Ember 44: Unwelcome

After about fifteen minutes of sneaking around hallways that all seemed to look the same, I could officially say that I was utterly lost. I had tried to use the map that I had, but it was so poorly done with random arrows and terrible drawings as landmarks that I decided to dismiss it entirely and referenced my own failing memory from my trip in Max's mind. But panic slowly began to rise in my chest as the minutes ticked on. I can't keep wandering around like this…

I carefully peeked around another corner just as an Eraser strolled by the opening passage of the hallway with no air of vigilance. He began whistling a nameless tune as he continued on his way. I took a deep breath, relieved that no one had seemed to notice that I had disappeared, and resumed my sneaking.

Okay, it shouldn't be this hard. After making sure that there was no one else in the vicinity, I quickly crouched down behind a nearby potted plant that stood beside the wall and took out the map to try to decipher it again. I grimaced at the small piece of paper – not for the first time – as I turned it this way and that. Ugh. I'm sure I could draw better than this even with my left hand. All right, if I'm reading this right, I need to turn right at some land mark up ahead I think. Is that supposed to be…a tree? Or maybe a cactus…

As I contemplated the encrypted drawings with growing annoyance, I glared at the plant beside me as if I was willing for it to give me answers. Wait a sec… I quickly looked down at the paper and squinted hard before looking back at the plant. The strange squiggles and shapes kind of resembled leaves. I peeked through the spaces between the leaves and sure enough, there was another hallway to turn into on the right. Keeping my body low, I scampered from behind the pot to my goal and safely rounded the corner. In front of me were the very elevators that I had been looking for. But before a smile broke out on my face, I was alerted to the sound of scratchy voices coming from one of the hallways. I instinctively pushed myself against the wall, wishing with all of my might to become one with it.

"Hey, do you know what's going on with the video room? A lot of the cameras are down," questioned one.

"Then go fix it, you idiot. Sheesh, always coming to me when you have problems. So annoying…" replied another as their footsteps faded away in a different direction from where I stood frozen.

And that's my cue. I better hustle. Releasing a breath, I made my way to the elevator doors, which opened smoothly, and stepped inside the cushy space. Staying as close to the corner as I could get so that I would be concealed, I pressed the down button since there were no numbers indicating the floors. The doors closed silently and quickly made its descent. Another minute passed before the elevator came to a gentle stop. As the doors lazily parted, I listened hard but there was nothing to hear – no sounds of footsteps, no talking – just silence. Feeling like a child up to no good, I gingerly peeked out into the open space to verify that I was alone. A sigh left my lips when I was satisfied with the emptiness, and I finally stepped out of the elevator and began walking. This was the easy part; I could recall the directions directly from memory.

As I finally approached the hallway that would lead me to Fang's door, several sirens began blaring obnoxiously. Cringing, I covered my ears in an effort to block out the headache-inducing sound and pressed my back against the wall on full alert.

Damn it. They know I'm gone. I took another look at Fang's door. It was across the hall and diagonal from where I was hiding, but the hallways was wide – it would take me at least 8 large steps to reach the other side. I was surprised that no one guarding Fang's door, or even in the immediate vicinity for that matter. I supposed that they figured that extra guards at every doorway would be overkill/ But they weren't completely lax; I could already hear rough voices approaching from the other end of the hall from around the bend.

"What the hell happened?! How did she escape?" growled one.

"Not sure. I think someone messed with the cameras or somethin'. I heard they were offline and when they got fixed, there were no playback capabilities on any of them," explained another.

"Heh. Sounds like we've got ourselves a little traitor. Well whatever. This just makes the chase more interesting. We'll sniff out the rat afterwards. And if I catch her first, she won't be getting off so easy this time," yelled out another.

"Sorry, you're gonna have to get in line. I called dibs."

"Do I sense a bet coming on?"

I rolled my eyes in exasperation. I am NOT a flesh of meat that can be won through a bet. But as much as I wanted to knock these ding-dongs over their heads, I was still smart enough to realize there seemed to be way too many of them for me to take on at once. I glanced between Fang's door and the direction of the voices. They hadn't turned the corner yet into the hallway, but they were definitely getting closer. This is now or never.

