Chase
A man in a black and navy blue uniform strolls down a darkened corridor. Bringing a receiver up to his mouth, he pressed the transmission button, “Beginning 12:00am check of block A2.” He slid the radio back into its holster on his hip, taking brazen steps through the silent hall. He grabbed his flashlight, clicking it to life he pointed the beam into the first cell. Upon observing the cell he saw nothing out of the ordinary. Both occupants are asleep. He continued down the hall, checking the other cells. He picked his nose absentmindedly.
_-__⤱__-_
Up in the ceiling of a distant cell, Lia fumbled with a lever in her hand. An item besides any other red stone tools that was possibly the highest punishable contraband next to TNT. Though that wasn't her biggest concern, she was more worried about revealing the locations of her fellow escapees.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she quickly placed it at the end of a long, complex redstone sequence. She peered down through a vent into a surveillance office where two uniformed men sat facing the screens. One’s head was noticeably slumped forward and the other was nodding off. That would also work in their favor. She had finally finished looping the cameras, setting suspicion off of her crew. But not herself.
Hearing faint footsteps below her she frantically found the hole in the floor where she had snuck up. She quietly climbed down onto a desk in the corner of her cell, panicking as the footsteps grew louder and the beam of light grew brighter. She sealed off the hatch with a painted wooden plank made to look like the reinforced obsidian the cell walls were made of.
Just as she finished and hopped off the desk the guard flashed his light past the iron bars and into the cell. She stood still as if the light froze her in place.
“You should be asleep Scott. Big day ahead of you tomorrow.” He smirked coldly, talking in a hushed tone.
She stayed silent, simply cutting her eyes at him and boring a hole into his skull.
He continued, “wouldn't want to be tired on such an important day.” He leaned in and put his hand on the handle of the iron door. While he still held eye contact with a demented grin, she tensed up. He gave it a shake, “nice and locked.” He leaned back, “Goodnight, Lia.” Then he let the handle go with a metallic clank.
Turning on his heels, he continued his check, leaving the cell dark. Lia let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. She looked over to the bed at the empty made-up top bunk. The sight simultaneously filled her with a sense of dread and motivation.
_-__⤱__-_
“That’s our cue.” Evan said under his breath while looking down from the now dull light of the security camera. He began pushing the laundry cart down the hall, gripping the handle anxiously.
“Where are we,” a hoarse voice spoke up from the lid of the chest.
“Almost there. Patience is a virtue.” Evan rolled the cart to a dead end within the winding halls stopping to look at the large bolted door with many locks and a sign in bolded caps reading ‘CONTRABAND.’ “Ok, get started, we’ve got to be quick.”
Shale jumped out of the chest waving his hand at Evan, “Yes, yes, understood.” The stout person began rifling through their pockets. After a few seconds he produced a crood lockpick. They began turning the knobs and switching up its notches. “Ah yes…” As they finished they stuck the key end into a lock on the door. It turned, relieving, but they weren't yet done. The person continued to mutter under their breath.
While Shale was busy picking the locks, Evan peered down the hallways checking that there were no stray guards. As they were in a staff area at night, guard activity was low, but not enough to be off their toes. Evan then felt a tap on his shoulder, a pit grew in his stomach. Almost shouting he spun around to find it was just another member of his group. Kat was eerily quiet in an almost frightening way.
Evan sighed “I would have felt better if you had waited in your cell, but here you are.” he held a warm smile with a slight grimace.
“Don’t worry,” she whispered and smiled sweetly, leaning in to tell him, “my cell has already been checked.”
“I’d say that three is a crowd but we may need your assistance here. Do you have the key?”
Kat lifted her hand up to Evan’s eye level revealing a yellow key. He grabbed the key out of her hand, “good going,” he says with a sharp grin.
Heaving out a low breath and dusting their hands, “Done.” Shale turns to the pair with his hands up and a wide grin across his face.
Evan sauntered up to the large metal door sliding it slowly so as not to make too much noise, only opening it enough to fit through. The other two followed into the dimly lit room.
“Shale, Kat, I need you two to cooperate and take all of the necessary contraband. I’ll head to the stable and pick up Lia along the way. I want you both down in ten, got it?” The two of them nodded and Evan turned on his heels leaving the room. He broke off into the stairwell down the hall and began descending to the first floor. Upon his descent he heard footsteps, he wasn’t willing to bet those were only Lia’s. In fact, he heard two sets of feet.
Peeking his head out of the threshold of the stairwell, he saw a guard with an inmate bound at his side; both with their backs turned to him.
The guard huffed, “Sneaking around after lockdown, huh? I won’t report this to the office now, I have a better use for you before I do that.”
Evan looked on in slight confusion as he watched the inmate struggle in the guard's grasp. Until it clicked, it was Grimmwood restraining Lia. He quickly and quietly tip-toed towards the guard. When he was just a foot away he raised his hand and quickly brought it down on the crook of the right side of his neck while sweeping his feet. The guard fell with a thud, Lia going with him. While he was in a daze she quickly got up and restrained his hands with a lead. She grabbed his receiver from his hip and smashed it then pocketed his gun.
“You bastard. You’re such a momma’s boy but she clearly didn’t teach you about chivalry.”
“Or any Tai Chi.” Evan remarked as he placed his foot on the guards back while adjusting his sleeve cuffs.
Lia looked up to Evan with a raised eyebrow, “Not sure that was Tai Chi.”
Evan just shrugged, “possibly, but I certainly learned something from my nearly unrestricted access to the internet during my time here.”
She hummed, “Rich boy privilege.” He only smiled back.
