Administration Block Part Three
Miles jumped up out of the office chair suddenly; backing up in surprise, nearly knocking me over. Up until this point I had been a nervous wreck. I had been terrified and fearful. Now, however, I felt none of that. I was furious. A deep, seething anger began to take root in me, piercing my heart. An anger that I never in my life thought I was capable of feeling. I clenched my fists tightly; mustering all the self-control I had to not smash everything in this damned place. I was so ecstatic at the thought of us leaving here.
"Blackie, I'm pissed too." said Miles, breaking the silence. It was so dark we could only see the silhouette of one another. Somehow, he knew exactly how I was feeling. I didn't even know what to say. I just took a few deep breaths, in and out, trying to calm myself down.
"I can't believe that fucking creep did that to us. I don't know why the hell he wants to keep us here so badly. But believe me when I say this. We are getting out of this place. If it's the last thing we both do. I promise you." Miles spoke again, placing his hands on my shoulders. I want to believe him. I really do. But right now, in this moment, us standing here in the darkness, I felt so lost. This was much bigger than either one of us. Before I could voice my thoughts, we heard the rattling of chains and footsteps.
"I have to contain it." The gravelly voice belonging to none other than Chris Walker spoke, continuing to mumble about security protocols the closer he got to the room. We had the door shut. The next thing I knew, Miles was grabbing me and pulling me into a nearby locker, shutting it as tight as he could. If lockers were cramped before, they definitely were now. I was facing the front of the locker, peering out of the little vents. Miles had his arms around me tight, holding me against him. Despite this being a life and death situation, I did not mind the close proximity to him at all, not one bit. He was taller than me, he had his head resting on top of mine so that he, too, could see out of the vents. He'd never admit it, but his heart was beating just as fast and hard as mine was. He was petrified too. Then, the rattling of Walker's chains stopped.
He was right outside of the door. Please, go away. I mentally begged him. Of course, that wasn't happening. He roared angrily, slamming his body into the door until it gave way and he burst into the room. He sniffed the air a few times, looking left and right. Miles and I watched as he walked over to the security cameras. Then, he spoke again.
"You were here, weren't you? Little pigs. I'll find all you whores."
We held our breaths as we heard our intruder start to walk away, his footsteps and the rattling of his chains beginning to echo as he traveled further away from the room. We waited a beat longer until we could no longer hear Chris Walker or anything else. Then, I shoved my body against the locker, knocking it open as I tumbled out onto the floor. I stood up, dusting my clothes off as Miles and I walked out of the room, camcorders in hand.
"Looks like we need to go back the way we came," Miles said, and we made our way back into the lobby. We looked around for a few more minutes, recording everything and checking for anything we may have missed. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw what looked like a cloud of black smoke zoom by. I whipped around in the direction I'd seen it, but it was gone.
"You okay over there, Blackie? You look like you've just seen a ghost." Miles joked, walking over to me. His smile dropped when he saw my face.
"I don't know what I just saw." I replied, "But I really don't want to worry about that right now."
"Understood. Let's just keep moving. The only way for us to go is downstairs, into the basement," Miles said, motioning for me to follow him, which I did, grateful that he didn't say anything more about the black thing I'd seen. We soon got into the basement, and I gasped as the cold water in the basement floor sloshed against my ankles, chilling me. Now I wished I'd worn my boots instead of my sneakers. The dampness in the room hung over us like a cloud, and the brick walls and cement floors only made it all the colder. Up ahead, Miles noticed an opening in the brick wall, which the two of us squeezed through. Afterwards, Miles and I came upon a desk, which was blocking the way to wherever we were headed. Miles and I climbed over the desk, trying to be as quiet as we could.
We both stopped dead in our tracks as we heard, on the other side of the boarded up wall across from us, a man's voice.
"W-who… Who's there. WHO'S THERE!?" The man demanded, and my heart hammered as I felt the urge to bolt, the adrenaline pumping into my veins. I looked up at Miles, who was focused on the man's voice. He had a look of fear on his face, but he didn't say anything.
"I will kill you. I'm not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of anything. Not anymore." The voice on the other side of the wall spoke again. The transition from pure rage to calmness in his voice disturbed me to my core. Trembling slightly, Miles and I continued to inch forward until we came upon a ledge, dropping into the deepest part of the basement. Neither one of us wanted to go forward. I also knew that neither one of us wanted to go back and risk getting found by Chris Walker. In the deepest part of the basement, rotting bodies hung down from the ceiling on chains. The smell was pungent and strong, forcing itself into our nostrils. There were bed frames and dirty mattresses in the corners of the room. Debris floated in the water. The water in this part of the basement was up to Miles's knees, and being as I was shorter, it was nearly reaching the top of my thighs. It was so cold. It felt like thousands of little ice picks were stabbing into my legs. In the center of the basement was a wooden platform. On the wooden platform was a power box. There was a red button. Miles studied it for a few moments before speaking.
"Okay. In order for us to be able to get the power back on, we have to access the main breaker. But first, we have to turn on the gas pumps. There's one in that room over there, and one in this room nearby. The main breaker is in that room with the door shut. Keep in mind that we're not alone down here. That maniac is likely to come in here at any moment now. You're not going to like this. I don't like it either. You take the gas pump to the right. I will take the one that's further away." said Miles, studying me intently.
"Okay, I got it. But who's going to switch on the main breaker?" I asked, feeling nervous.
