Escape Into Society Part 3

This is the final part of my short story. It hopefully brings most things to a close, but I intened to recompile all 3 parts into one continuous text in the future, and maybe iron out some more details in the final version.

The first part of this story can be found here.
The second part of this story can be found here.

Escape Into Society Part 3

Sarah woke up with a start. She was cold; the hard bed she was sleeping on provided little warmth. She, and the others, had already been in jail for a full day, and she had just woken up on the morning of their second day of imprisonment. She had not had any contact with the others yet, and she had only seen the guards who had provided her food, as had the other 3. Woota, John and Steven were all in jail still as well, although John and Steven had been put together in the same cell, as this arrest was mostly focused on Sarah and Woota, and the other 2 were just accessories to their escape.

It was about nine in the morning when Sarah was startled to attention by the buzzing of the door as it was unlocked and a man in a suit was escorted into the cell by a police office. Sarah quietly observed him as he walked in. The officer then left the room, leaving the two alone as the door was locked behind him.

“Good Morning Ms. McMurdo. My name is Alex Wilson, and I am an attorney on your, and the others’ behalf. I was contacted by Steven, who I am to understand you are familiar with at this point. I was just talking with him and John, and they are-”

Sarah cut him off, “How are they? Are they still in jail? Where is Woota? Is he fine?” The questions were flowing out of her so quick, she was desperate for not only answers, but just for human contact after her previous day of isolation.

“Slow down Ms. McMurdo, I can’t answer everything if you don’t give me time. Let’s see, John and Steven are alright, I fear Steven might have a broken arm after the arrest, and it hasn’t been seen by a doctor yet, but otherwise they are managing. They are still in jail though, in the same situation you are in. Woota is… struggling. I don’t think he understands where he is at or what is going on, and… how should I put it? He is always trying to fight the guards and keeps hitting the door as if he is trying to escape.”

Sarah let out a whimper after hearing that and her eyes started to water. She struggled with the lump in her throat before continuing. “I need to see him. The poor thing doesn’t have any idea what is going on.”

“I will see what I can do, but I fear it may not be possible.”

“I have to at least explain what is going on.”

“Like I said, I will see what I can do.”

Silence ensued for a while until Sarah recomposed herself, and Alex was kind enough to patiently wait while she did so. “What are we even being charged with exactly? I know I broke Woota out, but I still don’t see what legal law was violated.”

Alex sighed, “well that is a little more complicated. The administration at Project Embryo is trying to kind of charge you with theft of company property and/or kidnapping.”

“That is ridiculous though! I thought that they might go for something like that because those are the only things that make sense, but he is a human being, just like all the rest of them, and not company property. And it couldn’t be kidnapping if he went on his own will. I mean, I saved him from likely being killed by the rest of his tribe!”

“I know, I know. I thought the same thing, but I wanted to talk to you first to hear what exactly happened to further know what points we can argue against. As far as it sounds though, it doesn’t sound like they have any solid charges against you. I can try and push for the judge to dismiss the entire case based on lack of legal basis for it even being a criminal act. Furthermore, I will try to get you all out on bail, but considering that you all already ran away from Project Embryo, I fear that they might consider you all a flight risk.”

“I see. How long do you think it would be before the case would be dismissed and we would all be released?”

“I am not really sure, at best, a few days. It could potentially drag out for weeks though. But believe me, this is a high profile case and is getting lots of media attention – I was hounded with questions just by entering this police station. But before we run out of time, let’s go over what happened, so I know exactly what we are dealing with.”

“What exactly do you want to know?”

“Just start from the beginning of this whole charade, a few days ago before you took Woota out and fled south. Do you mind if I sit next to you on your bed while I take notes?”

“Sure, no problem. So I was working late because I had a report due, and right before I left, I decided to just check the monitors of Cloister 16B….” and she continued to relate the story of what happened, up until that point. It took almost an hour for her to cover the major points while Alex sometimes interjected with questions to clarify certain points.

After Alex had a solid idea of what transpired and had his notes, he thanked Sarah, and again, reassured her that he would do his best to get them out of there as soon as possible, and hopefully make it so that she could see Woota.

Alex motioned for them all to be released on bail, but as expected, Sarah and Woota were denied, however John and Steven were released on bail. Steven visited Sarah the next day (with his arm in a sling) to brief her on what had happened, and to assure her that they were doing the best they could. He also had a press conference with the media at the ODPE office in Toronto, explaining what injustice had happened, and further rallying people behind stopping the inhumane practices at Project Embryo. It was all much more real now that the public had seen glimpses of an actual subject from Project Embryo and it made it much more relatable for them then it was before, especially in this generation where everyone was born with Project embryo being an already existing organization. All of this was related to Sarah by Steven.

