The Chained Watcher

Backstory: A Daring Escape

This one is a bit of a different perspective on the Guard Duty backstory chapter, showing how they managed to get out in the first place.

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Watching with dull eyes as yet another of them gets roughly tossed back into the cell, bearing deep gouges from the claws of whatever beast or monster they'd had to fight, Gribbel tries to gauge whether or not their current injuries are fatal or not, ignoring Jerry's weird habit he'd developed recently of keenly watching every time the door opens. Doesn't matter anyways, so why bother?

Looks like Venton'll have some nasty scars from this one, but he shouldn't bleed out from it. He'll probably sacrifice another strip of his shirt to make a rough bandage for the injury, but without any supplies being given to them apart from food and water, it'll be one less piece of his shirt he can use next time he gets cut open like that.

The Watcher turns away, letting the heavy door swing back closed without bothering to look as it walks swiftly away, the pair of light purple wings on its back becoming blocked from his vision as the door obstructs it.

Then, Jerry dashes forward.

Before he can remind him about how little having a single person trying to brace the door does, his eyes widen, as Jerry grits his teeth and shoves his arm into the latch, in the way of the closing door. There's a sickening crunch, but Jerry barely makes a whimper of sound, and the door... isn't fully shut. It's not by much, but the latch didn't click. The door is still open.

It takes him a moment of stunned silence to stagger to his feet, shaking off some of the hopeless weight that had settled on his mind. That maniac managed to keep the door open. There's a chance.

More of them start to shake off the depressed stupor they'd fallen into, coming over to join him as he puts his weight against the door, trying to push it just a bit further open. And slowly, ever so slowly, it moves. It's moving! It's actually moving!

For the first time since he got dumped in here and left to rot, his eyes fall on the hallway beyond the cell, and he sees no Watchers in sight.

Whispering to those who were too deep in their thoughts to understand what was happening, he hissed, "Come on! We've got the door, so get your butts out already!"

That snaps some of them out of it, while others follow just because they were told to, but either way they stagger out into the lit hallway, blinking in the light. Holding this door is starting to get pretty tiring though, so he gestures for the last few to hurry up, one supporting Jerry, and does a quiet count to three before he and the rest of the door holders dash to the side, only barely making it out before it shuts with a heavy thunk.

"Which way now?"

The question is one he hadn't thought about, but Jerry, pale as a sheet and slightly woozy from the pain, points his intact hand in a direction, whispering weakly, "T-That way. I... I m-memorized a p-path." Good enough for him!

Jerry leads them through the large halls, turn after turn, until they have to stop. Down at the next intersection, there's a Watcher. Not only that, the Watcher is seated at a desk, and is showing no signs of leaving any time soon.

Darting into a side room, They all huddle together to stay as quiet as possible, most of them having snapped out of the obedient daze they'd been in by now.

"Okay, new plan. Are there any ways we can get to the next hallway without passing by the Watcher?"

Jerry, whose arm is now hidden beneath a blood-soaked shirt, shakes his head, somehow even paler than before. "N-No, it's a d-dead end. The only w-way out is past it, a-and this is the l-last turn we need to take. The exit is... on the left, I think."