Escaping Our Sanity

Chapter 11: Inevitable Fate

        A tall line of trees were visible at the end of the escape tunnel. I tried to disregard the sound of sirens and other noise. Between the four of us, our furious footsteps seemed to sound like hundreds of stallions trotting along the rough dirt path. Underneath the buzzing and dimly lit lightbulbs it felt unreal; to be escaping what I had been confined in for four torturous years. As we approached the end of the tunnel, I noticed a short, rusted ladder that led upwards to where the road ran adjacent to us. Gregory climbed up the ladder first, shaking with anxiousness. Once we were all up, we turned to look at Brairwood. We were immediately shocked to see dark black clouds looming over the area. I wasn't able to see the actual building, for it was completely adorned with smoke.

"GOOD HEAVENS, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BUILDING?" Gregory proclaimed with a slight gloss over his gleaming eyes. "Did it burn down? Oh dear! What about Dr. Hoffrey?!" Quinton added, in an awestruck manner. We all looked at each other while we stood in a deconstructed circle. "We have to go now!" Margareta ordered. "But where, Margareta? It's been four years since I've been on this road. How am I supposed to recall the directions? Where do we even plan on going?" I shouted. Margareta looked me dead in the eyes and whispered "Don't you worry. Worrying about things isn't good for that butchered brain of yours." I didn't know whether to take that as an insult or a sign of relief.

      We all began to run to the left, where all we could see was a dirt path that took a turn into what seemed like just the forest. After a few passing seconds, I had noticed that Quinton  was not running along side of me anymore. I stopped in my tracks, and glanced back only to see that he was laying on the ground, convulsing. Under normal circumstances, I would have have sat down next to him and tried to make the seizure stop, but since sirens and all the commotion was close behind, I ran over, picked him up and carried him.

My arms grew weak within seconds after picking Quinton up. I was not accustomed to carrying this much weight. The others didn't seem to notice what had happened, since they just continued to run. Within a few seconds, Quinton had stopped convulsing and now was having tics. It was hard to hold on to him while his arm or leg would jump at random times. I didn't know if he was unconscious or not.

"Wait!" I yelled while panting furiously. The two of them came to a screeching halt and their necks suddenly snapped back. "What's wrong with Quinton?!" Gregory shouted, while advancing towards us. "He was having a seizure. It's finally stopped but I think he's unconscious." I explained. "Look, I really hate to rush you in a critical situation, but we have to keep moving. Earnest told me to expect that some staff would attempt to chase us down. We're almost at the underground shelter that Earnest told me about. We can take care of him there." Margareta announced. We continued to run.