Chapter 11 -- Escape

"What are you doing?" Noah yelled.
"No more than I was told to do," the guard shot back. "My orders come from the top."

"Straight from me," Erin's voice came from the top of the stairs. "You forget I was trained by you Noah. I know all your tricks . . . plus a few of my own."
"You know nothing," Noah spat.

Erin pulled Lucas up by his hair, "Were you going to wait for my guard to throw him in the cell and ambush him? Not one of my guards would fall for so simple a trick. I taught them to report any instance of an arrest to avoid an unfortunate escape."
Noah smirked as Erin came closer, "I believe you have let your arrogance put yourself in a most compromising position."

"What are-" her words were cut short as she felt a knife slowly slide across her throat. Lucas had taken his hidden dagger out of his boot. He had it in a concealed carrier the guard had missed when he was brought into the dungeon.

"My my," Lucas growled. "It would appear you seem to underestimate those you feel are inferior to you. Now you will listen very carefully to everything I tell you to do. Got it?"
"Got it," Erin said through clenched teeth. She had no back-up here, so she would have to bide her time for now.

"Good. Now open the door and let them out of there," Erin unlocked the door and watched as the prisoners filed out of the cell.
"Now you will get in there and lock the door behind you. I wouldn't want you to follow us. I hope you will be comfortable here."

Lucas turned to shut the door and in that moment Erin had enough opportunity to grab the knife and stabbed him in the shoulder. The group all ran toward him and pushed Erin back into the cell, knocking the knife from her hand.
"Lucas," Noah yelled. "Can you move at all? Are you able to come with us?"

Lucas winced, "I do not know what damage has been done sir. It will not kill me but I fear this wound may prevent me from joining with you in your escape."
"But they will surely kill you if you stay here. We just will have to carry you to safety before we go after her army."

"No sir," Lucas grabbed Noah's arm. "You need to stop this insanity. You can still turn this all around. You can still make it all right."
"Don't say things like that, you don't know that will work for sure."

"What are you talking about?" Silky asked.

"The fail-safe," Erin giggled.
"Fail-safe?"

"The master heart. I must admit it was an ingenious plan," Erin clapped her hands together. "Oh shall I tell them or will you Noah?"
Noah growled, "Just keep quiet you!"

"Aww, he's not going to tell you. So I guess I must tell you all about it."
"I thought I told you to keep quiet!" Noah ran and punched the cell bars.

"And what will you do if I don't, open the door?" Noah watched her a moment before his shoulders sagged. A small smile spread across her face as she giggled.
"You never were able to show conviction in the justice of your plan no matter how genius. You see he didn't just find a plan to splice genetic material but also a way for him to destroy his pseudo army in one swoop."

"The master heart?" Silky breathed.
"Is the kitty cat intrigued? I might be inclined to tell you if you let me out. Unless Noah wants to come clean about what he has done."

All eyes turned to Noah where he sat against the wall. "I owe no one here an explanation," he retorted. "Least of all you," he looked pointedly at Silky.

"Listen here, you had better start explaining something or we will surely lose this fight." Silky held onto his collar and forced him to look at her. "Now tell us what you did."
"Tell them what they want to know sir," Lucas coughed out . "Let them help."

Noah sighed, "When I found the formula I also found a way to destroy the whole army with one strike. A master control for them all. You see when they are connected to it they can be controlled or exterminated with it. My goal was to get rid of them after I had taken care of you. It seemed the best option at the time."

"You were going to massacre a whole army to get revenge on me. H ow did you justify that little plan of yours in your mind?"
"I didn't try to, I acted on instinct. What does that matter now?"

"Oh but it does," Erin teased. "I disconnected them from the master heart. Soon they will be able to sustain themselves and they will have to be destroyed one by one. So much for that plan."
How long before it happens?" Silky asked.
"Oh not long now. In fact they should be gathering in the town square now. The quicker you leave the sooner you might be able to stop me," sneered Erin.

"Get up everyone, we have a rally to crash."

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