The Lab: Part Two 

Heather’s eyes get dim as she glares down at the cage. Her face is as stoic as a slab of concrete. “So this is the lab rat?” 

The girl at the bottom of the cage looks up at me with wide eyes. She’s younger than any detainees here, maybe eight or so. Her skin is slightly lighter than mine, and her eyes are large, round, and so dark it’s hard to tell where the pupils start. The Girl’s kinky hair is cut so short it’s almost shaved off. Her eyes dart away toward Heather and Mela, who stand to my right. Mela covers the cage back over with shaking hands. I haven’t noticed until now, but Mela and Heather have a matching tattoo on the left hand of a unicorn, which they must have gotten before the shielding because no one here has tattoos. 

“Does it speak, you think?” Bow asks, chewing on a pencil. 

“Of course, I speak!” The girl’s squealing voice pierces threw the thin sheet and stabs me threw. My chest feels tight. Tomorrow I’m going to have to watch her get chipped. I feel on the tip of my tongue about to ask her name. My lip quivers with the question, but I’ll never be able to do my job if I ask. 

“We should leave before the guard comes.” Arman looks antsy. 

“My name’s Lily. I’m not from this shielding. I’m being reassigned here.” 

“Welcome to our shielding, Lily.” Heather says coldly, “You’ll see our friends tomorrow for your big assignment here.” Her eyes are narrow as they dart at me. Is it possible that she doesn’t feel anything for the girl? 

“Arman’s right. The guards will be coming soon. Let’s go back.” Bow motions that we leave.

“Good night, Lily,” Mela says, turning off the lights. 

“Wait, let me out of here!” The girl starts to yell over and over again. 

“Shhhh…” Bow hisses, “Listen, you’ll be let out tomorrow morning. Just try and sleep. We don’t have the key to the cage.” 

Who knows, maybe I can talk Daleheart out of doing this. “Good night, Lily,” I repeat to Mela and follow the rest out the door. Bow is the last one out, and he flips off the lights. 

The hallway seems darker now that my eyes aren’t adjusted to the dim light. Mela and Heather lead us down the dark empty hall when I see the ghostly figure of a man at the other end of the hall. Arman looks like he is going to vomit at seeing the guard staring dead at us. 

“Halt!” The middle-aged woman yells, turning on a LED flashlight. Mela and Heather freeze in their tracks. I turn around, and Bow has disappeared into thin air. 

The guard strides towards us. Her gruff voice mutters, “What are you four doing?” Mela turns around to count us and comes to the conclusion that Bow fled.

“Why are you all up this late?” The guard’s baritone voice booms- her voice echoing down the hall.   

“We just happened to be going to the bathroom at the same time.” Heather shrugs. Her voice is so steady and almost cynical that I’m almost convinced of her cover story. 

“Get back to bed, and don’t let me catch you all out here together again.” She pushes Mela towards the dormitory. 

“We’re going, alright!” Heather retorts, walking down the hall towards the doors. 

Arman looks pale- almost on the verge of a panic attack. I slap his shoulder, “See you in the lab tomorrow.” 

He glares at me as we step back into the sleeping quarters. I don’t see his angry stare for long because the room is pitch black as the door closes. I stumble around until I find my bunk. 

Then come the tormenting hours of darkness. I shouldn’t have looked. I’m an idiot for going with Heather. 

“Get up,” Heather whispers in the dark, kicking my bed. 

“What are you doing here?” I mutter, sitting up. Heather stands over me with a gun pointed right at me. 

“What are you doing?!” I say at full volume hoping someone wakes up. A thin boney hand covers my mouth. It could only be Mela’s hand. 

“Get up,” Heather repeats, shoving the gun into my chest.  

There’s a chance I could use the gun defense I know to get out of this, but Heather would be reassigned for this, and I can’t do that to her. 

I follow them back out into the hallway. My body is buzzing with every nerve on edge. Heather steps back, still pointing the gun at me, “You’re going to help us break the kid out and destroy Daleheart’s new weapon.” 

“What? Why do you care about destroying our work?” 

“Not out there; take him in here,” Bow says from the bathroom door. 

“What is going on?!” Maybe the woman guard will hear me and save me from these crazy people. 

Mela pushes me towards the bathroom. She’s stronger than she looks. The lights in the bathroom are blinding. I cover my eyes with my hand, hoping they adjust to the light fast. 

