Chapter 10: Onwards and Upwards

Mel paced back and forth, one arm supported the other and her chin rest in her hand. Eric and the woman watched her, whilst the two guards remained as steadfast as ever – more like tin soldiers than real people.

'We have to do something.' the woman groaned, looking at Eric. 'If we stay down here, we'll suffocate.'

'We go up there, we get shot. Six of one, really.' Eric replied, removing his tie and depositing it onto the table beside him.

'Is anyone actually up there?!' the woman muttered in bitter defeat. 'It's a bluff, isn't it?'

'Feel free to risk it if you want. I'm waiting down here.'

'Fine.' the woman decided, throwing herself to her feet. She walked towards the lift shaft, putting her hand around the lever to call it. However, the motors started to grind, without the lever moving an inch.

'How…?'

'Someone's coming.' Mel realised, eyes growing wide with horror. 'In the lift.'

The trio quickly moved into position, or rather, they ran to the side of the room away from the lift. The two guards turned around, raising their weapons – if nothing else, they could at least attempt an ambush.

The clanging of the lift hung in the air for a few seconds, filling the void left behind by the baited breath of the defenders.

The shaft clicked suddenly, as the lift hit ground zero. Two pistols were raised, two safeties were switched off and two fingers were placed on two triggers. They were ready.

Mel watched as the two metal sheets forming the door slid open, revealing the occupants inside. Or rather, the occupant.

It was a short man, only a couple of inches taller than Mel. But he certainly made up for it in girth, his guard's uniform on the brink of tearing open. Poorly-managed ginger locks met on top of his head, trailing towards his brow before stopping unceremoniously.

'Alright.' he said, clamping his eyes onto Eric. 'We all know how this is going to go. You,' he pointed at Eric 'come with me. The rest, you stay down here.'

'Don't suppose there's anyone else in there?' the woman asked. The ginger man scoffed in reply, looking over his shoulder at the otherwise empty lift in mock concern.

'Just the Invisible Man.' he retorted, breaking out into a small grin.

'Good.' drawled the woman. 'Now!'

The two guards sprang into action, the first grabbing the ginger man whilst the other guard plucked the gun out of his hands, tossing it across the room.

'It's, er…Fergus, isn't it?' Eric asked, walking towards the captive. 'Thought I recognised you. Just can't get the staff these days… Alistair?' he snapped, turning to face the nearest guard. Alistair leapt for a second, before straightening up:

'Sir?'

'Tie him up, there's some cables in the store room.'

'Yes, sir.'

Fergus was dragged across the room by the two guards, kicking at the floor the whole time. The store room door slammed shut, the lock clicking with a staccato.

Eric walked over to the lift, crouching down to the floor. He picked up a small, black object, before standing up again.

'What's that?' the woman asked, peering over Eric's shoulder.

'Communication device.' Eric muttered, transfixed by it. 'Won't work from down here – too much lead between us and the surface. I doubt anything'll get through it, unless the wire runs straight through like that phone over there.'

'I see.' Mel replied. 'So we can't use it to call for help?'

'No. We'd have to patch it through to the telephone wire, and that'd take long enough.' Eric said bluntly, pocketing the walkie talkie. Upon noticing Mel's curious expression, he added: 'Security training. First thing they told everyone when this place was put together. Nuclear bunker.' he said proudly, tapping the roof with his knuckles.

'Look, can we go?' Mel asked, stepping towards Eric. 'The sooner we're out of here, the better!'

'We'll have to use the ladder.' the woman said, inspecting the lift shaft. 'The lift'll be too loud.'

'How far is it?' Eric asked.

'47.0916 metres.' Mel replied within an instant. Eric and the woman looked at her in confusion. Hastily, Mel explained: 'It's 103 rungs in the ladder. It's a foot and a half between each rung, which makes it 154 and a half feet long, which is 47.0916 metres.'

'That's very good.' murmured Eric, dumbfounded.

'I've just got a good memory, that's all.' Mel smiled back. 'Wish I could say the same about my aptitude with ladders, though.'

'Sure you'll get the hang of it.' the woman scoffed back, walking over to the lift. 'Left hand, left foot, right hand, right foot and so on.'

'I think sounds familiar.' Mel replied jokingly, following her. 'We'll go up first, see if anyone's still up there.'

