8: The Orchestrated Escape Plan

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It had been roughly three hours by the time Syrena returned to her station, Dawn guessed as there was no true way of knowing. Leixa had left once the Commander returned, seemingly bored with the both of them now that the novelty of meeting a human had worn off.

The monster was making a clear point of ignoring her, obviously unwilling to be put in a similar situation and made to look like a fool again. While Dawn enjoyed holding the upper hand, it meant nothing if she could not act on it. It meant nothing if she could not escape and return to her family. Dawn refused to think of them, not wanting to be distracted by and agonising over how they must feel knowing Dawn's name was on the missing list.

The Venturer knew she wouldn't be able to fight her way out of her confinement, the monsters were much too strong for that, not to mention highly trained. Her pathetic struggle against her captor was enough proof of that. So that left her mind, which was arguably her second best weapon. She had already come up with a plan, now all she had to do was execute it and hope that it worked.

"So, I have a question," Dawn began, lazily gazing at the monster standing guard. "And I'm not going to shut up until you answer it."

"What?" She could hear the thinly veiled frustration in the one word from Syrena.

"How good is your memory? Better than humans or about the same?"

"Better." Of course it was.

"Perfect."

Dawn began singing. She was not skilled in this particular activity, her voice too rough and guttural to be considered pleasant, but Dawn did not need a pleasant voice to sing a positively filthy song.

The Base had quite a few known songs, most of which were sung at the festival. This song was not sung by the bonfire, but by Watchers on duty, entertaining themselves anyway they knew how to make the time pass faster.

"Stop singing." Dawn knew her song was having the desired effect as the tips of Syrena's ears had turned pink. "You're not allowed."

Dawn paused, happy to have discovered this particular weakness. How handy it was to have a guard who was incredibly prudish. "Alas, I don't recall seeing that rule in the handbook of inmates."

"Don't be ridiculous." The monster huffed, refusing to look anywhere but the wall.

Shrugging, Dawn continued her song. She had just gotten to a splendid part about nibbling on knockers when Syrena whipped around to face her, looking for all the world as though she was going to rip out her tongue.

The monster was actually blushing. "I said stop!"

Dawn had to stifle her urge to giggle. "You know, you really ought to be thanking me for this. Not many monsters can say they learned a human song directly from the source."

"You call that a song?"

"One of the best ones."

"You are a savage little creature."

"So you keep saying." Dawn leaned back, grinning. "Would you like to hear the next verse? There's a rather racy bit about a fountain which I think you'll enjoy."

"I'm going to find something to bind your mouth with." Syrena snarled, already walking towards the exit. "We'll see how much you can sing then."

"Don't give me a challenge."

As soon as the door to the dungeons closed and enough time had passed to know she was out of earshot, Dawn sprang to her feet and flew to the door. Picking out the emergency hairpins that she kept in her boot, she jammed them straight into the lock. Hairpins, while incredibly unassuming, were excellent tools to have in situations such as these. She had to work fast if she wanted to slip out of the dungeons unnoticed. It was quite a tough lock to crack, but mercifully, Dawn still managed to hear a faint click. It almost felt surreal, swinging open the door to her cell and stepping out. She didn't waste time enjoying the sensation, she still had the most difficult part to get through first.

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