Sam clutched at her hair, and gasped. ‘I wasn’t really in there for that long.’ She said, hopefully. Was I?
Her eyes drifted to the ceiling as they neared the figure of an incoming guard. Their pace slowed down, and the guard commanded them to halt.
Sam’s breath deepened, and her stomach cringed. There wasn’t much time left before sunset, and for another person to distract them, could just as easily make their entire plan fall to shreds. It would mean that she’d endangered both herself, and all of her friends, for nothing.
The figure stepped into the light, and to Sam’s greatest surprise, his darkened silhouette took on the distinct shape of Jack Crowe. ‘What do we have here?’ He asked. ‘Samantha Cyrus. Why am I not surprised?’
The guard stood up straight, his hands nervously trembling. His charcoal black uniform tightly suspended around the upper part of his body. ‘She took a dive into the L.I.M.E solution sir. Down in gardening duty.’
‘Well, I figured that by the awful stench!’ Jack Crowe barked. His fuming eyes closely studied Sam’s pungently dirty uniform. A true disgrace to the system, he thought. ‘Take her to the showers!’
He motioned the guard away, and pulled at his vest before scratching his nose. ‘Oh, and watch her with the eye of a hawk. She’s quite the trouble maker, that one, just like her brother!’
Jack Crowe turned around and marched off. His heavy boots repeatedly thundered to the floor, sending cold chills through every limb in Sam’s freezing body.
The guard gave a curt nod, and tightened his grip on the cuffs. They walked onward in silence, and halted at the nearest restroom door. ‘Go in, I’ll fetch a dry overall for you.’ The guard said. He opened the door with his passkey, and took a step back.
He briefly released Sam from custody, and shoved her through the doorway. She’d almost fell to the floor, feeling the clenching overall tightening around her thighs as she lunged forward.
The door slid shut behind her, and the guard’s heavy footsteps faded away.
* * *
Sam dove at the hidden door in the wall.
She knew there’d been a camouflaged panel beside it, and saw it could only be activated by fingerprints. She curiously ran her fingers along the hidden ridges of the door. It was completely sealed shut. There was absolutely no way for her to break it open, especially not with the tools at hand.
She sighed. This was going to be much harder than she’d thought.
For a brief second her head had started to spin, and she gripped the cold wall with both her hands for support. The wretched chemicals of the L.I.M.E solution had started to take its toll on her, and the sharp pain had transformed into a dire heavy weight. She couldn’t decide which was worse: The fact that she’d failed to open the door, or not being able to stand upright on her own.
Sam heard the guard’s footsteps nearing as he marched down the corridor. He paused at the door, and moments later it slid open. She instantly lashed away from the wall, and dove at the sinks. She opened the first tap she could reach, and casually pretended to rinse her hands. The guard distrustfully studied her from top to bottom. He suspiciously frowned at her strange behaviour, and reached for his belt.
‘Here you go.’ He said, shortly, flinging a ragged grey bundle at Sam’s face.
Sam scurried forward, seizing the separating overall as it slowly descended to the dirty bathroom floor. ‘Thanks.’ She mumbled through clenched teeth.
The guard released an obnoxious grunt, and turned around. He gripped at his belt with both hands. ‘You have ten minutes.’ He said, marching out with his head in the air.
Sam breathed in relief as the door slid shut behind him.
If he’d caught her studying the hidden door, she couldn’t even begin to imagine what he’d have done to her. She quickly removed her crisped, muddy overall, and untied her messy straw-like hair. Her once smooth locks were now grassy and brass, its natural shine bleached away by the L.I.M.E solution’s vulgar brown colour.
Sam tiredly stepped into the shower, and opened the tap. There wasn’t much water, but at least it was enough to rinse off most of the atrocious chemicals. She’d felt the agonizing weight lifting from her head, and the stinging pain slowly disappearing. The cold, stained water slowly rolled its way down her body, turning a pale brown colour as it reached the drain. Sam breathed in, and closed her eyes.
