Chapter 37 - gone

The dust blew on the wind as the sun rose. The area was as barren as ever, the growing summer had almost no effect on allowing much to survive. But as with almost all environments the most adaptive survived here, whilst the weak stood little chance. Carl stood at the window of his cell and looked out at world, as he often did. But today was different, he knew that with a lot of luck he might soon be looking at the world without a barbed wire fence in the way. Roberto however was not thinking such abstract thoughts, he wasn't as relaxed as Carl. Roberto was running though the plan over and over again in his head, and every time he did a new flew in the plan presented itself.

At breakfast it was clear to see that many of the other kids were sharing Roberto's concerns. Roberto didn't know all of the kids that knew what was going to happen today, but by the look in many of their eyes he could point out some of the kids involved. Most of the kids in here weren't the stereotypical psycho kids that the general public thought of when they thought of juvenile delinquents. They were simply messed up kids that ended up in bad situations, some of these situations were their own fault, but most were not. That being said some did fit the stereotype, they didn't care anymore and had nothing to lose, these were the ones Roberto thought would have no fears about today.

Until closer to the time the plan was to start there was no preparation left to do, so for most of the morning the kids just had to sit around and kill time. The mundane reality of life inside these walls made everyone fairly good at sitting and doing nothing all day without getting bored, there wasn't ever much to do in here. In most rooms there was a large clock mounted somewhere on the wall. And watching it tick round wasn't helping the boredom either, it simply meant the kids knew how long they had been bored for. Around 10:35 Carl elbowed Roberto, telling him it was time. A fight between two inmates erupted at the other end of the cellblock, causing a large crowd to form to watch the spectacle. Some guards quickly ran over to break up the commotion. Carl had set this all up, convinced the kids to have a fight to cause a distraction, for a modest price. As the guard's attention was drawn Carl and Roberto ran over to a side door. These were doors that linked the various different parts of the facility from the inside. However the doors were much less secure than the main prison doors that led to the entrance or the courtyard. This was because the only areas accessible though such doors were the administrative areas and parts of the prison it seemed no inmates would have an interest in infiltrating into. As much as the warden would have like to have every door as secure as it could be there wasn't the money to do so, other doors simply took priority in being replaced and maintained. All this made the doors easier for Carl to open. Looking at the lock Carl noted which of his keys would fit. The door wasn't a security door, more of the normal locking kind you would in an office block or school, he was confident he could open this. Placing the right key in the lock he pulled it out slightly and applied pressure to the right side of the key, then he gave the key a sharp whack. He quickly turned the lock as his heard the pins in the lock jolt. To his relief the door unlocked and so him and Roberto swiftly ran inside and closed the door behind them. At this point there was no way to know if anyone had seen them, they would just have to keep going. As they jogged quickly through the corridors they waited, knowing that if they had been seen an alarms would sound quickly. They heard nothing and so could relax slightly, if that were possible. Carl's plan so far was going well, he only hoped the others played their parts in his little game.

Back in the cell block TJ had watched the fight from the metal railing of the upper level, this place providing him with a great vantage point. He too had been watching the clock, he often did this, but today was worse. Knowing the escape was happening today put him on edge, but not knowing how, or when it was going to happen really stressed him out. He only hoped he could stay out of the way, he wanted no part in whatever was going to happen. Soon enough however the severity of the plan was exposed. Just before 11:20 the boy from the previous night approached TJ. Russ was his name. TJ had used the morning to talk to Lawi and Tom about him, he wanted to know who this kid was in case things turned ugly.

'All right? You ready?' The Russ murmured

'Erm... Well, y-yah...' TJ stuttered as he tried to construct a coherent response.

'You'd fucking better be.' Russ shouted angrily.

The raised voice caused a guard to come over and check what was happening.

'Everything ok over here McKenzie?' The guard queried as he approached the boy speaking with TJ.

