Unfortunately, by the time supper was served, I had not yet escaped.

"This is practically gruel," Mac groused as he played with a blob on his tray.

All of the trays and utensils were plastic and they even monitored to make sure everyone returned them when finished. Leo told us that they started doing that once a prisoner sharpened a plastic knife into a shiv and stuck it in the throat of one of the guards trying to get away—he didn't make it. There goes my plan.

One blond guy sitting with two other pale guys a few tables down kept glancing my way.

"What's the deal with blondie?" I asked Leo. I hoped there wasn't another threat I would have to deal with.

Leo made a scoffing sound. "He'll probably try to recruit you."

"What does that mean?" I asked, even more confused. Some kind of Jehovah Witness weirdo?

"Well since this is more of a prison, as you said, he's the obligatory white-power group leader."

"Ah." Even worse.

"Yeah, they're a bunch of Mein Kampf douchebags." Judging from the dark color of Leo's skin, they probably weren't the nicest to him.

"They tried to get me into the fold, but after my outburst to get locked in solitary, they've kept their distance," Mac said.

"So just act crazy and they'll leave you alone?" I said. "Shouldn't be too hard."

Mac grinned. "You can be my cell neighbor in solitary."

We returned our plastic dishes. The lunch lady counted to make sure I had returned both my fork and knife. I would have to find another pointy object to use as a weapon. Two more armed guards joined us in the cafeteria.

"What's going on?" I asked. Were they expecting a riot?

"We're all being sent back to our cells—I mean rooms," Leo replied. "So they bring in more guards to take us to our rooms two at a time."

I looked at Mac. "Will they be sending you back to the isolated cells?"

"I don't know," he whispered. He was busy picking at the gauze taped on his arm as he stared at the new guards.

They started calling names two at a time, taking them out in pairs. The two guards from before remained while the two new guards accompanied the two prisoners to their rooms. Eight trips later and I was all alone in the cafeteria with the armed help.

Don't panic. I could feel my pulse spiking as I started to wonder why I was left by myself. They had even taken Mac with Leo. Every time I sat down on one of the table benches or chairs, I sat up a few seconds after and paced. I couldn't hold still. The doors opened and Amelia, the lady from when I first awoke, waltzed through. She walked over to me, the edges of her white lab coat swaying with her movement.

"Bailey, is it?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Come with me. I'll show you to your room."

I followed her out of the room, a guard waiting for us on the other side. We walked back down the hallway and took a left past the room I had first woken up in. There were two other guards dressed down in regular clothes and not SWAT gear standing in the next stretch of hallway. As we continued down, faces peered out the small windows to each room. Amelia stopped at a door on the very end.

"This will be your room." She produced a ring of keys and unlocked the door. She motioned for me to go inside, but I remained where I was standing.

It was now or never.

I twisted and bolted off, turning the nearest corner only to run into another guard. I shoved her to the side and her arms flailed as she fell backward from the momentum. I could hear shoes slapping against the linoleum behind me, but I kept sprinting. There was an exit sign at the end of the corridor, all I had to do was reach the door. Throwing my hands forward, I slammed into the bar latch.

But the door didn't open so I ended up smashing my face into the metal. This is how bugs must feel when they hit a windshield. I whirled around to see Amelia and two guards looming toward me. I felt something trickle onto my lips so I wiped underneath my nose with the back of my hand. Blood. The impact must have made my nose bleed.

I moved to keep running down the next hallway, but I had reached a dead end. Empty vending machines and worn chairs surrounded me. The two guards raised their bulky handguns, but it was Amelia who stepped forward. I used my shirt to dab at the fresh blood running down my face.

"Please don't make this harder than it has to be."

"There's no way you're going to shoot me—if immune people are so valuable." I had no way of knowing this, but I couldn't show them just how scared I was.

"We won't shoot you with bullets, no. These guards are holding tranquilizer guns." She huffed impatiently. "Now you can either come with us willingly or we can hit you with a dose so you can no longer run."

I hung my head. There was no escape at the moment. I'd rather get locked up with my consciousness than be drugged up again.

"Fine," I gritted out.

One of the guards came up to be and grabbed my arm. They escorted me back to the cell Amelia was trying to stuff me into.

"See, we can be reasonable," Amelia said as she closed the door in my face.

I heard the lock click and watched her walk away down the hallway with the two guards. I ran my hands through my hair. This wasn't going to be easy. I shuffled to the tiny window past the beds on the right side, but it too had metal bars. My nose had stopped its mild bleed at the expense of my previously white shirt. It was now spotted with deep red blotches.

I don't know how I didn't notice it before, but there was a woman lying on the second bed closest to the window. She was wearing a fresh white shirt and she was turned away from me facing the curtain divider. This must have been a recovery room for patients. I cleared my throat, but the woman didn't stir. She was breathing steadily. Maybe she was doped up.

"Hello?"

No answer, but her breathing picked up. She had to be awake.

"So looks like I'm your new roommate, Bailey."

Still nothing.

"And you are?..."

Her body continued to rise and fall with her breaths.

"Fine. I'm just going to talk until you say something. So I'm new here. Never been imprisoned before, can't say I enjoy it. I take it you're immune too. Sucks to be us, huh?"

"Dear God, kid. Shut up," growled the lady in a thick southern accent.

She got up and turned to me, her brown eyes narrowed and glaring. Her bare feet hit the linoleum with a splat. She was tan—not as a result of being outside, but just as her natural skin color. She had to be somewhere in her forties—she did call me kid after all. There were bandages wrapped around her arm and a distinct bulge under her shirt around the rib cage area.

"You injured?"

"What'cha think?"

"Those from the tests?"

She smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. It was sardonic and nasty. "You'll be sportin' your own soon enough."

"I'm starting to see why you didn't have a roommate."

"Had one once, Irene, she hung herself with the sheets from your bed on the ceiling fan. Although, they've clean 'em since then," she snickered.

I sucked in a deep breath. I wonder if I could apply for room re-assignment?

Wait, Irene? Roy's wife?

"Tell me about Irene. Did she ever mention a husband or kids?" I asked, ignoring the lady's attempt at rattling me.

She stopped her snickering and shrugged. "Don't know, don't care."

"How long ago did she?..." I couldn't say it.

Roy was looking for a dead woman. He would be so heartbroken when he found out.

"'bout three weeks. Couldn't take it no more."

"Take what? The tests? Being locked up?"

She shrugged again and I clenched my teeth. I wanted to take her by the shoulders and shake the answers out of her. She was being super uncooperative for someone who was being held against their will.

"You know, if you'd help me out a little, maybe we could come up with an escape or way out?"

"You think you're the only one whose thought 'bout escapin'? Trust me, people have tried and failed many times."

"So what, you going to stay in here until you die of old age or until your injuries finally kill you?" I jerked my chin at her wrappings.

She scowled. "Every new person they bring in has the same idea. Rally the troops and attack. But guess what kid, it won't work. So do yourself a favor and keep your head down."

She flopped back down on the single bed and rolled away again, dismissing me. Escaping was never going to happen unless we all worked together. You'd think a common goal would unite people, but this lady and the white-power fools from the cafeteria seemed bent on alienation.

I walked away from the window to my bed. I lifted up the blanket and sheets to check for nasty stains and bugs like I was at a sketchy hotel. If what the other lady had said was true, Irene killed herself in here. Obviously they would have cleaned the sheets and bedding, but my terrible roommate had made me paranoid.

Seeing no other option, I laid down on top of the blankets and stared up at the ceiling waiting for sleep to take me.