Chapter 4 - Dark Halls

The eerie, abandoned building stood tall in front of Judy and Nick. The crusty, gray color of the building seems to be disappearing, making it appear old as if it's been there for years. The gray clouds didn't make things better because it made the scenery duller and depressing. Judging from the building sign and the look of it, it used to be a lab research building.

"You sure we can't look at some other place in this paper?" Nick said nervously.

Judy looks at Nick and then said with a teasing voice, "Awww, is the poor little fox scared?"

"What? Me? Scared?" Nick said sarcastically with a stunned expression. "I just don't want something to harm you in there."

Judy smirk and then said, "Peachy." Then Judy suddenly remembers something. "Oh, I almost forgot." She took out Nick's phone from her jean's pocket and gave it to Nick.

"I was wondering where it was," Nick took his phone but then stop, "Wait... you didn't happen to look in there, have you?"

Judy look dumbfounded before added, "Uh, no. There's a password in there, sweetheart."

Nick smiled and then said, "Good."

As the walk through the broken glassed door, an uncanny feeling swift towards them. Judy shivers and then mutter something unintelligible. All they could see is some broken white office tables with papers scattered all over the place. There was an elevator at the far end of the first floor. Not knowing what to do, Judy decided to take charge and give orders to Nick.

"I know this sounds risky, but we need to split up to investigate this building on our own or else we won't get anywhere because this building is huge. We can use the elevator if it works, if not, we could use the stairs. We'll meet back here on the first floor after an hour. Any questions?" Judy said in a confident tone.

Nick want to protest, but he couldn't come up with anything. "Do you think there are any strangers in here?"

Judy couldn't believe her ears. She could almost laugh before saying, "Nick, this building is clearly empty. I highly doubt we'll stumble to anyone."

"Hey, don't jinx it," Nick said firmly.

"Since when did you get so scared, Mr. Tough Guy?" Judy joked. She reached down her raincoat pocket and pulled out a flashlight. "Here, just in case if the light switch doesn't work here."

"Geez, thanks. That really helps a lot, Carrots," Nick said sarcastically as he took the flashlight and put it in one of his raincoat pockets.

As they reached towards the silver-colored elevator, they were amazed how it still works. Since the building only has five floors, Judy told Nick which floors to go to and which floors she'll be in. Once the elevator made a stop at the second floor, Judy hops off the elevator, then says her goodbyes to Nick.

When the elevator door close, Nick sigh and then lean against the elevator wall. He was concerned about Judy being alone in this creepy building. That was the reason why he felt anxious ever since arriving there. Nick looks at his flashlight, then he smirks. "Dumb bunny." After all, he doesn't need a flashlight to see in the dark.

Once the elevator made it's stops on the fifth floor, Nick can tell that this was the laboratory room. He found a light switch and flick it open. The light spread out the entire room, making a cracking noise every so often when it was turned on. The room was vast and white, very huge with a bunch of black tables and equipment. Nick slowly move towards the rows of tables. The laboratory equipment looks old and dusty. There were some papers lying all over the place, on the tables or on the ground. Nick saw an old document packet underneath one of the tables. The dust flew into Nick's face when he picked up the document. He began coughing and then he opens the yellow packet.

Collars? Why are they making this for predators? Nick thought in his mind when he was reading the papers. He continues to flip through the pages and saw a list of test subjects. To his horror, he realized how horrible this was. He wanted to find Judy right away but decided to save it for later since he knew that Judy doesn't want to be disturbed. Plus, he has other floors to search. He doesn't want to reach a conclusion that quickly without gathering all the evidence first.

There was a blueprint on the floor that shows an odd machine that Nick doesn't understand. He decided to put it in one of his raincoat pockets, believing that it's important. None of the documents that Nick found make any sense. Most of the papers he found in the laboratory floor have a list of experiments tested on predators and sometimes preys. Not only is the collar idea seem frightening, but everything else seems to scream "DYSTOPIA" to him.

To make things taken with extra precaution, Nick took out his phone to take pictures of the most important documents that he believes to be important. Suddenly, Nick noticed something odd about his phone. When he finish typing down his password, he noticed that the website he had before, vanished. It was only showing him his phone's homepage. Then he realized that someone might have look through his phone. It wasn't hard for Nick to guess who it was.

"Nah, Carrots wouldn't do that..." Nick mumbled to himself. Then he blushed. "But what if she did?"

After Nick finished investigating everything he could find on the fifth floor, he decided to go to the elevator to move on to the third floor. He gathered up the most important papers neatly and stuff them in the yellow packets.

Another job well done. You should become a detective. Nick joked to himself. He walked to the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor.

When Nick arrives at the third floor, it looks like a hospital area. Not only is the room cold, but the third floor looks strikingly creepy and menacing. "Great," Nick mumbled to himself before getting off the elevator. "Just great."

The room was dark, Nick scrambles to find himself a light switch but the lights failed to work. He decided to ignore it and continue to investigate in the was a long hall with a few rooms. There was a donut-shaped table spread on one side of the room. Nick could guess that table is the reception area. He looked thoroughly around the area and found nothing useful. Even the computers didn't work.

Nick decided to check every room in this floor since he left with no choice. As Nick continues to search through the drawers in one of the rooms, he felt uneasy. Even in the dark, he felt like someone or something was watching him. Nick sigh and thought maybe he lost it. Maybe it was anxiety that took him over because of this creepy place. The unpleasant feeling was giving him a hard time concentrating. He suddenly thought about Judy. He wonders if Judy found anything useful. Then he wonders if Judy is okay. Finally, he shook his head and tried to concentrate on looking through the documents.

Suddenly, a loud piercing cries through the silent air. A voice that sounds familiar to Nick. It didn't take long for Nick to realize who screamed.

"Nick!" The voice sounded in distress. "Help me!"

"Carrots?" Nick said. Then he got up in alarm. "Judy! Judy, where are you?!"

Nick got out of the room and followed the odd, moving sound from the hallway. The haunting, unclear noise came from the very end of the corridor in the last room. Nick opened the room's door and called for Judy again.

"Judy?" Nick said softly, but with a hint of urgency and panic.

There was no replied, just silence. Although Nick could see in the dark, he couldn't see that well in complete darkness. Nervously, Nick reached towards one of his pockets to grab the flashlight that Judy gave him. He tried to keep his manner calm as he turns on the flashlight. Then, there was Judy, tied in ropes with her mouth covered in tape while being on one of those hospital beds. The look on her eyes was fill with terror. Nick felt his breathing getting denser from panicking. As much as he wanted to untie Judy and care for her, instincts told him that they weren't the only ones in this very room.

A dark figure moved suddenly against the pitch-black wall, as it made it's appearance in front of the flashlight. There stood, a measly male skunk's threatening glare, held onto Nick's eyes. Before Nick knew anything, his vision slowly begins to fade, then he realized that he was passing out. Not from panic, but something else. Something that is against his will.

The last thing he saw was the skunk's ugly smile and the horror look in Judy's eyes. Finally, everything began to turn dark.