Nine pressed her back against the wall as she watched Six fumble with the old lock. He glanced at her more than once as the keys clicked, freeing the rusted metal, his eyes narrowing at her. She could feel herself lose control of her power as she shimmered in and out of existence. A lump formed in her throat as she swallowed her stress, for she had no saliva to spare. Everything moved in slow motion as the gate swung open; frozen, she watched Six step into her space, his muddy shoes tracking dirt across the concrete floor.
From the edge of her vision, she could just make out Eights as he waved his hands wildly, trying to get her to move while mouthing 'Go!'
He continued waving, and she noticed Six standing on top of her bed, his shoes caked in mud, smeared across the fabric. Surely, he'll clean up after himself, right? Right?
Looking at the boy across the narrow hall, she shook her head, mouthing, 'no,' to which she was met with a grimace from her new friend before he continued his frantic plea for her to move, but all she could think of was cleaning the mud from the grungy mattress. Even with the fence wide open and with freedom just on the other side, she found herself wanting to stay. That was her original plan after her brother died, so why change it now?
She tugged at her shirt as a ball of anxiety bounced around her stomach, as the boy got angrier and angrier, turning redder and redder with each second she stood there. When finally, she decided to shuffle across the ground, dragging her feet as if her shoes were made of lead. With each painful movement toward the exit, they scraped against the ground. Six stopped what he was doing, slowly turning, mud streaking across the mattress even more.
"Six, man, come on. How hard is it to open a window?"
"Shut it, Eight. This thing hasn't been opened since the last time you almost escaped. I swear you're too much trouble."
Once more, Six started to fumble with the window, his dirty shoes slowly being cleaned by Nine's mattress. Eights started waving his arms dramatically once again, even though he was surely unable to see her. The fencing was inches away, and she looked up at it. Was there a need to escape, to go back—
"Go!"
The window thunked open, and Nine turned. Six was right on her, giving Eights a look of bewilderment.
"What do you think I'm doing, Eights?"
Nine stumbled forwards, catching herself with the cell's makeshift frame, rattling the fence.
"What was that?" Six glanced around, his eyes narrowing at Eights, "You know, I was told we were getting a newbie yesterday, but—"
"Who knows with The Twelve, they always do stuff without telling us numbered."
"I don't know…" After closing and locking the gate behind him, he observed the other two cells. "Why was this one locked?"
"Come on, Six, the numbered are so disorganized. Ten probably placed a lock for some reason, you know, he does stuff like that all the time."
"I feel like—"
"Six, if you don't hurry, Ten is going to throw Twelve off a cliff, and you'll never be able to find him."
"Fine, but please, Eight, no funny business."
Nine's hands trembled as she followed Six down the short hall. His back was broad, and no matter how she looked at it, it seemed impossible to squeeze past him. Maybe she could stay downstairs and wait for another opportunity, maybe… The door creaked as Six began to close it behind him, and Nine saw an opportunity to slip past.
With shaky breath, she resolved herself, moving forward, faster, faster, Nine!
As she got to the door, it was halfway closed, but she could fit, could she fit? Too late now, the door smashed against her shoulder, and Nine stumbled forward and up the stairs in an instant, where a wooden door blocked her path.
She looked back at Six, who was checking the ground to see why the door wouldn't close, then, with a creak~ the stairway went dark, too dark. Covering her mouth, Nine could feel unease rush to her chest like a raging current in her heart as she restrained herself from heaving and sobbing with every footstep moving closer. Her hands were clammy over her mouth as Six rose one step, two steps. three. Her eyes adjusted right as the man reached across her chest for the door, opening it. This time, snagging against her foot, she froze, looking at Six as he moved closer. Shifting her feet, she moved it just as Six pulled hard on the door, nearly sending him back down the steps.
Nine scrambled through the door, collapsing into a corner of the room as Six entered. He glanced around before placing his keys on their hook, picking a knife off the table, and exiting the room, closing the door behind him. As Nine heaved a sigh of relief, the door flung open once more.
Six trumped back into the room, his eyes sharp, when his gaze locked onto the corner. Nine felt faint as she scrambled closer to the wall as Six approached, his steps steady and deliberate as he closed in. But from his perspective, the room was empty — surely it looked empty — right?
Her body trembled as she fought to keep her power in control. But the man stopped right before her, his eyes shifting back and forth. Reaching down, his hand seemingly widened as he reached for her. She shut her eyes, holding her breath as she waited for Six to haul her back into the cells. What if—
Clack!
