My name is John Harolds. I was a junior at the Sacred Soul Academy, a prestigious academy that churned out hundreds of alumni who would one day become the pillars of society. Something happened that year. My classmates and I became involved with something big that could threaten the very social order of the world we lived in and we ended up being hunted by the police, the military and everyone we had ever trusted. This is the story of the greatest escape of our lives. What if you were told that the life you had led was all a big fat lie? I was captured, tortured and denied my basic human rights. Can somebody get me out of here? Escape! Chapter 7 By Shinieris

"Get in!" one of the guards said with a push from the nozzle of his rifle.

"Excuse me? Am I diseased? Would it kill you if you had used your hand?" I asked as I stumbled on a piece of uneven flooring.

They had pushed me into a prison cell with no bars, no light and no windows. The only source of light was the open door, and once it was closed, it would be darker than night in the room.

"Oh, you want me to use my hands?" the guard handed his rifle to the other man as he took two steps into the jail cell, "I would enjoy feeling you up with my hands, little girl. Heheheheh."

I stepped back. One step at a time, until my back came in contact with the wall. "You-you try it and I'll break it."

"Aww, so sweet. Innocent virgins are great," he said while touching the skin of my thighs, going higher and higher.

"No, stop! Leave me alone!" I cried as I tried to push him away with my tired right hand. My left hand was still scorched and dead.

"Oh, don't be like that. You should thank me. I'll make you a woman, little rebel bitch!" he said as he ripped off my blouse and proceeded to pull down my skirt.

"Noooo!!! Let me go!" I cried as I did my best to hold on to my skirt with my weakened right hand.

"Heh, fat chance. You'll never leave this place, bitch!" he said right before something hit him on one side of his face, throwing him against the wall to my left.

A man in military uniform stood behind the guard, his left leg made a clank as it came to rest on the floor. "Military Code Section 12, Treatment of Prisoners of War. Subsection 4, Attempted Rape of a Prisoner of War. Clause 1: Any actions that involve forcing a prisoner to take off their clothes without the prisoner's consent is considered attempted rape.
Clause 2: Any actions that end with a prisoner losing their clothes as a result of unsanctioned violent actions without the prisoner's consent is considered attempted rape.
Clause 3: Any words spoken that clearly stated the accused's intentions to violate a prisoner's body followed by the actions in Clause 1 and 2 are considered attempted rape.
Clause 6: In the event an act of rape or attempted rape was performed, the accused shall be put on trial in front of a court marshal. Private Amaert Ackert, how do you plead?"

"She seduced me, sir. She's planning on escaping by seducing us from the moments-"

"That is irrelevant. How do you plead, soldier?"

"I request to be court-marshalled, sir," the soldier, Private Amaert Ackert said as he stood straight in front of the officer, ignoring the redness in his left cheek.

"Military Code Section 1: Judgement of Offenders of the Military Code. Subsection 3: In the event where neither a court marshall nor an impartial judge is likely. Clause 1: The highest ranking officer on the field may act as Prosecutor, Jury, Judge and Executioner.
Clause 4: Punishments for a convicted case must be within the bounds of the code governing the offense.
Section 12, Subsection 4, Clause 8: Punishments are dependent on the judge based on a just and balanced punishment equal to the severity of the act and how it may affect unit morale.
Private Amaert Ackert, you have been found guilty on charge of unsanctioned attempted rape of a prisoner of war."

"Sir, I shall volunteer for whatever punishments you choose for me, sir!"

"Very good," the officer took out his particle wand from its holster and fired a pulse at the soldier's head, blowing the whole brain open.

The scream I heard was none other than my own as the soldier's brain matter and blood splattered all over the dark cell.

"I will not tolerate undisciplined behaviour in my base, private. That goes to you too, soldier!"

"Sir, it will not happen again, sir!" the soldier at the door, the one who escorted me with the dead soldier saluted.

"Make sure it doesn't," the officer said, before he looked at my blood covered half-naked body and told the soldier, "Hose her down, then move her to Cell B2-12."

"Sir, yes sir!" the other soldier stepped aside, letting the officer out the door with a salute.

