Chapter 12: Finding the way out

Phil and Diz huffed because of tiredness as they kept running. They had been running for so long and they still found no exit of this cave. They both stopped, putting their hands on their knees and tried to catch their breath, sweats ran down their face.

"L… *huff* Let's re… *huff*… rest for a while… *huff*…" Diz said and Phil nodded slightly.

"O… *huff*… okay…"

They then sat down beside the wall, Phil spoke. "How… how long have we run?"

"I assumed that about… 4 hours…" Diz said. Silence came to them. Phil leaned his back against the wall, but accidentally pushed something and nearly fell. Good thing that Diz caught his hand just in time.

"You okay?" Diz asked, but before Phil could reply, the ground shook and they quickly stood up. They looked at the wall and saw that a hidden door slowly opened.

"Holy hell!" Diz exclaimed.

"Daz sure keeps a lot of secret doors." Phil glared at it for a while until it was fully opened, revealing a long hall way.

"Let's go, Diz." Diz nodded and they stepped in, when they passed the door, it closed with a loud sound causing them a jump a bit. But eventually, they ignored it and continued to walk. The hall way ended and they ended up coming in a large round room with three doors. They had numbers on it, reminding Phil of something. After a while, he finally exclaimed.

"Diz, this could be the prisons! My son could be in there!"

"But… how can we know which room?" Diz said and Phil thought for a while, before speaking again.

"I'll go to that red door with #2365 on it, and you will go to that yellow door with #6709 on it, and we'll meet again in front of that green door with #1095 on it, okay?"

"Sound fine. Let's start!"

And they ran toward their destinations.

Philey sat at the corner of the room with Smiley sat next to him.

"How long will we be trapped here, mom? I'm scared…"

"I don't know hon. I'm scared too, that alien can do everything with us at any time. But we can't do anything right now. Give me time to think, okay?"

"O… okay…" He said and looked down at the floor again. Suddenly, they heard a voice coming from their right.

"Hmm… this room sure is large."

"Come here, Philey!" Smiley pulled Philey to her and held him tightly. "That alien is back, you have to stay near me."

"No, mom." Philey said, making Smiley surprised. "This voice isn't his."

The shadow on the floor came closer and they saw a foot came to view. Smiley then saw an alien looking into the prison, but she could tell that something was different about him. He didn't seem dangerous or evil, and that calm her a little. But she still had her protection to herself and her son.

"Smiley?" He said, and they both looked to him. "Thank god, glad that I found you!"

"W… who are you? You looked like Daz, but something is different about you."

Diz seemed confused a bit, but then he remembered the event happened before, he spoke.

"Smiley, it's Diz." He said, and Smiley walked closer to him while her eyes scanned him. A smile then formed on her face.

"Diz! You're alive!" She said and once again, Diz was confused.

"What do you mean by 'alive'?"

"Daz said that you are probably dead underground."

"Well, it's true that I'm trapped underground. But I don't die so easily." He looked behind her and saw Philey, who quickly hid behind his mother. "Is that your son?"

"Yes, this is Philey."

"Mommy, who's this? He isn't Daz, right?"

"Yes, hon. This is Diz, the one Daz said that was trapped underground. He's your uncle."

Philey seemed scared a bit, but eventually stepped out and smiled. "Hello, uncle Diz."

"Hello to you too, Philey." Diz said and smiled back to him. But his face became serious again.

"I have to get you out of here as soon as possible. Daz can come back at any time."

"But how? There's nothing in here."

Diz looked around as well as Smiley and Philey. After a few minutes, Philey said. "Mommy, uncle, look what I found!"

Smiley came to him and Philey showed a small piece of paper to her. It had "IZOB" written on it.

"I found it stuck at the corner of the wall."

Smiley looked closely at it but can't figure anything out from it. She then gave it to Diz through the metal bars.

"Here, Diz. Why don't you take a look at it?" Diz took it, but he still had no clue just like Smiley. He looked up at the wall and suddenly saw a small rectangular pad with a thin screen with numbers written on buttons on them. He raised an eyebrow at it.

"Hmm… a code, huh? But… what these letters have to do with a number code?" He stared at the paper again and suddenly, he had an idea.

"Oh, maybe I get it!"

"Get what?" Smiley questioned.

"The I looks like the number 1, the Z looks like the number 2, the O looks like the number 0, and the B… um… kind of looks like the number 3. Let me try."

He pressed "1203" to the pad and the metal bars went up, Smiley and Philey ran out with joy.

"Wow, you're right!" Smiley said.

"Yay! Thanks, uncle Diz!" Philey laughed cheerfully at Diz, and Diz just smiled back in relief.

"No problem… Come on, let's go and rescue the others if there are more."

"No… not at this moment…" Wendy mumbled sadly, and Lucy wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"Don't worry, Wendy. I'm sure we can get out of here…"

They then heard footsteps and Lucy quickly turned her head to the metal bars, expecting Daz. But she was wrong.

"Phil!" She shouted in joy, causing Wendy to look out to see Phil stood in front of them.

"Wendy? Lucy? How can you guys be here?"

Lucy sighed. "Daz trapped us here."

"So… not just my son is trapped, huh? That bastard…!" Phil gritted his teeth, but he quickly calmed himself down and looked at them again. He touched the metal bars and before he could say anything else, electric shocked him and he pulled his hand back.

"Ouch!"

"Don't touch them, Phil. They have electricity in them, all of them in the others room, for exact." Wendy said.

