Escape! Season 1 - Episode 1

The first thing Liz remembered was waking up with a massive headache. Ow. She used to fake migraines to get out of gym class, but this felt like every single one she’d ever faked had come back to bite her in the cranium. She groaned a little, moving to lift a hand to rub over one of her temples. What she hadn’t been expecting was her hands to be handcuffed behind her back.

“What the hell?”

“Hello?”

Huh, there was someone else there too. Another girl by the sound of it .Well, she wasn’t going to have any of this hanging around bound kinky crap.

“Hang on,” she said.

Closing her eyes, Liz visualized the handcuffs, pictured them clicking open and falling off. Less than a second later, that was exactly what happened. Taking a moment to rub over her wrists, she looked around, and her stomach lurched. She was so very not alone. The girl she’d heard was across the room from her, but there were three guys as well. She herself was laying on a bed, but not for long. Swinging her feet down to the floor, she sat up and focused on the girl. A moment later her hands were uncuffed as well, and she got up from the chair they’d set her in, rubbing her wrists the same way Liz had done with hers.

“Thanks,” she said quietly, and Liz watched as she looked around too. Then the other girl squealed and hurried over to crouch over a boy on the floor. Liz couldn’t understand what she was whispering to him, but she could hear that she sounded worried enough for her to gather that they were close. She undid his cuffs too, then looked at the other two boys.

One of them was leaning against the dresser, looking just as confused as she felt. The third boy was looking right at her, and when he caught her eye he got to his feet so fast that for a moment she thought he hadn’t been cuffed. Wrong. He was just really fast. And he kept watching her. She had to look away.

“Lemme guess,” the boy at the dresser said. “We are not here for not paying our phone bills, right?” He grinned a little. Was he on crack or something? Then it hit her...

“The show,”she said. “I told them I’d do it, but I thought it was a hoax.”

“Obviously not,” the boy said, then turned his back to her. His handcuffs were cutting into his wrists way too tightly, and she made a face. “D’you mind?”

Focusing my powers, Liz uncuffed the two guys

“Thanks.” It was the other boy that had said it. She looked away again. There was something about the way he watched her that made her uncomfortable.

Over in the corner, the other girl was still fussing over the boy, checking him up and down. Wow, obsessive girlfriend behavior much?

“Hey look at this.”

The second boy was clearly proving to be a chatty one. Well, at least he was as interested in figuring out what was going on as Liz was. Just then he was holding a TV remote in one hand, a note in the other one. She took the note from him and looked it over.

Push my buttons.

Chatty Cathy had no problem doing that. The TV came on, and she gasped a little.

“Oh my god, that’s the creep that asked me about the contest!”

He’d said his name was Chance Cagney, she remembered wondering if he’d made that up. And now he was there smiling like the cat that ate the canary. Liz was overcome with the sudden urge to punch him in the ear.

“Rise and shine my little Escapees, your adventure is about to begin. Now, I trust you’ve all become acquainted...”

Sure, Other Girl, The Kid, Chatty Cathy and El Creepo Who Won’t Stop Friggin’ Looking At Her.

“If not, I suppose you postpone on the formalities, there isn’t much time before the cavalry joins you, and as the outlaws in this situation, I’m certain you’ll want to avoid them. So you with the keys, why don’t you unlock the car we’ve left you for the whole gang and take a little drive? There are more instructions waiting for you once you’re on the go. Good luck.”

The video ended, and the screen went dead. Nobody said anything. Then...

“So, ah, who has the keys?” It was Chatty Cathy.

They all immediately checked our pockets. It was the kid that had the keys. He looked more surprised than the rest of them.

“Um, I can’t drive.”

El Creepo snatched them from him, grabbed his things, then led the way out of the room. Nobody wanted to sit and wait to see what was coming for them, so they all followed. Once everyone was outside, Liz made a face.

“Ew, a motel? I’m surprised he didn’t rufie and rape us.” Yeah, he looked like the type.

“You mean I was the only one?” Chatty Cathy asked, pretending to be horrified. Liz rolled her eyes. She was so not in the mood for jokes.

The group reached the parking lot, and everybody looked around. Which car was theirs? They were wasting time, and Liz was getting anxious. She did not want to meet the cavalry, whatever that meant. Finally El Creepo had the idea to push a button on the keys, and a car unlocked loudly. They all looked around at the source.

“Oh hell no!” Chatty Cathy said. Liz had a feeling she’d have to punch him before all of this was done, but ‘hell no’ was definitely a way to describe one of the ugliest cars she’d ever seen. They didn’t really have time to argue though. Everyone piled into the car, El Creepo behind the wheel. The moment the door slammed shut, we were tearing out of the parking lot, Chatty Cathy riding shotgun, The Kid, Other Girl and Liz in the backseat.

Nobody said anything, and it was one of those really awkward silences where one could cut the tension with a knife. After a few minutes Chatty Cathy turned around and grinned at everyone.

“So anyway, I’m Elias. I’m seventeen, I’m from Silver Spring in Maryland, and I enjoy long walks on the beach, intense conversations about books and music and being tied up in dingy motels. What about everyone else?”

“I’m Iris,” Other Girl chimed in. “And this is my little brother Lucas. We’re from Alexandria.”

Liz supposed the fact that they were all from the same area made her feel a little better. Both of those places were less than two hours from her home.

“I’m Liz, and live in Fairfax.”

Everybody looked to El Creepo, but he was staring straight ahead, as if he didn’t hear them. Elias wasn’t having it. “So, uh, how about you buddy?”

El Creepo shot him a look that would have made Liz hide, but either Elias had guts or no brain, she wasn’t entirely sure yet.

“Zeta. DC. Check and see if there’s anything in the glove compartment.”

Well wasn’t he just a ray of sunshine? Elias did as he was told, digging out for a moment before pulling out a CD.

“It says ‘play me’. Guess we’re playing it...”

He pushed it in the CD player, and that voice came on, that Chance Cagney guy. He seemed way too happy about the instructions he was giving them. Liz wondered if the other teams had heard the same thing.

Once the CD ended, they all kind of just stared out the window in silence. Zeta reached out to turn on the GPS system. It came to life with directions, and that was the last time he paid attention to the rest of them.

“So...hunters, huh?” Elias said, turning around in his seat to look at everyone. “This oughta be a blast. I hope one of you can shoot fire from your hands or something.”


Liz's Blog

This is already turning out to be great. I'm stuck with some of the weirdest people I've ever met, and I've known some real winners in my time.

Iris doesn't talk much, which is cool by me. If you don't have anything to say there's no need fill the silence...

Elias oughta learn that. Maybe he's just trying to ease the tension, but seriously, his jokes aren't even that funny. I may have to beat him up in the very near future.

Lucas is adorable, in that teddy bear sorta way. I think he'll turn out to be a real sweetie.

I really wish Zeta would stop being so creepy. What the hell kind of name is Zeta anyway?