Chapter 9

It had now been almost a week since they had been locked in the underground volt, and the strain was beginning to tell on everyone. Whether it was peoples natural distaste of being caged in a confined space or the realisation that it seemed that no one was looking for them, Cutter could not tell. All's he knew was that everyone seemed particularly tense and agitated of late.

Conner and Abby were bickering more than usual; the tiniest movement that Conner made had seemingly become an irritation to Abby, so much so that one day Cutter even heard her snap, "do you have to breathe so loudly?!" at the sheepish student. Lester was no longer his usual smarmy sarcastic self, but had become quiet and sullen - preferring to sit alone in the bedroom instead of associating with the rest of them. Becker was as withdrawn as usual, and spent most of his time listening by the steel door, his head raised in alertness at each and every noise.

Jenny was not the type of woman to wear her heart on her sleeve, so to speak, and it was only through knowing her as he did that he could notice the change in her. She was a bit quieter than usual and it was usually Cutter who had to draw her into conversation, least she stay silent. She spent a lot of time playing on her mobile phone trying to get a signal through, which was, of course, impossible. Her temper (which was usually close to the surface anyway) was shorter than usual, and she snapped at small things like somebody forgetting to wash a cup through after they had used it. In short, being trapped in such a confined space with so many people had become a nightmare; one that they couldn't seem to wake up from.

Although life in the bunker did have it's perks for Cutter.

One day, he walked out of the bedroom in what he assumed was early morning (time seemed to stand still in this place), to find Jenny lying on the sofa. She was dressed in her formal clothes that she had washed through; her pants rolled up to her thighs with the heat, and her feet were casually resting up against the wall. Of course, she was fiddling with her phone. Cutter leaned against the door in silence and gave himself a moment to take in the wonderful sight of those rather remarkable bare legs, before he started to feel a tad perverted, and decided to announce himself by clearing his throat loudly. She looked around and raised her eyebrow at his frank appraisal.

"I charge by the hour you know," she smirked, her gaze returning to her phone.

"Oh I could never afford you Jenny Lewis," he grinned as he approached her.

"Oh well," she sighed in mock-disappointment as he perched on the sofa next to her. "I suppose you'll just have to put those eye balls back in your sockets then."

They both exchanged a lingering glance, Jenny apparently taking the same comfort as he did in their gently flirtation. It's not like they could do much else.

"Where's Becker?" Cutter asked, tracing a lazy line down her leg with his finger.

"He's in the shower I think," she answered, flinging her phone on the small table next to the sofa. "Why, were you thinking of joining him?"

"So if Becker's in the shower . . ." Cutter reasoned slowly, ignoring her comment. "And the rest of them are in the bedroom . . ."

Before he had even finished his sentence, Jenny had grabbed his top and pulled him in so that his lips mashed against hers. Cutter was initially surprised, but kissed her back fiercely; her touch igniting a fire inside him. Before he could comprehend what was happening, she had wrapped her legs around him and pulled him on top of her. He allowed his hands to wander under her blouse and up her stomach; aware that she trembled under his touch. He kissed down her neck urgently, and nearly exploded with excitement when she moaned down his ear, her breath so cool that it made him tingle . . .

"If you've quite finished fondling Miss Lewis, Cutter," Lester's frank voice cut into the silence, making them jump apart violently and scramble to opposite sides of the sofa. Lester had appeared from the bedroom, his forehead creased in obvious disapproval. "We need to talk," he added.

"About what?" Cutter snapped as he ran his hands over his face, unable to keep his frustration at the interruption out of his voice.

"Maybe your too busy to notice," he sighed sarcastically. "But are you aware how hot it's gotten in here lately? And I don't just mean with your steamy pornographic sessions."

"There are six people living inclose quarters," Cutter reasoned, trying to control the overwhelming desire he had to tell Lester to piss off. "The temperature's bound to increase a little."

"A little?" Lester repeated in incredulity. "It's like a sauna in here!"

"It is rather hot," Jenny interjected, pulling at the collar of her blouse as she stood up and made her way to the kitchen area. "Maybe it's just a hot day outside?" she added as she poured herself a coffee.

