Here We Are

Chapter 4

"Ow! That was my foot," I said, as quietly as I could. Tom and I where shuffling through the dark, blind. We could hardly see, even with our improved eye sight. The reason we where stumbling through the pitch black darkness, our eyes squinting, our bodies moaning with fatigue, and with such a bad sense of direction was because, at 11:30pm, the warning sirens on the walls of the compound started wailing like phantoms in an abandoned castle. All the light went out, and the back up lights were flashing a shocking, bright red. And soon even the back up power gave up. There's nothing like sounding alarms to make girl feel safe. What was really surprising was that, rather than everyone scrambling around dazed and shrieking, like a bunch of confused geese, was that the corridors and rooms had been completely silent and empty. We looked in every room that we could see.
Nothing.
"Tom? Is that you?" I said, reaching out in front of me. I quite the glad that nobody could see me. It would be pretty humiliating.
"Yeah, who else would it be?" He replied, stumbling into me.
"Could you stop doing that?" I said, not that I could help it anymore than he could. I couldn't see him, but I could imagine the expression on his tanned face. He was probably doing something stupid, knowing there wasn't anyone to see him and be annoyed at him.
That person being me.
We carried on walking, arms stretched like zombies. We talked as we walked.

"It's a Diary," Tom said. I could see the silhouette of him biting his lip.
"Hm?"
"That book you were curious about earlier," he said, hesitantly.
"Oh. Why didn't you just say so?
"Well, I was embarrassed," he said, biting his finger nail.
"Hey, I'm not bothered. You could go around wearing a pink leotard or a stripy affro, I couldn't care less ," I said, matter-of-factly.
"Thanks, I think."
"You know what I mean," I grinned, nudging him in the shoulder.
I smiled, although he couldn't see it.
"Y'know, it would be nice if there was somebody who I could talk to about girl stuff for a change."
"You? Girl stuff?," he snorted, and laughed.
I glared at him.
"What's so funny?" I snapped.
"Nothing," he chuckled.
"Its not my fault my best friend is a boy"
"Oh, I do miss these little talks of ours."
We carried on walking.
"Hey, I think we are almost at the main research lab. Just on your left," he said, and we both turned simultaneously. As we turned, we both immediately crashed into a large door. At least we knew his sense of direction was much more reliable than mine. At the bottom of the door was a tiny slit of light, pouring out from under the door, then being swallowed by darkness.
I could tell he was looking at me.
"Go on. Open it," he whispered.
"Why me?"
"There could be anyone behind that door. You...can scare them off."
I furrowed my brows.
"Oh yeah? How did you figure that out then?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Umm. Well your pretty scary when you haven't slept in a while," he suggested.
"Aww shucks. How sweet," I joked.
"Well it is true," he mocked.
"Take one for the team, Tom" I said, rolling my eyes.
He sighed.
"Okay. But if I die I'm coming back to haunt you."
Tom slowly reached out and heaved open the door.
As we did so we were immediately blinded by bright light, until our eyes adjusted to our surroundings. We looked around the lab. There was nobody there. Then how come the lights were working in this room? Suddenly, a door on our left opened, gradually revealing a group of people I hadn't seen before. They looked at us, noticing the alarmed and confusing expression painted on our faces.
"Who are you?" Tom asked, cautiously. He reaching for something thing he could use to defend himself. It happened to be a kidney dish. Fun times.
"Where is everyone?" I questioned, looking at each stranger in turn.
The was a long pause. All the while they were staring at us.
"Well don't all answer at once," I said.
"Sorry," one of them said,"everybody is outside. We though so anyway." She folded her arms across her chest.
"Please follow us outside whilst we try to restore the power. It shouldn't take too long," said a tall, middle-aged man.
Tom and I both looked at each other.
'Alright," I said, carefully. We slowly followed the middle-aged man, even thought it might not have been the wisest decision.
Who the heck are they? I thought, trying to figure out what was going on.
All the while Tom was still carrying the kidney dish...