Fatespun - Not a Chance

Part 2 - D

He walked over to the other door in the room and did a quick inspection of the hinges with the flashlight, hoping that they were in the same shape as those on the first door they had come through. He wasn’t really surprised to find that they looked to be in good shape.

The door opened quietly to reveal a hallway made in the same style as the stairwell, narrow and low, and leading off into the distance. Nick shone the light from the flashlight down its length, and they could easily see that there was a bend in the hallway about thirty feet away where it turned to the left. Running along the simple ceiling was another wire with a plain light-bulb placed every ten feet or so. The wire connected to another switch to Nick’s left as he entered the hallway.

“Cozy place,” Sibby quipped from behind him.

Nick nodded and started down the hall. Both of his hands were full, but he noticed that the walls of the tunnel, and those of the rooms they had been in, were still in surprisingly good shape. If they didn’t find anything dangerous down there, the rooms might be another good place for people to sleep during the coming winter.

They cautiously rounded the bend to find the tunnel continued for another ten feet or so before ending in yet another door.

“Cozy, and with a door fetish,” Sibby made an addendum to her earlier statement.

“The door is different,” Nick pointed out.

The other doors had been heavy, but wooden. The door he was looking at though was thick steel with a wheel-type lock on it, like something he had seen in a submarine-movie one time. The other doors could stop a person; this door could stop a tank.

Really seeing no other way round it, Nick handed the flashlight to Sibby and stowed the ‘Penny-Pounder’ under his arm as he walked over and put both hands on the wheel. He glanced back at Sibby and gave her a quick wink as he began to turn the wheel. It wasn’t as easy as he had thought it would be, and it took all of his strength to get it to move the first inch.

“Need to take a time out there champ?” Sibby asked.

“Not. Helping.” Nick said between breaths as he struggled with the door. Finally, after a significant amount of cursing at the door, the last of the resistance gave way, and the wheel turned. The door cracked open and Nick reached around and took the flashlight back from Sibby. Since he was in the front, it made the most sense for him to have the light. He readied his trusty ‘Penny-Pounder’ and shouldered the door open gently.

As soon as Nick saw what was in the room, he stopped. He felt Sibby bump into his back because of his unexpected halt, but she didn’t comment.

The beam from the flashlight slowly panned across the room, the numerous workstations and pieces of equipment with thin layers of dust on them. The ceiling of the room was somewhat higher than in the halls, long florescent bulbs hanging from it. Compared to the other rooms they had been in, that room would have been lit as bright as day.

“What is it?” Sibby asked, and Nick could feel her trying to peek over his shoulder.

“A laboratory. For bombs, among other things, from the looks of it.” Nick didn’t mention how he knew about bombs, or laboratories for that matter. “Be careful what you touch, it could still be dangerous.”

He walked into the large room as he continued to slowly inspect things with the flashlight. Near the door they had come in he saw the light-switch that would likely turn on the numerous lights above them, but he was still leery about flicking it.

Across the room was another closed door, similar to the one they had just entered. Beside it was another light-switch, though that one hung loosely, obviously broken. He silently counted the number of separate workstations around the room, finally ending at fifteen.