I told Leo my plan, and he told me were going to be killed before we'd even taken a step. He was probably right. Even then, he didn't protest or tell me we shouldn't try, and I wasn't going to wait around until I was killed in my next round. We were going to break out. 

I don't think anyone had had an idea quite like mine. I'd heard about breakouts here, but it had always been a single Unnatural fighting for freedom. No one worked together, or if they did, it was to leave another behind or send someone ahead as bait.

No, I had a different idea.

To my relief, Varien won his round, because if he hadn't, my whole plan would have been useless. They took him back down and I watched him carefully. He didn't look too hurt, either, which was also good.

I had to wait until the next morning to put my plan into action, but I didn't sleep that night - although this time, it was because of anticipation rather than nightmares. The next morning, my gashes had scabbed over enough for me to put on my shirt and jacket, thankfully, because it was stormy outside, with a slushy rain falling from the sky. I hoped it would keep up to cover our tracks, once we got out.

First thing's first - I had to find where they were keeping Braken. I had seen a virtual tour of this place once - though now that I thought about it, there hadn't been much information - and there had been a door that was labeled "authorized access only." I was pretty sure he was in there. They didn't bother using electricity down here, and I knew there was a generator up on ground level, so it wasn't a maintenance room. He was in there, I was sure of it.

"Hey, Leo," I whispered as I spotted a single soldier walking toward us.

He lifted his head a little from where he was still chained to the wall.

"Do you think you can walk?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Because here it comes." I heard him swear under his breath, but ignored it and braced myself. "Hey, hey you!" I shouted, and the soldier turned to look. "When am I gonna fight again? Can I go against him?" I jerked my thumb at Leo's cell.

"I'd be glad to watch you burn," Leo snapped from the other side.

"How do you know I wouldn't win? You can barely move!" 

"I don't have to move to burn you alive."

"Not if you can't get me! I'll impale you before you can even take a breath!"

"You're just a powerless pathetic human! You couldn't even handle -"

"I wasn't the one who ended up naked on the floor last night! You're calling me pathetic?"

Leo made a tiny noise of distress, and I instantly regretted what I'd said. I knew I'd gone too far, but it had just come out all on its own. I wanted to apologize, but I couldn't break character until I got the soldier closer. Come on, Leo. Fight back. Say something. Insult me.

"If I had my hands free -" he growled.

"But you don't, because last night-"

"Shut up, you lying little bastard!" Leo screamed, his anger more real than pretend. "You said you wouldn't hurt me! You promised you'd -"

"Alright, alright, knock it off, you two," the soldier yelled to be heard over Leo's insults. I started shouting back at him, mostly repeating what he had said earlier, because I wasn't quite as creative with the curses as he was. The soldier came up to my cell and unlocked it, pulling it open to stop me, and then I took my chance.

I whirled around and tackled him, taking him by surprise. I wrestled the spear away from him, almost losing it, and then let out a shriek as he dug his fingers into my back. He started to laugh, noticing my pain, and grabbed me again, pulling my hood back and sticking his hand down my shirt. I tried to wiggle away, but he found one of my gashes and stabbed his fingernails into it, ripping the scabs off. I screamed this time, arching my back and nearly tumbling over as the sharp agony bloomed in my shoulder blades and shot down my spine.

"Was this part of your plan?" Leo asked sarcastically.

"They'll give you much more than a whipping for this," the soldier whispered, his breath tickling my ear. I tried to pull away from him, but his other hand hit my chest, pinning me against him, and my fear skyrocketed. Leo was right. I was going to get myself killed. "They'll probably give you a few shocks," he mused, digging his fingernails into another one of my healing wounds. This time, all I could do was gasp for breath.

Leo perked up when he mentioned shocks, and my wild imagination went on a rampage trying to figure out exactly what he meant. It must be worse than a whipping, and I barely lasted through that. They were going to kill me. I was sure of it.

The soldier squeezed me tighter and I let out a squeal, arching my back again to try and get away. I could feel the blood trickling down my back and sticking my shirt to my skin, and the pain stabbed through me like flaming pins. "I should take you up there right now," he murmured.

I wiggled around, gritting my teeth and squeezing my eyes shut, desperate to ignore the pain. I had to break free. I had to get out of here. For myself, for Leo, for Braken. I thrashed in the soldier's grip, desperate to free myself, and finally, I slammed my elbow back right into his face. I think I hit his nose, because I heard a crack along with his yelp, and felt the blood gush down my elbow. He released me and I finally broke free, staggering a few steps away. I needed to knock him out. How did they always do it in the movies? I whirled around and threw a wild punch, connecting with his jaw, and actually knocked him over. Pain lit up in my knuckles and I yelped, rubbing my fist to dull the pain. I guess I realized real life didn't work quite like the movies.

Surprisingly, the soldier didn't get up. I'd actually knocked him out. I stared at him in shock for a moment, and then Leo said, "So are you just going to stand there staring, or are you going to do something?"

