Prison Break [II]

The building trembled as if in the apprehension of the horrors to come while Locke tried to catch his balance leaning against the cell wall.

He looked around the room, confused at what was happening as the barred door swung open, making creaking noises as it went clattering the wall.

The building was in turmoil, yet its people were tranquil or maybe even scared as he slowly walked towards the door, one foot after another, the sound of his heart pounding resonated in his ears. Locke was about to close the barred door when he heard the commotion outside;

Since his cell was in a corner, he couldn't see what was going on, but he had a pretty good guess from the clamor outside.

He was hesitant. He didn't know whether to stay inside or take this chance to escape, no matter if he would be on the run for the rest of his life.

If he were to describe himself, it would be as fiercely independent.

Being restricted was what he hated the most, and now, even though he thought it wasn't a good thing, he had no one to live for anymore. He could be free.

The whole world would be his ring if he took this step. Locke took a deep breath and closed his eyes, thinking, 'Look after me, brother.'

He took a step outside and closed the door behind him before dashing through the hallway, reaching a corner. He leaned his back against it and peeked out, witnessing carnage as the officers fought with the inmates.

Unfortunately for the cops, they were only allowed to use rubber bullets which hurt but were not lethal. Locke didn't want to get into a fight right now;

There would be plenty of time for that later. What he had to do now was an escape in this commotion, but there was no other way as his cell behind was located at a dead end while the way to escape was right in front of him.

"Haa, Let's do this. It could be considered a warm-up."

He muttered to no one in particular as he grit his teeth and started sprinting. He kicked a guard fighting another prisoner, who turned as he heard footsteps rushing towards him.

He caught the guy's baton in mid-air and smashed it on the head of the prisoner he was fighting before pushing the now knocked-out man away. Locke continued on his way as he pushed away officers, ducking and weaving through attacks aimed at him.

He felt a force shove him from the side as he hit against the barred doors of the cells, his back aching in pain.

Locke looked towards where he was first, spotting a bald inmate about 6'1 with indecipherable tattoos on his thick neck glaring at him.

He pushed off the barred door and jumped a little before pulling his right leg back and drove a high kick aimed right at the man's neck, which the man blocked with his muscular and veiny forearms.

Locke stomped on the man's feet which made him instinctively reach for his leg.

Not allowing him to do so, Locke grabbed the man's head and pushed him down, kneeing him in the face, knocking him out cold.

As Locke made his way to the exit, things took a turn. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, paralyzed to the spot, a menacing aura to which he was oblivious, holding him in a tightening grip. The color drained quickly from his face as a large crash broke his immobility.

Locke turned his head to look around, trembling like a leaf in the wind, as the hairs rose on the back of his neck and his mouth ran dry.

This was different. What crawled in front of him was not anything he could handle, not anything a mortal could bear.

There was a massive hole in the ceiling, and from it, crawled out a monstrosity. A blanket of flaccid pink covered it, chunks of flesh missing from the whole length of its tubular body as dirt caked it.

The monster stuck to the ceiling as it crawled all over, thousands of its legs moving it forward, leaving a 'slimy goo' behind.

But the worst part had yet to come, inmates and guards, both retched as they gazed at what could only be described as its mouth.

A circular abyss surrounded the blood-covered jagged teeth as bits of flesh hanging from it dropped down, covered in a grotesque mixture of blood and saliva spreading all over the place as it wriggled all around the area.

A feeling of dread crept up from the pits of Locke's stomach as he could no longer control his hands; they were shaking in an odd trembling rhythm.

But, unlike people in horror films, the multitudes did not wait for the monster to devour them and instead took off in the opposite direction like athletes on drugs racing to the two entrances in front of them.

The one on the right would go through to the cafeteria, the reception, and then to the exit through the vast gate, while the one would go through a staircase above the cafe and onto the roof.

The people who usually would be at each other's throats were now united in their attempt to escape as they split into two, with most going into the one which would lead to the enormous gate.

The reason for this being that the exit into the massive gate was an electric door while the exit onto the rooftop would be a dead-end, but the ones who took the latter exit hoped that the beast behind them would go in the direction of the larger group.

Locke took the exit to the right as he followed the larger group, blending in as he shoved his to the middle of the pack. While he wasn't the slowest runner, neither he was the fastest as his body was more muscular, leaning more towards strength than agility.

They made their way through the clean, noiseless dark hallways, the sound of their feet clattering, breaking the tranquil environment while also being a dead giveaway for their location.

