A prison staff vehicle sat near the edge of the service area.
Damien ran toward it. He tried the driver’s door forcing it open...
After forcing the car open Damien climbed into the vehicle and immediately checked the ignition.
His eyes widened slightly when he found the keys still sitting where the previous driver had left them. The car had no door keys but there was an ignition key inside...
For a moment, he simply stared at them, almost unable to believe that something so convenient had fallen into his hands. Then, slowly, a grin spread across his battered face.
"Perfect."
He turned the key, and the engine roared to life.
Damien slammed his foot onto the accelerator. The vehicle lurched forward with enough force to push him back against the seat, and the tires screeched as they struggled for traction against the pavement. He tore across the prison grounds, weaving between abandoned vehicles, overturned equipment, scattered debris, and the remnants of the riot that had transformed Blackridge Correctional Facility into a battlefield.
Behind him, alarms continued to scream through the compound. Their shrill wailing echoed against the concrete buildings, blending with the shouting of guards and the thunderous roar of hundreds of prisoners flooding through corridors and courtyards. Smoke drifted through the air, doors hung open, and security personnel rushed from one crisis to another, hopelessly overwhelmed by the sudden collapse of order. The entire facility had descended into chaos, and Damien barely spared it a glance.
His attention remained fixed on the road ahead.
His hands tightened around the steering wheel as he accelerated toward the outer security gate. The massive gate stood open, its usual security measures rendered useless by the prison riot. The guards stationed nearby were far too distracted to notice him immediately. Most were occupied with prisoners escaping into the surrounding areas, while others desperately tried to restore some semblance of control within the facility.
Then one guard turned.
His eyes widened when he saw the vehicle speeding toward the open gate.
"Stop that vehicle!"
Damien didn’t even consider slowing down.
The guard hurriedly reached for his radio. "Suspect escaping through the east gate! Repeat, suspect escaping through the east gate!"
Damien shot through the opening before anyone could react. The vehicle bounced violently as it crossed the boundary, its suspension groaning beneath the impact, before its tires slammed onto the road outside the prison.
For the first time in a while, Damien was outside.
He was free.
The realization struck him with such force that a laugh escaped his throat. It began as a quiet, disbelieving chuckle before growing louder, until he was laughing openly behind the steering wheel.
"I’m free..."
The words sounded almost foreign coming from his mouth.
He pressed harder on the accelerator, and the vehicle surged forward.
For several minutes, Damien simply drove. The prison gradually disappeared behind him, swallowed by distance as city streets replaced the walls and security towers of Blackridge. Buildings rose along either side of the road, traffic moved through the intersections, and ordinary life continued around him as though nothing extraordinary had happened.
Then he heard it.
A faint siren.
Damien’s smile disappeared.
He glanced into the rearview mirror and saw flashes of red and blue approaching in the distance. One police cruiser emerged from behind the traffic, followed by another.
"Already?"
The police vehicles accelerated.
A loudspeaker crackled behind him.
"Pull the vehicle over!"
"Pull over immediately!"
Damien looked at the road ahead, then back at the police vehicles closing in behind him. Under normal circumstances, the sight of multiple police cruisers pursuing him would have filled him with fear. Instead, something entirely different began to stir inside his chest.
Excitement.
His hands tightened around the steering wheel, and a strange smile slowly returned to his face.
"So they want to catch me?"
He pressed the accelerator to the floor.
The engine roared, and the vehicle surged forward with startling force. The speed climbed rapidly, far faster than Damien had expected. Within seconds, the distance between him and the nearest police cruiser began to increase.
The officer behind the wheel immediately realized what was happening.
"He’s accelerating!"
He grabbed the radio while keeping his eyes locked on the fleeing vehicle. "Dispatch, suspect is refusing to stop. Request additional units and an intercept ahead."
Another voice answered through the radio. "Units are being dispatched. Maintain pursuit."
More sirens soon joined the first.
Damien glanced into the rearview mirror and saw several additional police vehicles entering the pursuit. Their lights flashed across the surrounding buildings, while the combined wail of their sirens echoed through the streets.
"All of you?"
His grin widened.
He pushed the accelerator even farther.
The vehicle shot forward.
Buildings blurred past the windows. Streetlights became elongated streaks of light, and the surrounding traffic seemed to move almost unnaturally slowly. Damien’s grip tightened as he approached a major intersection, where one of the pursuing cruisers suddenly accelerated ahead of him and attempted to position itself across his path.
Damien noticed the maneuver almost immediately.
He should have been too late.
Yet something strange happened.
His perception seemed to sharpen.
For a brief moment, the world appeared clearer. He could see the police cruiser, the movement of the surrounding traffic, the gaps between vehicles, and the narrow opening beside the cruiser. His mind processed everything with an unnatural speed, calculating the available space almost instinctively.
His newly awakened body reacted before he had consciously finished thinking.
Damien jerked the steering wheel.
The vehicle swerved sharply and slipped through the narrowing gap between the police cruiser and the surrounding traffic. The police vehicle missed him by only a few feet before Damien straightened the wheel and continued down another road.
"Where did he go?!"
Damien laughed.
His heartbeat pounded against his chest, but there was no fear in it. If anything, he felt exhilarated.
This wasn’t simply driving anymore.
Something inside him had changed.
His enhanced perception allowed him to recognize openings before they fully developed. His reactions were faster than they should have been, and his body seemed capable of responding to danger almost before his conscious mind registered it.
But the pursuit wasn’t over.
More police vehicles appeared ahead.
Damien’s expression hardened as he continued through the city. He wasn’t merely relying on speed anymore. He watched everything around him—the roads, intersections, traffic patterns, approaching vehicles, and the positioning of the police cruisers behind him. Whenever the authorities attempted to close one route, he shifted toward another before their blockade could fully form.