As if her confession had seemingly shattered my brain, I began to sputter a series of strange and completely uncorrelated words. "Uh- wait, no. No. No. Um-well, not possible. What?"

Joan waved a cuffed hand in front of my face. "Houston, we have a problem. I think you broke her."

OSCFs were designed to entrap and control burgeoning weapons of mass destruction. Crime analysts, engineers, architects and politicians alike came together to create a labyrinth of complex buildings, armed with state of the art artillery and the most efficient alarm systems. With its intricacies weaved together like a spider's web, a model OSCF was an impenetrable force that did not let any unauthorized personnel in and certainly did not let anyone out. One probably had an easier time sneaking out of Guantanamo Bay than they did out of Garrenbuck. 

I never even heard about someone breaking out of an OSCF or attempting to break out of an OSCF on the news. I didn't doubt that the occasional idiot may have tried something back in the 60s, when they first instituted the OSCFs but that was a different time when things such as blood tests and aptitude trials sounded like foreign concepts. It's been almost thirty years since the first OSCF was built in Texas and no one had ever successfully broke out.

"Are you suicidal?" I finally asked. The question was not meant to be outrageous rather I was actually concerned that her extended time spent in Garrenbuck had left her mentally unhinged.

She rolled her eyes. "No. Believe it or not, I actually want to live and that's why we have to leave."

"Think about it Phe." Esther pushed her tray to the side and folded her hands on the table. "Only one-third of those who participate in the Aptitude Trials actually survive. That means statistically, only one or two of us will make it out alive."

"And who knows what's going to happen in the Otherworld," Joan stared at blankly at her empty tray. For once, her tone was completely devoid of any humor. "For all we know there could be nothing there. Just a bunch of skeletons with their teeth bared at one another."

"It could be more than that!" I insisted for my own sake. I had to believe that there was something more on the other side, that the government wouldn't just torture us for any significant amount of time only to drop us off in a barren wasteland with no hopes of survival.

"We don't know that," said Ana, "The only thing I know for certain about the Otherworld is that I know nothing but I know what exists beyond these walls. Freedom."

"What are we going to do out there, Ana? We can't go back to our old lives."

It's not like I could grab a ride from a stranger on the side of the road, still dressed in my uniform, and expect to be welcomed back into the open arms of my community. As far as they were concerned, Ophelia Georgette Macintyre, the insignificant daughter of an English Professor and a Sunday School teacher had died on November 12th, 2080. Seeing me would be like seeing a ghost.

"We'd have to start new ones."

New lives meant new names, new identities and constant traveling from one place to another in order to avoid suspicion. Sure, we might have been able to survive Garrenbuck but that didn't mean we possessed any real life skills that would help us on the streets. We'd never be able to trust anyone as the fear of being found out and sent back to Garrenbuck slowly drove us to the brink of sanity. What sort of life would that be, to constantly be afraid of your own shadow?

"And then what are we going to do in a year or two when Joan begins to sprout fur and Esther develops a thirst for blood." I said.

Ana gritted her teeth. "We'll figure it out, just like every vampire and werewolf that existed on this planet before the war."

"Phe," Esther interjected, noting the rising tension between both Ana and I. "It's your choice, we can't force you."

Ana scoffed at that.

"But your ability, whatever it is, is only growing and what do you think they will do to you once it gets out of control?"

A lump formed in my throat as I thought of the rumors circling Garrenbuck, the ones about preemie Others being sedated and stuffed into metal tubes. None of the rumors mentioned death but then, again, these were just rumors. No one actually knew what happened to that werewolf boy, it was hearsay.

"I'm not saying that I'll do it but if I agree, what would you have me do."

Ana disclosed her entire plan in one breath. She had been planning to break out of Garrenbuck ever since Paxton's arrival. The two of them were supposed to wait until the very last month of testing and then split before the send off date. But things got complicated when Ana saw her former classmates- Joan and Esther, sitting in the canteen one day. The plan was quickly amended and the four were steadfastly approaching the big day when I was thrown into the mix. Ana did not plan on bringing me into the plan even after she first invited me to sit with them. But with my newfound ability, Ana thought we actually stood a chance of making it out alive.

It was flawless plan, I told her, except for one minor detail. I couldn't control my new ability.

"I don't even know what triggers it," I told them.

"Well if you wanna make it out of Garrenbuck alive, you're gonna have to figure it out by the end of the week."

"So your whole plan is contingent on me controlling my freak ability? What was your plan before you met me?" I asked, surely if she had been planning this for months she would have worked out the logistics sooner.

