CHAPTER THREE

ESCAPE~

" Escape from here? ”

Jane was lost. “ Elliot, tell me what happened. Where did they take you? ” Her persistent questions fell on deaf ears. Elliot had lost his equanimity, he couldn't justify their impending action in any way. It was absolute cruelty. They were actually being cultivated like plants. They weren't going to live here for the rest of their lives like it seemed.

“ We just have to ” Elliot mumbled a response, staring outside his cell. The previous blaring sound had ceased by this time. Elliot could notice fewer Alienodriods stood guard. Most of them were deployed to the battlefield Immediately the war between The Alienodriods and The cosmic Invaders commenced. It was a fight to save their planet.

“ Jane, do you have an idea where the cameras used to keep watch on us are? ” Elliot bowed his head as he spoke.

“ wish I knew ”

“ You'll do me a favour. When I begin to put up an act, scream for help ”

“ At least tell me what you're up to ” She sighs.

“ I will, but there's no time for now ” Elliot stands up from where he sat and paces about his cell a bit, falls heavily straight to the ground then makes an act of epileptic seizure. The loud thud from the heavy fall suggested it was time for Jane's part. She sprouted up from where she sat like a pogo stick and began screaming her lungs out for help. In no time, two Alienodriods rushed to the scene with a sense of urgency.

“ Are you okay, Mr. Elliot? ”

“ Let's take him to section 6 ” They hurriedly grabbed Elliot up and rushed him away.

“ What could he be up to? ” Jane muttered as she watched them from inside her cell. Elliot was brought to section 6 Immediately, a place similar to the room he was taken before. But this room wasn't as spacious and it had more facilities in it than just a levitating bed.

“ He was acting strange in his chamber, I think you should check him. ” One of the Alienodriod guard suggests as they both lay him on the bed.

“ Don't worry, leave him for me. You both need to be on guard with the others. ” The Alienodriod in the room with a clothing similar to a lab coat said before the guards left. It places a finger on Elliot's neck checking for a pulse.

“ Now Let's see what the problem is, Mr. Elliot ”

Khloe carefully placed down the numerous awards and medals from an old wooden shelf in the living room. They were all dusty and needed some proper cleaning with the shelf itself. A medium sized picture frame was hiding at one of the corners of the shelf deck. ‘ I never saw this one ’ Khloe thought. She took it and gazed at it for a while after cleaning it properly with an old rag she held. It was Elliot in it, dressed in an all-white karate costume with a black belt around his waist.  “ Elliot was a black-belt holder?! ” She was so surprised she unintentionally voiced out her thoughts.

“ Yes, he was ” Layla said smiling on hearing her. She sluggishly walked up to Khloe and held her shoulders from behind.

“ Before your dad died, he wanted Elliot to learn any form of self-defense when he became thirteen. He saved up to it and when he was gone, I made sure that one wish he had was fulfilled ”

“ So Elliot learned karate for four years? I guess staying over at the clinic most times because of the distance didn’t make me notice things that much " Khloe says in a sulky tone then sighs.

“ Yes it didn't. And it's not your fault. ” Layla kisses her on the head. “ It wasn't just karate either, he learned a little bit of Aikido and Taekwondo. Your brother was awesome. ” She added while leaving to check up on Tom. Khloe still stood there gazing at the photo and feeling it's surface gently with her fingers. “ I miss you so much, I wish you could come back ” She muttered.

Elliot stood at the turning edge of a long hallway with his back flat against the wall as he constantly took a quick peek at the area he was headed making sure it was clear before he moved. His breathing rate increased, getting extremely nervous. There was no time, he had to confirm if they were possible escape routes to follow before he could build up an escape plan. He had to do that before anyone noticed he was missing from section 6 where he left an incapacitated Alienodriod after a brief hassle. He moved down the next turning as soon as it was clear, moving with caution and making random directions until he arrives at a familiar spot. It was the end of the same vast tunnel they moved through on the day of their arrival. But it was completely dark unlike the time they had passed through it. At this rate, he couldn't venture further.