Another guard arrived and together, they took me down to the bathroom, a featureless room with open toilets and not a single showerhead. When I arrived at the bath section, they told me to take off my bra, skirt and panties on my own under threat of death. Then from afar, they sprayed my naked body with high pressure cold water, making me scream in pain at the needle-like sensation on my skin. I fell to the floor in exhaustion, where they got closer and sprayed me with high pressure water from all angles without care for my pleas. When they were done, I was lying facedown on the cold tile floor. They left a towel on top of my discarded clothes and told me to wear my clothes back in two minutes. They no longer watched me, but I no longer cared, I was at their mercy.

I covered my upper body with the towel as they escorted me to my new cell, B2-12, right next to my old cell, where the body of the dead soldier was being carried out. I had to hold back my vomit as I saw the big hole on the soldier's head when they passed me. Once we stood in front of the door to my new cell, the soldier who was here since the start swiped a keycard on the device next to the door and it opened, revealing a dark room no different from the one before. That night I slept in the cold darkness, with only the damp towel as my blanket.

******

"Get up, rebel!" I heard a man's voice say before my body was rudely pulled up from the bed and thrown to the cold floor.

I raised my head slowly, fearful of another attempted rape. My reluctance apparently enraged the soldier as he kicked me in my stomache without mercy. It was with great difficulty that I got up on my knees before being pulled to my feet roughly by my hair. I winced in pain as another guard slapped a pair of rigid cuffs to my wrists.

With me just in my bra, skirt and panties, they pushed me out of the cell with the nozzle of their particle rifles. I already learned from yesterday's experience that to argue would only bring trouble to me. If not for that scary officer yesterday, I would have been raped, or worse. Who knows what he would've done if he had found out that I wasn't actually a girl. Would he have killed me?

"Move!" one of the guards nudged me deeply in the back with the nozzle of his rifle.

With a heavy heart, I took one step after another in front of the two guards through a long hallway. Twice soldiers whistled in appreciation as I walked past. Twice men felt up my exposed skin. Many times soldiers simply looked at my barely covered body. What barbarism is this?

"Hey Mack, how much for the girl?" one of the soldiers approached as we waited for the elevator at the end of the hallway.

"No deal," Mack, the bigger of the two guards, the one who rudely woke me from my sleep said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Oh come on, Mack. I'm your most loyal customer. State a price," the soldier said.

Loyal customer? Is he talking about prostitution? Do the guards use prisoners as prostitutes?

"Maybe later. Major Lawman and Mr. Forben expects this prisoner ASAP, Bob."

"You're waiting for the lift. It's not like you're going anywhere right now," the soldier, Bob, argued.

"Fair point. 20 bucks for each of us and you can touch her as you want until the lift gets here. No penetration," the other guard said.

"Isn't that a bit steep for no penetration, Mars?" Bob asked.

"Every second you argue, the shorter the time you have to play. Besides, this girl is pure," Mars said.

Are they seriously prostituting me here? Right in the hallway where everyone can see?

"Pure? How can you be sure?"

"Remember Ame? He died because he tried to rape the girl," Mack explained.

"Ame? Fine, you greedy bastards," he took out four $10 bills and slapped it onto Mack's outstretched hand, "Here, take it and go elsewhere."

"Pleasure doing business with you," Mack grinned as he and Mars turned around and went away.

"No! Don't leave me with him!" I cried as Bob pushed me to the cold floor before licking my neck.

"Unless you can pay us the same, missy, you're his toy until the lift gets here. Do you have 40 bucks lying around?" Mack asked.

"No! You have to save me!" I cried with tears in my eyes as Bob's right hand went inside my bra, pushing the cups upward while his other hand fondled my butt.

"Sorry girl, over here, money talks. Bob, would you please shut her up?" Mars said.

"You don't have to ask me that!" Bob said as he proceeded to press his lips on mine, pushing his tongue inside my mouth. It licked and wrapped itself around my own tongue and my first instinct was to bite it off, but I was afraid it would only enrage him.

Not only was I surrounded by enemies, I dared not to make it any worse. He touched me everywhere. He licked my nipples, bit my breasts and pulled my hair hard as he bit into my neck. With my hands in cuffs, my only defiance was to struggle while holding back my tears. I did not want to allow this man the pleasure of seeing my shame and tears.

"You made me so horny, little whore," he said as he unzipped his pants, "Here, suck on this!"

