𝐔𝐍𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐋

Chapter 7

Cassandra stayed hidden just for some minutes, spying on Bella. She didn't know what Bella was doing, but whatever it was, it was strange.

Suddenly, the alarm noise made her heart jump. Bella's eyebrows furrowed as she turned back. Cassandra shrunk in her place deeper as she hid behind the machine thing.

"What's going on here?!" Bella yelled. She stepped out of the hall and through the glass door, not seeing Cassandra at all.

Alongside with the alarm, a female voice of a loudspeaker echoed around the space, "Caution! Caution! Intruder alert! Intruder alert!"

That was it for Cassandra. She knew the alarm was for her. Without thinking twice, she dashed out of her hiding spot and turned back to the way she had come here. As she ran towards that corridor, the red lights on the wall were flickering and the large iron door on the end of the corridor was closed.

She knew she couldn't open it now, so she was only left to do something else to escape.

She turned back, running to the hall with machines and chemical tubes. As she ran there, more tubes appeared, some empty and some filled with frozen creatures or animals. It was chillingly scary and Cassandra took some photos on her way.

She knew she was wasting time but if she made it out of there, she'd have some evidence that weird stuff is going on in that department.

The machines were paired with computers and monitor displays. Some showed data processing, some showed graphs, some glitching screens and some black screens with red letters on their left.

The end of the hall was coming. And there, when Cassandra rounded a corner, she found herself in front of another, large iron door.

She glanced around for any way out, but there was no window or anything else. The alarm with the loudspeaker was still ringing.

"Oh, God....now what?"

She turned the way back, hoping that she had missed some door or something else that could help her. And there, between two glass tubes, she saw a pair of emergency ladders. The bars were white and attached to the wall and it was easy to miss them.

She went there and started climbing up fast. When she reached the top, there was a metallic platform blocking the way up. She hit it a few times with her elbow but it didn't budge. Then, she used her knife to pry it open, revealing another ladder.

She took a shaky breath, seeing how small the space to climb the other ladder was. It was like a tightrope. She could feel claustrophobia creeping in, but she forced herself to calm down.

"I saw the intruder here!" A male voice shouted. Cassandra glanced down to not see anyone, however, the voice was near. She knew they were going to find her if she kept wasting time. She quickly climbed up, but the metallic platform made a cracking sound and she cursed under her breath.

"Over here!" The voice shouted again. Cassandra glanced down, noticing a shadowy approaching. Her heart raced as she climbed faster, the tightrope feeling even more suffocating. Sweat ran all over her and she slammed the platform shut with her leg, hoping that it'd hold for a bit longer.

"Come on, come on..." she muttered to herself, trying to focus on the task at hand. When she finally reached the top, it was even worse. Now, the ladders led up to reveal a small vent, even smaller than the one she had crawled through before.

"Damn it..." she cursed.

But she couldn't do anything else. She had to escape without getting caught. So, she used her phone's flashlight to see better and started to push herself through the vent. It made her suffocate but she had to do it. She prayed she'd make it out alive.