by R. P. Wolff
“No, this is it. We have to share this one small room.”
Lance figured the space was less than a thousand square feet, and he was going to be cooped up with Pete. But it was still better than a prison cell.
“So you think they will ever let us reunite with our families?” Lance asked.
“I don’t think so. I think they will continue to hold this as a carrot out in front of everyone but will never follow through.”
Lance wanted to hit him. He seemed so indifferent and insensitive. Lance paused to compose himself. He pressed his finger on his Freedom Chip to make it difficult for anyone to hear, since that is what everyone thought the government was able to do. Lance gestured for Pete to the do same.
Lance whispered, “I’ll wait a little while in the hope that I see my family, but if they don’t deliver soon, I’m going to take matters in my own hands.”
Pete looked around before he whispered back, “I heard that there’s an underground of some kind that’s hidden among Maters who don’t believe anymore. These Maters help the infidels.”
“Yeah, I figure that, but I have never met any. You?”
“No, but I think we should ask around. You have the best job for it. You should be driving all over the place. Maybe you’ll run across some.”
Lance sighed. He hated his life. It was risky to associate with a Mater spy. The Maters would hang him if they caught him.
“Yeah, maybe I will. I’ll let you know.”
Chapter 19
“I’ve had enough,” Austin whispered to Becca, the love of his life. They walked the grounds with guards sporadically policing the area. It had now been a year and three months, and the government still confined them to the Harmon prison. He was never going to see his family again unless he escaped. He was sure of that. The guards kept leading them on and promising that if they were good, they would soon be together with their families. Austin knew better.
“Same here,” Becca said, “but there’s nothing we can do about it.”
God, she was beautiful, even with a “C” scar on her forehead, Austin thought. The past year had been tolerable because he and Becca regularly kissed in secret spots. He wished he could have gone further with her, and he thought she wanted to as well, but there were no opportunities for sex. Even sneaking away for kissing was difficult.
Austin continued, “Yes there is. I want to escape again.”
“Count me out.”
“I know. I don’t want you to come this time.”
Becca pouted. “What do you mean, ‘you don’t want me’?”
“No, I want you, of course. I love you, baby. You know that. But I don’t want to risk them catching you, so I’m going to escape and then come back and get you out.”
“Oh the Gods,” she spoke even softer, so no guards could hear them. “You’re dreaming. First of all, there’s no way you can escape. Second, even if you did escape, which is impossible, it is even more impossible or even more crazy to think that you could come back in and take me out of here without anyone noticing. You are nuts, Austin. Stop dreaming.”
“I’m not dreaming,” Austin snapped back.
“Okay, Houdini, what’s your plan?”
“I’m glad you asked because I have given this much thought.” Austin paused and gathered his thoughts. “It’s different than the last time we tried. First, I will cut out the Freedom Chip, so they can’t track me.”
“No, you can’t. They will hang you.”
Becca’s concerned touched Austin. She really did care about him. “Don’t worry. I won’t get caught.”
Becca shook her head.
“Okay, second, I’m not going to risk going to someone’s house like we did before. No one can be trusted. I’m going to live off the streets and try to find other people who are on the run. I will try to make it to a wooded area.”
“This is your grand plan?” Becca said sarcastically.
“Yeah.”
“How will you get out? You have that ‘C’ plastered on your forehead. You won’t get far. Please, don’t go. I’ll miss you. What will I do without you?”
Austin desperately wanted to kiss her, but the guards would whip them if they caught them. “Don’t worry, I’ll come back for you. I promise.”
Becca shook her head and started whimpering. “Please, Austin, don’t do it. They will kill you. Please.”
“Baby, I have to.”
Becca sighed. “How will you escape?”
Austin looked around to make sure no guards were staring at them. He spoke even a notch quieter than before but kept walking. “Okay, totally different than last time. Instead of going at night, I will go during the afternoon. I found a weak spot in the fencing by the basketball courts.”
“You’ll get cut by the razor wires on top.”
“You’re right, but I’m not going to climb over.” He stopped again and cautiously panned the area for guards. He didn’t see anyone looking at them, so he continued. “I’m going underneath.”
“Really, how are you going to fit?”
“A chain-link fence has strong-wired ties that are attached from the posts to the fencing material. In one spot there is one missing and the other one is loose. I figure all I have to do is yank it, lift the fence from underneath, and crawl underneath. Then I will run to that small patch of trees over there.” He nodded to the south.
Becca shook her head. “This is crazy.”
Austin ignored her concerns. “Then, I will cut out the Freedom Chip. I snatched a small knife from a guard. The beauty of this is that I think I can do this without any guards noticing it until much later. I will wait until there aren’t any guards in the area. No prisoners are going to say anything and should just keep on playing. I’m worried that someone might join me, which I don’t want. It will draw too much attention.”
“But you got the ‘C’ on your forehead, and you have Harmon Mater Camp clothes on.”
“I’ve already thought of that.” Austin grinned. He was proud of himself. “I have stolen a white Mater police uniform.”