Locke heard deranged mutters and screams from behind him as the sound of teeth tearing through flesh echoed in the hallways.

The people in front of him turned around to look for a second, their faces paling as they took off with even greater speeds, leaving Locke to quickly become one amongst the batch who took the position of becoming the monster's next meal just as they exited the hallways into the dark cafeteria which was bursting with droves of people and orange-brown tables and chairs.

Cold sweat covered his palms as Locke realized that he had to do something, or his expeditious hopes for a free life would be quickly snuffed out.

He glanced around, hoping for a lifeline, anything to help him get out of this seemingly godforsaken place.

Locke spotted the people running to the rooftop, the ones who took the path on the left, out of the corner of his eyes, thanking the gods he never prayed to before. He sprinted towards one of the tables placed almost directly under the top hallway, grabbing a chair along the way, using its legs to shove away the sea of people in his path.

He placed the chair on top of the table and got on top, barely balancing on it as he prepared to take off.

But, unfortunately, Locke leaped up at the same time as the monster, which he now dubbed as a "Giantworm," came at him, its enormous body knocking against the table, throwing the chair off-balance, not allowing him to get a proper push-off.

He fumbled in mid-air as the Giantworm lunged at him, and by pure happenstance, Locke planted his feet on the head of the worm and once again pushed off, his arms reaching for the railing.

He grasped it, the sides of his ribs hitting the edge, almost making him loosen his grip as he grit his teeth and pulled himself up.

The Giantworm raised its upper body even higher as it tried to sink its teeth into his leg, missing it by inches and instead devours his left shoe. He pulled his body over the railing as he fell onto the other side before weakly staggering up, clutching his ribs.

He shuffled his way through a dark hallway reaching a knocked down door, light from the outside brightening up the ends of the hallway as he couldn't see through it. Locke hesitated.

'What if there is an even horrendous monster waiting outside?'

'No, if there is even one and I can't escape, welp, I did my best.

Even though he seemed fearless, Locke was frightened by the idea of dying a gruesome death and wanted to make something of what he was convinced was a second chance.

He didn't want to die right at the beginning like the lame-ass dudes in denial or like the ones who thought that money would solve everything.

He took the last step, hand still holding on to the doorway as he quickly glanced around and sighed in relief when he didn't notice anything.

He was in too much euphoria to realize that the people who were running to the rooftop were missing too.

There were grey walls right beside the door he just went through. So he walked to the left, leaned against the door, and slid down, bringing his knees up to his chest. He ushered his dark eyes shut while he buried his face in his knees.

While Locke didn't want to move anymore, he also knew he would get torn into mincemeat if he stayed here. So he pushed himself up, his head tilted to the skies with his eyes closed before he finally opened them.

What he saw almost made him fall as he staggered back, looking with widened eyes.

Rocket high in the sky, there was a sun, shining at its brightest as if trying to blind the world, and as if that wasn't enough, six others were blinking in and out of existence, constantly making the world brighten and dim like a child playing with the switches.

{HAHAHA... The Sermon Of The Seven Suns, who would've thought that the origin of the Seven Wars would begin in this lowly asinine world? Truly pitiful...}

{I wonder if # # # # # #ragna has chosen his successor...}

"Huh!? Who was that!?"

Locke yelled as he carefully eyed his surroundings, putting his fists up in reflex for a fight.

{Eh? I'm in your head, you fool.}

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN-..."

Locke started to yell but quickly trailed off as he spotted the worm in the doorway; his shoe pierced right through the middle and was still stuck in its mouth.

He burst out laughing at such a comical scene as he doubled over and staggered back slowly, inching towards the ledge of the terrace.

"Bwahahaa... *sniff* I'm sorry, but you won't be able to eat me this time either. Adios."

Locke spread his hands wide open as he took a leap of faith, smirking at the slow-witted monster who now seemed to realize what was going and lunged at him, but it was too late. The prison was surrounded by water as it only had a single bridge leading to land.

As Locke got into proper position in mid-air, he was reminded of his semi-phobia of swimming in deep pools or seas.

He didn't hate water, but he did hate swimming when he couldn't see what was underneath him, and he often did have nightmares about drowning.

As he looked straight at the ocean he was closing in on, he saw a vast shadow move across it as a... water dragon rose at him, its maws wide open to devour him.

"Fuck it all," Locke muttered as he gave up any hopes about surviving as he closed his eyes, praying that he would be granted a quick and painless death.