Phoenix

“Okay, who needs to go first?” I heard the Third Guard ask once we were back into the truck. I was still in a lot of pain, but I didn’t speak up. The others were weaker than me, they could go first.

“Me,” I heard Leslie say weakly from the corner. The Third Guard went over to her and started treating her burns.

I hissed in pain, my back still burning. I didn’t want to make a fuss, but damn it hurt like hell. “If you needed to be helped, you should’ve spoken up,” I heard Evan say next to me.

I turned to face him. “I don’t need help,” I said.

Evan smirked. He reached a hand from his cage to mine and set it on my back. I let out a low hiss. It hurt.

“You need help,” he said. “And as much as I hate that bastard of a Guard, he can help you.” Then he pulled back his hand and said louder, “Oi! Guard. Her next.”

The Third Guard looked up at him and then to me. He nodded, then tied off the bandage he was putting on Leslie’s arms. He picked up the burn ointment and bandages he had, then walked over to me. I narrowed my eyes, remembering how he wouldn’t help me, and how, earlier, he wouldn’t tell me an answer that wasn’t confusing. I frowned at him.

“Lift up the back of your shirt,” he asked me.

I did as he asked, not speaking to him. “Jesus Christ,” he said, looking at my back. “I’m surprised you’re not dead,” he said, starting to put some of the burn ointment on my burns.

I laughed dryly. “Me too.”

He leaned closer to my cage, wrapping the gauze around me. “I have a plan,” he whispered in my ear.

My ear twitched, surprised by the close proximity. “For what?”

“Escape,” he said softly.

My breath caught in my throat and I looked at him. “Are you serious?” I asked him, shocked.

He nodded. “I’ll come back later to tell you how,” he said, tying up the gauze around my back.

I nodded, and he pulled away, going to the next person.

“What was that about?” Evan asked suspiciously.

I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said.

Could he seriously want to help me escape? And the others, of course. I mean, there’s no way he’d want me to leave without them. But how did he want to help me escape? And why? SO many questions….

I was still thinking as the Second Guard came around with our daily ration of food and water.

“Hope that hurt, bitch,” the Ringmaster said, sneering at me.

“F*ck off,” I said to the Ringmaster, too immersed in my thinking to come up with a better insult.

The Ringmaster sneered at me again before walking away. Then the Second guard handed me my “food” and water. I started eating, now realizing how hungry I was.

I finished eating quickly, then waited as everyone else fell asleep. I was thinking as I waited.

The past can hurt. A lot. I sighed, remembering my parent’s death. It used to haunt me while I dreamed, but I hadn’t dreamed for years, aside from when I dreamt of fire the other night.

I used to think, that if I had been stronger, I could’ve saved them. But I wasn’t strong enough. I felt a tear fall out of my eye, falling onto the cold metal bottom of my cage.

“Nix?” I heard the Third Guard ask. I looked towards the entrance of the truck, and he stood in the doorway.

“I’m awake,” I whispered back.

He walked over to me, and stood on the opposite side of the cage. “I found what I was looking for, and I’m going to leave now. I want to take you with me,” he said.

I blinked. “And the other Mutants, right? I can’t leave without them,” I said slowly.

He looked at me with wide eyes. “No, I’m not even sure if my plan for getting you out of here will work, let alone trying to take others with us,” he said, frowning.

I thought for a second. “Then I’m not going,” I said, making up my mind. I couldn’t leave everyone else behind, to live in this hell. The Ringmaster would only find someone else to take his anger out on if I was gone. And that person wouldn’t last as long as me.

“Nix, you have to go. You’re going to die here,” he said sternly.

I shook my head. “I’ve survived for thirteen, almost fourteen years, and I don’t intend to die anytime soon,” I said.

He shook his head. “I found what I was looking for, along with Government orders not to let you live past eighteen,” he said angrily.

I widened my eyes. They ordered to kill me. “Why?” I asked.

He looked away. “I don’t know.” His piercing grey eyes met mine once again as he spoke. “But you have to leave with me,” he said.

“I can’t leave them behind,” I said, my resolve wavering slightly.

He sighed. “We’ll come back for them,” he conceded. “We can’t take on the Guards by ourselves long enough to free all of them,” he explained.

I looked around the truck, trying to decided what to do. My eyes fell upon the others. They were scarred, and many on the brink of death. If I left, how many would die before I was able to return?

“How many would die before we returned?” I asked sadly.

The Third Guard frowned. “I can’t say, but we have to leave this place. Do you even know when your own birthday is?” he asked me.

I thought back. The days tended to blur together, but I knew it was soon. I looked at him blankly. “Two days from now,” he said sharply. “Two days until the Ringmaster is allowed to kill you. Two days until he’s going to make you suffer as you die.”

I frowned. I didn’t want to die, especially not a painful death. I looked down, at my feet, clad in Government Issue white shoes.

“You have to come with me,” the Third Guard said, his voice softening.

I looked back up at the Third Guard. His grey eyes pierced into mine, pleading me to come with him. I opened my mouth to protest, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to die, and I wanted to be free. “Okay,” I said quietly.

The Third Guard smiled. “Okay. Here’s my plan. We’ll wait until the Show tomorrow,” he started. I listened closely as he told me the rest of his plan to escape.