Woota had hardly slept. After thrashing around for the first two days, trying to attack guards when they brought food and continuously smashing the door, he had retreated to the corner where he silently brooded. He didn’t know what was going on, and he was scared. Anytime the guards came and yelled, he didn’t understand what they were saying, and he wanted to attack them since they seemed to be bad people to him, considering that they had attacked him and the others and taken them away to this location. He also wasn’t eating enough, and he was starting to get weak.

A few days passed again before Sarah had any visitors. Steven and Alex came to her in the early morning, looking fairly grim.

“Good morning Sarah” Steven tried to kindly greet her.

“Good morning guys. So what’s the news?” Sarah was impatient to know what was going on.

Alex spoke up. “As you know, John and Steven have been released on bail. You and the other-”

“Woota” Sarah coolly reminded him.

“Yes, you and Woota are not eligible for bail unfortunately. The good news is that I have talked with the judge, and he also agrees that the charges don’t make sense. Unfortunately though, he feels this is a bit over him, and since this case didn’t just happen in this province, the decision on how this case will be handled is being elevated to the supreme court, who will then decide if it is even a legal charge, and whether or not this case will be dismissed. On the one hand, this is unfortunate because it prolongs how long you and,” he struggled to recall his name before continuing, “Woota must remain in jail until this is decided. On the other hand, this is great because the legality of this case, and by extension, how things will be handled at Project Embryo is being determined, and this should provide future guidance on how to handle anything out of Project Embryo, and whether it remains legal or not.”

“I see… and will I be able to see Woota? He must be so confused. I need to help him.”

This time Steven spoke up. “Um… I am afraid that he has been determined to be too dangerous for visitors, and he has been denied any guests due to how he lashed out at the guards.”

“But somebody needs to explain what is going on to him! Even if it’s one of the other scientists from Project Embryo who understands his language.” Tears started rolling down her cheeks, and she turned away from the other two. She felt so terrible. She had saved him from certain death from his fellow members of his cloister, but in doing that, she had brought him into a hell of unknowing. He was now stuck inside a tiny concrete jail cell, without anyone to explain what was happening, where he even was, and why he was there. She brought him here, and even though she saved his life, she now felt that she had brought on a fate even worse for him.

The other two waited for her shoulders to stop shaking as she sobbed. Eventually Steven continued, “at least the public’s opinion is rapidly changing from apathy to conviction against Project Embryo. Our member count in the ODPE is at its highest amount ever, even more than when Project Embryo was new and the public was first enraged. They are involved now more than ever, and we can hopefully use this to influence the supreme court in throwing out the case, and hopefully even shutting down Project Embryo.”

Sarah looked defeated. She was still turned away form them, with her head hopelessly staring at the floor. “I don’t really care about that anymore. I just want Woota to be free. He doesn’t deserve to be stuck in here like this.”

“I know,” Alex began, “we are trying our best, but the legal system can sometimes be agonizingly slow.”

Sarah just nodded her head. It was obvious that not much more was going to be said, Alex and Steven silently knocked on the door and were released from the room, leaving Sarah alone.

Woota was still hiding in the corner of his cell, only occasionally coming out of the corner to retrieve meager amounts of food from the tray that was pushed into his room. He was lost, frustrated, angry and confused. Where was he? Why was he here? Where was Sarah? He had too many questions, and absolutely no answers, nor the faintest idea of what was happening. He shuffled on the floor over to the soup that he was presented with today. The soup reminded him of being back in his cloister: the freedom he had and the soups he and the others prepared. He longed to be free. Anything was better than this. He noticed that there was a spoon next to the soup. They didn’t use spoons in his cloister, and would instead just sip the soup from the bowl. While the spoon itself was unfamiliar, it reminded him of his old hunting knife, which we would use to finish off a deer after shooting it with a bow and arrow. If he shot a deer and it lived, after catching it, he would slice the deer’s throat to kill it quicker, and then they would be able to use the meat in one of their stews. He silently sipped on his stew while eyeing the spoon that still lie on the plastic tray.

Several days passed again, and Sarah was continuously pacing the room, slowly coming to her wit’s end as she worried about Woota. It was at this point, days after their previous encounter, that Alex and Steven again came to Sarah, this time later in the evening, which was unusual because they normally came early in the morning. They looked grimmer than ever, and Sarah could see it.

Sarah struggled to speak after seeing their look.“What’s up?” She finally managed. “Did the supreme court say anything already?”

