Short Stories

The Abandoned Lab (1)

[UNEDITED]

"Ava, I know you're excited about this but can you please slow down?" Looking back at my sister, I deadpanned at her situation. She seems to be tangled between some vines, quite comically might I mention. Well, I guess she doesn't really travel much so can't blame her. Walking over, I helped her untangle herself. "Haaaaaaah, I'm finally on the ground..."

"Now come on, it must be..." Looking at my phone, I scanned the screen, the area around the map starting to look familiar. "Hmm, here?" I walked to my right, gripping the straps of my bag. I weaved through the trees, avoiding the roots. "Are you able to keep up sis?" Looking back, she was sitting on a log, one of our water bottles in her hand.

"Hey! Don't drink it all!" I reached over, snatching it from her. "Awh, but we still have, like, 10 in our bag right?" She shook her bag off of her shoulders, looking inside. Her expression twisted into something I didn't like seeing. "Lemme guess, this is the last one?" Slowly, she nodded. "Ah..."

I let out a huff, drinking the rest of the bottle's contents. "Anyways, let's go now, it should be near here..." I pushed some vines out of the way, the grass beneath us making a rustling sound as we stepped on it. We kept walking, the sounds of many animals around us chirping filling in the silence.

"Ah! There it is!" After hours of journeying, my feet felt light, and the concoction of adrenaline and joy swirled inside me. I ran over, ignoring the protests of my sister. In front of me... is an important building in the science community. Inside the broken, rotten walls held many information which could tell us many things...

It is abandoned, empty, and rotting, but it never stopped my excitement as I pushed the rusty door open. "Come on Eve! Let's go in!" As I stepped foot inside, well... "*cough cough*!" Yeah, I didn't know what I expect when I took a big breath in. "Ava! Are you okay?" "*cough*! Oh g-gosh, it REEKS in here!"

Aside from the dusty smell, it reeked of... "animal waste". "Ugh, it DOES stink..." I covered my nose and mouth with my hand, looking around. Messes of wires and debris littered the area, along with dust and ash. Ivy and vines crawled all over the darkened walls, debris covering most of the pathways. "Oh gosh, there are so many hallways... Where do we go first?"

I scanned the room yet again, door lining up the walls, hallways twisting all around, and a staircase! "Hey Ava, look at this." I looked over, seeing her walking towards an open door. "Eve, be careful. You might trip or step on something." I rushed over, pushing the almost unhinged door out of the way. In the room laid a huge computer, its body charred and its screen cracked.

"It's huge..." Eve muttered, observing the mess of wires that were barely hanging on. On the body of the computer was a box, looking unharmed. It stood out from the charred remains of many items in the room. As Eve looked around the room, I walked over, observing it. It was covered in some sort of thin, slimy film.

It had a light blue tint, but it's mostly transparent. 'What... is this?' I shrugged my backpack off my shoulders, digging my hand into my backpack. Grabbing my box of disposable gloves, I pulled one out. I poked the lid of the box with the plastic glove. The film felt sticky, and a tiny piece of it stuck to the glove.

It doesn't seem to be reacting to the plastic... but just to be sure... I looked around, finding a long, crooked piece of debris. I placed a part of it under the box lid, trying to pry it open. After almost knocking it off twice, I finally got it open. The inside didn't have the weird substance, instead, it held a notebook. I put on a new set of gloves, placing the one with the substance in a zip lock bag.

I took the notebook, observing it. Its cover was made of some sort of leather like material while the insides were filled with old parchments. 'I'll have to observe this later.' I placed it in a zip lock bag, stuffing it inside my bag. 'Now I regret not bringing a bigger bag.' I looked around the room, seeing shelves, papers, boxes, debris, all sorts of stuff. "Meh, this room is kinda meh, let's go to the next one."