CHAPTER 4: For the River
Nickelback
Nick's POV
After waiting for almost a year, a week shouldn't seem so bad. But I don't think I have ever wished so badly for the week to go by. I just really hope what she has planned actually works. If it doesn't work, she'll be joining me in here instead of getting out.
*Knock Knock*
Before he even says anything, I'm already putting my hands through the door. I don't want to be in here any longer than I have to be.
"I guess you get to see the outside world today?" The guard says, " Well until you're put into the transport truck, that is."
"Well I will be sure to enjoy every second I get of it," I say smirking at him.
We walk down the hall to the stairs. Once down the stairs we made a few turns toward the front door.
Not once in the whole year that I had spent here had I ever been this close to the front door. I wanted so badly just to be let free, to be able to walk out of those doors and never come back.
As I get closer to the door, it opens and Judy is on the other side with a nervous smile on her face. I smile as soon as I see her, knowing that the possibility of freedom is getting closer.
We walk outside and they start walking me toward the vehicle. The truck itself looks like it could withstand a direct missile hit and be completely un-phased . The sides of it are about two inches wide of pure steel, and the doors are no different. The only windows are in the doors and they are barred.
This is a lot like the truck that I rode in to get here on the night of the trial, I think as I'm walking toward it.
I step inside the back of the truck and two officers plus Judy get in behind me, then the door closes. The other officers are watching me closely, as if they knew I was planning something.
I guess in a way they weren't wrong.
After a few minutes of talking, the drivers get in the truck and it starts. Me and Judy look at each other, scared of what is about to go down and if we can actually pull this off or not.
They drive us for a while then I noticed nobody was saying anything, so I decided to break the silence a little.
"So are you guys even aloud to talk? Or do you have a rule or something that says you can't?" I ask, partly wanting to actually know.
"What's our ETA?" says the guard.
"About 30 minutes"
"Or maybe you can talk to other officers, but not to me?" I stare at him as he continues to ignore me.
"Is he always like this?" One of the guards asks Judy, who nods in return.
" Glad to know I'm welcomed," I say sarcastically.
After a few minutes of the officers occasionally using their radios and awkward silence, Judy gave me the sign that we are close. Only minutes away now.
The truck slowed down and stopped for something outside, Judy wasted no time. She quickly knocked out the first officer sitting next to her with a hard hit to the head. The second was just as easy as she never expected Judy of all people to be the one attacking them. She jumps and kicks her into the steel walls of the truck, knocking her out instantly.
Once the guards were out, Judy throws open the doors. She jumps out and I quickly follow her out onto the road.
We had stopped in the middle of a bridge and when I see the reason why, I laugh slightly.
When Judy was telling me how this was going to happen in the interrogation room, she never said how she would get the truck to stop, she just said she'd find a way.
Blocking the exit of the bridge is Finnick with his old beaten up van, the driver of the truck is yelling at him to move, but Finnick has parked in the middle of the bridge. He's pretending that he has a flat tire and is trying to ask the driver to help.
There was no other traffic on the road as the bridge only went to the prison and back, so there wasn't anything else that could get in the way.
The driver keeps yelling at Finnick until he tries to radio one of the guards in the back of the truck, who is now knocked out. And when no one answers he gets frustrated and gets out of the truck.
He walks around the back to find us and the other guards knocked out cold on the truck floor.
The driver quickly radios more backup and pulls out his gun.
This wasn't part of the plan, we were supposed to quickly take them all out and leave with Finnick. But now that he knows we are going to have to improvise.
I put my arm around Judy and grab her gun from her holster, putting it to her head. The officer had his gun pointed at me and yells at me to let Judy go as I slowly back us up to the edge of the bridge.
"You really think I'll just give in this close to being free?!" I yell to him, acting slightly crazy to really sell it.
"Nick! What are you doing?" Judy says beginning to freak out.
"Trust me, play along," I whisper in her ear.
"Nick, you don't have to bring Judy down with you, let her go and give yourself in! Nobody needs to get hurt!" He yells back.
After he says this I notice how close I am to the edge when the heel of my foot hits the wall.
"Get ready to jump." I whisper.
