"NOOO!" Andrew's screams rocked the two scientists' ears. The boy annoyed them, with his pain and his despair. Surely the procedure wasn't that painful. It was only un-anesthetized surgery, after all. Just like stitches.

The woman with the blue mask peered into his blue eyes, which were currently squinted and bloodshot. "The process is almost over," she told him apathetically as she inserted the needle into his exposed forearm, which was tightly strapped to the medical bay. Along with the rest of his body. "No need to worry. The pain will end soon..."

He passed out as the two doctors finished the rest of the process. "Now all we have to do is wait," the man told her. "Don't feel so much for him. He's just a guinea pig here. And he'll be fine." They thought, at least.



It was well past midnight by the time that Andrew Heartland came to. He groaned, feeling extremely sore. As if someone had taken a vat of acid and flung it over his body. His scrub-clad, sweaty body. He fretted deliriously over the fact that his hair, normally so perfect, was now limp and stringy and hanging from his exposed forehead as if it were spaghetti.

He twitched one hand. Funny, he thought that he'd just seen some sort of light. Flickering on his fingertips. He twitched again, then smiled at the ceilling. His imagination was excellent.

Well, if the entire scenario is a dream, why not get out of this damned chair? Grunting, he twitched again, producing another, more powerful light. And this one danced up his body, tangoed out of his head, and leapt into the electric system of the facility.

And the room went pitch-dark. Even the little LED light that told him that he was still breathing shut down. I've shorted the system! Andrew thought triumphantly. Now he could manually release the electronic shackles that held him firmly to the medical chair. After forcing them to open, he stood on shaky legs. His scrubs, an ugly green color, fell down to his ankles. Lovely. He was wearing a dress. Not exactly a heroic getaway.

Still, he managed to make it down the hallway by leaning on a rolling cart filled with surgical equipment. He heard yelling, and then a doctor appeared in the doorway ahead of him. He started sprinting the opposite direction, the man hot on his heels, until he ran into a room and slammed the door. It latched automatically. Then he was able to climb down from the third floor window.

Collapsing on the grass on the other side of the hill, Andrew started laughing hysterically. Even though he knew that he would wake up back in the facility he had just escaped from, it was wonderful just laying there, watching the sun rise.

Vii screamed. Never in her life had she been afraid, but now she was. The inky darkness was swallowing her, suffocating her. At least it numbs the pain,her subconscious mind reasoned. She felt her body and soul being sucked in, and she couldn't escape the torture. Again, she screamed. Vii struggled, the vortex her mind was in giving her no handholds to keep her steady. At last, she just accepted the inevitable. In her head, she envisioned reaching the end of the tunnel. Her mind took a break, but her body could once again feel the pain of needles being jabbed into her.

She snapped open her brown eyes to glare at the doctors above her. They should not be doing this! an inner voice yelled. But Vii paid no mind to it, seeing as her reasoning self was stuck in a black abyss.

..........

A little while later, Vii's inner being's eyes had adjusted to the darkness she had been swathed in. The doctors were gone, probably giving her up as a lost case. She rose from her operating table in a state of numbness, not noticing how easily the restraints snapped off. Walking as if in a dream, Vii entered a dark room, taking haven in the shadows she had loathed for a while. After sitting in the corner for about two minutes, a young boy entered the room and latched the door, seeming to not notice her. She watched with wide eyes as he climbed out the window.

Stealthily, Vii followed him. He started laughing, and that surprised her, but she couldn't help herself as she sat down next to him and extended her hand. He looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't place it. Snapping out of her child-like state, Vii introduced herself. "I'm Vii Ramajitin. You know, you look pretty funny in that dress." She smiled.

Samantha's struggles were in vain. The metal clasps that bound her wrists refused to budge. It was very late, she knew. Except she was almost entirely tuned into the noises below her. Rattling, glowing, shaking, the ground was like a harmony singing through her. She decided to reach out with her mind and touch it.

