[GlacierDragon]

I think it was the PMs and kidnapping that persuaded me to start writing again. I just can't believe it actualy worked. (Oddey, you're not the only one reading this are you? If you are you're the only one commenting *shakes fist at everyone else*.)

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Chapter 12

Creck skilfully lights a fire, which casts a much-welcomed glow on everything. The night is painfully still. There aren’t even any nocturnal insects chirping away. We all sit around the fire and talk in low whispers, fearful of being heard by anyone looking for us. First they tell me how they escape. Blege does all the talking. It’s as if he’s become the leader in the short time we’ve all known each other.

“I know it’s hard to believe, but I actually used to work in that place,” How convenient, I say in my head, “and I know all the exits and everything. So we were all standing around waiting for the Queen to be finished with you, when she starts shouting something about Skeeters and Fleeches. I don’t know what she was on about. She’s mad if you ask me. She was always screaming and yelling when I worked there. I had the unfortunate job of checking her eggs so most of the time I was in the cave with her and–”

“Ahem.” Zevenk interrupts. “So sorry, but you’re going off subject.”

“Right, right. Where was I? Oh yeah; she started shouting and the Sligs guarding us just ran into her cave. We were left completely alone. So we had a quick vote and decided to escape before anything bad happened. We took the Ball Car back up to above-ground and from there I led everyone out of the place. You see the only real way to get in and out of the tower is the trains, but there are many emergency exits in case of fire or something like that. But on the way we bumped into a couple of guards. They only had batons so they weren’t much of a threat but they still managed to damage one of Zevenk’s legs and give Creck a black eye.”

He speaks like he’s the biggest Slig on Oddworld. I can see the others rolling their eyes. I feel a bit neglected. I mean, no one’s even bothered asking why my arm is puffing up and turning purple.

“So anyway, that’s how we escaped. What about you, huh?”

“Well,” I begin, not wanting to go into too much detail, “I kinda’ angered Skillya a bit. She shouted at me, I shouted at her, she shouted threats, I ran. That’s when the guards came after me. There was a conveyor belt taking her eggs and I jumped on that. From there I found an air vent, climbed out of my legs and somehow managed to crawl out of the tower.”

The others nod. “What about your arm?” Zevenk asks.

“I think it’s broken. It happened when I was trying to get out of the air vent. It took me ages to drag myself here. If you lot hadn’t have come along, I would have been caught. Well, either that or I would have died in a couple of days.” It’s amazing that we’ve even found each other again.

“If your arm is broken we need to put it in a sling. It’d also be a good idea to get you some new legs.” Creck advises. “We should get you some new ones as well, Zevenk. I don’t think the ones you have now are going to last much longer.”

“How are we going to do that exactly?” Blege asks sceptically, raising his voice. “I doubt they just leave that stuff lying around in the open.”

Creck remains silent. It’s pretty obvious Blege doesn’t like him.
Zevenk, who thinks the idea is a good one, comes up with a plan. “They’re sure to be patrolling for us, right? What if we lure a couple of Sligs away and beat ‘em up? Then we can take their legs and run.”

“What then? Where will we run to?” Blege argues. I don’t think he likes other people coming up with ideas when he can’t think of anything. I know I’m being judgmental, but I’m beginning to dislike him.

“That’s the question, isn’t it?” I say. “We’re criminals, and we’ve just made things worse by fleeing from interrogation. We can never show our faces to society again. What do we do now? What’s out there for us?”