I turned my face to my right as his dick and balls, which looked huge to me slapped my face. He used both his hands to turn my face while sitting on my upper chest with his dick resting on my lips. When I refused to open my mouth, he pulled the hair on my head as hard as he could, making me cry out in pain. He managed to push the head of his dick into my mouth before an unexpected help arrived.

"Alright, that's enough," Mack said as he pulled Bob off my body.

"Wait, already? It was barely two minutes!"

"Hey, don't blame me! If you want to scold someone, scold the lift!" Mack said as he and Mars laughed.

"Damn it! I want a refund!"

"You know that's not how it works, Bob."

"Fine! Call me when you bring her back. I'm going full course later!"

"Sure, man. Will do, unless we get someone who pays more," Mack said as he and Mars laughed together.

"Maybe we should put her up for an auction," Mars said as they laughed again.

Bob simply walked away in anger.

I couldn't believe it was only two minutes. If that was true, it was the longest two minutes of my life. Longer than the massacre at LAC. Longer even, than the battle of Mineshaft 6.

Please, somebody please save me!

******

Mack knocked on the door of the last room along the hallway. A voice from inside told us to come in.

"Sir, the prisoner is here!" Mack said as Mars pushed me with the tip of his rifle.

"Excellent! We can finally get under way. Please, my dear, have a seat," one of them, a man in gray pants and creased shirt gestured to a chair.

The chair had manacles attached to it. I was lead to it by the chains of my wristcuffs before it was removed and I was strapped down, wrists and ankles locked in manacles. The other man, military man by the look of his uniform pulled a chair and sat opposite me on the other side of the table.

"Good evening," the military man greeted before he introduced himself, "My name is Major Lawman and that man behind you is Mr. Forben, he's something like a freelancer."

"Freelancer of what?" I asked.

"SILENCE!" he slammed his fist down on the table so suddenly it made me jump in my seat, "I ASK THE QUESTIONS HERE!"

"Now now, Major, please, calm down. She's just a cute little girl, caught up in things too big for her to handle," Mr. Forben said in a gentle soothing voice, before he leaned the table to my left and asked in an equally soothing voice, "It's too bad that you're caught up in this. A little girl like you shouldn't have to bear such a heavy burden. Don't you want to be free, child?"

"Yes..." I answered, as if in a trance.

"Very good, now if you'll just answer our questions, this will be over very soon. Now, first question, what is your name?"

"Jane Larssen..."

"How many in your group?"

"Five..."

"Who are they?"

"Carl Miller, Yuu Nakani, Nanako Fujisawa, Anya Alinesqu..."

"Why do you look so similar to Annamarie Hudson?"

"Annamarie..."

The thought of Annamarie woke me up from my trance. I couldn't believe I simply answered all his questions so easily. What was wrong with me?

"Not telling, eh? Let's change the question, then. Are you a clone of Annamarie Hudson?"

Of course, I decided to keep quiet. I didn't even bother asking for a lawyer.

"Still not telling? Tsk tsk, such a bad girl. Let's change the question again. Which lab produced you?"

Which lab? What is he talking about? Does it mean that there are labs that produce clones of Annamarie?

"Forben, you're too soft. I'll handle this," Major Lawman said as Mr. Forben shrugged and left the room.

"Now girl, I will ask this once and only once. If you refuse to answer, I will be forced to punish you. Do you understand?"

I said nothing.

He slapped my face with his big and heavy hand. It stung greatly and I was sure that my face was swollen.

"When I ask you a question, you will answer whether you want to or not!"

I kept quiet, trying to forget about the pain in my cheek. Meanwhile, the major went to a cabinet at one corner of the room and took out a long metal stick with a pointy tip. It looked very much like a short spear, about the length of the major's lower arm. Mr. Forben then put some kind of helmet on my head.

"Now my question, why are you so similar to Annamarie Hudson?"

I kept quiet. In front of me, a television screen came to life, showing the face of my sister Annamarie.

"When I ask you a question, you answer!" the major poked the tip of the stick into my stomach and pain erupted all over my body.

It was like being electrocuted, even my organs were screaming in pain. My mouth was open and I knew my screams were loud, loudest I had ever screamed. My eyes, it was like my eyes were being burned by a reddish light. As for my brain, it felt like my brain was being attacked by a current so powerful, it amplified every feeling of pain from all parts of my body.