Russ didn't answer him. It was time, and he decided now would be the moment to carry out his end of Carl's plan. Turning around to face the guard Russ wrestled the man back against the railings in an attempt to push him over. Russ was strong for his age, but the guard was still stronger and was quickly regaining his footing. Some of the other boys around saw what was happening and the ones who knew the plan ran over to help deal with the guard. One boy went to grab the guard's keys but one of the others could see that the guard had almost gone over the edge of the railing, and decided he would help finish the job. Which the guard still being held over the railing this boy picked up his legs. The guard's centre of gravity shifted over the edge and he fell. The sound of the body hitting the hard floor below reverberated throughout the cellblock, everyone in the building heard it. All the guards rapidly sprang into action to suppress the situation. But many of the kids were now ready to fight back. The alarms rang out, and now chaos reigned. The kids in here outnumbered the guards many times over, and although the kids were weaker and smaller than the guards the kids quickly gained the upper hand. This was due to initial differences in the strategy both sides took. The guards wanted to restrain the kids and get them locked into their cells, whereas the kids took a more violent approach. Tackling, punching and generally assaulting guards was the main order of the day. TJ ran frantically to find Lawi and Tom, hoping that somehow sticking with them would be the safest course of action. TJ found them on the lower level as they tried to get through the violence to reach the moderate safety of their cells.

'Lawi!' TJ bellowed, his voice so diluted by the other noises in the room that Lawi barely heard him.

Lawi and Tom moved towards TJ and once they all met up they went to a cell. Outside the fight was intensifying. After a few minutes Russ appeared at the cell door.

'You bastard! You've been hiding in here? Come on, you need to get these doors open.' Russ snapped. He then grabbed TJ's arm and began dragging him out the cell.

Lawi waited for TJ to verbally resist, but he did not. He wriggled his arm in vain attempts to get free, and that was all Lawi needed to know he had to stop this. 'He's not going anywhere with you!' Lawi protested angrily.

Russ held a momentary death stare with Lawi. 'Fuck off!' The boy countered.

Lawi followed them out the cell and pushed Russ, causing him to lose his grip on TJ. In the heat of the moment Russ felt he had heard enough from Lawi and reached into his sock for the weapon he had made. It was a small plastic implement or some kind that he had sharpened at one end to form a spike.

'I wouldn't do that if I were you!' Russ spat.

The weapon was now clearly pointed at Lawi, so he slowly backed away. However a guard approached the area intent on herding these kids into their cells. Because he approached from behind the guard could see the weapon being held by the boy. When he got close the guard shoved Russ forward towards a cell. In a flash of anger Russ turned around and rammed the spike violently into the guard's neck. The weapon may not have looked very dangerous, but it did its job. The guard called out in pain and fell on to one knee. He put his hand on his neck, but blood was still pouring out. TJ and Lawi saw this and were in a state of shock. Russ shouted over to someone else who ran over and stole the guard's keys. Lawi could only watch as TJ was dragged away by the others towards the main door of the cellblock. Two other guards soon ran over to carry out their injured friend. They had clearly lost control of this situation and needed some help to regain the upper hand. However there were so many kids at the main doors that the guards quickly decided to use a side door to get the much needed medical attention and then counter the riot that was happening. It would take time for the guards to all regroup and get armed, especially with the main door currently unacceptable, but as long as they could keep the kids contained it should all work out fine. At the main door the kids used the keys from the guard to open it and start moving though other sections of the institution. They followed the plan, and TJ was still reluctantly following them. He didn't want to be here, but it seemed Russ took Carl's promise of TJ helping him very seriously, no matter how much TJ protested. The kids were not sure where the room was that they were looking for, but they needed to find it, and soon.

'This it?' Russ slurred.

'Yah I think so.' Another boy responded.

Thumbing with the keys it soon became clear none of these keys was going to open this door.

'Get over here!' Russ boomed whilst pointing at TJ.

TJ approached the boy, uncertain of what was wanted of him.

'Open this door.' Russ instructed.

TJ looked at him blankly, having no idea what he meant. TJ had no lock picking skills or anything he thought could be helpful in this circumstance.