"Hmm… seems like bending the bars isn't the solution. And there's no key hole in here, so we won't need key for this. Damn…" Phil put one hand over his face and groaned in frustration. He looked up and his eyes widened.

"A button! Maybe there's a way to rescue you two, but… how can I press it? It's too high."

They all looked around and Phil spotted a stick at the corner of the room. He picked it and reached it up to the button, but still can't reach it.

"It's too short." He said and looked at it to see a tiny button attached to it. He pressed and the stick doubled in size in a matter of seconds.

"Woah! Who knows a stick could do such thing." He exclaimed in surprise and reached to the button again. Of course, the stick reached it and the bars went up, allowing Wendy and Lucy to go out.

"Thanks a lot, Phil." Wendy said.

"No prob. Come on, let's get out of here and go save the others."

As they went out, they saw Diz, Smiley and Philey were already there. Philey's eyes brighten as soon as he saw Phil and ran to him.

"Daddy, daddy!"

"Philey, what are you-" Smiley was cut off when she saw Phil. She ran to him and the family hugged. Phil said in his cry.

"Thank god, you are all safe!"

"I'm glad, Phil." Smiley was crying, as well as Philey.

"Dad, don't leave me there again. I don't want to!"

"I won't ever dare, my son."

Diz, Wendy and Lucy smiled at the sight before them. "Aw, it's so nice that the family is finally united." Lucy said.

Her words suddenly reminded Wendy of something, and her face became scared again. "Phred! Where's him?"

All of them then remembered about him too and Diz looked at the green door, as well as Phil. "Phil, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Exactly." Phil said and they all stepped in. They saw a man sitting at the corner of the ro- prison with his back facing them. He said coldly without turning his face.

"What do you want now, you bastard?" He crossed his arm. Seeing him like that making Wendy's eyes became teary and she spoke.

"Dear, it's me, Wendy."

He jumped and turned around. He ran to her in joy as tears formed at his eyes. "Wendy! Everyone! You're all okay!"

"I'm so worry dear." She said within her cry. Phred then saw Diz and his face became angry.

"Diz! What are you doing here! Stay away from my friends!"

Before Diz could say anything, Phil spoke up. "Phred, calm down! You're mistaken! The alien that trapped all of you here isn't him, as well as the one that betrayed us before. That's his twin brother, Daz. That's why they look alike."

Phred's face was like 'I don't believe it' at first, but after a while, he smiled. "Oh, okay then. I'm sorry, Diz."

"It's alright."

"Now, how can we free you…?" Phil put one finger on his lips and started to search the room with the others. Phred looked closely to the metal bars and said.

"Hmm, these seem like that they can be bended over."

He reached out his hands to hold two of them, but before he could, Wendy yelled.

"Honey, don't!"

He quickly took his hands back and Wendy sighed in relief. "Thank god I say that in time. These metal bars are electrical, Phred. All of them are."

"Phew, thanks, Wend."

"It's nothing." Wendy blushed a bit at her nickname of his. But her mind quickly moved it aside and continued to search. After a while, Phil said. "Let me check outside, okay?"

"Okay." Smiley replied and he went outside. He looked around the room, but couldn't find anything. His eyes then went to the large metal door.

"Hmm, it seems different. Maybe I should go in." He looked around to check if there was anyone and sneak passed the hall way since the room is connected to it. And there he was, in front of the door. He saw a pad with numbers written on the buttons. He raised an eyebrow at it.

"Code? Why do I have to encounter code so many time!?" He groaned and looked around to see if there was any clue. After seeing that there was nothing on the floor, he looked up at the ceiling and discover something.

"A ha! You thought writing code on the ceiling would be safe? Well, if it's me then you're wrong. Let's see… 9860 huh?"

He pressed it to the pad, but…

"What the heck!? Incorrect? Is this a prank?" He thought for a while and a light bulb appeared in his mind.

"Wait a second… Maybe I have to look upside down. That means… 0986!"

He pressed it on the pad again. A "beep" was heard and the pad said "Correct", the door opened and Phil looked around once more before walk in.

"This is the control room!" He said and looked around. Buttons, levers and monitors were everywhere. He saw a lever kept in a rectangular lid and it was on. He looked at the label; it said "Bars' electricity"

"This is it! This is where the electricity comes from; if I turn it off then the electricity will be turned off as well." He opened the lid and pulled the lever down. Suddenly… he heard footsteps!

'Uh oh…!' he thought and looked left and right, trying a place to hide.

"Hmm… why do I feel something strange coming from the control room?" Daz questioned himself before pressing the code and looked inside.

"… Nothing's here. Maybe there's something wrong with my scent. I wonder if I'm sick…" He walked away and the door closed behind him. Once the sound of the door closing was heard, Phil moved away from his hiding spot. Good thing that under the table was dark enough to hide himself. He sighed.

"Phew, that was close. Better come back to everyone before he returned."

He then returned to Phred's room (with caution, of course) and said happily. "Hey everyone, good new! The electricity is now off!"

"Oh, nice! Now let see if I can bend this, this seem kinda flexible to bend." He used all of his strength and was able to bend two bars into a shape of circle. He ran out and hugged his wife. The two of them cried in joy.

"Finally, you're free! I'm so glad!" Wendy said.

"I'm glad, too." He hugged her tightly until she spoke.

"P… Phred… I… I'm…" She stuttered, but he cut her off.

"Yes, I know it. You're pregnant with twins. So we have to get out of here as soon as possible, before something happen."

"Alright. Now that you're all free, let's go before Daz finds out. I almost got caught while ago." Phil said.