my rations until the breakout. I'll sneak them here with me when I come to clean the examination rooms."
"And if you get caught?"
"It's a risk I'm willing to take."
"Of course you'd say that," Vera scoffed, "If they find us out you're just a pitiful little kid who's too curious and stupid for her own good. Me? I'm a devious mutant mastermind who needs to be punished and controlled. Don't be surprised if there's another puddle of blood that needs cleaning up afterwards."
I nodded, knowing that everything she said was true. "The risks could be huge, but you want the food and I need the info, and we both have to get out of this place before it's too late. You know you have a better chance of escaping with an ally on the outside, so what do you say?"
Vera was quiet for a second, before remarking, "You're really serious about this."
I nodded solemnly, never once breaking eye contact with her. "I have nothing left to lose at this point. Every day I spend here is one more day I might not survive."
Vera looked away from me, and slowly, finally, she nodded in agreement. "Alright, I'm in. We'll start tomorrow." Then her expression grew closed off again, as she glared at me hard to remind me who's boss. "But make sure you bring the food, or I'm out."
I nodded. "It' a deal." And then without another word I turned and left, trying to stop a grin from forming on my face.
I cannot believe that I was late uploading this chapter! You'd think of all the times to be late with, the one thing I'd do on time would be post a fanfiction chapter where I kill a character. Urgh! Ah well, there you have it. Feel free to leave reviews telling me how happy/sad/angry/shocked/apathetic you feel after reading this update.