'Come on! What is it? Here's the key Roberto gave me.' The Russ stated as he passed over the bump key.

'Well I don't know what to do with.' TJ admitted, in a much blunter manner than he meant to.

'Fuck off, Carl told me you knew how to this!' The boy blurted.

'I don't know what he told you, but he was obviously lying.' TJ continued.

'Oh shit...' Another boy muttered from behind TJ.

'Don't worry, they did tell me how to do it, but I'm not really sure how to... I'll have to try.' Russ announced.

Fiddling with the lock took time, and Russ was having no luck. The rest of the kids were getting restless, fear of the guards catching up with them was growing by the second. In the end another boy had an idea of how to open the door. In the hallway was a trolley that was sometimes used to store items in the shop the kids used their tokens to buy goods from. It look fairly old, but it had a sturdy design, and looked like it could survive some punishment. Grabbing the trolley the boy positioned it on course with the door.

'Somebody give me and hand.' The boy instructed.

Two other boys got a hold of the trolley, and once everyone was away from the door they took a run up and smashed the trolley into the door. At first there was no visible damage to the door, but after repeated attempts the hinges began to buckle.

'Keep going.' The boy called.

It had taken much longer than any of the kids were happy with, but now the door flung open, allowing them access to the weapons in storage.

'Everyone grab what you can. TJ where the hell are Carl and Roberto!? There should have been here ages ago.' Russ shouted.

'I keep telling you, they didn't tell me anything!' TJ snapped back at him.

'Well you've been a great help so far!' Russ retorted as he pushed TJ into the wall and went to get a gun. 'You're lucky I don't shot you!'

Taking his chance TJ ran for it, moving as fast as he could to get away from the escapees.

Some of the boys noticed him leave, but they were all too busy to be bothered trying to stop to him. None of these kids had ever used a gun, they were hoping it was just a point and shot kind of deal, but either way it seemed not many of them would have most of their shots on target. Looking at the guns Russ noticed something, they didn't quite look right. Especially the ammunition in the boxes in the corner, something was off. None of the others noticed, they just kept taking the guns off the racks and handing them out. As Russ picked up his gun he had to test his theory. He shot a few bullets at the wall next to him, causing a number of the other boys to jump.

'Like I thought!' Russ muttered.

'W-what's going on?' One of the other boys asked.

'Fucking rubber fucking bullets!' Russ asserted. He then let out more of his angry by kicking some of the storage units in the room, likely causing more damage to his foot than anything else.

'What are we going to do now?' One boy asked hesitantly.

'We keep going, keep pushing towards the main gate NOW!' Russ ordered.

With that all the kids moved out from the room and with their weapons ready they continued their escape. However by this time the authorities were ready for them, although the guards had taken a beating in the cellblock reinforcements had now arrived. Police with stab vests and other riot armour were now in place, the kids weapons would have little to no effect on them. Oblivious to this the kids ran into them in the corridors and opened fire from their guns. The cops kept moving forward, they refrained from firing back as at this time they hoped to end this situation with the least amount of force necessary. The police swiftly disarmed the first boys they got to and held the boys restrained whilst they were moved back and then cuffed. Although it wasn't common practice against children pepper spray and tasers were now ready to be used against the kids due to danger they now posed. This strategy was working, the boy's weapons were indeed powerless against the well prepared police. Russ quickly figured this out but was unsure what to do now. With the police encroaching the only place to go was backwards, back to the cellblock. Things in the cellblock had been relatively calm after the boys had left the area in their attempt to find weapons. But this changed rapidly on their return.

'Watch the doors, their still chasing us.' Russ cautioned, knowing the police would soon storm this room to end all this.

TJ noticed Russ' return, he could see all the kids as he stood just outside of his cell. He was on his way to check on his cell mate Max, although they were not exactly friends TJ knew Max wasn't well, and he might need some help in this situation. TJ ignored what was happening for now and went into the cell. Max was huddled in the corner of the room visibly shaking.

'Max, Max? Are you ok?' TJ whispered.

