Sallas 2: The Gilded Cage

Chapter Description: The escape is underway. Events are confused as Anna and Ryan are bundled away from the studio... but where are they going to go?

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There was a flurry of orders. Anna was still lying underneath the heavy weight of whoever was lying on top of her as she listened to barked orders and then people running in multiple directions. In the distance she could hear sirens. She hoped Thorn knew what she was doing because she suspected the entirety of government’s might was going to fall about them.

“Ryan?” Thorn’s voice was suddenly softer, “You may want to get off your wife.”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.” Ryan started pushing himself up, “I didn’t know if there were going to be any more explosions.”

“Lots more, I suspect.” Thorn said as she hurried around the car, “But we won’t be here to see them. Hurry up and get in.”

With the weight of her husband no longer on her back, Anna scrambled into the car and sat down. Her poopy diaper slid against her skin, and she wished she had a way of getting changed. It felt wrong that, in the company of all these professionals, she was waddling around with a full load in her underwear.

Anna slid to the far end of the seat and Ryan climbed in after her. Thorn was already turning on the engine as the door was closed. A second later the wheels were spinning and the car bumped over the various bits of brickwork as it sped down the street. Anna twisted around in her seat to look out the back window, she was just in time to see a couple of blacked out government cars skid to a halt. Men jumped out with handguns and started taking up positions. A couple of bullets were fired the car’s way, one sounding like it hit the bumper and the other missing entirely.

The shock of the violence was numbing Anna. She couldn’t believe what was happening, struggling to comprehend that this was the day she had been witing for her whole life, the chance to finally get out of that god forsaken country.

“Get down.” Ryan said as he belatedly pushed her down against the seat.

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Anna repeated as she shrugged his hands away and sat back up, leaning to the side a little to keep her head low.

The car skidded around a couple of corners as it hurriedly made its way to the edge of the city. Thorn, it turned out, was very good at dodging traffic and Anna had the impression that this wasn’t the first time she’d had to drive like a maniac.

“We cut it pretty close back there.” Thorn said. She glanced in the rearview mirror, “They reacted faster than I expected.”

“Are we safe?” Ryan asked. His voice was strained.

“Not in the slightest.” Thorn replied simply.

At that moment she swerved suddenly into oncoming traffic, weaving across lanes as cars spun and horns blared. Anna bumped against the door and held on as much as she could. How she wished she could’ve gotten a change, both of diaper and her dress. She felt ridiculous to be attempting the escape dressed as she was.

“They will be tracking us as much as they can.” Thorn continued as the car ended up back on the right side of the road with a little more space, “Don’t worry we’ve got some plans.”

Anna knew she needed to keep her head down, but she couldn’t resist looking out the window. There were electronic street signs, usually displaying advertisements, sometimes of herself, but now they all showed a very serious black screen with white text: “Ongoing Terrorist Attack: Find Shelter.”

Thorn turned the car off the main street and started going down some smaller roads until she eventually screeched into an alley. The walls were so close that on several occasions they scraped against the door. Anna looked out the windscreen to see a woman up ahead. She was holding a rifle in the air and as the car approached, she pointed to the side. Thorn pushed hard on the brake and the car came to a very abrupt halt.

“Get out.” Thorn said as she opened her door.

“Where are we?” Anna asked.

There was no answer. She pushed open the door of the car and stepped outside. There was a small turn in the alley, it looked like a dead end but there were several women there. They looked exhausted, a couple had bandages wrapped around them, many were smoking.

“They hit us hard, Ma’am.” On of them said as Thorn approached.

“I know.” Thorn replied, “What’s the situation?”

The soldier started rattling off places and numbers, likely of casualties. Anna stood sheepishly to the side with Ryan partly shielding her. She felt stupid, dressed in the over-the-top dress and messy diaper whilst all around her were strong women in their fatigues. She wondered what they thought, to have to risk so much just for her.

“Alright, we’ll switch to plan B.” Thorn said after hearing the latest updates, “Get yourselves out of the city, this place is going to be swarming with those bastards in minutes.”

Anna was unsure of exactly how anyone was supposed to get anywhere. They were crowded into an alley, surrounded on all sides with tall buildings, and the car was blocking them in. That was until she saw one woman with long hair tied back into a tight ponytail use a crowbar to lift up the sewer cover in the middle of them all.

“Good luck.” Thorn said.

One by one the women lowered themselves into the sewer. At least it distracted from the smell coming from Anna, the longer they stayed in one place the more she noticed it. She didn’t know why her brain was focusing so much on the state of her diaper when she could still hear the sounds of distant gunshots, perhaps it was because something she could understand, and her brain could grab hold of, a worry that she was very used to.

