Once a plan had been created things should have gotten better. The ragtag group of Mallrats should have been filled with hope and happier then they had been in a very long time, but things never were that simple. The days only seemed to stretch on at an agonizingly slow pace as they waited for the right time to make their move. As usual Bray had come up with a very good plan for escape, but this plan hinged on waiting for the perfect moment to strike, and the perfect guard to take down. For the next week they slept in shifts, taking turns watching the guards and memorizing their schedules. Perhaps this was overcautious, but this was a one time only chance. They had not been the first to attempt an escape, not by a long shot. People had tried the old fake sick and get a guard to come in the cage thing before, they had tried to dig their way out of the cage, and in one particularly interesting case attempted to seduce a guard. Alice, Bray, KC, and anyone unfortunate enough to be stuck in a techno run prison had seen it happen. People would attempt escape and they would never be seen again, at least not like they were before.

There had been several rumors flying around the camps about people who would get in trouble, and suddenly become an entirely different person. Drugs, torture, or some weird electronic device no one knew; but it was clear that the Technos knew ways to neutralize any threats to their power. No one was willing to risk it; this was part of why the Technos had been so successful in holding everyone for so long. Everyone was afraid of the Technos and the power they possessed.
It is an old adage that people hate what they fear, and the opposite of that is often true as well. While everyone in the camps was afraid of what the Technos might do to them, no one liked them. Bray in typical form spent nights quietly whispering to those in his cell convincing them to join in. Many were hesitant, but Bray assured them that if they were to be caught they could always deny knowing about the plan in the first place, with little other hope of ever escaping most of their cell mates agreed to their small part of the plan.

Escape plans that had been attempted before relied on the guards' sympathy, lust, or inability to notice a giant gaping hole in the floor of a cage as being suspicious. Bray's plan hinged on something no one had been brave enough to attempt before, the guards cruelty. While everyone had their part to play the plan largely hinged on KC, he would be the distraction or perhaps to put it in more accurate terms, he would be the bait. As luck would have it there was a guard who was notoriously bad tempered and abusive, who just so happened to be assigned to the late night shift.

Bray nodded, the movement was slight but it was easily caught by KC who had been waiting for it all night. He turned and looked over; sure enough the guard was approaching. His palms were sweating but his face remained calm, he had pulled off some pretty big lies before he hoped his talent for acting was still there.

"I'm telling you that's why they wear those silly looking tin can things over their faces." KC said in a loud tone.

"Shut up, he will hear you!" Bray said in a slightly more hushed tone.

The guard stopped but made no movement towards the cage, he wanted to hear more of this conversation. His expression impossible to read due to the mask which covered half of his face.

"All I'm saying is that the Technos want to have this perfect image. I mean you never see fat Technos do you?" KC continued on

"Well I guess not." Bray answered.

"Well most tribes have something that all of their members do, you know a painted mark, a type of outfit, a hairstyle. Well how come half of the Technos wear those metal masks and the other half don't?" KC said. He silently prayed that this would work, that his measly insults would be enough to get the guard in here

"I don't know, I never really thought about it." Bray answered

"Well they want to be like the ultimate tribe, so they make sure that the ugly members wear masks. It's as simple as that." KC said his eyes darted about nervously wondering if the guard would take the bait...

"What was that?" The guard asked stepping in towards the cage.

"Oh nothing it was nothing" Bray attempted to explain

"I wasn't talking to you, I was talking to the chunky little weasel next to you." he said pointing out KC.

"I was just explaining how great the Technos were." KC continued to pray

"Oh, really?" the guard said skeptically crossing his arms.

"Yes, it's so nice of them. I mean you guys may keep us locked up in cages, but at least you're nice enough to wear masks so that we don't have to see your ugly faces every day. That would really be cruel and unusual punishment." KC barely got the words out of his mouth before the guard ran to the cage.

He had the presence of mind to shut the door behind him, but it made little difference. Within seconds Alice and Bray were on him. Alice tripped the guard as he entered, and Bray hit the guard on the head ensuring that he would be knocked out. Some of the people were still in shock over how quickly it had happened and how easily the guard had been fooled, but Bray knew there was no time to waste. He fumbled for the guards keys and unlocked his own shackles, quickly tossing them over to Alice next, the keys made their way around the cage but no one made a move, not yet.

Once everyone had been unlocked they made a run for it. With everyone running off in different directions they would be much harder to hunt down and catch. Although many of the group elected to leave the Guardian to rot in the cage. However, when he swore by Zoot that he would attack the remaining Techno guards and rain the wrath of Zoot upon them, it was decided that he would probably keep the guards distracted longer and was let go.

