Sophie leaned back and stretched. “Well, it won’t matter to you guys if you’re locked up at Insight Labs while everything goes down. If I were in your position, I would do everything in my power to stay far, far away from that place. You go into their labs, you won’t walk out the same.”
“I appreciate the advice and all, but how would you suggest we actually go about it?” Leah asked. “There’s a reason they still haven’t been closed down, and it hasn’t been because of a lack of effort on behalf of the entire local community. There’s a lot of money behind that place. They get what they want, and right now, Dr. Jansen has us dangling in front of them like a juicy cut of meat. They won’t just let us go if we ask nicely.”
Sophie shrugged. “I’m not saying I have a solution.”
“We could just leave,” Brian said. “We’re not exactly locked up right now.”
“My man, we attend this college,” Noah said. “I’ve invested too much time and money towards my degree to just walk out. They don’t have to lock us up; we’re trapped by everything we’ve given up to be here.”
“I’m not saying we disappear forever,” Brian said. “Just until this infection gets through its worst stage. We’d only have to hide long enough for Insight to decide we’re not worth the effort of finding and picks another poor sap to be their lab rat. Hopefully Dr. Jansen.”
Noah thought that was actually a good point, but May shook her head.
“They wouldn’t experiment on a fellow doctor,” she said. “They’d pick a student.”
“Well, as long as it’s not one of us, I’m fine with that.”
“You shouldn’t be,” May said.
Brian rolled his eyes, causing May’s expression to darken.
“If you run away, you’re just as selfish as the doctor,” she said quietly.
Brian’s eyes widened. “Don’t compare me to that scum,” he growled. “She’s the one who went and got the attention of the beast; I’m just trying not to get eaten. If it starts looking at other prey, that’s not my fault, it’s Dr. Jansen’s.”
“Maybe that’s true,” May shrugged, “but would you be able to live in peace with yourself if you knew you knew a fellow student had faced the tests meant for you?”
“Yeah, I think I would, actually.”
“What if you found out that the student had perished?”
Brian threw his hands up. “Sure, I’d feel terrible! But I’d still rather it be them than me. You can’t tell me to sacrifice myself. That’s a decision you only get to make for yourself.”
Noah watched them argue with a small frown. In this case, he had to agree with Brian. It would be stupidity itself to present themselves on a silver platter to Insight Labs. There was no guarantee they would even seek a replacement if they disappeared, although he had to admit it was likely.
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With this in mind, he spoke up. “Brian, if you decide to run away tonight, I’ll join you. I’d want to have more of a plan than just getting off the campus, and I don’t want to be on the run forever, but I think hiding is probably our best option at this point. Dr. Jansen said she’s trying to close the school anyways while the infection still poses a threat.”
“I’ll run away too,” Leah said, making May turn to her disappointedly.
“Hey, don’t give me that look! I’m not going to let the person who wants to eat people guilt me into doing anything.”
Looking like she was quite caught up in the unfolding drama, Sophie raised her hand. “Me too! I want to run away!”
They all looked at her.
“Okay,” Brian said finally. “But why? Nobody’s asked you to be their lab rat.”
“Yet,” Sophie said. “Besides, if this dust infection thing doesn’t save me, then I don’t want to have spent my last few hours cooped up in this place.” She hesitated, then added, “I think I’d like to see my parents before I run out of time with the Wager.”
Brian shrugged. “Well, I’m not going to stop you. Although I’d hate for you to traumatize them by showing up on their doorstep only to drop dead.”
Sophie smirked. “But that would be funny.”
Noah rubbed his eyes. “Alright. If this is actually happening, we need to figure out exactly what we’re doing.”
“Easy,” Brian said. “Wait ‘til it gets dark and walk off campus. We can cut straight through the woods behind the meadow here, come out on a back road, and from there we can walk wherever we want to go. As for food… well, I don’t know about May, but the rest of us haven’t gotten injured yet, so let’s just hope it won’t be an issue.”
“I never said I was going,” May said.
“Well, would you rather be with us, or locked up in a lab somewhere?” Brian asked.
She closed her eyes. “I don’t know. I don’t want to go on my own.”
“You should come with us,” Sophie said, and Leah nodded.
“C’mon May, don’t throw yourself at the shady lab.”
“What if we get caught running away?” she asked.
Sophie seemed to realize the girl was on the fence about it, and she quickly responded, “Again, it’s not as if we’re criminals doing time. It’s just a school. Any kind of repercussions we end up facing if we’re somehow caught in the middle of our great escape can’t possibly be as bad as whatever medical terrors you’ll be subjected to if you stick around. Besides, we won’t get caught.”
“Okay, what if we’re overreacting to the whole ‘testing’ thing?” May said, shamelessly abandoning her previous two arguments. “We don’t even know what they’re going to do.”
“Do you want to bet that whatever they have planned is going to be stuff you’re comfortable with?” Leah asked. “This isn’t your friendly family physician, May. They’ve killed people before and gotten away with a light slap on the cheek.”
“As far as I’m aware, the people who lost their lives at Insight knew that what they were doing was dangerous,” May said. “They were desperate and basically sold themselves to risky science for cash. We’re in a completely different situation.”
“This is ridiculous,” Noah said, standing up. “We’re trying to convince you to not throw your own life away. Nobody in their right mind- or not in incredibly desperate straights- would ever allow themselves to be a patient of Insight Labs. You hold no responsibility for whatever they choose to do if we run away. I know I barely met you twenty-four hours ago, but I really don’t want to see you left behind tonight. I’m not going to sit here any longer to argue about something that should be common sense.”
Noah got up and started walking inside. He had turned the handle halfway when a shout came from behind him.
“Wait,” May said. “I’ll go.”
Noah grinned. “Glad to hear it. I’ll meet you all out here at ten p.m. ‘Ensure you are ready to leave at that time’, yeah?”
“Ok, Dr. Jansen,” Brian yelled.
Noah chuckled and stepped inside to pack.