The Sweet Escape

"The Sweet Escape" is the 1st episode of Sweet Escape.

Summary
Josh Bennett and Alison Morris go on a mission to rescue six prisoners, Benjamin Wheeler, Elizabeth Knight, Joanna Kennedy, Joe Carpenter, Mary Castillo and Rena Lacerda, who they believe to have been wrongly incarcerated. Are they right or making a huge mistake? Only time will tell.

Plot
Death row. Two male prison guards, surrounded by numerous other armed guards, walk down the long hall leading to the electric chair. In the middle of the two officers is the prisoner unlucky enough to be sentenced to death for his heinous crimes. The prisoner is Renato Lacerda, a tall, muscular man with tan skin that’s shining with sweat as he makes his final few steps. His crime? Multiple homicide. His plea? Not guilty. Both his hands are handcuffed together and his feet are shackled, leaving him no chance for a struggle. Every step he takes closer to the chair is even more agonizing than the last; he doesn't want to die. Only a few meters away from the chair, Rena begins to smell an odd odour in the air, but his distressed mind tells him it must be the smell of death coming. As he is strapped down to the wooden chair of death, Rena’s heart begins to beat faster and faster and his breaths get heavy. When he is correctly strapped in, the head guards asks if Rena has any last words; leading the young man to think and shed a tear. Rena shakes his head and then the guard goes to switch on the chair, but before he can, he collapses to the ground instantaneously. A confused and terrified Rena looks around the room as all the other guards begin to collapse too; they’re all out cold. Rena is the only conscious person left in the room. He looks around with horror, unsure what is happening, and then begins to attempt to break free from his bonds... but he can’t. Suddenly a large explosion breaks through the wall at the far end of the room causing a large cloud of dust to emerge. From that cloud emerges a petite young blonde woman named Alison. She smile at Rena and says “Hi”. The confused Portuguese asks what is happening and Ali, who begins to untie his binds, tells him that she is his second chance. As Rena is released, an alarm begins to scream through the whole of the prison. Ali reaches out her hand to Rena’s and tells him to come with her. He is reluctant for a moment, but when he takes a quick glance at the electric chair, he agrees to go with her.

As the duo run through the grounds of the prison, it becomes clear to Rena that all of the guards have fallen unconscious, allowing havoc to spread amongst the other prisoners who are rioting and fighting in the courtyards and cells they have been detained in. “Did you do this?” he wonders, but Alison simply tells him that she can explain everything later as there is one more person they need to collect. Rena asks who, so Ali takes a pair of binoculars out of her backpack and hands them to Rena, pointing in a faraway prison block. Rena is unsure of what he’s supposed to be looking for, but when a small explosion in the distance shakes the ground he looks immediately at it.

Where the explosion took place, a young man in his twenties named Josh enters the cell for prisoner Benjamin Wheeler. Once a respectable, middle-aged business man with a wealthy lifestyle and perfect family, Ben found himself facing 20 years behind bars for his devious crimes. His crime? Money laundering. His plea? Not guilty. A shocked Ben demands to know what is going on so Josh smiles and tells him, “I'm here to help you escape, Mr. Wheeler”. Without a moment of reluctance, Ben immediately stands up and rushes outside of the prison, stating, “Thank fuck for that. If I had to spend one more second in that hell hole with those savages I could've killed a man. And trust me, I know how. I've had three different cell mates that'd been choked through the bars. I say they should have kept giving me more cell mates and save this country some money, but instead they had to go and sentence the killer to death.” Josh ignores the old ranting man and catches up with his partner, Alison. Ben follows close by. Josh and Ali greet each other with a kiss and congratulate each other on their success. They’re interrupted when Rena asks how they’re going to get out of the prison grounds. Ali grins and then leads the three men to the other corner of the prison, revealing a large white helicopter, the front of it resembling a dog’s face. “This is how. Meet ‘Rocky’”. Josh enters the pilot seat and Ali sits in the back with the two criminals, armed with a gun, just so they don’t try anything stupid. The helicopter soon begins to lift off and fly away. “Where are you going to take us?” Rena asks. Ali tells him that they need to make a few more stops first.