I didn't realize when he pulled away the pain prod, but I recalled hearing my own screams as my vision normalized. Even after the prod was taken away, my body hurt greatly. For a long moment, my body trembled, it shook greatly, as if I suffered from a fatal seizure.

"I will give you a chance and ask you again. Why do you look like Annamarie Hudson?"

"I am Jane Larssen," the screen in front of me showed myself standing in the bridge of Silence.

He poked my stomach with the prod again.

When I recovered, I said, "I am Jane Larssen," the screen in front of me showed Yuu, Nana, Carl and I sitting around a campfire reading our mails from the Student Council.

"I am Jane Larssen," I said as he prodded my chest with the prod. The screen in front of me showed my wedding ceremony with Carl.

"You humans never learn," the major said as he moved to poke me on my forehead with the pain prod.

"I am Jane Lars-AHHHH!!!!" the screen in front of me showed the moment when I threw the bouquet, hitting the priest as I screamed like I was being flayed.

When he released the prod, I repeated, "I do, I do, I do."

******

"So... Jane Larssen, Junior Lieutenant of the Silence. To think that a Junior Lieutenant of the Air Force is in cahoots with those detestable Sacred Soul and Underground Resistance. Oh!" Mr. Forben read aloud.

"What?" the major asked. He had stopped poking my stomach with the pain prod when I fainted from the pain. They immediately revived me afterwards.

"It stated here that Jane Larssen is married to Carl Miller."

"Isn't that the name of one of the Sacred Soul kids? Is it the same person?"

"It seems like it. She did mention that she was with Yuu Nakani and Nanako Fujisawa, which are the names of two of the Sacred Soul Kids... which begs the question, how is an Air Force personnel running around with the Sacred Soul kids?"

"What about the name Anya Alinesqu? Did we get a match on her face based on her memories?"

"Hm, we can pursue that, but there's something I've been suspicious of. Which team sent you, little girl?" Mr. Forben asked.

"Huh?"

"Don't try to act surprised! You must be one of those copies prepared in advance. Judging from the age, I bet those idiots took you out of your vat early, didn't they?"

"I don't know..."

Another prod, another suffering, more reddish light shined out from my mouth, eyes, ears and fingers.

"Don't mess with me, little girl. I can turn you into a puddle of excrement in 5 seconds!" the major said as he pressed the pain prod even deeper.

When I recovered, I realized that the screen was black and the helmet put on my head before was already taken off. Mr Forben came into the room, carrying a bowl of noodles, in some kind of soup. He sat in front of me and proceeded to slurp it noisily. The soup smelled very good.

When he heard my stomach grumble, he looked up at me and offered the noodle. I refused. He shrugged and proceeded to slurp it noisily. My stomach grumbled even more. It was as if my grumbling stomach was competing with his slurping for the title of 'noisiest'. It reminded me of food, I have had none since coming here. Even water, the only water I've drank was in the shower, when the guards hosed me down.

When was the last time I ate anything? Has it already been a day? Two days? It is so hard to tell time inside this prison. I know a human being can last for a week without food, but in my memories, I've only had good food, three times a day. I can't possibly last for a week.

The major from earlier returned, carrying another bowl of noodle. He set it on the table and glared at me, as if daring me to ask for it. Mr. Forben asked me if I wanted the new one, while he slurped his noodles noisily. My only answer was a loud grumble from my stomach.

Mr. Forben pushed the bowl of noodles nearer. Its aroma assaulted my nose and made my stomach grumble even more. If my hands weren't shackled down, I would've grabbed the bowl even if it earned me another prod from the pain stick.

"You can have this," Mr. Forben pushed the bowl closer, "And many more, if you answer our questions like a good girl. Are you a good girl?"

I didn't answer.

"Well, doesn't matter anyway. But still, I can't believe you've been so successful at hiding this. Didn't the instructors at the military academy notice your little issue?"

Little issue?

"Let's play a game. I will only ask you two questions. If you answer both, you get to eat. My, it's been a more than a day since you've eaten anything, you must be starving! Not a very bad deal, if you ask me. Major, would you help her with her decision?"

Major Lawman frowned at Mr. Forben's request. Regardless, he walked around to my side of the table and lifted the bowl of soup to my face, letting me smell the full aroma of the soup. Without realizing it, I bowed down, trying to taste the soup with the tip of my tongue.

