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Danny held on to Eva as she led the four of them out of the room. He knew Abby was helping ensure Connor kept up with the group so he could focus on getting them out. As Eva led them to another door she stopped.
"What are you waiting for? Where does this door lead to?" Danny was starting to get anxious to leave and wasn't afraid to let it show.
Eva thought the sooner she helped them the sooner they would be gone so she was going to show them the fastest route out of the place; it also turned out that this would be the safest route. She didn't know why they felt like they had to rescue their friend, but she didn't know who might be looking for them and wanted to stay out of the crossfire. "There is a set of stairs on the other side of the door".
"Where does it go; I hope back up the way we came".
"No, it actually goes down".
Danny was confused "we need to be going up; why are you leading us down. This better not be a trick".
With a bit of fear in her voice she responded to Danny's confusion, "No, I'm not setting you up. We need to go down in order to get to the tunnels".
Danny wanted to know what she was talking about and interrupted her, "What tunnels are you talking about".
Eva didn't let his rude interruption bother her as she said, "The tunnels go out about a mile and lead to a secluded opening. We always thought we needed an escape route in case it was ever overrun by some of the creatures we house here".
This made sense Danny so he motioned for Eva to continue.
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The four of them made it to the stairs, but before they descended Danny felt he needed to check on Connor, "It looks like we are going to have to go down a couple of flights of stairs, you up to it?"
"No worries about me Danny, not when I have Abby here looking out for me".
Danny smiled as he looked from Connor to Abby, "Ok, but we need to move quickly, so if you need a break you're going to need to tell me".
Connor was about to say something but Abby took care of the response, "Don't worry about us. We'll be right behind you; even if I have to carry Connor".
Connor shot Abby a concerned looked "Hey, I don't need anyone to carry me". He assumed she was kidding; at least he hoped she was.
Abby pushed him toward the stairs, "Come on Connor, we'll worry about that later".
Connor did as he was told and hobbled toward the stairs with Abby in tow.
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The tunnels ended up being 3 flights down and by the time everyone reached the bottom Connor was ready for a break. He had made it the whole way down, but had slipped a few times making his leg ache. He wished he had thought to bring some of the pain pills he had back in his bathroom, but in all the rush he had forgotten. He wanted to say something to Danny about needing a break, but he could sense how imperative it was too get out of this place so he remained silent.
Danny looked at space that was before him and saw that there were actually two tunnels, "Which one do we take?"
Eva had a worried look on her face. She had only been down here once and that was quite a while ago, so she didn't really know which tunnel led to the outside. "Let me think a moment, I'm not quite sure which way to go".
Danny was starting to get angry, "What do you mean; you don't know which way to go. If one of the tunnels leads out, then where does the other tunnel go?"
"It leads to some store rooms, but that's all. There is no way out when you reach the end".
"Well, is there anything down here that would help us know which one is correct?"
Eva shook her head, "No, there is nothing in the immediate area. I do know there are computers in one of the store rooms, but if we head in that direction then we would knowingly be going in the wrong direction. Just let me think about this and I am sure I can remember which way to go". She walked over to one of the tunnels and leaned up against the wall to think.
Danny was not very happy, "Great, this is all we need. We're sitting ducks for anyone who may be coming after us".
Belle had just been standing there listening, but now that the conversation was over she decided to offer a solution, "Hey, why don't you let me go over and talk to her. One of the things I learned at school was how to listen to people and help them discover things they were missing. It's a form of hypnosis and only takes a few minutes to get their mind thinking correctly. It may be just enough for her to remember which path to take".
"If you think it will work, then yes please give a try".
Belle walked away from Danny and toward Eva. She had done this trick on numerous occasions with successful results, so she was sure it would work in this situation.
Danny joined Abby and Connor by the stairs, "Hey Connor, you doing alright?" He had noticed he was sitting down and had hoped this was not too much for him. He remembered their escape out of the past and how it ended and just hoped it didn't end that way again.
Connor looked up from the stairs and did his best to hide the pain behind his eyes, "Yeah Danny, I'm doing just fine. So do we know which way to go yet?"
Danny looked back at Eva before responding to Connor, "I don't know. I'm just hoping that whatever Belle thinks she can do actually works".
"Hey Danny, are you sure we can trust Belle. I thought there was a moment of recognition between the two women up stairs; they could be plotting to turn us in".
"No I don't think Belle would do that Abby. I don't why, but there is something trustworthy in Belle".
"Like I said before Danny, I trust your instincts so I hope you don't let me down on this one".
Danny thought the same thing, but chose not to say anything out loud.
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Becker and Sarah had finally made it through the maze of air ducts and found the one door leading to the roof. From there they made their way over to the edge. Luckily there were no creatures roaming the rooftops, but a quick inspection of the ground below revealed a rather large number of predators. There were several of them fighting amongst each other, but for the most part they were sitting quietly; as if saving their energy for something more exciting.
They didn't have any trouble making it to the next roof; just as Becker had indicated. The door located in the middle of the roof was locked, but Becker had no trouble getting it open.
As the two entered the building they found it to be very dark and musty smelling, but their flashlight on low beam revealed their surroundings to be empty. After looking around a bit they settled on a small room that had no windows, but was connected to a larger one that did. Becker felt it would be safer in the smaller room because there was less areas that would need reinforcement.
The two settled in for some rest, but had only a little bit of food to share so they decided to save it for morning.
Sarah was sitting in the corner of the room trying to stay warm, "I wish we had a blanket in here. It's cold out tonight".
Becker had been pacing around the small room, but stopped when Sarah mentioned she was cold. "Yeah, I just hope it doesn't get any colder". He looked at Sarah and saw that she was shivering. He went over and sat down next to her, "Here, lean into me; a combination of our body heat should be enough to get us through the night".
Sarah did as she was asked and leaned into Becker; allowing him to put his arm around her arm and pull her closer to his body. She liked how his body felt and snuggled in even closer. When he didn't seem to object she put her head on his chest using him as a pillow. It wasn't long before she started to feel tired, "This is much better, I think I'll be able to get some sleep tonight".
"That sounds like a good idea, I'll keep watch".
Sarah closed her eyes and did her best to imagine she was somewhere else. She hoped tomorrow would be a better day; but she would settle for just making it to the morning.
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