"Right. She'll be in Cell Block A, which will be marked with a
cement block with a black A on it. Plus, she looks like me, black
hair, dark blue eyes. And secondly, that really doesn't matter
right now. But I'll do my best to find you afterwards. If I'm not
there when you reach the tunnel, then.." he hesitated. "Tell my
sister I love her, and even though I've done horrible things, I
still love her." He nodded. "You ready?"
Colt had been oddly cold and numb the whole night, and even he
wasn't quite sure the cause of it. It certainly wasn't his normal
behavior. He'd told himself he'd accepted that he or Dan may not
return from this, but his brain hadn't quite comprehended it, or
more accurately, his emotions hadn't. Now, it hit him, and his mind
screamed for his to do anything and everything he could to fight
this, to switch places, to give Dan the chance to escape. But
something told him there was no fighting it, and some line from a
movie flickered into his mind: You can't save everyone.
Taking a shaky breath, he looked the younger boy in the eye and
said, "Dan, for what it's worth... I forgive you. For everything.
I'll tell her, but I need you to promise you will do your best to
meet us. Okay?"
Dan hesitated, before nodding. "Alright. I'll do my best." He
opened the door all of the way, striding out into the open.
Grabbing one of the lower cameras, he smashed it, causing all heads
to turn torwads him. Immieadiently, Dan took off running, with
nearly half of the guards going after him as he ducked and dodged,
taking out a lot of the cameras with him. He managed to make it to
a set of stairs, and immieadeintly ran down, with the guards after
him. Those who remained dissapeared into the offices, presumably to
protect the higher ups. Only a few cameras remained, but the path
to the door on the oppisite side of the room was clear as day.
As Dan had instructed, Colt ran as if his life depended on it, and
not only his life, but that of Dan's sister. The second he got to
the door, he inserted the card into the card reader, waiting only a
second for it to verify before flinging it open with all his might,
darting through. Sure enough, it was quite clear that the YCT was
just off to the right and ahead. It was a somewhat big, jail-like
complex. Scanning the walls, he located Cell Block A and ran to it,
the clacking sound of his shoes on the tile floor reverberating
around the large room. Sure enough, in the third cell to the left,
was a young girl looking quite like Dan. Hurrying to her and
sliding the card across the verification panel on the door, he
whispered hoarsely, "Hey, kid, we've got to move. Your brother and
I are gonna get you out of here."
Dan's sister, who had been sitting on the ground, her head between
her knees and her arms wrapped around herself, looked up. A look of
disbelief crossed her face as she ran to the door. "Y-you mean it?
I-I can leave?" She looked behind him, expecting to see her
brother. "But where's Danny?" She pushed on the handle, and it
started to slide open with a hiss. Still, she looked wary when he
brother failed to apear. "Where is he?" she repeated.
"He's meeting us on the first floor. Now hurry, c'mon." Leading the
way, he, slowly at first, made his way across the YCT towards the
office Dan had mentioned, glancing back behind him to make sure she
was following.
At first, Dan's sister seemed unsteady on her feet. She was
unusally pale and thin, but didn't have too much trouble walking
and was able to catch up to him, walking to the elevator. She
seemed hesitant at first, but followed him into the elevator.
"Alrighty, first floor," he muttered, trying to help put her at
ease as he pressed the buttons to select said floor and shut the
door. A doubt popped into his mind. What if Dan wasn't there? Would
he put his life and the life of this girl at risk to wait for Dan
and potentially save his? Colt hated regular gambling, and this was
100x worse. This was gambling with lives. Either he settled for
what he was sure he could leave with, or he pressed his luck and
tried to get away with the grand prize. His brain was telling him
the most logical action was the former, but his heart wasn't in it.
Best prepare for the worst, though, he reckoned, or at least
prepare the escapee. "If he's not there when we get there," he
began, kind of offhandedly, as if it weren't really a relevant or
important sentence. "He'll catch up to us later."
The girl nodded, and seemed to have complete trust that her brother
would be there, or at least would come. "Dan's smart. He can do
just about anything that he puts his mind to, so he'll show up. I
trust him." She was silent as the elevator went down, but around
the second floor, it shuddered to a stop, causing the girl to fall,
unbalanced by the sudden halt. A voice came from tiny speakers in
the corners of the elevators. "Why, Why, if it isn't the brave
little boy who stood up to me once! Back again for more, are we?" a
familiar voice sneered.