"Oh, right." I snapped out of my trance and bent over, finding his keys on his belt. I unclipped them and stood up, peeking out of the cell to make sure no one was coming. The hall was clear, so I took off, ignoring Leo's angry shout. I had to get this part done first. I didn't want to get caught hauling him along with me.

I found Varien's cage quickly and ran up to it, jamming the key in the lock. The first one didn't work, so I tried a different one. "Varien, I'm going to get you out, but only if you work with me."

He looked up, his dark hair covering his face. "Work with you?" he said, chuckling darkly. "You're that human, aren't you? Why should I work with you? You should be working for me."

"I have a plan," I said, finally finding the key to open the door.

"What is it? Run away like the cowards you humans are?"

"No, it's a good plan," I insisted, shrinking backward as he stood up and came toward me. "I got myself out of the cell, with the keys, without getting caught. Now I need you to disguise us as soldiers with your power. Then we can walk out."

Varien raised an eyebrow. "You think I haven't tried that? You may have a half decent idea, but you're not the first to have it."

"This time will be different. And if it doesn't work, I'll take full responsibility for it."

"They don't care who did it," Varien hissed, though he actually came up to me as if he was starting to agree. "They only care who gets caught."

I could hear someone coming toward us - another soldier, no doubt. "Come on, I can't do it without you. You, me, Leo, and Braken. All four of us."

"And what are you going to do once we get out?"

"I know a place that won't get us caught. Please, you have to trust me." I glanced down the hall, biting my lip. Come on. Come on.

"Alright," he finally said. "I'll help you. If I don't think we'll make it, I'm coming back here, so you'd better have a good plan." In a moment, I watched him transform into a soldier, and then glanced down to see that he'd disguised me, as well.

I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face. Now that the first part of my plan had worked, we were that much closer to getting out of this nightmare. 

Varien stepped out of his cell and slammed it shut, roughly grabbing my arm and pulling me forward. "It'll only work if you act like one," he hissed under his breath. I fought to bury my smile and walk like him, with a straight back and a blank expression. Another soldier came around the corner and I resisted the urge to flinch as our eyes met, but he didn't say anything, and neither did I. 

We reached Leo's cage quickly, and I started testing keys. The other soldier was still unconscious in my cell, on the ground. "Go check and make sure he's okay," I muttered. "Make it look like it was Leo's fault." Varien nodded and slipped into my cell, though I noticed the kept the door open with some sort of mysterious force. He didn't trust me. I didn't think I trusted him, either, so I didn't mention it and simply let him do his thing.

I finally found the key that opened Leo's cage and pushed the door in. The Unnatural looked up at me and his expression darkened. "Get away from me," he growled, clenching his fists despite the slashes across his palms. To my relief, he had pants on now, because it would have been awkward for both of us if he'd been left as he was last night.

"Leo, it's me," I whispered, leaning over to unlock the chain links on his wrists. "It's Joel."

"Joel?" It took him a second to process it, and his eyes widened in surprise. "You're crazy," he muttered. 

"You gotta do something unexpected. That's how you win," I replied, quoting what he'd told me before my round. I got one of the links unlocked and he quickly pulled his arm in and held his hand against his chest protectively. "Look," I said. "I know you don't like me very much, and I'm sorry I said that thing about last night, but let's agree not to hate each other, at least until we get out of here, okay?" I held my hand out.

The other chain popped open and he rotated his hand, stretching his wrist. "Okay," he said, taking my hand and shaking it once. "Here's to not hating each other."

I pulled him up to his feet, ignoring his blood pooling in my palm, and then someone shouted, "Hey! What are you two doing?"

I panicked and frantically thought of something to say, giving Leo a rough shove on instinct, but Varien was quicker to reply. "The human managed to break out, somehow," he said, gesturing to the unconscious soldier on the floor of my cell. "Howell wants to see this one to make sure he had nothing to do with it."

The man narrowed his eyes, as if he could see right through the lie, and then moved on. "Alright, but make it quick. There's just been word of Varien's breakout, as well. They want all personnel up in two minutes for the search and lock down."

Lock down. We had to get out before they locked us in. We had two minutes. That wasn't enough time. 

"Come on," I said, gently nudging Leo forward. He hissed something under his breath and twitched away, unforgiving. "Sorry I shoved you," I said with a small shrug. "It just seemed in character."

"Yeah, right," he grumbled, bending over and pulling his shirt over his head. Again, I caught sight of his horribly scarred back, and again, I was reminded of Braken's sixty one lashes. What if he was dead?

"Where does Howell take you?" I asked, regretting the question even as I said it. 

Leo's shoulders tightened. "Authorized access," he mumbled. 

"That's where Braken is," I said, nodding.

"We're going to waste our time on that kid?" Varien snorted. "We don't have time for that. Let's just leave him and get out of here."

"No!" Leo snapped. "I'm not leaving without him."

"We have to do this," I said, turning to Varien. "He won't be a problem, I promise." 

I was lying, and he knew it. Even so, he sighed and said, "Alright, fine, but we have to hurry."