“We learned about Daleheart’s plan with the bioweapon you and Arman created, and well, if it’s successful, there’s going to be a genocide.” I hear Bow say. 

I knew this, and I still help Daleheart build the weapon. What’s wrong with me?  I just wanted to be a DCB scientist, not get caught up in a human rights debate. 

“Well, what do you want me to do about it?” I retort, finally opening my eyes. 

“First,” Heather says, waving the keys while still pointing the gun at my head. “We’re getting the girl out of the cage, then take us to the lab and show us operation advancement.”  

“Once you have that, what are you going to do? The DCB will kill all of us first thing in the morning!” My head is starting to hurt. 

“No, I’m going to be out of here by sunrise.” Heather assures me, “Mela and I’ve been digging a tunnel under the shower since the day we arrived here. Look, when you’re done helping us, you’re just going to go back to sleep, wake up in the morning, and act like you have no idea what happened when Daleheart asks you.” 

I look over at Bow. He puts his hands up, “As far as the state will know tomorrow, I’ll report to the guards. I saw them working alone. They’ll believe me. I’m their prodigy golden child.”

“I don’t have a choice.” Not morally, and I’m in no position to negotiate. This is the most practical plan for saving Lily. 

“Good luck, you guys,” Bow says, leaving the bathroom. 

“You can stop pointing that gun at me. I’ll help you.” I shake my head. It’s so irritating when she doesn’t lower it. They walk me all the way back to the mail room with the gun to my back. 

Lily still says, “Let me out, let me out, let me out.” Over and over again in different pitches and tones of voice. She’s entertaining herself more than crying for help.  “Hello?” She squeaks as we turn the lights on. 

Mela uncovers the cage, “We were going to break her out before, but you brought Arman.” She gives me a cold glare. I had no idea. I just thought they were being friendly. I actually thought they wanted to be friends, but no, they were just using me. Like everyone else, I’ve ever known.  I’m not doing this for them; I’m doing this for Lily. I bend down, get on my knees, and rip the metal bars apart until there’s a hole wide enough for her to crawl out. 

“Wow, you’re strong. It’s cold in here. My name is Lily, and they sent me here for reassignment because they have a special assignment for me.” She repeats, looking straight up at the ceiling. 

“Where you from?” Heather asks the girl in a high-pitched voice as if she were talking to a dog or something like my mom used to speak to our childhood mutt.  

“I’m not from here.” 

We know. 

 “Do you know anything? Where were you before here?” 

“Well, before here. I was in a shielding way down south near Atlanta, but I couldn’t fit in, and I still can’t read even though I’m modified to me like smart and stuff, so this scientist, you know, the ones in the funny white cloaks, labeled me “Autistic,” and they said my kind had to go to a special new place.” 

I grip my head. What have I done? I deserve to die for helping Daleheart. 

“Let’s destroy the weapon and get you all out of here.” I pick up Lily and place her on my hip. She’s much smaller and thinner than most kids her age. Heather finally puts down the gun as we run up the stairs toward the lab. 

“It’s a chipping device, the weapon we designed.” I set Lily down as I begin to look through the keys. I’m not even sure which key I’m even looking for. A hundred failed tries later, a key finally works. 

“Right there, the blue, glowing thing on the table.” I point in the dark lab. “I got it.” Mela runs to grab the device. 

All the lights turn on, blinding me for the hundredth time tonight. I’m going to be blind by the end of this. “Guards!” Heather looks around frantically, “Lily, go hide in that locker and count to ten thousand in your head.” She pushes Lily towards the lockers. Then she faces me with the gun drawn towards me. 

The woman guard burst into the room with her gun drawn, “I knew you all were up to no good. Drop the weapon, Heather.” 

“I’m holding Dr. Jones captive.” She makes herself clear. 

“Well, that’s a relief because I thought we might have a case of treason.” Daleheart walks in, half asleep but fully dressed. Mela stands, gripping the device in her spider-like fingers, watching us all.  

“Mela, dear, would you like to be the first person we test the chip on? It shouldn’t hurt you since you are normal. About ten rats have survived without major side effects.” 

I flinch as the guard fires an unannounced shot right at Heather. She screams, dropping the gun to the floor. The bullet hits her right in the hand. Blood is all over her white uniform. She holds her hand, gasping in pain. 

“I turned off the pain tolerance setting in her shoulder tracking chip,” Daleheart assures me, “Now, Mela, you can either be shot or get chipped.” He looks at me, “Dr. Jones, get ready to take notes. This is our controlled experiment for the test we’ll be conducting tomorrow.” 

Mela reluctantly hands him the device. I’m frozen. If I move, the guard might shoot me, or Daleheart might poison me. I run the math over in my head. I’ve made a mistake with the chip. It’s designed to kill DNA that is damaged or different. It will kill any genetically modified person since our DNA was ripped apart and reconstructed. 

“Dr. Daleheart, wait, there’s a flaw!” I yell out, but it’s too late. He pushes the button, and Mela collapses to the floor instantly. 

“Mela!” Heather screams, running towards them. 

“The chip kills anyone with messed up genes, and genetically modified people would be in that category since we’ve been genetically modified, sir,” I say as calmly as I can. Still, tears are beginning to pound my eyes with pressure.  

“No, no…” Heather holds her in her blood-covered arm, “Get up, Mela!” 

“That is a rather interesting discovery.” He smacks his lips, “Get this mess cleaned up, guard, have Heather reassigned. Oh, and since we’re both already up, Dr. Jones, let’s start working on this lab report. This could be the most effective way for reassignment.” 

“Ten Thousand!” Lily screams from inside the locker. 

“Oh my gosh.” I slap my head.

“Who is this?” Daleheart waddles over toward the locker. 

“Get the gun.” I mouth to Heather. All the blood leaves her face, and her lips are turning white. She slides over and gets hold of the gun. 

“Dr. Daleheart, I think I heard it from the locker on the end.” I buy us more time. The guard looks down at Heather. 

“I said drop the gun!” She yells, but Heather shoots her first. The guard falls to the ground holding her chest. 

“You’re outnumbered, so give us the device,” Heather says, shaking as she tries to stand. She leans hard against the lab table. 

Daleheart laughs, a weird, hysterical laugh, “Outnumbered? Really?” He throws open the locker that Lily’s shoved in. 

“I see you found the lab rat.” He pulls her out by what’s left of her hair. Lily screams and thrashes against him. “Listen, I’m invincible. I was one of the first people to receive genetic modification. I’m immune to poison, blood loss, and chemicals that would kill both of you instantly. So go ahead and try to shoot me. I have a bottle of modified potassium right here. I’ll kill you both if I drop this, and I’ll walk out perfectly fine.” He throws Lily to the floor, “I’ve called for Arman to come up. Won’t you both stay and help me conduct this experiment.” Lily instantly bounces up like nothing happened, “That wasn’t nice.”

“I’ll take my chances with the poison.” Heather fires a shot at the bottle right out of Daleheart’s hand. The purple liquid spreads all over the floor, and a horrible gas rises, making even Daleheart cough uncontrollably. Heather is engulfed in the light purple gas, and it’s creeping towards Lily. 

“Run!” I grab Lily by the hand, even though she struggles against it, and rip her and Heather out into the hallway leaving Daleheart in the lab. Heather slams the lab door shut, coughing. She tries to catch her breath, but we don’t have time. 

“Where is that tunnel,” I question, dragging them both down the stairs. Heather’s half conscience, and Lily is in a fit of rage over me holding her wrist. 

I stop at the bottom of the stairs, “Look at me.” I try to shake Heather awake, “Where is the tunnel?” 

“Under the last shower in the bathroom.” She mumbles with her eyes closed. I can’t tell if she’s dying from the lack of blood or inhaling Daleheart’s poison. 

“Ok, come on.” I pick her up and sling her over my shoulder, which makes it impossible to contain Lily, who is thrashing herself against me to get free. 

“Lily, stop. I’ll let go as soon as we get out of here.” It takes all my strength to drag her down the hallway. Finally, we reach the bathroom right as the alarm sounds. 

I turn and lock the bathroom door. It’s a small defense that might buy us a few minutes. 

I let Lily’s arm go and set Heather down on the floor. Lily runs in the opposite direction but then stops standing right above Heather. 

“She needs help,” Lily says, then repeats it three times, “I need a cloth to stop the bleeding.” 

