Chapter 36 - Beneath contempt
'I don't know about this, what is you want me to do now?' TJ asked.
TJ had thought about what Carl had said. He decided he would help Carl out if it benefited him, but TJ didn't want to be doing anything that could get him into too much trouble. He had helped them before in minor ways, being a look out as Carl and Roberto scoped out some parts of the prison, or stealing things when requested, but he had not yet been too actively involved in the operations.
'I need you and Roberto to get us some spare clothes.' Carl began.
'That it? That sounds simple enough.' TJ replied.
'Yah, except I need these clothes to be different from the normal ones we get in here.' Carl explained.
'We need to dye two or three sets of clothes. It should be simple enough to do with the chemicals and stuff in the cleaning supplies they give us in the laundry. I can do it all, you just need to keep watch. Roberto interjected.
'Ok fine. Why do you need this doing?' TJ questioned. The two other boys gave him the same look they always have him when he asked these questions. 'Sorry, I probably shouldn't ask. I guess I'll see you in a bit then.' TJ concluded as he got up from the table.
Soon it was time for work and Roberto was preparing to dye the clothes. However he was unexpectedly assigned another task today, and so the task of dyeing the clothes fell to TJ. There was just enough time for Roberto to explain the procedure to TJ before they went their separate ways.
In the washing room TJ grabbed a few old sets of clothes and began to try to dye them. Two sets went in one of the vacant washing machines whilst the other two TJ left in container of warm water. He was struggling to remember what Roberto had said to him, and he certainly didn't want to be hanging around here much longer, so TJ quickly put a mixture of various cleaning products in with the clothes. Before continuing with his actual work TJ hide the container of clothes in a cupboard and turned the washing machine on. When the shift was almost over TJ went to retrieve the clothes. No one was using the washing machines at this time so TJ was fairly certain he wouldn't get caught. Opening the machine he found the clothes had gone from their original yellow to a sickly green or brown. As for the other clothes they had been somewhat bleached and turned to a more off white sort of colour. He had no idea if this was what Carl and Roberto had in mind, but at least it was something. TJ's mind quickly turned to how he was going to get these clothes out of here, he couldn't just walk out with them, that would raise an awkward line of questioning. There was little time to think of a way around this so TJ hide the clothes at the bottom of the old clothes box where he had taken them from earlier, as it was unlikely anyone would look in there. The box was full of clothes not suitable for anyone to wear, but they never seemed to get thrown away. The only time kids wore them was if no other clothes were washed when they needed them. The clothes were ripped or otherwise broken, TJ just couldn't think what these clothes would be useful for, or why Carl wanted them. In the end it wasn't his concern and he hoped him and Roberto would be able to retrieve them tomorrow with no issues.
As the kids were taken back to the main cell block Roberto tried to signal to TJ with his eyes. TJ replied with a nod, implying his job was done.
Once TJ and Roberto were alone TJ explained he had managed to dye the clothes, but he didn't get to sneak them out. Roberto seemed irritated at this unexpected delay, but he had thought of how they would get the clothes. They would wear these clothes under their normal clothes and then once they were back in the cells they would change out of them. If Robert and TJ could get a few moments of privacy they would easily manage to get change into the clothes without anyone noticing.
Carl at this point was laying the rest of the groundwork for his plan. It had taken him this long to find a key he would be able to steal, one that no one would be alarmed was missing. One of the guards kept his house keys in his pocket. On the key ring was a small torch he sometimes used at night. The guards had their own larger torches they were supposed to use, but he seemed to prefer using this smaller one, Carl had no idea why that was. In face it was because the guard found the larger torches were too bright, and often woke the sleeping kids up. Carl needed a key, stealing a prison key would cause a search of the entire cell block, but stealing other keys wouldn't cause such a fuss. With some luck the guard might even think he had simply miss placed the keys. Carl had practised his pick pocketing skills on his fellow cell mates, and he thought he had got fairly good. He would have liked to have had longer to practise, but pick pocketing the people he had to live with was a dangerous strategy, and Carl wanted to escape soon. Every day he waited the higher the chances became that word of his plans would get out.
