Chapter 62: Exit

"Boss all right? If you don't open the door for us we'll break it down!" From behind the door leading into the study, the voices of annoyance caused by not opening the door were getting louder.

"Nick! What do we do?" Judy asked. Nick was corrupt - even though he hated his father because of what he had done in the past he couldn't leave him here sentenced to prison, he would probably get life! Besides, if they stayed they would most likely die and that would not be a good ending for them. Fox had little time to make a decision, he flicked his gaze between Judy and Mark, both looked like they were in favour of getting the hell out of here. Judy's decision was obviously a natural one, she would like to survive this we know and Mark wants to be free, no one seems to want to go to prison. In the end the fox made his decision, thinking it was the right choice.

"Oh good, let's get out of here" decided Nick.

"Wise choice son, now let's roll from here" replied Mark. He took a torch from his desk drawer then pressed a button on the wall that was invisible to the naked eye. A piece of the wall lifted, revealing a corridor in front of them with stairs leading down.

"Let's go!" Said Mark, then stepped into the corridor along with Nick and Judy. Just behind them, the door closed and they heard the passage to the study being unlocked.

"Uf, that was close! A little more and we wouldn't even have escaped" said Nick listening to the sounds coming from the study. The foxes who were in the study were surprised to see that Mark wasn't inside, almost immediately panic set in!

"They don't know there's this passage?" Judy asked.

"No, only one comrade knew about it, who was a victim of the preparation".

"So you poison your comrades too?" Asked Nick aggressively.

"Sam wanted to, he was one of the most driven to make this operation a success, he sacrificed himself for science" replied Mark. They didn't pursue the subject further, they moved on. Soon they reached the stairs. The further they went down the more it became dark around them. At one point Mark took out a small torch to illuminate what was happening in front of them, apart from the walls around them, there was nothing! Nick intuitively raised his rifle towards Mark, which the latter began to laugh at.

"You really don't trust me do you?" The fox asked. Nick waved his head negatively. Their toxic relationship was deeply troubling Judy, who couldn't fathom how you could hate your father like that! To her it was abstract, but as you can see anything was possible in this world. For her, her father was a beloved person who always cared for her, even though he was oversensitive about new experiences. It was evident from the cola that, for Nick, his father was his greatest enemy!

At one point they stopped at a large hospital door, which Mark widened so that they could pass through easily.

"Is this another hospital?" Nick asked.

"There used to be a small hospital on this site, supposedly it collapsed into the ground after a fire and a complex was built on the site for... not necessarily normal. However, we found that part of the hospital had collapsed underground. It won't collapse, but we have to be quiet..."

"Why?" Judy asked.

"Once, with a companion who had undergone a preparation in the name of science, we threw foxes in here to see how they were doing in the dark...it turned out too well because we couldn't find them. We have to be careful, they might be around here somewhere," explained Mark.

"You guys are abnormal " sighed Nick, but Mark left it without comment. Walking down the hospital corridor, or rather what was left of it was terribly dark, even with the torch Mark was holding they didn't feel safe. There was a smell of soil that was in some places, there were visible scratches on the floor tiles, and a sponge from the mattress from the bed. Everything around them was damaged or burnt, every step seemed to be their last, they feared something would collapse over them despite Mark's assurances that apart from the foxes, nothing was threatening them. As they walked further down the corridor it got darker and darker due to the soot covered walls, soon they couldn't even see what they were walking on! Everything around them was blurred by the effects of the fire, but Mark continued to walk forward with the stubborn belief that getting out of here would be trouble-free. The only thing that puzzled him was the fact that it was quiet... Too quiet. The foxes that had been let in here had been inoculated with one of the first versions of the formula, which was, unconcealingly, hopeless; they couldn't learn to move quietly, after all!

"You know what puzzles me? That not a single sound of the patients has yet been heard, it's a bit strange..." Mark wondered aloud. Nick and Judy didn't know what to conclude, so they looked more carefully at each other's backs to avoid being startled. Soon Mark glared at the signs that read: exit, which was a great relief to both him and Nick and Judy, who wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. However, there was something wrong. When Mark wanted to illuminate the staircase that was supposed to rzeokomo in front of them there was soil and elements of the hospital architecture! Mark growled something under his breath, Judy and Nick were also embarrassed by this, it didn't look like an exit. Nick raised his rifle again, which was quickly lowered in front of Judy, who threw him a look that said: "Let it go."

"Those damn foxes must have destroyed the exit...which would mean they're not here!" Said an angry Mark.

"If they're not here...then where are they?" Asked Judy.