Then the bowl was gone. The major had placed the soup back onto the table. Mr. Forben said, "Now, that's cheating. You can't expect to eat before you work for it. Oh don't look at me like that. You remind me of that time when I stole candy from a little boy. You're going to make me laugh."

"Are you going to cooperate?" the major who stood next to me asked.

I looked at the bowl of noodle with soup in front of me. My stomach grumbled as I nodded silently.

"Very good, now for the first question. Why do you look like Annamarie?" Mr. Forben asked.

I hesitated. It's not such a big secret, right? Anna's dead, it won't harm her. "Annamarie is my sister."

"Don't lie to us, bitch!" Major Lawman turned my chair to face him and slapped my face hard, "We would've been told if they brought her little sister too. Now which lab produced you?"

"No, no, you're wrong!"

The major raised his hand as if to slap me again before Mr. Forben told him to stop.

"Major, she's telling the truth. No reason to punish her."

"What? There is no way that she is Annamarie Hudson's little sister. Their little sister is on a planet hundreds of lightyears from here!"

"Oh my! Didn't I tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

Mr. Forben chuckled. "I guess I didn't tell you that I checked her body just now. Let's have her tell you herself, shall we? What is your real name? In relation to the Sacred Soul Academy, that is."

"..."

"Answer, or the offer's gone."

"J-John Harolds," I said, that name feeling so distant from me now, as if it had already been decades since I have last used that name.

"John Harolds? That's the name of the missing rebel!"

"And if you read the reports, you know that John Larssen was the little brother of Annamarie Larssen, Annamarie Hudson's original name."

"I see," the major grabbed my chin with his fingers, "It seems you weren't lying."

"Can I eat?" I asked.

"Not yet. So little boy, or maybe you prefer to be called 'little girl'? Anyway, tell us what is your objective."

"I can't say," I said, suddenly remembering all those time when I choked almost to death from trying to say anything related to it.

"Can't say or won't say?" the major asked.

"I can't. The seniors, they did something to our brains. We can't say anything about it at all. Can I eat now?"

"No, you can't. You didn't give us the answer we needed."

"Please, I'm so hungry. Please let me eat," I begged for the now cold noodle soup.

"Maybe if you give us one piece of information that is actually useful, we'll think about it," Mr. Forben said.

A useful information? What information would be useful?

"I'm not a girl."

"We already know that. Try again."

"Los Angeles City is home to an Underground Resistance group called Seraph Cell."

"Why do you keep giving useless information? Where do you think you were captured at?"

I looked at Mr. Forben, and gave Major Lawman a quick glance. I wondered what to tell them as my stomach grumbled from inhaling the aroma of the soup. It wasn't like I knew anything. Any useful information was already locked by the headpiece while I was at the academy. What could I possible tell them even if I wanted to?

Unless...

"We were supposed to gather at Washington City."

This seemed to draw Mr. Forben's interest. "Oh? And what are you going to do there?"

"Acquire the bomb and blow up the White House."

"Nice try, we've already checked. Unless your bomb is a cruise missile or a nuclear weapon, there is absolutely no chance that you have a bomb big enough to blow up the White House."

"... the purpose was not to destroy it completely..."

Mr. Forben froze.

"Explain," he said coldly.

"We're supposed to receive the final instructions there. But I think the purpose of the mission was not to destroy the White House itself. 'That' is more important than the whole building, isn't it?"

Of course, I had no idea what this 'that' that I was talking about supposed to be, but I tried my best to not let it show on my face.

"... need to check..." Mr. Forben muttered under his breath.

"Can I eat now?" I asked.

"Hm? Oh sure, of course. Let me help you with that."

He walked around the table, standing on my other side, opposite Major Lawman before picking up the bowl of noodles. He let me sniff the aroma of the now cold noodle. Then he asked me if I really wanted it, to which I nodded yes, before he threw it all at my face. He cackled like a fiend watching my expression of shock.

"Take her away, men!" Major Lawman called the two soldiers outside.

Just before they took me away, though, Mr. Forben gave a strict order against letting anyone touch me. I went to sleep hungry, thirsty and half-naked, but at least I wasn't raped. I didn't know what tomorrow would bring for me, but I didn't put much hope in it.