“Umm..” I say, pulling back the loose bottom of the shower floor. I can’t believe I’ve never noticed how loose the vinyl is. “There’s toilet paper and paper towels.” 

Under the shower is a long damp vertical tunnel with a latter made of random materials. They must have been working on this for years. I look over, and Lily is wrapping Heather’s hand with a roll of toilet paper and paper towels. 

“Ok, it’s time to go.” 

Heather opens her eyes, “Where are we?” 

“Going out of your tunnel, come on.” I help her up. She weakly grabs the latter and begins to descend. Lily follows her, and I’m the last one. As I climb down, I shut the lid by sliding the vinyl shower flooring back over. 

“How deep is this hole?” The dirt walls are mud from the shower draining. I want to vomit as my shoulders rub against the damp walls. All the shower water, pee, and who knows what else clings to every inch of me. It’s pitch black, and every rung on the latter is spaced differently, making the climb painfully slow. 

“About twenty feet.” Heather’s weak voice replies, “Mela and I’ve been digging it for about seven years. It leads right out of the shielding. To the woods.” 

“Where does the water go?” 

“Mela engineered the tunnel so the water flows into the sewage system. We were in a gang together before the DCB kidnapped us.” 

“What’s a gang?” Lily asks. 

“It was an all-girls gang in Detroit. We were all twelve and thirteen, and we just took care of each other.” 

“Is that why you both have the tattoo on your hand?” 

“Yeah.” She hardly whispers. 

“Found the bottom.” She says, striking some match. I didn’t realize how starved for light I was until I see the red flash a few feet below me. 

“Azariah!” Lily yells. 

“Keep your voice down.” 

“She passed out again.” Lily holds the light. She stands in a tunnel, but the vertical descent goes deeper beyond the exit tunnel. That must be how Mela Engineered the water to run down. 

Heather lays propped up against the side of the mud walls. 

I have to crawl into the tunnel, whereas Lily can stand up and walk without a problem. 

Lily leads the way holding the torch, which looks like a two-by-four with a cloth that’s on fire tied around it. Who knows how long that will burn for? I painfully have to drag Heather’s half-conscience body along the muddy ground. 

“They came down this way!” A small voice echoes. And behind me, I see flashes of light that don’t reach us. 

“Lily put out the fire.” 

“No, we’re almost there.” Lily comes to the end of the tunnel, where a rope leads back out. This is going to be impossible to carry Heather out. I will hardly fit up this. 

Lily drops the torch on the floor and starts climbing. She’s a fast climber. I look down, expecting the light to be going out, but the sewage mud starts to catch fire. 

“Oh my gosh.” I pick up Heather in my arms. The only way we’re getting out of here is if she’s on my shoulders. I awkwardly maneuver her onto my shoulders and begin climbing up the rope. She stays on only because the exit is so narrow, but it’s a slow climb, and the fire is now right at my heels. I feel rope disintegrating below me as the fire climbs. My feet are going to be burned. The heat feels like a million needles stabbing into them. 

Just as the fire is almost up to my head, I reach the top, and Lily pulls Heather out. 

I flop over into the grass and rip off my smoldering shoes. Heather’s pant legs are burnt, and I’m sure her legs will be badly burned. 

My first instinct is to blow up at Lily. I mean, why on earth would she drop a flaming torch on sewage!? But she didn’t know any better. Plus, it will keep the DCB off our track for a while. Fire begins to flame up out of the hole in the earth. 

Lily is on her knees over Heather’s face. “She’s not doing good.” Lily touches her face. 

“Let’s try and find help in the town,” I note. If I remember correctly, there’s a town a few miles from here. We’ll have to walk along the main road, which could be dangerous, but it’s a risk we’ll have to take. 

We start walking threw the dark woods. Heather lays limp in my arms, and Lily’s leading the way. Once we reach the road, we walk parallel to it, staying next to the trees and bushes in case a car comes. 

“You think she’s going to be alright?” I ask Lily looking down at Heather’s ashen face and blue lips. 

“Maybe. she breathed in a lot of that purple smoke.” Lily looks back at me, “Where are we going to go 

“She’ll be alright,” I say; maybe she’s somewhat conscience. 

The walk is long but still dark when we reach the town. It’s a pretty average small American town. There is a main street with a few shops and bars. The only thing that’s open is a pub. That has glowing neon light illuminating the town. 

