It only takes one little action to set off a chain reaction of momentous events.
The outcome's of that little action depend totally on the reaction's of those around them.
Take for instance, the action of a guard who wants a smoke. The prisoner he is guarding is busy and there is another guard, so he leaves to get his smoke. After all, the prisoner is in an underground prison surrounded by guards and doesn't have a clue how to get out. He is only a teenager.
It was just the kind of action I had been waiting for.
It was during my fencing lesson. The guard that watched the lesson left to get a smoke or something.
He had not returned by the time the lesson was over. Then the instructor made his mistake. we were done with the final duel and were done for the afternoon. we saluted and removed our masks. The instructor turned his back to me and started to walk towards his foil case. God had sent me the chance I needed. I leapt forward and struck the instructor across the back of the neck with the blade of my foil. he spun around to defend himself but I followed up my strike with a chopping blow to the throat.
He gagged and dropped to his knees and I delivered a hard blow to the back of his head which knocked him out. For the first time since my capture I was alone outside of my cell.
The guard would be back any moment so I removed the safety tip from the foil. I stood next to the door and waited. the guard opened the door, stepped in and saw the guard on the floor. He instantly knew where I was going to be and spun around but was too late. I thrust the foil into his center mass as he spun. His ballistic vest offered little resistance to the wire thin blade. He started to raise his gun But I knocked it to the side and pushed him away. He lay on the ground silent and unmoving. I felt ice cold and wanted to be sick. I had never killed a man. It was self-defense, wasn't it? I realized that the other guards would be expecting us to be coming through those doors soon. Taking several deep breaths I drew the bloody foil from the guards body and knew I was going to throw up. I gulped down more air, steeled my nerves and started to strip all the useful equipment from the guard including his ballistic vest, belt and rifle. When this was done I started out the door. The passage split going to the left and right. Right went toward my cell and there was nothing there. The guards must have been on their patrol. I started to the left. The passage was curved in a large circle so that you could only see a few yards in front of you. I heard the guard before I saw him. His footsteps were low and lazy and you could tell that he was totally confident that no one could escape from this... whatever it was.
I considered my options. Shoot and everyone would come running. I wouldn't have much time anyway so I crouched to my knee and took aim where I thought the guard was going to be when I first saw him. he came around the corner and saw me almost as soon as I saw him. I fired a burst that knocked him off his feet and into the ground. I ran over and struck him on the side of the head with the butt of the gun to make sure he was out.
I could hear running steps behind me and took off at a sprint in the opposite direction. I took the first doorway and found myself in a store room. There was a large bundle of wire laying on the ground and I had an idea of how to subdue the other guard without killing him. I stripped both ends of the wire and stuck one end in an electrical outlet and the other to the door handle. then I did the same to another wire except I wrapped it around the blade of the foil and leaned it up against the door in a way so that as soon as it moved the blade would fall into the handle and complete the circuit.
I waited about two seconds after I had finished when the other guard ran up and grabbed the door handle. He pulled it open. the foil slid forward and sparked brightly. the guard let out a gasp and dropped to the floor. I hopped I hadn't killed him. I kicked the wire out from the wall socket and sprinted out the door and down the corridor.
As I ran, I looked for a way to the surface. I assumed I was underground. I came to a large foyer like area where three tunnels met and slowed to a stop. leaning on my knees I thought about where to go next. I glanced around the area again and spied an elevator that I hadn't seen before. There were the little floor indicators next to it that illuminated when the elevator was at or passing that floor.
I stared at them for a second until I realized that they were moving. They were descending.
There must be reinforcements on that elevator. I didn't hesitate a moment more but dashed off down the left tunnel.
They must have gotten word of my escape. I came to a door and ran through it. There was a guard just on the other side who was running toward me. He stopped about ten feet in front of me and swung his rifle up to cover me, but I had already covered the distance and slammed the butt of my gun into his chin. His head snapped back and he dropped like a stone. I sprinted down this tunnel, which was straight and without any doors or other passages leading away from it. I came to another door at the end and went though it too. There was a ninety degree turn and then I blasted out of the tunnel and into the open. I was in a massive underground grotto, about half of it was a mini bay with boat docks and several boats tied to them.
The other half was smooth concrete like the tunnels had been. A guard spun around when I ran in. I dropped to my knees and fired a burst at him as I slid along the ground for all the world Like a rock star on a stage. But this performance was very deadly. The guard fell backwards into the water and I ran over to the nearest boat, a Zodiac Rigid inflatable with a 200 horsepower Evinrude e-tec G2 and a small trolling motor, I jumped in and pressed the electric starter. The motor roared to life and I nearly smashed into the dock. Using every bit of my concentration I piloted the boat to the entrance tunnel. It was very large, about twenty feet from side to side and a good fifteen feet tall. The sun was shining out side and was only a little above the horizon which was way out over the water. I stopped and sat there for a second bobbing up and down on the water. To the right and left and a little behind me was land so the grotto must be on a peninsula. I heard a door burst open somewhere in the distance and shoved the throttle to the stops and steered the boat to the left. I used the ammo belt to secure the boats direction. Taking a deep breath I dove into the water just as we passed the last of the cliffs. I swam as hard as I could although the gun weighted me down. I had almost decided to drop it when my feet touched a submerged rock. I clambered out of the water and crawled behind a a rock and under an overhang. I could hear voices inside the grotto and then a boat engine starting up. A boat sped past my hiding place and then another. They spotted my now empty, fleeing boat and gave chase. I lay there and tried to figure out where I was. The sun seemed to be getting a little closer to the water which meant that I was on the west coast. The water had been salty which ruled out any lakes so I was at the pacific ocean. The landscape I had seen was high cliffs and dense vegetation. It almost looked like somewhere in either northern California or South America.
I settled down and prepared to wait until night time. Until then though, I would pray.