'Outside, there's, there's so many noises, so many noises...' Max mumbled, it was clear the events of today had frightened, or even terrified him.

TJ wasn't sure of how he could calm Max, but he would at least try to do so. 'How about me and you stay in here until this is over yah? It's safe in here, quite.' TJ asked.

'Yah. Nice and quiet.' Max responded, feeling just a little better than before TJ found him.

The pair had a few moments of peace, but the boys that had tried to escape had one last plan of action.

Some kids were dragged out of their cells and were now being used as hostages. Russ wanted TJ as his hostage as a punishment for TJ being no help to him, and for running off when he got the chance. Russ shouted TJ's name so loud the whole cellblock could hear him. TJ knew this wouldn't be for a good reason, but he had to go see what he wanted, if he didn't the boy would soon find him anyway and that would could make things even worse. Russ saw TJ leave his cell and so he and another boy went and grabbed TJ.

'Bring the other kid too.' Russ stated.

The other boy took a hold of Max and pulled him out the cell also. Max hated being forced around like, he wailed and screamed wildly. The boy holding him was yelling at him to shut up, but this only made Max worse. Using the pointed, knife-like weapons the kids had made prior to the escape they held the weapons to their hostage's throats and moved out the cellblock once more. They shouted at the police their intentions, that if they were not allowed out of the prison they would harm the hostages. This kind of situation was bad enough for the police when they were dealing with adults, but with this being children the dynamic was different. The kids may have got out of the cellblock, but the police allowed them to move no further. One officer was trying to negotiate with the boys, but the boys had already went all in, they had gone too far to back down now. The argument between the two groups went on, but now Max had had enough. He bit the boy's wrist that was holding him hostage. His teeth clamped down on the flesh hard, hard enough that he drew blood for the boy. The boy holding him lost his grasp on Max due to the pain. Max then grabbed the sharp weapon from the boy and the tables were soon reversed. Now Max was holding this boy captive. The rest of boys noticed and an uncertain aura filled the corridor.

'Let go of him Max.' Russ commanded.

'I'll do it.' Max spat.

'Let him go and you can head back to the cells.' Russ replied calmly.

Max didn't answer, he just moved the weapon closer to the boy's throat, so close the boy could feel it pressing against him.

'What the fuck do you want Max!?' Russ questioned aggressively.

Max didn't answer.

'Let us all go, end this now. That's what he wants!' TJ exclaimed.

'I can't do that. We need some leverage.' Russ explained.

'No more...' Max muttered. He slowly shuffled forward and then pushed his hostage to the side of him as he leaped forward and plunged the sharp point into Russ' neck, only marginally avoiding TJ. At this moment the police burst in and demanded everybody put their weapons down. Russ fell to the floor and soon was drenched in a pool of his own blood. He was trying to say something, but his injuries made it difficult to understand him. The police quickly got all the kids unarmed and contained them, then got medical attention in to for Russ. TJ, Max and the other kids were all put in the secure confinement rooms for the time being, on their own where couldn't harm anyone. It would be decided what would happen to them all after the facility was secured.

A new problem arose after the place was made safer again. Guards checked that everyone was where they should be and were not harmed, but Carl and Roberto could not be found. At first it was presumed they had been taken away for medical attention outside of the facility, but this was found not to be the case. Somehow they had gone missing. Their cell was searched for any clues as to where they were, and how they had got there. But nothing was found, in fact the cell was remarkably empty. TJ was soon questioned about their whereabouts, as it was known that he had been spending time with them recently. But TJ knew nothing, the only conclusion he could come to was that Carl and Roberto had planned this from the start. They were never once seen during the escape attempt, and Carl would never have backed out on one of his own plans. But Carl was a clever boy, he wouldn't have come up with a plan to simply get weapons and walk out of here. No, that had almost no chance of working, his plan would be better than that. Whatever had happened it seemed some people may pay the price from Carl and Roberto's plan, blood had already been spilt, and with Russ and a two guards in a critical condition in hospital some people may even pay with their lives...