As the helicopter flies through the air to the next destination, Ben yells (trying to be louder than the propellers) to Ali, asking why they’re helping them escape from prison. “Mr. Wheeler, I work for an organization that has selected six people, including you two, to be extracted from their detainment facility,” she explains. Rena wonders why her organization would care about them, so Ali explains that her organization has good intentions and after studying the cases of their arrests, they concluded that they’re innocent and shouldn't have been arrested. Rena and Ben don’t know how to respond. “We are right to assume you’re innocent, right?” she asks, to which they both insist that they are innocent. Ali smiles and tells them that that’s good. “You know my name”, Ben points out to Ali, “what’s yours? If you don’t mind me asking” he continues. She tells him that her name is Alison Morris and her partner, also fiancé, is Joshua Bennett. “Morris?” Ben asks curiously; Ali smiles and nods. After a short while of flying, Josh announces that they've reached their next destination. “Where are we going?” Rena asks nervously. “The prison for women of course,” she tells him.

Punch. In the courtyard of the women’s prison, mayhem is out of control with all of the guards unconscious. A large black woman is charging through the groups of inmates picking a fight with anyone she can find... and winning said fight in less than ten seconds. Her name is Joanna Kennedy, and this scene used to be everyday life for her whilst living in the hood. This type of fighting was child’s play compared to the gang wars she has seen and been involved in. Her crime? Shooting her boyfriend in the head. Her plea? Not guilty. She works her way around the whole courtyard, knocking out anybody who gets in her way, however, she stops for a moment when she notices a slim ginger girl crouched on the floor, crying. She grabs the girl and stands her up before slapping her teary face. “Bitch!? You gotta be strong if you gonna survive in here! Dis is good news! Jesus gone just killed all the guards or some shit. This gonna be our chance for freedom. Man up!” the black woman yells. Joanna slaps the ginger girl one more time before moving on and attacking more women. The ginger girl, Elizabeth Knight, holds her sore cheek and then wipes away the tears. Elizabeth Knight was the least likely girl you’d ever expect to see in prison... and she certainly never expected to find herself in there too. Her crime? Poisoning her husband. Her plea? Guilty. As the rest of the female inmates fight amongst themselves, Liz heads back to the corner of the courtyard and cowers, fearing for her safety.

The helicopter hovers high above the women’s prison and then begins to descend to the ground. It eventually lands in the middle of the courtyard, causing all the inmates to stop their fighting and make way for Rocky the helicopter. Josh emerges, armed with a gun, and demands to know where Joanna Kennedy, Elizabeth Knight and Mary Castillo are. Joanna steps forward, armed with a rock, and angrily asks if they’re the feds. Josh laughs and explains that they’re here to help them escape, seemingly offending all of the other inmates. The shy Elizabeth steps forward and asks why they’d help them escape, so Ali also emerges from the helicopter and simply smiles at the ginger girl. Elizabeth is in shock, “Ali?!” she yells before running and hugging her. “It’s been so long! I never thought I’d see you again! I’m so happy you’re here” Liz cries with joy. Ali smiles and tells her she’s glad to see her too, but explains that they have to leave quickly. Josh calls out for Mary Castillo a second time and finally the young, decent-looking Latino woman steps forward with a stern look on her face. “I'm not going anywhere with you” she snarls. Josh tells her that she doesn't really have a choice. Mary begins to explain that she has made some mistakes in her life but now she’s trying to correct herself and change for the better... to get a new start “and breaking out of prison is not a good start!!” she yells. Mary Castillo used to have a shady past and eventually found herself arrested. Her crime? Possession and distribution of illegal drugs and child pornography. Her plea? Not guilty. As the girl continues to rant about how it’s wrong to escape, she is suddenly silenced when Joanna smacks her across the head with the rock, knocking her out. The large black woman picks her up over her shoulder and begins heading to the helicopter with Liz. “Hoe, this is my shot at getting a new life so shut the fuck up” she growls at the unconscious girl. With everyone in the helicopter, they begin to fly away, leaving angry prisoners below in the courtyard. Alison grabs a grenade and throws it to one of the edges of the courtyard, blowing a hole in it. The rest of the inmates cheer as they escape and make their way to freedom.

