Her first visit came much sooner than she expected.

After an escape attempt she would normally be left alone for hours inside her room, with nothing to do and no one to talk to, but even without a clock available she could tell that her visitor came well within that time frame.

Surprised, she quickly sat up in her bed, focusing her attention on the door. It was only a few more seconds before a scientist appeared in her doorway, with the guard shutting the door behind him. Upon seeing who it was, she relaxed.

"Neil," she said, relieved it was him and no one else. They might not be friends, but he was the only one who didn't treat her like a piece of dirt. She wondered what he was doing here and asked him.

"To fetch you," he said, frowning, and Alexis raised an eyebrow in question. An escape attempt with almost no punishment? Neil came over and stood in front of her, so the words he spoke next were harder to be overheard.

"You have to be careful, Alexis. Now that the disease has been completed and has started to be distributed, you're nowhere near as valuable as you once were. Creating a disease is much harder than rectifying it, and there are loads of other scientists here should anything go wrong, so your usefulness has more or less run its course. They just keep you here because you make any work simpler, not because they can't live without you. Should you become too much of a pain, I can imagine they won't hesitate to get rid of you."

Alexis was grateful for his warning and gave him a small smile, but on the inside she was the opposite of calm. The more words he said and the more she took in, the faster her heart rate became. They would kill her, and it was up to her when that was? Now her need to escape was greater than ever, because at least up until now, her value to the project had kept her life safe, but if what Neil just said was true then that safety was no longer guaranteed.

Widening her smile and clapping her hands together, she stood up and tried to forget about those worries over her life. She would be out of here soon enough, even if she had to risk her life to achieve that goal because it sounded like she would die one way or another; at least one of the ways could also end up with her freedom. However, she couldn't help but feel a sort of burden on her shoulders, for she was one of the very few who knew what was going on to some degree, as well as being one of the few who was completely against what was going on here. "Don't reckon you can tell me anything about what's been going on these last few weeks, can you?" she asked, quietly.

He shook his head and gave her a warning look. "Don't push your luck. You know I won't risk getting myself killed just to fill you in on something you can't do anything about."

She nodded, but was still annoyed. "Come on then, let's go. We don't want you getting into trouble, do we?" He gave her a small smile and she waited for him to make his way to the door first as she followed behind him, for she knew that if she were to walk her way through first, it would more likely lead to her being manhandled by her guard for possibly trying to run again.

She followed Neil out of the door and, as she'd expected, the guard was by her side in an instant. But rather than standing beside her, he bent down, and as the clicking sound reached her ears she noticed the new shackles placed around her ankles as he straightened up again.

She gave him a deadpan stare. "Are you serious?"

The guard shrugged his shoulders. "Not my decision. I guess they had enough of your little escapades. Not that I'm totally against the idea, since it'll make it easier to look after you." He smirked at her and she made no effort to hide the look of disgust on her face.

"It's only while you aren't in your room," she heard Neil say; she turned to look at him and almost scolded him for not warning her beforehand, but knew that his amicable attitude towards her had best not be displayed. "I'll be back tonight once you get back to your room to take them off and bring you your dinner."

"Tonight?" she reiterated. "Isn't tonight that party? For everyone except me?" she couldn't help but let a little bit of bitterness sink into the end of that sentence. The most valuable and hardworking person in this project, yet she reaped no rewards. This really did remind her of university.

Alexis noticed the right side of Neil's mouth twitch. "I'm sure I can spare a few minutes to come to you." She knew she couldn't say anything, but he hoped he'd bring her some cake from the party. Some nice, thick chocolate cake. She tried to tell him with her eyes, but he looked away and started walking down the hall. "Let's go."

Alexis clenched her teeth as she proceeded to follow him, and was sure the vein in her forehead was bound to burst as the sound of clinking chains echoed off the walls – she really felt like a prisoner now.

"So, what time is it?" she asked, deciding that maybe she could counter the boredom of her slow walking pace by calculating the timing of the rest of the day. Unfortunately, she wasn't permitted to wear any jewellery, nothing but her basic clothes. The perks of being me, she thought to herself bitterly.

Neil checked his watch. "3 o'clock." As he lowered his hand back to his side, she worked it out. The party started at 6pm, so she wouldn't be working after that; she would likely even finish earlier than that. They might make her work hard, but she had to be under constant watch, and even her so-called babysitters didn't wish to get up early or stay up late just for the sake of the cause; the work would be done eventually, and there had never been a deadline.

She knew that, had it been any other day, her punishment would have been harsher – or even existent. She knew she owed it to today's special event, but she dreaded to think of what tomorrow would bring. She grimaced.

"What's wrong?" Neil, who had stopped just ahead of her, asked.

She pulled her lips into a tight smile. "What isn't wrong?" she asked in return.

