Escape To Survive

by Ryan Gawley

  Stone rolled his eyes and shouted through the open bedroom door. ‘One moment sir, I’m just seeing to your daughter.’

  ‘I said now, Stone.’

  ‘I’ll be back in a minute, and please don’t try anything silly,’ said Stone zipping the case of sedative apparatus, tucking it into his inside jacket pocket and leaving the room grumbling under his breath.

  Kathy’s heart raced. She thought her theft of a syringe and sedative from the black case from Henderson’s desk drawer earlier in the week had now been discovered. She’d hidden it carefully along with her prepared suitcase for the moment she planned to once again attempt escape but now what? Had Stone really noticed the equipment was missing? What would he do to her when he returned? She felt sick now realising she had probably made a huge mistake and would be made to pay a terrible price.

  She thought of using her stolen syringe on Stone when he returned but it usually took a moment for the powerful drug to induce a deep sleep and what if he alerted Henderson before he lost consciousness?

  She sat on her bed waiting helplessly, thoughts of her sister flooding her mind. As the minutes passed she could hear what had started as muffled conversation between her father and Stone began to get louder and angrier. Both men were raising their voices now, almost shouting. She crept from her room and dared to look down to main living area to watch the confrontation. Stone looked like an attack dog straining at his leash as some inner force of iron will held him back.

  ‘This is the last bloody time,’ Stone snapped. ‘I had a deal to take care of this evening and you know that. It’s worth a lot of money to me but more than that I look like an idiot when I don’t show up. It’s very unprofessional and I don’t like unprofessional.’

  Henderson’s fat bald head was glistening with sweat and glowing red with anger. He spat when he spoke but forced himself to lower his voice which gave emphasis to his words

  ‘Derek, you have proven yourself as a loyal employee for these past years. For this reason alone I will overlook your outburst,’ he took a short breath and began shouting again, ‘but when I give you an order I expect you carry it out. Without question.’

  Stone stood for a second and eyeballed Henderson. He opened his mouth to say something but though better of it then turned sharply and strode toward the lift. An awkward moment passed until the lift arrived during which Stone could see from the reflection in the polished brass doors that Henderson was boring holes in the back of his skull with a ferocious glare.

  As the doors closed Stone shouted out. ‘I’ll not make it back until tomorrow afternoon so you’ll have to find another driver for the morning.’ He smiled to himself as Henderson shouted a string of obscenities but he couldn’t make out many of the words as the lift had already started to descend.

  Peeking from her vantage point at the top of the stairs Kathy watched as Henderson suddenly clutched at his chest. He bent over and steadied himself against the wall with his other arm. For several seconds despite her hatred for him she considered running to help but then he seemed to recover slightly and stumbled to his favourite worn leather chair in the centre of the living space where he sat heavily and slurped a mouthful from a drink he had left on the coffee table earlier.

  Kathy realised Henderson must have assumed Stone had administered the sedative as instructed and that she was now deep in a drug induced slumber. As she watched he massaged his chest a while until he had regained full control of himself and then began to work at something on his tablet. She crept quickly back to her room and eased the door closed, propping a chair under the door handle since she had no lock on the inside.

  At last she’d gotten a break. Stone was gone and she reckoned with her stolen syringe and a full vial she had enough sedative to knock Henderson out cold for a week. Finally this would be her chance to get free.

  CHAPTER 18

  Kathy knew it was now or never. Lucy promised she would return but it would be dangerous for either of them to hide for long in the car park beneath the massive tower in which she had been imprisoned for the past few years. Since the previous week when she had crouched on the other side of her locked bedroom door and heard her sister’s voice Kathy had dreamed of meeting her true family and escaping her life of confinement and servitude from the cruel and increasingly volatile Victor Henderson.

  She had to resist the urge to make another attempt at breakout during the days leading to this moment as if she failed Henderson’s inevitable overreaction could cost her any further opportunity of gaining her freedom. Now though Kathy dared to hope she had a real chance.

  From under her bed she pulled the wheeled travel case she had prepared and checked it through one last time. She had little in the way of personal belongings despite the obvious wealth of her father and knew not what to expect beyond the limits of the city’s Elite sector but she had packed as best she could. She had no cash but thought some jewellery she had kept to remember her dead mother may be worth something. Although she was loathe to give it away she would trade almost anything for her freedom. Along with the most practical clothes she owned and some basic toiletries she was ready. Anything else just reminded her of the life she longed to leave behind and she knew Lucy would take care of her if she could only escape.

  Wearing her oldest designer jeans, a pair of barely worn blue and white vintage converse shoes and a deep red cashmere jumper for warmth under an expensive tailored brown leather jacket she was as dressed down and casual as her wardrobe allowed. She packed a small framed photograph from her dressing table that showed Kathy together with her mother. It had been taken just a couple of years before Claudia Henderson had been murdered by her husband. Packing this treasured possession into her bag she fastened the zips and took one last look at the room where she had spent so much of her life.

