Chapter 3 - Escaping.

Once I opened the three shoeboxes, I found to my surprise, a couple wads of cash as well as an envelope addressed to me. My hand shakily reached for the envelope and, with a sense of foreboding, tore it open. However, at the sound of the tearing, the next sentry that was traveling along the path locked onto me. Cursing my own idiocy and haste, I stuffed the envelope and note into my hoodie’s pocket, gathered the three shoeboxes, and began running again. An alarm rang out as the robot confirmed my intrusion, which could only mean one thing; it was going to be MUCH harder getting out than it was getting in.

“What can I do? What can I do?” I repeated to myself as I was running. Sadly, the sentries were too fast to outrun, meaning that I wouldn't have time to climb the fence like I did last time. After sprinting for longer than I even knew I could, the fence came into view. To alleviate my burden, I tossed the shoeboxes to the base of the fence and continued running, still unsure of what to do to escape the situation.

A sentry appeared right in front of me. Startled, I took a sharp turn and ran away from the robot, all the while managing to hide myself from its camera. Unfortunately, the direction I turned was toward the forest again. While running, I looked up, hoping to God for some sort of divine inspiration. Ironically, it was at that time that I found my plan of escape. I ran forward a little longer, frantically searching for the perfect way.

Then, I found it. A tree with very low branches that looked thick enough to support me. I quickly ascended the tree, and immediately managed to find the next stable tree to jump to. The sentries are not programmed with knowledge of how to climb trees. Long out of reach and continuously making sure that I was out of sight of their cameras, I was finally able to take a breather.

My thighs ached as if I had been running on a treadmill for six hours. My breath was laborious as if I just resurfaced from deep sea diving without a tank. I had tunnel vision, cut hands from digging and climbing, and a serious sense of lassitude. I very nearly slipped from the branch I was resting on a couple of times.

After closing my eyes to rest a little, I was astonished to hear the sentries taking action. Opening my eyes, I saw them all put their hands on the tree I was resting on and begin pushing. Incredulous, I just watched as six sentries began pushing on the tree trunk. Two other sentries were a bit further away, in the path where the tree would fall, no doubt there to subdue me should I topple along with the tree. Thanks to the short amount of rest I got, I managed to get up and start running. I didn't notice it at the time, but I actually was able to keep my balance on the tree branch while I was running down it.

I leapt from the tree branch just as the tree’s roots gave out. I never really believed in the saying “My life flashed before my eyes” until that moment when it happened for me. While I was airborne I saw images of my deceased parents holding onto my hands as we went to the park, I saw images of my grandpa weeping into his hands at Mom and Dad’s funeral, I saw myself distanced from the other kids during middle school, I saw Grandpa whipping me into shape after I got into a fight with other kids, I saw myself holding my high school diploma high as Grandpa cheered for me and threw me a party for us two, I saw myself working at my small little place in the conveyer belt, and finally, I saw Grandpa’s miserable state with bloodstains around him.

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All of that happened in just a few seconds and then it was over, leaving a very bittersweet feeling behind. Focusing on the image of Grandpa and his bloody bed, I renewed my courage and reached for the next branch. I caught the branch with both hands, bloodying them even further than they already were, making me want to scream out in pain. I gritted through the pain and hoisted myself onto the branch. I shuffled down the branch and onto the other side. After doing that for a while and possibly ruining my hands for all of eternity, I finally made it to the fence for a third time. However, the sentries were still surrounding the tree I was in. It also seemed that they caught onto my plan and started to move toward the fence to guard me from running to it. Well the joke was on them, I wasn't planning on getting down and running. I planned to run and jump over the 10 foot gap.

The tree branch I was on was approximately 20 feet off the ground and the fence was 15 feet high. “If I got enough speed, I could probably make it.” I thought to myself. With thoughts of Grandpa in my head I started running and jumped before I could even think of stopping.

Airborne once again, I thought that I might see my life flash before I eyes a second time, but there was no such occurrence. There was just a steely feeling of how much this is going to hurt running through my mind. After contemplating that, I started focusing on my landing point, the bar at the top of the fence.

Seconds later, I made contact. Hard. I smashed my abdomen into the rail, most likely breaking more than a few ribs. The wind in my lungs was expelled like a professional boxer slugged an average person with the hardest blow they have right to the gut. I thought for a moment that I may never be able to breathe again, and as my sight became increasingly dim, I just hoped that I would be able to get out of this alive. After what felt like a short eternity, I finally got a breath in. Surprisingly my chest didn't hurt, so I didn't think much of it at the time, but later, I knew I would be feeling it with the force of a train. I vaulted the fence and, once again, slipped during my descent. My bloody hands weren't able to keep a good grip on the fence and I fell straight down onto my legs. I had experience in rolling out of a fall like this one and I subconsciously did a backwards somersault to a stop, and laid down in a star position as I tried to control my breathing.

“My God, I'm actually alive.” I said to myself, almost unwilling to believe it.

I knew that my fight wasn't over just yet though, the shoeboxes were on the other side of the fence. I wouldn't be able to get the, any time soon though, the sentries were just outside the fence trying to get a good picture of me. I shuffled around the corner and hid in the shade of the building. Hiding in the shade, along with nightfall, hid my personage adequately enough for their pictures to not focus on me.

Thirty minutes passed and the robots gave up, returning to their scheduled routes. As I breathed out a sigh of relief, I straggled over to the shoeboxes and looked at them through the fence. I sighed, knowing that I'd have to damage my hands even further. The only upside was that my adrenaline was running too high still for me to feel the pain.

I started digging underneath the fence. I didn't need to make a hole large enough for me to crawl through, just enough for me to drag the boxes through. The hole, finally dug, was covered in the blood of my hands, but I didn't have the time to care about that. I needed to get back to Grandpa so he could tell me what medications he would need for this new symptom he showed.

Once the bloodied shoeboxes were on my side of the fence, I took off the hoodie I was wearing and tore the shirt underneath into two, bandaging my hand with the strips. I put the boxes under my arms and slowly made my way back home.

Feeling colder than usual, I pulled up my shirt and noticed a gigantic bruise on my chest, most likely from my leap of faith. Cringing, I just prayed that I would be alright.

After a while, I made it back home. I opened the door to find…

END

Phew, that took a lot of work

Also for those curious: Lassitude - tired of body and mind.

Haze