It didn't take long for us to reach Doctor Davies. He was waiting in a room with a hospital bed and other trinkets that you'd normally find in a hospital room. Lynn left us and went off to do whatever it is she had to do.
"So, Miss Morris. Looks like you've been through a lot." He nodded towards my leg and rested his hands in his lap. "What exactly happened?" Doctor Morris asked curiously.
I explained how our base had been infiltrated by the Jaxlors and they were taking us a prisoners. I told him we escaped but I'd been shot. That was really all there was to it.
"And your friend stitched you up." He awaited my confirmation. I nodded. He stood up and examined my leg, gently moving it about and checking the stitches. "You've popped a few of your stitches. This also needs to be cleaned again. Your leg-" He paused. "And quite frankly, the rest of you is dirty." He chuckled. "You've got some bruising, but that's normal. You limped in here so you're obviously in pain. We'll fix you up just fine. You're going to need to stay off of your feet, Daisy. We'll get you a wheel chair as well." Doctor Morris spit all of this out like rapid fire. It was a lot to take in, but I understood.
"Thank you. I appreciate this. Will I be able to join my friends soon?" I asked. He nodded as he grabbed all of the equipment he'd need to fix me up.

Isy didn't even apologise for potentially offending me, just carried on leading me down the hallways. After what was a very confusing few minutes turning corners that all looked the same, Isy stopped outside a door just as white and pristine as the rest of the underground base.
"Here we go. Doors lock from the inside in case of a breach, but you shouldn't really need it. Most doors are unlocked here." She gestured to the door before taking the stainless steel handle and turning it, pushing the door open for me.
It was a small but comfortable room, within it was everything I could expect for such a place. A neatly made bed was pushed against the wall opposite the door, a few freshly laundered towels were laid on the end of it.
"Extra uniforms and basics are in there. If you want anything washed, there's a laundry room down the hall." Isy pointed at the set of drawers that sat to the left of the door. On the right side of the room was a plain metal desk and chair, a white lamp sat on it and that was about the extent of the decoration.
Next to the desk as a door which Isy was already moving towards. "In here," she pulled it open and grinned at me, "is your wildest dream." I moved to look through the door she still held. A small spotless en-suite was apparently my wildest dream. A skinny shower with a white curtain stood tall next to a small toilet and sink.
"Wow, wildest dreams, huh?" I smiled at Isy, but in all honesty, she was right.
"One of your friends- I think his name was Joe- literally whooped when I showed him this. it's not great, the best thing about it is that it's private." Isy shrugged and went to leave. "Dinner is at 5.30 in the dining hall." She pointed at a small digital clock that sat on a small side table next to the bed. "See you there." She wiggled her fingers at me and I didn't even get a chance to thank her before she left, swinging the door closed behind her.

Doctor Davies finished cleaning my leg, bandaged it, and sent me on my way in my brand new shiny wheel chair.
"Don't forget to stay off of your leg for as long as you can. You don't want to have any long term problems with that wound." He instructed as Nurse Lynn wheeled my down yet another long hall.
"I'll be taking you to your room. Remember where we're going so you know how to get around." She bent down a bit to speak to me as she pushed me to our destination. Once there, she opened the door and pushed me inside. "This is your room!" She said with a wide smile. "It's not much, but it's comfortable. You even have your own bathroom." She walked a few feet to a white door and opened it, revealing a single shower, toilet, and sink. "Nice, huh? It's rare you get your own bathroom. Enjoy it!" Lynn turned to me with her hands on her hips. "Uhh, what else am I missing?" She mumbled to herself. "Ah! Right. Towels and extra clothes have been set out for you. I assume Reid told you dinner is at 5:30?"
"Um, no. I didn't know. Okay, great. Thank you." I gave her a small smile.
"That's everything! You can take it form here." She began to dismiss herself.
"And wait!" I called after her, hopping out of my wheelchair and hobbling to the doorway. "Where are my friends?"
"All in this same hallway. I believe two of them are right next door to you on either side." Lynn yelled down the hall as she continued to walk off.
"Well alrighty then." I said quietly to myself as I shut the door to my new room. I pushed my wheelchair towards the door so it was mostly out of my way. All I wanted to do now was shower and get clean.

