Silence Falls

"Otep Shamaya is our friend. She's also Bert's roommate." Cris clarified to Bam who now deciding to get get involved in his conversation with Bert from where he sat on his bed.

"She? I thought you said our dorms were separated, girls on the left and boys on the right.” Bam suspiciously recalled before gesturing towards Bert with a nod to his head. “How come he gets roomed with a chick, and not a guy like the rest of us?”

“We are separated from the girls, but because Bert's father was the leader of the council at the time of their imprisonment Bert was allowed to have Otep as his roommate as a last personal favor from his father.” Cris explained more thoroughly to Bam, not noticing Bert tensing up and looking away at the mention of his father.

Bam eyes widen in shock. His father!? Bert McCracken was the son of the boss of the Council, he wondered to himself in surprise.

“Yeah yeah I know. It’s a total shocker, ain’t it?” Bert drawled rhetorically at the awestruck look on Bam’s face, his eyes having adapted to the darkness of the room.

“A shocker!? That’s a fucking understatement.” Bam exclaimed sarcastically before holding his hands up towards them and waving them from side to side to keep them from moving on before he could grasp the information he had just heard. “Hold on, just wait a damn minute here! I’m completely lost. Why the hell would someone throw their own son down here in a place like this? I mean…what the fuck did you do, exactly, to get tossed in here?”

Bert impatiently sighed, and rolled his eyes. “Look, I don't particularly want to start story time right now, man. I have more pressing matters at hand such as finding my roommate!" At that last part, he looked directly at Cris to remind him that Otep was missing.

“Oh yes, of course!” Cris whispered loudly before lowering his voice. “So, when did you first notice she was gone?"

"After my run around last night. I came in at 5AM and noticed she wasn't there. I immediately got worried. You know Otep never leaves our room without me in case of any of those asshole try something because I'm not there.” He reminded Cris before finishing up his story. “I tried waiting it out just in case she’d returned, but she never did. So, here I am.”

“That doesn't make any sense.” Cris mumbled to himself as he frowned in thought, his finger tapping on his chin. “That definitely isn't like Otep at all, especially after all she went through before.”

"Exactly Cris, she isn't safe out there on her own! I need your help, man, please.” Bert desperately begged him, hoping he’d step up to the place, and join him on a dangerous mission on finding their friend.

"Bert, you don't have to even ask! Of course, I'm going to help you!” Cris assured him with his sunny smile and a friendly hand on his shoulder before his face shifted to one of concern. “But where do you think she could have gone? I mean, could we be talking about her possibly being down below us?"

"What’s down below us?" Bam cut in curiously, wondering what this mystery ominous sounding place could be.

“Solitary Confinement.” Cris quickly jump off topic to answer him. “You go there if you're not a good little patient, or draw too much attention from the staff teams. Hardly anyone ever really comes back up from there.” He jerked his head towards Bert. “Out of a few others that have, Otep and Bert are the only ones I know who've been there, and came back sane.” Cris then somberly lowered his head, and mumbled to himself. “And now Connor is down there.”

“The cannibal, right?” Bam asked him, not at all feeling sympathetic to Cris’s pain because he was grieving over a murderer that sounded like he deserved the death penalty if not solitary confinement.

"Yeah, my blood brother!” Cris spat bitterly, not wanting to hear Bam go on again about his friend.

Bert placed a comforting hand on Cris's shoulder. “Hey, buddy, don't worry yourself sick about it. I still plan on taking him with us when we finally get out of here. I’ll get you guys down in a safe place, man, I promise. Sounds good to you?”

Cris burst into one of his sunny smiles. “Thank you, Bert that actually sounds pretty amazing!"

“Good, now let’s go find Otep while there’s still time.” Bert and Cris nodded simultaneously before jumping off of Cris’s bed and heading straight for the metal door.

"Hey, wait!? What about me!?" Bam cried out from his bed, opening his arm out to show he’s still there.

"What about you?" Bert asked him honestly, earning a glare from Bam.