Finally plucking up my resolve and not giving myself any more time to try to think myself out of my decision, I made a wild sprint towards the door and pulled it open just wide enough for me to slip in and quickly but silently close it behind me. The difference in sound was obvious – the walls reduced the deafening noise of the siren outside to mere background sounds. I pressed my ear to the cold door and held my breath. Though the sound was still unclear, I could hear the muted thumps of footsteps and the rumble of the low octave voices as they stampeded past the door a few moments later in search to satisfy their blood lust. There were no words being spoken from what I could tell, no orders being given to guard the door, and I was glad for my rushed decision not to take them all at once. I still listened hard for a handful of seconds more until I was positive that I couldn't pick up anything other than the siren.

"Ember?" came a voice from behind me, one that made my heart do a funny little flip. I turned around and saw Fang sitting in the middle of the room sitting cross-legged with his wings cloaked around his body, and the light of the decaying sun coming from the window behind him creating elongated shadows on the floor. The feeling of relief quickly came over me at the sight of him being alive, and it took all of me to prevent a well of tears from escaping as I reached the center of the room and dropped to the floor to embrace him.

"Fang," was all I could manage to rasp out.

"Em," was Fang's reply, and as he nuzzled his head deeper into my neck, I could tell he was as overwhelmed as I was. The seconds ticked on, and as the thudding of my heart calmed down, I had to pull away first – the moment was becoming too intimate for me. I gripped his shoulders as I gently pushed him back to get a good look at him.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you anywhere?" I questioned. There were no scratches or bruises on his face that wasn't already healing, and I didn't see any blood stains. He looked fine, but with Fang you can never know. He liked playing the tough guy act.

"No, I'm fine," he responded. Of course you are. "But I should be asking you that."

I cocked my head to the side with confusion written on my face. "What do you mean?" Fang wordlessly stared at my left foot. I looked down as well and was shocked to see how swollen it had gotten. "Oh, that." I tried laughing it off as my brain finally began registering the pain, but Fang only raised an eyebrow at me as he waited for my answer. "That was more or less my fault," I explained. "I was getting too antsy."

"Mm. Because being chained and locked up doesn't have anything to do with it."

I couldn't help but smile. This was definitely my Fang.

"Can you help me up?" he asked. "I can't feel my legs." I nodded and stood up myself while refusing the urge to wince, before helping Fang up and taking the set of keys out of my pocket to start trying them out on the lock. He looked at them and began to say something, but seemed to change his mind and opted to ask something else as I worked behind him. "Where's everyone else?"

I tried one key that didn't fit. "No idea. We're gonna have to look for them."

"Was the alarm set off because of your escape?"

"I guess. No one actually saw me when I slipped out, though." I tried another key that slipped in but wouldn't turn.

There was a pause before Fang spoke again. "Was someone helping you?"

I cursed as another key failed. "I don't know, maybe? Look, there's too much to explain and speculate and we don't have time to sit here playing 20 questions. We need to find someone who knows where the others are, grab them, and get out of here." I jammed in one of the few remaining keys.

"Aw, are you sure you can't stay for a little while longer?" Both my head and Fang's snapped up to look toward the door just as Jake walked in. I was so caught up in seeing that Fang was alive and well that I had failed to consider that someone might try to guess where I would go first. Jake closed the door behind him and smirked. "Please. I insist."

"I'm sure you do," was my soft snippy reply as I finally managed to turn a key in the lock. Click, THUNK. The heavy lock fell to the ground, and the noise of the chains that fell from Fang's wrists echoed in the large room. I came from behind him, watching Jake guardedly as Fang rolled his shoulders, flexed his fingers to get the blood flowing, and cracked his neck. He stretched his wings out to their full extent, letting them ruffle and relieving the ache in his bones before giving Jake a pointed glare.

"Sorry, but I think we've overstayed our welcome."