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“I wondered if there was another set of stairs.” A.J. whispered to Heather. John stopped in front of a door and pulled out a set of keys. After looking at them he tried to unlock the door. He didn’t know which key it was, but after seven tries he found the right key. Then he slowly opened the door and motioned for them to get outside. The air outside was even colder than their room had been. Cold air filled their lungs. It hadn’t been this cold when they went swimming. Even though the pool had been heated it was much warmer than this. Once they were all outside he began talking. “I don’t know what your plans were once you got outside but get out of her and fast. As soon as Joe finds out your gone he’ll be searching for you all night. Don’t go to the gas station that we’re supposed to pick the money up at. He’ll look there first.” “ Would it be safe to go out the back gate?” Howie asked. “No.” John replied firmly. “There are guards there even though you can’t see them. Stay as far away from the front and back gates as you can.” Kevin looked around and then said, “What about the fence, could we climb over it. There’s a tree over there near the fence that we could climb and then jump over the fence.” John thought for a minute. “Yes, do that. Just stay out of sight as much as possible. If the guards see you, then they will alert the boss. If that happens, then the chances of you getting away again are very slim. Now go and hurry before he finds out.” The others had already started walking towards the fence, but Liz stayed behind. “What about you?” She asked. “What will they do to you if they find out you helped us escape?” John didn’t say anything. “Will they… kill you?” Liz asked quietly. “Don’t worry about me. Just get away as fast as you can.” Heather noticed that Liz wasn’t behind her and panicked. “Where’s Liz?” She asked frantically. Nick looked back and saw her talking to John. “Liz.” He whispered. She paid no attention to his and told John. “Please get away, for my sake. Please!” John looked up into a window on the 2nd floor. “I’ll try and get away just for you. Please go with your friends now.” He pushed her towards Nick, who was coming to get her. Liz turned reluctantly and followed Nick. Liz turned one more time and looked at John. That would be the last time she saw him again.
“What were you doing?” Gina asked Liz once she had gotten over there with the others. “I’ll tell you later.” She replied. She looked back one more time to see if John was still there but he was gone. Howie was already on the other side of the fence waiting for them. Howie was up in the tree about to go on the other side. Heather was the next person to go over. While she was on the wall her foot slipped and she started to fell. Luckily Howie was ready to catch her if she fell. She caught he balance and continued to get to the other side. Liz was next and then Gina went. Neither of them had any problems getting. Nick and Kevin were the last to get over the fence. After they had safety reached the bottom they started walking again in search of a safe place to hide. They started running once they had gotten over the fence, they only had a little time until it was light again and there was no telling when Joe would wake up and find them gone. The stopped running when the came to the end of the fence. It had been a very long fence and they were all tired. The cold air didn’t make things better. At the end of the fence Kevin peered over to see where they were. There was the gate that they had come in through. There was a road leading out of the gate to the left. It was the only road, which meant that was the only way they could have come in. He told the others what he thought and they agreed with him. “Stay off the road as much as possible though and stay near the ditches and woods. We don’t want them to see us.” A.J. said as they started down the side of the road.
They didn’t run down the road, but they were walking fast. The last thing they wanted was to get caught again. Howie stopped walking and looked at his watch. “Look, it’s twelve ‘o clock now, I don’t know when he’ll find out we’re gone but we need to start running. I’d rather get somewhere safe and be worn out, then walk and get caught. What do you think?” The others agreed and they began to move a lot faster. “This road is really long.” Gina commented. Finally the reached the end of the road. “Which way do we go?” Heather asked, looking at where to road split. “Does anyone remember which way we came in by any chance?” Nick said. No one said anything as the looked at the two roads in front of them. A.J. started humming the Jeopardy theme and then said, “Okay time is up. We’re wasting too much time trying to decide this.” Without a word they all started walking down the path to the left. It wasn’t long before they could see the end of the road from the top of a hill. “Great, this is a dead end.” Liz said disappointed. “Wait!” Heather said excitedly. “There’s a road over there to the right. We could try that.” They had no other choice but to go that way. If they turned around now they might get caught. At least they were going somewhere. They went down the hill and started to go on the other road. Then they started running again. “Hey,” Kevin said laughing. “At least we’re getting our exercise. If the dance instructor asks, then we did exercise while we were here!” The others laughed, it made them all feel better to laugh. This road was a lot shorter and they came to the end of it fairly soon. Once again it split, but this time into three ways. “Alrighty, which way now?” Nick said. They decided to take the road that went straight. Maybe it led into town, or to someplace where they could make a call to their manager.