Reach - 10. Chapter 10

“Tibial...psst wake up.”

Tibial mumbled incoherently, pressed his face down into the mattress. He was tired, so tired, let him sleep for the Goddess’ sake.

“Tibial! Wake up!”

“Mwuh, what?” he asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. It was dark, after lights out apparently. He could barely see the outline of a figure outside his cell but he could recognize the voice. “Mia?”

“Shhh. Someone will hear you.”

“Mia.” Keeping his voice low, he crossed the cell, reached through the bars. Her cold hand gripped his tightly. “What are you doing here? What time is it?”

“Quiet and don’t worry, okay?” She let go of his hand and he heard a grating sound, loud in the stillness, metal against metal, and then the cell door was swinging open. Mia came inside and hugged him.

“Are you okay?” she whispered.

“Yes.” Tibial was beginning to wonder if he was truly awake. He hugged her back. “What are you doing?”

“I’m getting you out of here.”

“What?”

“Listen. I don’t care what they say; you’re the father of my child. And I’m not going to even give them the chance to decide whether or not to execute you. Okay? Now come with me, we’re getting the hell out of here.”

“What about Chad?”

“What about him?”

“I can’t leave without him. They’ll kill him. Especially when they find out that I’m not here.”

“He’s a criminal,” Mia whispered.

In the darkness, Tibial rolled his eyes. “He is no more a criminal than I am.”

“Tibial, we don’t have a lot of time.”

“I’m not leaving without him.”

“Okay. Okay, fine, whatever. Where is he?”

“Right across the hall.”

“Okay. Okay. Shit, hold on.”

He could hear a vague clinking. “Did you steal keys from the guard?” Tibial asked incredulously.

“You think I opened that cell by magic?” Mia said. There was another click and the sound of moving hinges. “Okay, go get him. Hurry.”

Tibial crossed the hall and slid into the cell, feeling along nervously until he found Chad's prone figure. "Chad. Chad, wake up." He grabbed the older man’s shoulders and shook him.

Chad stirred then slowly sat up. "Tibial?" His voice was heavy and full of sleep and confusion.

"Yeah. Yeah, it's me."

Chad's arms came around him, embracing Tibial tightly before his mouth pressed warmly against his. Tibial let himself be kissed for just a minute, to escape in the taste of Chad's mouth and the heat of his hands on his back and shoulder.

"Okay," Tibial said, breaking away and hating to do so. "Come with me."

"Why? Where are we going?"

"I don’t know. It doesn't matter. Come on."

Tibial took Chad's hand and pulled him out of the cell into the hallway. "Have they announced the sentencing?" Chad asked.

"No. I don't think we're giving them the chance to." He reached out in the dark with his free hand. "Mia?"

"Here." A hand clamped down on his arm. "This way."

He followed Mia through hallways and corridors, feeling helpless and vulnerable in the darkness. He kept a firm grip on Chad's hand, dragging him along.

"Do you know where you're going?" Tibial whispered anxiously.

"Yes. Shut up." Mia knelt down on the ground, and Tibial heard another grating sound that indicated metal on stone.

"Okay. Stay right there," Mia said. She switched on a flashlight and Tibial was glad to see the glow in the darkness. She shined it down a hole in the floor, and Tibial could see a metal grate on the ground near the edge of the light casted by the flashlight.

"Yeah, this is right." Mia tucked the flashlight into her belt, climbed into the hole and dropped down.

"Come on," she called up. "It's not a huge drop and it's safe."

Tibial pushed Chad forward. "Go on."

Chad dropped down and Tibial followed, landing easily on his feet.

"Lift me up," Mia demanded and Chad did, allowing her to grab the grate and move it back into place.

"Okay. We should be good for a second."

"Where are we?" Tibial asked.

"Underneath the jail. There is a series of old passageways that used to be used for transporting prisoners."

"Transporting them where?"

"To where the old courthouse used to stand, to the woods, where they used to perform executions. To the marshes, if you needed a convenient, 'accidental' death of an prisoner who 'attempted escape'."

"How do you know all this?" Chad asked. Mia glanced at him briefly, then shone her flashlight on a sheet of paper in her hand. "Well, I've been down here before." She shone the light in the darkness ahead of them. "Come on, let's go."

"What do you mean you've been down here before?" Chad asked.

"When I was younger I had a friend whose parents worked in the jail. We used to sneak around here, use it as a secret meeting place."

