Chapter Fifteen
Escape
Today is Richard's eighteenth birthday. For an early gift to himself he shaved his head completely bald only two days earlier. It still feels weird when he runs a hand over his head. But it's all for tonight, this night. It's the big night when everything falls according to plan. It will start when all the boys are locked in the cells for the night. The infirmary is empty of inmates so everyone is well enough to travel. Richard wants to be out in at least twenty minutes. With the power off in Seablite, it will take a while to open up all the cells manually. That's where most of the time will go. On an earlier adventure around the prison, Richard found the place where their belongings were being kept, or more accurately their clothes.
He sits down at the table for what he hopes to be his final meal in Seablite. Ace slides down beside him and nods. The dark haired teen rubs his chest where his scar resides. The other inmates assigned to that table soon join them. All of them know it's the night. All the inmates know it's true. They are finally leaving this place for good. They all talk about other things as they usually do at dinner time. The guards are completely oblivious. Soon this prison will be empty of inmates.
"What time tonight?" Peter asks quietly.
"Between nine and ten, that way the inmates are all calm for the night and the guards begin to slack off on their duties," Richard answers. "You can wait three hours I think."
"What are we going to do about Kyle?" Henry asks. "He can barely move as is." The boy has a point. Kyle is suffering from headaches. He says that the creaking prison is much too loud for him. He stays in his cell for the most part.
Richard thinks about this. "We'll have to carry him out then. Once we get out of the prison, he should get better."
The plan is sound. Everyone will get out by tonight. In three hours to be exact.
Three hours to all of them seems like three years. Adrenaline is starting to pump through their veins as the minutes and seconds slowly tick by. They are locked in their cells for the night and Richard prepares himself mentally for what is going to be the hardest thing in his life. He lies on his bed and stares at the ceiling. An object lies hidden under his pillow, an object that will bring pain. The knife he found while mucking was hidden in his locker for months now. Tonight he will use it to give a gift to Doc before he leaves, a little 'thank you' for what he did to them all.
He jumps down from his bed and shakes Ace's shoulder gently. "What?" he mumbles under his breath.
"It's time," Richard says.
Ace sits up abruptly. He ruffles his dark hair and makes it messy. He stands up and paces a bit. It's all part of the act. He's trying to make himself appear anxious and upset. That way he can create a big enough scene to attract the guards. Richard steps back into the bathroom and takes off his orange prison jumper for the last time.
In the other part of the cell Ace conjures up some tears to make himself appear quite fragile. He tugs on the cell bars.
Richard takes off his under clothes and blends in with the back wall of the bathroom. Without any clothes on, he's completely invisible. He slinks back into the main part of the cell where he sees Ace tugging on the cell bars and putting up a fuss. Ace mutters to himself and tugs on the bars furiously.
"Let me out!" he shouts and rattles the bars. Surely this is enough racket to bring out the guards. Eli comes out and tries to calm Ace down. Ace shoves him back with force and yells at the guards to let him out, that he didn't do anything wrong. Sure enough, two of the night guards arrive to see what's happening.
"Kid, calm down," one says.
"I said to let me out!" Ace shouts and tugs on the bars again.
"If you don't calm down, we'll come in there and make you," the other says. Ace refuses and shouts at them. The guards open up the cell and try to take charge, leaving Richard to escape the cell unnoticed.
Ace shoves back a guard who is trying to detain him. The other guard makes the mistake of trying to touch the inmate. Ace spits at him, but it's not the usual saliva that can come from a normal human. A shot of slick, black ink splatters onto the guard's face. He wipes it off with his fingers and stares Ace down, though the boy's glare is just as icy. Together the guards detain Ace properly by forcing his arms behind his back. The boy certainly puts up a fight.
They finally bring him down to the first level of the prison and get him near to the door of the hole. Ace knows it's finally time for the big finale. He breaks free of the guards and gives one a solid hit to the nose. The other guard hollers for back up. Good, the more that arrive, the easier it will be for Peter to put them all to sleep.
Ace puts up a pretty good fight and manages to take down at least two guards before they swarm him. All that work down in the muck pits have finally paid off. He manages to attract ten guards before they place the cuffs on him and shove him into the hole. His arms are behind his back and will remain so until the guards think he's learned his lesson or when Richard comes to get him. Whichever one happens first, his part in the escape is done.
Once Peter sees that Ace is in the hole, his part begins. He looks over at Eli and nods. He rattles the cell bars, signalling to all the other inmates that they should plug their ears for when he puts the guards into a deep sleep. He doesn't want to put the inmates to sleep. He wants them all awake.
He goes deep into himself and braces himself on the bars. He focuses on the guards and only the guards. Their movements turn sluggish. Soon they all freeze where they stand and then they wait, he waits. He waits for the rest of the guards to come out so that he has all of them here. Five minutes… ten minutes. Finally more guards appear and they also fall under his spell. He waits a little longer until all the guards are frozen down below him.
Once they are all in a trance, Peter works up the courage to speak to them all in a loud and authoritative tone. He tells them that they will go to their rooms and sleep. They won't wake for twenty minutes. He repeats this message to them several times and makes the guards repeat it back to him. He slowly brings them out of the trance. The guards all blink and rub their eyes before walking away to their rooms, as if nothing has happened.
