I ducked behind the cabinet that gave me concealment from the door. It was the one on the right side of the room, and there was a little pocket between it and the wall. The dial to the lock was still spinning, so I had to act fast. I focused on the wall and started to make an opening with my power. It was all I could think to do in the limited time I had before the door inevitably opened.

My plan was simple. I was going to make a little recess within the wall, hide inside and try to fill it up behind me. I ignored the spinning dial and worked quickly. If I couldn’t complete the slight depression in time, I would be forced to think of something else, but anything else would be a spur of the moment because I didn’t have time to think about anything else.

Years of practicing my power in the dark corner of the Carpenter barracks paid off. With my adrenaline pumping, time seemed to slow as I caused the rock to recede. Each space between clicks of the dial lock seemed to lengthen. It was only a matter of moments before the area was large enough for me to fit in.

I slipped inside the tiny opening I made, my chest scrapping along the stone as I wedged myself in. I was forced to suck in my stomach and chest, but I didn’t let the tight space hinder me from closing the gap behind me. Just as I was almost finished closing the gap with a thin layer of stone and nearly plunged into darkness, I realized that the light was still on in the office.

The door opened, and the light became something I could no longer worry about. As the last vestige of visibility left my makeshift alcove of safety, I could hear talking, but due to the rock, it was indistinct and muffled.

“What’s wrong? Why did you stop?”

“I could have sworn I turned off the light when I left.”

It was definitely Sergeant Michel who entered, but he wasn’t alone. I was curious about who he was with but not stupid enough to stay and find out. I was facing the hallway’s direction when I wedged myself into my hiding space, so I began to erode the rock in front of me.

After a moment, light streamed in from a small hole I made to observe the hallway and make sure it was clear. Seeing it was clear, I made the hole larger until I could fit my body through. I closed my exit but left the recess I created just in case I could get back there and search again. Using my ability to see and intuition to hopefully run back to an area I knew, I sped away from Sergeant Michel’s room.

I used my ability to look for any signs of cameras or other monitoring devices while sprinting through the hallways as stealthily as possible. I didn’t see anything other than the electric grids for the lights. Once I became too winded to continue running, I stopped and deactivated my power to get my bearings. It only took a moment to realize where I was.

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I had taken a pathway I hadn’t before, but I wasn’t far from the Garden. I controlled my breathing, and instead of going to the Garden, I went to the dining facility. I was hungry, and it would let me know what time it was.

The doors to the dining facility were open, so I stepped in and quickly scanned the area. Sarah was one of the people sitting at our assigned benches. I was glad then that Claire had talked me into trusting others. After everything since I left the Garden earlier, I was desperate to tell someone.

I went through the food line and got my food. I was surprised to find out that the meal was dinner. When I left the Garden, it wasn’t even lunchtime. I must have been unconscious in the hallway’s darkness for a few hours, which made me worry about how hard I was hit and any lasting damage.

Just as I exited the line and headed to the tables, the facility alarms started blaring. It only went on for a second, then it abruptly stopped. I froze in place as they went off, but I wasn’t the only person. After the alarm finished, I quickly covered the final distance to the benches.

I sat down hard in front of Sarah. She jumped a little bit as I sat, but I didn’t let it stop me from getting some food.

“What’s going on?” Sarah asked.

I couldn’t remember the last time I had eaten, and even though I was starving, I was barely able to eat due to my nerves. However, as dread slowly crept down my body like a lost spider, and I had no idea what the alarm was for, I knew I needed to eat just in case I needed to keep my wits about me. I big spooned it, which is military slang for cramming all the food I could get down my throat in record time.

“What is happening? Is this because of you?” Sarah leaned forward and hissed.

I shrugged and continued to eat. Just as I was about to get up and head to the Garden, a cadre member who wasn’t one of the dining facility guards walked up. He promptly went over to the other guard and talked to him. I saw them scan the chow hall. They both pointed to a few people and then right at me.

The guard saw me looking and waved me over. I walked up to him, made sure to give the proper daily greeting, and waited for instructions.

“You’ve been chosen for a mission,” he said.

“Me?” I was surprised because it was not what I expected.

“You’re Cadet Alson?” he asked, not bothering to mask his annoyance.

“Yes, sergeant.”

“You’re a Carpenter?”

“Yes, sergeant.”

“You’re a class C, aren’t you?”

“Yes, sergeant.”

“Then, yes. It’s you,” he said with a disgusted look. “Now, quit dirtying my air and get to the briefing room.” He turned without another word and walked off.

I turned to search for Sarah, but she must have gotten up and left the dining facility while I was talking to the cadre member.

“Go clean up your mess and get the hell out of here, cadet,” the chow hall guard said. Without another word, I did as I was instructed.

I was relieved as I cleaned up and swiftly made my way to the briefing room. I thought my escapade in Sergeant Michel’s office had been discovered, and I almost had a heart attack when the alarms went off. But instead of being in trouble, I was going on a mission.

My chance to escape was finally here, but it was just when I made some allies. As I walked on, I considered adjusting my plans to escape. I thought that perhaps I could wait until my second mission; that way, I could include others.