She looked up as the man picked something off a low-hanging shelf, before turning and leaving once more. This time, Nine held her breath to the count of ten after the door closed before allowing herself to release the tension that kept her invisible. Picking the keys from the hook, her hands shook, and they clinked together. With haste, she grasped the metal objects and turned slowly, watching the door, but when no one came, she headed back to the basement.
Creak~ She could see Eights wide and silly grin as he craned his neck to see down the hall, and he said, "Nine, you beautiful human, you got the keys!"
The keys jingled as she tried to control her shaking hands as she approached the lock, and with a click, Eights nearly plowed past her to the stairway.
"What are you waiting for? Let's go before Six or Ten come back."
Back in her cell, muddy footprints caked across the floor and her bed, and she sighed before moving forward, following Eights up the stairs. The room at the top was just the same, unmoving until Eights got his hands on it. He pulled a handgun from a shelf, loading it; he shoved it between his cargo pants and his belly button. "We'll need protection out there!"
"That's true." Nine glanced at his gun. "The zoms outside would be hard to kill without one of those."
"Zoms are easy. What's going to be hard is escaping without a weapon." He shoved a knife into one of his many pockets before raiding a shelf with packaged food.
"You don't mean to…" Nine motioned her thumb across her neck.
"I've tried escaping too many times without violence. If they won't let me leave, I'll do whatever I can, even if it means taking a life."
Eights turned his back as he searched through a box with supplies, shoving things in his pockets as he did, and Nine's fingers grazed against metal. Grasping the object, she checked to see if it was loaded, and with a light click and a pop! The tranq went flying into Eight's arm.
"Wha…" He said as he fell to the ground.
Nine looked back at the stairs, then to Eights. She could take him back, act like none of this ever happened. She could… Watching the boy's chest rise and fall, she remembered how excited he was to leave, his smile when she came back with the keys.
"I'll get you out, but I can't go with you." Nine reloaded the tranquilizer and tossed it on top of Eights before grabbing the boy by the legs and dragging him to the door. The hallway was wide and empty; maybe no one would come, maybe escaping wasn't as hard as Eights said.
Click. Clack. Click. Clack. The unmistakable sound of high-heeled shoes clacked down the hall. Growing closer with each second. Holding tight to Eights, Nine eyed a potted plant to her side, but she couldn't move; it was too late. A shadow stretched across the floor, and Nine shut her eyes. Click. Clack. Click. Clack. The footsteps like a clock counting down to Nine's demise. It looks like she's trying to escape… There's no way she'll be able to leave the basement if she comes back.
Click, clack, click began to fade, and Nine peeked behind her eyelashes, sighing in relief when the lady paused, jerking her head around before Nine could disappear.
"Where did you come from?" She said, and her eyes shot to Eights' unconscious body, realization playing on her face.
Nine scrambled to the boy, snatching the gun from his stomach, and she began firing wildly. Bang! Bang! Bang!
The weight of the weapon felt strange in her hands, and she looked over at Eights, where the tranquilizer gun sat on his stomach as the lady fell with a thud.
"Lady!" Nine threw the gun to the ground, running to the woman. She was sprawled across the floor motionless. Blood seeped from her head, pooling on the ground.
Bile rose in Nine's throat, and she could hear hurried footsteps echo down the halls. In a daze, she shuffled back to Eights, grabbing his feet; she dragged him down the hall once more. No longer afraid, she moved as fast as her burning muscles would allow her until she came to the grand entryway. Eights snagged against the carpet as she dragged him to the large double doors. A scream sounded in the distance as she swung them open, revealing a large yard with a lush green garden, and in the distance, a metal gate.
Dragging Eights across the yard, she closed in on the gate, and her hair stood on end as the guttural groans of zombies brought back memories of her brother, of how he was ripped to shreds, how they ate him as he screamed for her to run. Her eyes clouded as she swung open the gates, dragging Eights across the threshold.
Dogs barked in the distance, and her eyes flicked wildly at every shadow when she noticed a dirt road, and at the end of it stood a little cabin. Overtaken by the forest, the old building stood firm against the elements just down a short dirt road.
Approaching it, she threw open the doors, shoving Eights into the small building and closing the door on him. A trail formed from the direction she arrived, and she grabbed a fallen branch to cover her tracks. Brushing off their tracks, she came back to the main road and ambled back into the lush garden, a sweet scent pricking at her nose as she breathed heavily. The rhythmic pumping of her heart pounded against her skull as she swiped at the last of the trail, and looking up, she came eye to eye with a large dog. It's sharp yellow teeth, sharpened to a point, aimed for her life.