Fuck, fuck, fuck, Lucas thought as the remaining heat from the chimney burned his back. He knew it was hot when he got in, but he also didn’t know how much time he had before the prisoner escape alarm sounded, so he decided to bear the pain. It was ironic, however, how he kept putting himself in a position of having to endure excruciating pain. Is it possible that I have masochist tendencies or something? He wondered during the brief periods where he could form coherent thoughts through the pain.

Another issue that became clear once he entered the chimney was that he was terrible at climbing it. It was pretty basic stuff in theory—you place your back against the wall and move upwards with your feet and arms, a feat many children had already accomplished. But Lucas wasn’t raised to be wild and free; he was raised to be safe and guarded, and now the consequence of being a sheltered child was taking its toll as he moved really slowly and painfully through the brick chimney.

Fortunately, his guard boots were enough to protect his feet, but his shirt already had a huge hole in the back, where a red skin could be seen, and his arms, which were helping him ascend, weren’t much better.

He could have pretended to be a guard and tried to walk out of the prison this way, but he didn’t trust his acting skills to pull this off. Besides, the guards seemed pretty familiar with each other, a new face would raise attention, and it would be hard to move inside the prison.

He had only put on the guard uniform in the off chance he met somebody. However, the route he had taken had its pros and cons as well. While he didn’t need to interact with anyone, he wasn’t sure what to do once he left the chimney, due to him not being able to see the roof of the prison from the yard. But he was counting on his extra chance to get him off the hook in case things went terribly wrong.

Even with his improved body, it took him almost seven minutes to get out of that chimney, and the pain from the burn on the skin was awful. It took him some time to compose himself, and during this time he wondered why he couldn’t gain a skill that could inhibit pain.

Only after the brunt of the pain had subsided was he able to look around, and he saw a pretty massive roof. It wasn’t at all what he was expecting from a prison roof; it looked more like the roof of a big mansion, with its ups and downs and its roof tiles. From up there, he could see the layout of the prison, and he noticed that apart from the two lookout posts he had seen before, there were two others on the other side, making a perfect square. To complete the mission, he would have to get out through one of those.

Shifting his eyes from the lookout posts to the roof, he singled out a couple of places where he could probably find a window due to their design, and went to the closest one, with an idea forming in his mind. He didn’t want to play the role of a guard, but maybe he could do something else. After a few minutes of carefully walking through the roof, he reached the location he had aimed for.

Slowly, he peered from the side and saw through a window what looked like a file room of some sort, with a few rows of files lined up, but there was no one there, so he continued on his way. He did the same thing a couple more times, without any luck, when, on his fourth attempt, he found what he was looking for. My ticket out, he thought, looking at a man with gray hair wearing a suit, sitting with his back against the window at a pretty expensive-looking table.

Lucas wasn’t sure if that was his target, but he was about to find out. He placed his hands on the top frame of the window and made a swinging motion, kicking the glass and falling inside that man’s office. Without any delay, Lucas placed him in a chokehold and took him away from his table.

“Is your door locked?” Lucas asked.

“Wha-what do you think you’re doing? Do you have any id—“

“Shut up!” Lucas exclaimed, close to his ear. “Answer me now, or I’ll break your neck.”

“…No, it isn’t locked.”

“Let’s go lock it, then.” Together they moved towards the door and Lucas made sure the door was locked before returning to their previous spot.

“They will be here soon; they must’ve heard the noise of the glass being broken…”

“Yes and you will tell them very calmly that you only dropped your cup, and not to worry,” Lucas replied.

“What if they don’t believe me?”

“Aren’t you the director? Your word is the law,” Lucas replied, and the man didn’t correct him, confirming he was indeed the director. Lucas sighed internally; this plan involved more variables than he would normally like.

A few seconds later, some people really came to his door, asking if everything was okay, and the director replied as ordered. He had no reason to believe Lucas wouldn’t break his neck; he had been a prison director for too long, and he knew what the prisoners were capable of. This was the first time he found himself at the mercy of one, however, so he thought it would be better to obey him for now.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“All right, that lookout post, the one closer to your window, what is it called?” Lucas asked. He could see the lookout post from the window, but it was too far to see many details.

“It’s the East Post,” he replied quickly.

“How many guards are there in the East post?”

“Two.”

“And when is the next changing of guards?”

“… around two hours from now.”

I can’t wait that long, Lucas thought. He looked again towards the outside to see the lookout post; it was about a thousand yards from where he was standing.

“Look, young man…” the director began to say but Lucas cut him off.

“Shut up. Do the guards, have… binoculars?”

“Of course.”

“Guns?”

“Yes.”