Joan elbowed Esther in the ribs. "The princess over here is somewhat of an IT genius and Ana's cousin, Paxton, used to work on cars with his Uncle Mario? Marco?"

"His name was Uncle Matteo," Ana saved her squandering friend, "he showed him how to hotwire a car."

"Right," Joan snapped her fingers as if she suddenly remembered, "so those two were going to be the brains of the Operation, with Esther busting the control panel that controls gate and Paxton stealing a transfer bus while Ana and I would be the brauns."

That "plan" didn't seem like to well-thought out strategic blueprint to their freedom but rather a hodge-podge of good intentions. While I did not doubt Ana's abilities within the realm of testing, I didn't see it possible for her to stand her ground against a highly-skilled squadron of armed G.S soldiers. And while I had never seen Joan fight, I doubted she could be of any use without being a fully fledged werewolf. For any one of them to survive they needed somebody who possessed an ability far beyond human control. That was me, their saving grace and secret weapon.

It was suicide. I was smart enough to realize that. But the longer I surveyed my options, the more I realized that death was inevitable. Either I died trying to escape or I died in the Aptitude Trials or I died in the Otherworld. The point was, if there was even the smallest chance that I could have a life outside of Garrenbuck, I had to take it.

"So you're giving me a week to figure out this ability?" A Mona Lisa type smile graced Ana's face as both Esther and Joan released the breath they had been holding.

"We could start on it now," Joan wiggled around in her seat like a hyper-active puppy being shown their favorite chew toy.

Esther, the more sensible of the two, seemed less enthused. "What if she gets caught? That's insane."

"Why do you think I suggested it," Joan nudged her shoulder and offered her a wolfish smile.

Of all my friends, I expected Ana to brush off Joan's plan as another crackpot idea that would ultimately risk our lives but when I looked to her, she managed a straight face and sat back on the bench as if she were actually considering it. "The canteen is pretty busy, there's a chance the guards might not be able to tell who's who."

"And if they can?" I was beginning to sweat a little. It was easy for them to make such a suggestion but it was my life they were toying with. I would be the one facing the consequences and that wasn't necessarily a price I was willing to pay to quench their curiosity.

"They weren't able to figure out that it was you last time." Ana said.

The words dripped from my tongue like sour molasses. "It just happened yesterday, give them some time."

I began to panic as I remembered the various security cameras hidden throughout Garrenbuck, one of which undoubtedly caught the whole fiasco on film. As I thought about it, I realized it was only a matter of time before the Commander reviewed the right tape and then ordered to his raging guard dogs to attack me. I couldn't survive solitary confinement, the mere thought of being trapped in a cramped metal, tube was enough to bring my lunch back up. Ana said those condemned to solitary confinement were stuck in those tubes until the send off date, meaning I would be trapped for a whole month.

As I began to spiral, I lost all connection with those seated beside me. I blinked. That's how fast it occurred. One blink and the canteen was shrouded in darkness.

Ana grabbed my hand and shook me free from reprieve. I blinked again, clearing the fog from my mind and the lights returned as if nothing happened.  The canteen was far to quiet for my liking and I was suddenly gripped with the paralyzing fear that they were all looking at me, pointing me out as the culprit. But when I gingerly glanced around the room, I found that most of my peers were simply stunned to silence.

"Well that's one way to get it done." Joan muttered under her breath, not quite meeting my stare.

"So it's triggered by fear?" Said Esther.

"I'm guessing this ability, whatever it is, must take a lot of energy. It makes sense if it's triggered by strong emotions like fear or anger." She stared at me with a burning curiosity which made me feel not unlike a science project.

The guards quickly escorted us back to the barracks after it was brought to our attention that all testing sessions would be canceled for the later part of the day. It appeared, as they told us, a dangerous threat had breached Garrenbuck's security. They addressed the crowd of prisoners with a wary eye, sizing up each individual as if the culprit would simply jump out and claim responsibility. Fat chance. Once we were safely locked away in our cells, I began to reconcile with the discovery of my new ability. Ignoring Ana's invasive stare, I flopped onto my stiff cot and closed my eyes, finding refuge in my dreams for the first time since my arrival at Garrenbuck.

**So Phe might be Ana's golden ticket out of Garrenbuck, that is if she manages to keep things under control. And we know unlike Ana, Phe isn't exactly a sealed vault when it comes to concealing emotions. I know a lot of you were surprised by the twist in the last chapter but you will still get to experience a part of the Aptitude Trials with Ana's plan. I read some comments where readers now have to rethink their original theory about the direction of the story. I'm curious to know what your previous theories were and how/if they have changed?

Thank you guys for all the love!
XOXO,
Ro.**