Chapter 2: The great escape

Tia sat at the end of the long table, focusing on her breakfast and not her husband that was casually reading his newspaper on the other end of the table. Any moment now, Tia thought to herself, as she stuffed another piece of bacon into her swollen mouth. She wasn't even half way through her breakfast and it was already cold because her mouth refused to chew at its normal pace. At that moment she heard the chair scrape back and footsteps walk towards her.

"I'll be at the office honey." Jonathan smiled, as he kissed Tia hard on the mouth. Her painful, already beaten up mouth, acting as if nothing happen the other night or in the last two years. "Try not to miss me." Trust me I won't, Tia thought to herself, as he walked out of the door. Tia quickly rushed to the window to make sure Jonathan got into his car and drove off. She watched him disappear up the road before putting her plan into motion. The cleaning staff only came in every couple of days and the cook had already left, so except from the security guards that guarded the walls away from the mansion, Tia was completely on my own. Quickly, she walked into the kitchen and grabbed the sandwich (that Tia had asked the cook to make for her lunch) an apple and a bottle of water. Then she grabbed some lemon, a knife and a touch light before she headed for the basement. Jonathan had said he would beat her if she ever went into the basement without his permission. She had never tried to push her luck with that order, until now that is. I just pray that Jonathan was his over-confident self and hadn't placed any guards down there, She prayed. Arriving at the door that allowed her into the basement she slowly turned the handle. Her heart stopped for a moment when the door clicked open. Taking a very deep breath she enter the room, careful as she walked down the stairs; looking out for any guards that Jonathan might of placed down here if he was smart for once. To Tia's relief he hadn't and continued down to the end of the corridor that lay at the bottom of the stairs. Another door lay in front of her. Peeping through the door window she could see the man she saw the other night with his feet chained to the back of the wall. Oddly enough his arms were free to do whatever they wanted. Unlike the other door this one was locked and you needed a four digit code to open it. Sadly, Tia did not know this code but she was about to find out. I hope this worked like it did in my year six science fair project, She hoped, as she gently put the stuff she was holding on to the floor next to her. Taking the knife she cut the lemon open then swipe the lemon onto the keypad. She waited for a minute before taking the touch light and shined it onto the pad. Within second's neon purple light from the buttons shone from the keypad. But instead of the four numbers that were meant to shine, only two did. Did I not use enough lemon, Tia wondered to herself as she examines the two digits on the buttons. She nearly laughed to herself when she recognised the order of the numbers. You would base the code on your favourite model sports car wouldn't you Jonathan, Tia laughed, as she dialled the numbers in. The door clicked open. Pulling her hoodie over her face (so he wouldn't see the bruises on her face) and picked up the food from the floor, Tia slowly walked into the room. The man did not move from his spot, as she approached him. Carefully, she began to place the food in front of him.

"I thought Point said he wasn't going to give me any food." The stranger snapped angrily, not moving his face from his arms.

"He isn't." Tia answered, taking the bottle of water from under her arm and placed it next to the apple. From what she could see from the corner of her eye the man was staring at her now. Tia began to stand up and leave. But the man grabbed her wrist. She was so surprised by this that she suddenly lost her balance and fell just next to the man. As Tia pushed herself back up, she heard a gasp. She had not notice that during her fall that her hoodie had fallen off her head and that the light from the corridor was shining directly on her face. She grabbed for the hood and tried to pull it back over her face but the man stopped her before she had the chance. Gently taking her face into his hands he began to examine the bruises and cuts around her. She tried her best not to make eye contact when he examined her.

"What did that bastard do to you?" The stranger spoke out loud. Tia couldn't help but love the way his strong, soft hands stroked her cheek.

"I should go." Tia finally stuttered out, as she tried to leave again. But the stranger pulled her back.

"Why are you married to this monster?" He asked randomly, locking onto her wrists, so she couldn't escape.

"Because I was young and stupid and thought he loved me." Tia replied silently, trying to force the tears away from my eyes. "Please let me go." She begged. Slowly the man let go of her wrists; allowing her to flee.

She lay in bed broken and beaten again that night, since Jonathan couldn't find anyone to 'release his stress' as he liked to call it. Again his body weight was crushing her small body. She needed to get that man out of there and fast, since she didn't know how long she had before Jonathan went down there and guess that someone was feeding him. She had two more nights the max. She lay there, staring at the ceiling. If her estimates were correct then she knew that tomorrow night was her best bet. Tuesday nights was the local pubs strip dance night, where Jonathan would take at least three quarter of his guards with him. She didn't understand why he treated the men out but that meant only ten guards would be guarding the outside wall and they all be guarding the front but not the sides of the other walls. Jonathan thought because they were surrounded by thick forest that no one would try and get through those ways. Stupid Jonathan. Tia couldn't help but smile to herself. You're going to be in a huge shock when you find out he's gone.

