World Keys: Shattered Glass

Chapter 1

Sawyer

Sawyer stared at the dark ceiling of the prison cell. Her mind drifting throughout thoughts and precious memories. After a few minutes she could envision her home almost perfectly. The clotheslines hung throughout the house like cobwebs, fabrics draped over them. The washer rumbled as clothes were tossed about within it. Even the sweet smell of freshly mowed grass and acrylic paints was so dense it was as if she were there herself. However, after a few seconds her focus drifted and her eyes recentered on the bland gray ceiling once again.

With a sigh she heaved her legs over the edge of the bed. She could already hear the clanking of chains as other inmates were corralled to the mines. Her eyes scanned the masses as they walked by her barred door. Every one of them was different. Some were adults, some were teens like her, some were kids, some were black, some white, some Asian, etc. She even counted one or two snow tribesmen. "Snow tribesmen" was another name for albinos, due to their snow white skin and hair. No matter who you were, all people at this prison had one thing in common, they were the worst bad guys around. Sawyer was no excuse.

"Woods!" the prison warden shouted. Sawyer stood up and got in line, the clang as the shackles were set around her limbs echoing through the hall. "You should be careful," he grinned, "I have permission to shoot to kill if you pull another stunt."

"You won't have the chance." She replied with a smug smile and shot a side glance to the guard she had beat up the other day. His nose was swollen and he wore a cast on one arm. Not the most damage she could've done, but it was still satisfying.

"Move along!" The wardens shouted over the clanking that echoed through the dark hallway.
Back to the mines.

~

Sawyer could feel the sweat pouring down her face and neck. Even her back was soaked with the salty fluid. They still had another hour until a water break. So much for not getting dehydrated.

She swung the pickaxe a few more times before leaning on it to catch her breath. Growing louder she heard sobbing coming from the tunnel. She glanced up from her work to see one of the kids running down the hall. He must've only been about 6 years old. To get in here however, he must've done something pretty bad. It's always harder for the police to get kids locked up in here. Still, he was just a kid.

"Are you alright?" Sawyer asked him, not moving from her position as he slumped down in the center of the hallway. He had greasy brown hair, the result of not taking a shower in a week, and his eyes' blue color was countered by their puffy red lids.

"I-I want to go home!" He whined with tears streaming down his face.

"Well, what did you do to get in here?" She asked.

"I crawled through a metal pipe and stole codes for a bad man." The kid said sucking snot into his nose with a snort and wiping the remnants off onto his orange jumpsuit.

So he's the one who almost gave away nuclear bomb codes to terrorists. It probably didn't help that he knew that they were bad. According to police reports he claimed his mom was being held captive by the terrorists but the police didn't find her with them.

Sawyer stared at the kid. His hands weren't calloused at all even after being here a week. If he keeps on running they'll put him in solitary to keep his reckless behavior at bay.

"You can't go home, kid." The guy next to Sawyer spoke, leaning on the handle of his pickaxe. "You were going to kill millions of people when you handed them those codes and they didn't have your mom so your excuse didn't check out either." Now he turned to face the boy. "You're as much of a killer as the rest of us."

At this the boy broke into tears. They poured down his cheeks and soaked his uniform. It almost looked like sweat. That was it! Sawyer crouched down next to the boy.

"What's your name?" She smiled slightly to calm him down.

"Um, S-Sebastian." He wiped his eyes and gazed up at her.

"Okay, Sebastian, I'm going to tell you something." Sebastian's eyebrows furrowed and he cocked his head to the side curiously. "If you go straight down this path you can get out of here." His eyes lit up.

"Really? Thank you strange lady!" He shouted ecstatically.

"Shhh!" She covered his mouth with her hand. Slowly she then removed it, looking around to check that no guards had heard.

"Go quickly." Sawyer said in a hushed voice before watching him run off and turning back to her work.

"Is there really an escape tunnel that way?" The guy next to her asked picking up his tool once again and continuing to swing at the rock.

"It's about the size of a very small garbage shoot so only kids can make it out. There's also two or three guards at the bottom. It serves as a great way for a kid to escape. If they're covered in sweat it helps more too. The guards think they'll be tired and send the out of shape guards to catch them." Sawyer smiled slightly as she remembered discovering it. If she couldn't escape, someone might as well.

"Back to work." she whispered quietly to herself and took a swing at the rock in front of her.

After working for a few more minutes, she had to take a second break to wipe the sweat build up from her face.

"Woods!" The warden's voice boomed through the tunnel. Sawyer set down her pick axe and walked through the maze of caverns. There were small ones, thin ones, ones that required stairs since they were so steep. In a couple minutes, Sawyer had reached the entrance where the warden was sitting. Across from him sat a well dressed man with white hair and bright blue eyes.

"This is George Haven. He's with the-"

"I don't give a crap about who he is." Sawyer spat at the man's feet. "Why'd he want to see me?"

The warden jumped up from his set and pulled out his truncheon, ready to beat her with it. George simply waved his hand and the warden sat back down.

"I heard you were in here for murder Ms. Woods." George spoke in a gruff voice that sounded like sandpaper against Sawyer's ears. She winced slightly.

"Yes." She replied. Something about his stare made her uncomfortable. He had a certain aura about him. He knew what he was doing. He knew why he was in this world. It sent shivers down Sawyer's spine.

"I want to recruit you for a team of people I'm funding." George sat there for a second, legs crossed and time seemed to freeze.

"Why would you want to do that?" Sawyer felt herself tense in nervous anticipation.

"You have the qualities I'm looking for." George's voice was softer now and his expression seemed to lighten as if a burden had been lifted from his back. "I take it you're interested."

Sawyer looked down at her hands. They were rapidly clenching and releasing the way they did when she was excited. She understood this habit without a doubt but how did this man know? He truly was a mystery. A mystery that sawyer was determined to solve.

"Yeah. Count me in."

~
A/N: If you're reading this I would first off like to thank you for spending your time reading my crappy story. I hope that you'll continue. Since this is all being updated at once the next chapter will be out in a couple seconds. If it's already published, scroll on ahead. Yeah that's it, byeeeeee.