The baby monitor captured Carmen's dark, drying legs as she took her seat on the floor. Her hand clung to a ball of aluminium foil which in retrospection, could not have a sustainable amount of food. Her left leg was bent, creating a triangle of free space through which Zane's fortuitous fidgeting was displayed to the camera. 

The choice between the impending doom of the baby monitor or the gun presented itself and one thing was clear; the camera wasn't so scary anymore. 

Adara, whose crossed legs made contact with Carmen's perpetually chilling skin, looked around pensively. She wasn't allowed to express her discovery; not yet. Now that the group knew that Bane was watching over them, they dared not speak. 

Carmen opened up the crushed ball of foil. Before she could react to the peeving sight that followed, Adara's gasp filled the air. 

"This is the food we almost died for?" she asked in disbelief. 

Inside was fried fish, one of completely negligible size. In fact, Carmen was willing to go out on a limb and claim that each of them had only received a small fish's small fin - an exaggeration since there were no measuring tapes in the room. Beside it were chips - nine of them to be exact. 

"Seems like Bane could be Ebenezer Scrooge himself," she said, trying to salvage the small portion that had been crushed by the force of her palms. 

"How are we supposed to survive with this? I can't remember the last time I ate something and that's saying a lot!" Adara said and added, "I love to snack."

"That's kind of the point Adora, he doesn't want us to be useful enough to break doors," Zane said dully. 

"It's Adara," she said, uncomfortably. 

"I know. But your parents adore you and named you Adara, didn't they?" he asked and Adara's cheeks turned red. 

"You're right, I did say that," she said, chuckling, "I wasn't expecting you to note that though."

"I like nicknames," Zane said shrugging. 

Adara's carefree smile rubbed off on Carmen's dry, purple lips. Zane really did like nicknames. 

It seemed that talking about anything else, even something as simple as a name was what the group needed. Carmen didn't know how to perpetuate the conversation that was slipping away already, but she knew she needed to. Only she was allowed to be dull because those were the conditions under which she worked best. She examined her forced allies and one look told her that they needed this. 

Carmen wasn't opposed to smiling - in fact, if there were any words of affirmation she heard from her grandmother, it was those that said that she had a beautiful smile. A smile so bright and genuine, one that would vamoose any despair in the air. She had simply lost the ability to. Shows what years of isolation can do to a girl of sixteen. 

Even now, amidst the heat of sentimental idiots, she could not find the beating heart within her. She had felt the fear and adrenaline a lot in the last twenty-four-plus hours but even then, there wasn't a physical heart that she could feel. The gun, her mistakes, they simply emanated from where her heart should be. Needless to say, she wouldn't have cared for their smiles outside the perenially shrinking room. 

The black hole had no place for feelings. Only substances of matter.

"Some food is better than none," Zane said and Carmen realized that by the time she could finish her thoughts, the moment was gone. 

But there wasn't any despondency anymore. 

"What now?" Rylen asked soberly. 

"We do as Bane wants," Carmen said immediately. The blinking red light on the camera dictated her words. 

"Right," Zane said, taking the hint. "Rose," he said but stopped mid-sentence. 

Carmen glared daggers at him. Clearly, no matter the circumstance, he wouldn't let go of the only hunch he had. While Carmen would have admired him for doing so with anybody else, he'd almost blown her cover when Bane was watching. 

Carmen picked up one of the fries, tossing it into her hungered mouth. She ignored his eye contact, unwilling to walk on eggshells at every moment in the room. Perhaps she deserved it but she was done wasting time on matters that didn't matter. 

Too bad they had to. For Bane. 

Adara gobbled up her food in the blink of an eye. Everyone's foil was still full except hers where only fish crumbs remained. She stared longingly into the ceiling, hugging her stomach tighter than before. She rocked her body up and down slightly, awaiting the group to join her state of foodlessness. 

Rylen looked at her uneasily as he picked up the tiny fish in his large palm. He looked at the tempting meal in his hand and Adara's weary face as he cleared his throat, "Do you want this?"

He opened his palm, revealing the crispy browns of the fish fry near Adara's hand. 

"Aren't you hungry?" Adara asked, concerned, but unable to turn it down. 

"What's the point if all of us are weak? At least one should have normal amounts of food. Besides, I can handle it," Rylen said. 

"Seeking inspiration from Enzo and Damon then?" Carmen asked, unsure about the situation. 

"You're right! Oh, Rylen, you needn't make such a sacrifice," Adara said earnestly. 

"That's okay. Besides, I'm not a huge fan of fish," Rylen said. 

"The blasphemy," Carmen exclaimed, sensing the jouissance in the air return. 

"I don't know how to describe it but the texture... it's just odd!" he defended. 

