Chapter 4

Escape

Micheal shifted in his sleep, and then woke up with a start, his heart racing. He looked over to Krystal, who was still sleeping. Or so he thought. She got up a bit after he did and looked at him with tired eyes. She seemed concerned.

"Did you have a bad dream?" She said in a caring tone.

Micheal nodded. "Yeah, how did you-" He cut himself off as he remembered what Krystal could do. "Never mind." He trailed off.

Krystal smiled slightly. "I can read minds, remember?" She said in a matter of fact tone. She laid back down. "That was one heck of a dream you had." She added.

Micheal took a deep breath. It was the dream that he'd had ever since his first gig as a torturist... The nightmare of his first victim's death. It haunted him almost every night, like a specter that even the strongest exorcist couldn't get rid of. Everything was always dark, blood red in that dream. Very surreal. He was watching from his point of view, but he had no control over his actions. He always raised a scalpel and started hacking into a woman's flesh. Cutting, stabbing, slicing down to the very bone until she breathed no more. That's when he always woke up.

Micheal sighed. "Yeah, it was. And I've had it recurringly, too... It's why I don't torture women anymore."

Krystal nodded. "With a dream like that, I wouldn't either. Besides..." She smiled challengingly. "Would you really want to torture pretty defenseless me?"

Micheal couldn't help but smile. "Defenseless? I beg to differ!" He laughed a bit. "You took out three armed guards, remember?"

Suddenly, there was a knock on the solid metal door. "Boss wants to see you, Micheal. Up and at 'em."

Micheal rolled his eyes and got out of the bed, and looked back at Krystal. "I'll be back, I hope." Krystal took his hand for a second.

"Be strong." She said softly. Micheal nodded.

"I promise to be back for you. This injustice can't live forever." He said confidently. He opened the door quickly, almost hitting the guard outside, and strode off to James' office. He swung open the doors slowly. "You wanted to see me?" He said coldly.

James nodded. "Yes, I wanted to know if you got any more information out of her." He regarded Micheal with an indifferent face. "Did you?" He added in an icy tone.

Micheal shook his head. "No. I wanted to use the torture labs, if I could. She is surprisingly reluctant to talk to me after our first chat. I can imagine why, considering all the things I did to her." He was trying to play up his game to get James to believe him. When James' expression turned slightly less cold, he thought he was winning him over.

James leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in typical fashion. "I see. However, I cannot allow you access to the torture labs."

Micheal raised an eyebrow. "Really? Why not?" He said, hoping he wasn't prying.

James smirked. "It's in use at the moment." He had an expression on his face that read "And I'm not telling you any more than that".

Micheal took a deep breath. "Alright then. Is that all?" He asked with an indifferent tone.

James nodded. "Yes. Back to your cell. And keep prying at her." He smiled viciously. "She'll snap eventually."

Micheal walked wordlessly out of the office and back to the cell. The guard opened it up and slammed it shut as soon as he got inside. Krystal looked him in the eye.

"Didn't work, did it?" She asked, a disappointed tone in her voice.

Micheal shook his head. "No. The boss, James, I think is his name..." He paused. "Wait, how do I know that? No one's ever told me that..." He looked at Krystal. "You told me, didn't you?"

She shrugged. "I may have had something to do with it." She said, feigning innocence.

Micheal sighed. "Anyway, James told me that the torture labs are in use. For what, I don't know. He wouldn't tell me." He furrowed his brow. "Something doesn't seem right." He added to that.

Krystal nodded, her expression serious. "Nothing seems right here, Micheal."

Micheal sat down on the bed. "You know my name now, Krystal?" He said, before realizing that he hadn't known her name until a few seconds ago. "Stop doing that!" He muttered. "It's weird." He folded his hands together, thinking. "What if..." He started, then started thinking again.

Krystal sat next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Go on." She prompted.