The next day was the same. She waited for her husband and the cook to leave before she grabbed some food and headed towards the basement. Quickly typing in the code again the door clicked open, allowing her to enter. This time the man watched her as she approached him and placed the food down him front of him. Tia also sat down in front of him so they were both eye level.

"I plan on breaking you out tonight." Tia stated, tucking a long strand of curly while hair behind her ear.

"And how do you plan to do that." The man asked, watching her every move.

"You don't need to worry yourself about that; I just needed you to know." Tia spoke calmly, before getting off the floor and exiting the room.

"Thank you." The man whispered. Tia smiled as she turned to face him. For once it wasn't a pretend one. It was a real one and those had not appeared for a very long time.

She told her husband she wasn't feeling well (not liked he cared) and went off to bed. Instead of going to bed, she sat on the window sill and waited for her husband and the guards to leave. It was pitch black when she saw the lights on the cars switch on and drive out. She instantly set herself to work, sneaking into her husband's room and nicked some clothing. One set to wear through the forest and another to change into when he reached a clearing of some kind. She also nicked one of his rucksacks to put all of the stuff in. The next thing she did was sneak into her husband's office. She needed to get the key to un-lock those old fashion chains and she had seen him swirling it around his figure earlier, when he had asked her to make her a cup of tea. Earning a punch in the gut but hey at least she knew what the keys were now. Quickly she began searching the top draw of his desk. It wasn't that hard to find the key since it was a big rusty thing hidden in the corner. She was surprised with what she found next when she snatched the key out of the draw. Right on top on Jonathan's desk was a file stamped with 'top secret' on it. Tia couldn't resist but take a quick flip through it; she skipped an heart beat when she saw what was inside it. Inside was everything – and I mean everything- that was related to Bleylock's army. Their strengths and weakness of all their equipment, ranging from tanks, to forts, to spacecraft's and even plans for attacks they were planning to use next month. I hope Jonathan doesn't mind me taking this; Tia sniggered to herself, as she tucked the file under her arm. She needed to make one more stop to the kitchen to place some food in his rucksack. I hope that's enough, Tia thought to herself, as she began running down to the basement. She quickly type in the numbers and run in.

"I brought you some stuff you might need." Tia spoke handing him the clothes. Reaching deep into her pocket she grabbed the key and began un-locking the chains around his ankles. She waited outside, as he changed. When he walked back out Tia handed him the rucksack and file.

"Where did you get this?" He asked when he realised what the file was.

"Jonathan has never been big on security." Tia answered, as she began running up the stairs. "Come on we don't have all night." She shouted back. Well actually we did and almost all of tomorrow, since when Jonathan goes out on his Tuesday nights he slept with the whore then went to the gym and didn't get home to around six o'clock at night. With the man with the golden eyes running behind her, they headed out into the night, running to the southern wall of the complex. The southern wall and the western wall were the only ones with a gate that lead to the forest but going through the southern one was easier.

"If you continue to run south you should reach a river, if you follow that east then you should come to a road and if you continue to travel south then you'll reach a small town called Wars Heath." Tia explained to the man, as she opened the gate. Tia turned to face him, expecting him to dash through the gate but instead he just stood where he was. She wondered why he was standing there, until he uttered out,

"Come with me." Tia could only stand there shocked. For a few moments the only thing that you could hear was the winds strong gust.

"Excuse me." Tia managed to regain her voice, after what seemed like years.

"I said come with me." He repeated, Tia couldn't understand why he was asking this until he explained himself. "I not just going to leave, knowing that he beating you and doing god knows what else to you every night." For two years Tia had waited for someone to come and rescue her from this nightmare. Away from the beatens, away from the horrible sex and away from the fear. So she could live her life however she wanted; most of all she wanted to be free. Sadly however, she shook her head.

"I can't." She whispered, not able to look into the man's beautiful eyes.

"Why can't you?" He asked. You could hear the frustration burning in the back of his of his throat when he spoke.

"When Jonathan finds out your gone, I need to be able to send him in the wrong direction, so you have a chance to reach the town." Tia stated firmly to him, determined to get her point across. When the man began to open his mouth to protest, Tia quickly raised her hands to stop him. "Please you needed to go." Her voice broke as she said it. The man seemed to give up with his protest and began to walk to the gate when he suddenly stopped next to her.

"I don't even know your name." He asked her.

"It's Tia." She answered, willing herself to keep her eyes on the house.

"Thank you for everything Tia and I'm Rocket in case you wanted to know." He laughed as he tried to lift a bit of the tense out of the air. Despite herself a small smile crept on to Tia lips. Suddenly, She felt an extra warmth wrapped around her hand. When she looked down she saw Rocket's hand tightly holding hers. "I swear I'll come back for you." Before Tia had a chance to answer Rocket left through the gate and enter the dark woods. Tia stood there for a moment as she watched him go. Tears streaming down her face. It was sweet what he said, Tia thought, as she began to walk back to the house but she knew if her plan worked, then she wasn't going to survive tomorrow night.