The 4th Subject

Chapter 26: Side B

The next morning, I woke up surprisingly well rested. Well, as well rested as one could be after last night. I definitely needed a big cup of coffee.

Floorboards creaked under my feet as I walked out into the kitchen. Ryan was cooking eggs over the stovetop and Sam was sitting at the table, hands on her head.

"You good Sam?" I asked, my voice sounding as groggy as I was.

She and Ryan looked up, seemingly shocked by my presence.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm good. Just..."

"Tired?" I responded with a dry chuckle as I joined her at the table. "Same."

Ryan came over with the food and we ate. I practically scarfed my food down, sudden starvation hitting me.

"We're not going to run out of toast, Sarah." Ryan softly chuckled, passing me the butter.

"I'm just hungry," I said, muffled through the mouthful I had, "I don't even know why."

Sam giggled and set her fork down.

"Once I'm done, we'll head out."

About an hour later, Sam and I were putting mics on as Matt got the footage ready. Woods held the door open for us, then sat in his place on the MegaChairs. Sam slid into hers, and I sat on the floor between them.

"Ok guys, you ready?" Matt said, clicking a few things on the computer.

"No," I mumbled, "let's watch it."

The first clip of footage we watched was how he even got inside, let alone into the vault. Matt said he couldn't find him entering, only leaving. That left a sour taste in my mouth.

We watched the screen with nervous anticipation. A loud thud, and then...

"Stop!" Sam cried.

"He just came in from the inside? How?" I added.

"How is that even possible?" Woods said.

We decided to go back up to the vault to see if we missed something. We had to have, otherwise how did he actually get in?

Matt stepped into the vault, Woods tailing behind. His foot caught and he rammed his knee into the doorframe.

"Ow," he groaned, keeling over to hold his knee.

"Oh, Woods," I said sympathetically, walking over to console him. He arched his back and dramatically groaned, informing me it wasn't that bad. Suddenly, he stopped mid groan and grabbed Matt's shoulder.

"What?" Matt and I asked.

Woods pointed up and our eyes followed. A ceiling tile was horribly askew, as if someone didn't have time to fix it after climbing in through the ceiling.

"Are you kidding me?" I cried, getting a closer look.

"That explains how he got in."

I dragged the desk chair over to the corner and carefully climbed onto it, using it to look into the space.

"Sarah, what are you doing?" Woods cried, scrambling to hold the wobbly chair.

"I'm fine, Woods, I'm just looking into the ceiling to-"

I was interrupted by the chair rolling away from the wall, causing me to fall forward. Woods quickly caught me and set me down.

"...see how he got in."

"Maybe next time, wait until we get a ladder."

Wait. I've heard that before. Where from? Doesn't matter.