Chapter 2.3

When I open my eyes, there's the white cracked ceiling again and dim evening light seeping through the open curtains. A dull throb was left behind my eyes. Shadow was nowhere to be seen.

"You alright?" She asked. "What happened?"

"I don't know. That's not happened before. But I haven't seen Shadow since I was about ten so maybe it's because it's been so long."

"Or maybe it's like a muscle. Adrenaline can enable people to do crazy things, but if they try and do it normally, the muscle rips because they're not used to it."

"So, I should build up my 'muscle'?"

"Yeah… I guess? I mean none of us have much experience dealing with alien invisible shadows with a supernatural link to a human, so it's my best guess."

"Okay. Have you thought of how we can get out of here?"

"A bit. I'll go through it all later. Want one?" She offered me the box of salty crackers she was munching on. My stomach was churning at the prospect of food, so I declined. She shrugged, "more for me then… By the way, Ezra? You could kinda do with a shower." She tried to hide her smirk and snuck back into the main room.

Usually, I'd like to think she was kidding, but my last shower was two days ago, and I'd been sweating. I did kind of smell. The room had its own shower room, it was small, basic, and had poor hot water pressure, but it was warm. I let it run for a minute while I stripped down to get in and caught myself in the reflection of a steaming mirror hanging above the sink. I wiped the mirror clear just to make sure. There was a dark mark on my shoulder, like a bruise. I don't remember hurting it, and when I press on it, it didn't hurt so I brushed it off as something I got during the school invasion. Warm water is a blessing, and after ten minutes, I start feeling much better.

I find a clean set of clothes in the drawer, which were slightly too big, and find Theo in the main room, bent over a mass of notes.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"I'm trying to work out a plan." She answered, nibbling on the end of her pen. She'd removed a poster from the bedroom wall and was using the back to scribble ideas on.

"Okay… How's that going?" I peered over her shoulder, but I couldn't really make sense of it.

"Well at the moment I have a list of problems, no solutions and a lot of missing information."

"Okay, go on. What do you have?"

"The doors lock. They open twice a day, once to give us food and once to do a headcount in the yard. Each floor is guarded, but for how long? By how many? How do they monitor us? How long do we have, until they realise we're gone? Are there really trackers in these bangles? How many soldiers are there in the city? What's the likelihood of getting caught once we're free of this place? How do we move without getting caught? Where do we go, once we're free? How do we get there?"

"I've been thinking about that. I think we should go to my house. Sean was part of the department of foreign defence, and if anyone knows what's going on it's them."

"Why your house then? We should go straight there."

"I don't know where they're based. I'm hoping there'll be clues in Sean's study."

"And what if there's not?"

"I don't know."

"I don't have a better idea, so why not?" she crossed out location from her list.

"I can remove the bangle, I think. But we'd have to do it just before we leave in case, they see us without on, or if somehow they can tell if we're not wearing it."

She nodded and crossed out bangle, then proceeded to tap her pen on the paper, lost in thought.

"Do you think the resident of this place would have binoculars?"

"Probably not, I looked at this guys stuff, and he was probably young with not a lot of money. Not the sort of guy that would go bird watching."

"Hmmm…" I hummed, gazing around the room for inspiration. The view from the bedroom window on looked into another bedroom opposite. The curtains were open, and I could see a couple of younger kids arguing. An idea struck me, and I searched underneath the bed. There were a few old socks and a ripped magazine, but then my finger grazed something cold and metal.

"What about the sort of guy who would peep on his neighbours?" I turned with binoculars in hand. I didn't know if I should be creeped out or relieved.

"That's repulsive." She snarled, curling her lip in disgust. "But I guess we have to be thankful this guy was a perv." She took them and looked out into the city.

"Can you see anything?" I asked.

"Not really… Hang on… I think there's a few patrols. It looks like they're breaking into houses."

"Where?"

"North East. They look like they're headed West for now."

"Are there any more in different regions?"

A moment a silence before she answered, "Not that I can see."

"There probably sweeping an area at a time. The fact that there hasn't been any fighting suggests they've hit everywhere at the same time. Every institution that could help us. So despite what it seems, they're probably spread pretty thin."

"Do you think the DFD is okay?"

"Their location is hidden, not even Elliana knew where Sean worked. I think they would be fine."

"Then why haven't they helped us?" there was a slight accusation in her voice, but I knew how she felt. I also knew what Garlantia was like and they probably didn't see it coming.

"I don't think we can count on anyone else to help us. If this has happened everywhere, then there's not much one department can do in an outright war against Garlantia."

"… Do you hear that?" We both froze, listening. There was a faint banging, and the sound of someone yelling. "I think that the kids next door." It sounded like one of them was thumping on the front door, yelling for help. "Somethings wrong. They need help." A second later the fire alarm starts ringing and fear creeps into her expression. She rushes to the door, and when it wouldn't open, she starts slamming her fists against it "Let us out! There's a fire! There are kids in there!"

Then the fire alarm cuts off and there's a mechanical whooshing sound. Then silence. Her hand hovers over the door and after a moment of stillness, she asks "Do you think they're okay?"

Honestly, I didn't. the fire alarm was cut off but there weren't any sounds of the kids that lived there. "I don't know." I answered.