Guilt (A Zero Spin-Off)

TwentySix - Kyle

It didn't take three hours for the real worry to start. 

We spent every minute worrying, despite Hunter's deduction that there was nothing to worry about. We might have started off okayish, trusting Zero and Ella to get there and back without dying. That trust flew out the window when soft pops sounded from the outside less than forty-five minutes since the doors had locked us in. If we hadn't been near a window, we might have missed them all together. But they were there. Three consecutive pops caught our attention. We all moved closer to the window, trying to see into the dark. Silence. For several minutes, we held our breath, waiting for something. One more. Silence. Another and another.

We were all motionless. As if waiting in the silence would let us know exactly what has happened.

"If they were firing guns, it was at people," Hunter said, thinking aloud.

With that, any pretense of not worrying had flown out the window.

But still we waited. Pacing. Watching out the windows. Trying to distract ourselves. It had been two hours since they left, about an hour since we last hear gunfire, and everyone was antsy. Ready to assume the worst. They were injured, dead, or being tied up. No one said it out loud. None of us wanted to face the possibility. We all sat in the lobby, not knowing where else to go, where else to wait.

My focus volleyed from the large clock still ticking on the wall and the glass doors, waiting to for them to return. Praying they would return.

"We're dumbasses," Joel muttered to himself and then looked up at all of us and said it again. When we didn't catch on he added, "The roof!We didn't check roof access."

"All the doors are locked," I reminded him.

He shook his head, standing up he looked at ceiling as if he could see straight through. "Forget about the doors. Vents. Access points for mechanical work on the a/c and shit. Those wouldn't have fancy mechanized locks on them."

"Probably padlocked."

"Who cares? We can find something to break it."

Hunter nodded, standing up. "Worth a shot."

"Better than sitting here."

"Any idea where we're going if we get out?"

I thought about it for a second. Ella hadn't mention road names, but I knew the house wasn't far and was close to I-495, so we had a basic direction.

"Hang on, I think I can get us an address."

I took off without waiting to explain. When I got back to the office I went straight to the desk, sifting through the top papers first, neatly piled and then moving to the drawers. Yanking open the first drawer, I grinned and grabbed what I needed.

"You got that map?" I asked, rejoining the group, address in hand.

"Yeah," Hunter said, moving to pull it out.

"What's that?"

"A bill," I said, grinning. I read off the address on the envelope, grateful that Ella's dad was the kind to take care of home business at work. Probably because he never left work. He was a shitty a dad, but in that moment, we were happy for it.

"It's practically a straight shot. Just have to get the fuck out of here," Hunter said, smiling. He was bouncing on his heels, all pain forgotten.

"Check the security desk," I said even as I walked toward it. "There's gotta be schematics or something that will show access points."

Miles met me at the desk and papers, electronic, everything was flying as we searched for something that could help us. Miles banged on the desk and yelled a "Woo!" Holding up a long rolled up stack of papers. "Got it."

Laying them across the cleared off desk, we hunched over the papers. Frustrated, I turned away. I didn't understand electrical and plumbing schematics so the paper might as well as been Chinese to me. Thankfully, Miles seemed to follow it well enough. After a couple minutes he pointed to two locations on the paper. "These look like our best options."

I nodded. "We split up. You take one, Joel and I will take the other."

Miles explained where we needed to go to reach the points that accessed the roof and we all agreed to see each other on the roof. If one exit didn't work, we'd meet up at the other. Choosing to be optimistic, we left nothing behind. The energy had changed between us as we split ways. We were all pumped up again, full of hope. We'd get out of here and we'd get our girls back. And then, once they were safe and alive, we'd strangle them ourselves.

We came to a large vent for the air conditioner and spun the screws loose. Joel ducked into the duct first, twisting to look up.

"This would be a lot easier if it were daylight and I could tell if I was seeing sky up there," he shouted back at me, his voice echoing through the duct. "It's twenty feet straight up."

"The at the top probably shuts when the locks down," I said, figuring it'd be equipped to preventing anything airborne from getting out.

"We shimmy up there and force our way out."

"Let's do it."

Joel went first, squeezing himself into the duct and plastering his hands and feet to the walls of it and slowly inching his way up. When he was high enough I climbed in - the duct a tighter fit for my frame - and did the same. When Joel reached the top, he shifted and positioned himself so that his back was pressed against one side and his feet the other, allowing his hand to be free.

"It's definitely closed," he said, annoyed. "Not even breeze of air coming through." He banged against it. "It's sturdy, but not heavy duty. Gimmie a sec, I think I can—" He braced himself and jammed his hands up at the vent. He hit it again and again. "Shit. I can't get enough room to hit it hard enough."

"Can you reach screws?"

"Bolts and they're fuckin' tight," he said after a second. "Hell, I did not climb up this fucking tube to not get out of here. Can you reach your gun?"

"Ella took my guns."

"Right. Shit. Can you reach mine?"

"Are you sure you want to?"

"You got a better idea?"

I didn't. After supporting my weight the same way Joel had, with my back against one side of the vent, I reached up getting a grip on his gun.Sliding it out of the holster, I passed it up to Joel, waiting to release it until I was positive he had a good hold of it.

"This is gonna fuckin' suck," he said, aiming the gun at one of the corners where a bolt held the vent in place. He squeezed the trigger and we both shouted in pain, the ringing in my ears instant and disorienting.

I looked up to see him push at the vent. It didn't push completely open, but a second later I felt cool air filter down to me. He banged and pushed a it a couple more times.

"I gotta do another." I was sure he was shouting, but the words sounded muffled behind the ringing from the first shot. I managed to cover my ears with my hands before he fired again, not that it helped much. When it was done he pushed at it again, and it opened further, but not enough to give us room to get out. Joel shifted so the top of his shoulders and neck were pinned to one side and he was in a position to kick. Reaching up, I supported what I could of his weight while he rammed his foot into the grate until it finally gave way.

"Halle-fucking-lujah!" He said climbing out and then offered a hand to help me. "Whew, shit man. I didn't want to say anything, but I was getting claustrophobic in there. Let's do this shit."

We looked around for Miles and Hunter, but they weren't up on the roof yet.

"Miles probably got stuck in the vent." Joel meant it as a joke, but once the thought was out there, our eyes met in worry as we realized it was a distinct possibility. So it was a relief when we heard our names called from below. I looked back in the vent, squinting down to see Hunter. They shimmied their way up the vent and Miles only nearly got stuck once. It took all three of us to help Hunter out without injuring his shoulder worse than it was. It should have been in a sling of some sort, but that wasn't the first priority on his - or anyones - mind.

We were out.

We knew where Ella and Zero were going. We would find them.