He sat up quickly, hyperventilating as he breathed in the dusty moist air, he looked out the barred window, to the forest above him and the dark night sky. He pressed his hand against the cold stone walls of the cell he was in, he turned his body and stared out into the hallway. He stood up, his feet creaking against the old wooden floorboards. He wrapped his fingers around the metal bars as he looked down the hallway, the dark winding narrow walkway with the flickering lights above him. He sighed, looking at the floor, his old socks had holes in them, the water from above dripped on the floor and on his head, the slow quiet buzzing of electricity whirred through the cell as he blinked at the ground beneath him.

He looked up at the ceiling, his messy hair in his eyes as he rubbed the tiredness from his eyes. He couldn’t even remember how many days it has been since he was put in here, he couldn’t even remember why. He looked down the hallway again before huffing the mouldy air. He walked back over to his old rickety bed and sat down, before turning and laying down. He propped his head in his arm since he had no pillow, and curled his legs into a foetal position since he had no blanket or covers.

He closed his eyes, trying to drift to sleep, he had grown accustomed to the pain of his bones on the metal table he called a bed, he adjusted himself into a more comfortable position rolling over and over, whining in discomfort. He finally stopped and just stared at the blank ceiling. His breath was visible with the cold air, he blinked before looking out the window. It was still night-time, so he had to try and sleep but he really couldn't. He sat up and sat against the wall looking out the hallway as his heart-beat was quietly beating continuously.

He exhaled sharply, before he heard a slow whirring noise. Suddenly the door at the end of the hallway opened, and a man walked in followed by two soldiers, the man had his hands crossed behind his back as if he was someone of great importance to the point he should show manners and authority even in a prison. All three of them walked down the hallway stepping quietly, the floorboards creaking and their steps echoed through the hallway. He stood up, and walked to the cell bars, grabbing the metal bars and sticking his head out. He looked down the hall watching to see who they would grab before he watched them get closer and closer to his cell, he backed up as they stopped in front of his cell.

“Hello, Er.” The man spoke quietly,

“What do you want from me?” He said back to the man, who called him by his last name ‘Er.’

“It's not what I want from you, it's what I'm going to tell you.” The man hissed in response, “Now, be quiet. You're the prisoner here.”

“Yet you're the one talking to me. What is it?” Er. scowled,

“Fifty minutes from now, this prison will be a crash-site for a very big escape pod from the P.O.H.” The man grinned, “Why am I telling you this? That's because we are leaving you here, two birds with one very large stone.”

“Oh how very kind of you.” He grit his teeth in a scowling smile, “I hope you die in the wintertides.”

Wintertides, a storm that erupts down the snowy valley and explodes through the ground, like waves crashing against the shore, Wintertides are repetitive and everlasting endlessly crashing against the valley and freezing people to death. Nobody know how they started or why they started, but it was probably caused by the excess humongous size of the P.O.H interfering with the earth and the moon’s gravitational pull, the P.O.H. practically being so big it could be considered its own planet. The winter tides were probably caused just like the way regular tides were, just like how the moon makes tides, the P.O.H. probably makes the wintertides.

“Oh you wish, now good luck, Er.” The man said before waving his hand,

All three of them walked down the hallway and through the door before locking it behind them and leaving Er. all alone, what was he supposed to do, this couldn't be how he was really going to die. He spat on the floor before walking over to the barred window he turned and grabbed the bed pulling with all his feeble might. The scraping of metal sounded through the hallway as he pushed the bed in front of the window, he stood on top of it, grabbing the metal bars of the window and looking outside, in the sky was a very large bright burning object heading straight for the prison. He could hear the sound of vehicles driving away, and the sound of loading stuff into trucks and fast and loud footsteps.

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He turned and jumped on the bed before it snapped, falling on the floor. He looked at the bed, its legs torn apart and the frame snapped in half. He grabbed one of the legs and pried it into the metal doors keyhole, digging it in he turned it and it snapped, falling onto the floor.

“Dammit.” He sighed, “I can't die like this.”

