The Great Escape 2

Chapter Two

"I didn't shoot because you were too close and you go ahead and blasted its head off right in front of me!" I cried with exasperation not for the first time as we got ready to head back to the car.
"It worked didn't it!" Holly replied, looking over my shoulder instead of at me, a wicked twinkle in her eyes.
"You're impossible." I grumbled, dumping the zebra carcass next to the lion's. The sun was quickly sinking down and the pride would probably be awake and contemplating eating the doctor. I didn't think that was such a bad idea but we needed him for the moment. Plus he looked like he'd be stringy; he'd be our last resort if we ran out of food to find.
"Let's go. Do you want to carry the zebra?" I offered even though I had been the one to run it down.
"No, I'll take the lion."
"Cannibal." I laughed, hoisting the zebra onto my shoulder while Holly knelt beside the dead lion, looking at it strangely.
"No, they're a different genus to us Adam." She stroked the lion's mane tenderly and I knew she was sorry for killing the beast but we needed food and he had been there.
"I was teasing you."
"I know." She sighed, lifting the lion with ease. All of my pride looked thin and mangy but we were stronger than most men in their prime. We spent the journey back to the hummer in silence and my mind drifted. Was anyone coming after us? Had we put enough distance between us and the Facility yet? Was it safe for us to stop so soon? Suppose we were never safe? None of us had, had a life outside the Facility. We were born and bred there, how would we adapt? Would we go to a school? Would we have a home? Would we be put into a family? I didn't think we'd survive in the normal lives people had in the movies. This life may be normal for us but it wasn't for others and it probably wouldn't be safe for us to be around other people. We would need a place to run free, like now except without threats breathing down our necks. Maybe, I thought, maybe that feeling would never go away. Maybe it would never leave me. Maybe we would never really be safe.
My thoughts were interrupted as I saw a large bonfire waiting for us. Everyone sat around it, their hands outstretched to warm themselves. Very inconspicuous, I thought dryly. No doubt Dr. Jekylls had been the one with the idea for this, everyone in the pride knew about blending into your surroundings. I couldn't blame them though, it was getting cold and I would have given into the temptation as well. I resisted the insisting feeling that told me to put the fire out and snap the doctors neck for his incompetence only because I had to assume he knew we were out of harms way for the moment.
"How long are we stopping for?" I asked edgily. This whole place was so open; we were like a black spot in the middle of white paper.
"Just enough for a breather." Dr. Jekyll said, looking at our catch with interest.
"Is that lion?" He asked Holly, his eyes widening as he looked from the creature to her.
"Sure is." Holly dumped the lion at his feet a proud grin spreading across her face for the first time since she had killed the beast. I guess she liked praise. None of us had really had it before.
"Here, have a zebra too." I dropped the striped horse beside the lion and stood up straight, stretching upwards. I cast Holly a curious glance as I caught her watching me but she looked away quickly.
"I'm going to sleep." I said with a yawn, "Wake me up when it's cooked." Gradually morphing into my cougar form I trod over to the fire and curled up to fall asleep. I was shaken awake what felt like moments later but must have been a couple hours by the ten year old. The smell of cooked meat invaded my senses.
"Adam, wake up, the foods done." He said, offering me a sizable chunk of zebra meat. I clumsily morphed back into my human state, crossing my legs and mumbling a thank you, still half asleep. Famished I tore into the warm meat almost chewing through the bone.
"My compliments to the chef." I paused and looked around, "Who was the chef anyway?"
"Holly." Dr. Jekyll nodded his head over to her and my eyebrows rose slightly.
"I didn't know you could cook." I said, looking at her curiously.
"Fred taught me." She murmured, looking away. The fire cast shadows about her face and hair and she looked more thin and tired than she had before. All the running had taken it out of her.
"Fred?"
"That's my first name. Fredrick Jekylls." The doctor said, waving his hand in a mock bow. I ignored him turning to Holly again.
"It's your problem then because if the rest of us don't learn to cook meals are up to you." I shot at her. Holly didn't say anything she just sat quietly eating her food.
"What happened to the lion?" I asked gruffly, turning away from Holly and her strange behaviour.
"Why?"
"I wanted to keep the skull, or at least the teeth." I admitted, taking another chunk of meat. The six year old scrunched her face up in disgust.
"That's just gross." She wailed.
"I thought we could keep it as a souvenir, our first meal in freedom." I joked loudly. The little girl poked her tongue out at me and threw a small bone.