Just before she did, though, she felt, rather than saw, the lights flicker and die. Overburdened by something. Of course, this meant that the clamps were dead, too. With her athletic body, she easily forced her way through their binding powers.

Walking through the hallways on empty feet, she knew that there were noises somewhere. So she leaned against the wall and listened intently. Somehow, she knew that the voices were far removed from her own presence. So she safely continued on her way. But where was she to go? As she walked past rooms, she saw people. Young people, strapped to chairs just like her former 'home'. Some were even glowing with an eerie form of energy...

Finally she found an open window. Since she was on the first floor, she easily climbed through it. And she was free!

She started running down the road, blond hair flying behind her, green medical gown trailing at her heels. She would hitchhike home. All she cared about was seeing her family again.



Andrew laughed at the girl who came over the hill. Perhaps he was slightly high from all the drugs in his system, or even the sheer joy of escaping, even temporarily in his dreams. Taking her hand, he said, "Hello, Vii, I'm Andrew Heartland. And this dress would look funny on almost anyone." His imagination was good. He had never dreamed of such a realistic girl before now.

Vii could feel his inner warmth, his realness that proved this was not a bad dream. He seemed to involuntarily flinch when she touched him, like when you are pricked on the finger by a nurse when you least expected it. She inwardly frowned. Maybe she had used too much force. His name seemed familiar - maybe they had met before. But this was just a nightmare, wasn't it? Perhaps she was dreaming about people at her school or something, and because it was a dream she couldn't remember him.

"Well, come on then, Andrew. Let's go home, if it exists in this dreamworld." She tore off the bottom of her dress to make it easier for running, and indicated he do the same. When he was ready, she grabbed his arm and started running through the woods, turning sometimes to make a confusing trail. Faster and faster they sped along, branches whipping Vii's face and her brown hair streaming. Running was always something that came naturally to her. As she ran, she thought about the last things she could remember.

She was walking, backpack over one shoulder and daydreaming. A black Hummer had driven up to her, and she eyed it, wary. Continuing walking, the driver of the van stuck her head out of the window and asked for directions to the library. Vii pointed it out. It was very near her house. Vii was about to turn the corner to her street.

And that was all. Frowning as she ran, Vii pondered her visions off the black abyss. Andrew was keeping up well with her, and she realized she was still holding his hand, Quickly, she dropped it, and they came to a dirt road.

Looking to him, she asked, "What should we do now?"

"What the hell did I get myself into?" Daniel wondered out loud as he brought his knuckles down on the clasps that engulfed his legs, ignoring the palpitations in his chest and the shakes in his prone arm. He didn't know if that was from the lack of liquor for at least a day or whatever the hell it was that they were doing to him before he ended up in this cell. Dan vaguely remembered the surgery, mostly just the pain, and that the surgeons were joking around as they went to work acting as if he wasn't even conscious. Of course he had no idea what they said at the time, just that they were laughing like hyenas.

Luckily enough, all of the lights in his room flickered off simultaneously, in a fashion that suggested a power outage or shortage. With renewed vigor he began to pull at his ankle cuffs, a slew of cusses exiting his mouth when they finally came off. Once he was free, Daniel took a few moments to take in where he was. The room was a tiny 4x4 foot cell of sorts, the door had swung open when the power had gone out. The chains he'd just been emancipated from were connected to the wall furthest from the exit. Whatever they'd done during the surgery, they certainly didn't want him leaving.

Grinning despite himself, Daniel said a quick Hail Mary and stepped out into the hallway. He surmised that, due to the slight chill and lack of windows, he was on some sort of basement level. Moving slowly, he made his way around, looking for a staircase or something that would get him to the ground floor where there'd hopefully be an exit. Once again, using some sort of luck, the man found a small room containing a single flight of stairs. Daniel bolted up them, disregarding the possibility that he'd attract attention. Now that he was no longer below ground, Dan moved with a little more confidence, spotting an open window. In his single track state of mind, he hardly noticed the room full of gurney and still unconscious patients who weren't lucky enough to use the power outage to their advantage.

