The Alliance Boxset Books 4-6

Chapter 14-2

Taylor growled and kicked the door. A muted curse of pain escaped her. The only thing kicking a metal door did was hurt her foot. Hopping, she briefly rubbed it with her left hand before releasing it to stand and gaze around the room.

“I’m going to roast that guy’s balls in the hottest oven I can find,” she muttered as she stared at the bare room.

There wasn’t even a bed in the room, or a blanket! Hell, they hadn’t even given her a pot to pee in. Her nose wiggled in distaste. Her gaze rose to the narrow window. The fortress was just that, an ancient fortress that was built back in the stone age of the planet. It looked like some of those buildings she had studied when she was back on Earth.

She stepped back, gazing up at the narrow slit. Turning, she looked at the other three that were designed to allow fresh air and a small measure of light into the room. She raised her hand, trying to gage how wide they were.

Biting her lip, she debated if she should try to escape. She turned back to the door and sighed. There was no way she was getting out that way. The door was made of the thick metal that the Disesians had mined. The stuff was incredibly strong.

And hurt like hell when you kicked it, she thought in disgust.

“Well, I’m not just going to sit around and let that crazy bastard use me as monster food,” she muttered with a shudder.

This morning’s time in the ‘arena’ had shown her exactly how she didn’t want to die. Her eyes burned as she remembered the poor souls that had died as the small audience cheered. She brushed a hand across her chin to wipe away the tear that escaped and winced in pain. She forgot about the lovely bruise she had. She had lied to the camera. The ass-wipe didn’t hit like a girl.

“I can do this,” she whispered, eyeing the northern window.

She backed up and played out how many moves she would have to make to reach it. Fortunately, the inside of the room was not as finished as the rest of the fortress.

“Thank goodness they got tired of polishing walls by the time they built this stupid part,” she muttered, shaking out her legs and arms. “Just remember what Kali said; use the formation of the building to help you get up to where you want to go.”

Drawing in a deep breath, she sprinted forward. Jumping, she used the uneven walls to give her hands and feet something to hold onto. She pushed off, using her leg muscles to give her the added boost. Her fingers scraped the ledge of the window before she felt gravity working against her, pulling her back down to the floor.

She twisted and landed with her knees bent, rolling on her left shoulder and coming back up onto her feet in a crouching position. Shaking out the trembling in her limbs, she rose to her feet and focused again. This was just like when she was in gymnastics and learning a new routine.

She cleared her mind of everything but the move until she could see was each step of it. Breathing deeply, she rocked back and forth until she could feel the timing was right. Sprinting, she jumped again. She ignored the pain in her fingers as the rough rock cut into them.

Her fingers gripped the edge. She gritted her teeth as she held herself for a brief second before she pushed up with her toes. She was panting by the time she finally got up far enough to look out the narrow opening. She kicked her feet until she could wiggle enough to sit on the sill.

She looked out over the landscape. The moon lit the area with just enough light to give her a pretty good view of the terrain below. The lower areas were dark. She’d discovered there wasn’t any electricity installed in the fortress when she was being moved from one part of the building to another. All lighting had to be done using either generators or the good old-fashioned torch method. All she knew was that it would work in her favor when escaping.

She glanced down at her hands with a grimace before leaning far enough out the window to see what was below her. Her eyes widened when she saw a flat roof with a hatch a little over ten feet down from the tower window. There were also long pieces of timber sticking out from where the tower was built.

“Awesome!” she whispered, glancing at the door and giving it a one finger salute. “Hasta la vista, jerk wads.”

Scooting up until she was standing, she carefully turned in the opening and lowered herself down until she was on her stomach with her legs hanging over the side. Holding on to the lip, she felt around with her right foot until she felt wood.

She slid her foot back and forth until she felt confident she could put both feet down without losing her balance. Shifting her weight, she slowly lowered her body onto the narrow beam sticking out of the wall. Holding onto the wall as best she could, she glanced over her shoulder and swallowed.

“Just think of it as a balance beam,” she whispered. “You can do this, Taylor. You kicked ass at the National Championship.”

She glanced down over her right shoulder. Six feet. She could do this. The roof was only about six feet down. Turning carefully, she drew in a deep breath and focused. Counting to three, she lowered herself down onto the two foot section of wood, balancing herself as she squatted down, placing her hands between her legs until she could sit on the wood.

Blowing out her breath, she placed her left hand on the outside of her thigh and twisted, centering her weight, and awkwardly lowered herself down. She worked her body around until she was lying across the wood. Scooting backwards again, she felt for the next piece of wood with the toe of her boot.

“One more, then you can jump,” she told herself, trying to boost her confidence.

She lowered her weight onto it, and gasped when the edge of the wood gave way. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying out and alerting someone. Her hands instinctively reached up to grab the section she had just been on while her feet frantically scrambled to find a section of the wood that wasn’t rotten.

It took several times before she finally found a small foothold. It wouldn’t be enough to hold her. Glancing over her shoulder, she let go, twisting as she fell. Her arms swung out to try to keep her upright. She bent her legs and rolled when she hit the wooden roof of the small lookout. Within seconds of landing, she knew why no one was there when the roof made a cracking noise before it disintegrated underneath her weight.

Taylor covered her head with her arms as she fell through the opening. She landed on her back amid the dust created by the rotted wood made from centuries of neglect. She moaned and rolled, trying to cover her nose and mouth at the same time as she drew in gasping breaths to replenish the air knocked out of her. Smothering a cough, she finally rolled onto her back again and gaze up at the dark sky.

She waited to see if the noise had attracted any attention. The only sounds she heard came from the occasional piece of wood that still fell and the wind. Breathing a sigh of relief, she winced as she sat up. Rubbing her left hip, she rose shakily to her feet and stared up at the tower window that she had just escaped from.

It sure does look a lot higher from down here than it did from up there, she thought as she stiffly straightened.

Glancing down, she carefully picked her way over the collapsed roof to the stairs. A look of doubt crossed her face as she stared down at them. They didn’t look like they were in much better shape than the roof.

“Oh well,” she whispered, straightening her shoulders. “It isn’t like you have a lot of choice in the matter.”

Bracing her hand against the wall, she slowly began her descent, testing each step before she actually put all her weight on it. At the rate I am going, I should reach the bottom by my ninetieth birthday, she thought with disgust as the darkness closed in around her.