"Nick, there's no way out of this for you. The more you do, the more you make things worse for yourself!" He yells at me.
"Ha, well you know your doing a fine job making me want to give in, you know that? I almost feel like actually doing what you say, but I know what will happen if I did and that is why I won't! I'm not going back to prison for something that I couldn't control, and don't even start with that unfair trail that I was so graciously given."
"Your trial was as fair as everyone else's, just because you got what you deserved doesn't mean it's not fair!" He yells back.
He takes a step towards me and Judy.
*BANG*
I fire a shot his way, just missing him, making him jump backwards and stumble behind the truck for cover.
"Back the fuck up! I am sick of your lies, sick of the bullshit that's been happening! I've lost everything because of people like you!" I scream actually getting angry at him.
I notice sirens in the distance getting louder and realize his backup is getting close. I look back at him, getting ready to jump.
"One day I hope you lose everything you've ever loved, then you'll know what I feel like."
"Nick, just please put Judy down. We are not here to fight you." He said slowly peaking his head around the truck.
"Well, I can say one thing for sure….I hope you have fun explaining why you lost me!"
At this, I quickly throw the gun in my suit and still holding Judy, jump off the side of the bridge.
As I jump backwards off the bridge I look at the officer only to see panic in his eyes while he watched me fall.
It was a long fall, a lot longer than I would have imagined.
When we finally hit the water, it shook my whole body. It felt like I had just been hit by a truck, and I needed air badly. I soon reach the surface of the river and look around for Judy. The water was pretty warm, partly because we were in the rainforest district, where the water is regulated to certain temperatures.
A few moments later she breaks the water's surface, and takes in several deep breaths.
"Judy! Sorry I had to improvise!"
"It's fine! You know, to be honest I didn't think we would make it this far anyway!" She yells back still gasping for air and trying to talk over the police sirens and the roaring waters carrying us down the river.
"Thanks, that really makes me feel good!" I yell sarcastically at her, while floating further down the river.
After floating down the fast flowing river for what seemed like forever, we soon find a good place to get off the river and hide under some big leafy trees. Shortly after getting on the bank, a police search helicopter flies by. It is close enough to the ground that it moves the branches of the trees around us violently. After a few minutes of searching, the helicopter continues to fly down the river searching for me.
"What are we going to do now, I won't…I mean, I CANT go back to that prison cell." I say exhausted and soaking wet, laying on the beach still under the tree.
"Well Nick since you seem to be hated by everyone I'm pretty sure if they found you now, you would be arrested and executed shortly after. And I would have to live in prison when they find out I'm helping you. so I don't think you have to worry about the cell anymore." She says as if it were a joke, but we both know inside that it's probably true.
She looks at me then at the collar still around my neck.
"Oh shit, I almost forgot. We need to get that collar off of you, they can use it to track where you go."
I reach up to my neck and grab the collar. I pull on it and nothing happens.
"Well unless you have a key, it's not going anywhere." I reply looking at her.
She reaches in her front shirt pocket and pulls out a keycard. "It's a good thing I have one then isn't it?"
"Where did you get a keycard? I'm pretty sure they only give the guards of the prison those cards." I say while she comes over and unlocks the collar. It separates into two pieces and falls to the ground.
"I took it from the guards in the back of the truck. Thought we might need it later you know." She grabs the two pieces and walks over to the river bank, then through the pieces into the water.
"So do you know where we are?"
"Well, I think we're pretty close to border wall between here and tundra town. I don't think it's going to be easy getting across the border for awhile though."
I feel my stomach growl and I realize that I haven't eaten anything in awhile, my stomach growls again and feels like it's eating me from the inside out.
"Carrots, where's the nearest town from here? I need to eat something soon or I'm might starve to death, and what was the point of getting me out then?" I say smirking at her.
Judy smiles then stands up.
"It's not too far from here, but I don't know how we are going to get food without being spotted by police. I bet they are swarming every town in this district by now."
"Ah, I can't wait to eat something other than prison food!" I say unfazed by Judy's remark.
"Well then, I say we start walking."
So life got busy again lol, might be bigger spaces between posts, sorry about that :)