Escape

Alex looked at herself in the simple mirror. She stroked her hand through her frizzy yellow hair. It was the only part of herself she truly didn't like. She turned on the rusty faucet, pooled water in her hands and splashed it on her face. The cold water felt good on her white, almost pale skin. She used the clean towel by the cracked sink to dry her face.

She took a step back and looked down. White pants, top made of some ugly marriage between brown and yellow. Why couldn't they give her better clothes? She sighed and glanced at the watch on her wrist. Cheap, electronic, but at least it told the time. He’d be there shortly. Quickly she made a few last minute adjustments to her hair in front of the mirror, and then she took up position in front of the door.

Her heart fluttered. This was it, today was the day. Would it all go well? The door was metal, and had no handle. It could only be opened from the outside. She stared at it, knowing what she was about to do. It left a bitter taste in her mouth, combined with that anticipatory feeling and the butterflies in her stomach.

Right on time, she heard a loud noise that signaled that the door handle had been turned on the outside. A second later the door was pushed open and a familiar face greeted her. Jonathan Grimwell. A handsome soldier with glossy slicked back dark hair. His face was all urgency and business. “It's time. Are you ready?”

Alex ran fingers through her hair. She nodded. “Of course.” Her light-blue eyes met his dark green ones. “For the last time … are you,” she swallowed, “are you sure about this? You know what doing this could mean for you.”

Jonathan took a gun from one of the numerous pockets in his bulky uniform. He handed it to her. His eyes met hers just as her hand closed around the semi-automatic. “Don't worry. I'm ready to sacrifice all of it, for you.”

Trying to quiet the rampant forces inside of her, Alex closed her eyes. She took the gun from him, and opened her eyes again. Then she pulled him in for a passionate kiss. After pulling away, she said, “Sorry.” Before he managed to do anything more than get a quizzical look in his eyes, she clocked him over the head with the gun.

As his body went limp she caught him gently, and laid him on the ground. She stood over him, looking down at his face, the face that had become her salvation at this awful place. “You might be ready. But I'm not. Enjoy your life, Jonathan Grimwell. I promise you that however it goes, it’ll be better than one with me.”

Still with the sting of that betrayal in her mind, Alex began running. At the moment there was no one around, but it wouldn’t be long until someone figured out she was gone. There was only one problem. All those corridors … they looked the same. Alex couldn't help but glance nervously at the cameras scattered throughout, but Jonathan had assured her that when the time came – now – the camera guys would be incapacitated by him, and she just had to trust that. She hit a another door, opened it, and peaked around the corners. No one. But just as she entered the corridor, she heard voices behind her.

Two guards, rounding a corner. Alex didn't even think. Her training and augmented reflexes kicked in. Two perfectly aimed shots had been fired before her brain even caught up. She didn't allow herself to dwell on the two dead human beings on the ground, and instead ran the other way. Perhaps a little distracted, she rounded a bend and nearly walked straight into the arms of a sole guard. He reached for his gun as soon as he saw her, but he wasn't nearly fast enough. A single round and he too was on the ground.

Damnit, Alex thought. If she kept going like that, she was going to get caught way before she reached the railcar out of the mountain. A door opening nearby made her snap out of her thoughts and aim her gun. Her mouth parted a little bit when she recognized the man walking out. Chin-long blond hair. Roguish features … and smile, which he sported right now, despite the gun pointed at him.

Adwirlain Blake. Or Addy, as everybody called him. “You know, generally, when one makes one's escape, one tries not to shot everybody they meet. It generates noise. I was trying to read, and you interrupted me.” He shook his head. “You're a rude, rude girl.”

“I don't suppose there's any way you could just go back in your bunk, and forget you ever saw me?”

“Are you kidding? I've been waiting for a chance to tango with you ever since I saw your first “demonstration”. So why don't you put down that gun, and put up those pretty little fists.”

“How about I just kill you?”

“Oh please … I read your report.” He held up his hands as if in apology. “Classified, yeah, I know.” Addy smiled. “Sometimes it pays to have a general as a father. But bottom-line …” He began walked closer. When close enough, he suddenly launched himself headfirst into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. His fist sent her gun flying.