"Are you guys talking about the heat?" Conner's voice chimed in, as he walked out the bedroom, yawning and rubbing his head - in his underpants!

"Dear God," Lester muttered, looking away in disgust.

"Conner, what are you doing?" Cutter chuckled.

"What? It's like a hundred degrees in here!" Conner said defensively, joining Jenny in the kitchenette.

She turned to face him, and giggled.

"Hi," he said, taking the boiling pan off her and pouring the water into a mug.

"Hi," Jenny repeated, looking him up and down in amusement before turning away. "Could you put some clothes on please?"

"God," Conner huffed, setting his cup down and walking back to the bedroom. "You show a little bit of flesh and everyone gets so excited . . ." his mutters could still be heard from the other room.

Jenny leaned against the counter, still chuckling into her mug.

********

Later on that day however, there was nothing to giggle about. The room was at least three times as hot, and everyone was lounging in the living area, unable to summon any strength to do anything vaguely energetic. Cutter was leaning with his back against the wall, having discarded his shirt a while ago as the other men had (except Lester who's snobbish ways wouldn't allow him to discard any items of clothing in company). His skin was sticking to the moist wall, making him feel incredibly uncomfortable. Jenny was next to him with her eyes closed and her head resting on the wall; her blouse half unbuttoned enough to give her mild relief, but not enough so that she was exposing herself to the room. Her hair was dampened around her face.

"I - can't - take - this - anymore," Conner said in between dramatic ragged breaths. He was lying on the floor, and like Jenny, he had his eyes closed.

"There's probably something wrong with the vents," Cutter answered, his voice croaky due to the dryness of his mouth.

"You say that so casually," Conner panted. "They're the only thing keeping us alive!"

They lapsed into silence again, which was only broken by the odd uncomfortable groan. Cutter turned his head towards Jenny, who looked back at him; her heaving chest drenched in sweat.

"You okay?" he asked her for the hundredth time.

She nodded in reply, probably because she was unable to form words.

"A little dizzy," she eventually added quietly so that only he could hear.

Cutter also felt rather lightheaded; always a bad sign - it probably meant that there was depleting levels of oxygen in the room.

"It's okay," he breathed, his hand finding hers and squeezing it as tight as he could summon the energy for.

She nodded again, and fell silent. Cutter watched her for a while, noticing that her breaths came in short pants and that her eyelids looked incredibly heavy.

"Are we going to die?" she whispered to him suddenly, taking him completely by surprise. She didn't sound scared; but that was Jenny Lewis all over - she just wanted to be in the know, whatever the situation. Her eyes found his again and before he could rearrange his face from a look of concern, she shut them again; her lips twitching into a cynical smile. "I take that as a yes."

"No, of course we're not," he replied gently, unsure as to whether he was being entirely truthful.

He, himself, was finding it more and more difficult to draw breaths; his lungs aching slightly with the effort.

"Well done Lester," Conner said suddenly, his hand raised up in a mock thumbs-up gesture. "Really cracking job you did with this safe house. So far, it's imprisoned us, and now it's trying to suffocate us."

"You weren't complaining when it stopped the creature biting your head off," Lester retaliated as he lay against a bean-bag.

Conner didn't reply, but merely groaned and shuffled slightly.

"Is anyone else finding it hard to breath?" Becker asked from the sofa, his tanned and rippled chest dripping with sweat.

There was a general mumble of agreement. Cutter felt his heavy eyelids flickering with the effort of keeping them open . . . his vision was fogging slightly . . . then, his eyes shot open wider as he sensed a sudden movement. It was Lester stumbling over to the humongous door. He watched with lazy curiosity, and then all of a sudden, he tensed up with shock as he observed him doing something very peculiar - he was typing a code into the pad! Before Cutter had actually registered what he was seeing, the door rumbled and opened with a deafening snap. Everyone in the room jolted, and looked around in confusion.

"What -?" Abby mumbled, her eyes still half closed.

But Cutter was on his feet, all tiredness forgotten, replaced by pure throbbing rage. He grabbed Lester by the collar and threw him against the wall as hard as he could. Everyone was on their feet in a second; Cutter could feel their gaze on him. But he didn't care.

