Escape {Part I}

She ran her fingers over the cold, hard stone wall. Her eyes searched every crack, every dent, as her fingers ran over them. She was humming an old tune to herself to keep herself calm. Her eyes searched desperately as her fingers found new holes.

'There's gotta be something... Anything...' She bit her lower lip as her humming slowly faded. Her hand stopped as she felt a faint indention. What? She ran her fingers over the same spot, twice, three times, her eyes desperately searching for what she felt. She looked up at the dim light and slowly dragged her fingers upward. Yes.. There was something there. But what? She brought her other hand up to feel from left to right again. There was some sort of.. shape.. carved into the stone. But whatever it was, it went vertically, not horizontally. Her other arm reached up as high as it could. She still had no idea what this was. She reached up onto her tip toes, using both hands now to feel the very top, near the torch that lit her dim cell. She slowly, carefully, started her way back down, taking in each carve and line, each indention made in the stone. Yes.. they were shapes all right. Maybe letters even...

She kept a finger on the spot as she turned and searched the cold, empty cell. Nothing but the dim light from above. "Damnit..!" She looked around her feet and noticed the thin fabric of her shirt. Careful not to remove her hand from the spot, she ripped the bottom of it, struggling as she turned to get it all the way around. Once the fabric was removed, her shirt came just below her breasts, her red, scarred, yet smooth, stomach showing. She reached up holding the fabric vertically over the indentions, pressing it against the stone. 'This better work...' she thought to herself as she glanced around the cell again. She slid the hand on the wall down a bit, careful not to mess the fabric, and knelt down in quite an awkward way. She felt on the cold floor with her free hand and grabbed a small blade the guards had forgotten when leaving. She carefully placed it between her lips and stood on her tip toes, reaching up now with both hands to make sure the fabric was secure. She then removed her left hand and looked down to it. She brought it up to her mouth where the blade rest and dragged her palm along the blade, wincing and gritting her teeth as the sharp metal easily broke through the skin. She did this again, creating an 'X' on her palm, which was already covered in blood. She moved her head to the side and spit the blade from her lips, then looked back up. "This worked back home..." she mumbled as she brought her hand up to the fabric and carefully drug it down, smearing the blood on the thin fabric. Her hand shook as she slowly brought it down against it, gritting her teeth at the pain, trying to ignore it. When she finally reached the bottom, she quickly let the fabric go, and it floated to the floor. Her hand gripped her wrist, blood still trickling down and over her fingers, making both hands bloody. She sank to the floor and tore a piece of her already-torn pants and wrapped it tightly around her hand to stop the blood.

She heard a noise coming from outside her cell. 'Fuck!' She quickly grabbed for the fabric piece stained with blood, not even looking to see if her little 'trick' had worked. She looked around frantically, trying to find a place to hide it. She heard voices. Men's voices, talking among themselves. Quite a few. At least five different ones. Their voices echoed as she panicked. She finally stuffed the thin clothe strip down her pants, not knowing where else to put it. As their footsteps and voices grew nearer, she backed up against the wall. 'Not now.. Oh God not now...' she thought as her eyes frightfully watched their shadows.