“Good to see you again, Cole.”
“You too.” Cole sidled up to the man in prison, dusted his hand off, and the men shook.
“I’m happy for you two,” Zach yelled from the opening in the wall. “But can we get the hell out of here?”
Root pointed. “Who’s this?”
“Zach,” Cole said. “An old friend.”
Root and Cole jogged to the opening, where Root and Zach exchanged a quick handshake. “Thanks,” Root said.
“Yeah, don’t mention it,” Zach replied. “I’d love to stay and chat to the man I just risked my life for, but we don’t really have time.”
“Well I’ll tell you what I know on our way.”
Cole’s feet skidded across the dirt floor. Cole glanced to the opening a mere few feet away, then back to Root. “On our way where?”
A toothy smile ran across Root’s face. “We gotta get to the top room.”
Zach laughed. “We’re just going to go to the top room.” He shrugged and threw his hands in the air. “Just like that?”
Cole interjected. “Yeah, Root, I don’t know if-”
“We don’t really have a choice.” Root jumped in. He persuaded the men to keep walking on the path, and given the circumstances, neither man hesitated. “Cole, remember what I told you?”
“About the top room? Of course.”
“We gotta get there to prove what I saw, you know? To make sure I didn’t miss anything.”
“I don’t think… it’s probably not that easy.” Cole stammered.
“Of course not.” Root laughed. “But you got me now!”
Zach leaned over and whispered to Cole. “Who is this guy?”
“I can hear you, man,” Root said from behind the men.
“All I’m saying,” Zach said, “Is that your plan is crazy.”
“That’s what everyone says.”
Zach stopped. “Then why are we doing it?”
“That’s why you rescued me, right?”
Cole jumped in. “We rescued you to get to the bottom of whatever the hell is happening here.”
“Right,” said Root. “And that starts with us going to the top room.”
“Then what?” Zach added. “We walk in, say ‘Ha, got ya!,’ then walk out and are new elders or something?”
There were rumblings of sound coming from behind them, coming from the jail.
Root slammed his fingers into his lips. “Let’s go.” They rushed off down the path and weaved through a few intersections before settling on a good place to stop. “This should do.”
“The plan?” Zach pressed on.
“You ever heard of an uprising? Has to start somewhere, right?”
“I like your enthusiasm, but all that’s going to happen is whatever security or enforcers they have up there are going to throw us back down to where we just came from. Or worse…”
“Nah,” Root said. “No security at the top room.”
“I find that hard to believe, Root,” Cole said.
“I’m telling you, nothing. I was escorted by an enforcer, but that was it. Otherwise, just a room of old people looking at monitors.”
“Still,” Zach said, “I don’t know what we accomplish.”
“Man, you got a better idea?”
Cole raised his eyebrow. It was a good point. They were backed into a proverbial corner. He was sure several enforcers and security members were looking for them, from the barracks to the jail and just about everywhere in between. There wasn’t much they could do. Zach seemed to arrive at the same conclusion at the same time, as they exchanged glances and Zach just shrugged.
Root smiled. “Let’s do it. Let’s go to the top room.”