Escape Artists

by TopHatRose

Running. Running as fast as I can. The shattered remains of one of the white wall panels lay on the floor behind me, and a hole- just big enough for me to slip through- gapes open, with shattered edges. I'm breathing in ragged gasps, my shiny white boots slamming against the cold, unforgiving metal floor. My grip on my portal gun, the gun that has saved me countless time over the endless testing holds steady. But, it's starting to slow me down, and I most definitely do NOT want that. I toss it behind me, hoping it costs them a hell of a lot of money if it breaks. It's the least I can do.

If I tripped and fell now, all hope of escaping would be lost. I skid around a corner and add an extra burst of speed. I was never a particularly talented runner, but the springs in the heels of my boots propel me forward, allowing me to go at at least three times my normal speed. I can already hear the chairs scraping, and scientists shouting at one another far behind me from here.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Th-the test subject- she's escaped!"

"Then what are you doing SITTING HERE?! GO AFTER HER!"

"Yes, sir, um, sorry sir!"

Red lights flare just past the corner of my eye. Alarm bells scream. The intercom sputters to life above my head.

"Test subject No. 268 has escaped the testing area, I repeat, test subject No. 268 has escaped the testing area. Contain her immediately! This is a CODE RED! You have all trained for this, you know what to do."

I'm almost there! Directly in the hallway in front of me, less than fifty meters ahead, there's a lift. Not the ones at the end of the testing chambers that I can recognize easily, a real lift. One that will go to the surface. When I get there, It will go up, and up, and up, and I will finally, FINALLY be free.

I can hardly wait.

The distance between me and the freedom that I've waited for so, so long narrows. Forty meters.

The wall panels in front of the lift begin grinding together.

Thirty meters.

The panels inch ever closer together, but there's still enough room to squeeze through. My legs feel as if someone is sticking knives into them. My arms are pretty much the same. The constant testing has taken its toll on my body. Adrenaline pumps through my veins. My heart beats loudly in my ears. Bum-bum. Bum-bum. Bum-bum. I can hear loud footsteps behind me. A scientist. One that oversees the tests. Any other day I would probably walk up and slap some sense into his ugly face, but now is not the time.

"HEY! STOP RIGHT NOW OR I"LL SHOOT!"

Shoot? What in the hell is that supposed to me...oh no. NO! WAIT WAIT NO DON'T SHOOT- OOOW!

I trip and go flying, and when I sprawl to the ground, one arm is pinned painfully below me. With shaking hands, I stand up and frantically feel all over my neck where the shooting pain was. Its not a bullet. If my worst suspicions are confirmed, the I am in very, very big trouble.

I was right. Not bullets, but tranquilizer. Even a turret would have been better than this. At least that's quick, and not... especially painful. What awaits for me is far, far worse. Never ending testing. I know some who would call it a fate worse than death. My vision starts darkening around the edges, everything blurring into an abstract mishmash of shapes and sounds. I crumple to the floor. My eyelids grow heavy, and my breathing and heartbeat slow.

With my last snips of consciousness, I see the panels slide completely shut less than ten meters away, destroying my hopes of being free.

Everything turns black, and I am falling down a long tunnel, infinitely-

"GAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

I scream and shoot straight up in bed, clutching at my throat. Letting out a breath of air with an audible whoosh, I close my eyes and sink my head back into the pillow. A dream! It was all just an... exceptionally terrifying dream, but, nonetheless, a dream. But wait a minute. I slooowly open one blue eye and look around. Something was most definitely very, very wrong.

I don't know where I am.

I throw the covers off me, and...oh no. I'm wearing an orange jumpsuit. Just great. Okay. That's fine. Nothing to worry about. I just, um, woke up in a place I don't recognize, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, everything's fine-OKAY, THAT'S NOT WORKING, THIS IS VERY, VERY BAD. Before I can get into full-blown panic mode though, there's a rather loud knocking sound on the door.

"Hullo? Anyone in there?" The whoever-it-was knocked again. "Hellooo?"

"Um, I'll be there in a second! Just hang on!" Huh. My voice has a slight accent, kind of like the one the...person/thing/I-don't-even-know at the door has. So that's...nice, I guess? I don't even know at this point. I find a pair of enormous, googly black-framed glasses on the counter and put them on. Wow, that's better. At the very, very least, my vision's clear. That's always a bonus. There's a mirror on the wall, and I rush over for just a quick look.

...Well. Apparently, I have red hair that looks a bit like I stuck my finger into an electrical outlet. My glasses are enormous and make my eyes look all googly. I have about a million freckles dusting my nose and cheeks, and a round face. I'm unusually tall for twelve years old- about five feet, seven inches- and skinny, that's a plus too. Enormous long arms, legs and feet, bonus. This just gets better and better. I pull on the rather strange-looking white boots that were at the foot of the bed, and tie back my frizzy red hair with a piece of elastic.

"Um, not to rush you, but we're in...pretty big trouble, so it would be absolutely tremendous if you could just open the door. Riiiiight...now."

"Alright, alright, keep your pants on, I'm coming."

I walk over to the door, tapping the toes of my boots so they stay on. I open the door slowly.

"Look, mister, if you could just tell me where I am that would b-OHMYGODYOU'REAROBOTGEDAWAYFROMME!"

We scream at the same time and I simultaneously leap away from the door, trip over my boots, and land on my butt on the carpeted floor. I stare up at the small, spherical, blue-eyed robot that just came into my room via a rail that I hadn't even noticed before on the ceiling.

"GAAH! ...Oh, um, sorry, miss! Are you...alright? You look... great, by the way. Very...not dead. Alive. Unlike almost everybody else, heh. We'll just check that off the list. Tick. Not dead."

