We're all animals here

All of that for what?

"Come on, wake up. Wake up."

The blurry figure in front of me shook my shoulders until my eyes focused and turned clear. Luca.

"What? What is it?" I asked, my voice groggy and tired.

"Everything's‌ ‌ready.‌ ‌It's‌ ‌time."‌ ‌He‌ ‌grabbed‌ ‌my‌ ‌hand‌ ‌and‌ ‌pulled‌ ‌me‌ ‌to‌ ‌my‌ ‌feet.‌ ‌"The‌ ‌old‌ ‌

man‌ ‌will‌ ‌be‌ ‌up‌ ‌in‌ ‌about‌ ‌five‌ ‌minutes.‌ ‌We'll‌ ‌hide‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌corner‌ ‌so‌ ‌he‌ ‌thinks‌ ‌we're‌ ‌gone.‌ ‌When‌ ‌he‌ ‌

comes‌ ‌in‌ ‌to‌ ‌investigate,‌ ‌we'll‌ ‌ambush‌ ‌him,‌ ‌race‌ ‌downstairs,‌ ‌and‌ ‌lock‌ ‌him‌ ‌up‌ ‌here.‌ ‌Sounds‌ ‌

good?"‌ ‌ ‌

"No.‌ No, it ‌doesn't‌ ‌sound‌ ‌good.‌ Where's the rest of the plan?" I sat up, once again seeing stars.

"We'll figure that out when we get to that point."

"Wha-" I started when the lock on the other side of the door clicked. Luca grabbed my arm, leading me to the far dark corner of the room.

The hatch door arose to one side and stopped. There was a minute of quiet.

"Hello? Piper? Luca? Where are you? This isn't hide and seek." The old man laughed nervously. "Come on out guys." The door slammed shut and the sound of footsteps getting closer. "COME OUT!"

I jumped at the sound of his deafening roar. Slowly, I bent down and crouched behind a nearby hay bail, making sure to keep out of sight. Luca, however, began moving forward, towards the already angry old man. I grabbed the corner of his shirt and he looked back at me puzzled. I shook my head and pulled him back into the dark corner.

The sound of the hatch door slamming open ringed my ears. The footsteps grew louder the closer they got and the outline of the old man's shadow on the dirty wall passed back and forth.

Suddenly out of nowhere a hay bail sailed across the room, smashing into the wall next to Luca and I, causing me to let a small yelp escape my lips. A hand clamped over my mouth whilst pulling me further into the darkness. I turned my head around to meet Luca's eyes, wide and petrified with fear.

"Don't move. Don't speak." He whispered, eyes focused on the passing shadow. "I'm going out there. Wait here." I reached out to him but before I could stop him, he moved into the opening. Luckily for Luca, the old man happened to be facing away, inspecting the silver knife that had been left on the milk carton. Grabbing the wooden spear, Luca snuck up behind the old man. When behind him, he lifted his hand and the spear to the ceiling just above the old man's head.

"Boo," Luca shouted, triggering the man to veer around and face him. Unfortunately Before the old man could react, Luca drove the spear into the man's chest. He pummeled to the floor, gasping for air and holding his neck where it had been punctured. In that moment I could have sworn I caught a glimpse of a slight smile creeping across Luca's face.

After removing the spear from the bloody flesh, Luca practically pulled me down the steep ladder. We locked the hatch door and ran to the basement stairs.

"The door is locked," Luca said, rattling its handle. "We need to look for something to unlock it. A butter knife. Maybe pins or something..." He moved across the door to a littered coffee table that sat next to a work desk.

The loud crash of the door hitting the floor startled him, he turned to see me still where the door used to stand. "You coming?" I chuckled.

"I could have done that." he muttered under his breath, walking to where I stood with one hand over my mouth.

"You would have never thought to try," I laughed. "And even if you had, you wouldn't have been able to with that leg." I pointed to white wrapping.

"I could've used my left." Luca shrugged.

"If you could stand on your right leg long enough without falling over then sure, maybe." he stayed quiet, glaring at my raised cheeks and exposed teeth. But soon the memories came flooding back and I remembered where we are, why we're here, and what we are doing. My smile fell and my eyes turned to the darkness of the underground. "We have to get moving. We have to save them."

Before giving him a chance to speak, I took my first step into the unknown. Then the second step. Then the third. Luca followed close behind,watching behind us as we made our way down the stairs. At the end of the staircase, Luca pointed to the room on the left. I slowly pushed open the creaky, rusted door. I took a deep breath and Luca and I looked at each other before walking into the dimly lit room. The air smelled like unions and mold but it was something more. Something worse. It smelt of death. I gagged. To my right, along the wall in a perfect line sat a row of doctor chairs chined and bolted to the cement floor. The chairs wore leather bases and stained blood. Four pairs of handcuffs to each chair, two for the hands, two for the feet. Next to the chairs is a rolling cart filled with tools including everything from a simple pair of pliers to a chainsaw. I looked to my left to find row by row of dead dogs, cats, and bears hanging from their feet with metal chains. On the walls, animal hides stapled to the wooden walls. His desk and floor filled with books about Human anatomy, Surgical removers, surgical techniques and a lot more where that came from.

"This way." Luca said, shaking his head, taking my hand and pulling me across the room, away from the terrifying truth.

I followed him down a long hallway to another staircase that led back up to the main floor. Each stair gave off its own special creek as we made our way up the grimy, foul-smelling wooden steps. The door was made of metal but was painted black to blend in with the darkness around it. I gave the door two knocks and listened to the shifting on the other side before trying the handle. Locked. Luca scootched past me with the knife and placed it in the lock.

"Are you ready for this?" He questioned, his eyes flickering down to my shaking hands. I moved them behind my back. Out of sight out of mind.

Before I could answer, something else caught my attention.

"Piper?" A voice asked from behind the thick metal. "Is that you?" I recognized the voice as Mia Kimberly, one of the people who were brought here with Ben, Liam, and I. You might be asked how the old man caught us all, well it's simple, he picked us off one by one from our campsite. I know, how cliche right? Well, Liam and Mia are twins and when the old man threatened to take Liam down to the basement, Mia begged him to take her too.

I moved closer to the door, putting my ear against the cold ore. "Yes, it's me. Mia, is it you?"

"Yes, it is. What are you doing down here?"

"Lucas and I came to get you all out. We're going home." From behind the door we heard Mia shout the good news to the others. I turned to my 'Partner in crime'. "Okay. Luca, open it."

He twisted the knife until the lock clicked and the blade snapped, then he laughed. "I told you it'd break."

A shadow loomed over the two of us from behind me. His smile turned into a frown as his eyes stayed glued to the figure. I began to turn around to see what caused Luca so much fright but was stopped when a thick saggy arm reached and grabbed around my throat. Confusion flooded my head and my eyes blurred. It all happened so fast that I didn't recognize the click of the gun at the side of my head, but then it happened. The gunshot rang and everything went black.

So much running. And why? For what? To try to escape the inevitable? As much as you can wish for it, there is no way to change your fate. That is something only "God" can determine. After all, we are all just pawns in his own perplexed chess game.