Outlaws (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 2)

Chapter 21

The prison was unnaturally quiet, as if an eerie calm had fallen over the prisoners, like they knew what would be coming next. As the hallways began to cycle down into night mode, the lights in the cells began to shut off systematically, plunging each prisoner into darkness. First was Trace, lying in her bed, unable to sleep, half-praying, half-excited. Then came Andress, laying silently and still, waiting for the sign. Then finally, it came to the last of the three, Nolun, who was under the covers with bated breath. As soon as the lights shut off, he waited a few moments before moving to make sure the coast was clear, then slid out of the covers and into the camera's blind spot for the last time. He unscrewed the pipe, and slid in the camera with the wire, and a new addition to the end of it, a simple sharpened piece of metal, which, out of all the materials they had to acquire, proved to be the hardest. As Nolun fed the wire into the pipe, he looked at the camera in the mirror, guiding it through the area with all the wires, and finally came to a rest near the large glowing pipe he had seen before. The liquid barium illuminated everything around him, and was poised right to strike. He drew in a breath, as if he was about to break it with his own fists, then jabbed the wire forward, making the metal at the end of the camera hit the glass. It didn't appear to have much effect, so Nolun tried again, a bit harder. This time he saw a definite crack, so he jabbed one last time with all he could. Then, the liquid began to glow brighter and brighter than before, eventually whiting out the camera's lenses. Nolun stood still, wondering if it worked, then his wonders were confirmed a few moments later, when the lights in his cell began to flicker on and off erratically, and saw the lights out in the hall do the same. Then, incredibly, he felt a rumbling as his, and assumingely every other door in the prison opened at the same time. There was silence, then all hell broke loose.

Almost every single prisoner looked out of their cells with a confused look on their faces, unsure if this was a trick or just a new form of punishment. When they saw that the guards were just as confused as they were, they began to think differently. Some large inmates began to walk towards the guards, who raised their batons and weapons. "S-Stay back! Go back to your cells!" One guard managed to get out before one prisoner ripped the gun out of his hands and pointed it back at him. Realizing they had no more protection, the two guards ran, reaching for their radios, when the prisoner gunned them both down, a satisfied sneer on his face. He then turned back to his fellow inmates and raised his gun, and let out a yell of triumph, which was echoed loudly by everyone else in the block. Nolun witnessed all this from inside his cell door, and then creeped out while the mob was focused on busting down the security door which had just locked out the prison block. He ran over to where Andress was, and found her poised behind the wall, waiting for anyone to come and test her. Nolun raised his arms in surrender, and she instantly relaxed and nodded. "Where's Trace?" She asked, then both of them looked around, and heard a voice coming from the upper level of the block. "Hey! Need an exit?" They both looked up and saw Trace standing 3 levels above them, having seemingly climbed up on her own while they weren't looking, and then she pulled a lever to activate an emergency ladder so they could both follow suit. Nolun smirked up at her then motioned to Andress. "After you, milady." Andress raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Why thank you, kind sir." They both went up the ladder, and Trace had already managed to open the door. The three of them walked through it, and saw that the block next to them had already been ransacked, with dead guards and bullet holes in the walls, with the door to the next block busted open. Andress bent down and grabbed a rifle, tossing it to Nolun, while she grabbed a pistol. Trace grabbed a couple of stun batons. Nolun looked down the rifle's sights and sighed. "I miss my repeater." Andress looked ahead. "We'll get our stuff back, then we're leaving this godforsaken place." The other two nodded, and moved in a tactical formation behind Andress.

Caligula was sitting in his office, reading an old book from the olden days of Earth, namely War and Peace by the author Leo Tolstoy, which was fitting considering the current circumstances, when his aide burst through the door. He was out of breath and barely able to force out his words. "S-Sir! We have a major security breach! Every cell has-" He cut himself off mid-sentence and froze in place when he saw that Caligula was reading. Caligula noticed his aide's nervousness and smiled a small smile. "It's alright. If you're interrupting me, it's obviously for an important reason. Just remember to knock next time." The aide relaxed, knowing what had happened to other people who didn't take Caligula's advice. "Now then, slow down, and tell me what's the matter." Caligula spoke as if he was a nanny talking to a very young child who was just learning to talk. The aide swallowed and spoke again. "The liquid barium core has been breached. All power to every electric system in the prison has been deactivated. We've only just managed to get emergency power back online, and are sealing off as many blocks as we can, but the number of inmates is just too overwhelming." Caligula looked at the aide for a moment, then leaned forward in his chair, lacing his fingers together. The aide was sweating. He didn't know if Caligula would simply tell him to take care of the problem, or punish him for reporting it to him. Both had happened before, as evidenced by the aide's lack of a right thumb. After a minute or two, Caligula finally spoke, and looked up at the aide. "Handle the situation, Captain. I am confident that you and your team can take care of things. Shoot to kill if necessary. But I would prefer it if the two prisoners that Director Gottlieb requested remain alive. Bring them to me when they are apprehended. Understood?" The aide nodded quickly, then ran out of the office. Caligula sat in his chair, then stood up and walked over to a small chest on the fake mantelpiece. He opened it, and grabbed a vintage M1911 semi-automatic pistol, with two clips and a total of 14 rounds. He loaded both the clips, then slid one into the weapon and chambered a bullet. He noticed the book on the desk, and muttered to himself as he slid the pistol into a holster. "War it is, then."