The Expedition

(Chapter's 6-8) 

 Chapter Six - The Escape

"Hey, sir. I desperately need to take a shower. May I use my free time for one?" Michael begs a guard. The guard thinks for a bit, nods with no words. Michael did not need to shower, he smelled like mint leaves, and the morning after it rains, Aurora discovered that the first second she met him. He walks into the big communal bathroom with showers and stalls. And one big drain in the middle of the floor that leads to the ocean. He turns on one of the showers to let it run as if he was taking a shower so the guard wouldn't get suspicious. Michael examines the drain while looking up a few times just in case the guard came in. "Okay, there are only four screws in here. I bet we could get those out with a penny." Michael whispers. He gets up and before he turns the shower off, he dunks his head under the water, to make it appear as though he was in the shower the whole time. Micheal was a shy boy before Aurora and Mav got there, but he definitely is intelligent.

*The next morning*

--Breakfast

There they are again, Micheal Aurora and Mav sitting with each other in the cafeteria, plotting their escape just like criminals in the movies. "A penny, and a distraction. That's all I need." Michael says. "Okay, I think we can do that. I will take a penny from the wallet of a guard." Mav contributes. "And I'll make a distraction." Aurora gets up almost immediately, looking like she would kill to get out of that place. She walks right in front of the guards and she dramatically falls over, pretending to pass out, making a big scene so it would be unlikely the guards would notice Mav and Michael. The guards grab Aurora and carry her to her room, hoping she wakes up soon. There is one other man staying in the room with the kids to supervise. As the guard bends over to tie his shoes, Mav slips his hand in his pocket and pulls out a wallet, picking out a penny and slipping the wallet back. "I got it" Mav runs back through the sea of kids gathered to see the scene. He passes the penny off to Michael as he checks if it's clear, and disappears in the direction of the bathroom. Mav goes back to the mob acting as normal as he could.

Michael makes it to the bathroom drops to the floor in front of the drain and gets to work shoving the penny in the screws trying to get them loose.

A few minutes pass and Michael is close to getting the drain open. Until he heard a pop, the screw broke, and the drain was open. Michael lets out a relieved sigh and wipes the sweat from his forehead. Micheal strategically places the top of the drain so it won't look weird, so he could go back to Aurora's cohort to get her from her room. He picks the lock of her room and gets it open, given he is pretty resourceful as well as intelligent, "Aurora! Are you okay?" Micheal asks Aurora as she stands up, "as okay as any of us are I presume. The faint was fake, for the distraction anyway" Aurora comments.

It was around lunchtime and the three sat by each other to communicate the plan. "Okay, it's open. But as far as I know, the drain leads to the sewer and the sewer leads to the ocean or another drain opening." Michael tells them. "Okay, so we have rest time after this, but we are restricted to our rooms. But we should do it as soon as possible. The less time we waste, the better." Mav suggests. "I agree, we can wait till after rest time because you know what's after that?" The boys look at Aurora waiting for an answer. "Work hour," She says with a serious face. Micael and Mav look at each other, then at her.

Work hour was not in fact only one hour, it was 3 hours of illegal child labor in the outskirts of campus. They have the kids chop wood, fix the fences, build things, and dig holes. And other jobs around the yard for three hours straight. No breaks, no water, and no help. Of course, everything they do there is illegal, but nobody was able to escape to report about it, so it remains a secret.

--Work hour

One long, tall barbed-wire fence surrounds the field. It is 90 degrees outside, the kids are in long, thick, orange jumpsuits that the guards made them put on. Aurora and Michael are digging a hole near the barbed wire, And Mav is chopping wood in the field. Aurora seemed to be struggling with her hole, the shovel slipping from her hand and her muscles getting weaker by the minute, she grunts, groans, and the shovel shakes in her hand. Michael notices and drops his shovel on the ground. "Hey, let me help you with that." Michael lays his hand on her shoulder and takes her shovel to help her dig. "Thank you kindly, but I am a woman, I can dig myself" even though Aurora appreciated the offer, she is still pretty independent. But Mav was not so impressed. He just keeps chopping the wood with a droopy face. "1-hour mark!" Yells a guard with a booming voice. The trio looks at each other and drops what they are doing to sneak behind the building when the guard isn't looking, as the guard begins yelling at another kid to chop faster, they make their move. Micheal, Aurora, and Mav go in the back door, conveniently right next to the gross bathroom that Micheal was in previously. "This one?" Aurora whispers. Michael nods. The boys bend down and grab each side of the drain lift it up and toss it to the side. They all look down at it, not too fond of going inside. "Soooo....whos going first?" Aurora asks. They look up at each other. "The oldest." She follows up, knowing she's probably the youngest. "Michael, how old are you?" Mav looks at Michael. "Seventeen." Michael stutters, scratching his neck. Mav smirks. "Well then go ahead." Mav motions to the drain. Micheal was not moving, so Aurora scoffs and rolls her eyes, "You boys step aside, I'll go first." Aurora sits down next to the drain and dangles her feet in and then her torso, then all the way inside. "Yuck! Eww." Aurora yelps. "Shhhhh" Micheal warns her. Mav does the same after Aurora gets all the way down in the sewer safely. Then Michel. "This is nasty," Aurora complains, wiping mud off herself. She pulls off the bow on her dress, flips her head over, and wraps the ribbon in her long hair to make a ponytail. Both Micheal and Mav stare at her as she does this. Aurora tries to walk, but slips, almost falling over in the slush underneath her feet. But Michael catches her mid-fall, helping her balance. "Woah, be careful there," Michael tells her. Mav looks at them with the face of disapproval, protective disapproval, and maybe something more. "Alright, let's keep moving. We're going this way." Mav starts walking one way.