Chapter 3 - Look Up

Aquilo

I'm not exactly sure how much time has passed since they went out, but for me, it feels like they're taking a while to come back. Some of us are starting to get restless, saying that we should start moving now to link up with them, others are saying that they're lost down here, that there's probably a maze or something up ahead, and a few are even saying that they've abandoned us.

Honestly I don't buy that last one, they could leave us here if they wanted to but if outside there was danger it would be better to have more people to work together with, and the maze thing could be true, but if that was the case, so I only hope that they're still searching for something.

Because the alternative isn't really something I want to think about.

We've been doing what we could in that time, that being making sure people were comfortable and resting instead of moving around when they shouldn't, it sounds easy but honestly some people were just too stubborn, we'd put them somewhere, and five seconds later they'd be back up walking around, saying they were too restless to stay put, even though I understand that, if they don't rest now they won't be ready to move later. And by we, it was me and about three other people, I think two girls, but I didn't pay too much notice, I know at least one was a girl though, so there's that.

From the corner of my eye I spot movement, to my left someone is starting to get up, one of the 'restless', he isn't thinking on actually going after them right I hope, we shouldn't spread out more.

"Are we really going to stay here waiting for them?" he looked around, at the people sitting down, "from what I can see you're well rested enough, we can-, no, we should start moving now so we can keep looking for an exit." He had a point, but at the same time, if we rest more, we could have less people needing to be carried.

"And what if we find them and they're still looking for the exit? Then we'll just walk more until people get tired again?" She also has a valid point, but staying here is not a good plan either. We could either move up a bit more just so they reach us faster, stay here and wait or just go all the way,

Others joined in, either wanting to go look for the others or to just sit tight and wait, they kept going at it for some time, essentially nothing more than one side shouting "we have to go" while the other one shouted "we have to stay", truly compelling arguments if I may say so myself, I understand we're all tired and have more important things to worry about than how to convince others but a little dedication to that couldn't hurt much. Still, I wonder how long are they going to keep this up, maybe I should ask them to sto-

"How about you all just shut up for five seconds?!" Or that, that could work too.

I know that voice at least, she was the one that suggested some of us go ahead earlier, it looks like the tension has finally taken it's toll, we're all worried here, and nobody here seems to have nerves of steel. I just hope they get back soon, and with good news.

We need them, and we need them now.

Sen

We finally managed to find something, something that showed us we had a chance to leave, the area on the base of the stairs was even more alight than any other part around here, and even the stairs had lights going up to a certain point, about half of the way, all we had to do was go back and warn the others but...

"We should check what's in the end first." our 'leader' said, and while I can see his reasons for it, there really isn't any other way to go, we would just have to go back our way and venture in the dark if there was nothing here, and I know for a fact no-one wants to go that way anymore, not only that, but if there were stairs here that meant that there were other people here, therefore, it was safer to wait here than in the middle of a corridor looking at the dark.

"I agree, but I think we should bring the others here first, it seems safer here than back there." The guy named Paul said, I think that was his name anyway, I don't even know how I remember my name, it just came to me out of nowhere, at least he seemed to agree with me on this one.

"If we bring them here and there's nothing up there, we'll have to go all the way back and go into the dark part, why don't we just check now, so we know what to do?" One of the other guys countered, as if it wasn't already obvious that they wouldn't have another choice.

"What you fail to understand, is that it's more likely to be people on this part than back there, these stairs aren't here randomly, someone put them here", if they thought about that for a second they would have probably noticed that.

"Are you scared of going in the dark? If we don't have another choice, will you just wait here and hope someone comes?" I'm not sure if that's a taunt or something, but I'm pretty sure there was a grin in his face while he said that.

"It seems safer and smarter than walking randomly in the dark." I said, passing a hand on my neck, this is annoying and we haven't even been here for that long, we shouldn't-

"Listen, we can't waste time here, but we can't just go back either, since you two are so keen on it, you go back and bring the others, and if we don't find anything up there by the time you're back, we'll have to take the dark path, got it?" Lead said, I'm not even sure what his name is and I don't really care that much, but since he did decide to lead us it only makes sense, and at least he is seeing some sense.

"Yeah sure, it's better than standing here arguing for some more time." Paul said, as he started to turn around he motioned to me, "Better go now so we return before they're back, come on", I nodded and started following him, better to go fast anyway.