******

"Let's start again," Mr. Forben said when I was brought to them the next day, "Where is the bomb?"

"Water..." I asked.

The scream I heard was my own as my vision went red and whole body spasmed in pain when Major Lawman poked the pain prod into my chest.

"Just answer the question, little girl," Mr. Forben said again.

On the screen, the display showed a kind of bomb that could fit inside a handbag. It was a bomb I created from my imagination, a bomb that would be powerful enough to destroy a part of the White House and still be small enough to carry around. I deduced last night that this helmet on my head read whatever surface thoughts I had at the moment. I was glad that my deduction proved true. I was also glad that despite the excruciating pain, I was able to maintain my focus.

How do you like my imaginary bomb, shapeshifter?

Oh, no good, the image is starting to change. I need to keep focus.

"Is that how the bomb looks like?" I heard Mr. Forben say as my vision regained its normality.

Though my body was still in pain from the torture.

"Looks homemade..." Major Lawman said, "Though I can't see the detonator, that canister seems to contain the explosive agent."

"Or white phosphorus. That's thing's nasty."

"True, but white phosphorus is quite hard to produce in a home lab. It could simply be celulose nitrate. From her description though, it seems to be nitroglycerin, unless that canister is actually a shaped plastic explosive."

"Where is it?" Mr. Forben asked me again.

"Don't know..." I croaked, the previous tortured almost robbed me of my voice.

Major Lawman poked the pain prod into my body again, causing me to scream in pain before another voice entered my ears.

"STOP!!!"

The pain prod withdrew, and the pain gradually subsided.

I must have gone to heaven. Perhaps that last bit was too much for my body to handle. Or maybe I had not yet died, but my brain was seeing things. Because standing at the door of the interrogation room, looking angry...

It was Anna.

Annamarie. She looked just like how she used to. Beautiful, just like I used to remember her. Even her angry face looked to be just like it was a long time ago.

"You bastard!" Anna came closer, grabbed the pain prod in Major Lawman's hand and stung Major Lawman with it instead.

Major Lawman glowed yellow all over. His face glowed with a yellow light and a yellowish lightning and light appeared from his open eyes, his ears, his nose and his mouth. He screamed so loud that had I been free, I would've shut my ears from his shrill screams.

"How do you like that, you bastard?! How dare you do that to my brother!" Anna spat at Major Lawman who was spasming on the floor.

"Hey bitch, we're in the middle of an interrogation here!" Mr. Forben protested.

Anna pointed the pain prod his way. "Do you want to be next?"

Mr. Forben raised his hand in surrender.

"Let her go. What the hell have you been doing to my brother? He's all skin and bones!"

Mr. Forben mumbled 'standard procedure' as he pressed the buttons to deactivate the steel restrains for my arms and legs.

"Come on, John, let's go," Anna said as she helped me up from the chair. Then she grabbed a white robe from one of the drawers and helped me put it on.

"A-anna?" I asked, still not quite believing my eyes.

"Yeah yeah, it's me. Miss me?" Anna grinned. I remember this grin. It was the grin she made when I won the science week at school. But we never had science week at Sacred Soul. Could it be... this is a memory from Earth? The real Earth?

"Wait! You can't just take her. She's our subject!" Mr. Forben argued.

Anna dropped the pain prod, before producing a data card from her vest. She threw it at Mr. Forben behind us without even looking. "That's all the authorization I need, interrogator."

We passed by the two guards at the door. They saluted Anna to which Anna responded with her own salute. What's going on? Why are they saluting at her?

As we walked further along the corridor, with me being carried by one of her arms, we could hear Mr. Forben screaming "WHY?!!!!!" from the interrogation room.

We took the lift up to the higher levels. The place Anna took me to, was the army mess hall. The whole place smelled so good.

"Take anything you want. You are a prisoner, but since your punishment hasn't been decided, you have the right to be here," Anna said.

"Right?" I asked, my voice still coarse.

"You're a second lieutenant, aren't you? That's pretty high ranked, considering of course that you've only been out of school for a few days," Anna smiled in a non-judgemental way as she pushed me to queue up in front of her.

"Sorry," I apologized, since it was actually Anya's hacking that got me this rank. As I stood there in front of the servers, they dropped something that looked like mashed potato/sweet corn mix, a steak, a small muffin and a few slices of fruit.