I don't know how long I ended up spending in the shower, the hot water cascading down my stiff shoulders, washing away the last few days of grime, blood and worries.
For those few minutes, however long they were, it was like nothing mattered anymore. The only thing I could focus on was how relaxed I had finally felt. I'd ignored the stinging it caused some of the smaller cuts I had and watched the murky water swirl around the drain before sinking out of sight.
Now, I was sitting on the bed, my wet hair dripping onto the back of my neck, soaking the collar of the fresh uniform I'd put on. Reality was coming back to me as I stared at the two packs I'd been carrying and the gun I'd not let go of since I first picked it up. They sat on the blindingly white desk, looking so out of place, just as we must have when we had all walked through the hallways of the base.
I crossed the few steps it took to reach the desk from the desk and grabbed the gun. Without a second thought, I tucked it into the waistband of my pants.
Collecting the pile of old clothing I'd discarded as I entered the bathroom, I thought for a moment, did I even want to wash it? The urge to throw it into an incinerator was one that I seriously considered before shaking my head and tucking it under my arm.
I left the small tidy room and looked up and down the hallway. How was I supposed to find my room again? Every door looked the same.
Even if someone did try to break into this base, they wouldn't get very far, even I couldn't remember which way we'd come to get here.

The shower I took was long and well needed. I ignored the small stings I felt from the cuts and my shot leg, trying to erase the pain with the soothing hot water. I stood directly under the shower head, letting the water pour onto my head and body, rinsing all of the weeks dirt, grime, and blood from me. I felt like every bad feeling that I once felt went down the drain with the soap and the weeks filth. I stood there with my eyes closed, relieved that we were all finally safe and that I was finally getting clean.
My shower ended after what felt like hours and I stepped out, wrapping a towel around my now clean hair and another around my body. A cloud of steam followed behind me as I opened the bathroom door and entered my room. I carefully walked to the small, twin sized bed where I collapsed in it's comfort. It had been so long since I was able to let down my guard and relax. It was almost surreal, like a dream. Just the thought of being safe again made me cry tears of joyous relief. I didn't realize how scared I'd been since we were in the forest, completely at risk and in the open. We'd escaped being imprisoned and killed. We'd escaped a shower of bullets...mostly. Well, we'd escaped long enough to survive. We survived and we made it and the thought of almost dying in the middle of the woods was terrifying and I hadn't let that sink in until now. My tears were filled with every emotion that I had been holding in these past couple of days. My tears were proof that I was alive. Finding the Grey Base was a miracle.
After lying around and decompressing in my towel for a while, I reached over to my new uniform and decided it was time to get dressed. It was clean and crisp. I couldn't believe I'd been stuck in the same clothes for so long. My clean ones would feel like heaven. I carefully stuck one leg in each pant leg, trying my hardest to avoid my wound. With a tired sigh I finished dressing myself. I carefully removed the towel I had my hair wrapped in, letting a few drops of water drip from the ends of my hair and onto my back. I braided my hair in two braids that draped over each of my shoulders. Dinner was soon, so I was set and ready to go. I opened my door, took a seat in my dreaded wheel chair, and left my room in hopes to run into the others.

I had to admit it. I was lost.
I'd been going around in circles for the last ten minutes looking for the damn laundry room that Isy had mentioned to me. I was starting to wonder though whether she was pulling my leg, every door in every identical hallway looked the same. How were we supposed to get anywhere around here without someone leading us?
With a sigh, I turned to the next door on my left and grabbed the handle. I'd eventually started popping my head into rooms in hopes of finding the right one. I'd only come across two doors that had been locked and at the same time passed frowning bodies in uniforms matching my own. I didn't bother trying to explain myself, or attempt asking them where the room I was seeking was, just hurried along as if I knew exactly where I was headed.
Turning the cold door handle, I stuck my head through the door as I pushed it open as quietly as I could.
I let the door swing wide open. The small space was empty, another bedroom identical to my own. Even the bags on the desk were the same... I rolled my eyes and strode into the room, throwing myself on the bed. To be honest, I couldn't quiet believe I hadn't done this earlier. I wondered faintly if I would ever get out of here and find the others. Maybe that was the point.
I scoffed and threw the dirty uniform I'd been carrying around onto the floor.
Why on earth would that be the case? These people had saved us from the possibility of sudden death in the forest we'd been traipsing through for days. Who knew how much longer we would've lasted if we hadn't wandered across this extremely well hidden base.
I glanced at the clock on the bedside table. There was now only fifteen minutes to give up on the laundry and attempt a clear course to the dining hall. I wasn't sure if I couldn't even be bothered trying, I was starting to get a headache from the constant bright white walls.