Alex recovered fast and punched him in the jaw, sending him backwards. He rubbed the injured area, smiling, even as the blood pooled around his teeth. “Bottom-line, you have trouble with shooting unarmed people.”

“But fortunately, not with hitting them until they die.” Alex attacked again, this time with a kick. Addy grabbed her foot and used it to slam her against one of the steel walls. She got free, and attempted a punch, but he defended and did one of his own. Now Alex had a bloody lip, and a headache. Up until now she had been holding back. But she no longer had that luxury.

A lightning fast series of moves enabled her to sweep Addy's feet from under him. Instead of finishing him then and there, she dived for her lost gun. He went after her but she got it first, and aimed it at Addy, who froze. He grinned. “I'm still unarmed, you know.”

Alex knew. Her finger tightened around the trigger, and she tried ordering herself to shoot, but it was pointless. In her fit of panic, Addy managed to disarm her and get the gun himself. “I knew you freaks were no match against good training.” He smiled, aiming the gun at her head. Alex closed her eyes. “Sayonara.”

A shot sounded, but no pain came. Alex opened her eyes, and found Addy staring at her with a tiny red hole in his head. He fell to the floor. Alex turned around to see Jonathan standing there with a gun. Never had she felt such conflicted emotion towards seeing a guy she liked. She opened her mouth. “I … I'm …”

“Sorry? So you’ve already said. What matters now is getting you out of here, not some petty things like you conking me over the head in some misguided attempt to be noble.”

Alex felt tears forming in her eyes, and she looked away from him. She did not deserve a guy like him. Still on her hands and feet, she got Addy's gun and stood up. She – discreetly, she hoped – dried her tears and faced Jonathan. “John … you have a life here. What do you think will happen if I escape? You think the people who … made me, are just going to let me be? No. They’ll come after me. If you're with me, they’ll come after us. I've already got nothing to lose. But you do. Besides,” she tried smiling, “maybe there’ll be more damsels in distress coming through here, and who’s supposed to save them if you go?”

“Someone else.” Jonathan smiled. “I've got mine, and I'm not letting her go.”

Alex stood still for a moment. Then she shook her head. “You'll have to.” She raised her gun and pulled the trigger. A wound exploded on Jonathan’s thigh. His scream physically tore into her. She turned and she ran to avoid seeing more.

“Wait! Alex!”

She kept running. Her tears were running now, but she willed them to stop. There’d be time to be horrified over what she had done when she was finally out. She was forced to stop, however, when she arrived at crossroads. Unfortunately, Jonathan was supposed to be her guide through the mountain. But how hard could it be to find those railcars? She picked a direction and kept running.

It was amazing no one had sounded the alarm yet. Probably because she took out the patrolling guards in the sector where the bodies were, plus that this complex had a very low population. But her luck wouldn’t last forever, so that this time when she spotted guards, instead of killing them immediately, she instead ducked into a side-room.

After closing the door she endeavored to look around. The room she was in didn't have much in it except for six doors, all with small windows on them. She walked to one of them and peered inside through the dirty glass. Alex furrowed her eyebrows. It was a boy, about six years old. She checked the next room, and the next, and eventually all of them.

They all had children inside, of varying ages, kept inside white and clean-looking cells. Alex was fairly certain that these children were prisoners here, like she had been just moments ago. Something in her didn't feel right about just leaving them. But letting them all out now could cause more trouble than was worth. She chose one of the doors, and opened it.

Inside was a girl, about nine years old, with long black hair. She looked at Alex with perceptive eyes. “You're not a guard.”

“No. No, I'm not. But I need you to listen to me. What's your name?”

The girl looked at her for a second before answering. “Margaret.”

“Okay. Margaret. I need you to do something for me. I'm going to leave this door open, just a bit. And I want you to count to six-hundred-mississippi, and then you can open it, and let your friends out if you want.”

“They're not my friends.” The girl’s voice sent chills down Alex’s spine. “What's stopping me from leaving before ten minute mark?”