“What!? You are going to get yourself killed. You’re going to get me killed, too. They know that you and I are close. They will punish me.”
“No, they won’t. In case you haven’t noticed, for the past month, I have a made a point of not being seen with you in front of the guards until today.”
“I have been noticing, and I was starting to get concerned.”
“I didn’t tell for your own protection.”
“Okay.”
“Let me continue. I will have the Mater clothes underneath my regular clothes. I also snatched a Mater police baseball cap that I will wear to cover the ‘C.’”
“You think you can disguise yourself into being a guard and Maters will fall for that?”
“Yes, I do. I will act the part.” He chuckled. “It’s not that hard. All I have to do is act like an asshole if anyone challenges me.”
“Okay, but how are you going to survive out there?”
“If I sneak out during the day, as planned, and they don’t notice that I’m gone until lights out, I might have a five to six-hour head start on them. Plus, no one’s tried to escape since we tried about a year ago. The guards are relaxed and not expecting an escape.”
“Again, how are you planning on surviving out there? What if you don’t find someone to help you?”
“Then, I will die, but at least I will have tried to get out.” Austin cringed realizing that he was indirectly criticizing Becca for not trying to escape. “I’m sorry. I know you would try to escape if the plan was less risky.” He stopped and faced Becca. “Don’t worry. I will come back and get you. I love you.” Austin gulped.
Becca raised her eyebrows. “Are you crying?”
“No, but I’m scared. I don’t want to die, but I especially don’t want to lose you.”
“You are never going to lose me. We are soul mates. I love you too.”
Austin’s eyes watered. He smiled and hu
gged her, but quickly released his grip. He jerked his head both ways to see if any guards saw him. None saw them. The guards were all walking around lackadaisically.
Chapter 20
Austin shivered. Today was the day. Today was the day of his escape. He only thought there was about a ten percent chance that he would survive this escape. What he didn’t tell Becca was that he wasn’t going to go out without a fight. He would use his knife if he had to. There was no way he was going back to the Harmon Prison. They would have to kill him before he would let them bring him back to the horrible Harmon Prison.
The first phase went off without a problem: changing into the white Mater guard uniform and then putting on his clothes over it. It was bulky, but not too obvious. He needed to move quickly now before any guard noticed the bulky clothes.
It was about two o’clock in the afternoon, and there was a slight overcast, which Austin thought was a blessing. Thank you, fucking Zelda, mother of all the Gods, for the great escape weather. Austin thought sarcastically.
There were so many things that could go wrong. They could catch him wearing the guard’s uniform underneath his clothing. He couldn’t fit underneath the fence. A guard could see him escaping. Maybe he couldn’t get the Freedom Chip out. Maybe someone might find the knife that he stole off a guard. The list in his head went on and on. The bottom line was this was an extremely risky and dangerous plan.
He sighed.
He walked outside and headed to the basketball court surveying the guards. There was one guard at the court, but he was walking away. There was always a guard who walked the perimeter inside the fence.
Good, perfect timing. The guard should be out of sight in about five minutes and wouldn’t return for about another half an hour.
There was an intense basketball game going on with lots of kids watching. Many of the boys were waiting their turn to play. The court was only about fifteen feet from the fence.
Austin meshed into the crowd. After the guard was out of sight, Austin slowly walked to the fence.
He could feel his heart pounding. He exhaled. Should he do it? It wasn’t too late to back out. He seriously contemplated backing out. Who was he kidding? There was no way he was going to escape.
He turned toward the group of kids. He jerked. He saw Becca approaching the group of kids.
Damn it, he thought. He had told her to stay away. He didn’t want her to get into trouble. The night before was great. They snuck to their usual hiding space and made out for a long time. They were like starved animals, not able to get enough of each other. They repeatedly said they loved each other. They both cried realizing that it was probably the last time they would see each other.
She gazed at him, shook her head, and mouthed, “Don’t do it.”
He shook his head. He had to do it. He couldn’t take it anymore.
He took a deep breath in and started phase two. Now’s the time, he said to himself. He bent down, grabbed the bottom of the fence, and jerked it up, hoping to jar loose the aluminum wire that held the fence to the side post, but it didn’t release. “Damn,” he whispered out loud.
The dribbling on the basketball court stopped, and Austin turned back and could see the players and crowd turn to study him.
“Keep playing,” he heard Becca shout. Fortunately, the dribbling and basketball ball game continued, which provided much needed noise.
Austin yanked the fence again with more force, and the wire snapped off. He dropped to the ground, pulled the fence from the bottom up, and rolled underneath it. He barely fit and scratched himself on the way out.
He ignored the scratches, jumped up, and sprinted to the isolated wooded area. It was like an island of bushes and trees in the middle of a field, only about fifty yards from the fence.
As he was running, he thought they would shoot him, or he would hear sirens from the prison. But there were no shots or sirens.