"There is no way we're keeping it. Uh, uh!" I laughed at the little cub's distress and assured her we wouldn't keep it if it would upset her. Satisfied she turned back to her food. Her clothing was grubby. We all wore the Facility uniform. For the girls a plain white dress that went to their knee's with a high collar and sleeves. For the boys white shorts and a button up shirt and sweater. We needed a place to stay, somewhere to wash and something to wear. We also couldn't keep hunting. Holly and I had made do but we were no experts and there was bound to be a time when our animal instincts wouldn't be able to save us. We needed to get moving.
"Are we going to sleep on the move?" I asked the pride. They all looked at me and shrugged.
"The quicker we get to…wherever, the better." Holly added, looking at me with a smile.
"Then we sleep on the move." Somewhere far off a jackal howled and birds squawked. The night creatures were coming out to play. It was our cue to rush to the safety of the hummer. Sleeping in the hummer was almost unbearable now that most the exhaustion had worn off. The road was gravely and filled with humps, causing our get away vehicle to jerk and shake every second. Despite this only Fred, Holly and I managed to stay awake. The kids looked just about unconscious. I didn't blame them but I didn't think I'd ever be able to sleep that soundly. The twelve year old was just about to say something, having just woken up as she had been doing every ten minutes.
"Are we…?" She started, sitting up.
"Nearly." I interrupted, holding my hand up to silence her.
"You said that ten minutes ago." She complained, sticking her head between the two front seats. She reached forward to tap the digital clock and I grabbed her hand and pressed it back to her side.
"You asked that ten minutes ago." I reminded turning my head to face her.
"Brace!" Fred yelled, clutching the steering wheel tightly. His warning was followed by a particularly hard jolt, causing me to bang my head on the roof. The six year old cried out and I caught a glimpse of her rubbing her head.
"I hit my head." Whined the nine year old.
"Safest place to hit." Laughed the ten year old boy, also woken by the bump.
"Hey!" He hit the ten year old in the shoulder, growling loudly in the back of his throat.
"Stop it!" He yelled, trying to block the firsts that rained down upon him. They were both just as bad as each other and I could imagine Fred wondering what the hell he had gotten himself into rescuing the lot of us.
"Hey guys, break it up. Break it up!" Holly said, spreading her arms to separate them. She held the younger one under one arm and pressed the palm of her hand to the front of the other boy's chest.
"He started it!"
"Well I'm going to finish it in a second." I snarled, turning to them. Both kids lips snapped tightly shut as they looked at their glaring elders in contempt.
"Say sorry and go back to sleep." Holly ordered. They murmured their apologies, not meaning them in the slightest, before turning to face opposite sides of the car. This seemed to continue with the occasional yell of "Brace!" from Fred and "Are we there yet?" from the twelve year old. I was ready to kill someone or at least beat them black and blue by the time we reached where we were headed for. This trip had me seeing more red than any Navy of Surgeon could have. My heart went out to those who had to do this with children everyday.

Fred called it a safe house. I called it a castle. It looked like something the queen would live in. Well compared to our little cell at the Facility anyway. I wondered if all people lived like this.
"There are only four rooms." Fred explained as we drove up to the house front. We had gone through the house gates almost an hour ago and hadn't been able to see the house until a few minutes ago. That would be a great advantage. I opened my door and Holly opened the back, all of us falling out and gulping at the fresh air. A strange sensation settled over me and I realized what it was. At that moment I felt safe. We were in a good place for the moment. We could relax. We could be free.
"That means two people in each room." Holly figured, wrapping her arms around the little ones.
"It also means learning the lay out of the house." It would be hard at first because there seemed to be so much space but learning it's ever nook and cranny would be the difference between life and death if and when we were attacked. Fred shook his head at me.
"Leave that for the moment Adam, just explore to start with. Worry about survival later. For the moment you're safe." Fred led us up to the front steps and opened the door with a key. A key. Not a security card or laser eye scanner. No flashy security then. Great. The wooden doors swung open and we walked into the hall. It opened up to a larger room with staircase on both sides. Above was a balcony that ran around the sides with two rooms on the right and two rooms on the left.
"Those aren't the bedrooms." Fred assured me. Bedrooms in plain sight when you walked in through the front door that was opened by key. That would have had me in fits.
"How long will it takes us to find things?" I asked, taking in the enormity of everything. My pride scattered around the room, running dirty hands along walls, poking paintings, lying on the carpet with arms and legs spread out.
"I have no idea, an hour or so."
"Are there signs?" I asked, completely serious.
"Unfortunately not." Fred laughed, running a hand through his hair. He seemed at a loss just like us on what to do. It was up to me, as usual, to take charge.
"Scout in pairs." I told them, already walking up one of the staircases.
"Why pairs?"
"So if you get lost there's someone with you." I looked at them for a moment before realizing if they got lost we'd have nothing to call out.
