The Price of Freedom

Bill slowly made his way towards the group of people huddled around a singular bed at the far east corner of the room.

There was a huge commotion, as about twenty to twenty-five workers were conversing with each other, but they all became quiet as soon as an elderly person came out room right next to his bed which was the bathroom.

Bill was thinking that this was just another one of Andy's pranks, and all of these people were just waiting to use the bathroom, but before he could leave he heard one of the workers address the old man.

"Gramps? Were you able to take it?" A young boy asked as he could not hold his excitement anymore.

The person referred to as Gramps didn't reply rather he just held up his arm to show a bar of soap.

All twenty or so workers had their mouths wide open as they finally had some semblance of hope in their lives after a very long time.

Bill had absolutely no idea about what was going on, so he politely asked the old man about it.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt, but what is that?" Bill asked in a very respectful manner which if anyone from his past life would have seen; they would have fainted right on the spot.

Bill had some time to reflect on his past and what his character was up to that point even though he had only spent around 2 days here, he was a completely changed person.

"Oh, and just who you might be young man?" The old man said intriguingly.

"My name is Bill Johnson, and I was once part of this gang, but as soon as they saw no more use for me; they banished me to earn my way out of this warehouse." Bill introduced himself to the group.

"Another one, huh? Well, don't worry about it as most of us were once part of El Diablo's gang as well and here we are. This, here is a bar of soap that I used to make a cast of a key." The man held up the bar of soap closer toward Bill so he could have a clear look.

"But what does this key go to?" Bill asked keeping his respectful tone in check.

The entire group started to laugh lightly at Bill but instantly stopped when the old man raised his hand.

"Since you are new here, it is okay since you don't know much about our plan so let me start from the beginning. My name is Albert and I was once one of the closest henchmen to El-Diablo as I was also serving his father that used to run this gang before him. During a deal with another Mafia Boss, we were ambushed and El-Diablo got hurt. He blamed me for not being able to protect him well enough and banished me from this warehouse. That was 22 years ago."

The entire group went completely silent as Albert narrated his story to Bill who was listening with the utmost attention.

"Since then, I had been hatching different plans to escape, but they all failed as I saw many young boys and men die premature and gruesome deaths. I vowed that I would never stop trying and do anything that it would take to be able to rescue as many people as possible from this hellhole."

Showing everyone the bar of soap one more time, Albert continued.

"I believe that this is the plan that will work. I spent months tracking every guard's routine and shift changes and using a unique opportunity, I stole the key to the weapons locker for just long enough for me to make a cast out of it."

As Albert finished narrating his story and plan, Bill's mouth was left wide open at the words said by Albert.

He had only spent two days there and he was already wishing for death while there were people like Albert who had spent most of their lives in this place. It was truly a humbling experience as Bill made the quick decision that he had to help this man attain the freedom that he longed for so long.

Bill stayed the entire night with the group which he learned was called the 'Freedom Fighters.' Cringy name aside, this group contained all of those people that still had the will and determination to try and escape not everyone was part of this group since they were too afraid of the consequences of getting caught so they rather just quietly work until death came over them naturally.

To put Albert's plan into motion, the first step was to cast the key in metal so that they had a solid key that they use. Since Bill and a few other guys were on furnace duty for the next week, they decided that they would be the ones to cast the key.

During the following week, Bill tried everything he could to get extra work done when the guards weren't looking. He tried waking up early and going to the furnace first, he tried eating lunch as soon as possible so that while the rest of the people were on break he could have the furnace all to himself but none of his attempts worked. He would always get caught and wasn't allowed near the equipment without supervision.

One night, Bill decided that he would work as late as possible since that was allowed by the guards because as long as you worked the more money you could earn and this was a way for the workers to buy themselves decent food once in a while.

Late at night, Bill could be seen still hammering away at a sheet of metal with his earth hammer. It was super late and Bill was extremely tired but he steeled his resolve and continued to work. At exactly 3 in the morning, the guards would change shifts as the tired guards would go to rest and new guards would take their place.

As soon as the shift change occurred, Bill sprung into action and immediately started pouring hot liquid metal directly into a clay mold that he had made earlier from the soap. The shift change took between 6-10 minutes to complete, but Bill needed at least 8 minutes for the mold to cool down and to be able to crack open the mold and clean the key so that it was usable.

Bill just needed to pray that the new guards took their sweet time so that he could be finally done. After a few minutes, the liquid metal had cooled down and became solid again; but still, it was too hot to handle as it still needed more time.

*BZZZT*

The sound of the first door opening was heard as it was an indicator that the new guards had entered the building and they would arrive at the furnace in two minutes as they were being checked by the security at the gate to confirm that they were indeed gang members.

Seeing as there was no time left, Bill broke open the cast and quickly picked up the key using a piece of plyers. He immediately started the belt sander in order to polish and refine the key so that it would be able to be used as an actual key.

The sounds of more doors kept on running as Bill didn't stop and continued to perfect the key. With only moments to spare, Bill had no time to cool down the key as it was still hot. If Bill waited any longer, Then he would be caught by the guards trying to forge the key. Seeing as there was no other choice Bill grabbed the key just as soon as the last gate opened and out came two guards.

*Sizzle*

The still-hot key immediately started cooking Bill's hand as it was the worst pain that he had ever experienced but he couldn't show his pain to the guards or they might get suspicious of him. Bill just stood there bowing his head to the new guards which was a rule that all workers had to follow while also trying his very best to try and not to let a single sound or tear come out of him.

"Hey, YOU! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" The guard shouted at Bill who continued to bow.

Bill was trembling inside because he didn't know how the guard found out about the key. Slowly lifting his head back up, he could see the guard slowly making his way toward him with a stun baton in hand.

The guard proceeded to strike Bill a couple of times with the stun baton before grabbing him by his hair and throwing him back to the hammering station.

"That piece of metal isn't flat yet and you decide to pour the next batch of metal? Keep hammering that one until we tell you that it's flat!" The guard ordered Bill.

Bill was relieved inside as it was just because he was standing near the furnace where the molten metal was instead of the hammering station when the guards arrived.

Bill finished his extra work and returned to the common room, where the rest of the workers were about to get ready and leave and start their work.

Bill made his way to Alberts's bed with a painful look on his face that he couldn't hide anymore.

He arrived in front of Albert and gave him the key just like he promised. Albert looked at the key and was shocked to see that Bill had actually succeeded, but he also noticed Bill's Painful and hurt expression.

As he took the finished key from Bill's hand, he saw the burn mark that had embedded itself into Bill's hand. Seeing this and knowing the sacrifice that Bill had just made, Albert got up and hugged Bill tightly.

Bill couldn't even remember the last time he had been hugged as he just couldn't hold in his emotions any longer, as he started crying loudly while still being in the embrace of Albert.

Albert stroked his hair as he consoled him," It's okay my son, Everything comes at a price and you just paid the price of your freedom."