I looked at my watch. It read 11:30. I had 30 minutes left. I needed a plan, well thought out, and needed to thoroughly execute it in less than 10 minutes. I had no time. If I could not get out of my cell I was stuck in a world of death forever, never being able to free myself.
“30 minutes left. 30 minutes left until Starlit0920 is executed. I repeat 30 minutes.”
That was me, Starlit0920. I was the 920th Starlit, the 920th failed Starlit, I am apparently too dangerous for the humans, I do not deserve to live.
I am an experiment, born and raised by the company Daxmin. I was made to be a super human, to steal things, to destroy the humans and to one day rule the world with Daxmin by my side. As I have told you before I am the 920th of my kind, which means there were 919 before me, but they are all dead now, I am alone.
The others were destroyed for being weak and fragile, but I, unlike the others, will be destroyed for being too strong and dangerous.
“25 minutes left. 25 minutes left until Starlit0920 is executed. I repeat 25 minutes. 30 minutes left until Leo0920 is executed. I repeat 30 minutes.”
Leo. . . he was created to be my significant other, I felt a connection and the grim truth tugged at my heart. I quickly guessed he was being destroyed for the same reasons I was.
I had to move. I had been planning this moment for a while now, but I still couldn’t figure out what to do. I moved around my cell and looked at the plexi-glass door concealing me. I needed to concentrate, I quickly sat down on the cushioned floor and breathed deeply. My eyes bore into the door and I imagined it cracking, then finally shattering. I imagined this over and over again, until, finally, it shattered. I leapt across the ground, dodging piece after piece of glass.
As soon as I reached the hall I bolted towards the closest exit sign. I wheeled around the corner, barely losing my footing. In this process I bumped into a thick, clear wall, startling whatever was inside into a fearful, gruesome yelps. I winced at the pain in my side and the pain in my ears, but quickly ran away.
I started to slow down. I knew no one had known I had escaped. I was almost at the exit until I realized I had left something behind, Leo. The same sad feeling tugged at my heart again, like it was attached to strings. I quickly turned back around and ran back to where I had come from. I know that this was a stupid decision, I could easily get caught, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I left him behind.
I looked in each enclosure; he was nowhere to be seen. All I saw where horrific creatures that couldn’t be described as human nor animal. I had to get out of here, fast.
“Fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes until Starlit0920 is executed. I repeat fifteen minutes. 20 minutes until Leo0920 is executed. 20 minutes.”
I had almost no time; I needed to find him, now. If I didn’t I would be dead.
I rounded another corner, looking in every cage, until I finally felt a trickle of his thoughts leak into my mind. He was around the next corner and five cells down. I sprinted, barely making a sound on the floor.
I saw him before he saw me. He was sitting on his bed leaning forward with his hand covering his face. He was clearly crying.
As if he sensed me, he looked up. At first he looked confused and scared, but as he studied me, a faint recognition crossed his face. He smiled a slow unsteady smiled and looked back down at his feet.
“Break the door.” I pushed my thoughts through mine and into his.
“I can’t. I’ve already tried. I’m too weak.” He thought back.
Great just what I need.
“You know, I can read minds too.”
Well that was awkward. . . I brushed away the last conversation and focused my vision onto the door. I imagined the same cracking and shattering like I did on mine. The glass once again gave way. Leo looked astonished and stepped through the glass.
“We have just confirmed that Starlit0920 as escaped. Once again Starlit0920 has escaped.”
I stared at Leo, he knew just what we had to do. He had been down these corridors many times, only because he was allowed to. Leo was almost one of the successful ones but unfortunately something went wrong. Therefore he knew where the nearest exit was. He showed a mental map to me with little dots indicating us a where we were in comparison to that specific exit. We were less than 1,000 meters away, but this time we had to be careful, this time there would be guards patrolling the halls.
We hurried down the halls in silence, pasting ourselves against the walls like spies. We heard people’s boots clicking on the tiles of the floor. We communicated through our minds, careful not to talk, planning strategically.
As we rounded a corner I wasn’t looking and bumped into something. It was hard and cold like metal. I quickly jumped backwards, knocking over Leo in the process and looked up.
It was Elle VonLiten, the CEO of Daxmin.
“I see you have decided to show up.” She said icily.
I just stared. No sudden movements, she could blow me up in a heartbeat without thinking twice about it. Elle was a supernatural like us. She had powers like mine, but I had more. She was obviously a success and changed her name from Elle67 to Elle VonLiten after her original creator.
“It’s a shame you were a failure, you could’ve done great things one day, both of you could’ve.” I felt a sizzle of Leo’s emotions, they were strong and powerful, enough to turn a wall of cinderblocks into dust.
“We’re like each other in so many ways, yet so different-” She continued taunting us.
“We will never be like you.” Leo broke in.
“What did you say?” Elle said moving closer to Leo. She looked him right in the eye and fear and pain shot through my mind. I looked over at my partner, seeing him curled up in a fetal position whimpering on the ground. Images passed through my mind, disturbing, disgusting, terrifying. I immediately stepped between them.
“What are you doing to him?” I interjected. I pushed Elle to the ground without thinking and pulled Leo up.
He was panting harshly, his breath kept getting caught in his throat. For a second I thought he was going to die.
Elle quickly got up again but this time she stopped halfway and looked like she was stuck.
“Don’t ever. Do. That. Again.” Leo said through clenched teeth. She shot across the hall though the air into a nearby wall, making it crumble to the ground. “Lets go.” He said pulling me towards the exit once more.
We ran even faster this time. I was almost sure we weren’t going to get out.
“We’ll be fine.” Leo’s voice whispered through my head. Right, I forgot he could hear my thoughts. I didn’t say anything back; I didn’t need to. Deep down in my heart I knew we would be safe.
I knew we were close to the exit. Then I saw it. The clearly lit exit sign lay looming overhead about 3 meters away. We picked up our pace and before we even reached the glass door that led to the outside I shattered it, causing a sound equivalent to 10,000 gunshots. An alarm sounded and I could hear people rushing around in panic, searching for us.
We ran right across the glass, not caring if we cut our feet, we just wanted to get out.
All of a sudden I heard a loud “whoosh” in my right ear. My instincts told me not to turn around, it was a bullet. However I did look down at my shoulder. The bullet barely grazed my skin, leaving a neat cut glistening with blood. I heard more “whooshes” and picked up my pace.
The gate was clearly visible in the distance, a mere 100 feet away. It was a menacing 20 feet tall, all chain linked with barbed wire entangled, you could easily tell it was humming with electricity.
“I’ve got this one,” A whisper, barely audible, drifted through my mind.
The fence, towering over us before, now lay crumpled on the ground. We tiptoed across, making sure we didn’t hit any metal. I heard a fain hiss as I saw Leo’s face pinch up in pain. He quickly regained his health and we continued on, until we were out.
There was a vast forest beyond this and we quickly sprinted in and concealed ourselves in the brush. As soon as we hit a clearing we both fell to the ground, panting, feeling like we were going to die.
“We did it,” I said through sharp inhalations.
“Yup,” he agreed, a small smile creeping across his face. I smiled back.
A couple moments of pure silence filled the forest as me recuperated, until I heard the crack of a branch and I shot up.
“Who’s there?” I called.
“It’s probably just an animal, Star, it’s ok,” Leo reassured me.
“Silence, we have you surrounded,” The same eerie voice that was announcing my death to the world said once again.
A whoosh passed by me. All of a sudden I felt weak and I knew I was falling. Pain exploded in my head.
“Star!” Was all heard before I slipped into a world of blackness.
I was gone.