The next day, Sara got up early and went to explore the floor again. She intended to spend as much of the day as possible learning the entire layout of the place. It was essentially four hallways that formed a square. Michael's room was on the opposite hallway as the elevator. The theatre and the library were also on opposite hallways, each adjacent to the elevator and Michael's room. The woman's room was in the same hallway as the library, and the man's was in the same hallway as the theatre, which was the same hallway as the kitchen.
One thing that she did notice was that there weren't a lot of Company employees around. There was always whichever orderly was sitting in Michael's room, and once she saw a nurse in the same room as the woman, but she never saw any of them in the hallways. From this she inferred that the whole floor was monitored by security cameras and that there was security for the elevator. She also still had not been able to find the stairs, something that concerned her because she assumed trying to take the elevator would end in an ambush.
The first three or four times that she walked around the floor she didn't go into any of the rooms, she just opened the doors to see what they were and tried to commit them all to memory. Every room was unlocked, so she figured they weren't worried about her finding anything. Or they didn't think she would risk Michael's life to look. Which, she reminded herself, she was doing so she had to be extremely careful not to give any indication of what she was planning.
The fifth time she walked the floor, she started to explore the rooms themselves. The library was interesting, small but probably the cosiest room there. There was nothing very exciting about it that she could find, no hidden doors or escape routes. She looked behind all every bookshelf and found only walls. There was a desk in the corner that she examined. There was nothing around it or underneath it that was helpful in the way of getting out of the building, but when she looked in the drawers she did find a screwdriver. It was probably there is fix the desk or bookshelves in need be, but she could think of other uses for it. She didn't take it with her, in case someone checked and saw it was missing, but she was very glad to have found it.
The theatre was similar. It was such a small room that she hadn't expected to find anything anyway, but she carefully examined all four walls, especially behind the screen. Nothing at all. Walking away, she felt her stomach growl. How long had it been since breakfast? A few hours at least. She headed to the kitchen, figuring that she could simultaneously check it for a way out and make something to eat. That way she even had a legitimate excuse for being in there, should someone ask.
The kitchen was a disappointment, as a kitchen. There really was not a lot of food in it, although she did find a box of pasta so she got some water boiling for it. And there was a jar of sauce in one of the cupboards so she heated that up as well. While waiting, she looked around. The kitchen was a lot bigger than any of the other rooms on the floor, and had several doors that she assumed were storage or pantries. She had looked in two of them, both of which had nothing but cleaning supplies, when something on the wall caught her eye
It was an emergency escape route, which made sense seeing as she was in the room that could potentially result in a fire. On it, it had the usual precautionary message about not using the elevator in case of a fire, and had the stairs highlighted on a map. Now she could see why she hadn't been able to find them. There were two sets of stairs. One was in a supply closet just down the hall from Michael's room, and the other was here in the kitchen. She looked around and quickly located the door that corresponded with the map.
She went over to it, but hesitated before actually opening it. What if it was alarmed? She examined it, and wished for the millionth time that Michael was there with her. He would know how to actually check the door for alarms. She ran her fingers under the opening. No alarm sounded, and she couldn't feel any wires, although she supposed that was more like checking for explosives than an alarm anyway. The door was made out of metal which just made it feel more intimidating, although she assumed that they could alarm a wooden door just as easily.
Taking a deep breath she turned the knob. Nothing. It was locked. Sara felt like kicking herself for being such an idiot. Of course the door was locked. They weren't going to just leave it open, so that anybody could just walk on out. But…it was an emergency exit. So there had to be a key around somewhere.
Excitement building again, Sara promptly began to search the kitchen, looking inside any boxes she encountered, looking at the tops of cupboards and under the countertops. She examined every place she could think of until the smell of smoke caught her attention. Her pasta!
She ran over to the stove to find the sauce that she had been heating completely charred and the pasta a black, smoking mass. She dumped both into the garbage, and as she did she heard a tiny click.
She ran to the door. It didn't look any different. Then again, how would a door look different, she chided herself. Heart racing, she slowly turned the knob…and it opened. Just a crack. She was so surprised that without thinking she quickly pulled it shut, in case they could somehow know about her opening it. As soon as she did, it clicked again. When she turned the knob for a third time, the door was locked again.
