Two men in lab coats are in a hallway, catching their breath.

“Where did he go?” one asks.

“I don’t know! If I did we wouldn’t be searching!” the other yells at him.

“What are you two idiots doing?” The two whip around.

“Your highness! We were just-”

“I heard you talking,” the woman snaps. “Who are you searching for?”

“Well, it’s not really a person, we were just looking for a security tape we lost,” one of them begins. The woman darts across the hallway toward the men with incredible speed. The man who was speaking feels the Queen’s fingers wrap around his neck.

“Don’t lie to me,” she hisses. “Who are you searching for?!” The other man speaks up.

“A boy who escaped from conditioning.” The Queen’s cold stare focuses on the second man.

“How?”

“We don’t know.”

“Not good enough!” The Queen throws the first man on the floor. He gasps for air.

“Find him and bring him to me. Gather some pawns to help you. You two obviously are too incompetent to continue this search on your own.” And with that, she disappears down the hallway.

--

James stares in shock at Abby.

“Your parents?” he exclaims.

“Listen, James, I’m not like them. I don’t want this to happen.”

“How can I trust you after hearing that?”

“Would I have told you if my intentions were bad? I told them I didn’t like what they planned to do, but they just put me in here for conditioning, so I would behave.” James relaxes a bit. He can believe that. She does have a bed here after all.

“Okay, okay. I believe you. So, what do we do now?”

“We need to get out of here. There’s a way to exit the building, but we’ll have to pass by the King and Queen’s living quarters. That could be dangerous. If they find out we are awake, there’s no telling what they may do to us.” At that moment, there’s a loud bang that comes from the end of the hallway. About a dozen kids around the age of 15 come pouring in the doorway. They are all wearing the same dark green polo and navy pants that were laid out for James and Abby. Bringing up the rear of the group are the two men in lab coats.

“Shoot! They’ve got backup this time.”

“So much for them not knowing we’re awake,” says Abby.

“Which way to the King’s quarters?” asks James.

“Through the door that all the pawns just came through,” Abby answers grimly.

“Well, the other door is a dead end, so I guess we’ll have to face them here.”

“Wait, what are you doing?!” James begins to run towards the dozens of pawns on the other side of the room.

“There he is! Seize him!” shouts one of the men in lab coats. Every pawn turns to look at James, and run towards him, arms outstretched. James elbows one of them in the face, and twirls around kicking another pawn into a third.

“Woah! Didn’t know I could do that.” But it’s not enough. Seconds later, the three have gotten up, brushed themselves off, and joined the crowd of pawns that now surround James.

“Didn't think this one through too well, did you boy?” taunts one of them. The group of pawns closes in on James, but at the very last second,

“Jump!” says a voice in his head. And jump he does. 10 feet into the air, and touches the ground outside of the circle. James looks around at the faces in front of him, all as astonished as he is.

“Alright! That was cool! Now, lets get this party star-” someone hits James from behind. He hears Abby scream his name before everything goes black.