Chapter 8.5

Then the door rattled the other side, and my stomach was disappointed that it wasn't the normal duo that bought me food. Instead, stood two military men with gruff expressions, who didn't do much to hide their hostile attitude "You need to come with us." One of the men ordered- the chunkier one with short facial hair.

"Dr Linderman said that I could have until tomorrow. Where are we going?" I asked politely, shifting in my seat but not willing to stand.

"Just get up and follow me." He grumbled.

My instincts told me that following them wouldn't be a great idea. They didn't throw any powerful names around so I could assume they weren't here officially and didn't have the authority to take me anywhere. If I followed them now, I may not have been coming back from it. I wondered if this was part of Dr Linderman's plot, or maybe the hate for the shadow masters had gotten that bad while I was away. Either way, I wasn't playing ball.

"I'm not following you anywhere." Shadow readied for a fight as my muscles tensed expectedly. I remained seated, which seemed to piss them off. He reached forward and tried to pull me by the elbow, but my centre of gravity was lower than his and I easily pulled him off balance. I twisted underneath him and pulled him down while I stood, twisting his arm behind his back and his front onto the bed. The other man produced a knife from his back pocket and lunged forwards at my back. But a knife couldn't hurt Shadow and he flitted forward with full force and drove him into the wall opposite, winding him. The knife didn't even come close before scattering to the floor.

Shadows' cool form slipped over mine, and we walked out, unscathed and invisible. I locked the door behind us, hoping they'd try the starvation tactic for a few more hours and give us a bit of a head start. But that wasn't part of the plan, I was meant to wait for Rex, and I had no idea of how to make it back to the central compound. I took a couple of wrong turns and ended up in a crowded lab where we had to use all our agility just to avoid all the researchers bustling about.

Amongst the crowd, I noticed the two researchers from yesterday hunched over a sink cleaning medical equipment. They looked miserable. Other researchers sat at their desks analysing data or scribing down notes. There was a centrifuge in the corner whizzing away and I wondered if it was my blood sample. Curiosity got the best of me, and I found myself weaving in and out, glancing over their shoulders at the seemingly random calculations and data they worked on.

One researcher was halfway through cleaning the EEG data, he systematically averaged out each trace and then removed random articles. He narrowed his eyes and then scribbled something down in his notebook. I skidded away as someone almost collided with us to talk to him, and I left him be. I walked along the quieter side of the lab where there were fewer people milling about and more sat at their desks, quietly despairing at what they didn't understand.

"None of this data is making any sense." The woman muttered, physically pulling at her hair. I couldn't help but smirk. I hope you never figure it out, I thought spitefully.

"We aren't any closer to understanding them than when we started."

"We should get some more data from TMS." She mused, and I was even more glad that I getting out of there. I followed the room around until I was met with a door at the other end; I waited until someone exited then scooted out after them. I went against the bustle, moving away from the crowds. I was completely and utterly lost and the FDD didn't seem to like putting signs in their facilities; apart from the coded numbers on each door, there was no way of knowing where I was.

I was aimlessly wandering when I heard a sharp yelp and in the next moment a dark fleeting shadow bounded up to me. "Good boy." I praise the excitable shadow dog, then noticed that there was something large protruding from the harness he was wearing. A radio. I glanced over each shoulder, but I must have travelled further from the lab than I thought- there was no one left around us.

I pressed the button on the side and bought it up to my mouth, "hello?"

"Ezra can you hear me?" the radio cracked to life and I heard Theo's voice, slightly distorted through the radio.

"Theo! It's good to hear your voice!" it really was, I felt relief flood through my muscles, and I finally felt like I could breathe a little.

"I'm glad to hear you're okay. I'll leave the lecture for later, but I hope you know that I'm mad at you for going off on your own."

Despite the situation, I felt a smile on my lips. "Please do leave it for later because I'm not sure we have time right now."

"Rude. But I'll let it go for now. Did you find the key?" Her voice was a little distorted over the radio. I looked back at Rex and pocked my fingers in all the pockets on his harness, at my fingertips I felt something cold. My fingers stumbled over it, but after a few attempts, I had a small silver key in my hands.

"I've got it. We're not in the same room, we had to get out on our own, and these guys came to attack us. We've been wandering around labs for about twenty minutes, lost."

"We know, Rex had to track you down by smell. The key is for later, we did have another plan to get you out, but scratch that."

"How close are the Garlantians?"

"Yesterday they stopped about five miles away."

"That's close." It wouldn't take that long my car, but the forest protected us to a certain extent, unless they knew the very specific route that took them to the garage, they would have to do most of that by foot.

"Raven is convinced that we should sit tight and wait for them to pass over and forbade anyone from leaving, but if we can find this place so can they. Which is why we're planning on getting out today in secret."

"What's the plan?"

"We decided that we needed to warn the other bases that Garlantia is likely to compromise the base so they don't try and contact us and get their commications hacked. The knowledge that we can talk to the other bases needs to stay a secret."

"So what are we going to do?"

"You're going to warn Sean and Bella is going to destroy our commications."

"… That's quite traitorous of you." I commented, slightly surprised at her brazen exclaim.

"If we're wrong, they have technicians to fix it and we'll be out of the picture. But if we're right, we can save a lot of people."

I nodded, even though she couldn't see. "So where am I going?"

"Rex will be your guide. We've spent the last few hours getting the route right so he should know where to take you."

So, I followed the shadow dog around convoluted routes, careful not to run into anyone in the more populated sections. Soon enough, I started recognising some places and I was able to roughly pinpoint where we were. Suddenly the radio crackled to life, and I scrambled to turn the sound off before anyone could hear. Thankfully there wasn't anyone near enough; we searched a few rooms until we found an empty storage room and slipped inside.

"What's wrong? I had to get somewhere private."

Static, then "… You have to swap jobs with Bella."

"Why? I'm almost there." I knew the control room was only about five minutes away from our location, why turn around now?

"The situation has changed. We can get you there if you follow my instructions. I need you to put the key back in Rex's pouch. I can tell you where to go and Rex can give the key to Bella."

"Okay." I quickly agreed, but my mind was reeling with possibilities. I slipped the key back into the harness, I creaked the door open, and Rex disappeared. I felt a little abandoned, alone in the dark cupboard, but I forced myself to listen to Theo.

"I'm going to have to give you a few instructions at once because it going to get more populated from here on out."

"Okay."

"I need you to go back the way you came, turn left and there should be a really long corridor… It's the fifth door on your left. That will take you to a computer lab that cuts through to the West side of the compound. Get to the door on the opposite end of the lab, then follow it through to the right. The corridor is going to curve, it will join another corridor but ignore it and follow it around. At the T junction, take the left and it's the door immediately on your right."

"Turn left. Fifth door. Computer lab. Turn right, curve in the corridor. Left at the T and it's the door on my right." I repeated back to her.

"Exactly, don't forget because there won't be any opportunities for me to help you."

Shadow envelopes his misty form over mine and we slip out of the cupboard. I turned left and counted the doors down until I got to the fifth one. I hesitated, unsure of how populated the lab would be- if it was few, I might be able to slip in if I was quiet, and if there were many then the crowd might provide some distraction, but it also increases the chances of bumping into someone. I decided it better to go for it than hesitate and miss my window, so I pulled down on the handle and pushed. Nothing happened. Then I noticed the black key reader on its left and I internally cursed. I reached for my radio but just as I did, the light above it flashed green. I snatched at the door and slipped in.