Chapter 5 - The plan

I woke up with a start. A deafening alarm rang outside my cell. Dinner time. Finally.

As I rubbed my tired eyes, all red and puffy from the crying, I saw my left leg tightly bandaged up. I touched my neck and shoulder. Sure enough, the same rough fabric greeted the tips of my calloused fingers.

Ha. What a bunch of disgusting hypocrites.

After each training session, doctors would come and patch our wounds up. But what I thought was their way of showing their love and care for us, now I know to be them simply making sure that we were as sharp and shining as any weapon in the training ground arsenal.

Their precious little toys, their precious little lifeless dolls.

I closed my eyes. Tonight, after tonight everything will be over.

I made my way towards the canteen. As soon as I entered the bustling room, dozens of hands began waving in my direction. I smiled. The “big kids” were already seated on a large round table in one of the quieter corners of the room. If we can consider the incessant gulping of food, chatter, and occasional whispering as “quiet”. But we needed the sound in case some curious onlookers would try to eavesdrop on our conversation.

Still smiling despite the grim reasons of this meeting, I greeted each person cheerfully.

“Yo Pipsqueak how are you doing? Still haven’t grown since the last time I saw you…but then again it was only two months ago.”

We all laughed. Pipsqueak, or 14568, was the smallest in our group even though he was already my age. His small size was one of his biggest frustrations.

“And you Baby? Glad to see that I won’t need to change your diapers any time soon. Happy to see you again 14877, 14239, 14442, 14845. Hope you didn’t miss me too much.”

I continued with my greetings until I had named each one of the seated kids. Once the laughter and taps on the shoulders died down, I suddenly took on a very serious expression. All their attention was immediately focused on me.

“It’s time.”

I let them take the news in. I saw some panicked looks, some exited ones. However, most of them had seemingly expressionless faces. But I knew better. I could feel the tension in the air, I could see their eyes full of hate and anger. They were ready. I smiled internally.

“Here’s the plan. We need to divide into three different groups. One on kitchen duty, the other on kids’ duty and the last on surveillance duty. The latter needs to make sure those on kitchen duty can fulfill their mission without getting caught. 12 in the kitchen, 3 in surveillance and the last 6 on kids’ duty.”

While I put each person in their respective groups, I made sure the hundred or so little ones who suffered the most in the lab were still eating and chatting with their peers. No way in hell would I ever leave them here. They’ve suffered more than enough.

Just like the rest of us.

“Big bro, you’ll be the leader of the kitchen group. Make sure you take enough flour for our plan to work otherwise it will be all for naught. I’ll be on kids’ duty. You should all understand why.”

Having said that, we quickly split up, my group the only one remaining seated. As we saw Pipsqueak approaching one of the cooks ready to create an adequate distraction enabling the others to enter the kitchen without any difficulty, I looked into the eyes of all the kids surrounding me.

“Listen up. Your duty is also extremely important and maybe even more challenging than the others. We need to be able to talk to each of our little brothers and sisters without raising any suspicions. Pipsqueak should be able to distract the adults for a little while but barely enough for us to round them all up and explain them our escape route. And let’s not forget the surveilling cameras. We need to act as naturally as possible.”

With a nod, the first one of us began walking towards one of our targeted tables while the rest of us started chatting and laughing like always. A few minutes later we waved goodbye to another one. Little by little, they all walked away to mingle with our precious little ones until only I remained.

I signaled Pipsqueak who seemed to be in a deep conversation with a cook. As soon as he saw my signal he gave me a devilish smile. He then began tapping on the floor with his foot.

Don’t come for me.

I began panicking. What was he going to do? Pipsqueak may have been the smallest of us, but he was definitely the bravest. And that made him the most reckless too.

I should have come up with an adequate diversion instead of leaving it to him. I was so stupid. As I cursed myself internally, Pipsqueak began to take action.

He reached into his sleeve, still smiling and talking with the cook. The next moment, the same cook found himself with a fork deeply embedded in his neck, blood oozing out. As the man tried desperately to fill his lungs with air, Pipsqueak grabbed the fork in one of his hands and pulled it out mercilessly. He then turned around, stance at the ready to face the approaching adults.

Blood had splattered on his clothes, his face and even his hair. With the bloody fork in his left hand, a crazy glint in his eyes, he seemed as if possessed by the devil. And this devil was hungry for blood. Blood he will take under the banner of Revenge.

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