Once he hit the ground outside, Daniel sprinted like his life depended on it, for all he knew it truly did. The feel of grass crushing beneath his bare feet was all he noticed as he made his way up the hill and hopefully away from whatever that place was for good.

Richard opened his eyes slowly. He breathed heavy, hoping that this was just a nightmare, hoping he would wake up.

Yet no blissfull awakening came. Just the pain from after the... operation that had occured. It was then he finally resolved himself. This was no dream, the pain was too real. He wanted to wipe his tear stained face yet those accursed steel bonds that bound him to this form of operating table. More like a torture table as Richard saw it. Richard stared up at the cieling on the verge of more tears. Would he ever see daylight again? Was he about to die. He didn't want to die. There was no way he has resigning himself to become some lifeless corpse. But how? He tried to adjust in the restraints for some satisfaction to his sore body to no avail. Damn!! All he could do was sit there and hope. Richard had been no spiritual man but at this time he considered praying for the sake of his own sanity.

Then as if an answer to his prayers the lights overhead suddenly turned off. The cold pitch black room became like a godsent to Richard as he fumbled with his hands, desperately trying to undo the electronic bonds he had been placed in. If the power went out he should be able to simply undo them if he could bend his wrist back to them.....

Got it!!

He quickly fumbled with the locks on his ankles and his other wrist undoing them all successfuly. Now all he could do was to try to escape. There was no other course. He had to get out of there now or he knew he would die there. Richard ran up to the steel door that was the entrance to this brick cell and desperately grasped at the doorhandle. Damn it all! It was locked. It was all Richard could take. Out of pure rage Richard flung a punch straight at the door. Yet the result was far from expected. The door caved and bent with the punch. Richard winced looking at his now bruised knuckes then back at the door. He then pushed with all of his might on the point where the door closed and where it was locked. The door buckled and bent outwards, soon there was a large enough gap for him to squeeze through. He lunged at the hole frantically and slided through the gap. With amazement he looked back at the bent door for a second. How on Earth did he do that!?

But to Richard it didn't matter. The next moment he took off down the hall he had exited into. He ran wildly looking for daylight. After a short while he saw a window at the end of the hallway. Light!! Honest to goodness daylight!! Without a second thought he threw himself at the window looking outside. He looked to be one floor off the ground level. One set of stairs without being caught and he was free! With renewed vigor he searched for a staircase and by some blessing found one quickly and procedded down to the ground level where he tore through the hallways until he found a portal to freedom, also known as a window. He flung open the window and ran as fast as he could up the grassy hill outside the torture facility and did not stop until he reached the top, where he collapsed to the ground, a sweating panting mess.

Lionel woke from a shocking dream again, since he was put in an experiment they had been worse and more conmen, worst of all others had been brought in, likely taken from their homes like he was. he propped himself up in his bed, he was boiling and it felt like he was going to collapse much like the dream he had just had. A man completely covered with fire would have scared anyone however when it was you on the burning end it was almost terrifying.

As he tried to get his thoughts together he felt as if he was burning up hotter and hotter, it had been an almost regular occurrence since the test and he could only imagine what those other people had been going through, soon the heat was unbearable and he was yelling for help however no help game, he was always monitored but it didn't mean they had to do something if he felt unwell.

He yelled in pain as he suddenly burst into flames, he ripped his arms from the chains that held him and got his bed and ran to find water, alarms rang and soldiers grabbed weapons to take him down if they had too. when Lionel turned a corner he was faced with a firing squad of soldiers in riot gear, they opened fire however the bullets simply bounced off him, Lionel ran towards and knowing a bad situation when they saw it they threw themselves out the way.

as he ran down the corridor he was unbeknownst to himself picking up much speed and soon he he saw a window, he threw himself out of it without much care and was blinded by the sun, his vision cleared almost instantly and he was falling fast, if anyone was looking an experiment had gone wrong and he was a fireball.

he continued to fall floor after floor until he smashed into the bottom of a hillside near where some people had been resting.