Eli sees this as his turn to start his part. He walks into the bathroom and unscrews the light bulb from its socket. He brings his finger to the socket and shoots an electrical impulse into the system. The lights go dark and, for that matter, the cameras. It's all up to Richard now.
Once the lights go dark, Richard springs into action. He's been waiting for everything to go according to plan. He breaks into the secure room that holds all of the inmates' precious belongings. He finds his stuff which is really just a pair of clothes. The clothes are too small since he's grown in the past the four years that he's been here. He slips into his pants but cuts off the legs and makes them into shorts. The t-shirt was a little baggy on him back then and is a little tight on him now, but it'll have to do. He's on his way again.
The keys for the cells are in the Warden's office. Hopefully Peter got to him to with the whole trance thing. Luckily, he finds the Warden slumped on his desk and drooling on his papers. He takes the set of keys hanging from his belt and jogs off in the direction of the cells. He opens up his cell first and lets Peter and Eli out. He moves to the next cell and then to next. Peter and Eli are in charge of keeping the inmates in check until they pilot the subs out of here as well as making sure that Kyle is transported onto one of the subs.
He walks down to the hole and slides the key into the lock. "Come on out, Ace," he says. "We gotta go."
"'Bout time," he mutters and walks out of the darkness. "Uncuff me will you? The guards weren't very easy going with me."
"I can tell." Richard takes the handcuffs off of his friend. He throws the handcuffs into the hole and shuts it to make it look like nothing has happened. "I want you to follow me. We're going to get some stuff from Doc before we leave."
"Like what?" Ace asks.
"Our files. Get changed first and meet me at Doc's office."
"Gotchya," he says and takes off in the direction of the storage room.
Richard replaces the keys exactly where he finds them to make sure nothing is suspicious afterwards. He takes a detour while heading to the moon pool and stumbles upon Doc's office. The doctor is slumped in his chair, completely asleep. He shakes the good doctor's shoulder roughly.
"Wakey, wakey, Doc," he says.
Doc struggles out of his daze. Once his eyes adjust to the darkness, he spots a silhouette of a man casually leaning against his desk. "Richard?" he says, voice still thick with sleep. "Is that you? Why is it so dark in here? Why are you not in your cell?"
"I've come to say goodbye, Doc," Richard responds in a calm and even tone. "I'm leaving."
"Right now?" Doc shakes his head. "I would've heard about this a few days prior to your release. Your release isn't scheduled yet, not for a while."
"Of course you would know that. You know everything about me. In fact, you know more about my body than I do."
"Richard, what is this about?"
Richard smiles in the dark. He loves it when Doc sounds confused. Soon he'll have him begging. "The boys and I are leaving, Doc. We're sick of Seablite. We're sick of panning our childhoods away and we're sick of you and your medical team. I've come to stop by and give you a parting gift, kind of like payback for all the stuff you did to us." He brandishes the knife. Confusion gives away to fear and shock on Doc.
"Richard, this isn't you," Doc says. "You wouldn't do this. You aren't a murderer."
"You're absolutely right, Doc," Richard says in a mocking tone. "But neither are you. I've just trying to get even for the scars you gave to me and the boys." Quicker than a sailfish, Richard lashes out and flips Doc onto his desk. He grips the front of Doc's shirt with one hand and plants a knee in his stomach to prevent him from getting away.
"Richard, think about this."
"I've had four years to think about this," he shouts. "Every day was torture for me. And seeing you didn't exactly help my mood any. You've hurt me and I'm only trying to get even. And if you tell the guards what happened to us, you can bet that I'll hear about it and come after you to finish it off."
"You wouldn't kill me, would you?" the doctor asks quietly.
Richard smirks. "I'm just the pyscho that has to be rehabilitated, remember? Anything is possible, Doc, anything is possible." Quickly he slashes one of Doc's palms open, deep enough to cut tendons. Doc yelps in surprise and pain when it happens again to the other hand. "We're far from being even, Doc," Richard whispers into his ear. "Remember that." He talks the hilt of the knife and with one, final, mighty whack, he puts Doc into an unconscious slumber.
He walks toward the door and motions Ace to come inside. "Start going through the filing cabinets. Our files are bound to be here somewhere." They look through the filing cabinets in the office. The files are everywhere. Each one holds a picture of the inmate and all of their personal information. Birth dates, parents, the list is endless. The pages continue with notes and descriptions, as well as what their Gifts are and what they do. They take as many files as they can and carry them to the subs, returning for a second trip afterwards. Now, they are ready to leave.
At the moon pool, the inmates are split up into the two subs that are docked there. The subs are large enough to carry them all. Ace will pilot one and Richard the other. All they have to do is figure out how to operate one. Much to Richard's delight and relief, the controls aren't as complicated as he thought they would be. In fact, there is even a button that will take them to their last destination. Richard pushes it and the sub begins to submerge. The hatch is quickly shut and locked tightly. The second sub follows soon after.
Richard relaxes in the pilot's seat. He did it. They did it. They are finally free.