The Escape
Turns out Joey was indeed the father of Patrick but his mate and the remains of his pack are still out in no man’s land. They got separated during a run in with other rogues and haven't seen each other since. I could relate to the feeling of missing loved ones, not knowing if they were okay or even alive. It was a concerning thought that never seems to go away, just slightly fades over the many months.
Sarah was older than me by around two years, she has found her mate but is not currently mated. His name is Chandler I can tell she misses him by the way her eyes cloud over when she thinks about him. Her longing is not as strong as Joey's, as Joey has probably been mated for quite a few years the bond is stronger but I guess the presence of his child kept him sane.
It was the early hours of the morning, the light was slipping through the iron bared windows and cascading over the dark room encasing it in light. Breakfast should be arriving shortly; it always came early in the morning just after sun rise. As expected, the basement doors swung open and the guards started walking down the stairs carrying the bowls of slop they try and pass of as oatmeal. Normally I'd be allowed to have breakfast with Zack and Rosella, but with more than one rogue here (me) it meant the pack had to feed breakfast to the prisoners.
They slid the bowls of slop through the small mall slot sized hole at the bottom of the bars. They gave us a hateful glare before leaving the basement. I watch almost amused as the rouges approached the barely edible food and their faces screw up in horror at just the smell of it.
"What is that daddy?" Patrick asks scared hiding behind his father's legs, staring at the bowls in horror. I chuckled slapping my knees just cracking up in my cell. They turned to look at me like I was crazy and I stopped laughing.
"How do you eat this?" Sarah asks puzzled, as if she couldn't apprehend how a human being could even touch it let alone digest it.
"You don't." I tell her walking up to the bars and pressing myself up against the bars. I reach down grabbing my plate and bringing it back up, so they could see what I am doing. I grab one of the old blankets off the bed, the one that's falling apart. I grab an older bowl I've stored away from another meal and poured the oatmeal through the blanket like a sieve and drain the water into the extra bowl. Putting the dried up oatmeal back into the bowl, it looked a lot less sloppy.
"Every second morning they serve honey on toast. I normally save some honey from my toast to flavour my oatmeal with, it's actually not that bad as long as you keep your 'sieve' fairly clean." I explain grabbing half a slice of honey on toast and scrape the honey into the bowl sticking the bread in the mouth sucking on the remaining honey. I position the bowl of honey oatmeal carefully and slid it under my bars all the way to theirs. They smile in appreciation and start to eat the oatmeal I prepared for them, Patrick happy chewing away at the oatmeal I made and Joey sent me a smile silently thanking me for providing his son an edible meal.
It was in this moment as the trio ate their breakfast, trapped behind bars treated like criminals for something that wasn't their fault made me extremely mad. I used to believe that rogues got what they deserved, imprisoned, and often killed, but none of these people deserved it. I didn't deserve this, I knew very well I could leave whenever I want because I'm a minor in the eye of the law but they aren't and even Patrick is still legally a rogue because he's under the care of his rogue father and mother.
As much as I respected and cared about Rosella and Zack, I was going to organise a prison break. I've been here long enough I may be able to pull it off, what happens after might actually be harder.
"Is anyone up for a prison break?" I ask casually and their heads turn in my direction so fast it was scary. Their jaws seemed to hang open as if dislocated unnaturally.
"That's it you're crazy!" Sarah exclaims standing up off the concrete floor and waves her arms around the room as if it emphasises her point.
"Crazy? Or genius?" I say to myself but she seems to hear it and gives me the stink eye, I smile sheepishly walking over to my cell bars. I shake them until I find the slightly loose ones, Rosella and Zack were never worried about how secure my cell was and I'm almost feel guilty to now use that trust against them. Just like Joey did yesterday I started ramming into the cell bars, although I was not a very large or powerful 15 year old girl but the loose bar popped out of place fairly easily. I quickly grabbed the bar before it could hit the ground and lightly leaned the bar up against the side of the wall. I grab the keys which are locked away in a metal box, but stupidly enough I knew the passcode for the lock. Unlocking the metal box, I grab the cell keys that are on a ridiculously cliché large key ring, Joey stares at me emotionless as I unlock the cell door and opened it up wide.