"Do a lot of people know about it?" Tibial asked.

Mia shrugged. "I've been down here a lot and I've never come across another soul. There's no real reason for it to be used anymore and a lot of these old tunnels are in danger of collapse, so I don't think people come down here often."

"How-How did you get past the guards?" Tibial asked. He was stunned. Mia was the last person he would ever expect to do something like this.

"Save your questions for when we get out of here okay?" Mia said. "We need to move, I'm not sure how much time we have."

They followed her in silence. Tibial couldn't make himself let go of Chad's hand, it felt too good to hold it. Everything felt good, being out of that cell, having Chad next to him, being able to touch him, feel his skin against his palm and fingers, the sick tingling in his stomach brought on by all the excitement and confusion and adrenaline. It all felt fucking wonderful. He even liked the damp, moldy underground smell of these tunnels. If he hadn't been breaking out of prison, so to speak, he would have been excited to look around, discover a new place, full of history and old adventures.

After walking for what felt like a long time, when the novelty was beginning to wear thin, Mia came to a door set into the wall. She pushed it open a crack, peeked through the slim gap before opening it all the way. "Okay, come on."

Tibial followed her, blinked in the dark, dim building. "Where are we?"

"The old courthouse," Mia said softly. "Don't worry, it's abandoned."

"Isn't it supposed to be haunted?" Tibial asked.

"Maybe if you're nine," Mia shot back. She picked her way through the dark and the rubble, shining her flashlight around. Tibial could see their footprints in the heavy layer of dust. The back of his neck and his cheeks itched from cobwebs. Mia led them outside, where there was a large station wagon waiting.

"Okay, get in," Mia said. "In the back, both of you. We shouldn't get stopped or anything, but in case we do...I'd rather not have you up front."

Mia started up the ignition and pulled out, traveling on an old, unused dirt road until she was turning onto asphalt.

"Is this your car?" Tibial asked.

"My parents. They're going to be pissed when they find out what I‘ve done."

"Why are you doing this?" Chad asked quietly. He was leaning his forehead against the cool window of the car.

"Well..." Mia looked uncomfortable. "I found out today that you and Tibial could be sentenced to death for...for what you've been accused of and I got scared. I'm not sure what's going on with the two of you, but I am pregnant and I don't want my kid to grow up without a dad. And I'm feeling a little guilty. It's kind of my fault that you got caught."

Tibial looked up at that. "How? Did you turn us in?" His stomach grew cold and tight at the thought.

"No! I would never. But-" She wetted her lips. "I followed you after you left our apartment. I wanted to catch up to you and apologize but by the time I was almost caught up with you, I saw you turn away from the direction of the library. I wasn't sure where you were going, so I followed. I thought that if you saw me, you wouldn't go wherever you were planning to go, so I made sure to stay hidden. I saw you go to his apartment. I saw him hug and kiss you before you went inside. I-"

Mia broke off and shook her head a little. "I'm sorry I followed you. I guess it was kind of deceitful. I thought-I thought maybe you were going to buy a ring or something to surprise me. But-" She sniffed and rubbed at her face. Her voice had thickened a little at the end of her story and Tibial realized she was crying. "I didn't know what to think. I was wondering if maybe it was part of the training that boys have to go through, you know, with their older counterparts. My younger brother just went through it recently, and I don't know much about it. I'm not supposed to ask. But I knew that Terrasa was with Chad-"

Chad groaned and Tibial sighed. He could already see where this was going.

"So I went to talk to her, thinking maybe she knew. I told her what I had seen, asked her about it. She said she didn't know, but that she would find out for me. I guess she did, in a way." Mia sighed again, shook her head, her voice steadying. "I didn't tell anyone else. I really thought it was something innocent. She came by later to tell me that you and him had been jailed. She said that she had to report it, that it was her duty as a child of the Goddess to not allow such a perversion to exist. I had asked her not to tell anyone else, I had made her swear to it on the face of the Goddess herself. And she...this is all my fault, I'm so sorry."

"Terrasa's the one that ratted us out, not you," Tibial said, which was the truth, but he couldn't come up with any more words of comfort, not at the moment. Goddess, she had followed him and had seen the two of them kiss. That had been so careless. He wished Mia had just kept it to herself or asked him about it. Hell, she had already managed to explain most of it away without anyone even having to say a word. But Terrasa was very smart and once she had that vital piece of information, she would have been able to put the pieces together quite easily.

