“It means I can’t pick it. It has to be opened with a code or?—”
Dex reaches around me, and before I can stop him, he presses 1-2-3-4.
CLICK
My eyes widen as I watch the gate unlock and sway open an inch.
“How did you…” I shake my head in disbelief, unsure if I’m more surprised that the passcode was that simple or that Dex is the one who guessed it.
Dex reaches up and grabs the edge of the door, but Sly places his hand on his shoulder before he pulls it open. “Wait, it could be a trap.”
“Why do they need to trap us? We’re already in prison; opening this gate doesn’t help them trap us,” he says as we all stare at the empty yard beyond the fence.
Sly drops his hand, and slowly Dex pulls the gate open. When no alarm sounds, we quietly step through and pull it closed behind us. Looking around, I notice there are no guards here, either.
Jagger points to the tower in front of us. There might not be any guards patrolling this outer section, but the guard up there will certainly see us. We squat down low from theshadows and watch as he slowly moves around his little tower, giving him a 360 view around him.
We watch for a couple of minutes, but he doesn’t maintain a steady pattern, walking in one direction, then suddenly stopping and reversing.
“Damn it, we’re going to have to make a run for it and hope we make it before he turns this way,” Sly says in frustration.
We watch as the guard picks up his radio and listens, then moves to the opposite side of the tower. He pulls out his binoculars and stares off into the forest, with his back to us.
“Now!” I whisper, and the four of us sprint across the open field, only stopping when we’re at the base of his tower. I take a second to look around and see there’s another locked gate, leading out into the forest.
“Why are there so many gates here?” Dex asks the same question I’m wondering about.
“It’s so if anyone escapes, they don’t have to run to the front to follow them,” Sly says as we hover around the gate.
“I don’t suppose this one is going to have the same code?” I type in the code Dex used, but nothing happens.
Dex bends down and whispers against the keypad, “Abra cadabra.”
CLICK
“No fucking way that just worked,” I hiss out as I watch it pop open an inch. I grab it and pull it open just enough to slip through. Being so close to escape has me less nervous about alarms, eager for my freedom.
I start to step toward the forest, not believing I’m actually free, but Jagger grabs the back of my shirt and pulls me back. When I look at him in question, he points up.
Oh, right. The guard in the tower.Any chance he’s still distracted?
I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to do this. We had about a hundred feet to cross before the forest began, but from here, we can’t even see if the guard is looking this way.
Sly tugs my sleeve and motions for me to follow him along the fence. We all step slowly, backs to the fence as we move away from the tower, keeping our eyes on it.
When Sly stops, we all shrink down low and look back up. We’re just far enough away to see his head now, and as soon as he turns back toward the prison, Sly motions for us to follow as he jumps up and starts running.
I’ve never had so much adrenaline pumping through me before, not even when I took on four guys at once. It takes everything I have not to laugh at the thrill of escaping.
When we hit the tree line, we don’t stop; we just keep going and going.
Darkness surrounds us but the moonlight is enough to keep us moving. After ten minutes, Dex starts to slow, so we all stop, taking a second to catch our breath and listen.
“I think we made it,” I whisper.
“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Sly says, and I huff out a laugh.
“So you do have a sense of humor.” He just blinks at me, and I shake my head.Maybe not.