He nodded slightly before he indicated to the door beside him. "You're going to work in here for the rest of the day. Work hard and you might be let off lighter tomorrow. I'll see you later." With a swish of his lab coat, he spun on his heel and continued walking off down the hall, leaving her and the guard alone. They looked at each other.

There was no need for him to say anything as she walked to the door and opened it, walking in with her head held high as the sound of the chains continued echoing around them.

Unfortunately for her, she ended up having to work the full three hours because the guard believed that "It's always best to be a bit fashionably late." She scoffed under her breath as she trudged back painfully slowly to her room. All she wanted right now was to lie in bed without shackles and fall asleep and just forget that she was the forgotten one in this world.

She had hoped Neil would already be at her room once they arrived, but much to her dismay he was nowhere in sight. Not that she had expected much else; she could imagine that he was enjoying the start of the party. It would take time for him to gather food as well – and hopefully a nice, big piece of cake for her.

Once she had been hurriedly dumped back into her room, and without much of a farewell from her guard, she waddled over to her bed. She picked her legs up, holding the weight of the metal with her hands to make it easier. In one way she wished that the party had been later so that she could have worked longer, because she never had anything to do otherwise.

Normally, in a situation like this, she would have just gone to sleep early, but knowing she was expecting a visit that wasn't possible. Even though she was sure she could trust Neil, there just seemed to be something so impolite about falling asleep when you know you were going to get a visitor.

She groaned audibly as she lay herself down on the bed fully, and felt the hard and cold metal pressing into her ankles - it was not a comfortable feeling. As she started to go through the plans of the building in her head to pass the time, she hoped that it wouldn't be too long before Neil graced her with his presence.

She didn't know how much time had passed, which she owes to her lack of time-telling devices, but she had gone through the plan building three times and was immensely bored by the time she finally heard the key turn in the lock.

As quickly as she could, she pulled her feet onto the floor and leaned back on her hands: not wanting to seem too eager, but at the same time excited to finally get these shackles off and have something to eat.

With Neil balancing the plate of food in his right hand and doing everything else with his left, he entered the room and shut the door quietly behind him. Alexis almost drooled at the sight of the food; it was unceremoniously dumped, with some chocolate cake on the top.

He placed the food on her bed and then bent down in front of her, taking out the key to undo her shackles. He had a small number of keys on a keyring and seemed to go through them rather slowly. She wondered why but then understood when he started speaking.

"Alexis, you have to listen to me," he started, taking the correct key and slowly undoing her shackles. "In the taco you've got on your plate, I've put a key for your door. I've put a lot of spice in your taco, so when you take a small bite, pretend it's too hot and then slowly slide the key out and hide it somewhere, like under your bed when you accidentally drop some food. That way, any recording will make it look like you've hid it there beforehand," he looked up at her as he completely removed her shackles. "You've got to get out of here. Tonight."

Alexis opened her mouth as if to say something, but nothing came out. She tried again. "But you could get in trouble," she responded, almost not wanting to believe what he was saying to be true.

Neil shook his head. "Your guard is drunk, I slid the key out of his pocket. If anything, it'll look like you took the key off him when he was distracted at some point. This is the perfect time because no one will be in the hallways. When you leave your room, turn left and take the third door on the right. I've hidden some lab clothes and a dust mask in there for you. The dust mask will protect you from the illness outside and hide your face and you should be able to walk out of here like any other scientist. Do you understand?" His eyes dug into hers intently as he placed his hand on her knee, but only temporarily as he lifted himself back to his feet, shackles now in the place of the plate in his right hand.

Alexis swallowed as she returned his gaze. "And you won't get into any trouble?" she asked. She couldn't believe she was caring so much for his safety when he'd supposedly given her a way out of here, which is all she'd really cared about, but he was the closest thing she'd had to a friend for the last year.

His gaze softened. "I can't guarantee anything. All I can tell you is that you're one of, if not the, most valuable person to reverse what this group has done. If anyone has to get out of here and give the world a fighting chance, it's you. I take it you know where the exit is?" She nodded, realising that if he was lying, she could get into trouble for knowing that information tomorrow morning.

He nodded and then turned to leave. "When you're free, look for help. Europe is probably your best bet. I'm sorry I can't do more, but this is all I can do for you. I'll pray for your safety and success."

"Thank you," she said quietly, just loud enough for him to hear, and he left without another word. She heard the door lock behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This chapter was actually harder to write than the rest for some reason; it took me over a day even though I finished Chapter 4 within a few hours. I feel like maybe I was struggling with how to make her escape and eventually came up with this, which is hopefully a reasonable way.

Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! (: Remember to vote if you liked it and to leave a comment if there's anything I can improve or anything you particularly enjoyed!

  #royalroseawards2018