Wither With Me

CHAPTER 2 - CHANCE

"We shouldn't have come here! Maybe we should've just made a run for any of the other empty streets...! This is creeping me out so much, it's awful! And we don't even know what he's planning to do with us..."

"Stay calm, please. I don't like this either, but right now we don't have any other choice. Besides, he did save our lives after all. Let's try to be cooperative for now, okay?"

Claire nodded, although Nora could clearly read signs of hesitation in her eyes. Not too surprising, that entire situation came as a shock. They had been living in relative comfort and safety until some days ago. And now, all of a sudden, they find themselves buried under a shambler wave, running for their lives, and then threatened and forced to strip at gunpoint. Not exactly your everyday routine.

'If this man wanted us dead, he wouldn't have helped us in the first place, right...? Of course, he could still have other sinister intentions in mind, but for now we should be safe. At least, safer than out there.'

Nora turned to Lilian, crouching down a little bit to get to her eye level, and patting her head.

"Sis, are you doing okay?"

"Mhm..." Lilian mumbled in affirmation.

The girl dragged her eyes around the room, before making shy eye contact with Nora again.

"I... don't like this place..." She pinched Nora's blouse, as if this provided her with extra safety. "But... I like it more than the bad guys outside."

A warm smile formed on Nora's face, followed by a hug.

"Aha, that's right, the bad guys can't get to us here! Let's go, okay?"

The room they had gotten into was quite unusual. It was a plain square room, completely empty except for a ladder in the middle, leading to a crude opening in the ceiling. It looked like the hole had been made by busting the ceiling from above. There was another door in the room, but it had been sealed shut with wooden planks and scrap metal. With no other way to go, the group headed for the ladder.

"I'll go first." said Nora. "Lilian will go right behind me. Claire, can you watch over her from below and make sure she gets up safely?"

"Sure."

The ladder didn't stop at the first floor. It had been enclosed on all four sides with brick walls. The same thing seemed to repeat over several floors, there was nowhere to go but all the way up. At the very top of the third floor awaited them a large metal hatch, already open. Nora noticed it looked really heavy, she doubted any of them could have pushed it open. They got up into what looked like the bedroom of an ordinary apartment. The bed itself was nowhere to be seen, most likely to leave space for the ladder hole.

As she helped the girls up, she couldn't help but think about how elaborate and intricate the modifications to the building were. It didn't look like something a single person could have done.

'What now...? He obviously guided us here, but I doubt he'll just let us roam freely around the building...'

"Girls, stay close to me."

Claire and Lilian followed her through the bedroom door, into the rest of the apartment. The place itself was small and cramped, consisting only of a kitchen area with some essential furniture and a single, rundown bathroom. The entrance door had been removed, and replaced with a barred metal door, similar to the ones found in jail cells. Nora tried to open it, but to nobody's surprise, it didn't budge.

She sighed.

"All the cupboards and drawers are empty, there's nothing anywhere..." said Claire. Her tummy groaned in complaint.