Number 501 (Needs Editing)

Another Flaw

I was severely relieved that he went through the trouble of obtaining it for me, but I thought of it as too much of a risk. If the guards saw him with that, they would have killed him. They almost did anyway with the intense beatings going around here.

"You didn't have to do that ya know." I explained to him how that was a huge risk and he could have been executed right then and there.

He faced me wiping the remainder of the black poison off his lips, "I don't really care. I've risked my life killing prisoners, escaping from ECO SEC, finding shelter, killing a saragit, climbing mountains, getting into gunfights, being almost beaten to death by guards, carrying poison for two hours in my mouth. Whatever comes from here on out is just extras."

I guess I sort of agreed with him. This was the most interesting two weeks of my entire life. But it wasn't going to stop here. I was getting out of this place no matter what it took. There was only one way I could do that. Speak to prisoner 500 again. I know that Reckt most likely would never let me back into the security center ever again after the incident, so I was going to have to get in some other way.

For the next few days, I remained under the radar, trading goods, selling food, smuggling cigarettes, paying guards cash. Eventually, I had enough respect with the guards for them to let me into the security center for more than just a few minutes out of the day. I walked to the main door and the guard at the front greeted me. His name was Dexter.

"Got it?" He asked as I proceeded to hand him $100.00 without anyone seeing. Not even 304. This was top secret. Dexter punched me in the gut and at first I thought he was turning on me, but when he turned me around and escorted me into the security center, I knew it was going as planned. He explained to the others that I was injured in a prison fight and needed immediate attention. Once close enough to the back room, he told me to knock on the door when I wanted out. I nodded my head and he unlocked the room and let me in.

I hid my face from all the cameras by simply keeping my head facing the ground. Then I spoke, "Do you get any of the latest prison news in here?" I asked him.

He chuckled and responded, "Yeah, I get some info. Usually my deliverers tell me what's going on. I heard about your escape attempt." He was going to continue, but I stopped him mid sentence.

"Attempt?" I asked, "This was no attempt. We made it out there, there were settlements and a whole bunch of people that had escaped before us."

"But you were found. By Reckt and Dynam and all their petty guards. It was an attempt. Now you're back and by the way you came to visit me, I'm guessing you're doing it again?"

To be honest, I was. But I needed to know where to start. That's one of the main reasons I went to him. He knew the ins and outs of this prison, plus I felt like there was still something the guards were hiding from all of us. For some reason, I felt like Number 500 knew about it.

"Why do they keep you locked up?" He stared at me as much as he could, despite the fact that I had my head aimed down. Then he looked at the cameras and spoke.

"I'll say one thing. There's more than just a few flaws in the system. It's the ones you exploit that help you get out. Legally."

"Wait, there's a way I can get out of here without breaking the law?"

"Well there is definitely going to be some laws broke, but towards the end, you'll be legally free."

What he was saying didn't generally make any sense to me. I had to do something illegal to become legal? Did not make any sense. And then after a moment of thinking, a quick moment. I thought about the criminal ratings, I thought about each prison there was. 1-10 is Juvenile SEC. 11-30 is Dred SEC. 31-200 is Crodedge SEC. 201-500 is ECO SEC. That was the order, but why did it stop at 500? Why did they lock Number 500 up? Why is he any different than us? Me, a solid, wait. I hadn't looked at my number in quite some time. I pulled up my arm and caught a glance and smiled. I was a high rank, that was for sure. A solid 400. I then began thinking about the cyborgs Reckt has planted around the prison and how they were made to monitor every single thing. They had to know everything and why was this? Because of a flaw in the system. Yes, a flaw. One of the reasons why I am here in the first place. A flaw. One of the reasons I was going to leave.

I thanked Number 500 for his cooperation and left the room. Dexter was waiting for me on the other side, and that's when he asked what all this was about.

"Nothing really. Business." I said. "But I need more help with some stuff." I explained to Dexter as he leaned in closer to listen.

"I need guns." I told him. At first he was shocked and wondered why, but he had to remember that I was his consumer and what he had, I wanted. That was the way it worked in here, it didn't matter what, it matters what you get for it.

"What would you be willing to offer for them? And how many?"

I tried to get a number in my head but I ended up telling him as much as he could get without getting caught. And my offer? "Freedom." I told him. A thought always ran through my hand. Being that this prison is on a deserted planet. These guards probably get treated like us prisoners as well. It was no doubt that most of them hated this place anyway. If he helped me, he could leave. Because let's be honest, I wasn't leaving without killing Reckt and Dynam. They were my arch enemies in this place, and I wasn't going to let them live.

Dexter shook my hand and I told him it was all going to go down soon. He nodded and led me out of the security center. I was back to the long halls and I just walked slowly, soon seeing 304 who was totally bummed out sitting against the wall inside his cell. I walked inside and knocked on the solid metal bars that guarded the cell door. "Knock knock." I said jokingly, then walked the rest of the way in. "What's up?" I asked him upon entering. He looked up at me, squinted his eyes, and looked back down.

"He's dead Logan. Jaquil. He's dead." 304 stated.

"Yeah. Yeah I know. But hey! He died for us! He was trying to escape, and we are too!"

During his next statement, I was speechless.

"Logan! Are you retarded? We tried to escape once! Now look where we are. Look at what we did to all of these people. They had escaped. They were free. They had plans and families and life. Something we didn't. We took that away from them. You want to do it again? Leave me out of it. For real."

I didn't say anything else, I just sorta walked out of the cell. I could tell he watched me as I walked out. Can you ever just feel someone's gaze? That was the feeling I got. There was one other person I needed to see. Phil. The leader of the whole escapees rebellion.

I made my way about 1/4 of a mile down the hall and came to his cell. Things were kind of, I guess you could say kind of awkward between us. After all, I was responsible for his whole rebellion to be discovered. Well, actually. I wasn't. Like Phil said, it was basically impossible for them to know where we are. So that was how I greeted him. With a simple question.

"So who snitched?" I asked him.