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Chapter 34: The Great Escape

"Okay," Daniel agrees as he leads Sasha outside. They do have to get out of here, and he's not sure he can take another elimination, either.

Erica is beside herself, wailing with grief, and if it weren't for a few of the other contestants holding her back, she'd be tearing at the Elimination Room door trying to get to Taylor. Daniel is glad she can't because he has a secret.

Once they're outside, an artificial breeze blowing through the otherwise sterile space, he guides Sasha all the way over to the far end of the swimming pool, the farthest point away from the house and the other contestants. He knows that there's nowhere they can go that will be away from the prying eyes and ears of The Elimination Game, but this is the best he can do.

They sit down on the concrete patio at the edge of the pool and he asks under his breath, "Do you trust me?"

The words are barely audible, and with any luck they are carried on the breeze to Sasha's ears and no further. She nods almost imperceptibly, and then Daniel takes a deep breath. There's only one way he can think of to have a conversation like this with her.

He puts his hands on her cheeks, pulls her close to him and her breath catches as their lips connect.

Her skin is even softer than he remembered and she smells like honey. But they're not here to get romantic - he has a message to give her, so he pulls her hair down to cover their faces, making it look as convincingly passionate as he can, and he delivers his words quickly with his lips still pressed against hers.

"I did something," he says. "While everyone was distracted with Taylor, I stuffed a wad of batting from the needle box into the Elimination Room door latch. As long as no one notices, we can get back in there. We can escape."

Sasha kisses him for real this time, celebratory, and then asks, "How? When?"

"The sooner the better," he says. "I have a little more batting left. I think we should do the same thing to the bedroom door, then get the heck out of here tonight."

"What about the cameras?" she asks. "And the spy?"

"We're just going to have to take a leap of faith," he says. "Hope that they care more about the spectacle than the fact that we're escaping, or hope that we can overpower them."

"Okay," Sasha says, "let's get out of here."

Emboldened, Daniel pulls her into another genuine kiss. It feels like months or years since he started wanting to do that, not mere days.

Then to keep from arousing suspicion, he pulls away and stands up, helping her to her feet. They go back inside the house, where Erica has worn herself out and lays with her head in Brody's lap, a tissue balled in her fist.

Daniel and Sasha spend the rest of the evening acting as uninteresting as possible, while he looks casually around the living room for anything that can be used to break down or pry open the second, hidden door that he knows they'll find in the Elimination Room.

* * *

By the time everyone retires to their rooms, Daniel's heart is pounding so hard he can feel it in his ears. He palms the piece of batting that he took from the Elimination Room and has to be even more smooth about it this time around, without poor Taylor for a distraction. The placement isn't perfect and as the door swings shut behind them, he closes his eyes and sends up a prayer.

The lock springs but instead of a click there's a muffled thud as it hits the batting, and Daniel thinks they should be safe.

They go sit on the bed and wait for the lights to dim, listening hard for any signs that their fellow contestants are still awake - or more importantly, that the Elimination Game employees who come in the night to refill supplies are present.

Daniel leans close to Sasha, the dark room's temperature seeming to increase with her proximity, and whispers, "When we leave this room, get downstairs as fast as you can. Don't stop moving until we're out of the house. I'm going to grab a knife from the kitchen in case we need it to pry the door open, and then go to the Elimination Room."

He leaves out the other reason he was thinking about knives - defense - because he's not ready yet to think about what's on the other side of the door.

"How sure are you?" Sasha whispers, and no matter what is in Daniel's heart, there's only one answer he can give.

"Certain."

They get off the bed after about twenty minutes of waiting and inch toward the door. Daniel puts his hand on the doorknob and Sasha puts her hand on his arm. They both take a deep breath, and then he pulls the door open.

Sasha's hand tightens around Daniel's arm and he jumps.

Right in front of the door is Francie, and Daniel's heart is pounding faster than ever. Francie looks at them wide-eyed, frozen in mid-step and just as surprised as they are.

"What are you doing out here?" Daniel whispers to her.

"I could ask you the same thing," Francie says, but when Daniel doesn't offer an explanation, she says, "I can never sleep after an Elimination Challenge. I thought a glass of water might help."

"Have you been out of your room before?" Sasha asks, loosening her grip on Daniel's arm.

"I've been here the longest," Francie says. "You learn some tricks after a while."

"Are they going to care?" Daniel asks, nodding to a camera that's pointing at them at the end of the hallway.

"Depends what you're doing," Francie says. "They never stop me, but I mostly just go into the kitchen, watch TV, go for a midnight swim every once in a while."

"And you never run into an Elimination Game employee?" Daniel asks.

Francie shakes her head.

"I think they monitor the cameras and if what you're doing is more entertaining than bothersome, they just stay out of it," she answers. "Why? What are you two doing?"

"Escaping," Daniel says.

"They're definitely going to have a problem with that," Francie says.