"Look, you can stay here if you want, or you can come with us. It’s your choice Bam, we’re not gonna force you to do anything you don’t want to.” Cris whispered softly to him, trying not to rush him into making a decision despite the direness of their situation.

Shit, so the only options is I either be left alone here in this scary ass room or come with Cris and that creepy dude who is the only person in this place with the ticket out of here, Bam thought to himself. “Fucking A, man.” Bam mumbled to himself as he rolled his eyes and got up out of his bed, completely forgetting about his shoes. “Fucking fine, I'm coming with you guys, but I ain't gonna fucking like it!”

Bert rolled his eyes in a silent response, but Cris was the more sympathetic out of the two. “I'm sorry about that Bam, truly. At least you won't be alone tonight, right?”

“Okay look, you two need to keep your asses quiet, and following my every lead if you don't want to get locked down in confinement too.” Bert vigorously whispered his first and only warning to them before giving them a final nod as he opened the door. He didn’t need their ‘yes, sirs’ or thumbs up as a sign that they understood. They either understood or they were gonna get locked up, it all depended on them.

The hallway was pitched black except for a security guard patrolling the boy’s dorm, and the other patrolling the girl’s dorm with their huge flashlights. The guards were all males in this underground facility, and all were as big and strong as Tim and Tom, maybe even just as stupid. Bert watched the male guard pass their door, completely unaware of the small opening and the eyes watching him. Bert signaled for Cris and Bam to sit still for a minute as the guard passed their door. The boys dorm had only two camera, both having already been knock out by Bert before he snuck into Bam and Cris’s room so there was nothing to worry about there. Just as the security guard was much further down the hall, Bert signaled for them to follow him. The three slowly snuck down the hall in the opposite direction of the guard. Bam looked up, and notice the camera and immediately stopped in his track in fear that he was being recorded until he noted that it actually was facing the other wall so it couldn't have seen him yet Was it stuck, or something, he wondered to himself? Having had to backtrack, Bert reached out to grab ahold of Bam’s arms and yanked him along, shooting a glare at him for a second before stopping at a vent near the giant double doors that led to the other giant doors that led into the girl’s dorm.

Carefully Bert slipped his fingers into the openings between the flat bars of the vent and pushed it inwards quietly. It barely audible ‘pop’ sounded off, signaling its release before he laid it down inside the entrance of the vent. With a gesture to the vent, Cris confidently crawled in first. Bert then gave a nod to Bam. Bam carefully crawled in uncertainly, trying to be careful not to kick the vent with his knees on his way in, yet not knowing that Bert was holding it down firmly with his hand.

Once everyone was cleared, Bert slipped in the vent after them but in the opposite direction so he’d be able to smoothly close the vent behind them with that same soft pop. “Forward.” Bert whispered to Cris while he expertly maneuvered his way forward. Cris nodded to himself before leading the way down the vent until it got to the point where angled downward into a short slide. He turned his head to the side and pressed a finger to his lips so Bam could see, he then slowly and quietly slipped down the vent to land softly on the bottom without a sound.

“Always wear socks in when you're sneaking around in these vents that way they can't hear shit.” Bert whispered from behind Bam. Bam nervously nodded in understanding before attempting to slide down at quietly and slowly as he could. Lucky for him, Cris was there to help his jittery self once he reached the bottom. Bert slid down last.

From there on, they continued their way down another slide that matched the two wide staircases that lead into the cafeteria. When they reached another vent that seemed like the exit, Bert told them to hug the wall as best as he could while he squeezed his way to the front of the time. One there, he listened in closely to catch the sounds of keys jingling, and heavy footsteps. The guards patrolling the cafeteria were the owners of that ruckus. Thinking quickly to himself, Bert swiftly formulated an idea of a distraction. “Alright you guys, I'm gonna distract them ok? Don't leave this vent until you hear the stampede of elephants stop near the elevator. Bam, stay on Cris's ass, he knows where to go from here. We’ll all rendezvous by the shower room doors, got it?"