Before completely strolling off down the hall, I paused, remembering Nurse Lynn said that The Siblings and Sam were in the same hallway as I was. Two of them right next door to me on either side. I decided that if I didn't want to go to dinner alone, that I should take a chance and knock on both of the doors. There was nothing that could go wrong with that. They were either in their rooms or they weren't. I just didn't know whose face I would see if they answered.
I turned around as best as I could and began strolling back towards my room. Though it was difficult to maneuver the wheelchair, I made it. Without a second thought, I knocked on the first door I past, then the second. I waited in the middle of both doors, sitting far enough away that when whoever was there opened the door, they would see me. I was sure I'd heard some rumbling around in one of the rooms, but it could have just been sound bouncing off of these pristine walls.
I waited for a bit for someone to come to the door. But no one did. I tried one more time and waited. The few seconds it normally took for someone to answer the door passed and I decided that they were gone and probably off to dinner. With a sigh, I began to wheel myself down the hall and towards where I thought the cafeteria would be.

I lifted my head at the sound of someone knocking echoing down the hallway.
Looking over my shoulder, I realised my door was still gaping open, so it wasn't me they were wanting.
I sighed and pushed myself up, supposing it was time for me to start the next loop around the hallways that weren't sick of irritating me yet. Deciding against one last attempt to the laundry, I glared at the discarded uniform on the ground and reached for the door to my room, closing it behind me as I walked into the hallway. Not a moment later, I saw Daisy in a chair, wheeling herself towards me.
"Daisy, hey." I smiled at her and happily took into account how refreshed she looked, her leg was no longer in blood stained pants. "How's your leg? I'm guessing you saw a doctor?"
I'd barely asked the questions before a shout came from up the hall, where Daisy had just come from.
"Sam! Daisy!" I looked up and saw Spencer and Joe jogging down the hall, waving happily, looking just as clean as I felt.
"Whoa, Daisy. Nice wheels." Joe nodded at the chair as they approached.
"Jealous. I feel like sitting down for the next ten years." Spencer sighed and rolled his shoulders. "Think I could share?"

I jumped where I sat, startled at the sound of name. I saw Sam walking towards me, a big smile shining on his face.
“Hey!” I flashed him a smile. “I did. He fixed me all up. Gave me some pin medicine too. That’ll come in handy.”
From down the hall, I heard two of the siblings making their way towards us.
“Thanks. I’d rather have some crutches instead of this mini race car.” I shrugged. “You can share if you’re small enough. Which you are not.” I joked laughing at Spencer. “You can push me to the cafeteria though.” I said with a sweet smile. “My arms are killing me. I don’t know how I’m gonna travel in this thing.” I half-joked. “Speaking of the cafeteria, is that where you all are headed?

Spencer grinned and grabbed the handles of Daisy's chair, he was pretending to rev them like a motorbike. Joe rolled his eyes at his little brother and spoke to Daisy.
"Yeah, I'm starving. I have no idea where it is though... that red headed girl said it was this way." He pointed down the hallway, the way Daisy was headed before I bumped into her.
"She said the laundry room was that way too..." I said with a shrug. "Everything looks the same to me, it's driving me crazy."
"Ah well, let's just walk, I'm sure we'll get there at some point." Spencer said and started pushing Daisy along, leaving Joe and I to follow together.
"You seen Em or Nina?" Joe asked me and I shook my head.
"This is the first time I've bumped into any of you guys." I looked at the doors as we passed them. "Didn't Isy say we were all in this hallway?"

“I think Em and Nina are in the rooms beside mine. Isy said I had two of my friends on each side of me.” I chimed in, looking behind me to answer Joe’s question. “I knocked on their doors but no one answered. I figured they went to dinner.”
“Or maybe...” Spencer stopped the wheel chair and spun me to face Sam and Joe dramatically. “They were taken.” He said with wide eyes.
“Or!” I looked up at him, “they’re eating.” I said I’m a flat tone. Spencer huffed, returning the wheel chair to the right direction.
After walking for another minute or two, we had reached the food hall. I wasn’t able to make out what was being cooked, but it smelled like heaven. Suddenly, I was starving. We’d had food while we were out there, but not a meal. My stomach growled at the thought of having something tasty. Lookin around, I was surprised at the face that this was the only room in this building. That seemed to have color. All of the dining tables were tomato red and in the shape of a circle. People filled the room, standing in line to receive their food and sitting at tables.

