Help: a Short Story

Part 2

"Here's an entrance." Joe led them toward an old set of subway stairs that were taped off in yellow police tape. Janet hesitated when they came close.

"Are you sure we can go down there? Does it really lead to the Under?" She looked at him nervously. "Are you sure?"

"I don't think this is legal, but do you think that really matters right now?" He tried to go further, but she stopped him. "Will it matter when the world as we know it is about to end?"

She didn't really have to think once he said that. Her world had changed a long time ago. "Let's go, then." She led the way.

They made their way down the dark, crumbling stairs. They both thought it was spooky, but didn't want to be seen as afraid. Janet was afraid even her breathing would give away how scared she was, but she dared to speak past the growing knot of fear in her stomach. "Do you have a phone or something that could provide some sort of light?" Her voice got more even the more she talked. She was glad.

"No... I forgot it at the lab. Sorry, again." His voice was surprisingly very even like he did this all the time, even though he was as scared as her if not more. "Do you? I mean, you probably wouldn't have asked if you did, but do you?"

"No," she simply said. She didn't want to talk anymore.

They moved along the wall of the decrepit structure. They had already stepped off the final stair and were moving further into the darkness.

After they had been walking for a few minutes, he stopped so suddenly that she ran into his back. "What did you do that for?" She whisper-yelled at him.

"It should be around here somewhere." He dropped to the ground and started rubbing it.

"What are you doing?" She asked urgently. "Is the entrance here? Get Up!"

"Duh, the entrance. It's under a manhole around here." He was still on the ground, searching. "Are you just gonna stand there, or are you going to help me look for it?"

"I'm not getting onto that dirty floor!" She yelled.

"Do you want the world to end or not?" He looked up at her, even though he couldn't really see her through the darkness that hung over them like a fog.

"Fine," She relented rather quickly. "But you are going to get some payback once this is all over."

"If we're still alive." He suddenly turned the jovial atmosphere into a solemn one in one, simple sentence. They didn't talk anymore after that. They searched the floor in silence until a loud whoop pierced the silence. It startled Janet so much that she stood straight up in surprise, for she thought that they might be being attacked or something horrible had happened.

"What!" She yelled, angry from the heart attack he had given her.

"I found the entrance! Come over here!" They had been searching in opposite directions, so they were now quite a few meters from one another. She ran to him, reaching out to make sure that she would not run into a wall or Joe.

He was already trying to lift the giant lid when she got there. She helped him and after a few grunts and heaves, they managed to get into the underground facility. "Whoa, this place is bigger than I expected." She looked in awe over the vast room. There was even more high-tech equipment than the above-ground lab she came from. "Do you come down here often?"

"I used to do all my work down here because of the government's need for secrecy." He had a far off look as he plugged the flash drive into the massive computer and pulled up the information. "Their ship is still a few days away, but they have more advanced technology than us and could come any day."