"If we have to go all the way back I hope you're ready to take all of their complaints!" The second guy shouted at us as we rounded the corner, I turned around to see him standing there, watching us leave, that stupid grin on his face, I'm also pretty sure I heard Paul cursing him under his breath, but maybe that was just my imagination.

"It's amazing how many of our problems were solved with 'let's split up' and no-one thought about them at first, this situation really is messing with our heads huh?" Paul said, we were moving back at a quicker pace than when we were coming this way.

Small talk, not exactly my best area, but he seems to be having the same problems, might as well try to keep up, "Yes, surprisingly."

"Not much of a talker too huh? Though you seem to talk way less than some", he was not wrong, but there is no reason to talk a lot just to say something small, "I understand, let's just get the rest then." That's a plan I can get behind, we moved, making quick time of the way back, it was fairly uneventful and even quiet on the way back.

Until we heard an echo of a scream, not a scared scream thankfully, it sounded angry, "Better hurry", he said, as if I there was any need to do that, we started running a little, he couldn't run very well, it seemed his body wasn't yet in peak condition.

Let's just hope they're not trying to kill each other.

Ashlyn

They looked at her like they wanted to kill her.

I can understand their reason, seeing as I basically just shouted at them to shut up, but if we stop to think about it, they were shouting at each other first, The thought passed her head before she focused on everyone around and tried to collect her thoughts, a handful of people had been shouting, or having a discussion apparently, about whether or not we go or stay, when the noise was just too much for her, and she decided to ask them to quiet down, in hindsight, I probably could have asked better now couldn't I?

"You were the one who told them to split up, why don't you give us some help here?" One of the people from the 'leave' group told her, sounding a bit annoyed, whether at her for shouting at them, the other group for wanting to just wait around or at the situation in general was not clear, probably a mix of all three if she had to guess.

"I suggested that because it was the best plan, better to split up than to waste time arguing," she defended, which was the truth, unfortunately, that turned out to be the wrong thing to say.

"See? She understands, some of us go ahead, and check in on the others, and the rest of you can just wait around doing whatever." Goddamnit, gotta think things through before saying, I know for a fact the rest of them don't think highly of me after that sentence of mine, the situation was not the best one, and she had to admit that at least part of the fault was hers, and that maybe she should have just gone with the other group.

The sound of 'discussion' died down when they heard, and saw, two people moving in a hurry towards them, two members of the 'scouting party', apparently worried.

"What's happening here?" The taller one said, with some ragged breathing, apparently he wasn't in his top form yet. The shorter one didn't seem to be much better from the looks of things, "Scratch that, everyone get up, we found something.", that caught her attention more, did they manage to find and exit?

"Is it an exit? Can we leave this place?" She asked, almost as soon as she thought about it, nervousness creeping up on her, the thought of finally leaving here was more important than anything else at this point.

"We found stairs, it's safer there, there's more light too, so we're taking everyone there now, let's go" The shorter one said, before heading to someone sitting near a wall and helping them up, the taller one moved shortly after, she decided to do the same and started helping some of the ones nearby, a nice compromise, we move up to the others to rest more, they don't seem to be groaning about that at least.

The two groups immediately got up upon hearing the news, with the 'leave' group simply moving ahead as if impatient, while the other group helped some others, really shows how much they care about others, truly marvelous people, another thought for later, for if- for when they left this place.

Most of the people could move on their on by now, and the group started following the two 'scouts', taking turns every once in a while, spirits seemed to be high as well, people where talking to each other, about what would be outside, about who they were, even about what a cellphone was, which was usually answered with a "I know what it is but I sort of don't", truth be told she couldn't explain it herself, she knew what it was, but her mind couldn't form a clear picture on it.

The taller one seemed to hang to the back a little, whether because of fatigue or to keep people from straying too far she didn't know, while the shorter one was leading everyone, in front of the group, since she was closer to the back, she decided to at least ask him about their destination, "Excuse me, where exactly are we going?", others around turned to them, apparently others had that question too but no-one wanted to ask that for some reason.

