Out Foxed by Fox novel Chapter 15

To Ander and Ella's surprise, after they ate they were both escorted back out of the room, this time by a new soldier. Ander supposed they must be the night guard. One of them caught him eyeing them and smirked, giving a meaningful look at his collar. He understood the message: they had the same control over its effects that Fox had. It was something to keep in mind.

He knew that Ella didn't agree with him about trying to escape, but he kept thinking that there had to be a way. If only they'd been able to talk to Emilia at some point... but she'd been kept firmly planted on Jackson's lap throughout the entire dinner and when they'd left, she'd still been there. Ander wasn't sure how to deal with that little wrinkle, because he knew that neither he nor Ella would feel right about escaping and leaving someone behind.

Although, when it came down to it, if he had to make the decision then he would. Hell, if he had to knock Ella out when the time came, he would. That might not be a bad idea anyway; he wasn't entirely sure how deep Dr. Wolcott and Nurse Mendel had planted the trackers, but he didn't think it would be as easy to get them out as it was to put them in.

As these thoughts whirred through his head, he tried to pay attention to the hallways they were going through. They seemed to be returning to the bedroom, following the same route that they'd taken to get to the large hall. His supposition was confirmed when they were shown back into the room.

So he knew where the bedroom they were being kept in was with the main hall. At least that was something.

~~~

Ella lay curled up on her side, wrapped in her sheet, watching Ander pace the room. He tugged at the collar around his neck a couple of times, irritably. Neither action was anything new, he'd been doing both for a while now. When they'd first gotten back to the room, she'd tried to take the collar off at his request, a useless exercise that had resulted in both of them receiving a sharp, electrical shock. Nothing debilitating, it was like a very strong static build-up that stung her fingers, but it wasn't something either of them wanted to repeat immediately.

After that, Ander had sat on the bed with her for a bit, just holding her, but she could almost hear him thinking, and then eventually he'd gotten up to pace. And mutter. And pace some more. She knew he was still thinking of escape.

Part of her wished that he did come up with a viable plan, although she couldn't help thinking of everything that could go wrong too... and the repercussions that would come with it.

"Maybe we could cut it off," she said, watching him tug at the collar again.

"What?"

She gestured to her neck. "Maybe we could try to cut it off."

Ander shook his head. "I think Fox, and maybe even some of his men, have a remote that controls the current in it. If we can just get our hands on one of the remotes, we can turn it off and it should be easy to take off."

"How do you know that?"

"Fox ah... used it on me earlier this evening," Ander said, not looking at her. Ella felt chilled. Had Ander tried to do something even before Fox had given him the option of taking her place? And been punished for it?

She would have never known if he hadn't told her.

And yet, his pacing suddenly reminded her of the animals that they'd seen at the zoo when they'd first arrived on earth. Majestic beasts that had been caged and yearned to run free, paced the walls of their cage just like he was doing now. Ella knew that eventually they'd be freed and she held to that thought; she would do whatever it took to survive to that day.

Would Ander? He seemed so intent on escape, on being the author of his freedom. But what if they couldn't escape? He was so strong. She knew that he thought her fear of trying to escape made her weak, but she suddenly wondered if she might be better equipped for this situation than him. Ella could bend, she could adapt... but if Ander couldn't escape, would his strength mean that he'd break before he bent?

~~~