The Arena - The Moon Trilogy - Book #2

Chapter twenty-four:

"So, you think it'll work if we start the escape now?" Clarity asked as soon as she was sure that her confusing story had been worked out sufficiently.

"It might." 77432 said. "But it will certainly be riskier."

"Well, according to Clarity's dream, waiting is the thing that will make it riskier." Sam's face was scrunched up in either confusion or thoughtfulness, and he spoke slowly.

"We won't have as much help as we would have." 77432 said, once again finding a reason to postpone the plan until a later date. Both arguments were compelling, but Clarity's mind was still permeated by the mist of fear from her strange dream, even if the events themselves were starting to blur together and fade away.

"That doesn't matter. If August meant what I think he meant, then no matter how much help we have, waiting is a terrible idea." Alex shot down 774232's protests with the exact argument that floated around Clarity's own mind.

"If you absolutely insist on starting the plan now, then I can't stop you. But it will take at least a couple of days to inform the other parties involved, so even if we start immediately, there will be a delay." 77432 said, sounding almost annoyed.

"As long as we're doing everything that we can, it doesn't matter if there's a delay or not." Clarity was almost shaking with the sense of urgency that had invaded her body. They had to do this.

The lives of everyone here depended on them.

77432 got up and walked to the door, grabbing two of the bars and pressing her face between them as far as it would go. There weren't any guards stationed outside anymore, so no one pushed her back. Then she whistled. One, long, loud note.

Although nothing at all was happening, 77432 remained at the door, leaning against it as she attempted to get a better view out into the hall.

At length, something finally did happen. But it was by no means what Clarity wanted to hear. A set of heavy footsteps was slowly fading into hearing range. The footsteps were different than the usual clomp, clomp of the guard's boots. There was one clomp and then a clanking noise. Similar to the noise of empty tin cans clanking together, or a large bag of metal cutlery being hit with a stick.

The strange, uneven footsteps continued on, getting louder by the second. 77432 was asking for a beating by staying at her post by the barred door.

Minutes later, a guard stopped in front of the cell. He looked just like any other guard. With metal armor covering every inch of him, the plates like so many giant scales. They linked together surprisingly well, and in such a way that allowed no space where bare flesh showed through. She imagined it to be a pain getting into.

Clarity didn't know much about their newest group member, but she learned one thing when she began speaking to the guard. She had to know some form of sign language. And the guard knew the signs too, because he replied without pause and carried on quite the lengthy conversation.

The rest of Clarity's cellmates were silent as they, too, watched the pair of them silently converse. Then the guard quite suddenly stopped his signing and walked away. He had an uneven gait to match the uneven sounds of his footsteps.

The clomp, clink of his footsteps slowly faded.

"What was that?" Sam asked suspiciously. It hadn't occurred to Clarity that the woman might be working with their captors, but after that display, she couldn't help but agree with Sam's incredulity—if only just a little bit.

"That guard is on our side. I told him to inform the others of our decision." 77432 replied as she sat down again. Her tone was flat, not rising to combat the flame of suspicion in Sam's.