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“How exactly was this a good idea again?!”

“I’m working on it,” Grant said, leaning further into the side of the ditch.

“WELL COULD YOU WORK ON IT A LIT-”

Before John could finish however a firm hand clamped over his mouth, agitated voices and footsteps heard in the distance. The two of them shrunk into the tall grasses the best they could, and it was only after the voices had receded that Grant took his hand away. John glowered at the dark haired boy across from him, blowing a tuft of his own tan hair out his eye. “You are really-”

“Cruisin’ for bruisin’, I know I know,” Grant said with a sigh. “Better a bruising from you than them,” he said, and it was his turn to fix a glare on John. The other boy simply grumbled, and despite some of the words being far less than flattering (Grant was pretty sure he had heard a reference to his mother in there), he just didn’t want to deal with it right now. Closing his eyes, he let his head fall onto the side of the ditch with a soft thump. “....we really stepped in it this time, didn’t we?”

“What’s this ‘we’ business?” John snapped, but a few moments later Grant heard the grass rustling as he laid down too. “.... but yeah, I’m not quite sure how we’re getting out of this one. Nothing like a stupid a** jailbreak to bring in the new year, eh?”

Grant smiled, but there was little humor in the expression. Opening his eyes he took in the night sky for a few moments – barely any stars to be seen, and those that were there sputtering like half dead Christmas lights. Far from a perfect view, but still better than what they had had before. Hell, almost anything would have been better.

“So what do we do now?”

“I don’t know.”

John snorted. “You put all this planning into getting out, then nothing into what’s next? Real genius you are.”

Grant didn’t reply. The thing was.... he hadn’t expected for them to get out. He hadn’t thought there would be any need for a “part 2.” To him the plan had simply been one of defiance, one last hurrah of two teenagers sick of their captive existence and wanting to go out with a bang. But somewhere along the line it had gone wrong, and it had gone wrong in the best way possible. The plan had actually succeeded, and suddenly they had found themselves thrust into the world they had been denied all their lives, a lifelong dream realized. Too bad they had no freaking clue what to do with this freedom.

“Well,” John said, standing up and dusting his hands off in an exaggerated manner, “we might as well get running.”

Grant nearly yanked the tan haired boy back down into the ditch, terrified that he would be seen, but after a few moments the only sound to be heard was slight breeze rustling through the grass. It seemed, for the moment at least, that they were in the clear. He hesitated for a couple seconds, but eventually Grant stiffly came to his feet, running a hand through his hair to try and get out some of the grass pieces. John simply rolled his eyes. “Was starting to wonder if you had gone deaf, pea brain.”

“Can it, motor-mouth,” Grant retorted, but there was smile on his face, soon matched by one John’s own. The two of them slid down to the bottom of the ditch, and after a few hops to check the firmness of the ground they were off, tall grass rasping against their legs with each step.

***

“I still fail to see why we do not send more people after them,” the female lab assistant said, fingernails tapping against the back of her clipboard and lips pursed. “To not put more effort into recovering such expensive assets-”

“Is the only logical course of action at this time,” the head scientist finished for her smoothly, hands clasped behind his back and watery gray eyes following the holographic display before him. “While the incident is indeed unfortunate, the time has passed to be able to recover them. The two boys have exited the facility, and the moment they caught a glimpse of the outside world we lost the variable of environmental control, the very thing we have been trying to research all these years. They may initially have served as the control group in this experiment, but now they are useless in that regard.” He turned to look at his assistant, black hair framing a scar ridden face. “I understand this fact. Do you?”

“...Yes sir,” she said, a slight blush coming to her face. He continued to stare pointedly, and after a few moments she realized it was due to her finger tapping. Face reddening further from embarrassment she hastily stilled her hand, transferring it to a white knuckled grip on the edge of her clip board. He watched for a few more seconds, silently noting her grip, before finally turning back around to the display. She did not relax however, knowing quite well how large of a mistake she had made with such a simple fidget. She was going to have to do something to redeem herself, and fast.

“Sir,” she said, and as the head scientist turned back around to stare she had to keep herself from flinching; she was coming dangerously close to breaking protocol by addressing her superior first. “Sir,” she started again after a breath, “I believe we might be able to salvage the situation with the two boys. If I recall correctly, while we may have lost the opportunity to gain conclusive results with our original experiment, there has also never been the chance to observe how individuals such as them will react in the outside world. Experimental results from this situation could prove to be invaluable.” No telling if they actually would be invaluable, but there was no use in selling herself short. She needed all the help she could get.

The lab assistant swallowed as her boss stared for a few more moments, the only sign that he had heard her being a languid blink. The hand on her clipboard began to shake, and then –

“An excellent notion,” he said, dismissing her with a wave of his hand. “Now, return to your other duties.”

“T-thank you sir,” she said with a jerky nod of her head, exiting the room as quickly as she could.

When the door closed behind her the scientist couldn’t help but give a snort. He, of course, had already thought of continuing the experiment in the changed environment. It was in fact the first thing that had crossed his mind when the two boys escaped. The escape itself was still a stain on his pride, but heaven and hell be damned if he wasn’t going to make it work to his benefit. His assistants were always so painfully dull, but this one at least showed potential, even if he had to make her come to the proper realizations. She was good for another two weeks at least.

Turning back to the holographic display he made a few adjustments to the controls, fingers ghosting over the touch interface until the holograms before him changed into what he desired – Grant and John, the two images rotating slowly and surrounded by technical data.

“Now,” the scientist said, lips curling into a sinister smile. “Let the experiment begin.”