"What the..." I muttered as we entered the dining hall. The bright colour in the room was like a smack in the face, there was no escaping it.
"There are so many people here." Joe said in awe as we stood like children in the doorway staring into the buzzing room.
"I wonder how many there are in this base." Spencer added before he pointed excitedly at two waving girls sitting at one of the red tables. "There! Em and Nina!"
They were the only two at the table, it seemed they had only just sat down.
"Well, that's a relief. I was starting to give thought to Spence's stupid comment." Joe smiled at them before we turned to follow Spencer and Daisy to the food line.
I didn't know what I was smelling, but I knew it smelt good. My stomach was rumbling suddenly and I swallowed quickly, trying to fool myself into thinking I hadn't just almost drooled.
"You made it!" A familiar voice came from a few spaces ahead in the line. The four of us pulled our gazes from the teasing food and spotted a grinning Isy holding a tray with a plate of steaming mashed potatoes and beans. "I was beginning to think I was going to have to send someone to get you." She raised her eyebrows quickly before holding her tray forward to the capped lady behind the counter. Within seconds, a juicy looking steak had been dropped onto her plate.
"Trays and plates are in front of you, hurry up before you drool all over yourselves." Isy winked and turned, walking over to a table of young uniformed soldiers laughing and eating. They welcomed her happily, and she slid in between two beefier looking guys that looked as identical as the hallways we'd been passing through.
"Quickly then. I'm about to die of hunger." Joe hurried us along and passed trays to each of us. It was in a half dreamlike state I moved down the line, watching hot delicious food being dropped onto my own plate.

My mouth watered at the sight of the food. I loved steak. It was something my father had made for my siblings and I often. I could remember us all getting excited when it was steak night. My father had made the best steak. We always had a lot of vegetables and mashed potatoes to pair with it. But that was loony ago.
“This looks delicious. I’m so excited to eat.” I said happily, just thinking of all the flavor I was about to take in.
“Taste good too.” Spencer said as he put his tongue in a mountain of mashed potatoes stacked onto his plate.
“Good Lord, Spencer.” Joe rolled his eyes at his younger brother.
I sat my tray on my lap and rolled myself towards the table with Em and Nina. Nina scooted a chair out of the way so I could have a place at the bright table. It looked so out of place here, but it was nice to see some color.
“Thank you.” I smiled, nodding to the chair Nina had moved for me.
“Well don’t you look nice and clean.” Em shoved a spoonful of beans into her mouth and smiled, showing a few beans mushed into her teeth.
“Sondo the both of you!” I laughed at her, shaking my head and taking a bite of my food.

"I had the longest shower." Spencer said through a mouthful of potato as he sat himself down beside me.
"I think we all did. To be honest, I'm surprised we didn't drain the hot water out of this place." Joe looked around the room again, his eyes scanning the tables surrounding us. He paused a second, the leaned in to the middle of the table, lowering his voice. "It's like they're not even phased by us. Don't you think that's weird?"
I looked around and understood what he was saying. No one even cared that there were six new unfamiliar faces in the room having dinner with them, they were carrying on as if this was the cafeteria at high school, nothing seemed to be able to put them off their meals.
"Mm, maybe they're so used to new people? They might get stragglers all the time?" Em suggested as she cut into her steak.
I shrugged. "Seems odd for somewhere so difficult to find." I said before stuffing beans into my mouth.
"I wonder what kind of base this is. There are so many people here. They seem too relaxed... but what are they doing down here?" Nina added her two cents and looked around the table at the five of us.

"Maybe they were told not to make us feel uncomfortable." I suggested, trying to look on the positive side of things. "I mean, I would try not to stare at us. We looked pretty bad when we first arrived. Maybe they didn't want to be rude."
"Yeah, but it seemed like they didn't even notice us when we came in. If I saw a band of dirty kids bloodied and beaten, I'd want to know who they were." Nina said just quiet enough for us to hear.
In no time, we were all leaning in to the middle of the table, shoveling food into our mouths and gossiping about this strange new base we stumbled upon. I understood why everyone was suspicious. Hell, I was suspicious now too with all this talk. This all seemed too easy. But maybe we just had dumb luck.
"What if this is just a repeat of what we escaped." Joe mumbled, side-eyeing everyone. "What if we're trapped. We don't know how to get out of here. There are too many hallways. Too many steps." Panic began to lace his words.
"Calm down, big bro." Spencer whispered. "It's not a trap. They said we were safe, remember?" Spencer sat back in his seat, placing his hands into his lap and sighed. "Look, I get you're all worried. But try to relax."
"Or maybe we should be worried." Nina spat. "Look, I don't want to go through any of that again. We should go."
Now Nina was being rash. I thought we should wait to have this conversation somewhere more private. Somewhere no one would grow suspicious of what we were talking about. I'm sure we looked... Out of place, whispering and being secretive in front of the whole cafeteria. Soon they would start to notice us. And that might not be a good thing.

