Escape (Part 2)

When Ray made it to the top, he turned towards the smoke in the distance. He glanced around anxiously. "Where are the kids four and under?"

Emma grunted as she and a couple of kids helped the younger ones climb up. "I decided that we should leave them all here. I thought about..." she grunted. "what you said to me earlier-" she grunted again. "One more time."

"So far so good," Don told Emma and Penny a few nights ago. "We got everyone down to age five on our side."

"They were pretty surprised, but I think things would be okay." Gilda added.

"We already started training them." Don added.

"Thanks, you guys." Emma smiled.

"You guys are the best." Penny said with a smile, leaning forward towards Don and Gilda in her bed. "You know that, right?"

"Aw, gee, it was nothing, Penny." Don laughed sheepishly. He glanced at Emma seriously. "So...what do we do next? Should we...tell the kids under five?"

Emma glanced down worriedly. "But do you think they'd believe us?"

"Well..." Don frowned. "It's more like, can they keep it a secret?"

"It's not just that either." Gilda whispered. "Is it really possible to bring them with us?"

"Huh?" Don sounded confused.

Gilda looked up. "Don't get me wrong, it's not like I don't believe in Norman's plan. However we are dealing with the cliff and winter, and Norman's not here to help. Once we actually escape, we don't know what's out there. I'm starting to see Ray's point, even if it might be a little late to feel that way."

"Gilda, if I'm hearing this correctly," Penny said anxiously. "What you're trying to tell us is..."

Gilda looked at them, fear in her eyes. "If we take them along, they could get killed!"

"Gilda, if they stay here, they're gonna get shipped out!" Don protested.

"I know!" Gilda exclaimed. She glanced down. "I know that, but..."

An uncomfortable silence passed, and Emma finally spoke. "I can't bring myself to leave them." Her shoulders relaxed as she spoke. "Ray's correct...so are you, Gilda. But..." the green eyed girl looked down. "I don't want anyone else to get shipped out."

Don let out a heavy sigh and crossed his arms, muttering, "Same here."

"Yeah." Penny muttered as well, glancing down at her covers.

"I wanna take everyone." Emma looked up. "We'll all run away."

Gilda looked down. "Yeah, but..."

Don turned to her in worry. "What's wrong?"

"Well...um...what about the kids from the other plants?"

Emma's eyes eyes widened. Penny let out a shocked gasp.

"Is it really okay if we're the only ones who escape?" Gilda continued, caressing her hands. "We've never seen them before, but there's a family just like us in the next plant over, right? Living life as if everything's normal."

Silence.

Noticing the three kids horrified expressions, Gilda looked up. "Sorry...!" she gasped out.

Don glanced at Emma and Penny. "What now, guys?"

"Good question..." Emma muttered, while Penny just looked at her covers with wide eyes.

Emma glanced at the pen she received from Norman. After a few moments, she looked up. "Can you get Phil?"

"What's up?" Phil asked Emma innocently.

The ginger haired girl put her hands on his shoulders and looked at the little toddler seriously. "We need to talk. About the house and Mom."

Phil's smile faded.

150146

"I knew it..." Phil muttered once Emma was done. "It's just like I thought."

Emma, Don, Gilda, and Penny let out shocked gasps as Phil continued. "When we all played tag, Sister said...something about a harvest and I wondered what she meant. One time, I saw her looking under Ray's bed, and when Norman left the house, I could tell you were really scared of Mom, Emma. It was all weird but I didn't know why!"

Penny put her hands to her mouth, shocked on what she was hearing.

Phil glanced down, tears forming at the edge of his eyes. "So then, Norman got harvested, huh? Connie too..." he hiccupped, tears falling down his cheeks. "And the others...That's why you guys..."

The little boy couldn't take it anymore, and he latched onto Emma and sobbed.

"Oh, Phil...!" Emma gasped, hugging him comfortingly.

"I won't take them yet." Emma told Ray once they helped Penny up. She knelt down and started pulling up the rope as Penny led the other kids off. "Only Phil knows the truth. The others don't know about the house or fire." She turned to Ray with a determined look on her face. "So I'm leaving it to Phil!"