Micheal nodded. "What if you broke the lock? That way, we could escape even faster than if we went to the torture labs. We'd just have to go down the stairs a bit, take a right, and then run to the door." He smiled. "That would be so easy..."

Krystal thought it over. "Maybe. But what happens if one of us is injured?" She said, trying to think of the endless possibilities. "There's too many ways this can go wrong."

Micheal's expression turned solemn. "I know. But we have to take this risk, or we'll never get out of here."

Krystal looked at the floor when she felt Micheal grab her hand. He looked at her deep purple eyes. "C'mon. Please."

Krystal thought for a few more seconds and then nodded. "Yes. It's our only chance." She looked at the door and her eyes began to glow white like the symbols on her body. Micheal heard a small "snick" noise as the lock was broken apart. Krystal's eyes stopped glowing, but the symbols stayed lit. "It is done. Let's go." She psychically slammed the door open, knocking one guard away. She leapt out the door and kicked the second guard in the temple, knocking him out. She picked up his gun and threw it to Micheal. "You'll need it." She said quickly, and was off.

Micheal ran out of the room and aimed around for a few seconds before taking off after Krystal. The guard the Krystal had hit with the door wasn't out cold, and had radioed for help. Several dozen guards and gang members were gathered in the next room. Micheal locked his jaw and ran into the crowd, firing like mad. He managed to kill several people before getting shot at himself and having to run back. "Well, this is bad." He muttered as gunfire spat past his face around the corner.

Krystal's eyes began to glow again. There was a low rumble and then a large crash as something heavy fell. Micheal looked around the corner at the group, or what was left of it. Krystal had made the ceiling collapse, crushing most of the gang members. She then held her arm out towards the door, and it flew off it's hinges and into the street.

Micheal's car wasn't in the street. He cursed under his breath. "That's just great." He muttered. "It's probably in the parking lot behind here. Where most of the thugs are."

Krystal ran to the corner of the building and looked around it. "There aren't any people there." She whispered to Micheal as he came up to her. "They are all investigating the reason behind the ceiling's collapse." She took off running, Micheal not far behind.

As he ran, Micheal fished the car key out of his pocket. "Do you see the car?" He shouted to Krystal. She nodded and pointed.

"It is over there." She said as she took a huge leap and landed right next to it. "Toss me the keys!" She yelled to Micheal.

Micheal threw the keys over the car to Krystal when he reached the passenger's side. "Wait, do you know how to drive?" He said, worried. She looked at him and smiled deviously.

"I learned from the best." She said, looking at Micheal for a second longer before getting in the car. Micheal got in right after.

Micheal threw the gun in the back seat. "Floor it, Krystal!" He shouted. "Take us anywhere but here!"

Krystal shifted the car into reverse and backed it up quickly, then shifted to drive and accelerated forward out of the parking lot. Several gunshots whipped past, but they all went stray as Krystal steadily sped up the car. She turned into a busy intersection, but managed to avoid all the cars.

Micheal was almost pressed into the seat. "My apartment is over there!" He said, and pointed to a small two story apartment complex. Krystal took a hard right and sped into the driveway, then brought it to a hard stop. Micheal sat gasping for a second, and then started laughing. "Well, holy hell in a handbasket, I guess we made it." He slumped into his chair slightly. "We made it..." He repeated.

Krystal took a deep breath and put the car into park, then got out of the car. "Yeah, we did, didn't we?" She looked back at Micheal, who was getting out of the car as well. "That was one heck of a ride." She added.

Micheal smiled. "Oh, hell yeah." He took Krystal's hand. "C'mon, it's early. I bet no one's awake yet, so we should be able to sneak you into my apartment."

Meanwhile, James was walking through his recently renovated headquarters towards the torture labs. He slammed open the door and strode past Leonard and Wolfgang, clearly upset. He walked into a room that was marked as toxic and smiled as a purple glow radiated his face. In the middle of the cylindrical glow was a shadowed figure. James turned on the light and walked forward, one of his trademark vicious smiles on his face...