"Look, why don't we just-"
I stopped abruptly as I saw Isy coming towards us from across the room. Spencer frowned at me and tapped me on the shoulder.
"Why don't we just wh- OW - why did you do that?" Joe had whacked Spencer on the arm to shut him up, he'd obviously noticed Isy as well.
"Hey guys, how are we settling in?" She asked as she pulled up a spare chair and sat down on it between Em and Spencer.
"Fine." Spencer said looking at the table still rubbing his arm.
Em rolled her eyes at her brother and smiled at Isy. "We're great. Thanks. It's been amazing to eat a proper meal."
Isy nodded knowingly. "I know what you mean." She looked around at us and tucked a strand of her flaming red hair behind her ear. "So I'm guessing you strangers will be wanting to know what this is all about? Am I wrong?"
We all sat quietly, not denying what she'd asked. I glanced down at my empty plate, also feeling silently embarrassed for thinking anything bad about this place, or about Isy.
"Well, then. Why don't you follow me? We'll walk and talk." She pushed her chair back, stood up and walked away. Not even waiting for us to follow.
Joe scraped his chair back and looked at the rest of us as we sat, hesitant. "Oh, come on. This is what we wanted to know, right? Let's go."

"Fine." I rolled my eyes, wheeling backwards, only to be stopped by Em who had grabbed the handles of my wheelchair and began pushing me.
"Do you think you can run if we need to? Not like we'd get far. But we could try." Em whispered in my ear, leaning down nonchalantly so she wouldn't look suspicious. I nodded as she stood back up. "Good. Now lets see what Isy's talking about." She began to wheel me along with the others.
Behind us, Sam and the others were pushing their chairs into the tables, following right on our heels. Isy never slowed her pace, confident we were right behind her, which we were.
"Where do you think we're going?" I asked to anyone who was listening.

"Who knows." Joe shrugged beside me as we followed Isy out of the dining hall.
"Maybe she's going to take us to the prison we were always meant for..." Spencer said suddenly and I looked behind me to see whether he was joking or not. He had a grin on his face and Nina looked like she was ready to slap him.
"Or," Joe emphasised, "Maybe she's taking us on a tour of the Grey Base, Tilerian Safe Haven, in the midst of Jaxlor territory. This place is insanely well hidden, if it really is a Til base then they've done well to stay so low key."
"But that makes me wonder what they've actually been doing way out here." Nina chimed in. "They haven't sent any troops along to help the bases that were attacked while we were in them. To help the people that died there... There's so many people here just sitting around and eating."
"Maybe they couldn't. Maybe they've got something bigger planned and they couldn't risk blowing their cover." I suggested and Joe looked sideways at me.
"That actually is the most likely scenario. No wonder we call you plan man." He patted my shoulder and I looked ahead, keeping Isy's bright head in sight.

"So, this here is the laundry room." Isy gestured to her left towards washing machines and dryers. "It's pretty easy to find. It's right by the dining hall." She said with a smile as she glanced back at us and continued walking. "I'm sure Miss Wheelchair knows where the hospital wing is." She laughed a bit. I wasn't smiling.
"See, I told you it wasn't a bad place." Spencer mumbled and gave a sly smile to his siblings. They ignored him.
"You know where the dining hall is, so there is no need to explain that." She continued to walk. We turned down a hall that didn't seem to be as blinding as the others, but bright still nonetheless. "This way is our operations room. That's where all the important stuff happens. Don't worry, you won't really be in there." She assured us.
Weirdly, I was still a little uneasy about all of this since the others put the idea that this could all be a trap in my head. I wished I knew how everyone else felt or what they were thinking.

I followed along listening with the others, but couldn't shake the feeling Isy was avoiding something.
"Hold on." I said and Isy stopped where she was walking and turned to look back at me, causing the others stop as well. Spencer started to say something, but I could hear Nina finally thump him. "We're not just going to follow you around this place without knowing what's going on. We need to know everything. Whatever the 'important stuff' your operations room is doing, we need to be in on it if we're staying here. We've been messed around too many times recently to just sit back and trust the first person that says we're safe."
Isy smirked. I couldn't tell if that was a good or bad thing.
"Hold your horses, Chief." She said as she stared me dead in the eye. "We're getting to it."
"But you're taking us past the operations room." Joe stepped forward and Isy pulled her gaze away from mine. "You said we didn't need to worry about all that 'stuff'."
"I did say that, but, your big boss here has just told me you're interested in 'all that stuff'. So..." she paused as she looked over the lot of us. "We're getting to it."