Code

[A month ago. 16 days after the arrest.]

Jaina turned to her. The queue continued, but the two of them were left alone.

Zella's eyes were still on the floor.

Earlier while having some breakfast, they slipped in the paper, and her punishment was printed on it.

Jaina asked, "What's the punishment you're getting?"

Zella hesitated.

She can hear the scream, but thinking of the chair, and the electrodes attached to her body… perhaps, she should be silent, or else, the punishment wouldn't be as peaceful as it is.

She'd sit there, looking at the two-way mirror, with no relative being there to witness your death, and would pray that her next life wouldn't be that cruel.

Just thinking of it made her fingertips twitch, as if the air was electrocuting her.

"Electrocution until death, Jaina," Zella muttered in a low voice.

She shouldn't be that embarrassed, right? Or she's scared? There's a huge difference between the two.

Zella sighed, staring at Jaina's spectacles, and pursed her lips.

"That's why I wanted to get out, Jaina. I've never been threatened, in my whole life, at this rate. I don't know what will happen to me in the next few days. I felt like…"

It has been the first time she cried after going inside the penitentiary state.

She sobbed in the middle of the cafeteria's entrance, and Jaina hugged her.

Zella sobbed. Jaina shushed, soothing her back.

…

"Do you think there's a code in here?" Zella kept on staring at the five mnemonics the secret fugitive who went out of this cell on his own.

Maybe the two of them, along with his cell mate.

Zella racked her brain, trying to interpret the message, as Jaina slumped at the bunker bed, hitching it from her hand.

Zella stared at the ventilation, and good thing no one noticed it's not locked anymore.

She just had to find some time to go inside the duct and survey the way.

Jaina furrowed her eyebrows. "Nothing's going out of here."

Zella turned to the hole, inspecting inside, and it's already vacant.

"Open gates starting!" A distant shout of a middle-aged police officer resonated all over the cells.

The gates started to open, and the prisoners went out.

Jaina and Zella don't have the strength to mingle along with them.

They plotted their plan, but the holes were still open along the way. Jaina gave the paper back to Zella.

"You can figure that out once you go into the duct."

They both agreed Zella would be the one to inspect the duct, and Jaina would be down, observing the area for officers.

Zella threw in the white blanket to her cellmate, went to the upper bunker, and adjusted the ventilation door. Widened enough, she moved, popping her head onto the duct.

Nothing smelled.

She sniffed, and turned to Jaina, hissing, "There's no smell already. I guess there's time for that."

"It must be," Jaina nodded.

She raised her arms, hoisted herself up, and successfully made her way to the duct.

Jaina checked if she's already intact, and Zella gave a thumbs-up.

She placed the door above the hole once again.

Jaina went to the door, securing the blanket, and paced back and forth.

Both of them should cooperate with each other, or else, they'll be thrown out to that tiny and suffocating room to suffer for at least 10 days.

That'd ruin the plan.

Zella doesn't know which way to go.

Is it left or right? She retrieved the tiny piece of paper, look at the lines, and saw the initials.

"2V?" Turning on either side, she doesn't see any letter V.

As she observed the pathway, she realized it's like a V.

Two separate lanes, but one of it's a dead end, or the other one is connected to the kitchens, to another building, or even in the guard's station.

Examining the parallel lines the anonymous person drew, he drew a small line towards…

"Right. 2V. Right. 2V." It must be the right side.

"1… 2… V… Right…" Zella mumbled as she crawled.

The duct wasn't making any noise, and she's glad it is.

Zella folded the paper once again, tucked inside the pockets, and continue to canvass the way.

She couldn't see anything but darkness. Usually, these ducts played the role of escape for the prisoners.

That must be the reason they placed a poisonous smell at night in the ducts, to prevent the prisoners to escape in the dead of the sky.

Well, Zella had a plan to figure out where they should stop the smell.

As she reached the middle, she checked behind, and no one was following her around.

She counted 10 minutes until she found another ventilator.

Zella stopped, peeping at the corner, observing the area below. I

t was a storage area, but it's occupied with medical workers checking the inventory of the medicines.

Zella swallowed.

"Storage area?" There's nothing in the paper.

A storage area wouldn't be a good idea to escape. What would they find there except the supplies the officers and infirmary would use?

Zella swallowed, checked her Tempus Moneda, and it's already 10 minutes up.

She needed to go back or everyone would be suspicious as to where were she with the open gates.

…

"I found the other end of the V over there. The one with 2V and it's the storage area."

Jaina creased her forehead, wondering what they should do at the storage area.

Zella folded the edges of the blanket as the gates closed once again. Jaina circled the 2V in her book, and nodded.

"We're close to finding out a way with the tunnel he's saying over there. I don't know if I should believe that, but that paper has a use for us, Jaina," she added.

Jaina gave it back to her, and she secured it in her bra.

Zella wiped the sweat from her bare shoulders, and sighed. It's too exhausting to plot a breakout.

"I don't know if this made some sense, Zella, but look at the letters arranged from 1st to 5th. Something of a direction, but the first initials, it may be the code to deactivate the Tempus Moneda," Jaina revealed.

Zella turned back to her with curiosity painted all over her eyes.

Jaina shared the page with the directions.

"Look at this. Letter V for 22, D for 4, T for 20, C for 3, and L for 12."

"How did you figure this out?"

"I must have read a lot of Sherlock Holmes reference for my book," Jaina beamed.

It sounded amazing, but they didn't know if they should follow it.

Jaina may be right, but the numbers might be jammed.

"The numbers may still be jammed, but we can try all of the combinations, Jaina," Zella reassured.

She patted her shoulder, appreciating her help. Jaina smiled.

"You know, I appreciate your help, Jaina. I'd never experienced being that grateful to have you as my cell mate. I thought… you're just going to stay with your book for the longest time possible and will not talk to me."

For the first time since she came here, she found her heart tingling with a little spark of joy. Not because she found a new friend, but because there's someone helping her to survive.

"It's nothing, Zella. I want to get out of here, too, so badly. Just because we are here not meant we're weak already. We just have to realize we're stronger than them, and that they see us a threat," Jaina explained.

She's right. They see Zella as a threat, a woman who is pleaded to follow her family's steps.

"They thought you're bound to spark an uprising, and they'd prevent it from happening. That's what it's all about, Zella," Jaina added.

Zella looked at her, and her spectacles stared back.

Jaina tilted one corner of her lips, giving a half-smile.

"Don't let someone poison your mind. You wouldn't be able to retaliate if you do, alright?"

…

[Present time.]

The inch was too closer she could lean in to peck his lips, but a ringing tone jolted the two of them.

How many times… they have to get disrupted from the heat of the moment?

Leo cleared his throat, unclasped his hands from her waist, and Zella's cheeks flushed.

She folded her hands in her abdomen, didn't know what to do, and her heart won't even calm down.

Leo answered the phone. "Yeah?"

The tension lost. It's the third time! The third time her desire grow even more!

His hot breath lingered in her thin lips, and it wouldn't go out of her mind already.

He's having excuses not to sleep inside her bedroom these past few days.

Zella prayed their lips would seal tonight. It's now or never.

"I have to rush back to the office. Another load happened," Leo lied.

Nothing would convince him to kiss her.

Whenever he's going to lean in, he ordered someone to call him instantly.

Someone was surveying them.

Leo wouldn't let their lips seal on each other. It's too early for making out.

No.

Never.