Pelliccia (Book1) (2011 Sci-fi Watty Awards Winner)

Chapter 10

Sara lay in bed wide awake. She was excited and nervous. She had never done anything quite like this before. She felt like a leader of a rebel group escaping from the enemy. She didn’t know what lay on the other side of the fence. Sure there were trees and snow and miles and miles of nothing else. There was possibly certain death lurking around in some of it.  But she was unsure of how her brother and father would react to what had befallen her. She had grown accustomed to her new skin. It was soft and warm, and she started a bad habit of holding her tail. At least she thought it might be a bad habit.

Sara looked over to the other bed where Ameera was. She wasn’t sleeping much either.  Sara wondered how did such a young girl get involved in all this. Sara also wondered what possessed her to offer her to come along on what may be a very dangerous journey. As nice and friendly as this place is on the outside, Sara felt it cold and unwelcoming deep inside. She had to get away, and why should she leave such a young girl in this misery in a place that Sara couldn’t stand to live herself. It just wouldn’t be right.

It was hard to know how long they had been lying there waiting. They weren’t allowed to have watches, clocks, or sun dials. Not that a sun dial would help much. It felt like hours, but Sara knew it was probably only minutes, until she heard the knock on her door.

“Sara.” A voice whispered through the door. “Sara it’s Tony.”

Ameera and Sara sat up. Sara headed for the door to open it.

“I think they’re asleep.” Tony whispered. “Are you ready?”

“I’ve been ready.” Sara replied. “How about you Ameera?”

“I’m ready too, I guess.”

“Well come on then. Let’s go.” Tony said. Joshua was waiting out in the hallway with Tony. “Sara you get Brittney. Me and Josh will get the hard drives and the key. Wait for us in the lobby.”

“Ok. See you soon, and don’t get caught!” Sara reminded them. She took Ameera’s hand and led her down the hallway to Brittney’s room.

Tap. Tap. Tap.. “Brittney.” Sara whispered. “Britney. It’s time.”

After a few moments of waiting Britney cracked open the door. “I thought you already left without me.”

“I would never do that.” Sara said. “You need to learn to trust people more. Hurry let’s go.”

In the back of the room Sara heard a shuffling then a half sleepy voice. “Britney, what are you doing? I’m trying to sleep.” She started getting up and looked at the door. Sara tried to hide but it was too late she was already spotted. “What are you doing talked to the alley cat in the middle of the night?” She said as condescending as possible.

“It’s ok Brooke just go back to sleep, I’m taking care of it.” Britney said in a poor attempt to dissuade Brooke from investigating further. “I’ll get rid of them, don’t worry about it.”

“Them? Who else is out there?” She asked and got up to see who it was.

Sara did not like where this was going, that mangy rabbit will turn them in for sure if she finds out what they are doing. “We’re leaving meet us in the lobby.” Sara whispered to Britney before taking Ameera’s hand and dragging her to the stairs. But not before Brooke got a good look at them fully clothed with makeshift backpacks.

“Hey where are you going?” Brooke shouted down the hall. “Are you escaping?” She gasped. 

Sara briefly turned to look down the hall just in front of the stairwell to see Britney running after them leaving her bag behind.