As the group fly through the air, Alison explains to Joanna and Elizabeth why she helped them escape from prison. Mary is still unconscious, which leads Ben to ask why all the guards in both prisons mysteriously collapsed. “Obviously you had something to do with it, so how did you do it? Some sort of radiation?” he theorizes. Ali tells him not quite and then explains that she has been injecting a special chemical into the guards' food, which, when in contact with a gas, causes the body's functions to shut down. “That’s what the smell was...” Rena realizes. Ali shrugs and tells him she guesses so, explaining she’s never actually smelled it herself. “Will they be okay?” a concerned Liz asks. Ali assures her friend that they’ll regain consciousness in a few hours “...hopefully” she adds. “Wait up, wait up, wait up!” Joanna huffs, “I thought you came to help ‘’us’’ escape. Why you let all those other bitches and hoes go?” Joanna wonders. Josh explains to them that if other inmates escaped then it’d take the heat off them for a while, allowing a swift getaway. “So are you ready to tell us where you’re taking us?” Ben asks. Ali smiles at him and tells him they have one more stop to make.

At the youth detention center, also known as “juvie”, a young, slim fifteen-year-old boy is seen cowering and almost crying his eyes out as the other teenage boys fight amongst themselves as all the guards have fallen unconscious. Several of the boys have tied up the guards as they humiliate them, ripping their clothes, drawing on them and sticking underwear on their head. The young boy is Joseph Carpenter; school bully. His crime? A battery on an eight-year-old girl. His plea? N-N...Not guilty. Another boy runs past Joe and tells him to “stop being such a faggot and join in”. Joe is unnerved by the boy's intimidating language and stands up before running back to his room as fast as he can. Once he arrives to his room, he’s shocked to see an adult stood there in front of a large hole in the wall. Josh. Josh smiles at Joe, who is confused. “The fuck are you?”.

A few hours later, Rocky the helicopter is seen flying in a completely new state in the middle of the desert. It finally comes to a rest on a small dirt road that has a wooden shack on it. The eight passengers get out of the helicopter and stretch their legs. Mary, who is now awake, is furious that she has been taken hostage. “When this is over, I'm going to sue all of your asses” she hisses. Josh rolls his eyes at her and tells her it’s all for the best. She sighs and walks to the other side of the helicopter, avoiding everyone. An excited Joe can’t help but smile over the fact that he’s finally out of juvie and about to go on an adventure. “So what happens now? We’re in the middle of nowhere” Ben asks. Ali explains that she’ll take them back to the headquarters of her organization and from there they’ll be helped to start new lives. She then walks towards the wooden shack, smiling, and opens the flimsy doors. Everyone gasps at what is inside. “We’re going to travel in that?” Liz asks, shocked. “Oh shit, that right there looks like my first house” Joanna says reminiscently. The thing inside the shack is a rusty-looking hippy van. “All aboard” Ali cheers. Everyone enters the vehicle, including Mary, who is still pissed off. Everybody except Josh, who explains that he’s just going for a quick wee before they start their journey. He walks a fair distance away from the van as to not be seen and then he takes out his phone before dialling a number. On the other end, a woman answers and asks him if he’s with the girl. “Yes, Val. I’m with her” he smiles. “Good... now you know what to do” Valentina smiles evilly. He nods to himself and replies, “Kill her”. He asks what should happen to the others, so Val sinisterly tells him, “Bring them to me”.