Bauer stared at Kane with a raised brow, wondering just how it was possible that he had a plan without first scouting the area. After all, this part of the nefandite hideout was not one that he was all too familiar with, given that the handling of prisoners was typically left to the occultists and deacons when he was merely a layman.
Nevertheless, Bauer voiced his concerns. "Shouldn't we first check out what we're dealing with before we execute the plan?"
Kane walked around, letting the question hang in the air as he looked at the prisoners, then back at Bauer as he said, "We can't."
"Why not?"
"Because your big-ass frame staying right there is the only reason why the plan isn't happening preemptively."
Bauer frowned, his mouth slightly ajar as he looked back down the long hallway, returning his gaze to the prisoners afterward. Even then, he didn't understand it, and kept internally questioning what the plan was.
Kane cleared his throat as he closed his eyes. "Hint: distraction."
In an instant, Bauer's eyes widened and his jaw hung entirely. "No, no. You're not serious right? You can't do that."
"Well what else are we supposed to do?" asked Kane, shrugging as he held his open hands out. "And like I said, the only reason why it hasn't taken place preemptively is because of your big-ass frame. So unless you changed your mind about escaping, you'd better get fucking ready right now and not feel bad about it."
"There's gotta be different way. I could just," he paused, considering his words carefully so that the others wouldn't hear, "put it back."
Kane shook his head. "How do you expect to help others without first helping yourself?"
"Are you listening to yourself right now? You wanna use them so that we can benefit? Is this the kind of life you've been leading all this time?"
Kane scoffed as he smiled. "Actually, this would be the first time. I never had a reason to do so before."
Bauer stared in silence, clearly not keen on the idea of letting the other prisoners be their key to escape.
"Look," continued Kane, growing frustrated with the need to uphold honour when it really didn't matter in a time as such, "like I said before: What's the point of escaping? And like I'm saying now: A certain sacrifice needs to be made for the greater good." Though, he questioned if he really did mean greater good. Besides, it's not like he was fit to contribute anything to the greater good, if that meant fighting against the nefandites.
Bauer sighed as he rolled his eyes. "Fine, but how do we deal with the security they've set up here? At some point, they'll realize that we've escaped."
Kane opened his eyes and walked over, pressing the grey circle once again to close the door, before taking a seat against the wall once again, seeing that they weren't going to go anywhere just yet. He pulled out the twig he'd kept silent about ever since he first saved Bauer, and held it gently between his fingers, studying its crooked shape, about the size of his hand.
Bauer finally moved, sitting at the wall adjacent to Kane. "What are you doing?"
Kane looked up from the wand to Bauer with raised brows. "I'm waiting for the occultist."
Bauer tilted his head, staring at him from the corner of his eye. "Why?"
"Well, we need to know how much time we have between each sacrifice. That'll give us a good idea about how much more time we have, and hopefully make it so that we don't need to worry about the security looking for us."
Bauer was reluctant about the idea at first, not fond of letting someone be sacrificed for their gain, but realized it was inevitable anyway, nodding as he pressed his lips together. "Since when did you become so smart?"
Kane locked his hands together, resting his chin on it as he stared at the wall across him with a pensive look in his eyes. "I've had to survive all on my own since I can remember; I've had to spend most of my nights and days beyond Thalamar just to make barely enough silver to survive; I think I know a thing or two about how to survive." He sighed. "People may hate me; tell me to eat shit and die; at least I was able to learn what a really fucked up world Teivel is."
Bauer chuckled. "And you when you first stumbled about this place, you had no real way of escaping when trying to get me out of here. Ironic."
"If I had the time to figure something out, then yeah, I could've done that, but you were not far from becoming a sacrifice anyway."
The rumbling of the door turned their heads as they watched an occultist step through, walking over to a prisoner and dragging him by the arm. What was once a quiet room quickly became filled with a series of gut-wrenching weeping, crying aloud "no", "stop", "don't", and various other vain efforts at the top of the prisoner's lungs.
With their heads lowered, they watched as the door behind the unfortunate soul closed, leaving them with more time to discuss the plan.
"There goes one of the decoys," said Bauer, shaking his head as he tried to focus on the bigger picture, rather than feeling remorse, though that was a tall order for his noble ideals. "I think that was around fifteen minutes."
"Twelve and a half," said Kane, scratching his forehead as he considered when to start the next phase of their escape, "but sure."
"Why the fuck do you know it that specifically."
"I started counting when we got here because I wanted to know how much rest I could get before getting executed."
Bauer chuckled. "Are you stupid? What's the point if you were waiting to die?"
Kane remained silent for a few moments, before standing up and walking over to the door. "Look motherfucker, I said I know a thing or two about survival, not that I'm smart." He reached for the button, but before he pressed it, he added, "Be ready, we're going to try getting out the same way we did last time."
Bauer nodded, quickly standing up, watching as the doors slid open and as Kane said, "The doors are open! We're free!" quickly grabbing the attention of the other prisoners, whose eyes widened until it looked like they were about to fall out.
Within a matter of seconds, the countless voices filled the silence, along with the tremors of a couple hundred of feet. If their commotion wasn't going to rile up the nefandites, then they both had no idea what would.
"Quickly," yelled Kane, getting ready to join the stampede as Bauer stood next to him, "we need to make sure we're not at the back! On three?"
Bauer nodded.
"One, two, three!" he yelled, quickly finding a spot in between the rest, as did Bauer.
Though it took around a full thirty seconds of constant running, they eventually made it out of the hall through one of the six archways, ending back in the marbly, flesh-like room, the same one where Kane saved Bauer. They watched as the nefandites struggled to deal with the bum-rush of prisoners that searched for any way out, screaming in a mixture of anger and fear as they dispersed in all directions.
Kane and Bauer broke off from the others along with a group that ran up the stairs.
Though, their efforts quickly drew to a halt as two militiamen wielding longswords started mowing down the numbers, which was something Kane hadn't accounted for, to say the least. What's worse is that the numbers were dwindling fast, and they were not far off from being next, with a stampede that continued its way up the stairs as well, ready to run them over.
Fuck! Kane grit his teeth as his trembling gaze bounced between both fronts, his heart sinking under the sight of his plan going south. Even below, the nefandites were gathering themselves and taking control of the reins of the chaos. There's nothing we can do!