The Never Ending Escape

Chapter Four (James)

I woke up slowly. Roxy was still asleep on my lap. I gently moved her hair out of her face, trying not to wake her. Elio wasn't back yet; I had sent him on an errand for pain medication. Roxy shifted in my lap, mumbling something under her breath. She snickered, squeezing the pillow and burying her face. She looked so precious in that moment. I wished I had a camera.

I pulled out the map, laying it on the ground by the backpack. We were in a cell on the Yellow level, under the one we first started on. I had decided to move down a floor, as the guards would soon discover that we had escaped. Staying on the same level would have been a stupid move. Moving up to the surface would seem like the obvious choice. Thankfully, the prison was so big that the guards were likely only now finding out about our escape. Down was the way to go.

Roxy stirred, so I gently touched the side of her face, trying to calm her. Her hand reached up to catch hold of mine before she woke. I could feel a rush of heat come over my face so I turned my gaze to the wall, forgetting I was still holding her hand. She let go, flustered. I couldn't see her face, but I knew she was embarrassed.

"Sorry," she apologized shyly. She looked over at the map beside her. "You got the blueprints!"

"Uh... yeah, we managed to grab some stuff after locking up that other guard."

"Where are we now?"

"Floor Yellow."

Roxy leaned back before yelping in pain and clutching her right side. Remembering, tears gathered in her green eyes, threatening to fall.

"Are you okay?" I reached over and put a hand on her left shoulder.

"Yeah, I think it's just bruised." Roxy wiped a stray tear from her face.

"What about mentally? You did look kind of..." I started, not knowing whether I should continue.

"Horrified?" She brushed my hand off her shoulder, wincing a little as she did. I sat up, thinking about what I could do to make her feel better. I slowly brought her in for a hug, trying my best to avoid putting too much pressure on her side. She squeezed me tight, trying to hold back her tears and stay strong. In all the time that I've known her, I had never seen her anywhere near this vulnerable. I felt her begin to shake as she started sobbing. It pained me to see her this way. She was a relatively tough girl; that guy must have done something awful to scare her this bad.

"You're safe now Roxy. He will never hurt you again."

"You didn't kill him, did you?" Roxy started, wincing.

"No, I just pistol-whipped him and locked him in the cell. I won't ever let him lay a finger on you again, though, so don't worry."

Roxy let out a sigh of relief, taking a moment to think. She let go of me to cross her arms, holding herself. I left one arm over her shoulder. She leaned into me.

"I want to help you, but I can't if I don't know whats wrong."

Roxy hesitated. I held her closer to me, wishing I could take away her pain.

"I was only thirteen when it happened. Mack and his brother were robbing a bank. The Earth has become so corrupt that you can't really blame them. His brother was going to shoot a civilian. I didn't have to ki..." Roxy fumbled, tears spilling from her puffy red eyes.

"If you didn't do it someone else would have. The only ones at fault are the ones who made the world what it is today."

I held her hand while she calmed down. We both fell back asleep, our breathing in sync.

We woke up to the sound of the door opening.

"I have medicine from the guard post," Elio reported, entering the space with a duffel bag. He checked the hall thoroughly before closing the cell door, throwing the pain medication at me haphazardly. I barely caught it. I snagged a water bottle, giving it and the medicine to Roxy. She took two pills, downing them with a sip of water.

"Thanks for getting the medicine, Elio." Roxy smiled, hiding any sign of having cried just a few moments ago. She stood up, ready to get moving. I also rose, collecting the backpack, pain medicine and water bottle from the floor. I picked the map up, holding one side while Roxy held onto the other, studying it carefully.

This manufactured planet was roughly the same size as pluto, it had plenty of space for prisoners as well as areas for the guards to rest, a conference room, storage, places to train and I heard a rumour that there were sensory deprivation rooms. On the floor we were on there was a section where they stored the water. The rest was cells and guard stations. The amount of indicators showing us which cells were occupied were fewer than I expected, Roxy furrowed her brows also noticing this, but shook it off. The other floors would most likely  make up for this levels unimpressive number of prisoners.

"What cell are we in now?" Roxy questioned Elio distractedly, not looking up from the blueprints.

"Cell 2568."

"The closest occupied cell is... 2589." Roxy declared, giving the blueprints a final glance before putting it in the backpack and zipping it up. I strived to meet her eyes, hoping to get a read on her feelings. Her gaze was very reserved. It was impossible to decipher her thoughts.

I sighed. "Let's get moving."

I put on my cap before handing Roxy hers. She put it on, tucking all the hair she could into it. Elio picked up the pillow and blanket, stuffing them into his nearly empty duffel bag. Roxy pushed the door open slowly at first, but when she saw no one was  in the hall she opened it all the way. We closed the door behind us and headed in the direction of Cell 2589. We were ready to begin releasing heroes.