"I didn't want to be responsible for anyone's death, directly or indirectly," Mia continued. "So I made a plan. I came to the jail this evening, pretending to try to wheedle some information out of the prison guards. By the way, Chad, your sentence had already been decided. But they were still debating you, Tibial. That's all they would tell me."

"So I might have been okay?" Tibial asked.

"Yeah, well, I already told you, I wasn't waiting around to find out," Mia said, taking a sharp turn a tad faster than was necessary. "While I was there, I drugged their coffee."

"How did you manage that?" Tibial asked, smiling despite himself.

"My mom owns a chain of pharmaceutical companies, remember?" Mia said. "It's where I worked after school and during the summers. It wasn't hard. I drove the car to the courthouse and snuck in through the underground. I checked on the guards...out cold...and took their keys. I'm guessing you can piece the rest of it together yourselves."

"How come you didn't mention any of this during the trial? How come Terrasa-"

"We were there to vouch for you. Terrasa was there during the first part, where she recounted how she had found you out. You weren't allowed to be there for that part because they wanted to protect the identity of the accuser. She did take credit for catching the two of you in the act, since I asked that she not reveal me. I think she liked making herself out to be the hero more anyhow." She looked up, caught Tibial's eyes in the rearview mirror, then glanced at Chad, still leaning against the window. "Was it a lie?"

"What?" Tibial asked.

"About you being forced."

"Yeah, it was a lie. He was trying to protect me. Help me escape a death sentence."

"So is it true? Are you a homosexual, like they're saying?"

"No!" Tibial shouted. "Goddess, why does everyone keep saying that? I'm just-" He shook his head in frustration. "Fuck, I don't even know anymore. But I'm not gay!"

"But you did sleep with him," Mia pressed.

"That's none of your business."

"Fuck you. You slept with me too, that makes it my fucking business. How much longer were you planning on stringing me along?"

"I don't know. I wasn't thinking that far ahead."

"Obviously. What were you going to do once the baby was born?"

"Didn't I just tell you I didn't fucking know?"

"Goddess, you are such a prick,” Mia said, her voice trembling. “I don't know why I bothered saving your ass."

"Because you don't want to raise our kid by yourself," Tibial said. "I don't want you to either."

Mia was silent, her fingers gripping the steering wheel, her mouth in a thin angry line, her eyes wet. Tibial believed that she was just starting to realize that her rescue attempt wasn't quite turning out the way she thought it would.

"So what now?" Tibial asked. "Where are we going?"

Mia scowled. "Right now our main priority is to put some distance between us and them as soon as possible. Hell is going to break out when the guards wake up and find you guys gone. I'll drop you off at a depot, you can catch a train eventually, go west or south, whichever."

"What about you?"

Mia looked at him in the rearview mirror. "Well, I was going to go with you. But now, since my boyfriend is a pervert, I guess I'll forget about that and go back to town."

"You can't," Chad said. "You helped two felons escape from prison. You'll be hanged."

"They can't prove it was me. Plus, even if they could, they wouldn't touch me. Not if I'm pregnant."

"No. They would lock you up until you had the baby, take it from you and then hang you."

"They wouldn't touch a fertile female."

"Don't be so sure. They want to see someone executed, believe me, and they'll take whomever they can get. You would have been wise to leave me there. They would have been more willing to let you two slip away if they still had me. Even if you aren't hung, you will still be jailed for quite some time. Maybe even made into a breeder."

"They wouldn't," Mia said, and the dry terror was evident in her voice. "Not me. They can't."

"Do you want to find out?"

Mia shook her head. "They won't know it was me. They won't."

”Yes they will. You left a good trail for the authorities to follow. You took your family’s car and everyone knows that you had coupled with Tibial. You think they are not going to put two and two together when they find him missing? Not to mention that you have access to medicine that could knock the guards out.”

"Circumstantial," Mia pointed out, then glanced at Tibial. "Will they really?" she asked softly, her voice trembling.

"I don't know. Chad wouldn't lie."

"What do I do?" Mia asked.

"Can we really catch a train?” Tibial asked. “Won't someone recognize us?"

"Depends on how far away we can get before the news breaks," Mia said. "I can also disguise us."

"Come with us," Tibial suggested. "Let's get out of here, then we'll settle down somewhere and figure out what to do. I'm tired, you're tired, right?"

"I guess."

"So let's just run. Run and get some rest and then figure something out. Okay?"

Mia looked like she was thinking hard. "Okay. Fine. Whatever."