He grabbed Leo's wrist and ordered me to take the other, so it'd look like we were taking him away, and hesitantly, I obeyed. Leo's skin was hot to the touch, and I could fit my whole hand around his wrist. I didn't like touching him, and the look on his face told me that he didn't like being touched, either. Still, we both knew we had to play the part and deal with it. 

We lead him roughly up the concrete steps to the main arena area, but instead of going up to the gate, like normal, Leo told us to follow the hallway around the back to the side, where there was a door that said "authorized access only," just like I'd remembered.

All three of us hesitated at the door, but Leo was by far the most uncomfortable. He'd started to sweat nervously, and I could see the wet spots down his back and under his arms. He was terrified. Honestly, after what I'd heard and figured out, I didn't blame him.

I'd seen Howell in the arena, ordering his cold, wet soldiers around, so I knew he wasn't in here, but that didn't shake the nervous feeling away. Why was I so afraid? It's not like he could just magically appear inside. Maybe I was afraid of what I'd find in there, what I'd see. 

It took me a long moment to try to open the door, and finally, I realized that it hadn't been locked in the first place. I chuckled nervously and turned the knob, and ever-so-slowly pushed the door in. Thunder rumbled as I did so, as if the heavens were warning me. I shuddered as the pale grey light spilled into the dark room, and then froze as I noticed a trail of dried blood on the floor. There was so much, and it made my stomach turn. I let my eyes follow the trail, all the way to the back, where the light was just enough to illuminate the toes of someone kneeling on the floor, their dirty, callused feet covered in blood from some other source. 

Leo looked over my shoulder, but stayed away from the entrance. He prodded my back and whispered, "Is he in there?" 

I swallowed nervously and stepped inside, crossing the threshold as quietly as I could. I pushed the door open wider and let more light in, and then caught my breath as I saw him. 

He was the one kneeling, only halfway down to sitting on his heels, slumped over and held up by his bloody wrists, which were tied to the ends of a long, T shaped pole. He had his back to us and was still shirtless, and his back looked even worse than it had a few days ago, some of the long gashes yellowing and infected, most crusted over with black scabs, and a few still ripped open and oozing blood. He was unconscious, his head hanging down, his chin almost touching his chest, and thankfully, I could see his shoulders rise and fall ever so slightly as he took each breath, shaking his fragile body. I couldn't see his face, but I was afraid of what I'd see if I did. 

I quickly rushed over to him and slid to the ground next to the pole, quickly working to untie his wrists. I was hesitant in touching him, though, and even though I'd seen him touch plenty of other things, I was afraid he'd disintegrate me on accident - or on purpose. Finally, I gathered enough courage to begin the struggle of untying him, and when I leaned over, I could just barely see the shadows of his face. 

His mouth was slightly open, scarlet blood dribbling over his cracked lips and down his chin, and both of his eyes were blackened with nasty bruises, one of them swollen too bad for him to even open it. I could already tell, even as he was unconscious. His nose looked like it had been broken, purpled and swelling, and another river of dried blood washed down his face into his mouth. He had numerous small cuts and gashes across his forehead and cheeks, and all up and down his arms and chest. The blisters on his hands still looked as bad as ever, still bleeding and hot to the touch. 

"Braken," I whispered, holding back tears. "Braken, wake up." He didn't respond in any way. "Braken, please, wake up," I begged, knowing it was pointless. He couldn't hear me. I gently touched his shoulder and shook him just a little, hoping that would be enough to bring him back to consciousness. 

Surprisingly, it was. His eyelids fluttered as he fought to wake up, and then he looked over at me with barely enough energy to lift his head. Sure enough, one of his eyes was swollen shut, and the other only opened a crack. He let out a tiny whimper, his shoulders tensing up, and dropped his head back down.

"Braken, it's me. It's Joel." I finally got one of his wrists free and quickly pulled the ropes away. He let his hand fall to the ground and slumped down even further, unable to stay up without support. "I'm here to save you," I murmured, moving to his other side. "You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay."

Once I untied his other wrist, he fell backwards, right into my arms, and I flinched away from his touch. Panicking slightly, I gently pushed him back up, trying my very best to avoid touching one of his lashes, but my fingers brushed over a few of the dark wounds and he took a shaky breath, wincing in pain. I carefully turned him around, watching my hands with extra caution, and then he slumped over against me again, from the front this time, so I could at least carry him.

I struggled to climb to my feet without hurting him, and held him up by just his underarms. He looked up at me and started to cry silently, from pain or relief, though probably both. I let him rest against my chest, his arms draped over my shoulders, his legs too weak to support him, and then I turned us both around so that I could see Leo and Varien.

Slowly, I helped him shuffle toward the door. Leo didn't know whether to be angry or sad, and tried to take him from me, but with the way he staggered when he walked, I was afraid he'd drop him and hurt them both. Besides, Braken didn't weigh much and my back felt a hundred times better today than it did yesterday. It still hurt whenever I moved, but not so much.

Leo looked inside the room and noticed Braken's tan, pinkish hoodie on the floor, and quickly scrambled in to get it. He held it up close to his chest and gave his friend a sad smile, and then together, we closed the door and took a step closer to freedom.

"And where do you think you're going?" Howell said behind us.