Sam and Colby: The Penitentiary

59

                I woke up to a hand pressed over my nose and mouth, making it hard for me to breathe. It was completely dark out and I was still laying on the ground where I'd fallen asleep. I struggled under their grasp for a moment before I felt Colby kiss the back of my head, telling me that it was him covering my face. I relaxed against him and he lightened the hold he had on me, but didn't move his hand. I was about to sit up and try to figure out what was going on when I heard it.

Dogs.

There was a collar jingling and steps trotting through the twigs and pine needles on the ground, the noise of a busy nose and panting breath filling my ears. The dog was close, but I couldn't hear any people. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried my best not to even breathe, praying to god that we'd all make it through this without the guard dog finding us.

After what felt like an eternity, a whistle sounded and the dog ran away toward the sound, back toward the guards that had blown it. Colby slowly moved his hand away after a few minutes of silence.

"I'm sorry, you were breathing sort of loud," Colby whispered.

"No, it's okay," I whispered back. I sat up to see the other guys already sitting up, their eyes wide with fear.

"We're okay for now," Blaze whispered. "But we need to move. The guards will come out further next time and they might find us here. Come on."

We all quietly got up and slung our bags over our shoulders before quietly slipping out of the protection of the grove of bushes.

Blaze took a flashlight out of his bag and flicked it on, then pointed the light down at his boots. He began to slip them off. We all followed. The hard soles of our work boots were much louder on the busy forest floor than the soft padding of our thick socks.

We didn't have to run this time, but did our best to move quickly so we could put more ground between us and the prison before the guards came looking in this direction again. Colby kept a tight grip on my hand as we snaked our way through the trees in the dark.

"Where are we going?" Corey eventually asked.

"There's a cabin. Ten miles out from the edge of the prison's property. We're probably a mile or two away," said Blaze.

"You don't think the guards know about it?" asked Sam.

"Nah. None of them even live here in Petros. Plus the tree coverage is so dense I doubt they could even see it from above," Blaze said. We continued through the woods for the last couple miles, only stopping twice for a break and some water.

We eventually made it to a small bunch of trees and could barely see a dark looming shadow through the narrow gaps between the thick tree trunks. The closer we got to the shadow, the more defined it became. It was a small cabin, the exterior wooden wall planks faded grey with time.

We made our way up to the dilapidated old door that was wedged shut from the shifting of the house's structure over time. Jake used his shoulder to shove the door open and we all flooded inside before weaseling it shut behind us.

"I'm not going to lie, I wasn't sure if this plan was even going to work. Why did you trust Ray so much with all of this?" asked Blaze. I shrugged.

"Dude makes stupid decisions but he's good at what he does," I said shortly.

"Okay... I guess," said Blaze. "Let's get settled in for the night."