"Just take it or don't," Zane snapped. At that moment, Carmen related to Zane more than she ever had but she wouldn't show it. She would gain a good name with Adara and Rylen even if it was the last thing she did. 

The blinking red light pierced an imaginary hole through Carmen's skin, taking the role of the black gun; her life depended on the good name. 

"Rylen, thank you so much," she said, accepting the fish into her palms. 

Rylen smiled at Adara, which she returned for a change. Rylen's face brightened up Carmen knew this was all he had wanted since the start. She was like a mini-Raven to him and if he couldn't make her proud of him, at least he could do so with Adara. 

Carmen felt a tug in her black space. Was this what it meant to be a kind person? To help someone you don't know and earn satisfaction from that? Her entire life, she'd done everything Rylen wouldn't dream about and yet, they were stranded in the same place. 

Carmen had taken the road not taken while Rylen followed the path used by regular passers-by. Carmen had taken the risk and bent to her own tune - or so she liked to believe, and Rylen dealt in drugs (a ubiquitous method to earn quick money). Her situation contradicted everything she'd learnt from the poem by her favourite poet so she asked herself again - can two roads lead to the same terminal?

One look at Adara's adoration for Rylen answered her question. Two roads, ethical or not, could most definitely lead to the same direction but how they reached there would oversee what they gained from the destination and how their stay was. If nothing else, Rylen was not constantly haunted by his secrets the way Carmen was. 

That small change made all the difference. 

"How long do we just sit and wait," Zane groaned

"Until it's time to sleep," Rylen shrugged. He was still too happy to let the fatuousness take over. 

Adara looked at the group and whispered, "There was a clock outside. It was 10 p.m. then."

Carmen stopped short; was that all the information of substance Adara had? Was that what the group had been yearning for?

"Is that the item of substance you found? Carmen hissed. 

"No, no, I have better! I'm just saying, we may not need to wait for more than three hours," Adara whispered. 

"I'm done eating," Zane announced, covering up the whispers that filled the air. 

"Me too," Carmen said, crumpling the foil and throwing it away. It bunched like rocks in a pond, touching each stair before finally settling in its cosy spot. 

The pair sat onto one of the recliners with Carmen hoping Bane wouldn't watch them in their sleep. Adara and Rylen still remained on the floor, gobbling up the little food that remained in their hands. 

"I hate how this is helping you. Especially since I'm almost certain that you didn't want to rat him out because of the goodness in your heart," Zane air-quoted. 

Carmen scoffed, "I hate how I'm stuck here. Turns out, things aren't exactly going the way we want them to."

"We're not trying to find the culprit anymore. So just spit your secrets out and I won't need to waste time pining over what it is that you're hiding," Zane said.

"Careful there, you're starting to sound obsessed with me," Carmen said dryly, "There's no need for me to be an open book. If I've kept something a secret for this long, it's not without reason. You don't exactly publicise your blackmailing, do you?" 

"I can tell what you've done is much worse," Zane said. 

"If that's the case, isn't it better that you don't know what it is? Don't waste your time, Zane. I have thorns that'll prick you before you ever get close to me and my secrets," Carmen said. 

Oddly, Zane smiled, "Ah, a Rose reference."

"Good night Zane," she said before whispering, "We have a long night ahead."

"The sooner we get out, the better it is for you."

𓆩⟡𓆪

Sleep doesn't come easy. It takes some getting used to. 

When Carmen first when down the road she'd chosen, it took her two months to get back to a healthy sleep schedule. Something that jarred her stopped doing so and eventually, sleep returned. Once again, she found herself in unventured territory and knew that sleep would take some getting used to. 

Only this time, she prayed she wasn't around long enough for sleep to become normal. 

There was no clock to tell the time; only their speculation. Carmen couldn't tell whether she was stepping into insanity or not, but there was a clock, beating alongside the gun. Every sixty seconds, Carmen looked at the invisible watch on her left wrist. The time stretched on longer than she would have liked it to and she hoped that it was the same condition for Bane as well. At least then, she wouldn't have to wait past every excruciating minute. 

Zane on the other hand didn't even try. His hazel eyes stared at the ceiling for eternities and his eyes wandered between the plain black wall roof and the box that hung. Perhaps he was trying to see sense of what Rylen had been saying but his long stare told Carmen that he had no luck. 

She didn't mean it as an insult, but Zane reminded Carmen of herself in a lot of ways. It wasn't on the basis of intelligence; she had no problem in accepting that he could outsmart her any day if given enough time. However, the fact that he clung to something even when everyone was turning a blind eye to it made her respect him. She didn't fear him though; that was reserved for Bane. 

Besides, once she had some more support, there'd be nothing Zane could do, even if he did end up figuring things out. 

