Sierra

Chapter 9: Part 2

Defeated. That was the only word to describe how she felt as she laid there, darkness swimming before her eyes. Sharp pains radiated across her shoulders and legs. Slowly, she began to shift, testing to ensure nothing was broken. After a few minutes of self-pity she sat up. Water dripped off her and she rubbed her shoulder across her cheek, clearing the stale water from her face. She shifted, pulling her arms beneath her and then rolled back, drawing her knees to her chest and wriggled her arms out from under her.

She shifted her arms, stretching them to work out the throbbing in her shoulder. She was lucky it wasn't dislocated from the impact. The handcuffs clanked as she moved, as if to taunt her by their stubborn presence and she scowled as she twisted her wrists inside. They weren't as tight as before, but it wouldn't be easy to get out of them. Her hands wiped down her face as a long sigh escaped her. This was quite a day.

Briefly digging into her pocket, she pulled out her light. Its yellow beam filled the chamber and she swooped it around, observing her prison. It was the junction of waterway tunnels, who's steel bars for keeping large rubbish from blocking the junction, made a natural jail. The bars individually blocked the entries of four tunnels, which were maybe 4 feet at their highest point, and rounded, unlike the square maintenance tunnels above. In the center, where she was, the rounded junction point reached high above her reach.

Even if she jumped, she wouldn't be able to reach the grate. It must have had a ladder at one point. She briefly scanned her prison for it, but unsurprisingly, it had been removed. Even if she could grab on to the grate, she had little chance of moving it.

She wondered if her fellow runners had been trapped here as well.

Finally, she got up and sat in the curve of one of the tunnel entrances. She leaned back, propping her feet against the other side. At least it was a comfortable seat as she waited to meet her fate. She had spent half a day tramping around in the tunnels with that android and now she was worse off than with him. Now she was trapped, the client's package gone, a whole settlement of enemies to escape, instead of just one, and Central coming to collect her personally.

She leaned her head back against the slimy bricks and cast a tired glance upwards. She was tempted to sleep, to help pass the time before they came to collect her, but she had never been one to give up that easily.

Her wrists twisted in the cuffs again and she held them in front of her. The red-headed scavenger hadn't attached them as tightly as Cole had. Now that her wrist was relaxed, there was a slight gap between her skin and the metal. She pushed the cuff up and wriggled her hand down, forcing her thumb joint into the gap. She braced the cuff on her knees, pressing her thumb in and scraping her skin on the edge of the cuff, until finally, her hand slid free.

Sierra gasped in pain and relief and slipped her hand into the stale sitting water of the junction. It was cool and eased the raw skin where she had scrapped it. After a few moments, the throbbing ceased and she pulled her hand up and massaged and flexed her wrist gently. It was progress, but it hadn't really gotten her closer to escaping.

For a few minutes, she rested while considering her options at this point. Worst case scenario, she was still getting delivered to Central. That hadn't changed. Better case scenario, she somehow escaped, either from this prison, or when they came to get her out. Best case scenario, she escaped and warned the company.

They had warned the runners to stay out of the tunnels, but they hadn't said anything about the scavengers. Only a handful had gone missing, but they couldn't expect the scavengers to be hunting them. Once the word got out that Central was paying bounties, who knew who else would turn on them.

She shined the light on the bars beside her. On one side was a hinge where the bars would swing open to allow access to the waterways, the other side was a lock. The bars and lock were rusted, but as she yanked them to test their strength, she found they were still too strong for her to break.

Out of desperation mostly, she patted the pockets of her jacket though she already knew she had nothing to pick the lock or jimmy it open. All she had was herself, the cuffs, and her flashlight. Which as she thought of it, she noticed was starting to noticeably dim.

Once again she stood and paced around the edges of the chamber. On all of the tunnels, the bars were too narrow for her to slide through. Except - she crouched down and inspected the rounded edge. The last bar had more space between it and the wall, then between the other bars. She tested it and found she could fit her head through the gap. Her shoulders and hips though... the wall curved into the bars, meaning she would have to wriggle through the widest part. Since the walls were curved and slimy, there would be no purchase for her feet or hands to hold onto if she got stuck...

She shined her light into the tunnel again, trying to find an edge in the bricks she could leverage herself with. Her light glinted across something down the wall. She held the dimming light out and found it was a steel bar, bent up like a hook. Probably to hold the door open for maintenance when water was flowing through. She stretched her arm through, but it was too far out of reach.

Sierra sat back on her heels and sighed in frustration. She could try to push herself through and try to grab the hook to pull her through, but even if she did, what was the chance she could find an exit in the waterways? She didn't know those tunnels and she was already in the maintenance hatch. Another exit could be miles away.

Either way, dying lost in the tunnels was better than at Central's hands.

She set the flashlight through the bars, lighting the tunnel so she could see the hook. Next, she took off her jacket and pushed it through the bars. Underneath she had on a long sleeve shirt, but being soaked through, the cold of the tunnels easily seeped through.

Here goes nothing - she thought as she began to push her shoulders through the gap. It took some maneuvering, first to put her head through and then to shift each shoulder through. Soon she was chest against the bar and pushed against the bars to pull her chest through. For once, she was glad she wasn't more well endowed in that department. Her waist fit more easily, but as suspected, once she hit her hips, progress stopped abruptly. Her feet slipped on the floor as she tried to wriggle through.

Sierra leaned back, craning her head back to see the hook. Her free hand reached up as the other propped her up against the floor and kept her from sliding down. The hook was still a fingers length away. She lunged for it, but as she did so, her foot slipped and her hip wedged sharply into the crux of the opening.

A pained breath escaped her and her arm shook as it struggled to hold her up. She tried to push herself back into the wider part of the opening, but the footing was too slick. She was stuck, wedged sideways against the wall.

A laugh of frustration escaped her as she thought of what a funny image this would be when the scavengers returned. Only her legs sticking out through the bars.

Once more she lunged for the hook, but now it was slightly further away, since she had slipped down. As her fingers brushed the wall, the cuff still attached to that hand clattered, as if to remind her it was still there.

Sierra looked at it and then the hook. It was a stupid idea, but getting stuck in a maintenance grate was a stupid idea too. She took the loose cuff in her hand and tossed it like a ring at the hook. It bounced off the wall above and beside it a few times. Beneath her, her hip throbbed and her arm started to wobble from holding her up. She paused a second and then tried once more. The cuff clattered as it struck the wall and then slid down over the hook.

Grabbing the chain with her hand, she pulled, hoisting herself up into the wider opening. With some wiggling and pulling, she finally pulled herself through the opening and collapsed on the other side.

"I can't believe that worked," Sierra muttered, still panting slightly as she laid on her back. She was tempted to lay there and rest, but she had already wasted enough time. Groaning slightly she pushed herself to knees and grabbed her things from the floor. She donned her jacket once more as she stood, stooping against the low ceiling, and made her way down the tunnel.