The Magician's Assistant

14

Rachael moved over to the door, and slowly grabbed the handle. She turned the knob, and it slowly opened without incident. Erika was waiting in the next room. Rachael was relieved and mildly surprised.

Erika was shaking. She looked terrified.

"Is it dead?" she asked.

Rachael nodded.

Erika sighed.

"That better have been the last one," Rachael said.

"It's unlikely there are any others around here," Gramps said.

"Where was that last one even hiding?"

"It came out from behind the crates. It looked like there was some sort of hole in the wall it squeezed into,"

"A bunch of boards fell out of the wall down there. It must have been that," Erika said.

"Didn't mention that either, did you?" Rachael asked.

"It didn't occur to me that-"

"Stow it. Why the hell didn't you say anything about that thing being in there?"

Erika fell silent.

"And now you're shutting down again. Let me guess, you were hoping you'd be able to bolt while that thing crushed me?"

"No. I ran off to get him," Erika said, motioning to Gramps.

"That didn't answer my question,"

"I just didn't want you to destroy it,"

"Right. Gramps, where did you find her when I was down there alone?"

"I caught her just short distance from the door down. I couldn't tell where she was going," Gramps answered.

"Like I said, I was looking for him," Erika said.

"I suppose she could be telling the truth, but personally I find it quite hard to believe," Gramps said.

"I'm going to assume the worst, then," Rachael said.

Erika grumbled to herself.

"Well, are we done here? Can we go?" Rachael asked.

"At this hour? I believe it's best we spend the night," Gramps answered.

"Really?"

"It's shelter, and if we sleep in shifts we'll be able to catch any more experiments that return to the building,"

Rachael had exhausted herself over the past few hours. She'd woken up early, and it was now well into the night. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, but it was still enough to fuel her.

"You really want to sleep in here? I know I won't be able to. The smell alone is enough to keep me up,"

"I'm not sure if I'm showing it, Rachael, but I'm exhausted. I don't know how you can keep going,"

Rachael sighed.

"You can go ahead and go to sleep. I'll be up for awhile,"

"We'll set up near the front door,"

The group moved through the cabin and eventually came to a small room by the front door. 

There was a large window, and a few pieces of scattered furniture in the room. One of the pieces of furniture was an old sofa that had lost all of it's legs, and sat directly on the floor.

"Where do you want to put the sleeping bags?" Rachael asked.

"Personally, I won't need one," Gramps said.