FicWad

gjnhjfdhns: Part FORTY-SIX: In Cells

"F-ck!" I hit myself in the head, trying to force myself into finding a solution. "F-ck f-ck f-ck f-ck f-ck!"

"Thi...s can...not be...goo...d."

"No kidding." I groaned, glaring up at the speaker. There were no clues- and if there were, they were incredibly cryptic- and that guy just had to make this thing life-or-death. I was no good under pressure.

I looked around at my cell, seeing nothing of use. A toilet, hanging lights that were too high for me to reach, and the bed on which the head rested. I stepped onto the bed, moving my hands up the wall it was next to, seeing if I could climb out. My fingertips curled over the edge and met something plastic. I inched it toward myself and pulled it off.

It was a photograph.

One of those quick takes between games, like right after someone had scored a goal. There was one person in the picture, standing normally, a backdrop of lush green grass and a clear blue sky making the thing look so happy. So peaceful.

So out of place.

Someone had taken a marker or something and scribbled over the person's face. Illegible writing accompanied arrows pointing in odd directions. The picture was nothing to me- Except I had seen that hair somewhere...

I jumped off the bed and stared at the head, who idly stared at something it couldn't see. The hair was pretty much the same- except now it was longer and lackluster.

"What are you looking at?" I murmured, not expecting any reply. When the head began to speak, I jumped, startled.

"I'm... no... t. I don... 't think... so. Wha... t is i... n fr... ont o...f m...e...?"

Scratching my head, I followed its gaze- Right to the rough, uneven brick wall that seperated me from whatever the hell was in the next cell. I ran my hand along the wall, feeling into all the rough dips and smooth contours. It was solid.

Deciding to try and scale the wall, I found my first footing and started hoisting myself up. Three footholds later, there was a dry /crack!/, a metallic /clink!/, and I was back on the ground. I had fallen nowhere near the bars of my cell, so I wondered what had created the second noise. I looked at the place where the brick had broken off, and used my nails to scratch away at the debris. Eventually, I pried out what was left of the brick and had unearthed a metal box. Easily, I opened it, and I nearly cried.

It held a key.

I dove at the bars and slid my arm between two of them. Fumbling a bit, I managed to produce a satisfying click and I slid the door open. About to run for my life, I did a double-take back into the cell.

"Hey-Hey... Um, do you-"

"Go on... f... ind the e...xit, now... Yo... u've o... pen... ed you... r cell, righ... t?"

"But-"

"Le... ave me he... re... There... is no... thing... fo... r me... el... sewh... ere."

I nodded, forgetting that it couldn't see, and left with a hushed 'goodbye'.

Another gate clanged, making me realize that I didn't have all the time in the world. I stared down the dark end of the long hall, and there were eyes. Eyes and teeth and claws and spikes and more eyes, glinting in the light they were soon to steal. Some rapidly approaching.

I took off flying toward the opposite direction. Cell after cell after cell rushed by, more eyes watching as I darted past, more sharp things protruding from God-knows-where, following my steps menacingly. And then, in one cell, a pair of eyes.

Familiar eyes.

"Mitchell!" I hissed, grabbing the bars of his cell to stop myself from going further. "Mitchell!"

He rattled the bars he was hanging on to. "What?! How'd you get out?!"

"I found a key!" I stopped myself from saying the next sentence, realizing that I had done exactly what the man had said. I had /used my head to find escape/.

"Where?"

"On the wall across from the bed!"

He felt along the wall, pulling and kicking to no avail. His wall was almost perfectly straight. That wasn't right... "Mitchell! Is there a head in there?"

"Yea. Hasn't helped at all. Only watched me."

"Hasn't said a word?"

"It's mouth is sewn shut."

Rather than dwell on a gory picture, I tried to look at the constants between his situation and mine. We both had a head in our cell, and both heads had lost something. My had lost its sight, and Mitchell's had lost its mouth. Mine was looking at the answer, though. There was nothing at the wall in Mitchell's cell. "Which wall is it facing?"

"The one I just was at!"

I repeated my thoughts to him, stealing a quick glance at the dark side of the hallway. It seemed to be getting closer.

Mitchell stared hard at where I guessed the head was, and then disappeared from view. He was soon back with a rusty key, which he handed to me through the bars.

"Where'd you get this?" I asked, unlocking his cell.

"Under the head. It's mouth was gone, right?"

I thought about this. If the eyes were gone, it was looking at the key. If the mouth was gone... It had swallowed the key? "Wow. Nice."

"What the hell?!" Mitchell was staring at the shadowed end of the hall, and my eyes widened. They were getting closer, almost close enough for me to make out the features of the one who lead them. Instead, we started running, past cell and cell and cell, seeing nothing but the darkness that made a blackout seem like daytime, and then

Stairs.

This time, though, I was sure they were there. I went up them.