Kingdom of Loathing

Chapter 7: Escape

**oops, forgot to add that section in italics-

***

Slowly, the surviving adventures just quit their jobs and began living a quiet life. The killings stopped, and things began quieting down a little. But the king was still missing.

***

"Oh come on, Sam, that was the last slice of bread!" a blonde girl with cat ears groaned as she watched a winged boy wolf down a piece of bread.

"Shut up, Melissa!" Sam dusted the crumbs off his shirt. "They only give us four slices and I am huuungry!"

Melissa sighed, and turned to a girl with black bobcat-like ears, who stared out the window.

"Ava, you good?" Melissa softly asked her pondering friend. "You didn't eat anything..."

Ava stared out the barred windows for a bit longer before turning back to Melissa and replying, "Yeah, I was just wondering about what's beyond this place..."

From the corner of the room, Sam chuckled and the two girls heard jingling.

"You sure about that?" Sam smirked as he held up a ring of keys.

"Sam!" Melissa exclaimed as she and Ava rushed over to him. "When did you get that?!"

"That old fool fell asleep while on duty," Sam motioned over to the snoozing security guard in front of their cell door. "so I snatched his keys."

"That's brilliant," Ava frowned. "but he's bound to find out it's missing soon!"

"Then we leave today!" Sam twirled the keys around on his finger. "Who's up for a field trip?"

Ava and Melissa exchanged nervous glances. Being girls, they were more wary and less careless than Sam. They hadn't done any planning at all, so their chances of failing and being caught were highly likely. But, it would be nice to finally go out...

"I'm in," Melissa decided, standing beside Sam.

"Awesome!" Sam clapped. "How bout you, Ava?"

"I guess I'll come along," Ava shrugged. "Wanna see what's out there."

"Great," Sam tossed the keys to Ava. "you've got thin arms. Unlock the door for us."

Feeling for the keyhole, Ava stuck the key in the keyhole and turned it with a click. Slowly opening the door, the trio sneaked past their guard and into the hall.

"Follow me," Sam commanded, jumping onto a shelf on the wall. "There's a vent that leads outside."

The two girls nervously followed behind Sam through the cramped vents, but eventually dropped out from the side of the building. The outside was much more flat and sandy than they expected.

"Hey, where are we, even?" Sam frowned as the moonlight shone on his blonde hair.

Ava noticed a sign near the building and rushed over to it. It read, "You are at: Desert Beach. Seaside Town: 128 miles."

"Should we go to Seaside Town?" Ava asked her friends, who also followed her. As far as she was concerned, that was the only other place to go.

"Sam could use his wings to find something," Melissa suggested.

"Y'know what?" Sam spread his wings out and positioned himself to fly. "I think I should check these bad boys out, now that i'm not stuck in some dumb room."

Launching himself into the sky, Sam circled over the girls' heads before gliding across the sky. Soon enough, he lit up and pointed to an area in the distance and motioned the two to come over.

The two girls rushed over to where Sam was and saw a silhouette of a structure, probably a train station. Sam glided forward but didn't get very far, because a loud BANG! sounded from behind them and tumbled from the sky.

Ava let out an ear-piercing scream; she watched in horror as Sam plummet from the sky with smoke pouring out his left wing.

From behind them came the voices of many men.

"Subjects 15 and 17 are over here!" one with the gun pointed to Ava and Melissa. "Subject 16 has been neutralized!"

"We gotta go!" Melissa tugged at Ava. "Go to where Sam pointed!"

"B-but what about him?" Ava began rushing towards where Sam fell. "We can't just leave him!"

"There's no TIME!" Melissa yelled as she worriedly glanced back to the men closing in on them. "We have to go NOW!"

Something whizzed through the air and hit Melissa on the arm.

"Crap, that's a tranquilizer!" Melissa tanked the needle out her arm. "I'm already starting to feel the effects, so you gotta go without me!"

"No way!" Ava gritted her teeth as she carried Melissa up. For her size, she was surprisingly strong. "I'm taking you with me!"

They must have run a couple meters before a bullet zoomed past Ava's head, the shock causing her to drop Melissa in the sand.

"Mel!" Ava cried as she skidded across the sand. The men were now dangerously close. Melissa didn't respond. Before long, they would catch up.

Ava could now see where Sam was pointing to. There was a train station with a train extremely near; she could probably catch it if she sprinted.

If she turned back and tried to get Melissa, Sam's sacrifice would be in vain. They would catch her as well as the rest of them.

She ran. She used her enhanced agility and speed to run and run until she reached the station. Just then, the train began pulling away from the stop and she jumped right into an open cart. It didn't even matter where it lead now.

Ava fell asleep with the sound of a roaring train around her. Before long, she woke to the sight of a bustling city before the train tracks and hopped out. As she walked around, she found out that the destination was Seaside Town, the place labeled on the sign.

Still depressed from the events of last night, she began wandering around the town aimlessly, tired and hungry. It wasn't before long when she somehow walked all the way to a dark alleyway and noticed a poster on a wall.

It read: LOOKING FOR A JOB? WANTING REVENGE? GOOD AT STEALING? IF YOU ARE ANY OF THESE, THEN COME JOIN THE DEPARTMENT OF SHADOWY ARTS AND CRAFTS!

Ava, being out of civilization for so long, didn't exactly see stealing as a crime. When there wasn't enough food in their unit, she stole a little from the kitchen to fulfill her cellmates and herself. She didn't really want revenge, but she did want to avenge her friends. And most of all, she definitely needed a job. Ava decided to follow the arrow leading to a building with a strange sign on top.

Inside, she was welcomed by a man wearing a mask, surrounded by a couple others.

"Why hello, fellow citizen!" the man exclaimed, marching up to Ava. "Are you here to get a job?"

"One question," Ava stepped back slightly. "but does this job include going to Desert Beach?"

Slightly taken aback, the man regained his composure and answered, "I guess? If you join this guild then you can get yourself a bus pass to Desert Beach and go on quests there. Why?"

"How can I join?" Ava asked, already getting excited. This was a ticket to saving her friends.

"Woah! Passionate one! Before you do anything, come up with a code name for yourself. It doesn't need to be serious."

Ava thought hard about her code name. Her mind immediately went to birds. She liked birds, since they were so free and reminded her of Sam.

"I'll be Wingy," she decided. "Just Wingy."

"Excellent!" the man exclaimed. "Now, time to get explaining."

While the man explained the basics of the guild and adventuring, Ava only half-listened. She knew that she would find her friends this way, no matter how long it took. And that marked the beginning of her career as a Disco Bandit.