"'The only real
prison
is fear, and the only real
freedom
is freedom from fear.'"
- Aung San Suu Kyi
_____
"Bear," Jasper suddenly called,"Have you seen Harper?"
Looking to Tangerine, who sat on the bunk next to her, Bear thought back to when she'd last seen the quiet warrior.
"Last time I saw her was when we got back here from the presidents office," Bear pointed out.
Her eyes suddenly widened, arms twitching, clenching the bedsheets as she looked to Harpers bed. It was untouched, as if no one had slept in it the night before.
Turning back to Jasper, her teeth began to grind against eachother in an anxious manner.
"Did you see her at breakfast?" Bear quickly asked.
"No," Jasper said, his face paling.
Turning to Tangerine, the other girls face paled at the sight of Bears worried expression.
"Have you seen Harper today?" Bear asked.
"No," Tangerine realised,"I haven't..."
Looking to Jasper, who stood in between their bunks, Tangerine turned so that her legs dangled off the edge,"Has anyone?"
"Monty and Miller haven't seen her since Dante's office," Jasper realised.
"Shit," Bear breathed out, snarling at the security camera staring at her with its blood bathed light.
Sitting up right, Bear slid from her seat on the bunk bed beside Tangerine. Looking to the others, as she made her way towards the door, she grimaced at the sight of Harper not being there with the rest of them.
"I'm going to go see if Noah... or Reese has seen anything," Bear reassured, smiling awkwardly at Monty, who seemed shaken at the thought that on of their own had disappeared.
Walking towards the main hall, Bears hand kept creeping up to the back of her neck, as her baby hairs seemed to spike up in fear. Every turn she took, made her stop to listen for footsteps.
She felt as if she were being watched.
"Have you seen Harper?" Bear asked, sliding into the seat infront of the puzzle, at Noah and Reese's table.
"Harper?" Reese wondered,"No, sorry..."
Noah looked at Bears eyes, that looked to be suppressing a panic, as her eyes overlooked every girl with dirty blonde hair in the canteen. He could tell that something wasn't right, for he had never seen panic in her eyes like this before.
"What's wrong?" Noah asked, leaning his elbows on the unfinished puzzle, a piece subconsciously fidgeting in his fingers.
"Harpers missing," Bear whispered,"Ever since we got back from Dante's office... she went out last night to go get some water and never came back."
"Someone must have seen something," Noah stated.
"No one," Bear sneered.
Huffing, she leaned back and brushed her hair back in agitation.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to get angry," Bear sighed,"We're just worried about Harper..."
Standing up, Bear yanked at her skirt in aggravation. Turning to the camera closest to her, she swung the middle finger up at it, not caring what looks she was being given by the other people in the canteen.
"I'll have a look through security," Reese smiled, as she stood up.
Walking around the table, she gripped Bears upper arm in a protective embrace. Smiling at the two, Noah watched the emotions that engraved themselves in the two girls eyes.
You'd have to be blind not to see the infatuation they had for eachother.
Leaning her forehead on Reese's, Bear sighed at the thoughts that stumbled through her mind of what happened to Harper,"Thank you."
Handing Bear a radio, Reese had hers on her hip turned on,"I'll be on channel three if you need me."
-
Walking into the dorm room with a hidden radio under her arm, so noticed Miller, Tangerine, Monty, Jasper, and Maya all seated together.
Suddenly standing by Jaspers side, Bear leaned over his shoulder and looked at what Monty was pointing at on a map,"what're we looking at?"
Jumping out of his skin, Jasper flung his arms up and smacked Bear right in the face, causing the two to groan at the pain.
"Jasper," Bear hissed, massaging her forehead,"my face is the only good thing I have going at the moment, please don't mess it up."
"Bear!" Miller smiled,"Did they say anything?"
Leaning against the railing of the bed, her face ceased of any smiles with which she was showing moments ago.
"They haven't seen her," Bear sighed,"But, Reese is working in security, so she's given me a radio if we need anything."
"We have a plan," Monty pointed out,"That requires assistance from security personal."
Smirking, Bear looked to the security camera that suddenly switched off,"Than my girl can help us."
The group dispersed to do their tasks, and Bear was given the obliging task of making sure the route for them all to take would be safe. Overall, she had to make sure not a single cell of dumbass energy got into her groups brain.
Maya slipped into the room with a cart, as Bear held the door open. She watched as the security cameras diverged angles, to allow for blind spots, as the others made their way down the hall with miscellanies objects that definitely did not look sus at all.