"Good question... Listen. We won't go through here, but luckily for us, this hospital was connected to the same sewers as the current one. We'll go out through the sewers, there are lots of holes in the floors, so any one of them is bound to lead to the sewers," explained Mark. Still angry because he hadn't expected the foxes to manage to escape from here, he hoped they had managed to die, but if they had lasted this long and managed to escape, who knows where they might be now?

Mark began to focus on the floor, trying to find the hole that led to the sewers, luckily for them the holes were practically every few steps, Mark was aware in his head that these could also have been used patients but he didn't want to say that for Judy and Nick. He hoped they wouldn't encounter a single one of them.

Glancing through the holes in the floor a few were provided by soil, some by architectural features, so it was important not to step on any protruding iron bars, lest they hurt themselves or worse, get an infection.

Soon Mark stopped, bent down to glare at a hole near the former reception area, and then he was sure - this was their entrance to the sewers.

"Alright, good news! I've found the entrance to the sewers. We'll go down into them and go all the way straight. We should come out just before the entrance gate to our place. Communicated Mark. He let Judy and Nick go ahead first so they knew where to jump off. They were both unsure about this, but what could they say when they had no other choice?

It was dark around them, from time to time you could hear drops falling down to form small puddles on the road they had to traverse. It was damp, an indefinable unpleasant smell lingered in the air, you could tell there was a morose air hanging about, which fuelled the feeling of uncertainty. Mark was the first to move forward, he was the only one who knew how to get out of here alive, he was the one Nick and Judy had to rely on, he was their only hope of making it out alive. Mark himself also seemed jumpy, stressed which surprised the doe, this was supposed to be a quiet road with no surprises and Mark's restless movements of monotonously twisting the beam of light left and right showed he was afraid of something.

"Are we safe here?" Judy asked.

"Yes...I mean...yes..., We're in no danger here," replied the fox perplexedly. At the same time he pouted horribly, as if he wasn't sure of what he was saying, which further fuelled the doe's uncertainty. Nick, on the other hand, with his gun lowered towards the ground, marched right past practically Mark, seemingly fearing nothing.

At one point, from the right, all three heard someone running, splashing puddles made their presence known, which immediately awoke Mark's instinct to shine his torch towards the light. Nick tried his gun in the same direction. The canal had a turn to the right, that's where someone was surely running.

"There was someone there...let's be as quiet as we can then maybe they won't hear or see us" whispered Mark. Judy and Nick said nothing, the doe hid even more behind Nick's back while he concentrated even more to be ready for a possible shot. They didn't know if the patient had gone or was waiting for them to jump out unexpectedly. By the time they crossed the intersection, he was gone; he must have gone further. This time they were lucky - the danger had evaded them.

"They had to get through to the sewers when they escaped from their chambers," Mark explained quietly. The situation became tense, the further they walked the more intersections they saw where patients could be. Nick kept walking with his finger on the trigger, Mark lit up the two sides as fast as he could, it seemed to be clear. No one could assure that this was the case, all that remained was to hope so...if anything, they have guns, so they have that much of an advantage, although they have to be careful with a fairly small magazine. As they walked through the intersection of the tunnels Mark illuminating the area noticed one of the patients...but he was somehow different. He sat being leaned against the tunnel wall having a downward bend. He looked calm. He raised his head for a moment, just to see the three of them wandering through the tunnel, then his head dropped down again.

"He looks calm, why don't we go up to him?" suggested Judy.

"I don't know if that's a good idea, what if there are more of them in there?" Mark asked.

"It doesn't look like there's anyone else there," added Nick. In fact it might appear that there was no one there, the tunnel was glowing empty. They finally decided to approach it. They walked to the other side of the tunnel, stopping a few metres ahead. They were still unsure of what they wanted to do, they were afraid it might jump on them. Judy, however, dared to take that first step and slowly approached the patient. Mark, meanwhile, poked Nick to have the patient on target at all times. Fox corrected his position and aimed at the patient's head. Judy meanwhile got close enough to the casualty that she could feel the heat emitting from him, he was very hot, even though he was sitting up and it was quite cool in the tunnel, he was sweaty! She knelt down beside him maintaining a half metre gap hoping to make contact with him.

"Can you hear me? My name is Judy..."

The fox unexpectedly jumped on Judy crushing her to the ground, causing the doe shocked by this to be unable to do any dodging! Nick and Mark were also shocked by this for a moment, making them unresponsive for a few moments.

"Let go, ah, Nick, shoot!" Judy shouted. For a moment Nick seemed blocked by something, something preventing him from shooting the fox, but he could see that he was trying to hurt Judy.