"I will. If that creep comes in here, he will probably be watching for us to go for the main breaker. Once we get the gas pumps on, I will head for it. You watch for the creep to come looking for me. Once he's out of your sight, run up here onto this platform as fast as you can and push this red button," Miles replied. At this, I shook my head.
"No. It's too risky. You can't go back there alone. You could get yourself killed." I said. Miles sighed, meeting my worried gaze with his own.
"I can do this. I've been doing investigations for quite a while now. I know what I'm doing. Just trust me. In order for us to get out of here, you're going to have to." Miles replied seriously. We stood there, gazing at each other for a moment. So far, we have been in this together. I didn't like his idea at all. But he was right. We can't be divided. Not now. Trust was all we had.
"Okay," I whispered.
"Now go." Miles replied, heading to the room with the gas pump to the left.
I headed quickly up the stairs to the room on the right, trying to be as quiet as I could but failing miserably as the water sloshed against my calves. This room had a bed frame with some mattresses on it pressed against the left side of the wall. Across from it was the gas pump. I ran over to it, pushing the button quickly, the pump starting up with a loud whoosh. Across the basement, I heard the same sound, indicating that Miles had found the other gas pump as well. Then, I heard a sound that sent my heart into my throat: the sound of someone slamming themselves against the door. I poked my head around the doorframe, watching in horror as the maniac from earlier burst into the basement, wielding a club.
Oh, God. Oh, no. I thought, stumbling backwards, landing on my ass in the water as I began to tremble. Water flew into the air as I fell, and I watched as the man's head snapped towards me and the room I was in. I saw a big grin spread across his face.
"Aww, is there a little kitty hiding somewhere? Come on out… Here kitty kitty, here kitty kitty," He taunted, his voice a creepy, hoarse sound. Then, he began to head in my direction, taking his sweet time, water splashing. My heart kicked into overdrive as I flipped onto my hands and knees, crawling under the bed, shivering from fear and the icy coldness of the water. I watched, terrified, as he entered the room, looking around for a few minutes before heading over to the gas pump. He observed it for a moment, before walking over to the bed I was under. I heard his deep breathing. My heart pounded. Thump. Thump. Thump. Then, I wanted to cry as he crouched down. I moved up against the wall under the bed, trying to get as far from him as I could.
Then, he smiled at me. "Hey there, pretty kitty," he said. I didn't give him time to do anything else. I swung my legs around, kicking him in the face. Blood gushed from his nose as he stumbled back, dropping his club.
"You… LITTLE… BITCH!!" He roared, clutching his nose, blood seeping through his fingers. I scrambled out from under the bed, jumping onto my feet as I grabbed his club. He then dropped his hands, moving to block the doorway.
"Don't you come any fucking closer," I said angrily, holding his club up. As I said this, he started to laugh. It was the craziest, most messed up thing I had ever heard in my life. Then, he lunged forward, tackling me onto the ground, water splashing, and I dropped the club. His hands found their way around my neck, squeezing as hard as he could. His legs were on either side of me, pushing me onto the ground. I was doing my best to hold my head up out of the water, clawing at his hands. I tried to move my legs, but to no avail. I tried to angle my head so I could bite his hands, but it was impossible. My vision was starting to go black. I was beginning to feel weak. I closed my eyes, waiting for the end.
The end never came. I opened my eyes as Miles brought the man's club down onto his head, successfully knocking him off of me, as well as knocking him out cold. Miles dropped the club and rushed over to me, wrapping an arm around my back and helping me sit up as I gasped for air, coughing up water.
"Lovelynn. Lovelynn. It's going to be okay. You're going to be okay. I'm here. You're safe," Miles whispered to me, pulling me into his arms as I regained my breath. I was shaking so badly I didn't think I would ever stop. Miles grabbed my face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. Tears were streaming down my face.
"God, Lovelynn, I am so sorry," He said, looking like he felt guilty for what happened to me. "Had I known he would find you, I would have never suggested we split up." I nodded, wiping my face with my sleeves as he let me go.
"I don't blame you, Miles," I said hoarsely. "I would rather him hurt me than you or anyone else."
"Yeah, well, I wouldn't. You could have died," Miles snapped at me. Then, he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "I'm sorry I snapped at you. It's just.. I have nothing to go back to. Not a damn thing I'd care to lose. But you do. So please, for God's sake, be careful. Stay as safe as you can."
Before I could say anything else, Miles left the room, pushing the button on the platform.
"Let's go," He said to me, and I nodded. We quickly left the basement, making our way back to security control. I was about to scream when two arms wrapped around my body, a hand covering my mouth as I felt a prick in my neck. I had been injected with something. The person let me go, and I fell to the floor, my vision fading in and out. I could see now that it was the crazy priest from earlier. Before Miles could even get the power going at the cameras, the priest injected him as well, Miles falling onto the floor next to me. My body began to feel weak as my vision distorted. Miles and I fought to keep our eyes open.
"I'm sorry, my children. I didn't want to have to do this to you. But you can't leave. Not yet. There's so much yet for you to witness. Will you see it? Can you? The Walrider, tearing his truth into the nonbelievers." I turned my head, feeling like it weighed one thousand pounds, and looked at the screen. There was the black thing I had seen. It was ripping Murkoff's security call-ins apart as Miles and I watched. The priest continued to speak.
"The only way out is the truth. Accept the gospel, and all doors will be open to you."
I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out as my vision went black, consciousness leaving Miles and I.