The Innocent (A 'Finder' Fanfiction)

Shadow of Pluto - 41 - Fei Long

His senses were still pretty off. The walls tumbled around him; the floor quivered beneath his feet. The faster he hurried, the less sure was he that he was actually moving forward at all. Occasionally, it seemed to him as if he was standing still, while the walls rushed into the distance away from him, to either side. The green exit lights, whenever he came across them, were gigantic flares of brightness that almost blinded him, while the darkness of the corridors was so thick, he thought he could push it aside with his hands.

He had to concentrate fiercely on keeping his surrounding in check and not run into a gun or any other danger. Doing so, however, he had not been able to keep up with Asami. There had been blackness all around for a long time. When he had dived out of it on the other side just like it had been a deep lake to swim through, he found himself at just another crossing, and all the paths looked the same. Somewhere along the way he had slammed against the outer corner between two walls and the sharp edge of the bricks had cut into his right upper arm right above his elbow. There was no blood to be felt or seen, but it hurt as if the impact had hacked a notch through his flesh and muscles all down to his bone.

Where it had happened and how, he could not even tell. He had stumbled over something – or the floor had just tossed him off – and lost his footing. It had been all dark back there. Not that it was much brighter here ...

It was unwise for him to stay down in the basement in his current state, he knew that. If he was smart, he would have listened to Asami and had tried to leave the premises. He could have returned once his men got here but ...

Pushing himself against a wall to catch a moment's breath, he shook his head. But he would not leave without Mikhail.

'Why not?', a voice inquired inside him that resembled very much his own. To his surprise, it did not sound doubting or patronizing as it usually did. It just sounded ... astonished.

Why not?

Why not leave?

It was pure instinct. The only thing he could rely on now. His senses might betray him, his vision fool him with strange images, but so far, his instincts had prevailed. They had kept him alive. But if he had listened to them to survive, then why would he stop adhering to their advice in this case and simply do what might have seemed smart from an unbiased and unemotional perspective? That perspective had not ever worked for him anyway, no matter how much he attempted to appear cold, aloof, and unapproachable. It was just a charade, and every so often it seemed to him that the fiercer he tried to keep up the act, the more he got hurt and the more he hurt himself.

Yan would call him stupid; he knew. Dumb and reckless! Asami might think that about him as well. Yet, Fei Long found himself not caring about their opinions. His instincts knew what to do and how to keep him alive, and he decided to trust them – and by that resolved to believe in them as well when it came to Mikhail. He had to find him!

He needed to find him!

With a sharp hiss, he pushed himself off the wall, rubbing his elbow, from which a sharp thumping of pain ran all up and down his arm from his fingers to his shoulder. But he could still move his hand. He could still raise his arm and lift the gun and pull the trigger. He tried to make sure, only not giving enough force onto the small lever to actually fire a bullet. Then he continued walking.

Once more, he had no idea where he was. He had tried so many doors, some locked, some opening to reveal uninhabited rooms.

Suddenly, he stopped, turned around and for a second the walls shook and only slowly rested again. What if he had passed one door? What if he had forgotten one – the right one?