Escape Games

Chapter Five

After about a dozen steps, Mac began to get a better view of the end of the hall. The door was made of a light colored wood with a narrow rectangular window in the middle. It did indeed resemble the classroom doors from schools he'd attended. The metal lockers along either side of the corridor completed the look, except some of them were heavily dented, had peeling paint, or were cracked open. Mac stopped to check the open ones.
"Do you really need to do that now?" Jorik asked. He was curious to see what was inside the room, but he also wanted to get inside in hopes that whatever he'd seen earlier didn't catch up to them. "Can't we check them on the way back?"  Mac shrugged one shoulder. 
     "We could," he said.  "But we may as well check as we pass by now." 
     "You're just nervous about what's inside the room," Jorik said.  He didn't like the energy of the place either, but his curiosity was still strong. 
     "What if I am?"  Mac asked as he looked inside another locker.  "What are you gonna do about it?" 
     "Nothing," Jorik admitted as Mac reached into the locker. 
     "Then why did you mention it?"  Mac pulled another backpack out of the locker.  This one was smaller than his and bright red, but it looked like it still could hold a good amount of items.  The elven huffed. 
     "Because I'm nervous too," he admitted.  He huffed again. 
     "Is that a stress release thing?"  Mac asked as he stood back up.  "You've been making that noise a lot." 
     "What of it?" "Jorik asked.  He suddenly seemed a little more defensive again. 
     "Do you need to talk something out?"  Mac asked as he held the new pack out to the dog.  Bear took the strap in her teeth as they began walking again.  Jorik just grumbled and huffed in response. 
     "When you're ready, then," Mac reached the door and pulled the handle down to push it open.  The door opened to reveal what seemed to be a large classroom, except it looked like someone had tried to turn it into a butcher shop. 
     A dozen corpses hung on hooks from the ceiling, slit open down the middle.  Another lay on what used to be the teacher's desk, also split open like a demonstration.  A handful of the student desks were occupied, though clearly the students were no longer alive either.  One had their decapitated head on their desk in front of them.  Another clearly had a snapped neck, with a third having a slit throat from ear to ear.  Of the last two, one had a knife in their back, the other had what looked like an axe or hatchet in their chest.  Multiple body parts littered the rest of the room.
"I don't think we want to stay here very long," Jorik said, looking around nervously.
"Probably not," Mac replied. "But it'll probably be a good idea to take that knife and hatchet with us." He set Jorik down and walked over to pull the weapons out of the corpses.  He wiped the blood off on his grey camouflage jacket.
"At the very least it'll keep these out of the hands of anyone looking to do us harm," he said as the elven watched him walk back over.  Mac walked back over and showed Jorik the long knife. 
     "See the pattern on the blade?"  He asked.  "This looks like the knives I've seen other hunters use.  That doesn't necessarily mean whoever put us here is or was a hunter, but it's something to keep in mind."  He handed the blade to Jorik. 
     "Here," he said.  "You hang onto it for now.  I'd rather you have something to defend yourself if things come to it.  The blade should fold into the handle when you aren't using it."  The elven took it carefully and stared at it for several seconds before gently folding the blade into the handle as Mac had instructed. 
     "Thank you," he said.  Mac nodded and turned to the red backpack.
"Let's see what's in here," he said. "Maybe there'll be something I can wrap this axe in so it won't be an open blade while I'm trying to carry it." He unzipped the pack and looked inside. He pulled out another box of bullets.
"Acid rounds," he said. "I appreciate the extra bullets, but it makes me nervous that we've found so many in such a short time." He moved the bullets to his own pack and looked in the red one again.
"If that thing I saw earlier is hostile," Jorik said. "We'll probably want all the ammo we can get." Mac nodded.
"Hopefully we won't need to use all of it," he replied. He brought out a red drawstring bag. "And hopefully we won't need this extra med kit." He added. He put the kit back into the backpack and pushed it towards the elven.
"We'll make this your pack," he said. "That way we both have a med kit if one's needed. You can put your knife in it for now, if you want." Jorik did, and pulled the bag onto his lap.  He looked around the room in silence for several seconds. 
     "I'm sorry if this comes off insensitive," he said.  "But is there supposed to be this little blood for this many bodies?"  Mac shook his head. 
     "It looks like they were killed somewhere else and brought here," he answered.  "Which worries me because it could mean we have multiple somethings to worry about besides that figure you saw earlier." 
     "I don't like the thought of that either," Jorik said.  "Not to mention whoever put us here in the first place."  Mac nodded. 
     "And we still don't really have much of a plan for if we run into them instead of finding the exit," Mac pointed out.  The elven huffed. 
     "If I could walk," he grumbled.  "I could help out a little more." 
     "It's not your fault," Mac told him.  "We'll figure something out for your missing foot.  Wether or not it's before or after we get out of here will have to be seen, but we'll get you something."  Jorik sighed and looked around at the room again. 
     "What?"  Mac asked after thirty or forty seconds, noticing the elven eyeing specific objects in the space.  "Are you getting an idea or something?"  Jorik looked at him before his eyes flickered to the floor and to a few severed parts fairly close by. 
     "Maybe," the elven answered quietly.  Mac followed his gaze. 
     "You're thinking of 'borrowing' one of those, aren't you?"  Jorik couldn't tell by Mac's calm tone if he disapproved or not. 
     "Maybe," he answered cautiously.  Mac was quiet for several seconds. 
     "I suppose we don't really have much choice if we want to get you up and walking," he said.  "Unless this place magically has a fully functioning hospital that could give you a prosthetic, or find something to act as a crutch, that might be our best option.  At least temporarily."  He put one hand under Jorik's arm and pulled him the few steps over. 
     "Would it actually work?"  Jorik asked, now starting to second guess.  "Would it be able to fuse?" 
     "It's something to try," Mac answered.  "At least until we find something else that may work better.  It wouldn't be exactly the same as the original foot, but if it works, it will be better than nothing.  If there's one the right size, we might have a chance." 
     "Then let's try this one," Jorik had found a foot that looked the same size as the one he still had attached.  It was a couple shades lighter than his skin tone, but that didn't matter.  Mac looked over. 
     "Try fitting it to the severed area," he said, unwrapping the bandage covering the injury.  "If the joints seem like they could go together, I'll try tapping it and we'll wait a day or two to see if the skin and flesh starts fusing.  The bruising on your other leg should be healed by then, so you may be able to try walking a little."  Jorik held the foot to his stump. 
     "It feels like it fits," he said.  "I think it'll work."  Mac dug in his med kit for a second. 
     "Just hold it there and let me tape it," he said, peeling the end of the surgical tape from the roll.  "I'll put the wrap back on as a reminder for the first couple days, and if it starts fusing we can take the bandage off and just leave the tape." 
     "Okay," Jorik agreed.  "Fair enough."  Mac's fingers suddenly bumped his as the human began taping over the seam where the foot met the leg, and both blushed. 
     "Sorry," Mac apologized, but he knew what the spark he'd felt meant. 
     "Don't worry about it," Jorik replied, turning his head as his whole face flushed.  Mac taped around the area several times before putting the wrap bandage back on. 
     "Come on," he said after fastening the bandage.  "Let's check out the other side of the intersection and see if it takes us anywhere.  We might even be able to find a decently safe spot to rest for a bit."  Jorik climbed onto Mac's back again as Bear picked up the red backpack. 
     Mac pushed open the door with one hand and began following the tiles again.