It was as all the boys crowded together, waiting to be let into the canteen that Carl made his move. The guard was standing in the crowd as he waited for one of his fellow guards to open the door from the other side. With everyone so tightly pack in the small space people were bumping into each other left and right, Carl thought for this reason the guard wouldn't feel his keys being lifted out of his pocket. Carl got close and quickly slipped his hand neatly into the pocket, and swiftly yanked the keys out. The guard didn't seem to react. Carl hide the keys in his pocket and moved back into the crowd for cover. At lights out Carl and Roberto were in their cell, it would be a while before they got to sleep.
'Pass me one of them keys.' Roberto whispered.
Over the night they worked on the keys, using metal files they had fashioned out from the thin metal frames in their beds. Under the mattress the metal was weak enough that some of the frame could be snapped with enough force. The two of them began to file down the keys, shaping them for what they needed them for. Luckily the key ring had quite a few keys on it, as the filing process was slightly trial and error. Carl more or less knew what he was doing, but he had to use a variety of things to find the best tools at his disposal to file the keys with, how he wished he had a proper set of tools.
'So you say you've done this before.' Roberto mumbled.
'Yep. Made a few bump keys before I ended up in here.' Carl groaned in an irritated fashion.
'So you're sure these keys will work.' Roberto queried, concerned at both their skills at doing this.
'Nope. But it doesn't really matter, we just need the others to think they will work. Then they'll be willing to help us. We can still do this even if the keys don't work.' Carl assured his friend.
Carl was telling the truth, but in reality he was far less sure the keys would open anything in here, he didn't have the proper supplies to file the keys well. He also lacked the opportunity to test the keys. It seemed likely this plan wouldn't open the most secure locks in here, but the ones he needed might just open.
Working with the keys took a while, but Carl didn't care, it wasn't like he slept much anymore.
'They'd better believe this, without them are chances are slim.' Roberto said as both boys prepared to leave their cell in the morning.
The pair had been talking to other kids in here as well as TJ, their assistance would also be needed. There kids were more volatile, they offered qualities TJ could not for the escape. Roberto had explained to them what needed to be done, and now they needed to know if these kids wanted in on the plan.
'So, have you considered our offer?' Roberto began.
'Yah, we have enough people. We can do it.' One of the kids answered.
'Two days from now, 11:20am. We'll do our part, you just keep people busy. It shouldn't take us too long, maybe ten minutes, maybe a little longer.' Carl added.
'Come speak to me tonight, we can go over the plan once more then.' The boy commanded.
'Take this key as insurance, it'll get you into the store room where the weapons are. Just use it the way I explained to you.' Roberto concluded, placing the key discreetly in the other boy's pocket.
The conversation was short. Carl knew he'd have to keep an eye on his comrades to make sure they didn't back out of his plan.
At this point Lawi could notice the odd atmosphere building, a lot of kids in here were not acting as they normally did, and this unnerved him.
'Your friends are defiantly up to something TJ, I can smell it.' Lawi proclaimed in a suspiciously manner.
'You can smell it?' Tom laughed.
'You know what I mean.' Lawi shot back.
'I'll speak to them in a bit, see if I can find out anything.' TJ babbled, stalling for time.
At the work shift TJ and Roberto retrieved the dyed clothes from where TJ had hidden them the day before. The odd colours they had become made them fairly easy to find. Roberto seemed fairly happy with how TJ had dyed them, which was surprised as TJ had just chucked the cleaning chemicals in randomly.
At this time the plan was pretty much set to go. Carl and Roberto now had one last meeting with two of the other kids involved. Sitting at a table below the cells they were very cautious to make sure no one was listening in on them.
'You start the riot at 11:20 exactly. Roberto and I will use the distraction to get into the warden's office and grab his set of car keys. Once we have them we will come and find you, then we can all rush the main gate, get in the car and get the hell out of here.' Carl explained.
'And what about everyone else? We aren't all going to get in one car.' One of the other boys commented.
'That's not our problem. Us four have the car, the rest of them are just there to get us past that gate.' Carl snarled.
