Number 501 (Needs Editing)

Recruiting

The couple of fellas that were at the bottom of the cliff encouraged us to come down, they yelled that they had shelter, food, water, they explained that they were harboring fugitives from ECO SEC. From that point on, I'd say the three of us were all pretty convinced. They even wore the same pants and t shirts that the prison that the guards give us in the beginning. Jaquil, 304, and I all hurried down the cliffs. We got faster at it. After climbing it for our third time, you tend to realize different routes and easier steps to take and before you know it, it becomes super easy. I made sure that Jaquil had even brought that creature that we found earlier. By the time we reached the bottom, we met three people. Phil, Buster, and Hannon. The three weren't exceptionally bright like we were used to with Allice, but we could deal with it. I guess you could consider them both average prison folk. Dangerous. And that's why we kept our distance. 

Jaquil, being the big bad ass of the court in the prison, a lot of people knew about him, so he thought that they knew him too. "Hey! You've probably heard about me! Jaquil Mitchell, some people call me Jock. Listen we need your help." But Jaquil wasn't the bad ass out here, instead, he got knocked on his ass. The other guy wrapped his foot around Jaquil's legs and pulled up, swiping his own feet right from underneath him. The guy then proceeded to pull out a gun and cock it before aiming it right at Jaquil at the ground. Then the other two pulled out their guns and aimed them at 304 and I. 

I began to freak out like any normal person would with a gun to their face, "Woah, woah, woah! Think about what you're doing. You guys' are escaped prisoners right?" I asked the three of them. The one in the front, who had Jaquil on the ground looked back to the other two and then back to me and nodded his head. 

"Listen, we're prisoners too! I don't know if you guys have a whole group with you or whatever, but just think, this is three more people on your side." I stood there trying to convince them to take us out of their aim and consider us friends for a little bit. Long enough for us to see how they are at least. And by this first example, it seems like they're pretty protective. I liked that. 

The one in front holstered his gun and the others followed, he reached out his hand and pulled up Jaquil to his feet, then added, "Yeah, I understand you three are like us. But that just means more mouths to feed, and right now we don't have much food. We only got two saragits and we're looking for a third. They ain't easy to find."

"Wait, what's a saragit?" I asked them all. They all looked back and forth to each other and began laughing, the rest of us didn't know what they were talking about. 

"I forgot, Reckt doesn't teach you about life on the planet anymore. She has definitely changed her teaching routine. She used tell everyone about the dangers out here. Anyway, a saragit is a small critter that crawls around in the sand and sucks the blood directly from your skin. Can drain a person dead empty in less than two minutes."

Jaquil looked back at me and then I looked to 304 and we all just stood there looking at each other and smiling. Jaquil grabbed the wrapped up shirt from the ground he dropped after being knocked down and presented it to the three men. Phil, Buster, and Hannon. Jaquil gave it to Phil, he was, by the looks of it, their lead guy. Kind of like how I was the lead guy for our group. Well maybe, I really don't know. I hope so. The lead guy of their group, Phil, took the t shirt and opened it a little and then closed it right back up. "Why don't you come back to base with us and we'll give you a nice meal. You must be starving." We all smiled and laughed back and forth, we were so relieved. It was like our whole world had been rescued. 

We walked a long way and one of them even had to take out their compass a few times just to make sure we were heading in the right direction. And then finally, we all stopped. 

"What's going on?" I asked in which they all told me to shush. There was a slight pick up of the wind and all of a sudden, in the pure silent, you could hear a little metal creaking. Phil smiled and walked forward wiping a little bit of dirt on the ground. A handle was revealed and he pulled on it, pulling open an entire underground base. There were stairs leading down. We all walked inside and began walking down the steps, Phil stayed at the top so we waited for him. He then let the whole door slam closed.

"Now that the sand is off that, won't people be able to see the entrance?" I asked.

"Nah, wind will cover it up in a minute." Phil explained. "Follow me." He said walking passed all of us and heading further down the stairs and finally pulling open a second door. There was a railing and more stairs and down below were hundreds of escaped prisoners. 

We all gasped in surprise and I asked the one thing everyone was thinking, "What is this place?" 

Phil laughed and said, "Well, we don't really have a name for it. It's the place every prisoner comes after escaping ECO SEC. People have been escaping for years." 

"And how did you get all this equipment and all of this material to build all this?" Jaquil asked him. At this point, Buster and Hannon left us and went down to join everyone else at the bottom. 

"We have our connections on Earth and people have been flying us materials for a long time." And that is when we both looked at Phil like he was bat shit crazy. 

"Are you serious!? Why don't you just leave?" I asked him and he laughed.

"Most prisoners when they arrive ask us that. And then we tell them this. This whole thing we got here, this whole organization, it isn't about staying alive. We stay here for one reason and one reason only. To get back at Reckt and Dynam and all those other excuses for guards. And that's when those prisoners realize that they would like to get back at them too and then they stay. So what are you thinking? You wanna give it a go?" 

It almost felt like he was recruiting us for his little army against ECO SEC. And to be honest, I kind of wanted to join. Just because I know if she doesn't get what's coming to her, then she's going to be torturing prisoners just like me for a long long time. And then when she dies, she'll hand the prison down to her son. Let's just say, ECO SEC will be in their family for a long time. 

"Not me man." Jaquil said and we all looked at him. Then I looked at Phil, he sort of looked disappointed but he was understanding. We did need Jaquil but I could tell by that look in his eyes he needed to go back home. 

"Well, that's perfectly fine. There's no shame in wanting to go home. First departure leaves tomorrow morning at noon. They're dropping off loads of water and more weaponry for us. I'll notify my art guys and they'll get you fixed up."

"With what?" Jaquil asked.

"Let's just say we figured out a way to completely wipe someone's criminal rating." We all looked at him, we all wanted ours wiped immediately. And then he finished, "Wait, wait, wait, the offer only stands for people who want to leave completely. It's a very expensive procedure and you would be useless to us without your crime rating. In ECO SEC, there are certain areas you can only access if you're in the prisoner database. When we wipe your rating, you're out of the database." So 304 and I stood back and Jaquil and Phil took a walk down the hallway a little bit. That's when 304 walked closer to the bars as did I and we just watched and talk.

"Do you think this is real?" 304 asked me. 

"What do you mean?" I answered his question with another question. 

"Like, in dreams, or mirages, you can't remember your past. You only do what the dream wants you to do, or what the mirage wants you to do. You can't stray from the course. It's like a whole objective kind of thing. So it basically deletes everything from your mind. Think about it, you can't think when your dreaming. You can't think about things."

"304, where are you going with this?" I asked him.

"I can't remember Earth." He told me.