2 Prologue (2)

A cold draft swept a middle-aged man's face as he walked the small corridor. The light above head kept flickering on and off.

Clicking his tongue in dissatisfaction, he cursed.

"Fucking John told his ass to replace the bulb last week. Lazy good for nothing."

Soon his feet stopped moving as he turned his body to face a metal door. It was thick and sturdy; nothing was able to break it down. Well, maybe some explosives.

He grabbed a ring of keys that was looped onto his belt. Unlocking the door, he slid it to the right as he looked through the steel bars.

'Huh?'

He was visibly confused.

Someone was missing.

Quickly he reached for his flashlight that he kept in his right breast pocket. Turning it on, he pointed it towards the small cell.

Yet, he could not find the person he was looking for.

Experience was on his side, so he was not worried. Maybe the person who was held in this cell was taken outside for some fresh air. There were no signs of a hole or them having escaped.

A sound came from his radio that was held at his waist.

Still searching the cell with the flashlight in his left hand, he moved his right hand to grab the radio. He had nothing to report, but he could listen.

"Serg. Six inmates are missing from Block A."

"There are eight missing from Block C."

Someone else chimed in.

The two voices on the other side of the radio waited to see what their sergeant wanted them to do. Usually, he replied back swiftly, but this time, no reply came.

"Sir? Are you there?"

Something was wrong. He knew it, and from the tone in the man's voice on the other side of the speaker, he knew it too.

Quickly he closed the metal door and locked it just in case.

In one swift motion, he put the flashlight back into his breast pocket and the radio back on his waist. He ran forward, his hand gripped his pistol, ready to be drawn at any moment.

The sirens in the building started to go off, and all the people in it knew what that had meant. Total lockdown.

Prisoners were gone, and their sergeant was not picking up.

Rushing to the control room was the first step; they had to make sure no inmates were in control of it. He doubted that, but one could never be too cautious.

He snapped his body to the left, cutting the corner, and continued to run.

Seconds after he made the turn, his body vanished into thin air. His gun, radio, keys, flashlight… and more all fell to the ground.

The only items that did not fall off him were his shoes, socks, pants, and shirt.

Where was he? That was something no one could answer.

Although he was gone, that did not mean his colleagues were. A few made it to the control room and found that everything was in order. The guards still sat in their seats monitoring the cameras, but when they turned to look at those who entered the room, a confused look appeared on their faces.

"What the hell's wrong with you?"

"They are gone…"

"What do you mean gone?"

"They vanished… like disappeared!"

A large hand slapped the guard across the face trying to bring him back to reality.

"Get it to fucking gether, mate! Explain what happened."

The slap to the face hurt him, but he shrugged it off as he moved his fingers. Rewinding the recordings of what happened in Block A, he showed them exactly what he meant.

"What in God's name…"

What they saw stunned them. The people who they assumed escaped vanished into thin air.

Was this some kind of magic trick? Maybe. It was the only way to explain what occurred.

However, what shocked them the most was that everyone who disappeared was dangerous. Not all criminals were as big and bad as they thought they were, but those who had vanished were. Serial killers, mass murders, and terrorists. The worst of the worst.

They were not small-time murders either; they each killed more than twenty or thirty people before they were finally caught.

The television, which had no sound playing, changed screens. Instead of the soccer match that was playing, a news report appeared instead.

"Multiple instances of people disappearing across the world. We advise you to stay at home and do not drive until we have more information. Once again, we advise you to stay at home and do not drive."

The long blonde-haired woman said. The guards could not hear her, but the captions on the screen were readable.