“Just trust …” Alex’s next sentence was buried under a grimace and intense pain and pressure forming in her head. She looked at the girl, who just gazed at her with cold eyes. “Are you … are you doing this? Please … please … stop.” A few more seconds and Alex wouldn’t be able to hold on to consciousness any longer. Then the pain went away, as suddenly as it had arrived.

The girl still kept her eyes fixed on Alex. “One-mississippi, two-mississippi …”

Alex left the room while hearing the countdown continue. Despite a strong urge to slam the door and never look back, she still left it ajar. She only hoped ten minutes was enough. Who knew what kind of hell these kids would unleash? After checking if the coast was clear, she continued.

Luck continued to grace her. She found a map, situated on a wall. Turned out she had been going completely the wrong way. Alex memorized the correct path, then she moved forward, carefully avoiding guards. It wasn't easy, but she made it to the right door. Unfortunately she was already over the ten minute mark.

The door to the railcars was locked, but a well aimed bullet fixed that. As the door slid open, a sight she had not been expecting greeted her. Jonathan was standing on the other side, breathing hard, and supporting himself with a crutch. A bandage covered the bullet wound. The bandage was already blotched with red. “Well, what are you doing? Get inside. We do not have much time.”

Alex just stared at him. “What … how did … You should not be walking with that kind of a wound.”

“How did I get here before you? Well, it helped you probably got a bit lost without me. I did some damage control, by the way. Thank god I managed to forward all com to the camera crew to myself. Told people the shots had merely been Addy being his usual drunk self. I should have bought us at least a little more time.”

“I … I shot you. You're not coming with me. I don't know how much clearer I can be.”

“Yeah well, in order to stop me this time, you're going to have to kill me. Now get in the railcar.” Jonathan made his way towards the control panel, and hit a few buttons. The gate towards the latest-tech in magnetic rails technology opened. Alex quietly made her way inside and sat down in one of the comfy seats. She couldn't help being touched by Jonathan’s determination and devotion. If it was her, she would never have gone this far for him.

Wouldn’t she?

Hadn't she just shot him to protect him?

He was leaving her no choice this time. And she had to admit a part of her was glad he was coming with her. She glanced at him as he kept pushing buttons. “How long?”

“Just a few more …” A red light and a blaring siren cut him off. “Oh no.”

“Get in! Quickly!”

He looked at her for a moment, then he shook his head. “No. It's too late. If they take the control room, they can stop the railcar. But don't worry, I think I can buy you enough time to get clear.”

“No. No, no, no, no. Get in.” Alex started to get up but the metal safety device strapped her in. She tried moving it, but it proved impossible. “Let me out!”

“Can't. You did those things you did before to protect me. Well, now it's my turn.” Jonathan picked up a rifle propped up against the control table.

Alex aimed her gun at Jonathan. “Let. Me. Out.”

He just looked at her with infuriating understanding. “Goodbye, Alex. Maybe … maybe in another world we would have had a happy ending.”

She stared him. “No. You can't …” His finger pushed a button, and the railcar moved forward, slowly at first, but steadily gaining speed. Alex lowered her gun, and kept her eyes on him as long as she could. Watched him take one last look at her, then going through the control room door with the rifle. Soon thick walls separated them.

Her thoughts lay dormant as the wind caught her hair, and she speeded forward. Like her brain was afraid of forming them. Entertaining them. His image kept flashing before him. Jonathan. Not just him. That cute boy that ended up dead when trying to protect her when she first got taken. The missions where she had been tasked with taking innocent lives. And not so innocent ones. All that death.

Suddenly she entered light. Bright meadows were beneath and all round the rails which had brought her out of the mountain. Last stop was at the foot of it. Fortunately that station wasn't guarded. Wouldn’t do to show military presence outside the mountain. It would blow the cover.

Alex got out of the car, and watched it go back. When it came back down, it would be filled with soldiers who’s only task was to find her and bring her back … or kill her. With new determination she eyed the road before her. She couldn't let Jonathan’s sacrifice be in vain. She started walking.

She’d damn well stay free.