“ Stop right there ”

Elliot froze. A guard had spotted and sneaked up on him from behind with a technological weapon similar to a gun pointing directly to his skull.

“ Get ready to suffer the consequences of your actions, boy. ”

The Alienodriod guard sent Elliot straight to the ground with a strike at the back of his head.

Elliot's POV

My head felt like it was being drilled open from all the sides. As though it were swollen, i could barely lift my eyelids open to see where I was at the moment. My ears could pick murmuring sounds around me and surely, I couldn't identify a word.

“ Elliot... " I heard my name, finally.

“ Elliot...can you hear me? ” It was a familiar voice. I strained my eyes to look at who it was, my head still felt heavy like it was going to drop and my entire arms hurt like it was being pulled from my shoulders.

“ W-where am I? ” I managed to say. My words were light like wool and it came out with a wheezing sound. I couldn't speak properly as my lungs felt filled with clots and my throat dry and sore like I've been screaming for hours and thinking about it instantly made me aware of the piercing pain coming from my nose. It was broken.

“ Good, you're finally awake ”

The Fourth Lord of the Alienodriods, the one with whom I once had a conversation was standing directly in front of me.

“ Can you remember anything? ” My mind raced back in time Immediately I heard it's words. I could remember faking a seizure so I could get to a place with no guards, section 6. I beat up an Alienodriod and escaped from the room in search of an escape route out of this hell hole. Unluckily, I found nothing until I got caught and knocked out from behind.

“ Let me go, you son of a b***h! ”

I spat blood. I've been tortured here in this room for hours, probably. This was my punishment for trying to escape.

“ Did you actually think you can escape from here, Elliot? A place about 500 light years away from where you call home? ” The Fourth Lord gave a mocking expression then signaled with a hand gesture for another Alienodriod standing at a corner in the poorly lighted room to loosen the chains that pulled me upwards by the wrist a bit so that my feet could at least touch the ground. What a relief to my arms! I couldn't see anything else in the room other than the Fourth Lord. The surrounding was dim with only a slim light on both of us like a spotlight.

“ it's impossible, Elliot. With the ring bearer device around your neck and your incapability to piloting a Helveton-made spacecraft, it's impossible. ” It added.

“ Why must you do it? We are all innocent teenagers with nothing more than our young unfulfilled dreams. ” My voice trailed off at the end as I said in a rush. I got sentimental.

“ Life is a war! Elliot. You fight to get what you want. We have over a billion species of creatures existing in the universe in a quest to obtain power, longevity and fame. Don't you get it? It's a game of survival of the fittest. The strong oppresses the weak until the weak becomes stronger and the strong becomes the weak. It's a cycle. That's what you were born into, Elliot. We Alienodriods! Shall rise to become the most powerful and feared beings in the universe and that would be by the help of you human youngsters. ” The Fourth Lord pauses and moves closer to me looking directly with it's completely dark eyes into mine.

“ You're not dead because we need you alive... We spent three days battling the cosmic Invaders and I'm only standing here because we won. You were out cold for three days after my creations punished you for your actions. I'm glad you're conscious again because for some reason you'll get to know later on, you're my favorite human test subject so far. ” The fourth Lord ended with a mischievous grin and turned away to leave. “ Take him back to his chamber after treating his wounds then prepare the other teenage humans for the STL. Elliot would join them when he's fit. ” It added as it dwindled into the dim parts of the room on it's way outside. My knees immediately sank to the ground as soon as my chains got loosed. I was weak, tortured to the extent I fell unconscious for three days. My being alive can only be called a miracle. I could barely feel my arms or the soles of my feet. I was hungry. I was scared. I felt despair and loneliness. ‘ what now? ’ I cried.

Numerous Alienodriod guards emerged into the storing chamber section where all the human teens were held in their various cells as prisoners. They spread about in their thousands, each Alienodriod attending to one cell. It was time for a new phase of mental test for the teens. Secondary Test Level (STL).