Elwood scanned the courtyard outside and immediately saw the woman Jake had mentioned. She was standing and daydreaming next to an enormous laundry basket on a trolley. She looked thoroughly out of place in a prison, or possibly, the prison looked thoroughly out of place around her.
Elwood bounded towards her, checking over his shoulder to make sure Jake was following. Sure enough, he was a few steps behind and already wheezing with the effort of having to run. Jake had never been one for exercise and usually came up with some excuse to miss any kind of physical activity he was ever called upon to do. Just running this short distance seemed way too much for him.
The loudspeakers crackled into life again and the sound blasted out. Jake and Elwood braked suddenly to secure their hands over their ears against the explosion of noise that erupted around them.
Willie was bellowing into the mike, a torrent of insults mainly regarding Elwood and his mother.
Everyone across the prison groaned and curled up low against this second wave of noise. No one was looking out for two brothers making a bid for freedom.
The tall girl on the motorbike glanced around. That noise had started again. She'd heard it a few minutes ago and then it had stopped, but now it had started up even louder and she had a feeling it was getting closer.
The volume of it was okay, she liked loud noises. But this wasn't a nice sound; it was a human voice that had been amplified to sound electronic and screechy, like the heavy metal she loathed so much. What on earth was it for though? She couldn't make out the words, which would make it useless if it was announcing that World War III had started or something, so what was it doing? Maybe it was a practical joke.
Whatever it was, she didn't like it. She swung over to the side of the road and put on the brakes, setting one foot on the ground to stop the bike from toppling over. From inside her bag she took out a pair of headphones and a tape player, the expensive kind. She placed the headset over her ears and started the tape. Immediately her favourite song filled her ears and drowned out the horrible amplified sound.
She gave a rare smile and started the bike off again.
Jake and Elwood broke into a run, their hands clamped against the sides of their faces to block out as much of the noise as they possibly could. They both stopped in front of the basket and the girl in the cleaner's uniform.
She was a young and rather attractive blond, but you could tell just by looking at her face that she clearly had no will of her own; just the kind of girl that rich, self-obsessed criminals liked to have around.
She was leaning on the trolley, looking away from them and seemed quietly oblivious to everything going on around her. Her face was blank and her eyes distant, plainly off in a world of her own. The earmuffs she was wearing were the proper kind that blocked out every little noise, and because of this, she was completely unaware of the fact that Elwood and Jake standing there waiting for her to notice them.
The two brothers stood awkwardly for a second, wondering what to do. This was the kind of uneasy moment where you usually cleared your throat loudly to get someone's attention, but that would of course be useless at this time.
Jake, getting impatient, leant forward and batted her on the arm with the back of his hand before quickly placing it back over his ear. She jumped in surprise and let out a small shriek, before turning the full glare of her lipgloss onto them.
Jake rolled his eyes. He knew her type. And he couldn't stand them.
Her big eyes flitted over the two oddly dressed strangers in front of her.
"You're not Timothy!" she exclaimed.
'Timothy Hall,' thought Jake. 'I should have guessed he was leading this. Trust him to get some ditzy tart to come and fetch him.'
"No I'm not," Jake answered, yelling over the noise. "We're his associates. He's been temporarily delayed and told us to go along without him. So if you don't mind, we'd like to climb into that basket thing of yours and get the hell out of here!"
There was a pause.
"What?" she said.
She then used big, pantomime gestures to signal that she couldn't hear them.
Jake groaned loudly and looked like he was about to thump this infuriating girl.
Elwood though he'd take control, as he was a lot more patient than his brother. He tore one hand away from his ear and used it to point at Jake and himself, then at the basket and then at the prison gate.
The girl looked blank. He repeated the motion. Nothing. He did it again, and this time she seemed to get the message as she nodded happily and opened the baskets lid.
Jake breathed a sigh of relief and carefully climbed in. He landed with a soft thud onto a small pile of dirty prison uniforms and glanced around. The basket seemed a lot smaller than it had from the outside and smelt musty. Jake wasn't exactly claustrophobic but small spaces had never really been his thing and this basket wasn't exactly roomy. He blocked his ears again and curled himself up as small as he could, which wasn't particularly small.
Elwood vaulted in, landed with plop next to his brother and then closed the lid. It was pitch black. He noticed the lack of space and tried to worm him way round so that he could tuck his long legs to one side, but failed miserably.
'How on earth did the Escape Committee expect to get all six of them in here?' he wondered. Then again there was the fact that he was taller and Jake was wider than anyone else in the prison.
The trolley jerked forward and they both wobbled dangerously. Elwood tried to get back into a crouching stance but somehow ended up in a horribly uncomfortable position with his legs half bent, his left hand over his right ear and his right hand on the wall of the basket. Pain shot up his back.
Thanks to the miracle of wheels, the tiny girl in earmuffs managed to easily push the basket containing two grown men. Her heels clopped against the paving as she sauntered along in what she hoped was an innocent fashion. If anyone had been looking it would seem incredibly bizarre to see one young girl walking so casually along when everyone else nearby was bunched up with their eyes closed and fingers in their ears.