“Well, the supreme court has agreed to expedite the case to next week…” Alex began, but trailed off and couldn’t manage to continue.

“Well that’s great!” Sarah’s mood elevated, before becoming somber again after seeing their lack of enthusiasm. “…Right?” She paused for a few seconds as she looked between the two. “What’s wrong?”

“Sarah, I am so sorry.” Steven reached out and put his hand on her shoulder in the most comforting way he could manage. “Woota is dead.”

That was it. That was all the Sarah could handle. She broke down. Her shoulders buckled and she slumped on her bed. The tears flowed freely, and her loud gasps between breaths made Alex flinch a little. He and Steven felt so sorry for her. She had tried so hard, and she wanted nothing more than for him to be free, but she was helplessly stuck in a jail, just like Woota was.

Sarah was devastated. She had rescued Woota from certain death, only to bring him through hell where he ended up dying anyways. All of this frustration, anger and sadness boiled up in her, and she couldn’t contain it anymore. She clenched the edge of her bed with her hands, leaned forward and half cried, half screamed the loudest, hair-raising “FUCK!” that any of them had ever heard. She slumped down again, put her head in her hands with her elbows resting on her knees and just cried. She had failed. She had come so far, only to have the worst outcome possible happen.

Steven sat down on the bed with her and wrapped an arm over her and pulled her in close, attempting to comfort her like a father would. She cried and sobbed for about an hour before she finally stopped. There was nothing left to cry. She was dried up. Tired and thirsty, her sobbing calmed down, and the others felt it possible to talk to her again.

Steven still had his arm around her, despite the fact that the odd angle had caused it to fall asleep a while ago, but he kept it around her for comfort. “I am so sorry Sarah, we all are. This is the thing we wanted to prevent the most.”

She shuddered harshly, almost lapsing back into another long bout of crying, but she kept herself in control this time. It was hard to hear Sarah speak, she was so quiet they had to strain to hear her. “I failed him…”

“No you didn’t Sarah. You did your best, nobody could have asked for more out of you.” Steven attempted to hold her tighter with his numb arm.

She sat up straight, rolling Steven’s arm off of her back, which was a relief to him as the blood started flowing to his arm again. She half turned her head towards his, just enough so that she could glance at Steven and make some eye contact. “How did he die?” She had to know.

Steven hesitated before telling her. “He killed himself.” He said it blunt and to the point. Sarah sobbed once more and looked down. Alex shuffled his feet, he had been standing by the door the entire time and his feet were getting uncomfortable. “Woota had managed to sharpen a plastic spoon on the concrete ground by filing the edge down. He then used the rough ‘knife-like’ edge he made to cut his throat. He was found today at lunch as the guard put the tray in and found the breakfast one still untouched. I suppose he did it overnight. I am so sorry Sarah.”

Sarah continued crying, not as much as before, but it was clear that it was time to leave. Alex and Steven got up and left the cell again, leaving her to deal with the reality that the situation had become.

This reignited the entire debate about Project Embryo. Sarah remained in jail until the trial, which did happen the next week. The entire case and all events surrounding it were heavily watched nationally and internationally. Public opinion was no longer apathetic, and pressure was high to release Sarah and shut down Project Embryo. The charges against Sarah were dismissed by the supreme court, and in a move that surprised everyone, although it shouldn’t have and always should have been so, Project Embryo was declared to be in violation of human rights, and was ordered to close down. Even if the initial children were donated, it was not the initial children’s decision to be there, nor the subsequent generations. As such, it was ruled that proper measures needed to be incorporated so that all subjects from Project Embryo were to be made aware of the outside world, taught a proper and modern education, and then introduced into modern society.

Sarah moved on to join the ODPE with Steven and the others, which had re-branded as an organization devoted to the reintroduction of all humans from Project Embryo. She became the face of equal and fair treatment of all former cloister residents, and she worked tirelessly to ensure that the best treatment and education would be given to every individual, and to further fight against discrimination against them after moved into modern society.

Most of the cloisters were receptive and were able to be approached and taught about the outside world and integrated. Some cloisters resisted any outside contact, either fearing or hating the new people that came to make initial contact. It was decided that these resisting cloisters would be maintained in their current state, much like other indigenous groups that shied from outside contact, with the exception that a new attempt would be made every generation to approach them and integrate them.

In the end, the facility was mostly shut down and the people were free. Sarah continued to visit Woota’s grave on a regular basis, which she ensured was in his old cloister. While she regretted what happened to him and still blamed herself for it, she died satisfied with the part of her life that she spent working with the other members from other cloisters, ensuring that they were reintegrated properly, and that the inhumane Project Embryo was shut down once and for all.