Crimson

Chapter 4

"Wait what?"

Nick was the first to respond, his voice dry and cracked from earlier this evening.

"Did I hear you correctly?" Sherri's snarky tone had returned and filled up the dark room.

Iago lifted his hand and activated his malfunction, dragging a piece of paper over to him. It was the note Alice had left. The others inspected the note carefully, not wanting to miss any word or phrase that might've stood out.

"How do we know it's not a trick? Nick's voice broke the long stretch of silence.

"We don't" my voice rang through the small room.

"Wait?! You want to test this?" Sherri raised her voice, waking Mika

"We would have to be careful and test Alice but if we get enough information about this place and the guards, it's possible."

"We should try! I could knock out three guards at the same time!" Mika exclaimed, while standing up making small punching motions in the air. I laughed while ruffling her hair.

"Of course you could!" Sherri said with this huge grin on her face. I stood up to go get some water for the group when I stepped on something. I looked down and picked up a small plush rabbit wearing a faded pink tutu. It was Eiysa's. I threw it towards Mika and she smiled. I grabbed some water and sat back down.

"We need a plan." I said sternly.

Nick sat up straighter and said,

"Sherri, when I go into testing tomorrow tell a mouse to do something to distract the guard so you and Lucia can sneak out and explore the facility looking for guards with.. What was it?" He checks the paper again. "A red pin I guess." he sighed "This is so stupid."

"It's worth a shot." Iago whispered.

We continued to pass ideas back and forth, eventually deciding that Iago would try and find blueprints of the facilities, Nick would find other guards with red pins, Sherri would collect food and water, Mika would look for weapons (she's perfectly capable of doing so) and I would try and find the best escape route. It was a super risky plan because if we got caught outside our room. It would be really bad.

Morning came faster than I wanted. Mika was shaking my shoulders.

"Cia!, Cia! Get up, it's time for our super secret plan!"

Mika was definitely excited. I however was not. Sherri was speaking into a corner and Nick and Iago were trying to find the best way to look out into the hall. I sat up and stretched watching as 3 mice scurried into the wall and bumped into the guards. The guards shrieked and yelled and the mice while Sherri giggled inside the dorm. Nick used this opportunity to pick the lock with a stick that fell in through the vent. Soon as it was unlocked we held our breath. Nick then slipped outside and grabbed the mice. The guards looked at him dumbfounded.

"Did we already let you out?" guard 1 said.

"Yep" Nick popped the 'p'

"The door locked?" guard 2 asked.

"Pull on it." Nick smiled clearly, having a good time. Iago and I were holding the door shut as tight as we could so when the guard pulled on the door, it didn't move.

"All right.., You! Drop those pests and get over here." I hope Nick did as he was told as the mice were no longer speaking to Sherri, telling us what was going on.

"Now we wait." Sherri sat down letting out a sigh of relief. "I can't believe they actually fell for it."

"I've been here 7 years, trust me they aren't as smart as you think." I winked at her.