Ray stared at her, open mouthed.

"All right." Emma began slowly, looking at Phil. "Hear me out. I don't know which option I should go with. Do I take everyone including the babies? Or should I leave the kids under five?"

"HUH?!" Penny, Don, and Gilda gasped out in shock.

"We only get harvested when we turn six." Emma continued. "And even though Marnia's birthday is the earliest, she'll still have a year and a half. Sixteen of the older kids will be gone. Since this house focuses on quality, the pace of harvesting should start going down. If they wanna raise high quality kids here again, they can't kill ones with potential. That said, you and the other five were four years old all have good scores. So it's best to let you develop. If I had to take a guess, I'd say we have about two years."

"T-two years?" Penny choked out, her brown eyes wide. "Emma, are you saying..."

"Wait, you mean..." Don gasped, shocked as well.

Phil turned to them with a big smile. "I can wait! Promise!" He turned to Emma. "So just leave us here!"

Emma stared at Ray, a determined look on her face. "I don't plan on ever giving up. I'll return here within two years. And when I finally do, I'll escape with Phil and the rest of our siblings! Along with kids from the other four plants!"

Nat turned to her with a small smile and a nod.

Isabella held Phil close, her heart pounding. "Phil, where are the other children?"

Phil narrowed his eyes and leaped out of her arms. "This way!" He yelled, and ran forward. Isabella took out her tracker and followed after him.

"MOM!" The kids wailed as she came to them.

"Where's Emma, Penny, and the others, Mom?" One of them cried. "Are they lost?!"

"I'll go get them." Isabella stood up with a smile. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon enough. While I'm gone, be sure to stick together."

Phil could only watch as Isabella grabbed her radio and hurried off.

"73584 here." Isabella announced. "From plant 3. Kids have escaped. Sound the alarm!"

The alarm blared, and she grinned as she turned to the horizon. "Now. Try and escape, girls."

Penny let out a gasp and nearly collided with Ray as the alarm reached them.

"They're already being alerted!" Emma gasped.

Ray grabbed Penny's hand and ran towards Emma. "What now? We're still far from the bridge!"

Emma lifted her finger and pointed to the other side of the cliff. "We're crossing here."

Ray's eyes widened. "Seriously?! But...I'm pretty sure Norman said..."

"Yeah," Penny nodded with a grin. "But this is what he actually told us..."

"That bridge is our only way out. That's what most people would think anyway. But you won't go to the bridge. Even though it's a crazy idea, you will use the cliff. I checked the distance and geographical features. It's dangerous. But there's a spot that's crossable. You have two months to prepare. Good luck."

Ray's eyes widened.

Gilda smiled softly. "It'll be okay. All of us trained a lot for this!"

Ray gasped, shocked. "You what?!"

Penny nodded, and she told him all about the training they did in secret. They watched as Don tied a rock to a rope and launched it towards the tree down below.

"Come on..." Penny narrowed her eyes, clenching her hands.

Just as intended, the rope latched around a thick branch, and Don pulled on it to make sure it was secured. He turned around to Nat, who was in a tree a few steps away. "NAT!"

"GOT IT!" The boy yelled, and he secured it with a few tugs, and the rope turned into a straight line.

Everyone cheered.

Ray's eyes widened. "So then...we're gonna..."

"It's fine." Emma grinned. "The first person just has to cross!"

Ray's head snapped and he turned to Don, who latched his clothes hanger on the rope. "What?!" Ray yelped as the ten year old zoomed down, using the rope as a zipline to get to the other side. Penny narrowed her eyes as Don fell into the bushes, and a second later the boy shot up, holding his lantern up. And once again, everyone burst into cheers.

"YEAH! IT WORKED!!" Emma cheered.

"Okay!" Lannion announced, holding an air pump. His brother Thoma stood by him with bottles. Ray watched as the boys filled the bottles with water.

"Ready...GO!"

The rocket bottles landed in the next two nearest trees, creating two extra ziplines.

"WE DID IT!"

After tying the rope securely to the tree, Don lifted his lantern and waved it back and forth. "All right! We're all good!"

"SEE YOU LATER, RAY!" Nat yelled as he zoomed down.

