Got it. Hope you like and sorry it was a while coming: I got exams after Easter so I've had a lot to do.
Chapter 10, Drawing near.
Aaron arrived at his cage at about half nine. That meant an hour and a half till he escaped. There was no sign of Bill but the map was stuffed under his bunk. He tried to study it and test himself but couldn’t concentrate. He curled up and tried to catch some sleep but had the same result. There was still no sign of Bill and Aaron didn’t want to lave without saying bye. And on the other hand if the guards arrived with Bill at the same moment be made his break he was dead meat.
The hours had dragged by all day, every hour seeming like a week. Now that there was only an hour and a half till he escaped time was passing even slower. The dangers and warnings of the night and the days to follow passed through his mind, blotting out his courage and hope. “So much for being an optimist,” He thought to himself.
As the seconds ticked slowly by Aaron became more and more terrified at the thought of what he was about to do. Desperately he tried going over the instructions in his head. After a while he decided he had them sussed and recalled the map and the exact passages he would have to take to avoid the worst of the guards. He was starting to wonder if he would really be able to cross 1 floor every 10 minutes. Then could he really escape and get a mile away in 20 minutes? He went over his instructions again:
20 minutes to reach the weaponry and 20 minutes to grab some useful stuff.
50 minutes to reach the engine room and 5 to shut down power in AC.
An hour to get to AC and minutes to get the Orb.
Then an hour to get to the engine room leaving 20 minutes to escape.
(Climb onto boiler 3 and through the skylight, then 15 metres from the left wall)
A few days of leg it Southwest to reach the forest-and safety.
Bill sat wondering what exactly was in the forest to keep him so safe when the door of bunks swung open and a beaten up mudokon fell inwards, landing on his chest. The mudokon dragged his body between the rows of cages. As he drew nearer Aaron suddenly recognised him. He gasped.
It was Bill. But he was covered in long, purple scars. Where he wasn’t scabbed he was bleeding; he was soaked in sweat and blood and stank like a toilet! He dragged himself over to his cage and glanced at Aaron: “What time is it?”
Aaron glanced at the clock on the wall beside the door where the sligs could see it as they came in and out. “10 to.”
“To what?”
“10 to 11. 10 minutes before I leave.”
Bill looked up at him from the floor. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be I suppose.” Aaron sat for a moment and then made up his mind: “Bill, you can come with me, we can both get away from this place, you don’t need to stay here. You can see freedom to.”
Bill let out a hoarse laugh and then answered: “Think about it Aaron, you know I can’t do that. You need to be as quick as you can getting out.”
“But you could go down to the boiler room and w-”
“Aaron, you have to escape, whether you like it or not. I don’t. You can save us Aaron. Only you.”
“But...” He wanted to tell Bill that by the time the Orb was safe he might be dead, that he deserved and needed freedom. But looking at Bill he knew it would be pointless. The sad heap of skin and bones and blood in the cage opposite him looked back through dull, empty, trapped eyes that would never know freedom. There was nothing Aaron could do to change the lifetime of pain and suffering that Bill had seen.
Bill broke the silence by glancing at the clock and saying: “It’s 11. You’d better go.” Aaron slowly got to his feet, pushed open to door of his cage and jogged towards the door.
“Wait a minute!” Bill called after him. Aaron stopped and looked back hopefully. Bill continued: “It takes a slurg almost half a day to climb a wall.” Aaron looked at him in confusion and then turned and ran.
|