Footsteps. Hers. One after the other. Left, right, left, right. Quiet. She could barely hear them under her muted breathing.

Crouched in the dark hallway, Maddie slid to a slow stop at the corner. Peeked around. That hallway was clear as well.

Gripping Joseph's hand with her right hand, they swung around the corner into the next dark and narrow hall. The floor was some kind of cold linoleum. She could feel it through the thin white shoes she was wearing. The shoes were actually warmer than the white prison shirt and pants.

The prison had a terrible heating system, if it had one at all. Every night of the three nights they'd been here were freezing. They'd wrapped themselves up in the two thin sheets provided on the bunk bed in their cell.

Tonight was no exception. Little eight-year old Joseph's hand was freezing. Maddie gave it a squeeze as they stopped in a particularly dark shadow. Sitting back against the wall, Maddie caught her breath. It wasn't that they'd done any running or anything strenuous up to this point.

She was just nervous. This was their only chance of escape.

Maddie was fourteen-years old, but much older by standards of maturity. Unfair circumstances forced her to fend not only for herself, but for her little brother Joseph.

A noise. Down the hall to their left.

Maddie pulled Joseph closer and they huddled in the shadow. Maddie hoped against hope their bright white prison clothes were sufficiently concealed in the darkness.

Peering through the darkness, her eyes being fully adjusted, Maddie could make out the faint shape of a guard. One of the ten prison guards on duty this time of night.

He was walking their direction. Maddie instinctively placed a hand over Joseph's mouth. Then she sucked in some air and held it. The guard was coming closer. Now she could make out his face. She recognized him, but didn't know his name. His chin was turned up and his stride was confident. Around his belt was the usual--laser pistol grade 343512, also known as Instant Death, old-fashioned nightstick, magnetic gun, old-fashioned long and thin whistle, tear gas, and some other items Maddie couldn't identify.

The first day they'd been put into this prison she witnessed a prisoner attack one of the guards. The guard whipped out his nightstick and did just that to the prisoner. Then he shot at the prisoner with some kind of gun that sent invisible magnetic bindings around the prisoner's hands. That's when she decided not to mess with the guards. The guard didn't have to beat the prisoner. He could have just sent a magnetic blast his way. But the guard was ruthless.

Maybe another day, another time, Maddie would stand up to one of the guards. For Joseph's sake, she'd had to keep those emotions at bay. How would it look to him to see his sister get beat down?

The tear gas and whistle were very old-fashioned. Maddie had no clue what the whistle was for, and she hadn't seen tear gas except in a movie from 2065. Which was exactly fifty years ago. Those were the olden days where enforcers--or police, as they were called--and prison guards--or COs--used handcuffs.

Today, every prisoner got small negative and positive implants in their wrists. One shot from a magnetic gun, and their wrists come together for about five minutes. Resistance to the magnetic pulse or the invisible bindings is worthless. Unlike handcuffs, there is no lock to pick.

Maddie and Joseph had the magnetic implants, marked by an almost imperceptible scar on their inner wrists. During their three day stay at this prison, the implants were never activated. They'd followed all instructions, kept all the rules, and didn't cause any trouble among all the other troubled teens in the building. Maddie had kept a close eye on Joseph, as he was the youngest prisoner in the building.

The guard was four feet from them, still walking. Maddie felt like she should pull her legs in closer, but didn't want to risk the noise of her shoes on the linoleum.

The guard, without even looking down, passed them. But how slow! After what seemed like hours, he turned the corner. Maddie and Joseph were alone in the hall. For now.

Stopping to catch her breath had proved pointless, because Maddie's breathing was sharper now. She kept it quiet, grabbed Joseph's hand, and lifted him to his feet. They snuck to the end of the hall and peeked around the corner.

The slow guard's back was turned to them, and he was walking slow. Once he turned the corner, they would enter the hall. Three halls later, they'd be one step closer to ditching this place.

Behind them, another noise.

Footsteps again?

Maddie turned her head, afraid to see the origin of the noise. Her and Joseph were no longer in the shadows and stood out like an XF78 Ablin Cruiser next to an old Lamborghini.

To Maddie's horror, a guard had come around the corner.

Belt full of weapons.

He noticed them. Immediately, his nightstick was in his hands and he was running toward them. A jolt of fear ran down Maddie. This was not expected.

"Hey, freeze!" the guard yelled, his voice carrying down the hall.

Maddie peeked down the hall at the slow guard. He turned the corner, out of sight. Had he heard this yelling guard? She hoped not.

But what difference did that make?

They were caught.