For the next couple of weeks, Lumina inspected every corner of the building to fins a way out, while Rain and Emmy searched the enclosure discreetly. The Professor and the other staff were all unaware of their plan.
It was finally Christmas Eve, and the labcoats were behaving just like Lumina expected them to be: excited and ready to have their Christmas party. Tonight was their night to escape. “You ready?” Rain asked them. They both nodded in response. Rain was the only one to open the cages, since she paid attention to Mai when she was opening and closing the door of her cage. Rain sat on her haunches and with her front paws she managed to open her door. She quickly went to Emmy’s cage followed by Lumina.
”Follow me,” Lumina ordered once they were all out. Lumina carried a staff member’s ID in her mouth; she had found it under a table a week before. They all quickly and quietly followed Lumina in a single file line as she escorted them through the building. They could hear loud music and the labcoats’ voices on the floor above them. The sound made their ears vibrated a little.
The hallways were dark and empty, but it was no problem for the trio. Their eyes were created for it. They finally came to a stop when they were in front of a door. they all knew that the door led them to the outside world. Emmy shivered with excitement next to Lumina’s shoulder. The blue lioness stood up on her hind legs and scanned the card through the little black box next to the door handle. Lumina had watched all of the labcoats do and hoped that it would work the same for her. She let out a sigh of relief as the door buzzed and automatically opened.
They wasted no time on getting outside before the door closed. To Emmy and Rain, they were used to this kind of environment. But this was all strange and new to Lumina. This was her first time setting paw on outside. Although this was all strange to her, she didn’t have time to look at everything; she had to follow Rain and Emmy and concentrate on escaping.
At one of the corners in the enclosure, there was a hole that Rain and Emmy made. It was just big enough for them to squeeze through. Emmy was the first to crawl under the hole, then came Lumina’s turn. When Rain was sticking her head through the other side, a loud siren went off. They were all alarmed at the noise and wondered what caused it. Emmy and Lumina looked at Rain and realized that she still had her tag attached to her ear. Lumina lunged forwards her and ripped the tag from her ear.
“OW! What the heck was that for? The siren already went off you know?” Rain snarled.
“Oh… sorry… but hurry up before they find us back here!” Lumina panicked, beckoning her to get to the other side faster.
But it was too late. There were a huge number of humans running towards them with tranquilizer guns in their hands. The trio saw them and Rain quickly squeezed over onto the other side. “RUN!!!” Emmy yelled and they ran as fast as they could make them go. Lumina followed Emmy and Rain through the tall savannah grass blindly, panting as the three of them tumbled into a dry creek bed. Here the ground was firm, and they were able to run faster.
The ugly white building was shrinking behind them, and the labcoats were spreading out through the shoulder-high grass. Just when they thought that they’ve outrun them, they were suddenly being shot at. “Lumina!” Emmy squeaked as a bullet rang on the boulder they were just passing. Rain led on, determined.
“Faster you two! We have to split up or else they’ll catch us! Emmy, you run up the hill north. I’ll go south. Lumina you run east! We’ll meet up later.”
Before she could blink, her friends had disappeared. “But I don’t where east is…” she said, slowing down. Out of nowhere, a labcoat appeared in the creek bed ahead of her. It was Tom, the man Emmy bit so long ago. He loaded his tranquilizer gun, aiming it right at Lumina. She heard the gun go off, and raced away as fast as she could. She felt something sting on her shoulder, but the tranquilizer was slow. The labcoats chasing her fell behind, stumbling drunkenly about in the night. A couple of minutes later, there were no sounds of the labcoats, and her paws were beginning to drag. Through falling eyelids, she spotted a tree. Making her way over it, she hid in its roots and flopped to the ground.
Everything happened so fast for her! Lumina shook her head, realizing she didn’t know where Rain intended for them to meet up. As the drug moved through her veins, she looked up at the full moon and could only wonder how long it would be before she was reunited with Rain and Emmy as she finally fell asleep.