Let's hope it doesn't go that far, Carmen thought. 

"Is it time yet?" Zane asked, drowsily. 

"I'm no time-teller," Carmen replied simply. 

Zane leaned forward, hoping to catch Adara's attention who was sitting on the other side of the row. She too was unable to fall asleep, just like Rylen beside her. For once, Carmen had company in her misery and she wasn't sure if she wanted that. 

Adara responded with a nod and soon, Carmen and Zane moved further away from the camera. 

"So, what did you see?" Zane asked, impatient. 

"I don't know about you guys but from the angle I was standing at, I could see further into a hall, or something," Adara said.

"A hall?" Carmen question. Considering that Adara might be talking about the living room, Carmen wasn't sure there was anything useful there. 

"I mean like a corridor leading to two paths, left and right. Anyways, at the crossing, there was a clock which told the time. It's one of those digital clocks, you know, which tells the time and date and shit?" Adara asked. 

"Yes, I know what you're talking about," Zane said, trying to hurry her up. 

"Right. Well, there was also a table, odd placement and if you ask me. There was a Modem I think, again odd placement and a router," Adara said. 

Zane moved his arms quickly, urging her to speed up. 

"It was the router for the Virgin Media WiFi. My family uses the same internet provider so I can tell this for sure! I don't know if you remember, but I told you that the camera is a baby monitor. A WiFi baby monitor.

"As I said, the clock showed the date as well. It's still the 14th of October, although now it might be the 15th, I'm not sure. We must keep track of the dates, that is very important for this to work!" Adara said. 

"For what to work?" Carmen asked.

"Oh, right! Since my family also uses the same WiFi provider, I know that it is going to shut down for maintenance on the 16th of October! They said it will be down from the afternoon till late at night that way and they had warned us of this. So for those hours, the baby monitor will shut down! For those hours, Bane won't be able to watch our every move! We might have more freedom to look around and actually find a way out!" Adara exclaimed. 

"Before we all get extra excited, isn't that what we're doing right now? Planning when he's not watching?" Zane asked. Always the practical one. 

"Look at us! We're huddled in one corner, unable to look around and even inspect the damn room! I think this could really help!" Adara said, shielding her findings. 

"But if you got this information from the provider, Zane probably did too! He might not have changed the WiFi for the baby monitor before but now that it's being used for more risky things, there's no way he doesn't change the service provider! Even if we decided to go with it, it'd be a fifty-fifty chance at best!" Zane exclaimed. 

But Carmen had already thought of that. She had thought further than that. She was a firm believer that there were no problems without solutions and this problem was of a level she was more used to. It was something she could handle. 

"Changing service provider takes time. And the few moments that he is changing it, the monitor won't work and show him what we're doing," Carmen said. 

"First of all, how would we know when he's changing the provider? Secondly, it isn't long enough for us to snoop around. Thirdly, we'll never know if the new WiFi started working and once it does and he sees us, that's the end," Zane said. 

Clearly, he had wanted this to work and Carmen was going to make it. Rylen, on the other hand, seemed relaxed. The situation was heated but everyone tried to keep their voices low to maintain secrecy and the peace seemed to be enough for him. For now. 

Maybe the lack of food is making him crazy, Carmen thought to herself. 

"Just hear her out!" Adara said, hoping Carmen was going to back her up. 

"As I was saying, it takes time. It's obviously a risk that Bane is going to have to consider. What if, we make it more risky?" Carmen asked. 

"How so?" Adara asked, inching closer. 

"What if, we do something that's risky for his plan? We can act like we figured something out or get ready to break the camera, just anything. I haven't thought that far out just yet. But if we do this, he might hesitate to take the risk, which has now grown in extent. He might just decide that there is no way for us to know that the WiFi will go down and that there is no reason for him to voluntarily take a risk," Carmen said. 

"But what if the gunned dudes-" Rylen began, fear in his tone. After all, it was him that the gun was pointed at. 

"We'll have to make sure we don't go too far. Just the right amount to keep him grounded and get digging like Adara said," Carmen said.

"We're geniuses," Adara squealed silently. 

"You really are, Adara. I'm so glad you noticed that" Carmen said, making Adara smile. 

"Carmen. That's brilliant! This is exactly what we need to get out! You've done it!" Rylen exclaimed. 

Zane might be smart, but I've had years of experience. 

𓆩⟡𓆪

A/N: I'm back from exams with another chapter! The gang has made their first plan for an escape! As far as plans go, it's pretty solid, although there are many places for it to go wrong! I guess we'll wait and see. Until then, I wanna know - what would you do in their situation/ what plans would you have made to get out (if you have any clues, feel free to draw logic from them xD)
WC: 2859