"You knew the code the entire time!" he yelled at Lester, who screwed up his face.

"It was procedure!" he shouted back, his hands trying to prize Cutter off him. "I saved your life!"

"BY TRAPPING US DOWN HERE LIKE RATS!" Cutter bellowed, almost picking Lester up in his anger.

"Nick," Jenny warned from behind him, her hand on his shoulder.

"You lied to us!" Conner's voice accused, sounding madder than Cutter had ever heard him.

"I should have left you all upstairs to rot then for all the thanks I get!" Lester retaliated, which pushed Cutter too far; in a blind rage he raised his fist ready to knock him to kingdom-come.

But Jenny's hand caught his wrist and pulled him back away from Lester with surprising strength. Cutter made to launch back at him, certain that the man had gotten off with this too easy.

"HEY!" Jenny shouted, pushing him back with a hand to the chest. "That's enough!"

"He's kept us down here all this time!" Cutter yelled, turning his anger unreasonably on Jenny.

"I am perfectly aware of what he's done Nick," Jenny shouted back. "But knocking ten bells out of him won't make a blind bit of difference will it?"

"It'd make me feel better," Cutter muttered, but he backed away slightly, cowering under her anger.

"Everyone just needs to calm down!" Jenny added, looking around the room.

Cutter followed her gaze and saw that Conner, Abby and even Becker were all looking at Lester as though they too were about to launch at him. When Jenny was sure that no one was about to reenact a scene from Kill Bill, she turned back to Lester, disappointment and anger etched across her face.

"Why?" she asked simply.

Lester was silent for a moment, rubbing his hand over his furrowed brow.

"It was procedure," he repeated. "If the ARC is compromised, we are meant to hide in here for two weeks. But given that the room has decided to stop supplying us with oxygen - "

"I could have been up there with my men!" Becker chimed in, looking furious.

"Well I'm sure no harm has been done - " Lester said, desperately trying to defend himself.

Cutter couldn't take anymore; before he gave in to the urge to smack Lester in the mouth again, he walked over to the opened door, and peered out into the corridor. He withdrew his head quickly as an horrid, overwhelming smell hit his nostrils; and he slapped his hand to his mouth to stop himself retching. The dead corpse of the Future Predator that Becker had mowed down was still outside the door, and by the smell of it, decaying profusely. The rest of them joined him, their noses wrinkled. They stared at it for a long while, all obviously unsure of what they should do.

Something didn't feel right.

"Come on," Cutter sighed eventually, grabbing his top up from the floor and pulling it on as he stepped out into the corridor, avoiding the rotting creature as he went.

Jenny was directly behind him, and they all walked in silence up the stairs. There was an odd eery feeling that Cutter just couldn't shake off, and by Jenny's expression, she obviously felt the same thing. There was no noise ahead of them . . .

They finally arrived in the main room. Or more correctly, what used to be the main room - now it was just a wreckage. There were big gapping holes in the ceiling, the floor was littered with rubble, bits of the Detector were strewn around the room . . . it was a complete mess. Cutter felt his stomach clench into a knot; what on earth was going on? Where was everyone?

"What the hell . . .?" Abby breathed from next to him as everyone surveyed the place in shock.

No body could talk for a long while, and no one made any effort to move until Becker suddenly made for the exit; his gun held in front of him. Without a word, they all hurried after him. Cutter's eyes scanned every inch of the building as they passed . . . why had it not been rebuilt? Becker pushed the door open and light poured in; temporarily blinding Cutter as his pupils had not seen daylight for a week. He ran down to the almost destroyed gate with everyone, blinking stupidly as his eyes adjusted.

The sight that he saw in front on him chilled him to his very core.

From beside him, he heard Jenny let out a dry sob and clap her hands to her mouth.

Dead bodies littered the street in front of them.

********

Sorry to leave you on a cliffhanger!

Also, I may not be able to update again for a few days, as it has reached the point were I actually need to get some work done or risk failing my degree lol!

But as usual, if I find a spare hour or two I will try an get a couple of chapters out.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter :D x