She tried again, but the knife gave, bending against the force and snapping the tip of the blade off in the lock. Cursing softly, she threw the knife into the grass and grabbed her big Elven dagger. Lodging it between the lock and the door, she braced herself and pushed.

The clank of the metal latch snapping sounded like cannon fire to her ears, and Rachael froze, holding her breath, heart racing wildly. Surely someone had to have heard.

But ten seconds passed, then twenty, and no one appeared, so Rachael pushed open the door and grabbed the largest ladder she could find and a bundle of rope. Gripping the ladder tightly under one arm, she bolted for the wall as quickly and quietly as she could.

She found Jason and Claudia, crouched and tense, in the shadows by the east wall. Rachael could almost feel the fear and tension ripple in the air around them.

“Ladder,” murmured Rachael. Jason raised it and placed it quietly against the wall, extending it as high as she could. There was still a good seven-foot gap between the top of the ladder and the top of the wall, and her heart sank as she thought about the drop on the other side.

Jason seemed to read her mind. “Parkour?” he asked with a strained smile. Rachael nodded, tying the rope to a sturdy sapling and handing it to him, hoping it was long enough to help them slide down to safety.

Jason climbed the ladder first while Rachael held the bottom steady, hoping their luck would hold. She hadn’t heard any sounds, but the voice in the back of her mind that had saved her many times in LARP was sounding warning alarms now. Something was wrong.

Rachael watched nervously as Jason reached the top of the ladder. He was tall, a little over six feet, with wiry lean muscles that allowed him to pull himself to the top of the wall easily. He dropped his bag and the rope over the other side as Claudia began to climb.

Claudia was six rungs from the top when Rachael heard the incoming footsteps behind her, the sudden flicker of a flashlight throwing long shadows across the wall.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” The shout came from a few feet away.

“GO!” she screamed as Claudia reached the top, arms outstretched to Jason. He grabbed her hands, pulling her from the ladder rung to help her scramble to the top of the wall, handing her the rope to climb down the other side.

Rachael turned before they dropped out of sight, her Elven sword already in hand, threatening. She had to squint into the glare of a flashlight. “Back off right the hell now,” she snarled. “Just let us leave and no one gets—”