The Prison of Deviants

Chapter 35: The Break-Out Begins

We are in our cell. The five o'clock of the morning has already rung. We are changed into the warm clothes sewed by silkworm fairies - our allies. We've tucked the prison clothes under our blankets, so that, as Dagur's said, they will show up on the map instead of us.

The cell doors open. It seems Rufus's already taken care of it - he saw to it that all bat-vampire administrators would be fast asleep by now so that the ravens could guide us outside. Generally, bird-vampires and bat-vampires take turns when guarding us, but now, since bat-vampires, including their leader Ronald, have successfully drunk the sleeping drug, they won't disturb us. They won't even manage to chase us. Knut's drug is strong, so they won't wake up no matter how Bob tries to rouse them.

Annabelle, Yelen, and I run out of our cells. The other vampire prisoners too have come outside. The doors close behind us. They were set to be open for only a minute so that we'd manage to escape. They need to be closed so that when guards pass by, they won't suspect anything. Maybe we've taken care of the bat-vampires, but the felines still roam freely all around the prison, so we mustn't let our guard down.

Rufus and the bird-vampire administrators meet us in the corridors and guide us out of the district. Rufus motions us to keep quiet, so we do.

"So, Knut and Shon have made it?" I whisper to Rufus.

"Yes. The camera signals are out," he replies.

That's a relief. The cameras won't capture our motions, that way. Everything so far is going as Dagur and I have planned: Shon caused a ruckus deliberately, so Knut took him to his room to pass judgment on his own, as he usually does. They have turned off the computers in Knut's and the warden's rooms, and then all the cameras from Bob's central computer. Thus, all of us should be outside by now. Hopefully, the prisoners from the districts whose headmen aren't supporting us have managed it successfully, too.

We don't meet any disturbances on the way. It seems Dagur was right - the feline administrators do sleep at this hour. We emerge in the main hall at the gates, very soon. This is the same hall whence we'd go on hunts, months ago.

The bears, the monkeys, and the merpeople are already here, waiting for us. They had it the easiest, just like us. Gregory, Mei, Rufus, and Sora - the baboon headman of the Monkey district - are on our side, so, they've helped us to safely escape.

Annabelle exchanges greetings with many of her friends, among whom are Hotaru - a Japanese guy with relatively short stature yet muscular build; his girlfriend, panda headwoman Mei - a slim maiden of short black hair and almond eyes; Sora, or, as he's more referred to as - Son Goku the Monkey King (don't let that fool you, it's just his prison alias since he considers himself a tough guy); and Rachel, Rio, and Justina of the merpeople.

"Others haven't yet arrived?" I ask Gregory.

"Not yet," he replies. "We're the first."

"Let's hope they'll make it out as easily as we..."

I really am scared. Our four groups would definitely make it since we are backed up by our respective headmen. The other groups, however, will have it harder - even if some administrators are supporting us, the headmen aren't, so the administrators will need to lull their and their supporters' attention somehow, to lead all the prisoners out.

We hear the floor crack. Soon, it breaks open into a small hole, and a tall woman of thirty years, with long green hair and hands and feet covered in green lizard scales, crawls out. It is Tasha - an old-timer who's agreed to cooperate with us. She's highly respected in the reptile district, so she's promised to act as their leader for the break-out.

Tasha takes a look at us with her yellow reptile eyes and waggles her tongue in a lizard manner. Annabelle, who was the one to inform her, waves a hand at her with a smile. Tasha, once assured that it's us, cries back into the hole: