Dove
Igazedownat my feet in horror.
The alpha is dead. I just killed him with a shiv. Me, a lowly omega…
I’m going to die.
With a yelp, I back away, my labored breaths echoing through the cold metal walls of my cell.The alpha’s name had been Derrick, and he was my correction officer at the Omega Correction Compound. He had abused his power over me yet again, and so I stabbed him with my dirty blade.
They didn’t know about the weapon. My former cellmate Ravyn taught me how to make shivs when she was still here, but she’s long gone now—the first and last omega to have ever escaped the OCC.
She said she would come back for me. That she would save all the omegas in the center, and I hold on to hope.
We always promised we would escape together and find a fresh start somewhere. There has to be more than this—a cruel world where omegas are stripped of their rights and made to live inside these callous prisons or ‘sanctuaries.'
All omegas are considered property of the government. From the moment we awaken, we are sent to these ‘sanctuaries’ all across the country where the government hopes to control or ‘tame’ us.
They need us so they can produce the best progeny possible. Omegas are the sole designation that can birth alphas, and for that reason, we’re considered too valuable, too precious. Hence why they want to control us.
But not all omegas can be tamed, and it looks like I just became an untamed omega. No alpha will want to bear my young now after what I did, and they’ll kill me for sure.
They will no longer deem me desirable. A bad omega with bad genes.
I have to get out of here.
Dropping to the floor, I roll beneath my bed and get to work. It may not be the best of hiding places, but the alphas don’t know about the secret tunnel. Ravyn had worked on it for years while she was still here, and it was how she made her great escape.
The compound really ramped up security after she escaped, so there was never an opportune time for me to make my own grand getaway.
Well, not until now.
I regret not leaving with her the first time, but they had already sounded the alarms at that point. Ravyn didn’t want to leave me behind, but I told her to go; I told her that my own time would come, and it looks as if that time may have just arrived.
By some miracle, they never checked under the bed. They searched every nook and cranny of this cell, yet they overlooked the metal skirting board. If one looked closely enough, they would see that the metal had indeed been tampered with.
But I have no time to dwell; I’m getting out of here.
Carefully, I remove the skirting board, then crawl into the tunnel. I never let go of the bloodied shiv. You never know when I may need it again. It saved my life, and I’ll be damned if I don’t have at least one means of protecting myself.
It’s a big, scary world out there after all.
Darkness envelopes me next, but I don’t stop. If I keep going, I will find the light at the end of the tunnel.I just can’t be consumed by fear. An alarm sounds in the distance, and a ball lodges tightly in my throat. They finally realized that I’m gone. There will be guards everywhere now, but I’m not afraid.
I will escape this hell-hole.
I pick up the pace, yet the tunnel seems to go on and on. But then a light finally materializes up ahead, and I see it at last...
Freedom.
Tears of joy escape my eyes, and for a moment I dare to hope.
Just maybe I will get out of here.
The tunnel widens near the exit, and there I slip out onto a gravel floor, panting and covered in dirt.
I made it. I got out of my cell.
I glance up, and my heart drops to the darkest pits of my stomach when I spy the gaping chasm ahead. Slowly, I creep toward the edge, and a whimper escapes me when I peer down at the sheer face of a cliff.