  Glancing out the window across the tops of tall city buildings to the high perimeter walls and beyond Kathy was often struck by the fear that she may never live to see the real world outside of the life she had been forced to live all these years. She had dreamed of nothing else but now when it seemed she might really get her wish Kathy felt scared that she might actually succeed. How would she cope, where would she go, and what kind of life could she make for herself? She knew anything was better than living as a captive and besides, she would have Lucy now. She’d never be alone again, she had a sister and that gave her the courage she needed to push on with her plan.

  She stared at the syringe and vial of serum lying now on her dressing table. It looked so innocent and doubts crept into her mind about whether her plan was foolish. She picked up the syringe and it felt too small and fragile an implement with which to confront her stepfather. Thoughts then rushed into her head of how she had been a victim for so long, suffering at the hands of the cruel bastard who had also murdered her mother. This steeled her will and hardened her determination to succeed. As she visualised what she knew she must do the small instrument began to feel like it truly was a weapon with which she could defeat her demons.

  She decided to take no chances and inserted the needle tip into the sealed top of the glass vial and drew back the plunger filling the syringe completely then upturned it and tapped the side while squeezing out any air bubbles so it was primed and ready. Kathy estimated it was roughly four times the dose she usually received but considering Henderson’s massive bulk she wanted to be sure he’d go down.

  Taking a few deep breaths to ready herself she carefully opened her bedroom door and carried her case along the corridor to the top of the stairs and peered around the corner to the main living quarters below. Henderson hadn’t moved from his chair and seemed to be fully engrossed with whatever he was doing on his network tablet. Leaving her case she took the syringe in her left hand, holding it carefully and when Henderson turned his head away to lift his drink she dashed across the landing to the top of the opposite staircase so Henderson was now sitting with his back to her.

  Kathy held her breath as he stood and turned, walking to
ward her she was sure that he had detected her movements or that she had made some noise that had given a sign of her presence. Henderson walked past the bottom of the staircase and after a few seconds she heard the clink of ice being dropped into a glass and the slosh of liquid as he fixed himself another drink. She was relieved to see him shuffle back to his seat and take a long sip from his beverage before settling his attention to once again tap and swipe the screen of his tablet.

  ‘Come on girl, you can do this,’ Kathy said to herself letting out a long slow breath to steady her breathing before stepping out from cover and creeping down the first few stairs. Countless times she had used these very steps but now the short descent felt like she was climbing down from a mountain, exposed on an open hillside where she would be spotted immediately if Henderson were to just glance around.

  Seconds seemed like minutes as she placed a toe on the next step and eased her weight down slowly. Left foot here, now right foot a few inches from centre on the next step, careful with the left foot on the following step again, she silently mapped her way down, skilfully avoiding any stair that would creak, hardly daring to breathe until she had made it safely to the lower level.

  She paused to compose herself for a brief moment then holding the syringe high with her thumb on the plunger she advanced quickly toward the unsuspecting Henderson, her feet swiftly and silently dancing across the gap. Standing directly behind him now she swung her arm and hammered the needle deep into his shoulder at the base of his neck and pressed the plunger down hard and fast injecting a massive dose of the powerful sedative. She let go of the syringe and backed away in terror as a shocked and enraged Henderson pushed himself to his feet and turned to stagger after her, the needle still embedded in his flesh leaving the syringe wagging about on top his shoulder.

  ‘What have you done? I’ll kill you, you little bitch, just like I killed your whore of a mother,’ snarled Henderson as he charged at Kathy with arms outstretched and fingers grasping for her throat but his words had already begun to slur and his vision was tunnelling. From her own experience she knew it took a moment for the sedative to take effect but the huge dose she had given Henderson mixed with the liquor he had consumed began to do its job almost instantly.

  Kathy continued to back away but Henderson’s anger kept him fighting, driving him forward even as his legs began to fail him. He clutched his chest in agony but this seemed to anger him all the more and he charged at her with all his remaining strength, the hate boiled in his heart and Kathy would know the full extent of his wrath. She found herself backed into a corner with nowhere to go but the kitchen. There was only one entrance and now Henderson was blocking it, holding himself upright with a hand gripped tightly on each side of the door frame, his eyes glazed and searching for focus, sweat pouring from his bald head and soaking through his shirt but still he refused to fall.

  Frightened that the dose she had given him was not enough and that she made a terrible mistake Kathy knew she had no choice, if he got hold of her now she would die at the hands of her mother’s killer. She ran to a drawer and desperately rummaged through its contents while keeping her eyes locked on Henderson. Her fingers found what she wanted and she pulled out a large kitchen knife, prepared to do now what she had never before allowed herself to consider.

  Brandishing the knife she stood with her back to the rear wall of the kitchen facing Henderson as he swayed in the open doorway. Her defiance was too much for him to bear and he launched himself toward her at surprising speed for his size and condition. Kathy was poised to fight for her life but as he passed an island counter in the centre of the room Henderson stumbled catching his hip on the corner which spun him around and as he lost his footing he landed heavily on his back with a slap, banging his head on the hard tile floor as he fell.

