Chapter 21: Operation Escape

"What?!" Charlie sputtered. "Beatrice, I can't do that!"

Beatrice reached over and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"We only have two choices, Charlie." She said. "We can take it out and leave, or you're going to have to go back home. If I leave with it still in me, it'll set off an alarm the second I leave the building. Then we'll both be in jail."

Charlie pushed her hand away.

"Beatrice, I'm not a doctor! What if I hurt you?" Charlie said.

Beatrice gave her a very serious look.

"Oh, it's going to hurt."

"Beatrice!"

"Shhh!" Beatrice shushed her again. "You need to decide fast! The guard is going to finish his round and be back by my cell any minute."

This can't be a good idea... Charlie thought. But then again, what good ideas have I had lately? I've already made it this far, and I can't just leave her in prison while her mother is out there planning who knows what...

Ah, fuck it!

"Okay, I'll do it." Charlie said.

Beatrice nodded and offered her upper thigh thigh. In the middle of it there was a thin, pink line, about an inch long. It hadn't healed yet, and was slightly scabbed over.

Charlie swallowed and pulled a small knife from her untility belt.

"Hold on a second—" Beatrice said. She reached over to the bed behind her, and grabbed the pillow. She bit down on the end of it before giving Charlie a nod.

Charlie nodded back, already feeling faint.

She took the edge of the knife and carefully opened the cut back up. Blood immediately began to run down Beatrice's leg and pool on the floor.

It felt so wrong.

Her gaze shot up to Beatrice. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but she otherwise was very still and very quiet.

Charlie took one of her trembling fingers and gently probed the wound. She could feel Beatrice's muscles seize up and twitch every time she moved. It felt like poking your finger into raw meat. Well, Charlie realized it pretty much was poking your finger into raw meat.

Beatrice began to make quiet, muffled sounds, and Charlie tried to hurry up while still being careful.

Something hard brushed her finger, and Charlie gently tried to scoop it out, hoping it was the tracker and something that was supposed to be in there.

After a few seconds that seemed to stretch on without end, she got it out, and held it out for Beatrice to see. Though it was covered in blood, Charlie could still see it blinking softly.

Beatrice nodded and spat the pillow out of her mouth. She looked incredibly pale, and her eyes were glassy.

There was what seemed like a lot of blood. It was running down her leg, smeared on the floor, and covering Charlie's hand. Charlie wasn't sure how much you could lose before you were in trouble.

"Here, cut a strip off of this bedsheet and tight it around my thigh." Beatrice instructed.

Charlie nodded and did as she was told, tying in a tight knot around her thigh. Beatrice whimpered quietly.

"Are you okay?" Charlie asked.

"I'm fine." Beatrice said, though she trembled a bit as she stood up. "Get the hoverboard and the teleporter ready."

Charlie nodded and started to unfold the hoverboard. Meanwhile Beatrice shoved her pillows under the bedsheet, and put the tracker underneath as well.

"Oldest trick in the book." Beatrice said. "Maybe they won't notice I'm gone until wake up call."

Then, the both of them climbed onto the hoverboard, Beatrice taking the head position. As soon as it was ready to, Charlie transported them out of the building, out into the night.

Beatrice flew fast, faster than Charlie had ever seen her fly before. Charlie held tightly onto her waist, feeling the gentle tremble of her muscles when she moved. Charkue didn't know if it was from the blood loss or from the adrenaline, but either way she was worried for her.

"Where are we going?" Charlie shouted to her.

"As far away from that prison as possible." Beatrice shouted back.

Luckily Beatrice had a better idea of how to use the hoverboard than Charlie, so they were finally able to be invisible as they traveled.

They traveled for hours, until the sun started to peek over the edge of the horizon in a pinkish glow. Charlie had no idea what city they were in now, or even if they were in the same state.

At the sight of morning, Beatrice quickly spotted a tiny, abandoned hospital in the distance, and they agreed to stay there for the time being.

