[i]Had it really been half a year?[/i]

Time seemed to be absent in this place. No windows to indicate the cycle of the days. No clocks to hear the rhythmic ticking. No leaving the cell. It was a maddening reality and a probably a hopeless one, too. The only thing that kept Elizabeth Fowler grounded with something resembling hope was to keep track of time. The automated systems put in place made everything easy.  Meals were the first and greatest clue, always served twice a day and at the same exact times. But that alone couldn't suffice. It was too easy to forget which meal you were having. Was it breakfast or dinner that you had just consumed? The meals were always the same, too, always cold and lifeless. No, you had to do so much more to keep track of time. The guards' patrols had to be counted as they, too, followed the same robotic rhythm. In between that, she counted the seconds that had passed and constantly drilled herself on the present date. Sleep was an obstacle that was easily overcome by the meal times. And so on, Elizabeth, or Ellie, would live out each day of her captivity counting. She never wasted her time, kindling useless dreams of hope with thoughts of escape. Time was the only relevant thing left at this point.

When Meal #359, slipped through the security door's tray, it was immediately obvious that something was different about it. The same cold proportions and Ellie's daily ration of blood, a very necessary thing for her survival were both arranged in the same, precise manner. The disparity came from a little device that was almost entirely a screen. The meal could wait, whatever the device was it was certainly more important.

... There seemed to be little choice offered, not that it mattered though. A sudden promise of escape was more than enough for Ellie to be finally free of the counting, especially considering the alternative. She wasted no time and pressed the PDA's button for the second message...

The message was halfway through before she realized she should probably being remembering it all. When the message ended, she paced around the room for a few minutes. With the lights out, Ellie could probably sneak out as it was pretty dark allowing her to Shadowmeld for an easy escape. But the lights came back, making the last few minutes of planning worthless. If the lights functioned, Shadowmeld would be useless.

After another few minutes, she had almost forgotten about using her other power, but when she felt that particular thirst, she remembered. Sitting on the tray was still that pint of blood from her meal that she had forgotten all about. Carefully pulling open the paper carton, she took in a deep inhalation before taking a sip of the cold, foul-tasting liquid. Ellie felt a surge pulse through her, wanting more, but she wouldn't give in just yet. The door buzzed and then it loudly unlocked itself. Ellie pushed it open and stepped out into the hallway, and the beginning of a new chapter.

There were others out in the hallway, which stretched off in a circular fashion so that you couldn't see too far in one direction. Who the prisoners were, was irrelevant at the moment. Right now, all of them were probably yearning for that promise of escape. Looking around, Ellie didn't see where she was supposed to go. However, she did see a woman topple a robotic guard and another, some strange alien guy, shoot electricity at two guards. She didn't care about the rest and instead opted to walk casually along the tight corridor, cradling her pint of blood. She probably looked silly carrying a colorless milk carton, but it didn't matter what the others thought. She carried on, stepping past the others until she became the closest to the shaft-thing that the PDA talked about. Scratch that, second closest as a man had managed to teleport over there just now. Every man for himself or herself, it seemed. 

Two guards remained and they came charging from the shaft over to the group. Ellie backed up, feinting her helplessness. She stepped behind the other two women present and called out to them. "They look so scary..." Ellie whimpered as she changed her whole demeanor to fit the façade. "I don't think I can help, but, erm... maybe you two can?" She said with an uneasy smile and a nod to encourage the others to take care of the guards. It wasn't so much that Ellie wasn't willing to get her hands dirty, rather she would prefer to save her ability until it was necessary.