  Kathy watched as he squirmed slightly trying to get up but the sedative was really kicking in now and try as he might Henderson could not prevent himself from fading into unconsciousness. As she watched his pupils roll back under his eye lids she heard him stammer. ‘I’ll...kill...you...you...bi...’

  She waited several moments to be sure he wasn’t going to move again then still clutching the knife she moved to stand next to him, tapping his forehead with the flat of the blade. He didn’t move or even groan but she could hear his raspy breathing. Not trusting that he wasn’t faking it she parted his legs with her foot then kicked him squarely in the testicles as hard as she could manage but still there was no movement. She kicked him again. ‘Take that you bastard,’ she screamed, venting some of the pain he had caused her over many years.

  Knowing that there was only one way to summon the lift and leave the penthouse Kathy prepared herself for a gruesome task. Quickly she gathered gauze and bandage from the small first aid kit mounted on the kitchen wall and knelt beside the unconscious mound of flesh on the floor. She removed Henderson’s watch and located the small vertical scar on the underside of his wrist. Using a smaller knife from the kitchen drawer she made an incision using the faint scar as a guide and taking care not to cut an artery with the point of the blade she dug out Henderson’s implanted chip which resembled a large grain of rice made of glass.

  Blood ran freely from the open cut so she quickly pressed gauze to the wound and wrapped bandage around the wrist several times to hold it in place. Using another piece of bandage she made a rough sling to hold Henderson’s arm on top of his chest to help minimise bleeding. At the sink she scrubbed the blood from her hands and placed Henderson’s ID chip in a small kitchen food bag so she wouldn’t lose it then bundled up an apron and slid it under his head. She checked the dressing on his wound and satisfied herself it wouldn’t bleed through. She tried rolling him into the recovery position but he was too heavy for her to manoeuvre so she had to trust he’d not swallow his tongue until he regained consciousness. Although she hated her step-father she wasn’t a killer like him.

  Hurrying now she ran from the kitchen to the top of the far staircase to grab her case then raced back down and along the entrance hall to the lift where she swiped Henderson’s chip across the sensor in the control panel and was rewarded with a cheerful ding confirming the carriage was rising. As she waited she suddenly remembered Henderson’s tablet had fallen to the floor when she had stuck him with the syringe and realised the device was still lying by his chair. Thinking that perhaps he could use it to track her she ran back and picked it up and glancing at the screen she was shocked to see a patchwork display of grotesque live images seemingly from security camera feeds showing a city on fire, crazed people tearing each other to pieces as others ran in horror, Enforcers fighting a battle on the streets against civilians armed only with sticks, bottles and rocks.

  She swiped the top of the screen to close the video viewer and with her mind still reeling at what she saw Kathy wondered was this what the world outside had become. For a brief moment she considered maybe this was why Henderson had kept her locked away so long, to protect her from the dangers she could not see on the streets far below. She didn’t hesitate for long and her fear of Henderson shook her back to the present. She slid the tablet into its leather case then stuffed it inside her zipped jacket and returned to the lift just as it came to a stop and doors the opened.

  She stepped into the empty carriage and swiped the small bloody food bag containing Henderson’s ID chip across the sensor then pressed the button for the basement level car park. As she waited for the doors to close she half expected to see Henderson bounding toward her, to thwart her escape at this final moment but he was deep in a dreamless sleep so she rode the entire way down without hindrance.

  Disembarking the lift her senses were assailed by a blast of cold air and the smell of concrete, damp and exhaust fumes as is the same in any such place across the globe. Not having been this far from the apartment in years she was overwhelmed with anxiety and almost panicked but she wasn’t going to blow this now. She looked ahead and saw the exit ramp leading up to the daylight above. The guards at th
e rising barrier were casually standing around; one was smoking and appeared to be half-heartedly listening to his partner animatedly recounting some romantic conquest.

  She could see to her left a long line of cars were parked with their rear to the wall and about half way along the overhead lighting was turned off as from that point most of the vehicles were protected under dust covers. She knew Henderson had several classic and vintage cars and assumed the remainder of the vehicles must have belonged to other residential occupants of the prestigious building. They were collector’s items and would rarely if ever be taken out on the road so she knew why Lucy had told her to wait here. It would be a safe place to hide and if Henderson regained consciousness sooner than expected he would never imagine that Kathy was hiding right under his nose.

  Checking to be sure the guards were still preoccupied she made a dash from the lift behind the row of the parked cars keeping her head low so she wouldn’t be seen until she reached the unlit section of the garage. She worked her way along now, gently lifting the covers so as not to disturb anything and tried the door handles but found each was locked.

  With just three cars remaining on this side of the wall she found a 1958 MGA Roadster stored with the convertible top removed. Pushing her case in ahead of her she slipped up under the cover and made herself as comfortable as possible in the passenger seat, listening carefully for any sound that would indicate she had been discovered. After a few moments she was satisfied she had gotten to relative safety undetected so she allowed herself to relax a little and even congratulated herself for getting this far. She had actually escaped from him after all these years. Now she just had to sit tight and hope against hope that Lucy really would come back for her.

  CHAPTER 19