"You need names." Holly said, the 'of course' tone in her voice ringing out.
"You stole my thunder." I glared mockingly. She flashed me a grin and leaned against a doorframe.
"I'll leave you all to explore. I'll fix something for us to eat. Kitchens the second door on the right through this hall." Fred called out disappearing through an open doorway. Immediately I thought of following him to make sure he was doing just what he said but decided against it.
"Curiosity killed the cat." I mumbled to myself. I would have to start remembering that.
"So what have you guys got? And nothing stupid." I added, hoping this wouldn't take as long as I knew it would. It took almost an hour before we came to a decision. The six year old would now be called Cub thanks to Holly's ingenious originality.
"Oh shut up Adam, at least I'm not an egotist." She shot back when I voiced my opinion. My name had nothing to do with my ego…that she knew of. What sort of a name was Holly anyway? It suited her, prickly thing that she was.
The nine year old boy, our resident trouble maker was christened Bandit and his senior by one year was named Drake. Our chatterbox twelve year old was dubbed Leo and thus they were paired. Leo and Cub, Drake and Bandit, Holly and I.
"Can we go, I need to pee." Cub whispered.
"There's a bathroom connected to ever bedroom." Fred's voice called out sounding crackly. Holly jumped from where she had been standing, leaning against a door frame, and slammed her arm backwards. It connected with the wall with a crunch and she stared in surprise at the black plastic and wires that dangled from the wall in pieces.
"Oops?" She tried, doing her best not too look guilty. It looked like she had smashed something high tech that had been mounted on the wall. Fred walked into the room and groaned when he saw the smashed machine.
"Holly that was an intercom. Because the house is so big its how we communicate. You press a button and you can speak to the person on the other side." He rescued the pieces and cradled them in his hands.
"I'm sorry; the sound just came out of nowhere and scared me. It was a reflex action. Can it be fixed?"
"No, I'll have to replace it. Don't worry. Off now all of you and try not to break anything especially if you don't know what it is." Awkwardly we split up.
"So you're with me again?" I said to Holly as we climbed the stairs. She smiled a little too widely, turning away as if to keep it to herself. This freedom thing was doing strange things to her…and me.
"Let's see if we can find the bedrooms. First in, first served." I quoted. We walked through the landing until we reach another set of stairs and began to climb. I was starting to regret choosing this section to explore and half wished we wouldn't find the bedrooms up here. I wouldn't want to wake up one morning all drowsy and fall down…which was exactly what Holly was doing this instants.
She tripped and fell back; too late I reached out to grab her hand. She fell right past my outstretched hand and almost missing her I managed to grab her by the waist as I leaned downwards. I pulled her up and into my arms, hugging her tightly as she sobbed.
"How many times do I have to try and save your life?" I asked.
"I'm pretty sure it was me who saved your life last time." She said through tears.
"Then we're even." We waited until the shaking stopped and she could stand upright alone. Brushing her hair away from her face she set her shoulders back and trudged forward. I stayed a step behind her in case she fell again. The first room we came to after entering a Violet coloured hall was locked. Dropping to the floor I peeked under the door at the surroundings as best as I could. Clothes were strewn everywhere along with a can of hair growth spray. It was Fred's room. He worked in a Facility where they created hybrids but they couldn't get him his hair back. Sad.
The next room we came to was bland with two single beds spaces apart in the center and pale blue walls. It had a large oak wardrobe and when Holly opened it we found it filled with clothes; little girl's dresses and shoes, shirts and skirts.
"This room must be for Cub and Leo." Holly said, running her hand over the soft thread material. In the corner was a box filled with dolls, paints and pencils. Two teddy bears sat on the bed. The bathroom had a large window and pretty view of a paddock with a waterhole to the left. The next room was the same but set up for Drake and Bandit.
"Fred had everything worked out didn't he?" Holly asked as we shut the door to the boy's room. Eerily so, I thought. The last room was ours. Identical to the previous rooms in colour scheme and spacing there were only a few differences. A computer was set up in between the two beds and instead of one wardrobe there were two. I opened up one and found a few dresses, skirts, jeans and singlets.
"I think this one's meant for you." Holly looked over my shoulder and laughed. She picked out a pink dress with blue flowers on it and held it up to me. It was several sizes to small.
"Oh but this one is so you're colour." She grinned brandishing it before me. I pushed her out of the way and left her giggling as I went to investigate my own new clothes. There was lots of black and dark blues. Jeans and t-shirts seemed to dominate the wardrobe and I wondered if other guys my age wore the same thing. In a hanger beside the shirts and jeans were socks, underwear, singlets and at the bottom of the wardrobe; sneakers and boots.
