Though they had several hours to waste before three a.m., Sam was determined not to fall asleep. He couldn’t risk falling into one of his dreams. Still, before he knew it, Koji was gently shaking his shoulder.

“Huh? I must’ve dozed off.” Sam said.

“You didn’t look asleep, but you said you didn’t want to…and it’s close enough to time. If we’re going to do this, we might as well do it now.”

Koji looked scared, not that Sam blamed him. Honestly, Sam was nervous too. There was a really good chance that this wouldn’t work. Even if it did work, there was no guarantee that outside was going to be any better than Wellhaven. After all, they didn’t know anybody, they didn’t have any money, and they didn’t have any where to go. But they had made up their minds.

“Okay, get a shirt,” Sam said pulling on his slip on shoes.

“Should we take the shade off or not?”

“Don’t think it matters.”

Koji nodded, then flung the shirt over the lamp. They tried to put it as close to the smoke detector as possible. The only thing left to do was wait.

“Is it working?” Koji peered at the shirt.

“I smell somethin’ burnin’.”

They waited a few moments later. Then they definitely could see a tendril of smoke coming from a small hole in the shirt. For a second it didn’t seem to be enough, then the hole got bigger. And suddenly there seemed to be enough smoke because the room erupted with the deafening sound of alarms.

“Whoa!” Koji shouted, dropping the lamp. The bulb shattered, dousing the room into darkness.

“Heh, I guess it…” Sam was interrupted by the sprinklers turning on. “Oh hell. So th’ systems are connected. They better let us out soon.”

Sam ran to the door and started pounding on it. He hated getting wet. Even taking showers just to get clean were annoying. Already his somewhat long hair was plastered to the back of his neck.

“C’mon!” He shouted. “We’re in here!”

“I think they know. Listen, I can hear shouting outside too.”

Sam was quiet for a minute. Koji was right, just over the blare of the alarms, he could hear voices shouting in confusion. Then he heard a distinct click. Sam almost fell out through the door as it was opened.

“Come on. The fire alarm’s going off. Follow the hallway that way.” The orderly who opened their door pointed down to the right. Sam could see a line of opened doors and other orderlies making sure that patients followed out. The one who unlocked their door hurried off to the next room.

“Follow me,” Sam ordered grabbing Koji’s wrist.

In the hallway was mass chaos. There were many patients who were crying or fighting against orderlies. It was obvious that some didn’t want to go outside if they could help it. Sam on the other hand had no intention of following down the hallway in the direction they were supposed to go. Instead, he went just slightly to the left, heading to the hallway that led to the rec room.

“Where are we going?” Koji shouted.

“Be quiet. We don’t want t’ be spotted,” Sam warned.

There were emergency exits in the rec-room. His goal was to head out through one of those. Of course, they had to be careful for several reasons. Even though the hallway they were headed down didn’t have any patients’ rooms, it still was possible that someone would see them. Also, the floor was slick from the sprinkler’s water. Behind him, Sam could tell Koji was having a rough time. The guy kept having to push black hair out of his eyes.

“Here,” Sam said as they arrived in the rec room.

His heart was beating so fast. They were going to make it. They were really going to make it. No one had seen them. Sam put all his weight behind opening the door. For a second he thought it wasn’t going to budge. Then, with a release that was echoed in his breath, the door opened allowing them outside. The alarm didn’t even go off, or if it did, it was hidden underneath the noise of the fire alarm.

“Don’t stop now,” Sam ordered.

He didn’t even bother to really take the time to see where they were. There were trees, that much was obvious, but he had known that much from looking out the windows earlier. It had been why he had chosen to go out the exit in the recroom. There was no way of knowing how thick the trees were, but Sam wasn’t stopping until he was sure they had a good lead.

~~~**~~~

It felt like they had been running for hours. Koji was gasping for breath behind him. Though he had no idea how long it had been since they escaped from Wellhaven, Sam figured they could at least stop to rest. The trees had finally given way to a four lane roadway. At this time of night, it was fairly deserted. Only a few cars buzzed past. Despite that, Sam kept close to the tree line.

They were both still damp, and Koji was shivering.

“How far do you think we got?” Koji asked.

“Don’t know. Far ‘nough f’ now. Y’ okay?”

“Cold. My legs ache too.”

“Yeah. Me too. That’s more activity we’ve had in a long time y’ know?”

Koji laughed. “I can’t believe it worked. I mean the shirt thing. It was such a fluke.”

Sam grinned. “We’ll rest f’ a minute ‘r two before decidin’ which direction t’ go. I think we came in a straight line from Wellhaven, so figure we should follow the road either left or right and we’ll run into a town ‘r somethin’.”

“There are lights both ways. But let’s go left. I don’t know why, I just have a better feeling about it.”

“Whichever. It doesn’t matter t’ me.”

Koji slumped to the ground, but Sam remained standing. He couldn’t believe it, he was actually out of that building. He guessed he should be worried or afraid of what would come next, but somehow he felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Sam was free, that was what mattered. Everything else would just fall into place.