Escaping Elysia

Chapter 35 - Not Easy

Evita

Sheer's office looks the same as the other times I've been here. Same bare desk. Same unassuming door to the left of it. Only this time the air is charged and the door is calling to me.

The weight of the gun in my sling makes my pulse race. I grasp the handle to the room. What if we were wrong? What if this is just a closet and there's no way to turn off the alarms? I picture the test subjects trapped in their rooms as smoke seeps under the doors.

I turn the handle and push the door open. It's not a closet, but I also don't see any screens. A floor length grated cabinet on the opposite wall catches my eye. Inside are rows and rows of guns. Closing the door behind me, I walk over to the cabinet and tug on the handle. It doesn't budge. There's no lock or place to put in a code either, just a small circle next to the handle. I yank a few more times but it's no use. It won't open.

I turn my attention to the rest of the room. The walls are blank. My heart plummets. This can't be right. I was so sure there would be controls here. Now how will Dale know to set off the bombs? How will everyone get past the alarms? The door to the room swings open and I gasp. 

Sheer stands in the doorway.

I back up against the wall, glancing around wildly for a weapon. The gun in my sling rests against my chest. Not that. Not unless I have to. I mentally curse myself for not taking a few extra sedatives just in case.

"Nice to see you again," Sheer says. Her face is still, giving away no hint of surprise at seeing me here. However, she's not as calm and collected as she normally is either. The skin under her eyes is dark, and she's rubbing her wrists. Her gaze falls on the cabinet.

"Came for the guns, did you? That's your bad luck. It only opens for me, Brandt, or Ellis." She pauses. "Well, not Ellis anymore, I suppose."

She holds her wristlet up to the circle on the gun cabinet and the door pops open. Inside, the cabinet is filled with rows of small guns, like the one in my sling, and below that longer guns, like Trenton carried.

Sheer picks up one of the smaller guns and turns it over in her hands. As she does she moves across the room, closer to me. I press myself against the wall, trying to hide the fear on my face. Sweat beads on my hairline.

"Ellis gave you his badge, huh?" She shakes her head. "I knew he didn't have the guts to kill you." My adrenaline spikes. She takes a rectangular piece of metal from a slot in the cabinet and jams it into the bottom of the gun.

Then she points the gun at me and I suck in a breath. She laughs. "Don't worry, the safety is still on, see?" Turning the gun to the side so I can see, she presses a button in. "Well, not anymore."

"You've been such a hassle, Evita. Why couldn't you just be a good little girl and forget about where that gun came from?" Sheer sighs. "Then I bring you in here to keep you out of trouble, and the next thing I know you've contrived this ridiculous escape plan."

The hair on my arms stands up. "You know about that?"

She laughs, the sound echoing harshly off the walls. "The young Asian boy who follows Ellis around like a puppy informed us days ago." She waves her hand dismissively. 

Weston. How could he?

Sheer places her hand on one of the tiles on the wall and slides it back, revealing a circle like the one on the gun cabinet. She holds her wristlet up to it and the surrounding tiles slide back, and then the next tiles and the next, until the entire wall reveals a set of screens and controls.

I suck in a breath. The screens display video feed from all over Elysia. On one, Weston walks up and sits next to Dale. My hands tremble and I feel like I might collapse. Dale has no idea. Below the screens, a panel of buttons and lights blink. One of those must be the switch to turn off the alarms.