Prisons in the Sky (Chapter 8)

Chapter 8 (Down)

Shrall stood beside the railing, his eyes closed, his entire body burning up inside. This was it. This was the moment. The time to get his revenge and the time to avenge his brother.

Charlie had quietly unlocked his cell and allowed him to stroll right out. It had already attracted the attention of a few of the prisoners who stood there, mild curiosity on their faces.

Charlie walked up next to Shrall and put an arm on his bulky shoulder.

“Make sure you get those three woman out, won’t you?” said Shrall.

“I will,” said Charlie. “Are you sure there’s no other way.”

“No other way,” said Shrall. “We’ve been over this. This is the only way to knock this place out.”

Charlie lowered his head.

“You’ve been a good friend, Banks,” said Shrall.

Charlie Banks had been a journalist and had read up about the plight of the brothers and had uncovered the truth, but his editor had blocked his request to print it. Instead Charlie had taken the opportunity to sign up and help Shrall from the inside.

“I won’t forget you.”

“Get away from me now,” said Shrall as he stepped onto the first railing and the second and then the third.

Charlie stepped away and then slowly backed into the darkness.

“See you soon, Corbax.”

And then he let himself fall. At first he seemed to move so slowly, almost as though he was floating through the air. He made sure he didn’t crash into anything on the way down. He didn’t want to blow up halfway down.

He felt the rush of air over his body as he let his arms stretch out to either side. For a moment, he didn’t want to die.

And then Shrall no longer wanted anything.

The impact was massive. He hit the grated, metal floor and exploded into a huge, green ball of flames, engulfing the storage area down below. The entire spike shook, lights flickering and sparks blowing from electric boxes.

The entire spire was plunged into darkness.

“GO!” said Lilly as the gates clicked open.

“Here goes nothing,” said Holly, as there were cries of surprise from the cells around them as other prisoners began to escape, none of them really knowing where to go, but just ambling about in the darkness.

“We need to find Zia!” shouted Holly.




The Doctor and Ziggy had just reached the top of the tube when the spike shook and they lost their grip. The two of them plummeted from the opening and landed with a splash in the waste-ridden water in the tank.

“What the hell was that?!” cried Nao.

The Doctor and Ziggy surfaced as the lights flickered out.

“Oh, crap,” said Ziggy. “What the hell just happened?”

“It sounded like a bomb,” said the Doctor, his voice almost a whisper.

There was another rumble and cracks began to form in the ceiling above them.

“Is this place gonna come down?” said Nao.

“It can’t do,” said the Doctor. “We need to get them out of there.”

“We need to get out of here,” said Nao. “Now.”

“We can’t leave them!” said Ziggy, looking across at his wife. “We’ve come so far. She’s my sister.”

“And you can’t go back up there,” said Nao, pointing towards the ceiling. “This spike may still be safe, but that ceiling’s definitely gonna come down.

“She’s right,” said the Doctor, realising the extent of what he was saying as he stared straight ahead.

“Doctor, your friends...my sister…”

“There’s no way up there, Ziggy,” said the Doctor, turning to him.

“There has to be.”

The Doctor shook his head.

“All this can’t be for nothing,” said Ziggy, his eyes wet.

“We need to get out. Regroup. Then we can work it all out. We’ll find another way.”

“But we don’t know what’s going on up there,” said Ziggy.

“Ziggy, I need you to help me get Nao back into the water.”

“But what about Zia-”

“ZIGGY!” said the Doctor, grabbing him by his arms. “You need to help your wife.”

Ziggy looked shocked and then nodded.

They helped Nao back into the fowl smelling water, none of them saying a word as they swam, with difficulty, through the waste and then dived under the water.




Holly and Lilly found Zia stood by one of the cell doors. She was being pushed and jostled around. A man with long, greasy hair and deep, sunken-in eyes grabbed her by the shoulders and leered at her. She pushed him away but he approached her again.

“Not so tough now you’ve not got guards to watch you, eh?” he growled at her.

She could smell his foul smelling breath and almost retched.

And then there was a thud and the man went stiff, toppling to the ground. Standing there with a metal chair in her hands was Lilly.

“Thanks,” was all Zia could manage.

“Don’t mention it, sweetheart,” said Lilly, shocked at her own strength. “Now we need to get moving. Shrall’s given us this opportunity. We’ve gotta take it now.”

“Yep,” said Zia. “I don’t need to be told twice.”

Holly emerged from the shadows, a look of fear on her face. “You two ready?”

“Uh-huh,” said Lilly. “Let’s go.”

By now the guards had begun piling down onto the various different decks. Lilly, Holly and Zia linked each others hands as they made their way through the rioting prisoners.

“Here it is!” said Lilly, as they approached the steel frame of the lift. The lift was stuck a few decks down. “Give me a hand,” said Lilly, as she managed to get her fingers in-between the two doors.

Slowly the three girls managed to prise open the doors until there was a gap big enough for them to squeeze through.

“You first, Dangerfield,” said Lilly, ushering her friend into the shaft.

Holly looked down at the drop and then back up. It was going to be a tough climb, but they had no choice. She closed her eyes, said a prayer and then reached across, grabbing onto the caged sides, her fingers slotting easily through the square frame.

Then she held on tight and let the rest of her body swing over. She let out a yelp and for a split second she thought she was going to fall…but she didn’t. She hung there, breathing heavily.

“You should be able to get a grip with your feet,” said Lilly.

“Yes,” said Holly, desperately trying to get a foot hold. The squares were just big enough for her to get the tips of her trainers in.

“You in?” said Lilly.

“I’m in,” said Holly.

“Now go!”

Holly began the climb. It was difficult at first, but the further she got, the more she became accustomed to the climb. She looked down and regretted it instantly. Zia was just beginning the climb and was quicker than her. She was gaining on her first.

She saw Lilly scrambling with another prisoner who had tried to grab her, but Lilly leapt across the shaft and the man toppled over the edge, almost taking her down with him.

“You alright?” shouted Holly.

“Get moving!” yelled Lilly.

Holly nodded and continued the climb. She’d never been scared of heights before, but she was starting to reconsider that now.




The journey from the waste area back into the sea was fairly uneventful. This time, instead of swimming under the water, the Doctor, Ziggy and Nao instead decided to stay above water, taking their chances that the shark-like creature would likely be deeper down and that the guards would be too distracted with events back at the spire.

They were approaching the bottom of the cliff face when the Doctor turned around. He frowned at first and then a look of horror appeared on his face.

“What is it?” said Ziggy, as he helped Nao along.

“Look at the spire,” said the Doctor.

Ziggy squinted in the dark. Part of the spire was on fire just above where they had been, the flames flickering out of a large hole in the side. “It’s on fire.”

“Yes,” said the Doctor, “and I’m very much afraid that the explosion did more damage than I first thought. The explosion shouldn’t have done much damage, but if there was something else down there…”




In the bowls of the spire, around Shrall’s flaming body, there was an oil drum that had spilled over. Flames had engulfed the trail of oil from the drum to the edge of the wall and a fire had broken out, spreading up part of the wall and spilling out of the hole.

But just nearby to the spilt drum was another eight drums.

And the flames were licking ever closer…

To be concluded...