The Great Escape

Getting down from the nightstand was simple, sliding down the cord very much in the same fashion as a fireman’s pole. Once they were back on the carpet, “If the broads come back before we get those other fuckers free, run under the bed, that’s our only shot,” Julian said.

Josh smiled and nodded, “Yep,” he said, jogging toward where the other box was location just under the leading edge down near the foot of the bed.

“Carver? Henry?” Josh said, slapping his hand against the durable corrugated cardboard.

“Josh?” Carver replied from the other side.

“Julian and I are here to get you guys out,” Josh said.

“What about Ham, is he with you?” Carver queried.

“She ate him the same way you suck down a donut lardo,” Julian said bluntly.

“What?” Carver.

“We’ll explain later, right now we need to get you out of there before she comes back,” Josh said.

“Okay, how?” asked the heavier set man.

“And that, ladies and gentlemen is the million dollar question,” Julian said, arching an eyebrow and looking at Josh.

“We have to pull the taps out to lift the lid,” Josh said, bending next to the lid flap folded over the edge of the box and pulling at the cardboard, sliding the insert free fairly easily, “It’s not very heavy at all,” he added, excited.

“Yeah, okay, but riddle me this, we get the flaps out, manage to get the lid up high enough let them squeeze out, how the fuck are they going to get up to the top of the box there Nygma?” Julian asked.

“Shit,” murmured Josh. The slender man’s question was valid. How could Henry and Carver get up an over? It was at least fifteen feet from their current perspective.

“We could press the food and water dishes into one of the corners, maybe jump up from there?” Carver said.

Josh grinned, “Do that Carver.” Looking at Julian, “Go to the other tab and pull it out, let’s see if we can push this lid up some?”

Moving to the other end of the front of the box, Julian bent down and pulled out the tab, the fold in the cardboard at the back of the box actually pulled the lid up a couple of feet without them even having to try and push it up.

Inside the box, Carver maneuvered the dishes into the right hand front corner, stacking one on its edge. Climbing up, it took him a couple of attempts to jump up and grab the edge of the box. He wasn’t strong enough to pull himself straight up, instead, he twisted to the side and walked his feet along the edge of the corner until he was able to throw a leg over. Pulling himself up, he sat astride the box, looking back down at Henry. “Come on, I’ll help you up,” he offered, leaning back toward the interior of the box, bracing himself with one hand and reaching out with the other.

“Not going to go,” Henry said, shaking his head. “And I think you’re making a mistake.”

“Were you not listening you stupid old fart? She put Ham in her mouth and swallowed,” Julian said loudly, making a very distinctive gulping noise.

“Because he escaped. She said she was very happy because Carver and I stayed behind,” he explained, “said she was going to give us a treat.”

Carver looked down at the two men standing outside the box, “What do I do?” he asked, holding his hands out.

“Get your round ass down from there and leave Henry behind,” Julian said, “tick tock, tick tock.”

Josh frowned and shook his head, motioning Carver to come down.

Swinging his leg over, Carver lowered himself so that he was hanging by his arms before letting and dropping the rest of the way.

“You are all going to be very sorry,” Henry warned.

“Hey Henry, you said you were out walking your stupid dog Winston when she shrank you right?” Julian asked, grin on his face.

“Yes,” Henry replied.

“So what happened to your dog?” he asked.

“What do you mean?” inquired the older man.

“You were walking your dog when she shrank you, so what did she do with Winston?” Julian queried.

There was a pause, “I don’t know, I guess she let him run free I suppose,” Henry replied.

“I bet she shrank him too and Ham found what was left,” he teased, “After all he wasn’t a very big dog.”

“That’s a horrible thing to say?” Carver admonished, fixing Julian with an evil look.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not true chunks,” Julian laughed.

“You are a disgusting person,” Henry said.

“Ugh, I’m crushed you think so poorly of me,” he retorted, mock pain in his voice, dramatic expression on his face.

“Enough of this,” Josh said. “We should close this back up to buy ourselves some time. She sees the lid up, we tip our hand,” he added, pointing at the box lid.

Getting the lid down proved more difficult that getting it up, but working together, they were able to do, reinserting both tabs and closing the box.

Rubbing his hands together and looking to Josh, “What do we do now?” Carver asked.

“You go hide, do whatever, you’re free Shamu,” Julian said.

“What?” Carver queried.

“You heard me, just go,” Julian said, waving a hand toward the open floor of the room.

Josh stepped in, “What made you change your mind about escaping?” he asked.

Carver shrugged, “Call it my gut instinct, but the way the other girl looked at me, the way she winked, I don’t know, I just felt I needed to be out of there,” he explained.

“Gut instinct? In your case that’s a lot of instinct,” Julian sniggered, looking at the extra padding around Carver’s midriff.

“Can it Julian,” Josh said angrily, “we’re all in this together.”

“No, you said, we free them, let them draw the heat off of us,” Julian reminded, “increases our odds at evading capture.”

Josh held up his hand, “With three of us working together, maybe we can dislodge one of the towels and get out of this room,” he offered.

Julian frowned. He knew before agreeing to help Josh, this was going to happen. Josh was too soft hearted. Regardless though, he did make a good point. If they could move a towel enough to slip through, their odds of survival would improve exponentially. Rolling his eyes, “Alright,” he said, “but it’s going to have to be the bathroom or the closet, there is no way we can get enough collective leverage to push the towel out from under the bedroom door.”

“I don’t know how much longer we have before those two come back, so I say bathroom, at least we might find a source of water there,” Josh said.

Carver nodded, “Sounds good,” he said.

“Hope you can keep up,” Julian jabbed verbally, setting off toward the bathroom at an easy lope.

Carver extended his right arm and gave Julian the middle finger before falling in behind.