It had been more than a few days of silent whispers and late nights huddled together at this point. Since then, there had been about 20 or so new people that had been brought to the castle's dungeon, but I kept my distance from them, as did Blasius, Menas, and Silva. We were far too busy to be networking much anyway. In my case, when I wasn't discussing our plans to escape, I was lost in thought, playing the scenarios over again and again in my mind, making sure everything would end up perfect.
I was awoken by the feeling of a hand lightly shaking me by my shoulder. When I opened my eyes, Blasius was smiling at me.
"Today feels like a good day," he winked. I nodded, getting out of bed and walking with him to join everyone else for breakfast, just like any other ordinary day. Except it wasn't just any other ordinary day.
We had crafted a near-perfect plan that was waiting for execution.
The four of us had waited until some of the new people would be taken out to get fitted in their new jumpsuits and get their tattoos. It was a waiting game, as things were never done on a schedule. We sat at one of the tables nearest to the cell entrance and chatted like we would any other time, just waiting for a guard to approach.
⇎ ⇎ ⇎
It was nearly time for bedtime and I was getting sleepy, but the sound of footsteps coming from down one of the halls outside of the cell jerked me awake immediately as I heard it. With wide eyes, I looked at the other three people sitting around the table with me, making sure they heard it too.
The first move was, once the cell was unlocked, to take care of the two guards entering the cell. Both Menas and Blasius stood to take on the guards, which they had an advantage in doing by catching them off guard with the first hit.
While the two men were busy, I slipped out of the cell to survey the area for other guards. From what I knew of the layout which I had studied so long it had been practically ingrained in my vision, most of the guards had nowhere to go but upstairs into the main floor of the castle for their duties when they weren't tasked with tending to the dungeon. That meant if these two were the only guards supposed to be down here, the rest of the escape should be pretty easy.
After a few seconds, Silva came up beside me with a wicked smile as she shook around a corroded brass keyring. Shortly after, Blasius and Menas followed behind her, both panting slightly. Before leaving, Blasius swung the cell door wide open, letting any of the others in there follow suit if they wanted.
My heart was beating louder than it ever had before as I ran quietly down the hallway. Because I was the one who knew the layout of the castle the best, I was in front of the group so it was up to me to ensure me and my friends escaped.
From behind me, I heard some of the other captees shouting. The sound of just the four of our footsteps was barely heard, but with the hundreds of people huddled around the door running to their escape there was no way we could continue without being heard.
I turned around and held a finger to my lips. The other three did similar but everyone was being too rowdy to control.
I reached a corner and peered around it. Luckily, it was all clear, but I knew that wouldn't last long. With the growing noise from the others being help captive, I knew that if we didn't escape now, we never would.
When making our way down the second hall, my footsteps were much quicker but I still attempted at being as quiet as I could. The faster we could go, the better this would turn out for all of us. From what I had gathered from the map, there was a door almost directly ahead. We just had one small turn to make.
About a meter from the next turn, the shattering sound of metal on metal rang out from somewhere in front of us and I flinched. There was an arm snaking around my wrist and it tugged me backwards. When I looked up, Blasius peered down at me with a hint of uncertainty in his eyes.
The two of us, alongside Silva and Menas, stood deathly silent but the crowd directly behind us couldn't be hushed. They may not have even heard the noise over the sounds of their own voices. But after waiting a few minutes, there was no other sign that there was anyone else in the hall so we continued forward albeit cautiously.
I felt a little proud as we reached the next corner. It was just a left then a quick right and there would be our freedom.
Before peering around the corner, I took a deep breath, feeling my heart racing far too fast. I was feeling so many emotions at one time—excitement, nervousness, fear. When I finally looked around the corner, most of the initial excitement went away. In the small hallway stood guards upon guards suited up with armour and weapons that made them look ready for battle. They must have heard us and have been awaiting us to ruin our triumphant march around the corner.
Immediately I had swung my head back to communicate the news to my friends but before I could even begin to speak I heard the inevitable sound of loud footsteps quickly making their way in our direction. Finally the crowd behind us went silent. If only they could've done that fifteen minutes ago.
I tried to run backwards. I had seen the weapons they were carrying, there was no sense in a fight. Some people were beyond desperate for escape though, and as I tried to go in the direction of the cells I found myself lost amongst a crowd of people. I did my best to try to warn them and tell them to stop but everything happened so suddenly. Luckily though, my friends got the message.
In a matter of seconds there were people on the floor, blood sprayed in all directions, but I stood unmoving.
A few guards walked in the direction of us four, weapons drawn. I took a few steps back in fear that I was going to be hurt, or worse. I looked around at Silva, Blasius, and Menas to gauge their next actions. Menas was a few steps behind us, looking just as nervous as I felt. Silva had her hands out in front of her, as if she was going to put up some kind of fight. Blasius was at my side, but when I looked up at him he took a step forward, ushering me behind him.
My heart jumped.
I shook my head, reminding myself that this absolutely was not the time to be admiring how romantic I thought his gesture was.
I heard a scoff from one of the guards followed by an odd sound. Peering around one of Blasius's arms, where the noise was coming from caught me off guard. Taken from one of their utility belt's, a soldier held a spray can in his hand. Before I even had the chance to cover my mouth with a piece of my jumpsuit's fabric, my surroundings turned into a fuzzy, jumbled mess.
The last thing I remembered was my body falling limply to the cold, stone floor.