"Fred was smart. He didn't bring us anything useless. All of these clothes are good for blending and hard wear." I observed finger the heavy material of a dark pair of jeans. I turned to ask Holly what she thought only to find her holding up a bright yellow dress to herself and spinning around.
"What do you think?" She asked.
"I think it's great if you're trying to say 'I'm over here come and shoot me.'" I answered honestly. Holly glowered at me and threw the dress back in the cupboard.
"Well excuse me if I want to wear a little colour for once instead of being stuck in this stupid white…smock."
"You're such a girl, Holly." Annoyed I walked over to the bathroom and stuck my head in. Someone had to worry about being our safety, someone had to be switched on twenty four seven. That meant always thinking ahead, searching for escape routes, planning attacks, anticipating the unexpected, making sure that we had every chance of surviving. If that meant Holly would be cross with me then fine but at this moment we didn't have time to relax and be free, until we knew exactly what the Facility was doing about us we had to keep all four walls up. There would be plenty of time for Holly to wear dresses and prance about later, if we survived.
"And you're such an animal!" She deflected, shoving me out of the bathroom. She had a towel flung over her arm and the yellow dress in her other hand.
"What are you doing?"
"Having a shower. I want to know what it feels like to be clean for once." Then she slammed the door in my face.

I didn't look Holly in the eyes as she came out of the bathroom; I was too busy looking at her everything else. The yellow dress was too bright for her pasty skin, white after being in a cell her entire life, but it suited her shape well. The sunny material reached above her knee's and had straps as thin as a finger. Holly's long blonde hair that had always been kept in a ratty pony tail now fell in silk trails down her sides and backs. All the dirt stains and blood smears were gone, the only thing that prevented her from looking like a normal everyday kid was the bruises on her neck and arms and I bet she had one hell of one on her back.
"It's all yours." She said, throwing the towel at me. It was damp and smelt like soap. She smelt like soap; I could smell it as she stood on the other side of the room. Her scent was spicy and faintly forestry, almost like bark. When I investigated the soap the label said Sandalwood, I couldn't rub enough of it onto me. It drowned out the other smells and seemingly the memories. Pulling on the jeans and t-shirt I looked at myself in the mirror. The only times I had seen my reflection were the rare glances in the mirrors back in the Operating room. My face was till thin and hollow but at least I was clean. I made a mental to note to get Holly to cute my hair when she was in a better mood. Handing her a something sharp right now would provoke her to cut things other than my hair off.
When I came out of the bathroom steam swirled out behind me. Holly was sitting on the end of a bed, her legs crossed and a book in her lap. She didn't even notice me walk up beside her.
"What book?" She jumped and nearly banged her head against mine as she looked up.
"Alice in Wonderland. It's a little like how I feel right now; in a new world where everything's upside down compared to what I'm used to. Oh, you smell good!" Holly pressed her nose to my stomach which was in line with her face as she sat and I stood.
"You smell the same. It's the soap."
"Thank god for soap then." She said with a laugh. It seemed our previous argument was forgotten for the moment. Putting the book aside Holly sat up and took my hand. Her skin was soft and slightly wrinkled from being in the water for so long.
"We better go find the others." I followed her out the door and as she turned to go down the stairs something on the other side of our bedroom door caught my eye.
"Holly, wait." I turned on my heel and came to face wide metal doors with a call button. You had to be joking.
"What is it?"
"A lift."
"What?" I winced at the shrillness in Holly's voice as she pushed me aside and stared at the elevator.
"You mean there was a lift here the entire time and you didn't tell me!" She almost shrieked.
"As if I knew! I would have told you if there had been, I'm not so fond of stairs I like to climb fifty floors of them!"
"Argh, men!" Holly punched the button and waited, tapping her foot loudly and impatiently. As we waited a crackling sound came up beside us and Fred's voice filtered through.
"Lunch is ready." Already tense Holly flinched and subconsciously brought her hand up, narrowly missing the intercom by centimetres. I titled my head and looked at her with a sigh.
"Holly, you didn't smash my intercom did you?" Fred asked.
"Nearly. You've got a lovely looking dent next to it though." I told him, running my hands over the cracked wall.
"Sorry Fred." Holly choked out; I realized she was holding back laughter.
"Just get down here." The intercom clicked off and Holly burst out laughing. If she was becoming bipolar I wanted to hire a shrink.
"I'm just as bad as you." She chuckled as the lift chimed and we walked in.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I punched the down button and leant back against the mirror trying not to be so fascinated with my reflection. My clean reflection.
"Everything." Holly gasped falling into another fit of laughter. She was till laughing when we arrived in the kitchen.