He listened to the silence outside, everyone had already left. He looked outside, the burning ball of an escape pod heading towards the prison was closer and closer. He looked at the door, and at the escape pod, and looked at the bed frame, before grabbing the bed frame pushing it into the furthest corner away from where the impact zone was ‘supposed to be’. He pulled the objects on top of him as he hid in the corner, huddling into a ball, even if he didn't make it out of this, no use in not trying. He looked through the small crack in the bed frame looking out to see the burning ball of an escape pod heading straight for the prison, it looked like it was going to hit the prison in about ten minutes. He looked at the ground at his feet, and breathed quietly as he shut his eyes.

“I’m not dying today, I better not die today.” He said scrunching his eyes closed, his eyes slowly watering and dripping on the floor, “Please don’t let me die like this, I beg you.”

He held his knees to his chest, whining quietly, his eyes going blurry as he heard the air heating up and the loud rumbling as the escape-pod got closer. He shivered as he felt a cold run down his spine. The loud noise got closer and closer.

“Don’t let me die.” He whispered quietly,

The loud noise hit the prison, and the ground rumbled as it exploded, the prison crumbling underneath the weight of the escape-pod. The crumbling of debris and the loud boom as the explosion shook the valley. The loud ringing in his ears before he slipped into unconsciousness.

Crumble.

Thud.

He blinked awake, the fire around him humming as it threatened to consume him. No, he couldn’t die after surviving that, he looked behind him to see that the roof had crumbled and landed on his legs, he pulled forward trying to get out from underneath it, it was so heavy. It felt as if he couldn’t get out, but he couldn’t allow that. He had to keep moving. He grabbed the ground, the dust and sand scrunched up under his palm. He whined in pain as he struggled to breathe, anyone with a shred of knowledge would know they would eventually die of the smoke inhalation, he looked down at his shirt and ripped off the fabric on the bottom of his shirt, covering his mouth with it as he continued to crawl forward, he had to make it out of here alive. He had to keep telling himself that.

He turned and looked, he had managed to shimmy his way out from under the rubble, even if it was just by a couple inches it meant he could eventually get out. He had to keep moving, he had to Move Forward. He crawled and crawled, feeling the weight on his legs less and less until he felt something tug on the back of his leg, he looked back, a wire was wrapped around his leg and pants, he flipped on his back, his legs hurting. He sat up, his head pounding with pain, he leaned forward feeling the pain shooting up his back. He reached forward and ripped his pants to get the pain out, he scooted backwards and grabbed the wire and continued tugging until he felt pain shoot up his leg.

“Fuck.” He winced, groaning with pain as he leaned forward, his breath visible in the cold air. “Oh, fuck that hurts.”

He groaned in pain, the wire was wrapped around rebar next to his leg, and when he pulled the wire he had stabbed himself with the rebar. He breathed in and out slowing his heart, he reached forward and slowly untied and unknotted the wire. Reaching over he slowly pulled the rebar out of his leg, he whined in pain, blood dripping on the floor.

“Shit, that hurts so much.” He sighed,

He shook his head, he had to get out of here no matter what. He rolled back onto his stomach and leaned up, pressing his hands to the floor to get up, pushing himself up. He winced in pain and stared at the sky. The burning embers floating in the air, his throat choking, the fire burning around him, the crumbling of rebar and destroyed concrete structures. He couldn’t make it this far, he had to breathe, he pushed himself up to a standing position, hobbling across the floor and leaning against a wall. He walked across the floor, leaning against the wall as he tried to make it towards the opening, the fumes making him cough and gag as his eyes watered. He continued hobbling hopping on one leg.

When he finally made it out of the building, he hobbled across the snow, shivering in the cold. His teeths chattered together, he hopped across the snow, his feet freezing as he could feel his legs going numb from frostbite, he continued moving. He had to keep moving, he continued moving across the snow, it crunching beneath his feet, he soon made it far away from the prison, close to a mountain side and a withered forest, his feet thudding and padding across the snow, after making it so far he stepped on something and it slowly pressed down, he looked down to see that the floor had caved in slightly, only to then open up, he soon fell through the hole, and slammed into the floor, knocking the wind out of himself, and falling unconscious in the snow.

His ears rang in the darkness, the cold feel of metal against his back, and the warm flow of blood slowly dripping from the wound in his leg, they were the only senses he could feel. He could hear the slow whooshing of the wind as it passed him, caressing his skin in the night air.