"Well, after some walking, we reached some stairs going up, there are more lights there too, but since there are stairs there, we reckon that there must be people nearby, since stairs don't just appear out of nowhere", he seemed to contemplate for a bit after saying that, but then turned back to her, "anyway, since there's those two factors, we decided to bring everyone back since it seemed safer." That made sense to her, altough it did raise one question.

"Then why did only two of you return? Where are the others?" Some sounds of agreement and questioning for others, it seemed she spoke for the group now.

"They're checking to see what's in the end, we only saw lights going halfway up the stairs" That got her alarmed, "so instead of staying around arguing we decided to split up and move the group to a safer place."

"Wait wait wait, what do you mean, lights until halfway? I thought you had found the exit?" The words came out together with her thoughts, I really need to stop that, But the damage was already done, some people were getting distressed at the thought of not leaving again.

"We think that is the exit, and even if it is a bit further, we better move closer so we all don't have to traverse a long distance." She could agree with that thought, though now she was worried, what if they were just moving to another dead-end? She didn't want to go through the darkness to try and find a safe place, but if that was the only choice...

They rounded another corner, and she just kept moving, looking only forward and thinking to herself, please let this be an exit, please...

Paul

Thinking back on it, I probably shouldn't have said that.

Sure, she wanted to know where we were going, but telling them that it might just be another dark place doesn't exactly soothe their nerves, as was shown.

If anything, people seemed more nervous than before, and it only got worse when after the last corner, we spotted something I was honestly hoping to not see.

Our three 'friends', waiting a few steps up resting and waiting. This doesn't seem good, if they didn't find anything... The thought of them being angry with me wasn't what worried me the most, that was nothing, the most worrying part of all of this was that they would have to go to through the dark path. Hopefully they're just waiting for us before leading us forwards. We kept on moving, closer and closer to the stairs.

"We went up, a dozen or so steps after the darkness begins...", The way he just stopped talking made me think that either he was being suspenseful or he just didn't find anything and didn't want to say it, not that the others gave him the time to say something else.

"So we're stuck here? There's no way out?!" The guy I was helping shouted, forcing me to let him go, "We came all this way for nothing?!", This made some people stop on the spot for a second, before moving closer to the stairs, they probably decided to rest on the steps. Still, the thought that we were stuck here was in their minds, the girl that was talking to me was trying to help others, but it seemed like she was trying to distract herself more than anything.

Our leader maintained his composure, and simply stated the facts, nothing more, nothing less, "We found a wall at the end of the stairs, we couldn't move it ourselves.", and so they decided to wait, but to wait for more people to push or for all of us to return together?

Whatever the case, people were already looking distraught, they needed something to keep them going, and apparently, our leader was just waiting to say something, however...

"SO we just need some more people to push it! Yes, then we'll be able to keep going!" She put such an emphasis on the first word of the sentence it was like it simply came out suddenly, and frankly it might as well have, maybe she thought it and it was the only thing she wanted to believe in, so she did. Some nods and hurried responses were seen and heard, and we started to move towards the stairs when... whatever the hell it was happened, I can't explain it well myself.

When all of us where close to the stairs, a big circle with a pentagram, I think anyway, started glowing below us, some got startled and hurried to leave the circle, others too tires simply stared to the ground, even our leader got up and started moving towards us. Then, two blue line rose through the walls and rushed up the stairs, passing through and lighting the wall flames on their way, some of the people around me were gasping, mouths hanging open and even unmoving, myself included. But the best part was when it reached the wall they had talked about

The wall started sliding sideways, opening like a door to reveal something which got a better reaction from everyone, the blue sky, the white stars, freedom was finally within our grasp.

"I don't care what that was, to the exit, move!" Someone on the back shouted, not like we needed to be told twice, people rushed outside faster than I thought possible, even the most tired ones were moving faster, until finally, we were outside.

Fresh air swept over us as we walked out, as we examined our surroundings, we were in some sort of stone structure, and after people started saying look up, I did exactly that, though it was behind us, I noticed it was some sort of tower, going far up into the sky, in front of the exit, was a dirt path to some kind of city, looked medieval, whatever that means, it just fits, Maybe they had the answer.

"Hey, guys, look up", someone said, I think it was that girl from before, judging from the voice, she was answered by people saying they had already had seen the tower, to which she responded, "No, I mean directly above us."

"Why is the moon blood red?"