"Why are you sorry? It's fine, I won't pry. Here, take my water, you look like you need it," Anna said as she gave me a bottle of what looks to be mineral water from her tray. I now had two bottles of water.

We sat at an isolated table at a balcony, with view overlooking the eastern part of the army base. It was a big army base. Just the eastern part alone appeared to be at least 20 hectares big. From afar, I could see hoverplanes and transport ships taking off and landing on the numerous landing pads. In another part, soldiers in powered armour were marching in sync. It seemed like a very active army base.

"Anna?"

"Yes?"

"Is it really you?"

"Of course! Wanna touch my face to be sure?" Anna leaned over the table closer to me, prompting me reach my hand to touch her face.

It was Anna's nose. Anna's cheeks. Anna's lips. Anna's brows. But...

"Why do you feel so cold?"

"Have to blame that on the regeneration therapy. I had to be kept under -5 degrees Celsius for days."

"Regeneration therapy?"

"Don't tell me you haven't heard of it. It's the most expensive and most effective treatment to regrow lost limbs. I lost more than half of my body when Sacred Soul Academy exploded."

"How did you escape from the Sacred Soul? We barely managed to escape from there."

"I was in the main control room when that happened. Without our knowledge, the previous student council reinforced it. It couldn't fully block a full nuclear fusion explosion, but it was good enough to reduce the blast damage. So instead of sudden death, I lost my right arm and everything below my heart."

"How did you survive?"

"Rescue teams. They arrived just in time to save me. They were too late to rescue Andy, though."

"Why are you here, then? Why are you with them? And that uniform, it's an army uniform, isn't it?"

"John, what I'm going to tell you is going to give you a shock. Please stay calm and just listen until I'm done, okay?"

"Huh?"

"The truth is..."

******

Yuu woke up startled when the shipwide alarm blared. This was the first time since they left Mineshaft 6 that red alert was sounded. Yuu quickly jumped from the captain's bed, grabbed his shirt and dashed to the bridge. He opened the door of the bridge only to be welcomed by a chaotic atmosphere.

"Cut power to the communications array!" Nanako gave an order to one of the Seraph Cell boys that they adopted as crewman of the corvette.

"It's not responding!" the crewman in question replied while his fingers frantically touched all the displays around him. He was sitting at the ops station.

All over the bridge, the lights were out of control while some of the ship's status displays flickered on and off.

"Nana, report!" Yuu commanded.

"We're being hacked!" she said as she went around the stations trying to understand the situation.

"What? By who?"

"We don't know, and right now the priority is to shut down the communication array."

"Call Anya! Why isn't she here yet?"

Nanako slapped Yuu's face. "Are you still asleep, Yuu? Anya and Carl are gone, remember? They can't help us anymore!"

"Anya and Carl are gone? So that wasn't a dream?" Yuu despaired.

"Get a hold of yourself, Yuu! Stop moping, you're the cap-"

Suddenly everything went quiet.

Without even looking at the ops station behind her, Nanako asked, "Did you manage to isolate the communications array?"

"No, sir. It's still functional. We're receiving data," the crewman answered with a soft voice.

"Shit!" Nanako cursed.

"Sir, I'm receiving an encoded message," the crewman at the ops station informed.

"Encoded message? By who?" Yuu asked.

"Unknown. I can't even detect the message's point of origin. And it's addressed to the captain and first officer of the Silence."

Yuu and Nanako looked at each other. Both wondering who could be sending a message to them when they were parked under the desert sand. Who could be so good that they were able to break through Anya's firewalls.

"Everyone out," Nanako ordered.

Slowly, the crewmen manning the helm, tactical and ops consoles left the bridge through the tight corridor behind the captain's chair. At the same time, Yuu and Nanako made their way to the ops console. Despite being unsure of themselves, they pressed the button that opened the message for viewing.

"This can't be right..." Nanako muttered.

 

*Hi everyone. It's another chapter of Escape! Frankly, this chapter was pretty hard for me to write. I wanted to make readers able to emphatize with Jane's ordeal, but I didn't want to make it so bad that this becomes an extreme story. Getting the balance was hard, and I still don't think I managed to get it right. Hope my readers can advise me on how to make this chapter better.
**Thank you for reading, and any comments are very appreciated. Thank you again.