He laughs, but it holds no humor. “When I got out of the shower after… Kevin was here. The guy, Max, who was with me before Kevin arrived, had been the only one here. He’d killed three people before I…before room zero. I was terrified to sleep in the same room when he told me that he’d murdered three people. He was convinced he would be the last man standing. I thought he might do something to me in my sleep, so I knew I had to be the one to walk out of room zero. He knew what Caleb, Owen, and Matt were up to.”

So, Matt is the mystery friend.

“How long do you think this has been going on?” I ask.

“We’re not sure since time gets messed up in here, but based on what Max had said, I’m guessing about a year to a year and a half.”

Eighteen months. That’s when there were suddenly a lot more runaways. It seems like too much of a coincidence to dismiss. “Do you think we can get out of here?”

Theo shrugs. “I’ve tried.”

“You willing to try again?” I ask.

“You have a plan?”

“No,” I admit. Well, I kind of do, but I’m not sure how much our captors can hear, so I’m not ready to talk about it…though I think I can trust Theo. But I’m working on one.

9

So, a plan. I need to think of a plan. A decent one. There are three of them and six of us, but they’re bigger and stronger, which makes attacking them stupid because they have the upper hand.

Think again, Piper. And better.

The doors are strong and locked, therefore breaking them down would be pretty much impossible. Plus, there are tons of them.

One of us could pretend to be deathly ill, but that doesn’t seem like something they would care about.

Okay, I’ll keep thinking about it.

Theo briefly shows me the drawer of basic toiletries and sanitary products in the bathroom, since I’ve seen this room when I changed clothes. It has a shower, dresser, toilet, and sink. All pretty compact together since the room is small, but it’s clean and stacked with towels.

“Who does the laundry?” I ask.

Theo chuckles. “You ask some odd questions given the circumstances. There’s a washing machine in the kitchen.”

Oh. So, we do the laundry. I wonder what kind of explosives you can make from different cleaning chemicals? I totally know that’s a thing, I’ve seen it on TV, but I wouldn’t know where to start. Hazel is way better at chemistry than I am. If we—she—can make something that will create a strong enough explosion to bust a door open, we could all get out.

Or all die from chemical inhalation.