Part 2! Whats worst than a spook you building? Being trapped in a spook you building!
To them, it felt like they hit every wooden beam, support and odd bit of cloth on the way down but nothing was strong enough to stop their fall, only break and slow their decent. Finally, Meena hit something something solid and land on her stomach with an 'oof.' Almost immediately, she felt Johnny land heavily on his back on top of her. Half a beat later, she could feel Ash plop on top of Johnny. A chorus of groans emanated from the pile of animals. Johnny was first to make an attempt to get up, helping Ash off of him and on to the ground before quickly turning around to make sure Meena was alright and help her up. While Johnny was busy apologizing profusely for falling on the elephant and said elephant assured him that she was fine, Ash looked up and around at their predicament.
It looked like they had fallen about 30 some feet, or about three stories from what Ash could see. The gaping hole left by them in the floor above was followed by a path of broken beams and other building parts from their fall, none of which looked stable enough to climb back upwards. Looking around, Ash saw they were in a large, meandering basement storage area with a relatively high ceiling. There were tons of old theater props and broken equipment were in large, unkept piles covered haphazardly with worn tarps. It was somehow even dustier down there, so much so that the air was thick with dust. What little light there was came from cracks in the floorboards above and where bits of moonlight fit through. Ash sneezed from the dust and shook her head.
"Welp, doesn't look like we're goin' that way." Johnny huffed out a sigh and he pointed his phone's light up at the wreckage left from their fall. "There's gotta be stairs goin' up somewhere through, right?" He looked over at Ash who was looking around with a dismal look on her face.
"Yeah... yeah, there has to be." She muttered more to herself than to anyone else. Johnny took the lead to find a way out, picking a direction at random, with Meena in tow and Ash close behind.
After wandering around the dank and dreary halls formed on decaying walls piles of junk unfruitfully, Ash got impatient and wanted to take the lead. Johnny begrudging humored her for a bit, but soon after got annoyed they were still getting nowhere. Ash quickly snipped that he hadn't gotten them anywhere either. Johnny snapped that she was the reason they were in this mess in the first place. Emotions were running high considering they were all scared and it was coming out in angry arguing between the rocker and rebel.
"It's not like I forced you to carry the stupid clown out!" Ash hissed
Johnny grumbled back. "Well I wasn't gonna leave Meena to deal with it! Even though she shoulda' just left it-"
"Where is Meena?" Ash's sour mood stopped short, wide eyed at the fact Meena was not in sight. Johnny looked back and froze.
"...Meena?" Suddenly, Johnny's voice seemed to echo more in a way that made his stomach drop and the dark area seemed so much scarier to the two. "Meena!" He shouted with more force and panic in his voice. He was a rational animal, but being trapped in a creepy old building that looked like it was straight out of a horror film, alleged to be haunted, and losing a member of their group was quickly becoming too much for his nerve to handle.
"Meenaaaaa? Come on, this isn't funny!" Ash called out and she meandered back the way they had came. "We're sorry for fighting!"
Trying to remain calm, the two double back, their voices loud and unrestrained as their fear built up in them.
Suddenly, a massive form appeared behind them and swiftly grabbed them from behind. Both their heart stopped dead the moment two strong hands covered their mouths and wrenched them back. Ash was yanked off the ground and kicked the air helplessly. Johnny was able to put more of a fight but was clearly out sized. The two struggled and tried to scream through their covered mouths until a familiar voice hissed at them. "Will you guys shut up?!" Meena had pulled them back against her so her harsh whisper only made it to their ears and didn't cause an echo. Johnny and Ash stopped struggling, both out of relief it was Meena and shock at her gripping tone. Meena shifted so was properly carrying Ash and not holding the porcupine hostage and released Johnny as well, hoping they both got silencing look she was shooting them through all the darkness. Noise in the distance made her ears flare up and grab Johnny's sleeve to pull the gorilla with her and Ash around a corner just as the noises got close enough for the other to hear.
Both Johnny and Ash were confused as to why they were hiding, but neither had the chance to speak up before they heard approaching voices.
"They were coming from over here!" An unfamiliar and frantic voice called out.
Another, gruffer voice answered. "It was probably just pipe breaking. Again."
"No! I'm telling you I heard voices this time! And they were at least two! I know there's someone else down here!"
Meena had a death grip on the other two. Johnny was listening intensity, trying to figure out what anyone would be doing down there. Ash was trying to wrap her heard around why they were hiding in the first place. If there were others down there with them, the means there's was a way in and out which the others must know about. So why were they hiding and not asking for help? Ash knew Meena was nervous around strangers, but this seemed excessive to the porcupine.
That last thought died in Ash's head when she heard the mechanical clinking of a gun being cocked. All three stiften, now well aware of the real danger they were in.
Out of the blue, another sneering voice called out from farther away. "What the hell are you morons doin'?" The new voice bombed with authority.
"Sorry, boss. Sammie said he heard something again." The gruffer voice droned in a bored tone.
