I woke up stiff and cold, huddled against Thomas. No more light filtered through the vent above our heads, so I guessed it must be morning. Thomas stirred a few moments later, wincing with pain as he tried to move his arm. His eyes opened slowly and looked into the dimness of the room, and remarked with a raspy voice, "it's morning, they'll only have one guard on us during the day, this is the time to get out of here." I nodded and stood slowly as my body attempted to wake up. I felt my way across the floor, arms outstretched, feeling for the handle of the door.

I reached the wall where I thought the door was and slid my hands over cold concrete until I felt the warmer wood of the door. I grasped the handle finally, and slowly turned it, pulling the door ever so slightly open for me to peek into the office. Cold daylight spilled into the room through curtained windows, but the room appeared to be empty besides the dust that danced through the air. I cautiously stepped forward and on to the ragged carpet from the night before.

That's when I realized I wasn't alone. Small snoring breaths rattled behind me, and I slowly pivoted around to see one of the pinstriped men fast asleep in a chair leaned against the wall next to the door. Panicking, I searched the room for anything to keep him asleep long enough for me to get Thomas out. I tiptoed over to the desk and began trying drawers. Each drawer rattled as loud as gunfire as they taunted me with not opening. From the desk, I moved over to the bookshelves that lined the walls, they were mostly empty, but a hardcover volume caught my eye, and I grabbed it, making my way back to our guard.

Here goes nothing, I thought, and cocked the book back behind my head and struck him clean across the side of his head. He crashed to the floor and lay there quiet. No snoring, no movement. I bent down and pulled open his eyelid, his eyes stared off into nothing. I couldn't believe it worked on the first try. I dragged his passed out body into the corner and made a mental note to buy a thousand copies of the book that helped me out.

I reentered the dark room to find Thomas sitting up against the wall, waiting. "He's out, let's go," I said, and pulled Thomas' good arm around my neck and shakily helped him to stand. We drag limped across the room, and out into the office. Thomas' foot caught the edge of the rug, causing him to trip forward. I caught him quickly, and he laughed. "What?" I said astonished that he laughed at a time like this. "It's just that, I feel like the damsel in distress," he laughed again. "That's what you're thinking about right now!?" I asked incredulously and then broke into laughter myself.

Click! A door closed down the hall, and Thomas and I almost jumped out of our skins. I leaned Thomas against the desk and moved quickly to look down the hallway. No one appeared to be coming or going, so I returned to Thomas. He held my book I had used on the pinstriped man, "did you see this?" he asked. "Yes, I used it on him," I said pointing to the man passed out on the floor. He shook his head and handed me the book. I looked closely at the cover, and through the faded print I saw it said 'Utopia.'

"That books seems to come in handy a lot," I said with a quick laugh. I then pulled Thomas' arm around my neck and we began to hobble our way out of the office and into the hallway. It was deserted still, and we shuffled as quietly and quickly as we could down the carpeted walkway. Thomas' breath came forth in sharp intakes while he began leaning more of his weight onto me as we neared the end of the hall.

Click! Again the sound of a doorknob twisting out of place came from behind us. Panic filled us both and we shuffled faster towards a door with a window cut into it. We made it through the door just as a man emerged from the door down the hallway. Thomas dove to the floor and pulled me along with him to get out of the window's range of sight. I lay sprawled across Thomas, both of us barely breathing as we silently prayed for the man to just keep walking.

His hat came into view slowly, then his face, which had a huge gouge taken out of it and had scarred badly. He walked slowly, as if suspicious, but did not turn to look into our hiding place. Thomas and I remained frozen for a few more moments after he left, then we both let out a huge sigh of relief. "I don't know how much farther I can go," Thomas said grimly. "I think we're going to have to go way past your limit," I replied as I stared at the rickety fire escape our room led us to.

Thomas followed my gaze, looked back at me, then said: "I guess we'd better start climbing." I smiled weakly back, slung his arm over my shoulder again, and we began working our way down into the alleyway below. We created a method of climbing down where I went down a few steps below him and guided his weight onto me until he found his way to my step, and then we repeated.

We were about halfway down the cumbersome staircase when a young man's voice called up to us "hey, you need some help miss?" I turned around to see three young men in dirty shirts, vests, and newsboy caps staring up at us, hands shielding their eyes from the sun. I looked back at Thomas and he was smiling. "Friends of yours? I asked. "The best," he said and gave a small wave back to his buddies. Within the next minute, the three had made their way easily up the stairs and took Thomas under their wing and had the five of us down in minutes. "You're a mighty strong lady miss," spoke up another of Thomas friends. "Thank you," I replied, still astonished that we had somehow found ourselves in pleasant company again.

"Fellas, you've got to introduce yourselves," Thomas teased, and immediately the three doffed their caps and each individually gave his name. The man who had first spoken to us wore a green collarless shirt with a gold vest and gave the name "John." The next was the man who had remarked on my strength, he wore purple and pink in a somehow dirty but stylish way, and called himself "Henry," finally was the third and quietest of the group who wore dark gray "Robert." "And this is Joan," Thomas filled in after. "Pleasure to meet you miss," said John. "And I you!" I said with a laugh. "Come, merry Joan and Thomas, we must get back home before Louis' sends anymore pinstripes after us," proclaimed John, and the five of us made our way back into the busy streets of the city.