Lone Mercury

Part 6

 I arise from the pristine bench, and fake an exaggerated limp in my left leg. Hobbling over to the only open bars, I cry out in fake agony and crumple into a heap on the floor. Immediately the newly switched out guard bangs on the door and grumbles for me to shut-it. I cry out again, egging him further on. Finally, my annoying pleads get the better of him, and he opens the cell while calling for his men to keep an eye on Webster. The other tight-lipped guards bound into the cell glaring lethal daggers at Brown Eyes. While all the guards are distracted, I have a 2.3 second window to complete my first task. Globs of mercury bubble in my palms, a trick I learned in my 2 day confinement. I aim the deadly substance at all 4 men, sadly watching them decay before my eyes. The death I could tolerate, seen as how I was in the army. But, on the other hand, the smell was so horrid that I had to cover my nose as I sprinted through the gate. 2 doors down, I remembered, driving my aching legs down the hall. The humongous door stands in my way of freedom, but not any longer. My frail hands scavenge for the foretold latch just as I sense more footsteps barrelling down the hall. I fumble nervously until I hear a satisfying click and pray to whatever God out there that this pulls through. A hearty rumbling below my feet snapped my attention downward as a grand marble staircase arises like the sun at ombre-skyed dawn. It was a beacon of hope, and I wasted no time in climbing it to my wondrous freedom.