Andrew, who was exhausted, let the girl - Vii - lead him along. His legs felt like lead, but he managed to keep up. He grinned when she dropped his hand like a hot potato. Then, just as he was about to answer her question - 'What now?' - he pulled her down as he saw a eighteen-wheeler hurtling down the road. It parked in the back of the facility that he had just escaped from. Curious, he cautiously lead the way around back, sticking to the shadows and pulling Viialong behind him. "Shh," he said as he put his back against the wall and listened to the drver, who was talkng to another man from the truck quite loudly.

"...and after we unload the medical crates here, we'll keep going and deliver the crates of milk to the high school over in Manchester. Easy, huh?" Andrew, despite the situation, grinned. These men were clueless and clearly were oblivious to the uses of that their equipment was being used for.

He turned back to Vii. "C'mon; we're going to hide in that truck. It'll take us back to our high school and we can get home from there." Taking her hand, he dashed toward the open tail-end of the truck - the two men had already disappeared into the loading station with a couple of crates - and crouched with her behind a large supply of milk crates, which were labeled with Horizon's signature emblem on the side.

Richard scrambled up cursing his luck. He gets out of that place to have fireballs flung at him? He wasn't about to wait around. He saw the fireball burst out of the building he ran. He ran down the side of the hill he had collapsed on, stumbling due to his numb legs. Come on legs, move faster! He heard the fireball crash into the hillside where he had collapsed onto and he continued to run. Eventually he came around the back side of the building and froze. Two men. They were dressed as delivery men, but even so they would turn him in. Just his luck. His only option was to run toward the building to put it between him and the men, as there was no other cover nearby. So against his whole being he ran toward the building. He sat on the ground around the corner from the men and listened for a while but soon tuned them out. Just talking about delivery things. Then from under the truck he saw two pairs of feet. People running, towards the truck. Towards him!! How had they found where he was. The delivery men seemed unaware of these approaching footsteps. He was doomed!

But then the feet dissappeared. They went into the truck. Why? Mabye the "researchers" here sent someone out to deal with an especially sensitive package. Richard waited some more time then another thought occored to him. What if they were escaping too? His heart lept. It made sense. Nothing else would cause people to be desprate enough to hide in a refridgerated truck. Mabye his luck was turning around. He looked around the corner and saw the men had gone into the loading station, he guessed it must have been a while since they went in now looking back at their volume. Which must mean they were coming out soon. Time to get moving. Richard forced himself to dash through the open and to the back of the open truck. He stepped up on the step and quickly glanced around the truck. He didn't see anyone. Perfect! The others that went in here must be escaping too! There was no other reason for them to hide! But no time to find them now, right now he ran the risk of being heard. He turned behind a row of milk crates and crouched down. Now all he could do was wait.

Richard almost laughed then. It would be the second time in a few hours that absolute blackness would be a godsend for him. If only he could hide until they closed the truck.

She nodded silently. "Perfect. They're heading straight home." Her eyes glazed over in thought. "Let's go!" She whispered and hid behind a large crate. Vii could hear another person's light footsteps leap into the truck, but she thought it must be her imagination. Soon enough, the drivers got back into the truck and started driving. She settled in a corner, waiting for a long ride.

"So, you're from Manchester too? How'd they get you?" she asked Andrew, curious. Vii seemed to sink back into the shadows, drifting out of reality. "Please, talk to me." she begged, her voice sounding as if from far away. "I need an anchor to the light.."

Her brown eyes closed for a moment, before snapping open, the only things visible of her. Again, they snapped. "It's too dark in here." she said, struggling to not fall.

All of a sudden, the truck stopped.