Walking a fine line✔️

29. Break free

I woke to the sound of thunder rumbling outside the tent. The light from outside held the familiar grey hue seen just before the sun rises. I sighed in relief, I would be able to make it back to my schools campsite before capture-the-flag began. 

An excited grin broke out on my face and I tried to stretch. The key word being tried. I tried again but my arms would not separate. I looked down to find my wrists zip tied together. "Griffin," I growled, rolling over to face him. Empty space met my gaze and I realised that I was completely alone in the tent. 

Time to get out of here. 

With wriggle skills that would rival my ones trying to get into the sumo suit, I made my way out of the sleeping bag. I took a deep breath, trying to calm my thoughts; my next step was to break free. I chuckled. God knows I want to break free. 

I began humming Queen as I lifted my hands to my mouth and pulled the zip ties as tight as they would go. A part of me laughed at how loosely Griffin had tied them, if they were any looser I would have easily been able to slip out of them. Once tight I gritted my teeth and raised my hands above my head before slamming them down against my stomach. My hands remained together. I tried again and was still not successful. With my teeth, I pulled the ties even tighter and then pulled my arms down. With a snap my wrists came apart. 

I was finally free.

I rubbed my wrists, trying to ease the slight stinging. They were gonna bruise. As quickly as I could, I got dressed and slipped on my coat. It was now time to go to war. I crawled over to the tent door and tried pulling on the zip. It moved a few centimetres then refused to budge.

You have got to be joking.

Not only had Griffin tied me up, but he'd also zip-tied the tent shut. It was time to get creative. I pulled my hair up into a ponytail then got to work. With my hands now free, I grabbed one of my hair pins from out of my bag. Hair pins I'd learnt over the years, were the perfect tool to unlock things, whether it be locks or zip ties in this case. Now armed with one, I stuck my fingers through the small hole at the bottom of the tent and began fiddling around until I felt the zip tie lock mechanism. Once I had it, I began trying to lift the small bar in it and, after a few seconds, I had succeeded.

I would always come out victorious against zip ties.

A few summers ago Dad had insisted we learn how to escape from them. Jack had found the breaking method easy but struggled with the small, picky size of the bar in the lock. I on the hand had been the exact opposite. I said a quick thanks to Dad and his random lessons before unzipping the tent and stepping outside.

Oh shit.

Oh shit, shit, shit.

What I had previously thought was early morning grey light was actually just storm clouds blocking out the sunlight. Sunlight from a sun that seemed to be already high in the sky. It must be around mid morning, I realised with horror. I'd become too reliant on that screeching wake up call from hell, and now without it I'd slipped into my natural sleep pattern of waking up later.

I brushed the remainder of sleep out of my eyes and scanned Beckfall's campsite before me. It was time to win this game. While the original game plan had been completely screwed over, the situation wasn't all bad. As I'd told Griffin last night, I had made inside enemy territory after all.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a flash of yellow dashing between trees. I followed the moment and realised it was a girl dressed in a bright yellow coat. Glancing quickly over my shoulder, I left the abandoned campsite and began to follow the teenager. We wove in between trees, and after a few minutes she was joined by another girl. They didn't seem worried about being caught so I assumed that they were Beckfall high schoolers themselves.