Children's Games: A Story of Modern Punishment

Chapter 48 - Bonnie

~Bonnie~

"Alright. This will open up into the basement. There's not a whole lot of cameras inside the building to prevent the threat of enemies hacking into the live feed. There won't be many guards, but there will be two in the control room which we'll have to go through to get to the rest of the facility." They double-checked their gear, exchanged silent reassurances, and went over the last protocols.

"If you see a guard, disarm and incapacitate only. If we're captured, don't say a word. I will do the talking," Jonny mumbled, stepping next to Elliot.

The atmosphere of the stormwater drain smelled like a sewer. The air was damp and suffocatingly thick. There was an echo of dripping water from the ceiling that added an eery song to their travel, and there were bits of paper covered in mildew floating on top of the water.

Bonnie was a nervous person for a twenty-two-year-old, but she tried not to look at it that way. It wasn't a common thing that she was told, as she always made sure that she displayed nothing but the utmost respect and politeness towards the people around her. But the dark, cold, and mildewy place that she found herself in now was too dark for anyone to see that her facade had slipped.

She felt uneasy and uncomfortable with the pit in her stomach. She tried gritting her teeth and tried to stop thinking altogether, but it wouldn't go away. It was too familiar and too soon. Then Bonnie felt something poke into her shoulder and she whipped around in the water, causing it to splash over Emilia, stark white in the line of her bright torch.

Emilia squeezed her eyes and mouth shut against the ill-smelling water as it sprayed over her. When she opened them, she was annoyed but it was quickly replaced with tight-lipped concern.

"You right?" she whispered quietly enough that it didn't echo. "You were slowing down." Bonnie stuttered out a response, though it was void of any words. Emilia looked like she was trying to smile the way Bonnie did when she was trying to be polite. So much had changed in their relationship since they'd first met. "You're alright, don't worry."

Emilia nodded forward and nudged her along after quickly rubbing her arm reassuringly. She turned back around and continued on after Maverick who was already twenty paces in front of her. She could now feel Emilia close behind her, but it was a comforting feeling, almost like she was radiating warmth to combat the disturbing cold of the water. Emilia stuck to her side like a security guard, almost touching hips at some times.

The tunnel finally lifted and brought them out of the cold water. They were at a crossroads of several different dark tunnels, all looking as ominously dark as the one they'd emerged from. It was wide enough for them all to stand in a row crowding around Elliot who was crouching in front of a large vent with a soft light emanating through the slats. He had it unscrewed within the minute, and they all crawled through the few layers of vents before they found themselves in a room even colder than the tunnels.

It was a morgue of sorts but with shelves of exposed coffins rather than compartments built into the wall. Pipes circled the veiling and spiralled out of sight through the many small hallways that branched off of the morgue, leading to more coffin rooms. There were large crates stapled shut and ready for transportation. Dust covered every surface, but it was not enough to cloud the glass of the large specimen jars.

They were all silent as each of them stepped from the vent into the laboratory, their breath turning to mist from the cold. They each either had wide eyes or squinted. Bonnie assumed that it'd have to be an industrial-grade refrigerator to keep all of their darkest secrets in... She didn't know what Unit 332 was working on, but she tried to remind herself that it wasn't her place to interject. They were here for a reason, and she should've known that she'd be confronted with evidence of Australia's biological weaponry. It was still alarming how quickly everyone seemed to move on from the disturbing room.