The men dropped their shovels and inched toward the crack in the wall. Cole leaned in first and looked around jail. He whispered. “Last time I saw him he was in that corner.”
“He still there?”
“Hold on.” Cole looked around, past the gobs of people. He scanned the walls, the floor, the open bars where people still stood begging to be let out. He even checked the ceiling, but he wasn’t sure why. “Hard to tell,” Cole said.
“Our plan kind of goes to shit if the man we came to rescue isn’t here.”
“Yeah, I know.” Cole stepped back. “There are too many people, more than when I was there. What should we do?”
“Did anyone see you?”
“What?”
“Did anyone notice there was a new crack in the wall?”
Cole shook his head. “There’s so much noise there, and the place is falling apart already, doubt anyone noticed a new, tiny hole in the wall, next to all the other failings of the place.”
“Do you think we can sneak in?”
“You want to sneak into jail?”
“Sure.”
“No, no way. Like you said, as soon as that hole opens up, people will come rushing out. It’s like a dam waiting to burst.”
Zach just nodded and stared into the ceiling. After moments of not saying anything to each other, Cole jumped in again.
“I think we just have to let it burst.” There was no use in trying to sneak around. “It’s probably going to be a good distraction anyway. A bunch of prisoners escape and security will be looking for them, not for us making our way to the top room.
Zach continued to nod, in deep contemplation. Zach wasn’t normally one to be quiet, so Cole was surprised, but he used the opportunity to peer through the opening in the wall again. A few people had moved, but there were so many bodies, Cole could hardly pick out just one, let alone the one he was looking for. He turned back around. “You know, I don’t-”
Zach’s shovel slammed into the wall, directly next to Cole’s head. Cole fell to the floor. “What the hell!”
“You’re right,” Zach said, taking another swing. “We just have to go for it.” Zach’s next hit broke the hole open wider, and the one after that, even wider. Murmurs could be heard beyond the wall, and a collective foot stomping enclosed the space.
Cole jumped to his feet with his shovel, and helped alongside his friend. The minute there was an opening big enough to squeeze through, a small man did. He squirmed his way through the dirt as Cole and Zach kept shoveling around him. He was followed by another man, then a woman, then two people at a time, and before long, there was a rush of bodies exiting. Cole lifted his shovel above his head and hugged the wall so as not to get trampled. He could just barely see over the swarm of people, and Zach was doing the same.
Cole watched the bodies past, keeping his eyes out for the only man he knew. Body after body, bobbing head after bobbing head, everyone passed until the river of escapees slowed to a trickle. Cole lowered his shovel as the few remaining prisoners fled, giving Cole and Zach weird looks on their way out. Cole stepped back into the path, and then worked his way into the prison.
There, he saw Root, standing in the middle of the room, smiling.
“I thought you’d get here faster than that.”