Ellis Tobias - You are correct! Luke had helped the children escape in the past
As always, thank you to everyone who leaves comments and enjoys this story. It's really so much fun to write and I'm happy to share this journey with you all :)
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Anya couldn't afford to let them know that she was planning to escape, so she left no paper trail. All the notes that she took stayed in her mind, and she lay awake in her cot each night going over all the information she had gathered. She could feel that she was running out of time - the doctors had already said that she was nearly back to full health after her initial injections, and she would be back to being recruited in the real experiments very soon.
She guessed that only gave her a few days at most. So, she had to work quicker than this if she wanted to have any chance at escaping.
It was so stupid… Anya even thought of the homework that she was missing at Eden College. Did the obstacle course tournament happen already? Did she fail the group project with Adrian? Was he even continuing to go to school? And why wasn't he back at the lab yet, if he really was one of the Subjects?
Anya wondered if Becky and Bill were okay together. She almost laughed, thinking about how they had managed to get together and Anya had not even noticed until recently. Becky must think that she was a bad friend, since she didn't get the clues… and now, she might never get another chance to gossip with Becky about their love lives again.
Suddenly, Damian's face crossed her mind.
Anya furrowed her brows. How did she get from thinking about Becky's love life to thinking about Damian?
She didn't have much time to ponder this much more as she fell into a dreamless sleep.
When Anya awoke, she realised that she wasn't alone.
The Director stood over her, clipboard in hand, with a thin smile. "Good morning, Subject 007."
Her voice made all the hairs on Anya's arms and neck rise. Anya bolted upright in her bed, and on instinct, backed up against the wall.
The Director didn't react, but only glanced at the notes in her papers. "Good news, you've reached excellent levels of health for baseline testing, so you will come through for your work today."
Then, she turned to speak to someone standing outside the door: "Secure Subject 007, and bring her in for testing. We'll start with 713-X."
Anya's wary eyes didn't leave the Director's hands as she brought her keycard to the door, unlocked it, pushed down on the door handle -
Time slowed.
Anya pushed against the walls, and launched herself from the cot to intercept the Director. She burst from the room, but bumped into the person standing on the other side of the door. She quickly registered their bald head in her mind, and Anya used every ounce of strength she had in her to push him to the side.
Yor's training had its use after all.
As Dr Parker fell to the ground, Anya quickly swiped the ID badge from his coat before he had even hit the ground.
She knew it was coming, but the red lights and the blaring alarms still took her by surprise. Not bothering to cover her ears, Anya ran in the direction of the kitchen.
When Anya was ten years old, they started a new subject at school. Home Economics.
Most of the children turned up their nose in disgust at being forced to learn how to cook and sew, but Professor Henderson had insisted. "It is expected of you to learn rudimentary life skills, so that you will have a greater appreciation of the help that is around you."
Anya hadn't been trusted to cook in her own home, so she was quite excited to learn how to use knives and start helping her Papa in the kitchen. Becky, on the other hand, groaned in frustration.
"I'm never gonna need to cook for myself! Why should I learn now?"
"Yeah!" Emile joined in. "We don't need to know this!"
George Glooman stayed mysteriously quiet. Even though he was a first born son as well, he still remembered with shame and embarrassment when he had thought that his own family had run into bankruptcy. It had scared him, and the fear that he could lose everything never quite left him after that.
Damian had tsked and shook his head along with the others, but overall he seemed more enthusiastic to learn than the others. At the time, Anya couldn't put her finger on why.
Professor Henderson regarded the class sternly. "You may be connected to powerful families in this country and in the borders beyond, but no-one truly knows what the future holds. You may need these skills yourself one day, and at the very least, you will learn to appreciate the finer things in life through this."
The students didn't quite stop grumbling throughout the school year, but the people around Anya complained less overall. They saw how hard she worked to try to learn the skills, and her tenacity rubbed off on them.
Or maybe they pitied her because she was a commoner, and they knew that she didn't have servants to cook for her.
They used the kitchens in the Cecile Hall dormitory, where the kitchen and common room were the centre point that divided the building into the girl's side and boys' side, but what caught Anya's eye was that there was a door leading directly from the kitchen to the outside.
"Hey," said Anya. "How come they get their own door?"
Professor Henderson thought nothing of this innocent-sounding question, and answered for her:
"The kitchens will usually get direct deliveries of fresh produce, so that they can go straight into storage,either into the freezer, pantry, or fridge. It is extremely important that all food and produce is stored as soon as possible, so that it can stay fresh for as long as possible. Most large-scale kitchens like this will have direct routes to the outdoors for exactly this reason. It is also a handy fire escape, as there can be many fire hazards when working in a kitchen like this."
Anya blinked. "Fire hazards?"
