Sunrise Gate

Chapter 17

Chpater

The hall in front of us is dark. We walk slowly, cautious of all noises we make, pacing our way side by side to the door. The pulse of my heart reminds me of the risk we’re about to face, and I’m sure Demi feels the same way, but the time has come to take the offensive. If there ever was an instance before now where I felt more sure of myself, more able, more ready - I simply couldn’t tell you. Because today I have the opportunity to make a change in the lives of several dozen people, and that excites me. I know I am ready. But is Demi?

I look in her direction, watching as she walks forward with a confidence in her stride. A cocky, “it’s all over” kind of stride a prisoner makes as she walks to her execution. “Demi,” I grab her attention.

“Yeah?” she speaks softly.

“Are you ready?” I whisper back.

“Of course I am, that’s why we’re here, isn’t it?”

“I don’t care why we are here. I want to know if you’re ready.”

“Yeah,” she thinks her answer over. “Why do you want to know?”

“Because I don’t know what we’re about to face,” Demi stiffens at my comment. “But if you’re ready, and I’m ready, I think I feel a bit more confident than I did a few seconds ago.”

Demi let’s the thought sink in for a few seconds. “I think I do too.”

“Good,” I reply slightly relieved.

We reach the door, peering through we notice there are very few miners out. The few cells we can see are filled and the walks are slowly emptying of guards. It appears night time has fallen, and patrols are about to swap. “Now would be the time to act, when the least amount of guards are visible,” I say to Demi.

“How do you want to approach this?” she asks me.

I look over the room, watching the exit across the cavern to see two guards standing on duty. The rest of the room is empty. “When we were down there I thought you could pull the attention of everyone into the room to one area away from the door,” I begin, “But look around. There’s only the two entrance guards out.”

“Then let’s stay together,” Demi says.

“Exactly what I was thinking,” I said.

We stand in silence watching through the door, burning precious time. My heart rate escalates as I think of opening this door, what sounds it will make and who it will alert and what would happen if anyone is alerted. But I need to push on. I take the key and slot it into the door, holding it firmly in the lock, ready to turn on command. My stomach churns and feel a sickness come over me as the anxiety settles in, the worry of failure. There is no failure. Because failure implies we survived. There is no failure here. Demi notices my worry and grabs my hand on the key, “Consider this mine ours,” she says to me without a smile. For a moment I thought she was suicidal, twisting the key and opening the door without any hesitation, but I realize now that she isn’t suicidal but throwing herself into the situation. She won’t second guess herself, her mind is made. That’s something only a true hero can do, throw themselves on the line without thinking twice.

Demi slides the door open, sliding out with me, slowly closing it to cover our tracks. By the distant light of a torch we edge ourselves along the wall, masking our presence as best we can with rocks and shadows. I watch the room carefully, scanning over it constantly paranoid of guards or prisoners. They’re all above us on the catwalks, though, and as long as we stick to the shadows we’ll make it across the room. It’s just a matter of slipping past the entrance guards and getting through to the tunnel before someone notices.