They came down into a busted window, and walked into the inner most part of the building, a small office.

It smelled musty inside, and the air felt damp in Charlie's lungs.

"We should try to get your handcuffs off." Charlie said.

"Okay." Beatrice said. "If we get the collar off first, I can probably break the chain myself."

Charlie looked at the blinking device on her neck and frowned.

"How do we get it off?"

"The access panel is at the back." Beatrice said. "Open it up and tell me what you see, and I'll guide you through it."

Béatrice sat down, cross legged on the crumbling office carpet. Charlie got on her knees behind her and pushed her hair out of the way. She saw the small seam at the back.

She pulled the knife from her belt (which was still, nauseatingly stained with Beatrice's blood) and used it to forcibly pry the panel open.

"What do you see?" Beatrice asked.

"Uh—" Charlie nervously glanced over the array of electronic bits. "There's some blinking lights, a red wire, a blue wire, a microchip thingy..."

"Oh, well that's an easy one. just rip the microchip out." Beatrice said.

"Okay."

Charlie wedged the tip of the knife underneath it, and forcefully pried it out. The collar sputtered with an array of lights and an audible crackle, and then died.

Charlie held her breath for a moment.

"Did it work?"

Beatrice stood slowly and shakily up. Charlie thought she still looked a bit pale and weak.

"Let's see." She said.

Charlie watched as the chains on the cuffs ripped apart, clattering to the floor in individual links. Charlie started to celebrate, but the sight of Beatrice stopped her.

She had doubled over onto a nearby desk, breathing heavily and clutching her head.

"Beatrice!"

Charlie ran over and grabbed her shoulders.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes." Beatrice huffed. "I'm just ...exhausted. It must be from the collar. I just need to rest."

"Come on." Charlie said, offering her an arm. "Let's find a bed so you can get some sleep."

"But what if the authorities show up here looking for us?" Beatrice said, stepping away. "We can't get too comfortable."

"I'll keep watch while you rest." Charlie offered. In reality, Charlie knew there wasn't much she could do on her own against an army of agents, but she knew she needed to reassure Beatrice.

Beatrice gave her a worried glance. "Charlie..."

"I broke you out of a high security prison, didn't I?"  Charlie said. "Plus, what good are you gonna be if they do show up and you can barely take two steps without getting out of breath?"

Beatrice sighed, visibly deflating in front of her.

"Fine. I guess you're right."

Charli surveyed the rooms until she found the least disgusting one. Most of the windows were broken, and a lot of the beds had become moldy as a result, not to mention covered with bits of glass.

Mutch to Charlie's disappointment, Beatrice refused to let her carry her to the bed.

"You wouldn't be able to pick me up anyway." She had declared. "I'm too heavy."

Still, Charlie tucked her into the bed and goofily kissed her on the forehead.

"Sleep tight!" She said.

Beatrice blushed a bright red before grumbling and turning away.

Charlie sat by her until she fell asleep, just to make sure she was going to sneak off and try and make plans or work on some gadgets when Charlie wasn't looking. It didn't take long at all and she was out, so Charlie knew she must be truly exhausted.

As Charlie left the room, she glanced down at her hands which were still stained with blood. It had long since began to turn brown, and started to dry in the sides of her nails and the fine lines on her hands.

She blanched at the sight of it and headed to the first bathroom she could find. Luckily the water was still on, though it came out bright orange, meaning the pipes had rusted.

Still, she stuck her hands under, and used the ancient, dried up husk that she assumed had once been a bar of soap to try and clean herself up a little bit.

It was surprisingly hard to get it all off, and Charlie briefly wondered how anyone had ever gotten away with murder.

Afterwards she headed back to the room where Beatrice was still fast asleep. She sat down in the cracked plastic chair across from her and trailed her gaze across the small gap between the window and the drawn curtain.

She was already dreading Beatrice waking up.

Because when Beatrice woke up, she knew she would have to break the news to her about her mother.