Dammit. He knew it was a stupid plan, but he really didn’t want to go through an orc’s toilet, or stain his resume by inciting a race war. Lucas stayed silent for a while, thinking about his possibilities until he came up with an idea that didn’t totally suck.

“All right, call them and tell them that you need backup, that some prisoners are trying to start some shit and you are short-staffed, and that someone will be coming to take their post soon, and not to worry,” Lucas said, and before the director could protest, he gave a little squeeze with his arms, and the old man shut up.

The director made the call and told them what Lucas had asked of him. It took some convincing, however, probably due to the novelty of the situation, and towards the end the director went off-script, telling them that their backup would meet them on the way, which warranted a squeeze from Lucas, making the old man choke a little before he continued talking. But the mess was already done. After he hung up, Lucas questioned him.

“Why did you say a guard would meet them on the way?” He was really pissed off and considering whether he should just kill him on the spot, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. The director realized the seriousness of the situation and was direct.

“They weren’t believing me; they kept questioning. You have to understand that a situation like this is very unusual; they are never supposed to leave their post unguarded. I had to say that, otherwise they would become suspicious.”

Lucas considered what he said and couldn’t argue that his logic wasn’t sound, but the situation still sucked, so he knocked him out to relieve a little of his stress. He had to admit it was really satisfying to see people go down so easily, it was almost addictive, but he had no time to enjoy the feeling.

His new plan, which was already shaky from the start, now had one more major flaw: him. Despite him being in a guard uniform, he had just gotten out of a chimney, and his skin was covered with ashes. Not only that, but his shirt was now soaked with sweat and had a huge hole in the back. Lucas grabbed some tissue he found on the table and started to wipe his face and hands really fast; he didn’t have much time. Finding a mirror, he saw the results of his rushed efforts; there was a dude who just got back from his job as a chimney sweep looking back at him.

“Dammit!” Lucas couldn’t help but yell in frustration. Whatever, I’ll just say there was a fire, he thought after a few seconds, and soon after began his descent through the roof.

Thankfully, despite not wearing his equipment at the moment, he was sure the stats they gave were still with him after those few punches he threw, and that meant that he could make his descent a little riskier but also a lot faster.

After a few minutes, he was on the ground. Fortunately, the guards were moving so they didn’t have their binoculars on, or else they might have seen a very suspicious-looking person climbing down the roof from the director’s window. After taking a breath, Lucas began to walk towards the lookout post, and a few minutes later he saw a couple of guards looking at him with very penetrating eyes.

I didn’t want to play the role of a guard, and here I am, playing the role of a very suspicious-looking new guard, covered with ashes and sweat.

“Hey, guys,” Lucas complimented.

“Stop,” one of them said, and Lucas stopped, two feet away from them. “What happened to you?” The guard frowned, inspecting him.

“There was a fire, it’s a whole thing, but thank God this is out of my hands now. Good luck to you, haha,” Lucas said and started walking again.

“Wait,” the other guard said, raising his hand, preventing Lucas from going any further. “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before…”

“Look, the orders for me to come here came straight from the boss, do I really need to go into this interrogation now?” Lucas said, faking an annoyance in his voice. Both guards looked at each other until the first to speak said:

“I don’t know man, there’s something fishy going on here…”

Lucas rolled his eyes at that. Did he really need to go through this whole thing when the prison gates were so close to him? Screw it, he thought. The next thing he knew, his arm was swinging towards one of the guards’ face. Catching him off guard, it was easy to throw him to the ground, but the other guard was prepared and he had some skill back him up.

They fought for about two minutes, Lucas making full use of his boxing ability, and soon he began to take the upper hand as the man’s face became bloodier and bloodier. When the guard saw he wasn’t going to win, he tried to take out his gun as a last resort, but Lucas didn’t let him shoot, and pretty soon, he was disarmed and thrown to the ground with his partner.

However, at this point, the alarms were sounding. Maybe someone had seen his fight, or the guards near the crematorium had woken up, or perhaps the director; whatever the case, Lucas started running in zigzag, trying to avoid the shots that were being fired in his direction not long after.

He really considered for a few seconds if he should quit and start over, but the proximity of the gate didn’t let him do that. It was now or never. It took him only thirty seconds to reach the gate, but just when he was about to cross it, he felt a terrible pain coming from his back. He didn’t dare stop being so close to his goal, and when he finally crossed the gate, he saw… the sea.

Do I have too…

All went black again, and the next thing he knew, he was in a hotel room in his old clothes, looking intensely at the notification that had popped up.

First floor completed. 10,000 points earned.

Bonus objective completed: Complete the floor in less than a day. 2,000 points earned.

Bonus objective completed: Don’t cause any deaths. 500 points earned.

Current points: 12,500.