The next three kids grabbed their clothes hangers, and Penny, Emma, and the rest of the older kids helped secure the younger ones, and down they went.

"Wait a second..." Ray's eyes widened. "When did you all...trained for this??"

The sound of footsteps appeared next to him, and Ray turned to see Norman. The white haired boy turned to him with a smile. "Well, Ray?"

Ray's eyes widened.

The two turned and watched as the kids zoomed down, one by one. Ray sighed as he glanced away from Norman. "What a smug face. It's irritating."

Norman chuckled. "Just admit it. We completely fooled you, didn't we?"

"Well, show me something cool so shut up and follow, huh?" Ray quoted.

"And I kept my word. Look. We never thought something like this was possible."

"Yeah. Honestly, taking everyone seemed like a pipe train. I kinda figured they'd all just hold us back."

"You weren't the only one." Norman smiled. "But I made my decision in the end. All because of Emma. Thanks to her, and Penny's help, everyone joined without question. She's reckless and naïve, but true to herself. She can say that we're taking everyone without wavering." He turned to Ray with a smile. "You don't have to give up, okay, Ray?"

Ray sniffed in response, and Norman was gone. He turned towards the last few people standing there...Penny, Emma, Lannion, Thoma, Jemima, and himself.

Isabella narrowed her eyes as she listened to the announcement on the radio. "They haven't...reached the bridge?"

"No. Everyone, keep looking!"

The woman narrowed her eyes. "How strange. What if..." she dropped her radio and took off.

"JUST SIX MORE!" Don yelled.

"Emma, Penny, my hands!" Jemima whimpered, shaking. The girl turned to them, her eyes full of tears. "Sorry, it's too scary! I keep thinking about the cliff!"

At that, Thoma and Lannion winced and looked down, realizing that she was right. It was a deep fall that no one could survive. Penny winced...she didn't even think about the little ones being scared of such a huge drop off. She glanced at Emma who had the same expression.

"What if..." Jemima continued with a hiccup. "I end up falling?!"

"F-falling?!" Thoma and Lannion both gulped as well.

At that, Jemima started wailing.

"Shoot, now what?" Penny asked, glancing over the wall anxiously. She glanced down at Jemima and over at Thoma and Lannion, who were shaking and glancing over the cliff anxiously and clinging to each other.

After a few moments, Ray finally walked over and picked Jemima up. "It's okay, Jemima. I'll cross with you."

And just like that, Jemima stopped sniffling.

"Ray..." Emma muttered.

Ray turned to her. "Emma, Penny, you two still have the rope we used to climb up here, right?"

Emma nodded. "Oh, yeah!"

"What for?" Penny asked.

"Alright. Tie Jemima to me with it." Ray told her.

"Right." Penny said, and with Emma's help she secured the little girl to Ray. "You know how to slide down?" Emma asked.

"Seemed easy enough." Ray hummed. He turned to Thoma and Lannion. "What's wrong, guys? Don't tell me you're chickening out."

The two boys looked at each other and quickly pulled out of each other's grasp, nodding.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine!" Lannion said.

Thoma shakily pumped his arms. "Y-y-yeah! Piece of cake!"

Ray smirked. "That's what I thought." He grabbed the hanger and glanced over the cliff. "It's time to go, Jemima." He put the hanger on the zipline and zoomed down.

"Please make it..." Penny murmured. Emma put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and they watched with relief as Ray landed safely on the ground.

"Come on," Ray told Jemima soothingly. "Open your eyes. You're safe."

Jemima shakily opened her eyes, and she met Anna's, who smiled at her.

Jemima sniffed happily and hugged Ray tightly. The boy sighed and hugged Jemima in return, muttering, "You got me, Norman, congrats."

On the cliff, Penny and Emma nodded at each other and readied Thoma and Lannion, and they pushed them down as well. The boys let out yells as they sailed down.

"ALL RIGHT, PENNY, EMMA, YOU'RE THE LAST ONES!" Don yelled.

Emma and Penny nodded at each other again and readied their hangers. Penny glanced over her shoulder and gasped. Confused, Emma turned around and her eyes widened as well at the person in front of them.

Mom.