Ederios

Incinerator Shaft - Part 4

PART 1:

Yaon stands upon the wall guarding the prison sector of Hijenkinshyna.
Beside her, Yind and Lei held their breath, waiting for the prisoners below them to march out of the darkness of the cold, bitter night and into their damp, colder cells.

The prisoners mumbled, worked, and whispered upon themselves. Every now and again, a guard would whip them for stopping their work for too long, or for even staring at them with any sign of defiance. It was a brutal sight. Blood was spilled over the floor of the outside, it was unnerving.

"Are you ready, Yaon?" Lei whispered.
"Yes. How long until I swing down?"
"About twenty seconds, then you're alone until we meet you again at the vent."
"Okay. I'm ready."

A whistle was blown, the call for everyone to go back in for the night. The sign for Yaon to get going, fast, so as no guard saw her.

Yaon grabbed her grappling gun, an extremely rare item in Hijekinshyna, and aimed at a shack eighteen metres from the entry back inside the cells. She shot, hit perfectly and clicked a button, sending her flying forwards. She landed feet first onto the shack, and scaled her way down onto the ground. She threw the weapon away, and walked towards the guards in her black and white prisoner clothes.

Her breathing became rapid, the air before her turned into mist. She was terrified, but kept walking forward. She reached the door, her suit was searched for any weapons, and she was let through by a guard leading her to her cell.

Once she was locked, she waited forty minutes until she stood.
She touched her lip with her sharpened nails, and cut. As soon as blood was drawn she felt the disgusting feeling of skin moving against skin, of flesh being exposed, and then she was a leopard standing inside a cell dressed in black and white.

She reached a black, dirty nail inside the lock of her door and twisted her finger. The door unlocked, and she stepped out into the hallway.

The incinerator shaft was nowhere to be seen.




PART 2:
"SHIT." She whispered, "SHIT, SHIT, SHIT."
She paced up and down the hallway, thinking of a solution to the problem. She looked all around her, no vents, nothing.

She runs, down the hallway and to the right into another corridor of cells. It was like a maze, how could they navigate this thing? She runs left and right multiple times until she finally reaches a hallway, where, at the end, stood the incinerator shaft.

Thank God. She thought.

She runs over towards the vent-like system, and claws the entrance point apart with her claws. Once the entrance was clear, she got to the hard part. Transforming into a bird whilst jumping into the shaft. She could jump and live, or fall and die. It was this that mattered.

She prepared herself, setting into a running position. She breathes in and out, warning herself of the danger ahead. She pounds, sprinting towards the shaft and lowering her nail this time to her left palm, and sliced. Blood was drawn and she leapt as the feeling of skin moving against skin was felt again. Shapeshifting. She entered the incinerator shaft and spread her wings in time to soar upwards and avoid the fatal fall into the slicing machine. She flies up and breaks through the vent at the top of the shaft.

When inside, she transforms back into human, and gives Yind and Lei a sign to alert them of her presence. A whistle.

She waited for the whistle back, a sign they too had made it, but heard no reply.
She waited, and waited, and waited.

And then she heard the reply; a whistle of beautiful tune.
She walks over to the vent, and reaches her hand up to grab the tiny bombs from them.
That is when one fell through, bounding off the floor with such a force that it set off instantly.