Chapter 49: Getting Out of Prison
"Hey, hey! What do you think you are doing in my office, huh?" Dominic commented. "Hey kid, calm yourself down and continue in your house. This is not a place to do something like this."
’What’s wrong with him? Why is he suddenly so chatty?’ Xavier wondered.
"Take her collar off," Xavier said to the officer.
The officer unlocked the collar and left the office.
"You two are free to go now. Leave." Dominic gave a dismissive wave.
"How are we supposed to get to the city? Send someone to drop us off."
"Don’t worry, you will find a vehicle at the dock. It will drop you off at the city centre. You will have to manage after that." After saying that, Dominic left the office.
The door shut behind them with a quiet hiss.
The hallway outside the office was quiet. A distant hum buzzed from overhead conduits, running like veins through the cold concrete ceiling. The air smelled like rust and ozone. Xavier stepped out first, the wolf girl close behind. Her collar was gone, but the red mark still circled her neck like a shadow. She didn’t speak. She hadn’t since the officer took it off.
They walked in silence through the facility. Broken screens flickered to life as they passed, glitching blue and red—old security footage, half-corrupted. No guards. No one stopped them.
When they reached the exit, a steel shutter groaned as it lifted. Outside, morning light painted the coastline in burnt orange. The sea stretched out, flat and grey, bleeding into a thick wall of haze far in the distance. Beyond the landing platform, perched on a raised slab of black rock, the aerovan waited.