The Eccentric

9

It doesn't take long for us to come up with a plan. One day later and we are ready to escape this god forsaken prison. Is that a good or bad thing? I don't know but I guess we will find out soon.

The moment the door at the end of the hall swings open and the guard walks through I know it's time to put the plan in action. In his hands sits a metal, prison issue tray and on the tray sits at least 20 small, paper cups filled with various pills each containing one power masking pill. The guard walks straight down the hall and stops in front of my cell, choosing me as his first victim. He passes through a cup with a small glass of water and gestures for me to swallow them as if I didn't go through this each day. I glare at the guard but swallow the tablets and chuck the empty cup onto the tray with a bored expression.

The moment the guard turns his attention to Tate, I whip around and run over to the toilet, making an effort to draw as much attention to myself as possible through exaggerated movements and expressions. Leaning over the bowl, I shove two fingers down my throat and start to heave up a mix of tablets and bile.

"Hey! Stop that," the guard exclaims, knowing the tablets have had no effect on me before they rushed down the drain. He runs to my cell and begins to unlock the door while balancing the tray on his knee but I ignore him and continue to throw up the remains of my lunch into the now foul-smelling toilet. Once the door is unlocked, he bursts into my room and places the tray on the bed closest to me, he then goes to yank my up from the floor but I lash out and punch him in the stomach. He doubles over, clutching his gut and gasping for air while I reach for the tray and smack him straight over the head knocking him out. I wince as I notice the large dent in the tray from where it make contact with the guards head and quickly drop it to the ground.

"I got the cameras and the door, you unlock the cells," I say to Tate and throw the keys through the bars. He nods then begins to unlock his own cell. I sit on the bed and focus on getting my powers back. I reach inside me, searching for my Spark abilities that are hidden under layers of medication and exhaustion but after some struggle, I begin to feel my blood bubble and electricity run through my veins. A small spark at my fingertips is an indication that I have won the battle against the medication and I can't help but smile at the tingling feeling in my stomach. I can't tell whether it's my powers or the anticipation that is causing this effect. I stand up from the bed once I have sensed the surge of power behind me and turn around to face the camera. I reach up to lightly touch the screen and begin to drain its electricity but before I finish, I make sure to flip the bird at whoever is watching the commotion on the other end of the camera. On cue, all the lights in the building flicker and I watch as the cameras in the cells begin to spark and go limp, loosing all power.

With a small sense of pride keeping me going, I run out of my cell towards the locked door at the end of the hallway, passing Tate as he opens numerous cells to the other inmates. He gives me a huge grin and a thumbs up as he reaches inside Emmie's cell and pulls her up into his arms. Once I reach the door, I find my Welder powers to shape part of my bed frame into a key, the next section of our plan but freeze when I realise that the door doesn't need a key. It needs a fingerprint. How did we not think of this? Cursing under my breath and kicking the door in defeat, I groan as I inspect the complex computer screen with finger scanner. Then I realise that in order for the guard to get in here his finger must be in the system. I need his down here and fast but I doubt I be able to get his unconscious body to the door in time, all I need is his finger, nothing else. Then an idea pops into my head. An insanely stupid idea that just might work.

I turn on my heel to see Tate helping an elderly woman out of her cell. He begins to shiver uncontrollably and pulls away from her once she is out into the hallway safely.

"You're freezing!" He exclaims while rubbing his arms and sets a small fire in his hand to bring back warmth.

"Sorry kiddo, having a bit of trouble controlling them without the meds," she shrugs while gesturing down to her blue hands and blows out a breath of ice and snowflakes. I push past the women and shudder when my hand makes contact with her cool arm but continue to walk toward my cell making an effort to ignore Tate knowing that he would never agree to what I'm about to do.

I walk inside my cell and yank the man's lifeless up into a sitting position. I reach into his pocket and pull out his combat knife that all guards are required to carry. I don't know if I have the stomach for this. Pushing through the thoughts, I lift up the man's right hand to inspect it and decide his thumb will be my finger of choice. A shiver runs up my spine as I pull the knife out of its case and bring it up to the cold skin of the guard's finger. I gag the moment the knife makes contact and watch as it easily slices through skin and bone. Warm blood runs down his arm and drips into a puddle at my feet. Ignore the metallic smell that makes its way to my nose, I finish the clean cut and drop the bloody knife to the ground.

"I'm sorry," I mutter to the man and place my own hand over the wound to stop the bleeding. Once I have the finger safely in my pocket, I heal the wound as best I can, leaving the man to wake up with a stump on his left hand and very little dignity.

I squeeze past the various inmates who have now been let of out of their cell and run towards the door where Tate waits.

"Got the key?" Tate asks when I reach him and I grimace at the thought of the man's bloody finger in my pocket.

"I guess you could say that..." I trail off and reach inside my uniform to fish around for the finger. The moment my hand grips the small wet object, I wince and ignore the sight of the blood now seeping through my uniform. The blood that belongs to the knocked out man now locked in my cell.

"What the-" Tate starts but I shush him hoping to bring the least amount of attention to me as possible. Tate shoots me a disgusted look and I hope to explain to him once we have escaped that it was the only way. I place the finger on the scanner smearing blood on the clean screen and smile when the green light flashes but we are far from finished. We have to get into the common ward and break the lower classified out. Leave no one behind.

"We're in!" I say and turn around to the group of prisoners waiting behind me. I notice a few familiar faces but most spent majority of their time in jail hiding away in fear. Although some still lay in their cages with the doors wide open, too weak to move or too frightened to leave the safety of their cell. I turn my attention back to those who stand outside in the hallway ready to fight whatever is on the other side of the doors.

"Ready?" I shout to the prisoners and they cheer in response. "Let's do this!"