However, no one did see her, and she ambled carelessly across the courtyard and towards the gate.
Over the unbearable noise of the speakers, Elwood could just make out the unmistakable metallic grinding of the gate as it opened. His knees were buckling, his ears were throbbing and any moment now he was going to collapse. His face was contorted with pain, his lips mouthing the word 'ow' over and over again.
"The car, think of the car," he muttered to himself. Oh yes, he could picture it now. Just the thought of that car had been enough to keep him alive through his harrowing teenage years. And any second know it was going to be his.
The gates were open. There was nothing between them and the outside world. The basket slid forward a little more and then stopped.
In the hall, Willie dropped the mike and lay on the floor, exhausted.
There was silence once more.
Inside the basket, Elwood collapsed.
Jake pushed him out of the way and opened the lid slightly. The light streamed in and immediately blinded him, despite the sunglasses, and he squinted against it to see what was around him.
The woman was standing just in front of him with an annoying self-satisfied grin on her face and just next to her was the car.
And, whoa, what a car. Even for someone who couldn't care less about them, Jake was impressed. It was streamlined, close to the ground and painted bright scarlet for full 'notice me' effect. It was like no other car Jake had ever seen and looked even more impressive than it had on the poster.
Standing next to it was a guy in his early twenties, who Jake assumed he was their driver. When criminals had just got out of prison they never bothered to drive for themselves.
Carefully, Jake clambered out of the basket and landed next to the girl.
"You can take off the earmuffs," he mouthed to her, miming taking them off and hoping she'd get the idea. She didn't. He couldn't be bothered to carry on with the charades game so he pulled them off her himself, somewhat roughly.
"Any problems?" he asked her once they were off.
"Nope," she said, desperately trying to flatten her hair. "No one saw us."
"No one saw us?"
"No. I opened the gate myself," she declared proudly.
"So...if nobody saw us and you opened the gate yourself...what was the point of having the basket? We could have just walked out."
The girl looked mystified. "I don't know," she said, then broke into a grin. "I really like this uniform though. Don't you think it suits me?"
Jake groaned under his breath and looked round. Elwood was half in-half out of the basket but had frozen. He'd seen the car and had gone into some sort of trance. Any second now he'd probably start drooling.
"Elwood, let's go," Jake said quietly.
Without taking his eyes from the car, Elwood lowered himself to the ground.
Jake strolled over to the driver, who was busy taking off his own earmuffs. He looked Jake up and down.
"You're not Timothy!" he exclaimed.
"No, we've been through this," Jake answered. "We're his associates. He's been delayed and told us to go along without him. So if you don't mind..." he gently pushed the man out of the way and reached for the car door.
"No, wait, wait, wait," the guy stopped Jake's hand. "I'm meant to be driving you."
"Well um...my brother here is quite a driver and he'd rather like to drive the car himself," Jake motioned to Elwood, who nodded earnestly.
"Well...okay...but..." the guy had obviously spent most of his life taking orders and wasn't used to last minute changes. "But...are me and that girl just gonna sit in the back or something, I mean, you can't just leave us here."
"Well, of course we wouldn't leave you here, I see no reason why..." Jake bought his fist round and caught the guy square in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.
The girl gave a high-pitched scream and jumped into the air. Elwood gave her a violent shove and she fell down next to the driver.
"Let's go!" Jake shouted, somewhat pointlessly. Elwood ran round the side and Jake slipped into the passenger seat. The car was fancier than any other one he'd been in, with all the leather seats and futuristic look. He had an uncanny feeling that it wouldn't look so glamorous once Elwood was through with it.
Elwood sprang into the driver seat next to him, looking happier than he'd looked for years. Driving this car was what he'd always dreamed of; from now on he had lived a full life. 'Sad, sad person,' Jake couldn't help thinking.
Elwood fixed his hands to the steering wheel and gave the engine a self-satisfied rev. The noise was music to his ears feeling the engine fired up beneath the hood of what he supposed was the new Bluesmobile. He slammed down on the accelerator and the car shot off at an incredible speed.
Jake sat back in his leather seat, calmly putting his life into Elwood's hands as per usual. He looked back through the window at Joliet Prison, which was fast disappearing into the distance.
They'd done it. They'd escaped.
It might not last, but who cares? That place was a second home that he was glad to leave, happy never to return. He'd spent some pretty miserable times there and he didn't want them repeated. So this was it.
Goodbye to Joliet. Goodbye to the never-ending performances of Jailhouse Rock and Riot in Cell Block Number Nine. Goodbye to the band, he supposed. He felt a little sad that he was leaving them behind. It would be great to have them all escaping together. Murph, Mr. Fabulous, Duck, Cropper, Willie, all of them. Well, maybe not Willie.
Jake settled back down in his seat and stared out of the windscreen. They were heading to a new future, a new section of their lives.
Him and Elwood, escaped convicts, were going to take this world by storm.