She stored this information in the part of her brain that she secretly labelled "if I ever need to know".
Anya bolted to where she knew the kitchen was, and used Dr Parker's ID to scan herself in. The alarms were louder here, and she winced at the ever increasing noise. She couldn't even hear herself think, how would she ever be able to hear the charging footsteps behind her, or if someone was-
Luke stood, stunned, in the middle of the floor. He saw her eyes dart to where the outside door was-
It's not here, Anya realised with a pit in her stomach. It was all for nothing.
Anya put her arms up in a combat stance, but Luke didn't move an inch. He glanced meaningfully at the fridge door behind him, then back at her.
She had never before wished so hard that she could read people's minds.
His eyes locked on hers with that same desperate look as before. He indicated with his head towards the door again, ever so slightly.
Something in Anya thought that she could trust him, but she kept her arms up in a protective stance as she made her way cautiously round the middle of the floor, and darted behind him to the fridge.
She slid the huge lock through, and opened it to see-
The blast of air that hit her was beyond frigid, but Anya didn't have any more time to think about what clothes she should have brought to keep herself warm. Between her and a hundred shelves of food was another door.
She burst forward without another look behind her, and heard the heavy click of a door shutting behind her.
Anya stopped dead in her tracks.
Was it all a trick? Did Luke give her a false sense of trust?
Only one way to find out…
She left the alarms behind and ran to the other side, only just then realising that she was also barefoot. Drops of ice glittered on the fridge floor, and Anya willed herself not to slip over them as they left tiny pinprick indentations on the soles of her feet.
She put all her weight against the huge, frozen, metal door in front of her, and pushed.
Relief flooded Anya's body as the weight of the door gave way beneath her. She blinked against the light, and used her arm to shield herself from the sunlight. It was colder than it used to be.
Anya made to sprint but as soon as she took one step on to the dirt track, bare foot meeting dust, Anya's ears pricked at the unmistakable sound of several guns being cocked.
Along with the unmistakable feel of people's thoughts washing over her.
Instantly Anya realised two things: first, the telepathy-suppression sound was only transmitted inside the building.
Second: they had outdoor security, and all of them knew she was there.
Anya skidded to a stop outside, spraying pebbles and silt in every direction.
Shit, she screamed in her head. Shit shit shit!
Ahead of her, the dirt track changed to grass, and trees, and there was a road beyond, but armed guards were stationed at every crevice and corner that she could see. All wore black riot gear with shiny helmets, and powerful looking guns - all aimed at the door she had just exited from.
Her stomach dropped.
Even Yor's training hadn't prepared her for this kind of combat. Even if she tried to make a run for it towards the road, there were enough of them that the likelihood of being shot was extremely high, and probably likely.
Anya almost didn't hear the door click open behind her, and the Director's high heels snapped on to the ground.
"Oh, darling," she sneered. "You didn't really think that would work - did you?" That will teach that little runt a lesson never to run away from here again.
Anya gritted her teeth. She couldn't bear to turn around and face that woman.
A snap of fingers. "Secure Subject 007."
Anya didn't move a single muscle as several of the armed guards detached from the formation and made their way cautiously over to her. She held herself back from rolling her eyes.
Rough hands grabbed her and forced her onto her knees, and yanked her arms behind her. Anya feld cold metal graze her wrists as a pair of handcuffs snapped into place. She watched the details of the dirt ground blur in front of her, and she watched, detached, as drops of water appeared on the ground below her.
She was so close.
Everything rose in her, then. The rage, frustration, despair, hopelessness.
I can't let it end like this.
She was backed into a corner, and there was nothing left for her to lose.
Anya jumped back up to her feet, elbowed the guard in the face and roared.
"Don't let her run again!" Anya distantly heard the Director's order.
Her Mama had always told her to be wary of animals that had been backed into a corner - and Anya had been backed up against the wall, kicked to the ground, and shaken to her fucking core. They should be afraid of her.
"Fuck you!" Anya screamed, and with both hands secured behind her back, Anya elbowed another guard in the ribs, head butted another, and when arms appeared to secure around her shoulders, Anya leaned down and bit them hard, but still they didn't let go. She thrashed in their arms, but they held fast to her, and threw her onto her side, knocking the wind out of her lungs, and all she could do was groan in pain when she felt more weight landing on each of her limbs.
It took eight of them to hold her down.
Anya screamed with her face on the ground. Sharp stones dug into her cheek, and with each kick that she tried to send with her feet, she could feel that more scratches had appeared on her face.
Her voice was hoarse, but still she screamed as more guards wrestled with her. And then she felt the prick of something in her thigh, and everything started to fade around her.
The last thing she heard was the cold and sterile voice of the Director: "Bring her through to the Experimentation Room."