Going in may prove to be deadly. For all we know, someone might call the DCB, they do have a big lab in this town, so most of this town’s population works for them, but Heather probably won’t make it threw the night if we don’t. Plus, I’m not sure where I should take Lily where it would be safe. I swallow my trepidation, and we walk right into the bar. 

It’s dead. Weird half rock half country music plays, but it doesn’t look like a soul is here. I lay Heather down on a green pool table and look to see if anyone is running this place. 

Lily did a great job stopping the bleeding, but some of it still got on my white uniform, but no one can even tell it’s blood with all the mud I’m covered in. 

“Eh, lad, can I help you?” An old Irish man emerges from the back. 

“Well, we umm…” What do I tell him? That we escape from the shielding? “Our friend needs medical help.” 

An older lady follows behind him. She has a sharp jawline and short grey hair. She holds her head high, “You escaped from the shielding.” 

“No, we umm.” I scratch my head, “Look, my friend needs medical help.” 

The old lady rushes over to the table where Heather lays and yells at her husband, “Go get my bag. It’s in the back. You’re in luck. I was a DCB scientist.” 

“Really? I am too.” I smile, but I’m not anymore. I’m nothing but homeless now. 

“Why did you escape?” She questions. 

Lily has no filter, “They were trying to kill me, so they saved me. But two people died! We escaped through a tunnel that I accidentally lit on fire. Heather got shot in the hand and breathed in all this purple poison that this guy in a white suit dropped.” 

“The potassium gas.” The old lady theorizes, “This is more serious than I thought.” 

Her husband returns with the black bag. She then proceeds to put on an oxygen mask on Heather, bandages up her hand properly, and addresses the burns on her legs. 

“She’ll have to lose two fingers, but she’ll live.” The scientist assures me. She then uses her tools to remove the chip in my shoulder. Lily’s has already been removed since she was going to be used as a lab rat. 

“I’ve made some fish and chips. Come sit while she rests.” The Irish man ushers us to sit at a little round table. 

“I’m starving, and I love French fries.” Lily shoves her face full of just the fries, never once touching the fish. She pushes the fish onto my basket, which makes me laugh a little. 

“Thank you for helping our friend.” I smile at the lady. There’s a good chance she’s going to turn us into the DCB. The Irish man gets up and locks the door. I begin to stand, but the lady warns me, “Take a seat.” 

“Did you really escape from the shielding?” She asks, “Why did you do it? What are your motives?” 

“I’m just trying to survive. They were going to kill her, and I had to save them both. I just need help. We’re on our own.” 

“How do we know you’re not a spy sent from the DCB?” The Irish man interrogates. 

“A spy?” I blurt out. This is ridiculous, “I let you cut out my chip, and I have blood, burn marks, and sewage all over me, and you’re asking if I’m a spy.” 

“Why did you come here, lad? Why to our pub?” The man asks. 

I look around, “Where else would we go? This is the only thing open right now, and there are no other towns near here.”

“He’s not a spy, Sparky.” The woman addresses her husband, “We’re going to help you get to safety.” 

“Why?” I blink, “Why are you helping us?” 

“You’ve come to an underground depot. A place for resistance fighters.” The man says. 

“Look, we’re getting ready to move to New York tomorrow. That’s where the last resistance group is going to be holding out. We have a car, and we’ll take your friend with us. Once she’s well, we’ll send her to you.” 

“To us where? Where should we go?” I demand. 

“To Texas. Where else would a fugitive be safe? I would tell you to join us in New York, but not with your sister. You need to get her to safety.”

I look over at Lily, and she looks at me, “Your my brother?!” 

I laugh nervously. We don’t look anything alike except that we’re both African American, and Lily’s skin is much lighter than mine. I’m going to choose not to take that comment personally, but it’s a pretty stupid assumption that we’d be related. On the other hand, playing siblings might help us survive. “We’re not biologically related, but we’re siblings now.” 

“Oh, I’m so sorry; I don’t mean anything by that! I knew you weren’t related. I thought it would be a good cover story.” The woman clears up the confusion, “Look, There is a train in Chicago that goes to the border of Texas in Oklahoma. We’ll drive you to the station, and you can get to Texas from there.”

“Well, Lily, looks like we’re going to be Texans soon,” I say, taking a bite of the beer-battered fish smothered in vinegar.