So Long

Chapter 11: Track Records

In this confined space, echoing from the bare stone walls, the shot was deafening.

Skye had seen people getting shot several times by now, but a part of her still expected it to be like in one of those terrible Hollywood movies with the victim being blown halfway across the room by the blast, blood spurting from the wound like a fountain.

Reality was different, though.

Despite the pain he had to be in, Jack's eyes remained focused on Skye's for several terrifying seconds. It was as if he couldn't quite believe what had just happened, until his gaze finally shifted down to the hole in his shirt that was quickly turning red. He gasped as his hand tentatively moved up to the wound, but then his legs suddenly gave out underneath him. He crumbled to the ground, hitting the floor hard.

Reflexively, Skye retreated along the wall away from him until she found herself with her back in the corner, shaking all over. She kept staring at the motionless body in front of her and only now did she slowly begin to realise what had happened.

She had killed Jack. Shot him without even really meaning to.

A desperate and terrified sound escaped Skye's throat as the reality of the situation sank in and she began to panic. She barely realised as the gun fell from her trembling fingers and landed on the floor with a metallic clank, as Skye was already moving, hurrying for the door.

Locked.

Or at least that was her first thought when it didn't budge immediately. Thankfully, though, the door was only stuck. When she gave it another hard pull, it finally sprang wide open and the young woman ran outside without hesitating or looking back.

Once she had left her cell behind her, Skye was faced with the choice between heading down the corridor to her left or to her right. It looked equally uninviting in both directions, and seeing as she had no idea where to go anyway, the hacker blindly chose right and kept running.

Skye was sure that Jack hadn't been acting alone and so there would surely be others nearby, who might have heard the gunshot and could come looking for him any second now. She had to get to safety. She had to get out of here. If only she knew where here even was.

Hurrying down the long and narrow corridor in front of her, Skye noticed the tubes running along the wall and ceiling and the safety instructions everywhere, supporting her earlier theory, that she was in fact in the basement level of some kind of factory or industrial plant. It had to have been abandoned for quite a while, though, going by the rundown state of things.

There was dust and dirt everywhere, several of the lights along the ceiling seemed to be broken and the entire place was filled with such a damp cold that she doubted anyone was still working here.

Except for the men who had kidnapped her of course.

Skye felt lucky that so far she hadn't encountered anyone on her escape. She had passed a few closed doors along the way, but hadn't dared opening any of them for fear of running into one of Jack's accomplices.

She didn't know if none of them had heard the gunshot after all, or if simply nobody had thought it alarming enough to investigate. Either way, Skye could only assume that they hadn't found Jack's body yet. Otherwise, she figured, there would be men coming after her by now. She could only hope that she would find a way out of here before her escape was noticed.

So far, the corridor she was in had gone straight ahead, leaving her with no choice but to follow it. Now there was finally a junction about 20 meters ahead of her and Skye could hear voices in the distance. She slowed down immediately, her heart hammering in her chest at the mere thought of being discovered.