"How...?" Joey finally manages to ask and I give him a sweet smile.
"The best way to survive in the world we live in is to have allies, be observant and stay out of trouble." I say with a wink giving them all a hand signal to follow behind me. I bring my index finger up to my lips indicating I wanted them to be quiet. I sneaked up the basement staircase, and open the door peaking my head out into the living room. No one was home, as I expected I knew all the guard rotations and the pack schedules, it is key to be observant. I step into the living room and cautiously the rest of my 'cell mates' come into the living room.
"Go out the back door and run north to the border, do not stop whatever you do. I will create a distraction by the southern borders to lure any guards or wandering pack members my way. Hide in the woods and return to your family." I explain the plan, it was quite simple for them of course. Leaving me to do all the hard work, I still have no idea how I'm going to create a big enough distraction but I have to try. They'd execute them within the week, Patrick might be allowed to join the pack or he will be imprisoned until he's 16 and then executed and for some reason I really don't want that to happen if I can prevent it.
They reluctantly start to leave but Joey turns to me before he goes and walks towards me. I was very surprised when he pulls me into a fatherly hug.
"Thank you." He whispers softly in my ear and I nod, he releases me giving me one last smile before breaking into a sprint following behind Patrick and Sarah. I let out a deep breath and run my fingers through my hair.
"Guess I'm going rogue sooner than expected." I said to myself shrugging my shoulders before walking into the kitchen and grabbing a box of matches from in the pantry. I walk into the living room and I'm about to leave before I notice a pen and notepad on the dining room table. I felt compelled to walk over there and leave a note, I knew I had to be quick but I couldn't think of how to properly thank them after all they've done for me. I manage to sum it up before quickly bolting through the front door. I run to the garden shed and get the lawn mower fuel and quickly carry it through the pack grounds.
Today is Saturday, the day the pack has breakfast together as a big happy family and I was about to intentionally ruin their morning. I go to the training grounds by the Southern borders, it's the only building on the land that hasn't had new a sprinkler system put into place.
Sprinkling the fuel all over outside walls of the building before walking inside. I found a wall plug and poured the remaining fuel on it to make it look like an electrical fire. I quickly light the match standing back away from the plug before throwing the lit match down on the plug. I run out of the building just as the whole thing sets alight. The fact that I smell like fuel helped me sneak through the pack lands, hiding behind buildings every time a pack member's rushing to help put out the fire, smelling only smoke in their senses not the stench of a rogue.
I manage to run all the way to the edge of the territory before a wolf came charging towards me, I could tell it was Zack's wolf. He stopped a few metres in front of me and started to whine, pointing back towards the pack house. I shook my head in disagreement.
"I'm sorry Zack, I can't." I tell him holding back the tears and crosses over the border into no man’s land, I could hear Zack's whines grow softer and it broke my heart as I ran farther away from a place, I'd considered home for 11 months. I ran until my muscles felt like jelly, my breath was quick and thick as I was trying to catch my breath. I heard the rustle of leaves come from behind me before a wolf jumps out at me. I didn't recognise the wolf but I could smell the rogue all over him. The wolf got down in a defensive stance and I braced myself for his attack. Suddenly another figure came running out from the bushes, it jumped onto my lap and I cradled the body to my chest quickly identifying him as Patrick. Sarah walked out of the bushes and smacked Joey in the middle of his chest.
"Calm down papa wolf, it's just Dawn." She snickered and Joey's wolf grinned sheepishly, obviously thinking I was a dangerous rogue that was going to hurt his family before he realised it was just me. He shifted back into his human form, behind the bush and quickly gets changed coming back out into the clearing and smiling at me.
"Glad to see you made it out safely." Joey says with a bright smile and I nodded releasing Patrick from our hug.
"So, what now?" Sarah asks with a bored expression, and I chuckled. That was a very good question, one that I thankfully had the answer to. I smirked like a Cheshire cat standing up off the ground and turning to face them.
"I have an idea."…