The Orbist

Chapter 16

 We moved on to the library. I knew Teo was also concerned of what Zoinks was going to do to Grant. We decided to follow him. We stalked him as he followed Grant, until they were both at the back of the room, out of sight from many by the bookshelf. We were on the other side of the bookshelf, looking between the books to see what was going to happen.

    "Hey, Grant. Give me the thing in your pocket." Zoinks demanded straightforwardly.

 Grant turned around.

    "Ah, should have known the little princess would send you." He grinned. "Zoinks, you don't want to-"

 Zoinks grabbed a hardcover book, and smacked him across the face with it, leaving Grant on the floor in a second. He jumped back up quickly and blocked his next punch, grabbing the textbook out of his hand, tossing it to the side as he dodged the next blow. Zoinks face went red in anger and kicked Grant in the stomach with all his might.

 Grant cried out in a strange squeak and fell back on the dusty carpet. Teo and I simultaneously gasped, and watched in horror as he kicked Grant on the face two times. Luckily, Zoinks stopped before there was any blood. He kneeled over and pulled out the folded piece of paper, and walked over to our side of the shelf.

    "Here's your thing." He handed the folded map to us, not even bothering to read its contents. Teo slowly took it, and we both saw that half of it was ripped off. Zoinks spit on the ground, turned around and walked away. The second he was out of sight, we rushed over to Grant.

    "Grant, we didn't know he would-"

    "He would what? Be violent? C'mon!" He yelled. A guard turned over and shushed him.

    "No! I'm not being quiet.' He stood up shakily, then socked his fist in my face in a sudden burst of anger.

 Two guards rushed over, and tackled him. I stepped back, my nose wobbly.

    "No!" He screamed. "Don't take me! Take them! They're going to try to-"

 He was cut off by several adult knuckles in his face, knocking his breath in. Everyone turned and watched as he was continuously beaten to a pulp. And now there was blood. Lots of it. He only had a small break to get a gasp of air before knuckles were in his mouth again. Finally, they stopped, with his face completely bloody and bruised. I then heard one of them talk in their walkie talkie about "violation of Rule #3". Grant was then picked up, and dragged out the library. My mind was drowning in a sea of guilt. I turned to Teo. He turned to me.

    "We're getting out of here." He whispered to me. "And we're doing it today."

 And in the Gameroom we started speaking about the plan. We both huddled up in a corner of the room, and he held out a map of the E.O.H, including the E.O.H.C.C. Luckily, the half of the map Grant took with him was the upstairs part.

    "Now, right now we're here." He pointed to the Gameroom. "Here's where we sleep." He moved his finger down, past the cafeteria, to our rooms. "Here is the exit." He tapped the southwest corner of the hall. "But that door is locked, and hard as a diamond."

 I nodded.

 Then he moved his finger upward, and to the far right.

    "Behind that is the Guards' Lounge. The key to the lock can be found there."

    "Don't the guards have keys with them?" I asked.

    "Naw, they don't carry them around, in case someone might try to take 'em. So when they need to leave, they just get the keys quickly from the Lounge and book it. They go in groups, but we'll talk about that later."

    "Got it."

    "So if we get the key from all the way there, we can open the-"

    "Okay, there are holes in your plan. Like, when will we do this? We have guards on us when we're freaking sleeping! And another thing about the guards, there are hundreds of them in the hallway! You think we can just walk up to-"

    "Let me finish!" He interrupted. "First off, every guard switches at 1 P.M. That's hundreds of guards switching with hundreds of guards at the same time. It'll be a tiny, tiny, moment for us to start walking, and we won't be walking out into the hallway, because we don't have to walk all the way to the library. Keep in mind that the library and the Guards' Lounge are not together, they're separate parts of the care center, they're just closely next to each other. And we can go from our rooms, straight to the lounge."

    "What? But..."

    "Oh, yeah. We'll be breaking through a wall."

 I gave him the "Gimme a break" look.

    "The wall is actually pretty thin. Of course, though I'm pretty strong, there's no way one kid can break down a wall, but then you showed up. Two kids is a different story." He explained.

    "It is not a different story! Two kids can't break down a wall."

    "Didn't you hear me? It's thin! Much thinner than the others. One night when I was sleeping, some guards horsing around did something, I don't know what, but it really made the wall less sturdy. If we give it all our might we can smash through it!"

    "So let me get this straight." I sighed. "Your plan is for us to break through a wall while everyone is switching with the doors closed, jump through the hole and find the keys in the lounge, and come back to our rooms. But then, there will be guards still there in the hallway. How will we get to the door?"

    "That, my friend, might be the iffiest part of the plan."

    "Oh no."