The leader's eyes were now bloodshot, gazing over the heads of everyone that had turned it look at him. "You know what? Everyone get to your beds now! If you all are so disrespectful, maybe it'd be best to deprive you of my clearly superior teachings!"
As everyone was forcefully rounded up, I met with Endora. We stayed closer to the front of the slowly moving pack since the leader would heavily discipline those who would fall behind, even shoving one particularly timid student when he suddenly lost his balance and had to stop to recover.
Meanwhile, everyone was staring at the leader, looking out for every move that might negatively affect them in some way. First, he had started as a trustworthy figure, then the opposite, then he had put up a facade to trick the students into trusting him again, then he quickly threw it all away. We were both scared and anxious to know what was going to happen next
"In! In!" The camp leader pushed all of us into the sleeping quarters once more. Still being accompanied by Endora, we rushed toward the beds we had occupied waiting for the training session to start. We sat against the wall and watched the whole event unfold.
Everything slowly grew quiet as the leader stormed out the door, slamming it behind him. One by one, the students started to make comments about him towards their new acquaintances. I eventually peered over my shoulder and started to join in, initiating a conversation with Endora. "He's... Something."
Endora nodded her head. "Yeah. Somehow even scarier than last time. Did you see how he threw that one kid to the ground? I swear I heard his head clang against the ground back there." We both shuddered.
"It'll probably be best to lay low for now. We don't want him to flip his lid any more than he already has."
"Yes. Who knows how terrifying he can be when he's in full swing?"
With that, we both started to fall silent. I looked around and it seemed like everyone was beginning to settle into their sleeping positions, with some students even snoring to signify that they had fallen asleep. With a nod to Endora, I slowly began to climb the creaky ladder to the bed above hers and spread myself out. All at once, my sore muscles started to groan and demand that I take it easy for the next few hours. Though a small crack between the side of the bunk bed and the wall, we both said our farewells for the time being and set in as much as we could into the bed. I closed my eyes and was partially amazed at how fast I fell asleep.
I was awoken before my mind could once again transport me to the labyrinth. I was alerted to a hand on my shoulder, one that was poking through the slats of the railing that was on either side of me. Stretching, I looked over to whoever touched me.
"Hello? Are you awake?" It was a relatively small creature, his voice high in tone. He seemed a bit intimidated by my appearance, something that I didn't believe was possible.
"I am now." I scratched my head and removed the small amount of sleep that had gathered in the corners of my eyes.
The alien started stammering even more than he was before. "Well, er... We're going to escape. Can you come down here?"
I removed a small piece of the partially destroyed mattress from my mouth. "Escape?" The alien nodded, and I slowly began to crawl down the ladder. "Hey, Endor-"
To my surprise, Endora had already been awoken. She stood next to the creature. "I thought you got up when he called for me," Endora explained, looking over at the creature. "But I guess you're a heavier sleeper than I first thought."
I looked over Endora's shoulder to see another taller creature walking towards us. He seemed to have a charismatic air around him. "Good, good. I'm sure you heard the plan?"
"To escape?"
The alien thought to himself. "Well, yes, but there's an actual plan behind it. Not much, though, it simplifies to just fleeing into the forest where the leader will hopefully not be able to round up all of us."
I sighed. "Oh." I'd thought that someone was capable of getting help, of teleportation using magic, but I guessed that I had my hopes too high.
"So who's doing this?" Endora asked as the stillness grew around us.
"So far everyone's been on board with it." The alien inspected the sleeping quarters, with creatures waking other group members. "I assume that we all want to get out of here. Actually, that'd be quite the understatement." He waited a few seconds before turning around, beckoning all of us to follow him. "Here, follow me. I think it'd be better if you got familiar with everyone."
In the middle of the room was a growing group of creatures. Most of them were standing idly, with some either complaining or having casual conversations with their newly formed friends. Deciding to conform, I nodded to Endora and we both joined the swarm while the creatures we had talked to dispersed once more, heading back towards the bunk beds.
Not wanting to wait an undefined amount of time, I looked over at Endora and started talking. "Are you sore?"
She nodded, remembering to massage her muscles. "Definitely. I guess you are too?"
I agreed and we both focused on healing ourselves as much as we could. A few minutes of short, common stretches later, the creature, who I had assumed was the leader, rose his voice as much as he could without attracting any attention from those who might be outside. "Everyone's awake." He cleared his throat and everyone had stopped to look at him. "Listen up."
He started to lay out a plan to get us all out of the facility, with a detailed step-by-step route that he assumed was the most optimal. He also added on possible backups to those, assuming that we would encounter threats along the way. It seemed to be fairly rushed and someone even pointed out a contradiction at one point, but I supposed that it was better than simply running through each hallway, hoping all of us could make it out.
"Does anyone have any questions?" He concluded, sweeping his eyes over everyone. All was silent and he nodded to someone in the crowd that I couldn't identify. "Are we all ready to go?" Everyone replied with affirmation, but most of the students had hesitated before they did so. The leader took account of this and spoke up once again. "Two minutes and we'll leave. If you have anything to do still, make sure you do it quickly."