Grimmwood grunted, shifting the two inmates attention back to the guard. Regaining some of his composer he interrupted their brief tangent, “whatever you two are planning, you won’t get away with it. You’re a reclusive computer rat,” he said eyeing Lia, then to Evan, “and you’re a daddy’s money boy. You won’t survive out there.” Suddenly, Lia was standing and sent her boot flying into his face. His body went slack and a trickle of blood began to flow from his nose and pool under his face.
Evan looked at her with his eyes wide, shocked because he was the one with an assault charge.
“What?” she say innocently, “He talks too much. Beside, we're on a time crunch. The cameras will only be jammed for so long.” She began walking in the other direction. Evan shook his head, removing his foot from the man’s back and followed her. They got down the hall to the rec area and to an exterior door.
“Got the key?”
“Yep,” he says as he hands her the key.
Evan scanned the area inside while Lia fumbled with the key trying to open the door. “You’d think, for a computer genius you wouldn't struggle with a lock and key, yet here you are.”
“Thanks for the encouragement, smartass.” She grunted, continuing to fumble with the key until it slid in and turned. “Got it.” As she turned the knob of the door red lights began flashing on the wall and the sound of an alarm began blaring. “Ooor maybe not.”
“Let's go,” he said furrowing his brow and stepping outside, “this puts a stint in our initial plan but we’ve still got time before they’ll be able to catch us. I just hope the other two planned on being punctual.” Just as Lia was about to close the door she saw Kat appear in front of her.
She nearly jumped, “Ah!” She paused. “Where’s the rat?”
“He went to the roof.” She said deadpan with a smile on her face.
“Shit, that was not part of the plan.” Lia sighed knitting her eyebrows.
“Don’t worry Lia,” Evan offered, “I have a feeling he knows what he is doing. I’m sure he’ll met us at the rendezvous point, despite his chaos.” He turned to Kat and continued, “and you remember the location right Kat? Do you need any assistance?”
She shook her head no. “Here,” Kat stuck her hand out to Evan to reveal a wooden pickaxe.
“Ah, perfect.” He grabbed the pickaxe and pocketed it.
“Not much but it'll have to do. Besides this serves as collateral.”
He nodded to the pair, “Ok then, let's wrap it up, we’ve gotta head out of here.”
Lia chimed in “Agreed, Kat go ahead and get out of here. We’ll be right behind you.”
She nodded and the group all headed out of the door with Kat sprinting up towards the inner fence and hurling an ender pearl. She disappeared off into the distant desert. Lia, trying not to get too distracted by the ender particles left behind, followed Evan down a path through the courtyard. It led to the communal barn. Trailing behind him stepping over hay and piles of what she assumed was animal mess, he quickly brought them to a stay door. A brown horse with a long white stripe down its back stood before them.
“Vee is the fastest horse out here, shes our best bet at getting away.” He says as he lifted opened the two fence gates and stepped in to grab her saddle. Throwing the saddle on her back, he mounted her and offered a hand to Lia. She took it, pulling herself up onto the horse. “But you already know that don't you?”
“Yes, you won't stop telling me about your prized horse.”
Evan chuckled and commanded the horse and she started to walk out of the barn. He led her out into the courtyard and snapped the lead to get her moving faster. She began galloping towards a mound of dirt near the outer fencing of the yard. Heading towards it at nearly full speed she ran up and leaped over the inner fence. She skidded to a stop right in front of the electric fence.
Evan handed Lia the pickaxe and she jumped down running to the gate’s terminal. She bashed in the window and climbed in. “Ok, let's see.” She got to work looking at the redstone working of the gate.
“Quickly, Lia, guards are already flooding the perimeter.”
“I'm trying,” she yelled from under the panel.
She fumbled around with the wires until finally she found what she needed and killed the circuit. The gate began opening. Jumping back out of the window, she ran back up to Evan and Vee. Evan looked at her with a smug smile and reached out his hand. Lia clasped it and pulled herself up, unable to hold back a smile of her own.
Evan got them moving, the horse galloping through the gates and quickly away from the prison. “You all dragged me into this plot, however I'm glad it was with you. I wouldn’t trade this group for the world.”
“Aw that's sweet Evan, but let's save the sentiments til we're out of dodge and safely to the rendezvous.”
He chuckled into the wind whipping in his face, “Indeed, you make a good point.”
_-__⤱__-_
Evan and Lia made it to the meeting spot last. Managing to evade the police and prison security for hundreds of blocks they continued riding on into the badlands. As they neared their destination, the sun began to slowly rise, cascading long shadows of the massive clay mesas.
The rendezvous point was a cave carved into the side of a large terracotta plateau with a small oasis in front of it. A couple of Acacia trees grew at its side. Happy to arrive before day break, Evan and Lia galloped up to the cave entrance, slowing down to enter without bumping their heads on the low cave ceiling. They then saw the other two sitting deep into the cave having already started up a fire. Their heads popped up upon seeing them.
Evan brought them to a stop and hopped down, helping Lia down afterwards. As he and Lia walked to the fire he gave a great big smile to the group and raised his hands. “Glad we're here.” The group gave little whoops and shouts ecstatic to no longer be behind bars for any matter of time.
“We lost them some couple hundred blocks back. Even if they are still out there they can’t get far in the scorching heat.”
“Good to know,” Kat squilled out with a smile across her face.
The group took their time to enjoy their first day out of captivity. They didn't know how long they would get to enjoy it. They especially couldn't predict what the next few months would hold. Though they were assured that as long as they had each other everything would go right.