"I did hear something!" Sammie insisted desperately. "I know I did! That's the whole reason you hired me!"
"Yeeeah," The boss spoken in a chilling tone. "I hired a jackrabbit to keep an ear out and not let anything surprise us." He pause in a menacing manner. "And yet all you've done is send out false alarms and waste my time. You're lucky the jobs already over Sammie-boy, cuz I've just about had it with you." The leader seemed to growl out the last bit, then their heard retreating foot steps with one final order. "Now get get back to work and start being useful."
The other two voice followed their boss, leaving three horrified teenagers afraid for their lives. Ash was the first to speak, her words coming out as sharp, fearful whispers. "What the hell was that about? Why did he have a gun?!"
Meena carefully put the porcupine on the ground as she explained. "I think they're hiding something here. Earlier I heard what sounded kinda like drilling. When I tried to find where it came from, I saw them digging up a bunch dirt like they were trying to bury something." She looked down nervously. "I didn't get a good look at what they looked like, through. I saw the guns, panicked, and came looking for you guys."
All color had gone from Ash's face. "Oh my god, there actually stashing bodies here!" She squeaked out in dread.
Meena looked doubtful. "They were calling it a 'hot stash.'" The elephant added, hoping that meant something to one of the others.
Johnny whisper from where he was focused on his phone. "M'kay, so it's not bodies then. They're just hidin' somethin' that they stole and can't sell yet. Or maybe they're diggin' up something they stole awhile back." Glaring at his phone, he sighed angrily. He had already checked to see if he could get a signal and knew it was hopeless, but he had hoped by some miracle, he might be able to call or contact someone. He had no such luck. None of them had had any service since stepping foot into the cursed building. "Right, we can't just go walkin' around 'ere lookin' for a way out. Meena, when ya' hear 'em start drillin' again we'll go back to the hole we fell through." He hushed.
Ash gave him a puzzled look. "Johnny, there's no way we can all get up that way! I'm not even sure any of us-"
"We don't all have to." Johnny cut off Ash's whispering with his own. "We just need one of us to make it up and get to where they can call someone. The others just need to hold out til help comes." It was a very flawed plan and Johnny knew it, but it was the best he had at the moment. He looked at Ash half expecting her to argue or shoot down his plan with a better one, but she must have also been coming up blank because she just gave a little nod. Meena's ears were already flared out and she was clearly concentrating on listening to the gangsters' operation.
After a minute, Meena gave a little nod. "They're drilling again." She breathed out. Ash peaked around the wall they were hidden behind them motioned the others to follow her. A few suspenseful minutes later, they were back below the gaping hole in the floor above, squinting up through dust filled air skeptically.
It was just as they had left it, dangerously rickety and what wood remained intact look precarious at best. There was no clear path up, just a lot of unstable looking wooden bits that one could theoretically climb up. It was incredibly unsafe looking, so Johnny of course volunteered himself to do it in the hopes of keeping his friends from harm. Fifteen or so strenuous minutes later, Johnny was less than half way up and not make great progress.
"He's not gonna make it." Ash quipped plainly.
"He can still do it." Meena argued absentmindedly, her attention split between worriedly watching Johnny and listening to ensure the gangsters were still drilling. They both got their breath caught in their throats when Johnny's grip slipped and he was left dangling by one hand. To make matters worse, the chuck of wood he had been holding came loose and fell all the way to the concert floor below with an echoing clatter. All three tensed and waited silently.
After a moment Meena began to relax and whispered to over to Ash. "I think we're okay. There's still-" She froze mid sentence, her ears flared out more and her face filled with dread. "The drilling stopped."
Ash went wide-eyed and gave a panicked look up. She knew Johnny won't make it before they had company and waved him to come down. Making a split moment decision, she gave an order. "Meena, throw me."
"... Come again?"
As Johnny was trying to make something between a rushed and carefully quiet way down again, he heard a whoosh and what sounded like a muffled squeaked of surprise. Snapping his head back upwards, he looked just in time to see Ash airborne and land haphazardly on the slanted piece of wood at the edge of the hole. Both he and Meena held their breath while they saw Ash struggle to find anything to grab on to as she slid backwards on the slanted wood. She scratched at it with her claws frantically before quickly pulling out a quill and stabbing the wood with it. She stopped sliding backwards and breathed a sigh of relief before yanking out another quill and using them to scale up the wood on to more sturdy flooring. Once on stable ground, she turned to look back at her friends and watch as Johnny practically fall the last few feet down. He was barely able to regain balance and stand properly before Meena grabbed his arm and pulled him behind her as she ran out of Ash's sight. Ash's heart was pounding as she starred desperately at where her friends had just been before shaking her head and forcing herself to focus. Shakily, the porcupine turned and ran frantically for the exit hoping her weight didn't cause noticeable creaking. 'You two better still be alive when I get back!' She worried to herself as her running synced up with her pounding heart rate.
who knew porcupines could fly? Let see see how these three manage now that there spilt up.