Colt was silent for a heartbeat before saying quickly, "Get behind
me, kid." He faced the doors, his face a mask of cold
determination. He had to restrain himself from drawing the knife,
but he told himself it would do him no good if they knew he was
armed.
The girl stood behind him, eyes wide with fear. "It's the
Headmistress," she whispered. "She knows I did a bad thing, she
knows I escaped." The voice laughed. "Is that Number 022? Ah, such
a lovely little girl. On a much better path than you, Colt. Much
better. Trust me, beyond these doors you'll never escape. There's
no point. Honestly, I kind of wish you had brought that other one
around. Would've liked to go another round with her, maybe a
different weapon? Oh well. My point is, give up, and you won't
die."
Colt found on his face a desperate yet mirthful grin that he wasn't
quite sure he'd originally permitted but he supposed he would now.
"Let me ask you something, lady. Ever looked at a dictionary?
'Cause the definition of your favorite word isn't quite what you
think it is. To have virtue is to have high moral standards, to be
morally good. It's derived from the Latin word 'virtus', meaning
valor, merit, morality. So while you, oh Ms. High-and-Mighty, carry
on about how you're so virtuous, so good, so moral, so valiant, for
stabbing, killing, maiming, and torturing innocents, politely allow
me to act on my own definition." Glancing back at the young girl,
hoping she could see from his eyes that he wanted her to try
anything, even get at the ceiling panels while he spoke, he said,
"And giving up would hardly be valiant, would it? Falling in to
hands of cowards, surrendering to something I don't believe in,
couldn't morally allow myself to stand for, is hardly virtuous,
wouldn't you agree?"
"The world is tainted, full of fools," she snapped. "They think
they understand evreything, think that they can define all that
they see. But they don't truly understand. Only some have begun to
see it. And you, Colt, are most certainly not one of them. So all I
can see is that you stand on a sandcastle surrounded by water-an
unreliable and quickly falling support." She paused as the lights
flickered. "What's going on?" There was something muttered in the
background. "What do you mean someone's gotten into the system? How
did they get acsess?!" With a crackle, the speakers were dead.
Dan's little sister looked up at Colt. "Do you want me to go
through the ceiling now?"
He nodded quickly. "Yes, and we should hurry. Ever seen the third
Star Wars movie? That scene where Anakin escapes out the top of the
elevator? That's what we're going to try. You're going to sit on my
shoulders and try to open that hatch." Gesturing to a metal
service/ventilation cover, he knelt.
"I've never seen it, but okay." She hurried over, climbing onto his
shoulders. It took her a minute before she was able to stay
upright, but eventually. she managed to find her balance. The
speakers hummed and crackled, and snatches of conversation could be
heard. "Just a system glitch, fool-" "Only have acsess-" "Can't let
them know-" This seemed to unease Dan's younger sister, making her
hesitatant. Looking down at Colt, she said hoarsley, "Will this
really work?"
"Sure! It was a great movie, ten out of ten would recommend." In
truth, he had absolutely no idea. He was taking winging it to a
whole new level, and he just hoped they didn't realize what the two
of them were doing. If they could disappear suddenly, maybe people
would come and open the doors to try and find them. At that point,
he could leap down and try to fight them off. His parents had
forced him and Cam to take Tae-Kwon-Do for a bit when they were
younger; maybe that would finally come in handy.
She nodded. "Okay.." She looked up at the ceiling, biting her lip.
For a minute, she thought, before Dan's sister's eyes lit up. "I
think I understand, it's like the puzzles Danny would do with me. I
can get the cover off." But before she could say anything more, the
speakers came to life again. It was another unfamilar voice, though
it held some simalarities to that of the crazy Mrs. Luswire. "I've
only got some time. Now, children, if you want to make it out of
here alive and well, I suggest that you hurry and get through that
cover and hang on."
The voice laughed. "Trust me, this is not like the, oh, what did
those idiots call it, The Killing Game? They are farsighted.
Myself, I am what you would call, nuteral. I'm helping simply for
my own curiousity as to how far you could go with my help. You
could call me Mr. That's all, just Mr. So, if you are ready to
continue and not stay there like a couple of sitting ducks, I can
at least guide you some of the way."
"Oh, what the heck, why not?" he sighed. Turning his attention back
to the young girl on his shoulders, he said, "Alright, kid, keep
going. Not like he could stop us if he tried, so we might as well
see what happens."