This is surreal. Only natural that a goddamn robot would come into the room, I think. What else? I haul myself to my feet. "Where am I? What is this place? Where are my parents? Do I even have parents? Where do I go? What do I d-"

I am interrupted (naturally) by an impossibly loud grating sound, kind of like if someone who was incredibly immature had gotten two battleships and were smashing them together. Repeatedly. It's not in this room, obviously...

I stare at the robot hanging from the ceiling incredulously. "Are those sounds coming from outside? What's going on out there?!"

" Look, miss, everything is kind of...not good out there, and we need to get out of here right now. I was looking around for test subjects, the kinds that had not, um...stopped being alive. I think there are a few more, but we'll look for them later, no worries! Um. So, how are you feeling? ...You don't look particularly brain-damaged. And, and, you can talk! Great for you! That's a plus, check that off the list too."

"Er...great. So. How do we get out of here?"

He immediately starts talking. "Well, I am going to do a manual override on the wall out there, yeah? Then, that's where you come in. You're gonna love this. You are gonna go through that hole, in the wall, that I will make. By smashing this room against the wall."

"WHAT?!"

"...And we'll meet up ahead, right? And, there's a..um, very special gun that I need you to find, one that makes holes. Not bullet holes, but- well, you'll see what I mean when we get there. Cheers!"

He raises himself through a black metal hatch in the ceiling. I think I'm probably cracking up. There's absolutely no way in heaven or hell that this could be real.

"You might want to hold onto something. Word of advice,up to you, this rail has seen better days."

There is another ear-splitting grinding sound and the room lists to the right. It starts moving, and it feels kind of like zip lining, except without a harness, or helmet, or any protective gear of any kind. The room lists to one side, and I scream and stumble, arms flailing, and latch onto the clothes-hanging pole in the closet as if my life depends upon it. Which it probably does.

"ARE YOU ALL RIGHT DOWN THERE? CAN YOU HEAR ME? I HEARD SCREAMING, ER, JUST WANTED TO CHECK. UM, JUST TO GET OUR STORIES STRAIGHT, IF ANYONE ASKS, LAST TIME YOU CHECKED EVERYONE LOOKED VERY MUCH ALI-," he shouts through the ceiling, just as the wall next to me crumbles. I can't see it, but I can sure as hell hear it. Ouch. The smashing sounds drown out all of whatever he's nattering on about. The wall in front of me gives a great shuddering groan, and with small popping sounds, all the nails go flying off, and the wall sloowly peels away. When I look outside...oh. Oh my god. OHMYGODIDON'TLIKEHEIGHTSGETMEOUTOFHERE! I'm too utterly shocked to make a sound, much less screaming. There is an enormous, yawning abyss below the container. All around me, there are dozens upon dozens of other containers, in various states of decomposition. They're almost all empty, and I can actually see some that look...not quite as demolished as the other ones, so I can assume that there are probably, maybe some other test subjects there. I wish I hadn't looked down, now my head is filled with images of what it would look like if I accidentally fell out of the ride, and went tumbling down, down, down, down- Nononononono don't even go there don't think about it don't think about it don't think about it-

"Um, I'm gonna have to perform a manual override on this wall! Could get a tiny bit tricky, really do hold onto something this time!"

The horrible screaming death trap suddenly slides backwards on the rail, and without warning, starts rushing forward, picking up speed until it rams into the wall. The wall cracks, moans, and finally collapses the pressure. The room creaks and grinds to a halt. I open my eyes hesitantly, and find that I have squeezed myself into a corner of the closet, curled up in the fetal position. I haul myself to my feet, and my legs feel like Jell-O. I really DO-FRICKIN'-NOT like heights. At all.

"Well, there we are," The robot reemerges from the ceiling. "Now, I'll be honest, you are...probably not fit for these particular types of tests. Very difficult. How old are you, anyway? Seven? Eight?"

"I'm thirteen."

He looks surprised. "Really? Well. Learn something new everyday, I suppose. So. Go on, I'll meet you up ahead, in a few hours. Off you pop. Remember, you're trying to find a portal gun! One that makes holes!"

"Alright, thanks! See you up ahead!"

And with that, I leap out of the container onto wonderful, amazing, beautiful solid ground. Yeesh. This place looks like a bomb hit it. Dozens of pieces of plaster and metal piping litter the floor. Vines coat almost everything in a coat of vegetation. I turn around, to ask if I'm the last one left, or if there are any other test subjects, but he has already gone. Only the empty container remains. Ah well, I'll ask him later. It can wait. Oh, look over there, that's a big piece of glass! I walk over and peer down into it. There's a room down there, one that looks really strangely familiar. ...Alright. No more stalling.

Let's do this.

I tap the glass lightly with the heel of my boot, and it shatters, with a loud tinkling noise. Jumping down into the room, I am careful not to cut myself on any broken glass. I am ready.

Maybe things are looking up.

'Ello, guv! TopHatRose here! I'm gonna be honest, I have never actually written fanfiction before, this is my first time. I am excited and honored to be here, and I hope you guys like, read, review, and favorite my story! If you feel like I could improve in some areas, please give me suggestions. Go on. Just click that little review button riiiight...there. You know you want to.

A few things: I am in the fandoms of Invader Zim, Doctor Who, My Little Pony; Friendship Is Magic, and last but definitely not least, Portal! I absolutely despise pairings, not because they're yaoi or yuri, but because they're almost always horrifically OOC. Another another thing: TheSkepKitty, if you are reading this, I just wanna say I am you're biggest fan! I've read all of your MSTs (yes, even My Immortal and ITS MY LIFE!), and I can't wait to see your site on Tumblr! Cheers!

~TopHatRose

PS; flames are NOT, I repeat, NOT appreciated! DON'T be a FALMER TROLL!1!11!111