He slid into the brush, took out his knife, and started cutting into the fleshy area between his thumb and forefinger. Amazingly, it didn’t hurt too badly but bled a lot. He reached inside with his fingers, but the cut wasn’t big enough. He cut it a little more and that hurt. He then quickly reached in there, with his hand shaking, and yanked out the small chip.
He put on a large bandage that he brought with him and then black gloves, a part of the Mater guard uniform that he stole.
As he was getting ready to peel off his clothes, he heard it: a siren from Harmon! They know! The chip must have set off an alarm. There was no time to change his clothes. He would have to do that later. He threw the chip to the ground, and sprinted towards the next brushy area, about one hundred fifty yards away. He felt like he had never run faster in his life. He gasped for air as he ran.
He heard yelling in the distance back at Harmon, but no one was chasing him yet. He expected and hoped that the guards were disorganized and confused about the escape. He needed every second to pull off his escape. So much for getting a four to five-hour head start on them.
After what seem like an eternity, he made it to the brushy area and darted carefully through the wooded area. His goal was to get to the larger wooded area by Grapevine lake. It was a couple of miles away. He would need to weave his way through woods and streets to get there.
Still, he couldn’t hear anyone behind him. After about five minutes, he reached the end of the wooded area and would need to go about three blocks on the regular streets before he could make it to the next wooded area. He had to decide whether to keep running with his prison clothes or change to the Mater guard uniform. He decided to change. He unbuttoned his shirt as quickly as he could and took it off. He loosened his shoelaces, took off his shoes, and pulled his pants off, then put his shoes back on and tied the laces. The whole process only took about two minutes, a precious two minutes. He took his garments and stuffed them inside a plastic rifle cover, another item that he stole as part of the Mater guard uniform. He draped the rifle cover over his shoulder with the attached strap. He hoped it looked like he had a rifle hanging off his shoulder. He then put the white baseball cap with a black “Z” stenciled in front.
Now he heard some footsteps in the far distance.
He sprinted again toward the next wooded area. After about fifty yards, he saw a car, so he stopped his run and walked.
He gasped but tried to walk like a pompous guard. Instead of ignoring the car, he turned and glared at the driver. The driver quickly turned away and drove past him. Once he saw that they were far away, he continued his sprint.
He did this technique for about thirty minutes, and it worked every time, but he felt that the guards were getting closer as he could hear a lot of sirens.
He had one more stretch of regular streets before he hit the Grapevine lake wooded area. “One more,” he said to himself. “Please, God, let me make it.”
As he was walking down a street, he heard a siren behind him. He instinctively thought to run back to the woods that he just came out of, but it was about fifty yards away. He turned towards the approaching vehicle and shrieked at the sight: a jeep with two Mater guards in it.
He held his breath. He would have to pull off the best acting job of his life. Instead of running or ignoring them, he turned, held out his hand for them to stop.
They stopped.
Austin turned and pointed towards the woods that he had just come out of, and said, “I saw him just go in there heading north. All we must do is secure the perimeter and smoke him out. Why don’t you go around the other side and I’ll secure this area?”
Austin held his breath. He kept his back to them and pretended to peer into the woods. He put his hand in his pocket and grabbed the pocketknife in case they confronted him.
Austin kept up the ruse, “Hurry, he’s going to get away.”
“Who are you?” one of the guards asked suspiciously.
Austin braced for the end of his short life but managed to say, “I’m Miller from Flower Mound High School. They called us in. Are you go
ing to seal him off before he gets away or not,” Austin barked, barely able to speak normally with all the fear he felt.
After an antagonizing moment, the same guards yelled, “Okay, we’ll cut him off on the other side. You seal off this area.”
Austin nodded.
They sped away and turned the corner.
Austin held his breath until they were out of sight. Then, he exhaled. Wow, that was close, he thought. At once, he darted towards his destination and made it within minutes.
Finally, he was in a vast wooded area. His plan was to run as far as he could and then find a place to sleep up in a tree or something. He needed to get as far away from the guards as he could because they would probably figure out that he was an imposter.
He realized that a flaw in his plan was that he left too early in the afternoon. He didn’t know what time it was, but there were probably several hours of sunlight left, though it was heavily shaded in the woods.
As he jogged, he sighed. It felt so good to be free, albeit they were chasing him with many armed guards. Nevertheless, he was free. The first time in over a year. There was no way he was going down without a fight. But how long could he survive in the woods? Another flaw in his plan was that he didn’t have any water or food with him.
“Shit,” he said out loud. “How stupid can I be?”
He stopped and listened. He thought he heard a low whistle, like someone was alerting someone. He froze, turned to this right, and studied the area. Was it a Mater guard? No, if it was a Mater guard, they would come rushing towards him. They wouldn’t hide from him. Maybe he was just hearing things.
After a while, he kept jogging through the woods. He thought he was heading towards the lake. Maybe he could get some water there.
He heard it again: the whistle. He also heard some shuffling in the brush area about twenty yards from him. He instinctively hid behind a nearby tree and peered ahead. It looked like a guy with a bunch of rifles going down a ladder into the ground, with another guy standing guard practically glaring at Austin.
