The Adventurers, Ch. 5

November 2nd, 2005

Read these first:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

THE ADVENTURERS - Chapter 5

Jerry awoke with a start. What woke him up? The room had one window, large enough for a person to squeeze through, but was barred with iron. Then he heard it again. Someone whispering his name. He turned to the window and saw the outline of a head against the pale moonlight. Jerry got up and went to the window. He recognized Gus at once.

"Boy, am I glad to see you." whispered Gus.

Jerry was thinking the same thing.

"How the heck did you slip through those guards? There must have been at least three."

"I don't know. They just didn't see me. I guess I was lucky." said Gus grinning.

But Jerry knew better. He knew Gus was great at keeping out of sight.

"Listen," said Gus. "We're gonna break you out loose. Mark came up with a plan and I think it will work. What you have to do is..."

"Wait a minute," Jerry spoke a little too loud. Then he lowered his voice. "We came up with a plan of our own."

"What is it?" asked Gus.

"We don't have time to go over the whole plan," Jerry could here footsteps. "But this is what you have to do. At exactly five o'clock tomorrow morning you'll open the doors at the back. We'll be waiting there."

"So you want me and Mark to go to the doors, which are being guarded by four men and a dog, and open them?" Obviously Gus thought it was an impossible mission. "There's no way we can do that. Besides the guards and watchdog, the doors are steel, and the only way to open them is to get into the control room. Then you need a computer expert to hack into the door security system and open the door."

Jerry had already thought of this. Beau had told him that Mark had some experience with computers. Mark had always liked computers and ever since he was seven years old, he had been stealing into a store to mess around with them. He could hack his way into many systems, but none like the one Jerry wanted him to get into.

"Five o'clock." Jerry repeated. "Don't be late or early. Now get out of here."

Gus ducked out of sight just before the guard turned the corner and saw him. Jerry went back to bed but didn't sleep.

At four thirty, the guard came jingling his keys and hitting the metal doors with his club, saying with a sneery voice, "Wake up, you bastards. Wake up and smell your disgusting breath." This was his usual morning greeting. He was always grumpy because he was the one who had to get up early to escort the kids to their working stations. The rules said that he could only escort two prisoners at a time, but he was so lazy that he usually took out everyone at the same time. Unfortunately for Jerry and the others, not today.

As soon as Jerry saw the guard escorting only one cell to their working stations, he knew they were in trouble. His plan was to create confusion among the many people who didn't know about the plan. While everyone was running and bumping into each other, Jerry would "accidentally" bump into the guard and knock him down. Then they would all run towards the building farthest from the control room, that way there would be less chance of Gus and Mark to be caught. Then they would double back through the building, and run over any guard who stood in their way. Jerry thought that with nine kids they could overpower, at most, five guards.

Now the plan had changed. Now they wouldn't be together again until they were chained to the ground and kept watch on with ten guards. Well, now Jerry had only one option.

The guard walked towards their cell.

Jerry turned to Jason and whispered rapidly, "Get ready to grab the keys and let our guys loose."

The guard opened the door. Jerry flew at him, pushing him backwards. The guard stumbled and fell, with Jerry on top of him. The guard got his senses back quickly and tried to shove Jerry off, but to no avail. Jerry was hanging on and gripping him with all his strength. Jerry was fighting for his freedom.

Jason, after much hesitation, finally thought the time was right to make his move. He dashed forward and grabbed the guard's arm, trying to get at his fist. The guard had the key tightly in his fist. His two fists were hitting at Jerry over and over on the back. Jerry was hurting, but he held on. The guards shouts echoed in the empty corridor. All of the prisoners were watching and cheering Jerry on. Jerry dropped the defense and concentrated on offense. The guards arms were tired and his hits were not much of a blow anymore. Jerry punched and kicked and bit and scratched and pinched. The guard howled in pain when Jerry bit him on the arm. He let go of the key and let it drop. He realized his mistake and reached for it desperately, but the faithful Jason had kept alert for a chance to steal the keys, and with the agility of a purse snatcher, he grabbed hold of the keys.

While Jerry still struggled with the guard, Jason ran to his friends' cells and started fitting the key.

The guard saw what was happening and, with surprising strength, threw Jerry against the wall. He went towards Jason. Too late. Jason swung the gate open just as the guard grabbed him. Then the guard saw Curtis emerge from the room. Big, powerful, dangerous. Those were the three words that went through the guard's mind. Then he saw John follow Curtis. John was tall. The guard let go of Jason and turned his head. Jerry had gotten up and was walking towards him. the guard screamed for other guards.

Jerry, Curtis, and John fell on him while Jason opened the rest of the cells. Many kids joined in the fight after they were set free. Suddenly, whistles blew and everyone turned their heads. More guards. Lots of guards. Maybe ten. This hall only had twenty-five prisoners. It wasn't enough to overpower that many guards. Jerry tried to encourage them. Because they had seen him fighting with the guard, they viewed him as a revolutionary leader of some sort. His words inspired them to make a mad charge. The surprised guards were pushed back but they quickly retaliated.

Meanwhile, Jerry and the others ran towards the back door. They opened it, and saw the dogs. They were Dobermans. They were huge. They ran towards Jerry, baring their teeth. Jerry closed the door as fast as he could. now they were trapped.

Everybody now agreed that it was better to fight the guards than to face up to those dogs. so they ran back. The fight was almost over. Only a few of the kids were still fighting. However, most of them were inspired by the reinforcements that Jerry led. The guards were taken aback by the sudden rush of kids. The fight kept going. Curtis fought brilliantly, punching guards here, tackling guards there. The guards saw Curtis was getting the better of them and quickly ganged up on him. Curtis was in trouble, but fifteen boys, led by Beau, rushed to the rescue. They grabbed the guards by the feet and jumped on their backs and kicked their shins and bit their hands and poked their eyes and punched their noses and squeezed their necks. The guards fought ceaselessly, trying to get a hold of the situation.

Jerry saw his chance to slip past the guards to the door they were blocking. He motioned for his friends to follow him. The guards didn't notice them. They were trying to hold off yet another desperate charge from the other kids.

Jerry and the others were out the door and sprinted across the work field, being chased by the menacing dogs. All they had to do was get to the door, and hope that Gus and Mark had been able to get into the security system. They got to the door and waited anxiously for the air locks to hiss open. The dogs were coming closer. They all drew back. It was now clear that they were going to have to fight the dogs. The dogs reached them and opened their jaws. Alex cried out in pain as one of the dog's teeth sank into his arm. The three dogs circled them snarling furiously. Now everyone started to kick at them. The dogs became even more infuriated. Beau gave a mighty kick and connected at a dog's snout. He yelped. Everyone grew confident with that kick. They dived forward and grabbed the dogs by anything they could grab hold of. Everyone was yelling in pain as the dogs snapped at them, but the dogs were outnumbered. They were grabbed by feet and thrown into the air.

Suddenly, Jerry heard a hiss behind him. It was the air locks! Mark had managed to get into the security system. Jerry called everyone to hurry through the door. the dogs were still snapping and everyone went outside as fast as they could. Jerry went last, slamming the door on the dogs' noses. They were outside. They were free!

[end of chapter 5]