'Ok fine. So are we getting the weapons while you getting the car keys?' The boy continued.
'Yah, if you can. The key we gave you will work. But if it doesn't then you should just be able to get a set of keys from a guard. You will just have to relieve him of them, if you know what I mean.' Carl assured him.
'Sounds like we're doing all the heavy lifting here well you two get the easy job.' The second boy moaned.
'Yah! That's how it is, but if you want to go and do this by yourselves, without my planning then be my guest!' Carl hissed, his voice slightly raised.
'Look, everyone chill. Did you manage to make some weapons of your own to start with?' Carl interjected.
The two boys nodded. 'I think everyone who knows about this has.' The second boy informed him.
'Shit, everyone? We need to do this before someone's cell gets searched. We should do it tomorrow.' Roberto blurted.
'Fine.' One boy answered.
Carl and the other boy also nodded.
'But I want one of you two with us when we get the weapons from the storeroom, otherwise you might leave without us.' The boy demanded.
'What? We won't get passed the gate without everyone's help!' Carl spat.
'Still, I'm not sure I trust you.' The boy confessed.
'But we are the ones getting the keys. What if someone else stayed with you, the fifth person we promised a seat in the car to.' Carl battered.
This statement caused Roberto to raise an eyebrow. As far as he was aware there was no fifth person promised a seat in their car.
'Does he know how to work those keys of yours?' The boy asked.
'Of course, he helped us make them.' Carl lied.
'Ok fine, who is it.' The boy questioned as he looked around the room.
'TJ other there.' Roberto said as he pointed over in TJ's general direction.
'I'll go speak to him and tell him the change of plan.' Carl coughed as he got up from his seat.
Carl gestured TJ over to him. Carl stood leaning against the wall to the left of the stairs, somewhat clocked in shadow. TJ quickly excused himself from sitting with Lawi and Tom and went over to see what Carl wanted.
'We need to talk.' Carl began.
He kept walking as TJ followed so they were out of earshot of everyone.
'You see that kid over there, the one sitting across from Roberto?' Carl asked.
'Yes.' TJ replied.
'If he asks you tell him you're going to help in the escape. Anything he says you're doing just agree.' Carl elaborated.
'I don't know about this.' TJ mumbled.
'Please TJ, do this for me.' Carl insisted. 'He's lost a few marbles, he's told me that if you don't help he's going to kill you when they get their weapons tomorrow. I tried to tell him you didn't want to escape, but he's not having it. All you need to do is lie to him, say you'll help, I'll sort everything else out. You won't even have to do anything tomorrow. Just make him think you're going to help.' Carl begged as he continued to lie.
'So you're escaping tomorrow?' TJ questioned.
'Yes.' Carl confirmed.
'But if he's wants me to help then how come I don't actually have to help? I only have to say that I will help? And what is that about weapons? I could do without being shot, stabbed or beaten to death, it would really upset my day.' TJ added in a confused manner.
'I don't have time to explain. Just trust me.' Carl concluded as he walked away.
TJ just stood there for a second as he collected his thoughts. In this time the boy came over to TJ to see if TJ had indeed agreed to help.
'So, you with me tomorrow then?' The boy asked.
'Yah, yah.' TJ stuttered.
Back with Lewi and Tom the questions were flying once more about what was happening. TJ wasn't sure what to say, but in the end decided he should tell them in case things got out of hand tomorrow.
'They are going to escape tomorrow.' TJ confided.
'I thought so.' Lewi mumbled under his breath.
'You're not going to tell anyone are you?' TJ bleated, worried that he might have just jeopardised Carl's plan.
'Ain't my business, I'll just sit back and watch the firework.' Lewi exclaimed.
'Are you going with them?' Tom asked sheepishly.
'No!' TJ avowed.
'How are they going to do it?' Tom bellowed as he kept digging for information.
'I'm not sure.' TJ responded.
'Then what were you two talking about just now if you know nothing about it all?' Lewi interrogated.
'They just wanted my help with something.' TJ began.
'I hope you said no.' Lewi croaked.
'Don't worry, I won't be helping them tomorrow. I honestly don't know what their plan is.'