Trapped

Chapter 15

            Trinity looked at Gabe, fear filling her eyes.

            “I don’t know where it is exactly, if I did, I would cut it out as carefully as I can.” Gabe explained.  Trinity knew that even if she got out of here, she would die.  There was no way the guy who was tormenting them would allow her to live.

            “So, I’m dead no matter what?” she asked softly.

            “Unless we get the collar off and capsule out, yeah.” Gabe told her. “I will do everything I can, but I can’t promise anything.”

            “If I have killed people as you say I have, if I was that ruthless and unmerciful, do I even deserve to live?” Trinity asked.

            “Every human deserves to live and when we get out of here, I will do everything I can to get that capsule out of your neck.  The collar will be easy to remove, but I can’t get the capsule out right now.”

            Trinity nodded weakly and they continued forward.  Trinity’s ankle continued to slow them down.  As another five hours passed, they didn’t know if they were any closer to getting out or not.  As hours twenty, twenty one and twenty two ticked past, Trinity was able to walk on her own.  They made up as much time as they could, practically sprinting through the hallways.  Dan led Trinity on a path that Gabe didn’t question.  The guard with Dan wasn’t always present, but when he was, he and Dan were arguing.

            “Did a guard go missing with Dan?” Trinity asked.

            “Yeah, a man, his name was Leon.  His body was dredged out of a lake not far from the prison.  We assumed that Dan used him to escape and then killed him.” Gabe said.  Trinity looked at Dan, who seemed to know she was there.

            Dan motioned to his neck and Leon looked shocked.

            “Did Dan have a capsule in his neck?” Trinity asked.

            “Now that you ask, yes he did.” Gabe said after thinking about it for a moment. “We put it in all the high risk prisoners.  Assassins, gang bangers, serial killers, serial rapists, if they were in for capital punishment, they received a release capsule.”

            “If the prison had thought that I escaped and used you to escape, wouldn’t it make sense just to hit the button.  Release the contents of the capsule and kill me.  Now your life is no longer in danger and you can come back with a dead assassin.  Why didn’t they hit me as soon I went missing?  Why am I not dead right now?”

            Gabe opened his mouth to respond but Trinity cut him off.

            “The Warden, your father, runs this.  He set it up and now he is putting his own son through it because you didn’t take the Warden’s position he offered you.  He put me in here because I have a capital punishment sentence.  Nobody is going to miss the prisoner on death row.  Your father is running this and he doesn’t give a damn whether we live or die, he just wants his numbers.”

            “Numbers?” Gabe questioned.

            “Over the past three hours, I have been thinking about this whole thing.  It’s all about numbers.  Two of us, forty eight hours, it gets exponentially hard.  It all has to do with numbers.  If we go somewhere he doesn’t want us it’s because it turns the odds in our favors which screw up his numbers.  The probability of us getting out of here alive is nearly impossible without the time limit.  After the forty-eight hours pass, it gets exponentially hard, not increasingly, exponentially.  Which means that if it starts out with two Exterminators, it will become four and then sixteen or it will become sixteen and then four thousand ninety-six.  Whatever exponent he is using, the only way to be able to ensure our survival after the Exterminator’s are released is to get it down to one.”

            “Why?”

            “Because, no matter what exponent you multiply one by, it is still one.  One squared, one.  One cubed, one.  One to the fourth power, one.  One to the four hundred power, it doesn’t matter, it is still one.”