The Cage (Book 2)

The Outside

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The Outside

As I stood in front of the prison's front gate once more, I felt out of breath even though I was standing in fresh air- the freshest I had for days. Beyond the electrocuted fence was freedom. True, priceless freedom, something I never thought I'd ever be deprived of. I thought I'd walked the path of a righteous, upstanding citizen, and that no such thing would ever come to befall me. Well, I clearly thought wrong. All it took was one demented criminal to destroy any prospect of freedom, peace and a future I might have once enjoyed.

Yes, only a truly demented, sadistic criminal was capable of such a henious, devious feat. Someone incredibly intelligent, calculating, and patient. Someone like-

"Open the gate." Schneider ordered the guards standing on either stand of the iron gate.

They were not in the front yard at the very edge of the prison, having already exited the prison building, much to the silent horror of every guard we passed. Finally, we arrived at the last two gatekeepers.

The guards exchanged unsure looks, and then their gazes fell on me. There was nothing but malice and hatred in their gazes. Clearly, they had no desire to let me out of the prison they'd gone to such lengths to hold me in.

I stared at black rifles they were gripping with growing unease. None of the guards inside the prison had rifles; only tasers and BB guns. One of the guards had a finger hovering over the trigger; he was ready to shoot me down if I gave him the reason. Hell, I doubted he needed much of a reason to kill me. If I so much as moved wrong, he'd riddle me with bullets and defend it by claiming I'd 'resisted arrest'.

While it seemed that this was something Schneider often did given his position as 'the King', I doubted they were willing to let me out for even a second. Surely Schneider was now pushing his luck.

One of them began to protest, "But, boss-"

"Open the gate." Schneider cut in like a sharpened blade. His dark tone of voice dared the guards to utter a word of protest or deny him his direct order. The darkened, grim look in his gray eyes was enough to force the guards into submission, whether they liked it or not. And they did not like it, given the dirty looks they shot me.

Hey, this isn't my doing, I was tempted to say in protest, but I figured it would fall on deaf ears. Like these bastards cared if I was innocent or guilty. They'd made it perfectly clear that they didn't.

When the guard raised his hand to the camera, an orange emergency light on top of a concrete pillar began spinning and flashing. Even in the sunlight, the light was still bright enough. With a horrible grating sound, the gate split open, granting me the freedom I longed for.

I stared at the vista past the prison walls in complete disbelief. This place might be a hellhole on the inside, but outside, it was a Pacific Island with golden beaches on one side, majestic cliffs on another side and a small lush forest on the other side. The Prison overlooked a giant drop from the fourth corner of the island; so unless you sprouted wings, it was impossible to escape the structure without going through the front door -the heavily-guarded front door.

I stared at the blue ocean. I'd never seen an ocean practically sparkle from how clean it was before except in movies -cartoon movies. Far in the horizon, I could just make out a shore with high rises pricking the azure sky. Once, not too long ago, I worked in one of those high rises.

I felt a hand take my own idle one at my side, engulfing it. Tingles and shivers erupted up my arm, shoulder and then down my spine. I knew it was Schneider's hand without having to look.

I wanted to pull my own hand away, but he started walking, dragging me behind him. We walked through the open gate and I held my breath, anticipating to be gunned down for daring to step a foot outside the prison premises.

Nothing happened.

No shots were fired. No siren blared.

Shocked that it had been that easy, I looked over my shoulder at the closing gate and the two rather unhappy guards standing behind it.

On impulse, I stuck my tongue out at them.

****

As we approached the beach, the lilting sound of waves reached my ears. I never thought I'd hear that wonderful sound again. Oh, how I'd taken it for granted. I soaked in the sight of the foaming waves wetting the golden sand with hungry eyes, and the tall palm trees swaying in the breeze, wanting to commit it to memory. Who knew when I'd be able to see it again?

My pace quickened; I was eager to bury my toes in the sand as soon as possible and memorize that feeling too. I was now walking side by side with Schneider. When I attempted to hurry before him, his hand that was still holding mine kept me in place, pulling me back against him.

I secretly stole annoyed glances at his prestigious profile, noting the small smile on his face. Under the light of the sun, he looked more handsome than I'd ever seen him. He appeared to be at ease, like he'd done this sort of thing -leaving the prison grounds- a million times, and was in no rush to hurry back. Truly, he was living the life of a respected -more like feared- king. I should be grateful he'd offered to bring me out here. I really should be.

But even though Schneider gave me the exclusive chance to walk freely on the island for a few hours, something that I'd otherwise only dream of, I couldn't help but question his intentions. Question him.

He set you up. The words of the mysterious note once again echoed in my head.

Is it you? The question teetered on my tongue like a bad taste I desperately wanted to spit out. But I didn't dare.

What if he was the one who set me up?

How do you even know you were set up more than you were...er, already set up?

So should I remain in blissful ignorance, letting my deceiver cozy up to me?!

Wordlessly, I ripped my hand out of Schneider's grasp and stomped ahead. This time, he didn't try to stop me. 

*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

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