The woman grabbed a bolt on the roof of the lift and, using her elbow against the wall as leverage, she managed to budge it. After straining for a few seconds, the bolt clunked against the edge of the chamber. The woman slammed her fist into the hatch and let it fly open, banging against the other side of the roof.

'I'll go up first.' the woman decided, taking the first rung and starting to climb. 'When I'm on top of the lift, you start.'

'Got it.' Mel replied to the pair of legs slowly disappearing through the hatchway. She waited for a few seconds, before hearing a pair of solid, heavy knocks on the lift roof. She was on the roof – either that, or she'd fallen over twice.

Mel climbed onto the ladder, and started to work her way up. The hatch was quite small, almost so small that even someone as slight as Mel had to squeeze in a little before she was through. Thankfully, it was only an inch thick at most, so she was soon out.

As she stood on top of the lift, she could feel the slight curvature of the metal sheet under the combined weight of her and the woman. It wasn't even nearly enough to do any damage, but it was still unnerving.

The woman leant down and grabbed the handle of the hatch, before slamming it shut again. The square of light emanating from the lift was now shut off, plunging the women into darkness.

'I'll go first.' the woman repeated. 'I'm the faster climber.'

'Sounds good to me.' Mel chirped back, peering up the shaft. 47 metres wasn't that long, but when your only light source was a few determined beams breaking through the door far above you, it helped to be careful. Careful being steady, and steady being slow.

The woman clicked a torch on, which was dangling from a thin black thread hooped around her wrist. For a moment, she shone it at the ladder, before dropping it again. Instead of hitting the floor, the light hovered in the air, like a cheap imitation of a chandelier.

The soft tapping of rubber sole against metal rung sounded through the silent air, slowly getting quieter and quieter as it rose up the lift shaft. It stopped for a second.

'Okay, start climbing now.' rang the voice in the black.

'Alright, I'm coming up!' Mel said, following the faint beam of light cast down from above. It swung back and forth, the light catching the ladders rungs and casting thin shadows on the wall and floor for a millisecond, before continuing on its path and spreading the shadows back into darkness.

Mel caught sight of one of the rungs, reaching out her hand to accept it. Her fingers hooked around the metal rod, and she managed to feel her way with the other hand. She started to climb.

'You know, I don't even know your name.' Mel said, wondering if she was leaning back more than she should or not.

'No?' the voice replied. 'Never got a chance. I'm Lois. Kempf, by the way, not Maxwell.'

'And you're the Prime Minister's secretary?'

'More like his carer. Honestly, the amount of looking after he takes…you wouldn't believe he's in charge of the country.'

'My friend like's that. Smith, the one who went to see Miss Redfern.'

'Look, don't this the wrong way, are you…alright about that?'

'It's just the sort of thing he does. He doesn't take death easily.'

'I know, but it seems a little too much like denial to me. Waiting for stage two, anger.'

'Then bargaining?' Mel asked, cautiously pulling herself closer towards the ladder.

'If you like. What are you going to do if it turns out he is really dead?'

'Ah, now, there's a thing he does, when he's supposed to die. He finds a way to survive.'

'Hmm…' Lois emitted pensively. 'Sounds a bit too mystical for my liking.'

'I didn't believe it when I heard it myself. At first.'

'Each to their own. I just don't want you to end up…you know.'

'Yeah. I know.' Mel replied, laughing a little in the darkness. 'Can you see the top yet?'

'It's just-' Lois started, but she was interrupted by something. A low, grinding throb, echoing through the chamber.

'What's that?' Mel asked, looking around in search for the source. And then she looked down.

A small outline of a square, brilliant white and yellow, was at the bottom of the shaft, presumably leaking through the hatch. But it was getting bigger. The lift was coming towards them.

'Move, move!' Lois shouted, climbing with a new-found frenzy. Mel followed suit, her feet pittering and pattering on the metal rungs. The lift was still moving, still getting closer, the square getting steadily larger and larger.

The tapping stopped suddenly, leading Mel to think Lois had slipped and fallen down the shaft, but the lack of whooshes, shouts or crashes had told her otherwise.

'I'm at the top now!' she shouted, as the light started to grow. The door was opening at the top, and a beautiful orange glow cascaded down the shaft.

Mel, her hands growing sweaty thanks to the stress and effort, started to slip. If it was any other ladder, she'd hook her arms around the sides and support herself, but she didn't have time. If she stopped, the hatchway would catch her, and she'd be crushed once the light reached the top of the shaft.

