Days Lost

Grave Danger

Taking hold of Elie's hand, we bolted towards the far side of the room through the mass of frenzied people when we reached the crimson, metal door.

"Gross, smells like rotting fish in there!" She exclaimed, holding her olive green jacket over her nose.

"Not too far off..." I'd breathe out in disgust past my panting.

Slipping inside we noticed the heaps of bodies that rested inside of what looked like a giant garbage compactor.

"Hey Jarun, there's a door over there, where do you think it leads?"

"Hopefully not back out there where our trigger-happy 'friends' are enjoying hunting season." I replied sarcastically, "Not that this place is much better..."

Examining the door, we noticed that is was pad-locked.

"My time to shine!" She exclaimed full of pride, "Watch the door, okay?"

Elie is well known for her picklocking skills, not only that, but she also has a talent for making everyday objects into potential pick locks. She takes pride in what she can accomplish, and I'm glad that I can turn to her in a disheartening situation like this one.

I cautiously watched through the crack of the door as Elie started patting down some of the nearby corpses with a face of disgust, searching for anything that might work as a pick lock.

"This could work!" She exclaimed raising a dirty, yet firm hairpin, "Although I can't guarantee anything."

"That's fine, do what you can, I'll say something if anyone comes." I advised.

Turning back to the door, I could see just the sheer amount of bloodshed that occurred in such a short time. There wasn't much difference from that room to the one we were in, just gruesome death. There was nowhere to turn to protect your eyes from the gory scene, in both areas bodies littered the floor the same way you would see red solo cups scattered across the floor after a senior party. The last few gunshots rang out along with the shattered screams and yells that echoed off the walls, burning into my mind until it left a hollow ambiance, the silence broken by a series of muffled footsteps.

"E-Elie..." I whispered, my voice low enough to come out as a squeak, "Now would be a good time for you to wrap things up..."

There was no response other than irritated grunts and silent cursing past the quiet clicking of the cold metal, I waited nervously on the other side of the heavy door, staring intensely through the opening for any sign of hostiles, my heart beating crazily in my chest. A few more unbearable moments passed, feeling more like an eternity than what was probably no more than half a minute before I felt something small hit the the back of my head, making me jump out of my skin in fright and nearly yelp while spinning around with a panicked expression.  My startled stare stopping on Elie who was staring dead at me, gesturing me with her hand to follow as she slipped behind the now unlocked door, noticing the small, disgruntled hairpin she hurled at me resting between my feet. Following soon after, I'd wind my way between the hoards of corpses and push past the door into the foreign darkness of this new room, having to reach my hand out to feel my way through the nearly pitch black emptiness.

"Ee-hup!"

Jumping back a little from shock at the sudden girly yelp as my hand brushed across something cotton-like, I'm whisper in the general direction of the voice, assuming it could only be Elie.

"Sorry! Elie, is that you?"

"Jesus Jarun, don't scare me like that..." The familiar voice replied back to me, about a couple feet away from where I was standing.

"Sorry, it's too dark in here to tell where anything is. Do you see anything?" I'd murmur lowly, glancing around the darkness using the dimmed red light from the previous room to make it more clear.

Turning around the face the cracked open door we entered from, I pressed my palms across the stone wall and started to graze them across the smooth surface, feeling for anything that would be of use until my fingers brushed across a protruding shape and clicked it down.