"Shoot Nick damn it!" Shouted Mark, Nick hearing his father's words shook his head, muttered something grimly under his breath then squeezed the trigger - two bullets flew straight at the fox, who on getting the bullets screamed loudly and at the same time moved away from the doe swinging from side to side until he finally fell to the ground. Blood began to drip from his head, making a small puddle, but that wasn't the worst of it for Nick. He had shot a fox - on joining the police he had promised himself that he would never use force on a fox, he hadn't even thought about killing his own! He felt awful...almost as unwell as all those who had worked the preparation.

"Are you all right Judy? Are you all right?" Mark asked. Judy rose from the ground shaking the dust off her outfit, apart from the dirt she was fine, the fox was most likely on the mend as its movements were weak and monotonous.

"It must have been one of the first ones because it was barely hanging on" Mark communicated.

"What's the matter Nick, is something wrong?" Judy asked. Nick didn't answer. He stared steadily at the rifle he had fired, only the second time the question was asked drew his attention causing waves of anger.

"Yes, it happened! I shot a fox! I swore to myself that I would never, but never use force against a fox, and I killed it! Shit, when are we going to finish this thing where we're all chopped up!" Nick exploded. Judy and Mark were surprised by the fox's influx of emotion, they didn't expect killing a fox to be so emotional for him!

"Nick, but you know you had to do it...there was no choice" replied Judy. Nick sighed, this was the truth. Even so, he still felt an inner pain that he decided not to share with them anymore. He nodded with a movement of his head without saying anything.

"Maybe they do. But rules are rules," Nick said grimly. At this time, chaotic, loud sounds started coming from the sides of the tunnels. Mark immediately glared down the right and left corridors, and was horrified when he spotted a group of running patients who were slowly but steadily making their way towards them. The doe wanted to start running, but was stopped by Mark waving his head negatively.

"That's not a good idea. Let's go round the back to keep an eye on them at all times. Nick, you aim at them all the time, maybe they won't come near us, Judy you watch to see if anyone is in front" Mark communicated. They had no other choice, they had to do this. It was a stressful situation for the three of them, Nick was having trouble aiming, the stress level was so great that his left hand was shaking. The three of them tried not to make too much noise so as not to frighten the infected, who all the while were slowly walking towards them watching them. Their dead eyes, in their eyes you could see that they were already dead, only lifted by an artificial force in the form of a preparation. Surely they wouldn't last long without food, they would starve to death or the poison itself would finish them off, but what if they managed by some miracle to get to the surface?

"How much further is there to go?" Nick asked. Mark turned to reinforce Judy's light level, less than 200 metres away the elements of a small staircase leading upwards were drawn.

"Just a little further, let's not get distracted by the formation then we'll be fine" communicated Mark. They slowly marched towards their destination while the patients slowly approached them. This instinctively made them want to run already, but Mark knew that this was not the right choice. They must persevere, keep a cool head, if they start running, they will do the same. It was doubtful they would get away from them. The 200 metre route seemed to go on for a kilometre or better when the patients started to express their aggression through all sorts of noises that didn't sound very friendly. Nick, Judy and Mark, however, continued to stay in formation causing the infected to feel unprovoked, so they just watched. Vigilant, they waited for one wrong move, but they couldn't wait for it, soon the three reached the stairs behind which was a ladder leading to the surface.

"Okay, when I say run, we'll immediately throw ourselves on the ladder, Nick, you're going to throw a rifle in their direction to confuse them" Mark communicated. They both nodded with a movement of their heads. They stopped on the stairs. The patients approached at a distance of 2 metres. It could be seen that they were beginning to lose patience by growling, sticking their fangs out, starting to behave aggressively. Mark knew that they had little time left, so he shouted: "Run!", Whereupon Nick threw his rifle in their direction and the three ran towards the ladder. The patients scattered through the rifle just as Mark assumed they would, it took long enough for Nick, Judy and Mark to get back into pursuit so they could get to the ladder. Judy moved the hatch and managed to get out of the sewers, as did Mark and Nick, who closed the passage behind him so that the patients could not pass through.

They were quickly stunned by the light of police sirens and their loud sound, there were a dozen police cars standing by the main gate, the police had managed to get there in time. Just as Mark had said, they walked out in front of the entrance gate to the compound. They found themselves surrounded by police cars, surrounded by police.

"Halt, don't move!" Shouted one of the officers, who brandished a gun at them. The three of them put their hands up, waiting for someone more legitimate to arrive. Soon, the chief commander, Bogo, got out of the car.