* * *

"Stop fidgeting," Mia snapped.

"Mia, I don't-"

"Hush."

Tibial sighed. He didn't like this.

"Look, I'm not doing this to embarrass you," Mia pointed out. "Security is going to be looking for two men and a woman. Not a single woman and a couple. So just suck it up. You only have to look like a girl, not act like one."

"I don't look like a girl."

"Of course not. But you're thin and have more delicate features. You won't be the most attractive woman in the world, but you can pass for one for a few hours at least. Alright?"

Tibial was obviously unhappy, but he sat there and let Mia fix him up. He felt ridiculous and embarrassed, but he knew that Mia was right; he couldn't go into that train station looking like himself. But he thought this was a little extreme.

"Alright," Mia pulled back and looked at him, smoothed down the artificial hair of his wig. "You look passable." She gave him some money. "Whichever train goes furthest west, okay? We're going to give you ten minutes, then we'll come in."

"Got it," Tibial shot Chad a small, nervous smile before stepping out of the car. He felt lost and confused. Mia was obviously unhappy and angry, while Chad was being quiet and distant. Tibial was feeling very much alone.

He went inside, checked the trains and schedule. He bought his ticket, then sat down on a bench and waited. He almost didn't recognize Chad and Mia when they first came in, the only thing that tipped them off was their clothing. Mia was good at disguising people, he had to give her that. She had a ton of costumes and props from her drama club days that she had brought with her.

He caught her eye then stood up, retreated to the restroom. Mia came in a second later. She looked around to check to make sure they were alone.

"What train did you get?"

"The 752."

"Good, me too." She looked at him. "We'll ride it to the end of the line, then get a hotel somewhere and decide what to do."

Tibial nodded.

"Okay," Mia said. "Don't talk to anyone if you can help it."

"I won't."

Mia turned and left. Tibial tried not to let her cold stiffness bother him. She had reason to be upset. He glanced in the mirror and flinched. He looked awful, like an ugly girl who was wearing too much makeup in an effort to be pretty. He sighed and smoothed down the long dark wig framing his face. At least there was no chance anyone would recognize him.

He went back out and looked at the map on the wall. The 752 train would take them out of the Northeast completely and to the fringes of the Midwest. It would be a long ride, but manageable. Anything to get out of here.

He glanced over at Mia and Chad briefly, a long haired brunette sitting with a handsome bearded blond. He felt a little strange looking at their intertwined fingers, but if they were posing as a married couple, it was a good touch, as was Mia's slightly swollen stomach.

He turned back around and found a man standing nearby, also studying the map. The man glanced at him and smiled and Tibial smiled back out of instinct, before realizing that he looked like a woman, and that the smile could be misconstrued as flirting.

"Greetings lady. Know where are you heading?" the man asked.

"West," Tibial said.

"You must be able to read a map better than I," the man said. "I'm still trying to figure out where my train goes."

"Which one are you on?"

"The 21."

"Here," Tibial said, reaching out and tracing the line of the 21 Train. "It's going to go North, then West, with those little circles indicating a stop where you can disembark. It’s a loop system.”

"Ah, I see. Thank you. You think I would be used to the train system after using it so much. I travel a lot for business."

"I see."

"What about you? Traveling for business or pleasure?"

"Um...visiting family," Tibial invented, remembering too late to try to keep his voice high pitched and light, like a woman’s. "My aunt."

"I see. You should be careful traveling alone." The man laughed at the look Tibial gave him. "No need to worry lady. I'm not making a pass at you. I'm already coupled."

"Oh."

"Yeah, makes the traveling all the time hard. What about you?"

Tibial hesitated.

"I'm sorry, was that too personal?" the man asked apologetically.

"No. I'm not at the moment."

"Well, don't you worry. You look young, you still have plenty of time to couple and have a kid."

"Do you have children?"

"No. My wife gave birth to a little boy a few years ago, Mark, but the Crib Death took him. We haven't had one since. We've got one year left to have another or our coupling partnership will be dissolved and she'll have to look elsewhere."

"That doesn't sound very fair."

"It's not. Nothing we can do about it."

“I think we should be with who we love and that should be fine.”

The man grinned at him. “You are a romantic, young lady, and not a realist. That’s how it should be, but not how it ever will be.” He looked up as a whistle blew. “That’s my train, lady.”

Tibial smiled. “It was nice meeting you.”

“You as well lady.”