Alice, K.C and Bray ran together amongst the crowd of fellow escaped prisoners.

"Where do we go now?" K.C. huffed and panted as he tried to keep up with his friends.

"I saw some boats over by the beach when they brought me here," Bray said loud enough for not only K.C and Alice to hear but also the others.

"AHH!" A frail girl screamed as she stumbled to the ground and proceeded to be trampled on by the crowd. Alice slowed down her pace and helped the girl to her feet.

"Come on," Alice encouraged as she half dragged/half carried the girl along, encouraging her to walk on her own feet.

"They're escaping!" Yelled a voice. K.C. chanced a look behind him to see a few Technos coming out of their tents and start after them.

"Bray!" K.C. exclaimed, getting the attention of their "leader".

"Just keep going, we're almost there!" Bray encouraged. True to his word, they soon reached the edge of the beach, where, as Bray had said, there was a line of motorized boats varying in size. The other escapees rushed to the boats and began boarding them. Alice handed the injured girl to one of the people on one of the larger boats before finding K.C. and Bray getting onto the one remaining boat.

"Hang on!" She called out as she rushed over. K.C. took her hand once she was close enough and helped her step onto the boat. Alice and K.C. watched as one by one the other boats took off from the shore with the passengers giving hoops and hollers of joy while Bray went about getting the boat to start.

"Uh, Bray, would you mind hurrying it up over there?" K.C. asked as he saw some Technos reaching the beach.

"I'm trying!" Bray replied as he kept trying to get the motor to turn over.

"Well try harder," Alice said. Alice and K.C. watched as the Technos got to the shore with Bray still fighting with the motor. "Bray!" Alice yelled just as the motor finally began to purr as it should.

"Got it!" Bray yelled, relieved as the boat lurched forward, causing Alice and K.C to stumble. "Sorry about that," Bray apologized.

"Forget the apologies, just keep going!" K.C. responded. The boat sped up as it left the shore, leaving the Technos to strew in their fury.

"WHOO!" K.C. yelled out, throwing his arms in the air. Alice laughed and the two hugged. They made their way over to Bray and stood with him as he steered the boat away.

"We did it," Alice smiled, putting a hand on Bray's shoulder. Bray turned back and nodded smiling "Yea, we made it out of the prison. Now we have got to figure out how to get back to the Mall."

"Hey for the first time in months I'm not in shackles, let's just enjoy the moment." K.C said. Alice cast Bray a sad look.

"But, Bray, what if the city really has been destroyed? Then the Mall isn't there anymore," she said.

"Alice, you said it yourself; those Techno freaks might have made the whole thing up. I'm not going to believe it until we see it for ourselves. We have to find Amber, Ellie and the others," he replied. Alice smiled, holding onto his optimism.

"You're right," she said. Bray nodded, giving her a smile.

"Come on Alice, you're the one who made me regain hope. Don't go losing yours now," he said, joking lightly. Alice's smile brightened.

"I won't," she said.

"Good," he said. He turned to K.C. "K.C, check around the boat. See if we've got any food or anything," K.C. nodded.

"Aye, Aye, Captain," K.C said, giving Bray a mock salute as he climbed below deck to look around. Bray laughed before looking at Alice. "You should get some rest," he said.

"I'm fine," she said.

"Alice, you were up all of last night watching the guards and you were up all of today. Go, rest," he said. Alice sighed and nodded. The adrenaline that had entered her body once it was decided that this would be the night that their plan would go into action diminished her fatigue. But now, after being up for so long and running across the beach, she was about ready to fall into a deep slumber. "Go on," Bray said. Alice went below deck. She caught sight of K.C. looking around before she found a resting spot in the corner. She settled herself down and was about to close her eyes when she felt K.C. lay a blanket over her.

"I found this, along with some tin food and water," he told her.

"Thanks," she said. K.C. nodded and went back up to keep Bray company. Alice let loose a happy sigh as she settled on the floor and let the rocking of the boat lull her into a peaceful sleep. The first peaceful sleep she'd had in a long time. Up top, Bray heard K.C. coming up the stairs.

"Anything?" He asked.

"Water, tin food, a blanket," K.C. reported. Bray nodded.

"How much food and water?"

"Not a whole lot," he said. "Just four small bottles of water and two tins of beans and about three of those weird Techno food bars," K.C shuddered lightly at the mention of the bars. It was all the Technos would give them to eat. Their meals consisted of some water and a bar. K.C had never liked the taste of them and only ate them so as not to starve, and even then, starvation seemed tempting.

"Well, we'll just have to make it last as long as we can," Bray said. K.C. nodded and sat down on the bench near the steering wheel. He leaned his head back and stared up at the cloudy starfilled sky.