The wind howled through the dark concrete corridors as they sprinted towards the cold iron doors and slammed the heavy doors shut. The underground lab was dark and icy, it made the rest of the world feel the same. “Are you sure it’s safe?” Winter questioned Atticus as he pulled on the doors to ensure the monstrous creatures on the other side, could not get through. Winter’s lean figure lent up against the emotionless wall to rest.
“Yep,” Atticus shot back to Winter who was now laying on the ice floor exhausted, “Come on, the world isn’t going to save itself…” he said as he reached out his hand to help up Winter from the firm ground. As he swept her off the floor the crack between the solid doors grew larger and larger and an awful piercing noise echoed down the dark, square passageway.
They turned to run when suddenly a bulky metallic robot arm cut through the large slit between the doors and harshly clutched Winter around the legs. Whist it grabbed her legs, Winter’s delicate head crashed against the hard surface. Red blood dripped from her head and formed a pool of blood on the ground. Her short jet black hair drenched in her rich blood hung from her head, as the devilish arm dragged her though the gap between the doors. Her arm shot out to reach Atticus but all she grasped was thin air. Winter’s black eyes filled with fear.
“Winter!” Atticus cried in terror at the site of Winter’s mangled screams.
And she was gone…
He pulled the silver chip, no bigger than a thumb nail, from his pocket. The silver chip shone in the artificial light when Atticus noticed the word patheia engraved in it. He remembered the word from a door he had seen earlier that night with Winter, but it was translated into a different word…
“Telepathy” he gasped, “I need to destroy this microchip, but they are going to kill Winter…” Atticus pondered. “I need to save her.”
He pushed through the ripped hole between the two doors and sprinted towards room 394 in the main lab, as this was the room they had found the metallic chip in. Sweat ran down his face, as he blinked hard trying to stop himself from shedding a tear. As he ran through the cold corridors, his eyes darted from side to side, reading the silver room numbers, 390, 391, 392, 393…
Atticus burst through the door, to find Winter bound and unconscious. Silver coils were tightly wrapped around her wrists and ankles almost cutting off her blood circulation. She was stretched on a square frame just a little larger than her body. One limb was being pulled from each corner, she was stretched out as if she was an elastic band. The room looked just like the halls except there was horrible lab equipment scattered around the place as if someone had just dropped everything and ran. Apart from Winter the lab was completely deserted with not a soul in sight.
Atticus slowly stepped forward, being aware of his every move not to trigger any sly traps. With his eyes fixed on Winter’s body, Atticus took his third cautious step, he didn’t realize he was about to a pressure plate was directly under his foot, and as soon as he placed his foot down six pixilated arrows from each side would be aimed and fired straight at him. So without knowing, he positioned his foot on what looked like a dark concrete floor. A dull beeping noise darted around the room. Before Atticus knew it the six orange pixilated arrows were released and aimed at him. His impulsivity took over and he ducked. Right before the arrows could reach their mark spot, they stopped and disintegrated into the air.
“I thought you might fall for that, Atticus” The cold voice sent a chill up his back, he could feel the evil grin in the phrase. “Now if you don’t mind I would like that chip back, or your precious Winter will be no more” As he said this the silver coils climbed up covering her limbs. Atticus pulled the chip out of his pocket.
“How do you know my name? And how do know I have the telepathy chip?” Atticus questioned the man in the dark shadows.
“That chip you hold in your hands, there is one in my brain. It allows me to interpret your brain waves and hear them in the back of my head.” The shadow man added to his earlier statement.
“Don’t ...” Winter whispered, as she was regained consciousness.
“But you’ll die.” He looked her in the eyes. Atticus placed the chip on the cold ground.
“NO!” the shadow man screamed as he reached out to grab it but it was too late. Atticus has already crushed the glistening microchip.
“You’re going to pay for that!” The shadow man roared, his hand waved over Winter. There was a jolt that shook the abandoned lab, a cold sharp breeze whipped through the room and the coils around Winter rapped themselves tighter. The coils made their way to her neck, and laced around her neck tight and hard. She was turning pale, her face was slowly becoming lifeless. She gasped for air, it was silent for a few minutes and the coils loosened around her. She fell to the floor, suffocated. A tear fell from Atticus’ sharp blue eye. There was a bang and the man hidden by the shadows was gone. Atticus ran over to her body and held her fragile body in his arms.
Atticus cried to her lifeless body, “This is just the beginning of the end.”