She fell. As her hands slid off of the ladder, she swung madly, desperate to catch it back again, but it was no good. Like a toppling tower, she tumbled away from the wall, her feet losing their grip and joining her on her way down.

For a few fleeting, terrifying seconds, she floated in the air, the wind whipping her hair into her face and stealing the breath from her mouth.

She hit the floor with a crash. In the air, she'd rotated a little, so she landed on her side inside of her back or front. Flaring pain shot up and down her arm, but her spine and ribs were safe. Drowning in the darkness, she scrambled about, trying to claw herself to her feet.

In a few moments, she managed to find her marbles, slowly pushing herself to her feet, with her hands still planting on the floor.

The light of the door started to dawn upon her, the door cracked open a few feet.

Mel looked up, and saw the roof closing in on her. Carefully, she stepped backwards, tensing her legs like coiled springs. She took a few ragged breaths, in a futile attempt to calm herself a degree.

The gap in the wall moved closer, and closer, and closer…now!

She leapt forward, at precisely the right moment. She flew through the air, pouncing forward like a jungle cat and slipping through the door, as the lift continued on its journey, sealing the last of the gap.

A moment earlier, and she'd have caught herself on the wall and fallen back onto the lift. A moment later, and she'd have been pinned between the lift and roof, then inevitably crushed.

But she made it, one way or another. She rolled across the library floor for a second, before coming to a halt. She took in a few heavy breaths, before a sigh of relief.

'Talk about a close shave.' Lois breathed, as she helped Mel to her feet.

'You're not kidding!' Mel laughed in return.

The lift doors slid open. From inside the lift, Eric was stood there, a nervous grimace smeared across his face.

'You nearly killed us!' Lois yelled at him, stepping towards the lift…before she realised. Stood just behind Eric was Fergus, with his gun pointed at the Prime Minister's head.

'Sorry. I did try to, though.' Fergus said, emphasising the gun.

'Alright. What do you want?' Lois asked, a trace of anxiety on her voice. 'Money, support, an escape route, what?'

'What I want is to kill this piece of scum.' Fergus replied, jabbing Eric in the side of the head with the barrel of the gun. 'But it's against the plan. Leverage, things like that.'

'How many of you are there?'

'Hard to tell. Quite a lot, I'd hazard a guess at.'

'Then you've got nothing to gain by killing him. Let him go.' Mel offered, swallowing quietly.

'…No, can't do that either. Hostage situation, you see.'

'Lois…' Eric started. 'Run! Forget about me, run!'

'I can't, sir.' Lois answered. 'I'm not leaving you.'

Fergus let off a single gunshot, letting it pound the pillar behind Lois, sending a few dozen shards of marble and stone into the air.

'Back in the bunker. Now!' he ordered, dragging Eric away from the lift, and pointing his gun at Lois.

'Shoot me.' she said. 'What good are dead hostages to anyone?' Fergus turned his gun…towards Mel. 'And unless she happens to be immortal,' Lois continued 'she won't be much good either.'

Fergus sighed, before aiming the gun back at Eric.

'Fine.' he said. 'Worry more about your boss' life than yours. See if I care.'

Drawing out the tension, he pulled down the hammer, letting the bullet slide into the magazine and into position.

'Last chance…' he drawled, wrapping his finger around the trigger. 'Going once, going twice, going, going…'

Fergus stopped. He had seen something, at the edge of the library. Around the main door, something was appearing. A green mist.

'What…what's what?' he asked, pointing towards it. 'Gas or something?!'

'Not like any gas I've ever seen.' Mel replied, studying it from a distance. 'Where's it coming from?'

The mist formed together, various clumps and clouds of it mixing and solidifying, until it was a single solid entity, which moved towards the group at the other end. Part of it passed through the bookshelf as it moved in a straight line, before coming back together again as it left the shelf behind.

'Oh…oh my god…' Fergus cried, dropping the gun to the floor. He turned on his heels and started to run, searching desperately for the doorknob.

'Okay…' Mel started. 'I don't think that's normal…'

The group backed away from the creature, trying to create distance. As they arrived in the lift, Mel silently cursed herself – they'd cornered themselves.

However, the creature stopped. The six red circles inside of it swam about, like sped up fish in a tank. They merged into one large orb, quivering and almost vibrating beneath the surface.

A familiar voice sounded through the mess of green and red.

'Hello, Mel.'