Cherry #2
Moving to the door, I place my front paws on the wall beside it and hold the access card to the flashing panel.
To my delight, it flashes green and the door pops open a couple of inches.
I manage to get my paw in and pull it open.
If I could close the door, it would give me extra time before my absence is noticed, but without hands, it’s impossible.
I take off running down the hall, in the opposite direction from my cell. I have no idea how to get out and start praying to the Goddess for a miracle.
The door at the end of the hall is marked stairs, making my heart fill with excitement. I’m pretty sure I’m underground since I’ve never seen a single window or heard any rain in all my time here, so going up is my best chance at escape.
I flash the card at the reader beside the door, and it pops open, revealing a dark staircase. I don’t hesitate to run up them, or limp up might be a more accurate word.
At the top of the stairs, I have a choice of two doors.
Only one is marked emergency exit and the other has no writing.
Does that mean it’ll sound an alarm if opened?
I glance back and forth. If it does, that will alert them to where I am, and even though I’ll hopefully be outside, they’ll be right behind me.
But any main exit would likely be heavily guarded.
I’m faster than them in my wolf form, since they aren’t shifters. Or at least, I used to be. But I’m wounded and still recovering from my last regen, so I’m not sure how fast I can move. I’ll have to run through the pain, get as far away as possible, and stay hidden.
Staring at the door, I take a deep breath. I have no other choice. I have to get outside. It’s my best chance of escape. I can’t stay here, especially now that I know what my fate will be, dying over and over through excruciating pain.
I have to take this risk.
Jumping up, I scan the card, and when the light flashes green and the door opens, my heart leaps with hope and fear. No alarm sounds, and relief fills me as I use my paw to pull the door open.
Sunlight spills through the crack, and I hold my breath, unsure what lies on the other side.
I gingerly peek out, and it takes a second for my eyes to focus in the bright daylight.
I’m shocked and delighted to see that not only does it, in fact, lead outside, but there are no guards in sight and no fence.
A mere hundred feet away is the edge of a forest.
I’m running across the clearing before I can even consider my options, the thought of freedom taking over every instinct, not even the pain in my side slowing me down.
When I was brought here, I remembered traveling through miles and miles of forest. If I were in a more populated place, I’m not sure what I’d do. Humans wouldn’t respond well to a wild wolf running through the streets.
The trees grow closer… twenty feet… ten… I wait for the sound of an alarm or shouts, or a gunshot… but nothing happens, and suddenly I’m in the forest. I keep running, unwilling to slow down until I’m sure I’m safe.
After a couple of minutes, I realize I’m still clutching the access card in my teeth, so I take a second to stop and drop it in the middle of a bush, so nobody will stumble across it and know I’ve been here.
While I’ve paused, I take a moment to listen to my surroundings, to see if anyone is pursuing me or if I’m leaving a trail of blood.
As far as I can tell, my captors are all human, so they won’t have a heightened sense of smell to track me with. Of course, outside of my family, I’ve never met another shifter before, so I’m not sure if I’d even know one on sight.
I let out a breath of relief when I hear nobody following me. There is some of my blood on the ground, though. It isn’t a lot, but any good tracker could follow it, human or shifter. I need to figure out a way to stop my side from bleeding, but I have no idea how to do that in this form.
With no clue how to stop it, I decide to keep running for now, hoping I’ll see something to help.
After about thirty minutes, I come across a small stream, and my dry throat has me sticking my entire muzzle-covered snout in the stream, letting the water fill my mouth as I swallow mouthful after mouthful.
Frustration fills me. It’d be much easier to drink without this damn contraption on my head.
I try again to shift, but nothing happens. It’s as if my magic has gone dormant.
Huffing in frustration, I watch as the water flows down the stream, away from the facility where I had been held.
I could walk in it for a while—it would hide my blood trail.
But I can’t run through it; the bottom is too rocky and uneven, and with my luck, I’d probably twist an ankle.
I look at my feet where they stand in the mud on the bank of the stream.
Hmm… Maybe I can stop the bleeding with mud. I drop to my side and wiggle through it, covering my wound. It hurts—a lot—but I’ve had worse. And knowing it will help me escape eases the pain a bit.
When I think I’ve done enough, I stand and move around.
It worked. The blood isn’t dripping anymore.
I glance around, knowing I need to be smart about which direction I take.
So far, I’ve gone in a straight line, so I know I don’t want to do that anymore.
I also think following the creek or taking a sharp turn left or right would be obvious, so I split the difference and head on a forty-five-degree path from where I had been going.
After ten minutes, I turn another forty-five degrees and keep going.
For two hours, I zigzag around, but always head away from the facility.
I’m surprised I haven’t come across any roads or cities yet.
All around me is untouched wilderness. I was unconscious for part of my journey here, so I have no idea where I am or even what state I’m in. For all I know, we could be in Canada.
I haven’t heard anyone pursuing me the entire time, but there’s no way I can stop yet. I have to keep going as long as I can and get as far away from that place as possible, because once I close my eyes, I might be unconscious for days and be left completely vulnerable.
I decide to pick a random direction and run straight from now on. If they can follow me to this point, no amount of changing trajectory will stop their pursuit.