Only half the women were in the sewer when the sound of screeching tyres told them that they were no longer alone. There was barely half a second where nobody moved, then, as one, The Rose Resistance soldiers picked up their weapons and walked grimly forwards towards the car. The first one to reach the corner pushed herself so her back was flat against the wall, then she leaned round and levelled the rifle in one fluid motion and let off three deafening shots. They were met with a hail of gunfire in return. Most of the bullets smashing into the car they had arrived in, one of the tyres bursting loudly.

“Come on!” Thorn yelled.

The leader of The Rose Resistance grabbed Anna and unceremoniously shoved her to the hole in the ground. Anna looked down into the darkness below, then bent down, grabbed the edge of the manhole and lowered herself inside. At full stretch she didn’t quite reach the floor, she had to let go and dropped a foot or so on to the wet floor, a small platform next to the sewer current. She didn’t even want to think about what was under the waterline just next to her. As she looked up and down the tunnel, hearing the distant echoing calls of the soldiers that had dropped in before her, Ryan dropped next to her, and Thorn followed in double quick time.

“We have to-…” Thorn started. There was a loud explosion from above them, the gunfire picked up in intensity. Thorn stared up at the shaft of light coming down. She looked anguished, like she wanted to be up there with her troopers. She swallowed and looked back at her two charges, “We have to keep moving!”

The platform the three of them were standing on was only a few feet long. Just enough space for all the necessary dials and switches for maintenance work. Then there was a railing, and on the other side was the running water and God only knew what else. There was no time to be squeamish though.

Thorn jumped over first. Fortunately, the water was only ankle deep at that moment. Ryan followed and Anna was the last over the railings just as there was another explosion above them. In the gloom, they all looked up as one of Thorn’s soldiers peeked down. She had a nasty cut across her forehead.

“Go!” She yelled. She grunted as she lifted the heavy sewer cover and dropped it in to place.

For a few seconds they were in darkness. Thorn was fiddling about with something in her pocket and turned on a flashlight. She nodded her head for the others to follow, and they began splashing their way through the sewer. Anna looked around at the dark walls, she didn’t consider herself to be claustrophobic, but she had to admit, with the way their thin beam of line bounced off the old bricks, she did get the impression of the walls closing in.

“Hold on, I need to check something.” Thorn paused. And pulled out a map that had been folded up in her pocket.

They had been walking for ten minutes. The sounds of urban combat had vanished. Ryan had asked if it meant the fighting was over, Thorn said that for their sake they had better hope not. It was more likely that they were completely insulated from the noise, underground in their tunnel, where all they could hear was themselves moving through the water and the occasionally scurrying rat.

Anna shivered in the darkness. It wasn’t cold, but the oppressive atmosphere was getting to her. The further they moved down the tunnels, the more it started to feel like they would never leave them. It seemed that Thorn might’ve noticed how her two followers, less adept in survival than she, were struggling.

“The longer we’re down here, the better.” Thorn said as if engaging in casual conversation, “They can’t track us down here.”

“Can we get to the coast through here?” Ryan asked.

“No.” Thorn replied, “The sewers become impassable long before leaving the city.”

“Then how are we going to get there?” Ryan continued. The note of panic in his voice matched how Anna was feeling on the inside.

“Just follow me.” Thorn said simply.

They did so. Through the pitch-black tunnels. It felt to Anna like they might be journeying further and further downwards. With the darkness closing in behind them it was easy to believe they were descending deeper into the Earth than anyone had been before. It was doing nothing to help Anna’s feelings of being completely alone and adrift.

“Ah ha.” Thorn said a few minutes later, “Here we are.”

The three of them had come upon an access platform much like the one they had landed on when jumping in the sewer in the first place. This one appeared to have special meaning though, how Thorn could tell was mystery to Anna, it looked the same as all the others to her. She hoped that getting above ground would give them a chance to pause for just a minute. Her diaper area was getting increasingly itchy.

Thorn climbed over the railing first and then helped Anna and Ryan. Before they had even taken a moment to catch their breath the leader of The Rose Resistance was climbing the ladder up to, presumably, a manhole cover. She paused just long enough to turn off her flashlight before pushing on the cover above her head. She grunted and growled, but it was only when Ryan climbed up next to her, awkwardly sharing the same rungs of the ladder, that they began to make progress. Once it was lifted slightly it was a lot easier to slide it away.

Thorn was the first person to stick her head above ground, aiming the pistol she was carrying as she made sure the coast was clear. She climbed up the remaining steps and then helped Ryan up. Anna was the last of the three to leave the sewers and she sincerely hoped they wouldn’t be returning to them any time soon.

It turned out that the manhole they had just exited was at the bottom of a multi-storey car park. Thorn was already walking between rows of vehicles; Anna was reduced to waddling to keep up. Just as she was about to ask where they were going, Thorn stopped in front of a large black van. The resistance leader bent down by the nearest wheelarch and reached behind the tyre. When her hand came back, she was holding a key.