"How do you do," Bear smirked,"Maya, Jasper, Monty, Tangerine... Miller, what a surprise to see you all here."
Smirking, Tangerine swung a large hammer over her shoulder, showing off the large tool that she had stolen from a maintenance cupboard.
"Good day to look at some paintings, isn't it?" The girl hummed.
"It is," Bear snickered, as she closed the door behind them.
Making their way to the back of the storage room, they all stopped beside Monty, who was analysing a map that Miller was able to obtain in their last visit to the lovely President Wallace's office.
"Right here. The communication lines are behind this wall," Monty pointed out.
"Remind me again why we need the communication lines?" Bear wondered.
Huffing, Monty looked to the girl who came late to their plan,"we need to get in contact with the others outside, therefore-"
"Right," Bear objected,"please don't give me a lecture right now, not in the mood, professor moo."
Pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance, Monty stepped out of the way, to allow for Jasper to move the paintings and artefacts stored on the wall that they needed to desolate.
Smirking, Tangerine handed the hammer to Miller, as she made eye contact with Monty's wide eyes staring at the size of the object.
"'Big add' hammer enough for you?" She wondered, which Monty replied to with an awed nod.
Wrenching the hammer over his shoulder, Miller was about ready to swing like the hammer was a bat and the wall was a baseball. That was, before Maya stepped infront of him.
"Wait," she realised,"they'll hear you."
Humming, Bear tapped her chin mischievously,"I wonder how we could change that."
Pulling her walkie talkie out of the inside of her jacket pocket, she pressed down, and listened to the crackling for a second, before pressing her lips to the voice correlater.
"We need a distraction, sweetheart," Bear smirked, winking at Maya,"A loud one, please."
"A loud distraction coming up," Reese's voice replied,"I'd recommend you block your ears, love."
Pulling the walkie talkie from her mouth, she turned to the others with a large grin,"you heard the women, block your ears if you still wanna be able to hear."
Everyone, hesitantly, placed their hands over their ears and waited. Then, seconds went by before a piercing alarm blared, Bear could feel the noise rippling throughout the room, shaking the paintings hung on every wall. Then, as if a button was switched, the noise was echoing down the hallway and disconnected with the room.
Pulling her hands away from her ears, Bear smirked at the realisation of what Reese did,"That's why girl!"
Swinging his wrists, the hammer in Miller's arms swung, back and forth, chipping away at the concrete wall. Before, suddenly, a large chunk fell away and showed a wall drenched in an abundance of wires. It was amazing, really, that Monty was able to reach forward and pluck at a few as if he was called to do so.
"Jackpot!" Monty smiled.
Leaning back against the rack, that held multiple paintings, Bear watched as Tangerine stepped forward and held Montys torch up for him to analyse what was going on.
Ripping out a section of wires on the left side of the main panel, he began to disconnect them individually from each other. Than, he circuited their levity into eachother to allow, what Bear could only assume, was the ability to create a singular sound wave that could be picked up on multiple mainstreams.
She may have failed school, but that doesn't mean Bear wasn't at least somewhat intellectual.
"I'll need the radio," Monty smiled.
"Reese, this radio will no longer be in use," Bear announced,"See you soon, sweetheart."
"Bye," Reese's voice echoed through, making Bears heart skip a beat at the harmonic tune of her melody.
Dropping the radio into Monty's hand, she watched as she pulled the radio apart into two, and wrenched out the main disc that created the connection between the two walkie talkies. Leaning over his shoulder, Bear gently placed her hands on his shoulder, to watch him work.
Connecting the multiple wires to one part of the radio, he began to tinker with the printed circuit board, creating indents into the circuits that work to transfer the signals. Attaching in a USB port, she could make out the small indentations of Morse code rippling through the speaker, which was soon turned off to wide range level.
Pressing down on the accessory Jack, he attached a wire that connected the two parts of the radio back together.
"I set it up to play out SOS in a loop over the Ark-wide channel," Monty pointed out, attaching a wire to the mainframe inside the wall,"If I can get it to transmit, somebody's bound to hear it."
Attaching the last of the circuits, the group was able to pick up, again, on the small humming of the Morse code slipping through the speaker.
"Well, that doesn't sound good," Miller pointed out, unsure, as the sound started to reverberate.
"I've heard this," Monty announced,"From the black box of the Exodus ship right before..."
"Right before it crashed," Pulling at his collar, nervously, Monty turned to look at the others.
"Are you telling me..." Bear realised,"That... they crashed the Exodus ship?"
