Incarceration

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Psst! Harriet!" a voice hisses. My eyes fly open. A dark figure is huddled near my bed.

"Grayson!" I whisper with relief. "Is Wyatt okay?"

"He's doing better. Solitary is getting to him, though. I can tell."

"It's okay. We're getting out soon. I know what to do."

"You found the code?" he asks.

"Yeah. Wait, you've been writing those notes?"

"Obviously," he retorts. "It would be too suspicious if we were seen talking all the time and then you disappeared."

"You could have told me it was you! I thought maybe I had some other support. I thought, maybe—" Nash's name almost escaped my lips, but I held it in.

"I had to make sure that if someone else read them, they wouldn't be able to connect it back to us."

"Okay," I concede. It was a smart idea. "But what made you change your mind?"

"About what?"

"Breaking prisoners out. You said you weren't going to continue."

"You're not a prisoner, Harriet. You're family. But, what exactly is your plan? I mean, it's seriously impossible. I can't see you making it out alive at this point. "

"I know," I say, ignoring his hesitation. I then proceed to explain the plan to him in full detail. How I would code my own game, remove the mobility handicap in real life, and have the Player direct me out of the prison. "I just need you to do me a favor." Once I finish, he is quiet for a long moment again before he finally speaks.

"You want me to be the Player," he says, emotionless.

I hesitate to answer, realizing what I'm asking of him.

"Yes."

"Okay," he says softly. "If you're really crazy enough to do this, Harriet, then I'm going to make sure it works."

"But Grayson," I say softly, "what will happen after I escape, when you're left in the prison with everyone realizing that you helped me?"

"Well," he says. I can see him grinning through the dark and his voice comes out confident and smooth, "You're going to come back for me, aren't you?"

I nod, my eyes filling with tears.

"I'm coming back for everybody," I whisper.

He hugs me. "I know you are," he says. "Dad would be proud of you."

He's about to leave, but I need to ask him for another huge favor.

"Grayson," I say nervously. "Can you tell Wya—"

"I'll make sure he's ready to go with you," Grayson cuts me off.

Then he gets up and says, "I'll leave you a note to tell you when your next game time is. That's when you'll escape."

"Right," I murmur, nervously.

When the next morning arrives, there is already a note crammed into my food slot. I yank it out before the guards come to serve me breakfast.

Two weeks from today, after lunch.

I swallow hard. This is really happening. I am escaping in two weeks—fourteen days. There is no turning back now. I stuff the note under my mattress and eat my breakfast, too distracted today to notice the taste of the prison food.

Once I'm at my desk in Game Control, I get to work, pulling up my file and beginning to copy down Iker's code. Writing and rereading everything to ensure it was correct. Everything had to be perfect—I only had one shot at it.