He could hear them moving around, but that wasn’t going to stop him. He got one of the papers on which he could try to decipher the text and folded it neatly inside of his pocket. Along with the plan to place the fake evidence, he had to map the lower floor as well. He got a pencil from the table, too. Urien went ahead and checked the door that led into the Main Room: there was no one there except for John.

“Hey, John. I’m getting hungry… I’ll go to the cafeteria to grab something, I’ll be back in a couple of minutes” – said Urien, cooperatively.

“Sure, just make sure to solve that cipher or you will have to go through TEST#003, that was our deal. Don’t forget to leave the trash in your room’s trash can” – John didn’t raise any suspicions. It was a clear way towards the cafeteria, so to make his actions more believable, he went ahead and got a couple of things. He sat down in the empty cafeteria, ate and drank it all, and went on ahead to put it all into the trash can in his room. To his surprise, it really was empty, and they really were checking them every morning. “It’s a good thing I threw away the knife…” – he thought.

Upon his way towards the lower floor, he noticed John coming into his direction.

“Where are you going?”

“I have to clean my hands; I’ll be right back.

“I admire the fact you keep good hygiene in such a situation. I’ll be waiting for you in the Main Room, so you can show me your progress.”

Urien nodded and went ahead towards the stairway. This was where he started to note everything he could about this floor, as well. Seeing as they weren’t checking his pockets, a good idea emerged inside of his mind. “I’ll take the map I’m hiding, and I’ll just place the fake evidence there instead. Sure, I won’t have a hidden spot for hiding things, but them trusting me is sure to play a bigger part in my escape here than that hiding spot…”

As he was standing in the middle of the spacious room with the gym equipment, Urien made sure to make a map inside of his mind, which he would then draw.

Before heading to the toilets, though, he made a full walk around the whole floor, even trying to open some of the doors which weren’t being watched by the cameras (that is, which weren’t in their line of view).

He got to the room where he had completed TEST#002, and sure, it was locked, but seeing it again made him shiver.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“That’s where I… Never mind. I’m feeling better now…”

As he was checking to see if there were any unlocked doors, he had no luck. There were so many, and the floor was such a large size that he realized if he doesn’t hurry up, it might just raise the slightest suspicion. Next to a door labeled “ELEVATOR”, he found a blind spot, behind a certain wall, and decided to draw the left side of the floor. The elevator intrigued his interest, so he marked it with an “E” on the paper. All that was left was the right side, where the toilets were…

As he was walking through the hallways, he wasn’t completely invisible to the cameras. In an unknown room, somewhere inside of the building, was Woodfield, watching him. The moment in which he had started watching him was after he had left the blind spot, signaling to Woodfield that he was in fact on the left side of the building, for no apparent reason.

“Great, now to hide this.”

Out of the hidden spot behind the tile he got out the blood-red map he had drawn a couple of days ago. It was still the same, untampered with, and the smell was still as bad as it was.

He put in into his pocket, and after drawing the second map as well, he made sure to hide the fake knife inside the tile. His plan was all set in stone. After finishing his hygiene, he made his way back to the Main Room with the two maps in his pockets.

“Hey, I’m all done. Open the door.”

John opened the door from the inside.

“That took you longer than expected. Come on, let's look at the cipher.”

Urien got inside of the Main Room, and then, with John following him, made his way back into the smaller side room which was where the investigation was undergoing.

“What I have deciphered so far, is that some of the letters, you can turn them around, and you can flip the paper upside down as well, some of the words come to life, and you realize the way the cipher works.

Here is the part that I have deciphered:

“am Dorothy. Thr s a knf nsd of th bathroom stall! Look for the numbrs blow, thy wll lad you to t!“

„Some of the words still don't make sense to me – this is the closest that I have gotten.“

John was intrigued:

“So, their name is Dorothy! Well, I notice almost no vowels… Have you tried putting in the letters “E”, or perhaps “I”? I can make out some of the words that way!”

John felt accomplished that he was deciphering it so masterfully, yet he didn’t know that all of it was an elaborate scheme by Urien to make him feel as if he was still above him. Urien felt great, he was about to realize about the knife, and Urien was even to be thanked for it! A couple of minutes passed by while John tried deciphering it.

“I got it, I got it! You did it Urien! It… Oh my… I cannot tell you what it says, I must report this to Woodfield immediately. You just did us a huge favor, thank you Urien!”

Urien smiled and thanked him for the kind words. John sprinted into an unknown direction, towards Woodfield. They were about to find the knife, and thanks to Urien’s little scheme, no way would they belittle him as much as they have these past few days.

“I did it, I actually did it. Thank God he wasn’t that interested in my process of deciphering, all of that was pure nonsense which I have told him! Such a sweet victory, the tides are changing…”