Soothsayer ⚡ Barry Allen

Breakin' Free

I leaned against the wall as Terra put her hand to the other, the roster coming forward from the concrete where she magically concealed it. Her powers still amazed me, how she could morph rock and metal like she was running her hand over water.

Tonight was the night. The roster showed us that about a third of the normal guards weren't on duty tonight. The ones that were working tonight wouldn't be hard to slip past, with the exception of Martinez. He was new to the graveyard shift and patroling our block; every now and again he'd pass by, eyeing me and my bunk as he went.

My job had been to get the information we'd need, Terra's had been to better harness her powers. We couldn't rope a guard into letting us out, so we needed Terra's ability to open up the lock, along with a couple more things. She would be doing most of the heavy lifting in this little plot so I did my part by collecting everything. My reputation with the staff had finally paid off.

Our only issue was that Terra's wrist wasn't completely functional. Every now and again her torn tendon bothered her, I could tell by the way she winced with certain movements and sometimes rubbed at the thick scar across her skin. I didn't want her hurting herself further but she assured me she was fine and fully capable of busting us out.

We reviewed the roster to double check when the day guards' shift ended and the night guards started before Terra put the papers back into the wall. The concrete melted over them and the papers sunk into the wall, both becoming one as the white paper was covered by the grey brick.

While we waited, we were both on the bunk beds. To pass time, I drew with my Prismacolors. They were much better than the pencils I already had, there wasn't a chance in Hell that I would leave them here. This piece was one I was leaving behind, though. A final 'Screw You' to the guards and this place; a big middle finger in the middle of the page and numerous insults throughout. As I was adding the final touches when Terra slid down from her bed.

She busied herself with the drawings on the wall as a guard walked past, briefly examining the cell before moving on. When Terra moved to the door a short minute later I set the drawing on my pillow and stashed my pencils in my pocket, leaning against the bunkbeds as she cupped her hand around the lock.

Her eyes gained that bright yellow before she shut them in concentraction, the lock clicking after a tense moment. I helped her slowly slide the door open for us to wiggle out, closing it as she moved forward to our exit point. I quickly caught up to her, holding her small body to the wall when a guard came by and turned the corner, thankfully not facing us as he went.

Unfortunately, we couldn't walk behind him and he was blocking off our original path to our exit. Thinking quickly, Terra grabbed my wrist and pulled me down the hall the guard just came from, checking the new hall before walking to the barred door and taking a few seconds to unlock that one as well. She used her left hand on this one, I could see it gently tremble from the effort. We easily slipped through and closed the door again, jogging the rest of the way to our desired hall.

We reached it, no problem, but our timing was off due to our detour, we could hear the footsteps of an approaching guard. Terra threw her hand to my chest and backed us up to the wall; her eyes were yellow as the concrete spread over us like it had the paper. I expected to become part of the wall, to be sucked in like the paper had, but I remained in place, able to breathe and see and blink like normal.

My heart picked up speed when Martinez walked past us, feeling like his eyes lingered on us, but he walked past without an air of suspicion. When his footsteps began to receed, the concrete melted away and we were free to move again. With her yellow eyes focused on our specific wall, Terra backed up and waited until the spotlight began it's sweep of this area before she started running full speed at the wall.

When she was close enough, she drop-kicked the concrete -- only, she didn't drop. Her feet connected with the wall and stayed there as it broke away from the building, her head and hand snapping back to me as it began to fall. I ran over and took her hand, falling seven stories with only Terra's hand to support me. The drop was quick, the wind rushing past me and whipping my hair all about as we rapidly descended.

I had to release Terra's hand when we landed, rolling off the piece of wall and springing back up into a sprint as Terra ran beside me. She let out a small cry of pain as she raised her open palms from her waist to her head, the ground around us exploding as several clumps of dirt that took rough, human shapes, started running along side us.

The spotlight returned and didn't leave us, the sound of guards yelling and preparing to put us down sounding across the yard. We were almost to the fence when the shots began, Terra's hands flying forward and ripping apart the tall chainlink fence. Along with the guards, some prisoners were yelling too; cheering us on, encouraging our escape, living vicariously through us.

Once past the fence, most of the dirt guardians crumbled, filled with the bullets meant for us, some remaining even after we put a good distance between us and the prison. When the final dirt-men dropped, so did Terra, my feet slowing when I noticed she wasn't keeping up with me. Our collective panting filled the air, my legs and lungs burning from the exertion. "Hey," I wheezed, stepping over to her as she laid in the dirt and held her hand to her chest to moniter her labored breathing. "We can't stop here, they'll come looking for us."

With a pained expression, she nodded and held her wrist, hardly moving other than that. "Just a minute," she rasped. I could tell she needed it, she had done a lot in the past fifteen minutes. So, deciding I could reserve a tad of my energy, I sat beside her and listened to the night. I was sure to face the prison so we could leave at a moments notice, if need be, and enjoyed the sound of crickets chirping as they bounced around. The light breeze felt amazing, it helped the reality of our freedom settle as we gathered our bearings.

It was only when I saw a search crew follow our path out of the prison that I disturbed the silence between us. "They'll be looking for us together," I breathed, turning my head to Terra. Using her right hand, she pushed herself up and followed my gaze.

"I think this is where we part ways, Andy," she observed. When I got to my feet I held out a hand, Terra's fingers wrapping securely around my wrist as I hoisted her off the ground.

"It's been a pleasure spending the last six months as your roommate," I sighed, sliding my hand down and into hers for a friendly handshake. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to find me. I dare say I owe you one."

She chuckled but held that same grip on my hand she had in the infirmary. "No offence, but I think if I ran into you again it'd only be trouble." I laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Either way, I'm not hard to find. Enjoy your freedom, Terra," I hummed, releasing her hand.

"Enjoy yours," she chuckled, the both of us turning in opposite directions as we took off again.