She’d felt each cold drop slowly sliding its way across her naked skin, and envied it as it gushed away into the drain–just as easily breaking free from the clutches of the Keep.
If only it was as easy for her.
She had spent too much time telling herself that she’d finally get to see Mike again, and each time only to end up with a bigger scar than before. It’s now or never, she thought. The fate of her family reuniting rested solely in her own hands. She hadn’t the slightest clue of where Mike was (or even if he was in the ghost town), but she doubted it, especially after all that Jack Crowe had said to her.
Sam wondered if she’d needed to tell the others about the rebellion, but almost instantly decided not to. They’d only get frightened of fighting, and might refuse at all to escape; unknowingly hiding from the brutal war rising around them. Casualties were unavoidable, and right now, escaping was the best chance she’d got.
With the water left running, Sam hopped out of the shower. She slipped the soiled overall back on and zipped it up. She roughly tied her hair back, and dried her face with a small corner of the clean clothing.
Sam’s eyes slowly drifted towards the foggy mirror, and for a brief second she wasn’t even sure if she’d been looking at herself. A complete stranger with a horrible taste in fashion had stared back at her; her broken soul bleeding to find the innocent girl she once was. Her eyes were tired and her skin grew pale. She’d even seemed to have lost a few pounds.
Not that it was surprising though, for she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d eaten a decent plate of solid food. Never before had Sam cringed at the very sight of her own reflection.
She clenched her fists and stared at the hidden door. Her thoughts were running wild. She sprinted towards the toilet stalls, and hid the clean overall behind the furthest door. She breathed in deeply, and held her tumbling stomach.
Her plan was running as smooth as ever, so far.
Chapter 12
The guard impatiently glanced at his timepiece. He nervously tapped his foot to the floor as he leaned back against the outside of the bathroom door.
It’s been more than twenty minutes since he’d first brought Sam a clean overall, and still she’d seemed to be showering. The crisp sound of water flowing down the drain pricked at his senses. It was the gushing sound of a long lost waterfall, sprightly coming to life amid the hidden Amazonian forest.
The guard paused, carefully weighing the sound of one shower to the heavy storm he’d been hearing.
Something clearly wasn’t right!
He’d almost dropped his passkey when dashing to open the door. It flashed a blinking green light, and slid open to where he dove inside, and fearfully examined the area.
There was no one to be seen. All of the showers were running, fogging up the bathroom in thick clouds of puffing steam. The guard wiped his eyes. He hadn’t the slightest clue of what was going on, or what had happened to Sam. His face fumed with fury and red patches of sheer anger spread like wildfire across his cheeks.
‘You’re going to regret this!’ He cried, leaping towards the steaming showers. He angrily flung open the first shower door: It was empty. His thundering footsteps made its way round to the second shower door: Also empty.
‘Take her to the showers, he said. But watch her with the eye of a hawk, he said.’ The guard grunted, moving on to the third shower door. Never before had he experienced something quite this bizarre.
He hurled open the door, but there was no one inside.
In a sudden rush of uncontrollable rage, he’d knocked his fist to the concrete framing of the shower
wall, and bruised his knuckles. There was absolutely no way he’d go down for this.
Jack Crowe’s punishments were known to be somewhat relentless when it came to containing the prisoners. The guard had already seen himself being sent packing, and journeying off into the merciless desert.
He stomped over to the fourth shower, and thoughtlessly flung open the door. At first glance he hadn’t seen anyone, but seconds later, a heavy black boot came hurling towards his face.
It had plunged into his cheek with a heavy thump, and knocked him unconscious. The guard fell to floor, and his lifeless body had lain soaked within the flooded water on the bottom of the shower.
Sam lowered herself to the ground from where she’d sat like a spider in the top corner, just above the tap. Her hands had dug into the sharp edges of the concrete; her nails crumbling at trying to hold on for so long.
She’d felt the blood pumping through her veins in every muscle of her body, and her legs were trembling at random spurts of adrenaline. She couldn’t believe that she’d actually knocked out a guard.
