The Hanging Tree

f i f t e e n

a/n: oh my god i cannot believe this is the last chapter *cries*

DAMIAN DIDN'T LIKE THE IDEA OF LEAVING NANCY behind, but he guessed that if she was okay with it, he had to be too. He and the other boys were slowly sneaking through the halls towards their way out. Damian didn't know what time it was, or how much time they had left, but he did know that they needed to move as fast as they could.

Which was the opposite of what was happening currently. They were moving at a literal snail's pace. And Damian did not appreciate that. But he was in the lead for a reason, so he decided to pick it up a bit.

As soon as he did, though, Gunnar whined, "Why are you going so fast?" and he had to slow back down. It would be so much better if he were by himself. He would be out by now. Instead, they had only covered about three hallways.

So he was eternally grateful when he found the doorway that lead to their escape route. "This way," He whispered to the others, and pushed the door open. They were greeted by an elevator shaft - but the elevator was missing. "We just have to scale these ropes up to the roof and make our way from there."

Drew and Gunnar gaped at him.

"Nah, I'm totally kidding," He said, kicking out a metal clapboard that was leaning against the outer wall, allowing a slight breeze of fresh air to stream into the room. "Welcome to your ticket out."

"You bastard!" Drew exclaimed, punching him on the arm good-naturedly.

"Oh, thank god," Gunnar said in relief. "I was like, 'there is no way I am climbing up that.'"

"Well, you're not, so you're welcome," Damian said. "Now, follow my lead."

He crawled through the small space and out into the starry night. The storm from the previous day had passed, leaving the sky cloudless and bright. Damian turned a full circle, taking it all in. He was so glad to get out of there.

[ are you, are you, coming to the tree ]

Soon enough, Gunnar and Drew had followed. They stood in a cluster, looking up at the sky in amazement.

"Okay, so I hadn't really thought this far," Damian admitted. "I don't really know where we should go from here."

"Well, there are the gates," Drew said, pointing to their left. "And no one's guarding them!"
"That seems a little too easy, though." Damian didn't know if they could afford to chance it.

"Yeah," Gunnar agreed. "It could be a trap."

"Ugh," Drew complained. "I hate this."

"Trust me, you're not alone in that," Damian said. "You'd have to be crazy to actually like this."
"Amen to that," Gunnar chimed in, and Damian was glad to see that he was back to his usual upbeat personality. Personally, he was quite tired of snappy-Gunnar. Being outside seemed to be positively affecting all of them. Damian wondered how Nancy was doing inside. He hoped she was okay.

"So are they going to open the gates, or do they expect us to climb over them?" Drew asked - and as if in answer, they automatically swung open. "Okay, I guess there's that." He declared and began to march forward.

"Wait!" Damian lunged forward to stop him and gestured to the gates again, where Trenton was lurking in the shadows.

"How do we get past him?" Gunnar groaned, frustrated by the minor setback.

"Damian could take him," Drew commented. "I mean, you have before, so..."

"Nancy told you about that, huh?" Damian was embarrassed by her boasting.