"It's a jamming signal," Jasper said,"What... what are they jamming now?"
"Everything," Monty hummed,"probably to keep our people from talking to eachother."
"We're totally screwed," Jasper sighed.
"I wouldn't say totally," Monty said, looking up at Bear,"Our message is broadcasting... but over a jammed frequency."
"Then unjam it," Miller pointed out.
Huffing, Bear stepped towards the boy and awkwardly pat his back, whilst stairing into his eyes with a bewildered look that only an embarrassed mother could have.
"Miller, sweet... what do you think he's trying to do?" Bear snickered.
"We have to shut it down from the source," Miller realised, turning towards them with a wicked grin,"I need five minutes in the command centre."
"That's too dangerous," Jasper announced.
"We have an inside girl," Bear stammered out,"But, it'll be risky... do we seriously need to go to the comma-"
"The guards coming!" Maya suddenly whispered, as she ran around the scaffolding of old paintings.
Slightly out of breathe, as she had come from the entrance on the other side, the brunette leaned on Jasper to allow her a moment to catch her breathe.
"Cover up the hole!" Bear hummed, realising the gashing evidence infront of them,"Now!"
Reaching forward, Tangerine and Monty began to reassemble the mounds of artwork and artefacts infront of the wall, to both hide it and make it seem as if they were never there.
Scattering around the railing, Bear watched as the glimpse of a flashlight was seen, grazing over the darkness that the group was hidden within. Reaching out, she grasped Monty's hand, and hauled herself and the boy behind a large painting, as Tangerine and Miller collected the cement pieces and hammer from the flooring.
Awkwardly scuffling around paintings and artefacts scattered amongst the flooring of the warehouse, the group worked like a snake, slithering silently away from danger.
"I'm ok, Bear," Monty whispered, letting his hand slip from hers in the darkness,"I'm right behind you."
What a big lie that was.
Pounding down the hallway, Bear slid across the cements floors, as everyone took different paths back to the bunk room to disalude the security room. Creating chaos in their algorithm, was destroying their paths of ever being together in the art gallery.
That idea was created by Bear, before the plan was set in stone, she remembered watching an old movie... called,'Now you see me,' where the characters had used the same tactic to throw the police off their scent.
Overall brilliance, and although her mum told her that Hollywood had created disillusions in their movies, doesn't mean that if the plans were changed to fit Bears tactics, that they wouldn't work. Cause, they did.
Smiling to her brilliance, Bear strolled into the bunk room around the same time Tangerine did, both entering from different doors.
Walking towards Miller, the two girls hauled them self up onto Bears bunk bed, as it had unconsciously became their seats in the secret meetings held.
Minutes later, Maya and Jasper walked hand in hand, smiling as if too teenagers stuck in a love struck chick flick.
"Wow," Bear snickered, as Jasper and Maya stood next to Miller, in between the two bunk beds,"That was a close one, eh?'"
"Too close," Miller worried,"Where's Monty?"
Looking to the doors surrounding the room, Bear looked to Tangerine,"He was just behind me!"
"We haven't seen him," Maya noted,"and... we were the last ones out."
Eyes widened, Bear pushed herself off of the bunk, as her hands began to shake and her pupils slowly dilated in fear. It felt like a game, where the characters slowly got taken out, one by one... till the last one standing.
"First Harper, now Monty," Bear growled, terror igniting the flames of anger boiling inside her gut,"I thought these people sad we could trust them!"
Cackling like a psychotic teenager, Bear grappled her hair, and pulled it to the side in clumps, feeling the pain scale up the side of her scalp.
"It should've been me."
"No," Jasper pointed out,"If it was, then Monty would be standing here saying the same thing!"
"Well," Bear sniffed, looking at the artificial lighting above her,"Better him standing here... worrying about me, then him being alone... scared..."
Grabbing the pillow from her bed, she leaned into the wall, and let out an ear piercing scream. Miller reached over, and increased the volume on the radio playing music beside them.
Bear never managed to cope well with fear, it was her arch nemesis.
As they were worrying where Monty was, they never got to hear what their fallen soldier did. Before being swept away, he had disarmed the jammer, allowing their recorded beacon to escape into the outside world.
"This is Bear Harvey, we need your help. Forty-seven of us are trapped, they have taken Harper... so far. We don't know how much time we have left. Please Hurry...
This is Bear Harvey."
______
Authors note:
Hello, it is I, the author putting you through hell right now. Just here to ask, how is everyone enjoying the book?