He won’t stay that way for long though, she thought.
In a rapid jet of panic, she raided his pockets, and removed his passkey. She took a firm hold of his arm, and with her last remaining strength, she dragged him out of the shower.
Sam’s entire body was soaked, and the old overall was completely drenched in water (which had easily made it no lesser than five pounds heavier). She quickly unzipped it, and slipped into the dry overall she’d hidden behind the toilet stall.
While tightly clenching the passkey between her teeth, Sam had lugged the unconscious guard towards the hidden door. Even though he hadn’t looked as big as the other guards, he surely appeared to be just as heavy, if not heavier.
Sam had been completely out of breath when finally reaching the wall.
To make things even worse, she‘d found that the guard’s left arm could barely reach the scanner. While hoisting him up with everything she got, Sam had managed to stick the very tip of his thumb to the edge of the hidden panel.
Her chest tightened when she’d heard it unlock.
Out of breath, she carefully slid the passkey into the slot, and took a step back. The door flashed a bright purple light, shifted, and slid open. Sam’s racing heart was about to explode from her still tightened chest.
Inside, a series of dim yellow lights one by one flickered on.
It was a tight and compact tunnel, leading deep into a far off pit of darkness. The air had smelt faintly of dust, and was seemingly colder than what Sam had been used to. She took a moment to strengthen herself; glanced back at the guard; and leaped into the tunnel. The door slid shut behind her.
Sam’s eyes felt weak, and fought hard to adjust to the faint lighting. She had absolutely no idea in which direction the courtyard was, but slowly made her way to where she’d thought it to be.
Sam hadn’t even known if she was indeed going the right way. There were no windows, nor any doors, leaving it near to impossible for anyone not to get confused.
The tunnel was quiet, and only the soft thumping of Sam’s black boots could be heard for miles. With every creak or scrape, she’d flinch, thinking that the guard had woken up and called for backup. She’d left him behind with no passkey, inevitably hindering him from unlocking the bathroom door. Unfortunately it was almost time for the prisoner tasks to end, and room 1 would be taken to the showers. Then, it wouldn’t be long until they’d discovered the knocked out guard locked away in the bathroom.
This has to work, Sam thought. There was no telling in what would happen if it didn’t.
Lately it seemed as if everything Sam did only wrecked her more and more. It was as if her every move had slowly chipped away at her soul being, and sculpting the very person she’d always vowed never to become. Slowly but surely she’d fallen to criminal status: A stranger to the cause–a stranger to Emitton–and a stranger, to her aunt Cara.
Sam’s pace slowed down.
She tensely ran her hands through her damp head of hair; a deep confusing frown slicing into her forehead. She’d at last come to a dead end, and only had one of two paths to follow, each leading in a completely different direction. Left of right?
Sam carefully traced back her steps in her mind. It was impossible to tell if she’d at all gone in the right direction. To be honest, for the past couple of minutes she’d failed to focus at all. Every nook and cranny of the tunnel had looked exactly the same, leaving her trotting onward while not having the slightest clue of where she was going.
‘Come on, Samantha,’ she whispered, clenching her fists. ‘Just think!’
She tightly shut her eyes. If Shawn’s calculations were accurate, after Sam had chosen the correct side, it would be no more than two lefts, and a straight run forward before finally reaching the hidden door in the garden (hopefully, where Aaron would be patiently waiting with the rest of the group). Sam scratched her head. She opened her eyes, and stared out at the two diverse paths.
The only question that remained was: Which side was the right one?
All of a sudden, the piercing sound of a siren came shrieking from all directions. Sam’s hands clasped at her head.
‘INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!’ The alarm chanted, over and over. It was the computerised voice of a woman, not too old, but smooth in register. Its low tenor rapidly ascended to an ear piercing pitch, and mutilating the alarm’s entire speech.
Sam cried out in terror.
