Young Writers Society

Kazimir glared back, harder.

“Shut up,” he spat. “You’re pissing me off.”

"Are you really this dumb?" Derik scoffed before he could stop himself. "Really? You think your strategy's gonna work out how you plan?"

Derik pushed himself to his feet and took a hesitant step towards Kazimir. He knew he needed to get close to be able to whisper, but he didn't particularly want to be anywhere close to the big man's arm's reach.

"You can't announce escape plans and then expect them to work, dumbfuck." Derik regretted it as soon as he said it, but there was no taking thoughtless-words back. So instead he tensed and braced himself for the possibility of Kazimir doing... something, in retaliation.

Kazimir took in a deep breath and met Derik's eyes, taking two long steps until he was right up in Derik's face, looking down at him with great intensity.

"Okay, Derik," he said, his voice cool and serious. "Tell me your genius plan, then."

And yes. He said it like a threat.

Derik felt his stomach flutter a bit but forced himself not to retreat as Kazimir loomed uncomfortably close. It wasn't like he hadn't gotten his ass kicked plenty of times in the past.

He steeled his nerves and leaned a bit closer to Kazimir then lowered his voice until it was barely audible. "First, we whisper. Then, we get away from the door that the guards are listening at to actually make our plans. And, you know, not tell them we're planning to jump them as soon as they walk in?"

Kazimir grunted.

"Good," Kazimir whispered back in a low tone. This guy had brains.

Instead of waiting for Derik to move, Kazimir reached over and grabbed him by the collar, dragging him. He pushed him up against the back wall and then pounded his fist against the wall, enough to make a loud thump that echoed in the cell.

"That's for being fuckin' annoying," he said loudly, enough to carry out of the cell.

Then he finally let go of Derik, and leaned on the wall next to him.

"Okay," he said, leaning into Derik's ear and whispering again. "Now what?"

Good?

This didn't feel good.

Derik let Kazimir drag him across the cell and throw him against the wall, watching in dreadful anticipation as Kazimir hit the wall instead of him. That was nice. It was also nice that he would cooperate. That made things easier.

"How many guards usually come to administer the Lumshade?" he murmured.

Kazimir hummed.

"Two, sometimes three," he said. "One, if they don't think you're a threat, but, that won't be the case for us."

Derik nodded. Three wouldn't be terribly difficult to overpower between the two of them. The bigger issue would be getting all the way out of the prison before other guards realized there was an escape in progress. "How fast does Lumshade work if you've got a tolerance to it?"

"Ehhhh," Kazimir said with a shrug. He continued talking in a hushed whisper. "Takes about 20 or 30 minutes for me. They knocked me out the first time they gave it to me, though. Head still hurts from that."

"So that's not gonna help us with the guards," Derik sighed. "Knocked me silly in under a minute. I was hoping..."

He was silent for a moment. Things weren't in their favor. Three on two were already bad enough odds. And the three were going to have two syringes of drugs that would all but incapacitate him -- almost instantly -- if they got it into him.

His stomach sank as he came up with a new idea. "... Think they'd come in if they heard a fight?"

“If we got loud, maybe,” Kazimir said with a glint in his eyes.

"Yeah," Derik agreed flatly, far less excited about the prospects. "Maybe if one of us pretended to get knocked out... it would make them lower their guard? Think there was only one of us to worry about?"

"I like that," Kaz said. "You know, they'd probably come in with less of the big guns if I was the one down."

That was a pleasant surprise.

And here Derik was, thinking he was going to be the one getting decked. He liked this plan much more. He nodded slowly. "I could stand in the back of the cell... pretend you're out cold by the door, then we could get them from two sides."

Or, Kazimir would take his opportunity and sprint.

"I like it," Kazimir said. "But we have to like, lead up to it, right? Argue and shit."