Saving Aeron

Escape

In her head, they would come in right when she was ready. Kai and Brigh waited, still and silent except for the occasional hisses of pain when Kai moved too quickly. The drips of water rolling down the walls splatted against the coarse ground, mixing with his blood. She needed to move him to some place safe, fast.

She put her ear to the door and listened, holding her breath, wishing for a sound that could help her plot their escape. Closing her eyes, she prayed to the Moon Goddess for wisdom. Rhigan whimpered but was listening as well.

"There are four rooms like this here. It's all wet stone. We're underground but not too far. I don't know who is next to us but across from is Fynlee. She's hurt but only her nose is broken." Rhigan reported what her supernatural ears could hear. "There are two guards. They're by a door and playing on their phones. They're human."

That gave Brigh an advantage and an idea. She crawled back to the shackles and held them in her hands, hiding her feet. "Help." she croaked. "Is anyone there? Help!" She cried.

"Shut up in there!" One of the guards answered her plea.

"Please! There's been a mistake! I'm locked in here with a wolf! He's going to eat me!"

"You're a wolf, too! Shut up."

"No! Please, they kidnapped me. I just want to go home."

She kept crying and pleading to go home until her throat closed up and she felt real tears blooming under her eyes. The guard jingled the keys and opened the door slowly. As the light flooded in, her skin returned to normal. He walked in, closer. Closer. She waited until he reached out his hand then she jumped up and wrapped the chains around his neck before he could get a word out. She cried louder over his gurgling.

Once he was out, she took off his boots and pants. She gave the boots to Kai and tied the pants on her waist as tight as she could. Then, she grabbed his phone, keys, and wallet.

Before they got to the door, the other guard pushed it open, knocking Brigh off her balance as she tried to support Kai as he tried to walk. The slick floor pulled her feet out from under her as Kai caught her and held her upright just long enough to kick the guard in his nether regions and climb over him as he doubled over in pain. They locked the door behind them.

It took less than a few seconds but felt like a lifetime as they unlocked the door to Fynlee's cell and she rushed into Brigh's arms. "Where's Gavin? I don't hear him here and the last I saw he was on the ground in the apartment."

"As far as I can tell, he's not here. We have to get out of here and then we'll figure out where he is."

Brigh switched Kai over to Fynlee's shoulders and walked in front of them, listening for more guards. She took out the dead guard's phone and texted a burner phone Davis, head of security for Aeron, kept on him at all times. The reply was quick and short.

"Attack only at apartment. Gavin ok. Team on way."

She tossed the phone into the darkness.

Slowly and quietly, they snaked through corridors of empty rooms until they hit dry linoleum floors and walls made of wood and drywall. Keeping to the shadows, they tip toed through a set of double doors and into what Brigh thought looked like a school or a hospital wing, blank and sterile, no sounds, just echoes of their movements.

Humans. Deep tunnels and cells. Sterile walls. She peered into one of the rooms they passed. It was empty except for a single chair that seemed to be secured to the ground. They were in a testing facility- something she had heard about but they hadn't proven. The next room had an empty bed. All the windows were lined with fencing and iron bars but she could see the outside and the blue sky never looked so inviting.

They reached a four way choice and she couldn't even begin to fathom which way would lead them to safety, so she continued forward, hoping for another room to peer into to see the beautiful outdoors.

Around the next corner, however, they were met with three women and two men dressed just the guards. It took them a minute to process that Brigh and her friends were trying to escape but they lept to their feet quickly. Brigh was able to take take down one of the men but the women teamed up on her as the injured Kai did his best to get up after every punch one landed to keep him away. Fynlee tackled the remaining man and kept him on the gorund.

Brigh grabbed the black baton from the woman on the left's hand and whipped it around to crack on the skull of the woman on the right then she fell to her knees and swipped the baton at the standing woman's ankles as she feel to the floor. The woman on the left charged, throwing Brigh off her balance, over the body of the other woman, and into the wall. Kai threw himself in between the attacked and Brigh long enough for Brigh to regain her footing and jump at the attacker.

Fynlee finished her guard just as Brigh brought the last woman to the floor.

They picked up their pace. They needed to get out now.

Brigh could smell the fresh air creeping in the cracks of the threshold of the door in front of them as they got closer. Unfortunately, she also heard voices and cars. Fisting the keys so they jutted out like small knives, she readied herself to defend the two behind her.