Her ears were ringing, slowly deafened by its unbearable squeal. The dim yellow light bulbs on the ceiling had burst one by one, scattering to the floor in synchronized flashes of darkness. Suddenly, the entire tunnel had gone completely dark.
Bright red lights had emerged from the walls all around Sam, almost blinding her with their continuous flashing. While shielding her face with her hand, she squeezed her eyes shut and chose to go right. It was her only ethical choice, choosing a side.
To Sam, the siren could’ve only meant one thing: They’d already found the guard, and was scouring the Keep in looking for her. She simply had to move faster.
Sam’s feet thundered to the floor while sprinting down the flashing red tunnel. She inhaled deeply, feeling rising puffs of dust travelling to her lungs. At the back of her head, she’d kept hearing Shawn’s deep voice, warning her that there was no way of escaping. Even though she hadn’t quite noticed it until now, his words had made a clear print on her brain. Sam’s eyes nervously kept peering over her left shoulder, worrying that the next time she’d check, there’d be a fleet of angry guards trailing behind her. Of course with every recoiling glance, she’d seen nothing but an empty tunnel (which had made the anticipation even so much worse).
On the other side of the thin concrete walls, Sam heard the rumbling footsteps of panicking guards, hastily gathering in fleets to hunt her down. She’d grown slightly weary about which was the right door, because if it didn’t lead her into the garden, it could just as easily lead her into the arms of Jack Crowe himself. He hadn’t liked her ever since the very first day he’d met her, and that wasn’t about to count in her favour. Sam cringed at even the thought of what he would do to her, even so much so, that freezing chills travelled down her spine.
Far off in the distance of the narrowing tunnel, she’d seen the faint lining of a wall drawing closer. After Shawn had told her of the extra security instalments that followed on Mike’s escape, he said that they’d needed to find a less obvious route to travel through the Keep. It was then that Sam had remembered seeing the hidden door in the bathroom. At first, Shawn had laughed at her suggestion, but after thinking it over he admitted it to be quite the brilliant idea. Sam thought so too, even if she had to say so herself.
Of course, at this very moment, seeing as the end of the tunnel lay before her, Sam turned to think otherwise. It was during rough times like these that she’d first started to doubt her plan.
Sam relaxed as the screeching alarm drew softer. A faint bu
zzing noise emitted from the walls, telling her that the leading speakers must’ve finally blown. She ran tight against the opposite wall, ready to duck amidst the shadows if someone were to enter the tunnel.
Even though it seemed she’d still been undiscovered, Sam knew that Jack Crowe could just as easily want to use the tunnels in searching for her. At any given moment, any of the passing doors could swiftly slide open, and she’d be done for.
Sam turned left at the rising brick wall, ran straight, and then turned left again. She saw only one door at the end of the straight and narrow hallway. It looked exactly the same as the one it the bathroom, bulky, heavy, and made of stainless steel. She halted at the door. Her hand had dug into her pocket, and retrieved the passkey.
Sam paused.
There could only be one of two things awaiting her on the other side: Either it’s her friends, or an unwelcoming fleet of ECD guards. Whatever it was, she had to take her chance.
Sam took a deep breath.
He heart was pulsing uncontrollably at the rapid beat of the siren. She swiped the card across the panel, and awaited the flashing purple light. Her head felt to explode from the eternal wait upon danger.
The door slid open. Sam covered her eyes from the bright outside light that streamed across her face. Even though the sun had set at the far back of the mountains, its fiery rays were still vibrant enough to overwhelm that of the red flashing lights in the tunnel.
‘You made it!’ a voice cried. Sam had instantly recognised that by its smooth tenor and British accent, it was indeed Melanie. Never before had she felt so relieved to see her.
‘I was beginning to think you’d gotten yourself caught.’ Aaron said while leaping past Sam, and into the tunnel. He peered over his shoulder, and took note of the ranting guards at the opposite end of the courtyard. They’d clearly known that something was wrong, and someone was missing.
The Keep (A Renegades story Book 1) Page 9