“Get in the back.” Thorn said as she pressed a button that presumably unlocked the doors.

“Do we have time for me to change?” Anna asked rather hopefully.

“Afraid not.” Thorn replied, “Government goons could descend on us at any second.”

Anna climbed into the back of the van. There were a couple of wooden benches affixed to the walls, and between the back of the vehicle and the driving compartment there was a window. It suddenly struck Anna that it seemed very official, like she wouldn’t have been surprised to see Mr. Sawyer riding around in one.

“Where did you get this?” Ryan asked as Thorn got into the front and started the engine.

“It’s stolen.” Thorn replied proudly, “Used to be a police van.”

The van started rolling. As she drove, Thorn started talking on the radio again. She had been out of contact whilst in the sewer and was now asking for situation reports. It was hard to tell if she was happy with what she was being told.

“Are you OK?” Ryan asked Anna.

“I think so.” Anna said, “Honestly, I think my brain is back at the studio still.”

“I know what you mean.” Ryan was sitting on the opposite side of the van, but he leaned forwards and reached a hand out, gently stroking Anna’s knee.

The windows in the back of the van were blacked out but Anna could just about see the outside world if she pressed her face against them. She watched them leave the car park, tyres squealing on the floor, and get back on the road. It seemed like they were in a less dense part of Kingston now, there was less traffic and no sounds of trouble. It was hard to know if that was a good thing or not.

“We haven’t had a chance to thank you.” Anna said as they carried on down the road. With no one directly chasing them, the van was moving at a sedate pace.

“We haven’t made it yet.” Thorn replied.

“For trying.” Anna said with a shrug, “It’s more than I could’ve expected.”

“Yeah, well, you know how to pay us back.” Thorn replied as she looked in the mirror, “We’ve used practically everything on this. I like to gamble, and this is one of the biggest. If it doesn’t pay off, well, let’s not worry about that right now. The point is, we need you to raise the profile of our struggle.”

Anna still didn’t have a clue if she could manage such a thing, but she was certainly resolved to doing her best. Everything seemed to be remarkably calmer. Perhaps the plan had worked, maybe all the government forces were engaged in the centre of the city, in the confusion it would’ve been very easy to lose them. The van left the city and went into the suburbs. That was when Anna noticed something about the area they were driving through.

“Wait… I know where we are.” Anna said slowly.

“Uh huh.” Thorn grunted.

“We’re near the house!” Anna cried out in excitement.

“It’s the quickest route that isn’t blocked.” Thorn said distractedly. She was spending half her time looking at where she was going and the other half checking a map, “As far as I can tell anyway, information is getting a little hard to come by.”

“Are the battles not going well?” Ryan asked.

Thorn didn’t respond. Anna got the feeling that her rescuer was perhaps losing more people than she had expected. She at least hoped the troops weren’t being captured, she could imagine what their fate would be, it wasn’t one she would want for the people risking their lives for her. That was of secondary importance right then though. There was nothing she could do for the troops engaged in firefights, but there was one person she could save.

“Go to the house.” Anna said as she slid up the bench until she was closer to Thorn.

“No.” Thorn replied simply, “That’s just about the worst place we could go right now.”

“Listen, we have to get Jane.” Anna pleaded, “I can’t leave her here. Once they work out what has happened, they will torture her!”

“If they haven’t worked it out already.” Thorn countered, “If the word got out that we had pulled you two from the studio, where do you think they would look first?”

“I know, but we’re already taking such a risk.” Anna said, “You said you like to gamble, right? You’ve taken a chance on me? You’ve asked us to trust you so many times, that includes Jane, I can’t abandon her, not when she’s so close.”

The turning to the gated compound was up ahead. Thorn was still silent.

“It will take literally seconds!” Anna exclaimed, “I’ll run in and grab her, bundle her in and we’ll go!”

Anna was getting desperate. The van was still continuing on with no signs of slowing down. She thought about telling Thorn she would refuse to cooperate if she got out, but it was an empty threat, and she knew it. If there was a chance to take Sallas down, Anna would grab it with both hands. That left an even more drastic option. Her eyes lowered down to Thorn’s hip, where she saw the woman’s holster…

“Anna, I’m sorry, but…” Thorn started.

Anna didn’t have time to think. She had to act. It was her impulsiveness that had got her into trouble so many times in the past, maybe this was just another of them. She quickly reached down and grabbed the handle of Thorn’s pistol; she pulled it free of the holster and held it in shaking hands. She had never held a gun before; it was a lot heavier than she expected.

“We are going to get Jane!” Anna said as she pointed the gun at Thorn.

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