The Young Fighters

CHAPTER 33

7:10 a.m.

Looking over behind them, Charlie padded Wolf on the back and told him the sun was beginning to rise. Seemed it was now a race against time for everyone. With every street light off in the city, it was a little difficult to properly locate correct destinations while making sure the streets where vacant. Staying hidden in the darkness provided well for sneaking around. Wolf peeked as well as he could with his night vision and managed to make out the prison up ahead due to its exterior features. Fourteen stories in height, ground level consisting of red bricks, and from the rest of the way up it was nothing but yellow sandstone. In the center of the structure was a narrow series of black windows that rocketed up along the line of both doors. This was the penitentiary alright.

Wolf's team sneaked along past the parking garage, looking in all ways before entering. To their amazement they saw that the lights were still on. Then again the prison had backup power if there ever was an event like now. The other thing that amazed them was the lack of security in the penitentiary area. With an empire who's leader was so cautious on control, anyone would think that even the parking garage of the prison would be heavily watched.

The front door to the prison would be too obvious to enter, (Especially after observing a lone guard sitting at a desk) so for now they'd have to enter in through the side door from the garage. As soon as the squad was in doors, each of them could switch from bow to gun (seeing that the stone walls would muffle out the gunshots) as the vigilantly checked behind each corner. The best part of being inside a stone building was being able switch quickly, but they also would risk damaging their hearing. Echoing gunshots would bounce back and forth on the walls, such noise making can also hurt their chances of being able to know when the next enemy fighter was approaching them.

With the complex dimly lit each of them walked about with ease. Upon a turn at the edge of the first flow, Wolf spotted an armed guard and with quick thinking came up with a plan. He pulled out his knife and tapped on the wall to his side and heard the person on the other side ask if anyone was there. Wolf continued to knock at the wall with the butt end of his knife's handle. He waited until he heard footsteps and waited until he turned a corner and Wolf stabbed him in the gut. Doing so also disabled the enemy not to let out any loud cries for help. Another stealthy kill was preformed. At this rate they'd be able to make it all the way through Washington City. Wolf and his crew started feeling like real life Navy SEALs.

One by one the team moving in and checked every space and listened closely, any other bad guys were killed off quietly and without problem. Snake and Liger would be proud to know that simple teachings about how to use a knife in the event of a stealth operation were going well. All of them began to think that they wouldn't even need to use their guns for this. Charlie managed to swipe a pair of keys that were kept on a chain from a fallen guard and hung onto them. Hopefully they'd come in handy when they were freeing the inmates.

Up a flight of stairs they came to a locked door that required a key which Charlie fumbled through his set and with a few tries found the right one. Behind that door rested a room of dread.

Kept locked away behind barred doors were young inmates, some of whom where far younger than them. Looking at them gave the fighters a punch in the gut knowing they were living in poor conditions. Many of them mistreated and abused while some were rarely fed to the point where they looked as though they'd been starved close to death. The prisoners looked at the liberators not knowing if they were there to help or to bring them to their fate. Seeing their innocent faces filled with sadness was enough to bring them all to tears. Charlie wanted to cry seeing their glances of desperation while Wolf saw this as a means to strike twice as hard at Joel's men for what they were committing.

"It's okay," Wolf said with a lump in his voice, "We're here to get you guys out of here." Quickly they started looking for the key that opened the doors and once a door opened the team felt grateful for what they were doing. Upon unlocking the cells, they'd be thanked with a hug and sometimes a kiss on the cheek for their service work. Inmates went up to tears for the first time since their imprisonment. Faith in humanity was being restored.

Squad members made their way up stairs and moved with haste out of fear of losing lives. Even as they were checking the cells a few unlucky inmates were found dead from starvation or illness. To the fighters this place looked like a regular prison, but to the inmates it was a modern day concentration camp.

"Hey!" A voice yelled out from upstairs. "Who are you?" Wolf looked up and raised his rifle and shot the war criminal and watched him fall down the stairs. Never in the past had he felt fine with killing until he'd seen firsthand the notorieties committed by Joel. To him, all of his empire was a notoriety.

It took almost ten minutes to liberate the prison. They managed to save more lives than expected, close to three hundred where saved. Any food that was found was immediately given to the prisoners. Several of the fighters gave away meals contained in their backpacks. The boats too had been loaded up with some boxes with food stored in them. Wolf would soon send a few soldiers back to them to rummage for food and bring it back to the penitentiary. Only problem now was keeping the prison held until the fight got kicked off.

Once you've reached the prison, hold it until the big show starts. Don't leave until I give you guys permission. I'll send a squad your way to assist you out. The reason for this is due to the number of inmates the prison holds won't be able to all fit in your boats. For the escape, you'll be escorted through the sewer system with another team. If the inmates need food, then bring the food from the boxes you'll be carrying along.

"What now?" A Hampton fighter asked Wolf.

"We wait here until we get the green light by Snake." He replied. "Charlie, I'm sending you and some of the Hampton boys back to the boats to grab the boxes. Hurry up."