Find A Way Out

Chapter 3- My Fault...

The guard stood to the side having done his job, and waited until he was needed again. Randson, though, was just getting started. He looked down at the boy. He turned to me.

"Don't look so shocked, he did ask for this, remember? And it was all for your sake..."

My stomach did a complete 180. I began to feel sick, and even more so when I saw Randson take out a familiar looking syringe. Austin's eyes widened as well, so they've used this on him too. It was a toxin that intensified the feeling of pain, and it lasted about 7 minutes. They used it so that they didn't damage their 'test subjects' too much physically...

Austin closed his eyes and braced himself as Randson inserted the needle into the crook of the boy's elbow. He wasn't fighting it, he knew he'd get into trouble, and that'd mean that I'd get hurt. I saw him wince as it went in. Once all of the colourless liquid had been emptied into his bloodstream, Randson put the syringe back on the table.

He turned back to Austin. He stared at him for a couple of seconds, letting the toxin get around the rest of the boy's body. And then suddenly, Randson hit Austin's arm, hard. The boy let out a scream. I slammed my hand against the glass.

While Randson went ahead and began pinching and squeezing and hitting Austin, my friend, I stood there, fruitlessly yelling at him to stop so loud that my throat hurt. The boy was in great pain. He screamed. The man smiled at what he was doing. I cried and yelled. I was useless, nothing I did affected the situation. If anything, it probably made Randson even more pleased. 'Hitting two birds with one stone' type deal. The worst part of it, was that what Randson had said stuck in my head.

This is my fault....

By the time he stopped, I had fallen to my knees, head against the glass, face covered in tears, fist still slowly hitting the wall. The boy let out heaving, pained breaths, still groaning in pain when any muscle moved. There would be bruises over him by night.

Randson looked between Austin and me, please at what he'd accomplished. He wiped his hands and walked over to the guard.

"Give them a bit of time alone together."

When Randson left, the guard went over to Austin, who was too exhausted to move, and undid the restraints, lifted up the boy and brought him over to the glass wall. I scurried back a bit when the glass lifted. The guard threw Austin in with me, and the wall came down again. He walked out of the room.

I hurried to Austin's side.

"Austin!" I basically gasped, throat still sore. I slowly helped him to sit up against the wall.

"I.... I couldn't let... him do it... to you..." He said quietly, looking from the ground to me. Tears welled up in my eyes. I hugged him, tight at first but loosened quickly.

"Imsorryimsorryimsorryimsorry..." I kept repeating quietly over and over, tears falling and further soaking his sweat covered t-shirt. I blamed myself. I shouldn't have let him do it. It's my fault he's hurt. If I hadn't been in trouble he wouldn't have taken my place.

He didn't know how to react. Austin put an arm around me, but stayed quiet. He rubbed my back slightly. I still held him close. I felt terrible.

"It... wasn't your fault..." he said finally. I stopped muttering the words. "It was sorta... my own fault, to be honest.."

"No... no it wasn't Austin... Randson was right it was mi-"

"Hey! Randson. Is never. Right." He said sternly, looking down at me as I looked up at him. "Don't ever let that bastard get in your head. He's never right, okay?"

I stared at him for a moment. Then nodded quickly, wiped my eyes with my sleeve and sniffled. He had a point. Don't let the man get the satisfaction of being right.

"Okay... Look... this was really my fault, okay?" He said. I was confused, I was about to disagree, but he carried on. "...Ever since that day I came here.... Since I saw you... I tried my best to remember you and your voice... it was the only thing that let me know that I wasn't alone. But... I didn't know these people like you do... I asked about you over and over.... I didn't know that this would happen...." He trailed off.

Silence reigned for a few seconds.

"So I'm sorry..." Austin said, sighing.

"No." I said, quietly, but rather firmly.

"What?"

"It's not your fault either.. You didn't know that they'd do this, so it's neither of our faults. It's Randson's, yeah?" I had a newfound strength in being with Austin, I don't know how to describe it.

Austin just stared at me for a few seconds, before giving the slightest smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right..."

He shifted against the wall. I was sat right beside him. It seemed that we both felt better just having the other there with us.

Randson walked down the corridor and came to a door. He opened the door and entered the observation room for Subject 1. He walked up to the window and looked in at the young man who was sitting against the far wall.

The comms were turned on.

"Well, it looks as though your 'prophecy' was right, the two seem to have found some sort of companionship within each other... " The man chuckled. "I'm going to have fun with that.."

The younger man on the other side of the window looked up slightly. "Why do you do this, Randson?"

Randson stared at him. "One, because it's my job to test yous all to your limits, both physical and mental, to test your abilities. And second... Well, because I can really. It's not like any of you three are going anywhere soon-"

"I think you're forgetting about one small thing, aren't you?" The younger cut in.

Randson scowled. "There's still time, we could prevent it." A measure of anger was evident in his voice.

"Ah, but they've all come true no matter what, right? You won't win this time, Randson..." A slight smirk planted itself on the speaker's face.

The older man growled in irritation. He turned around and walked out, without a word. The subject let his head hang again, the smirk fading a bit.

"I really hope so at least..." He sighed. "Good luck, sis..."