My calves began to feel numb. My grip on the stair railing strengthened, turning my knuckles bright white. I snapped my pained neck to my left to see Lucas groaning as he climbed his last steps to meet me at the top. They met their gazes. Shooting my look to the floor, I began to creep down the damp hallway, Lucas by my side.
The sound of the shutting of a window echoed in the distance. Lucas and I peeked up, standing frozen. I licked my crackling lips. After waiting for another sound in the distance, I exhaled slowly. The humid hallway began to give the feeling of closing around them. My shoulders began to feel weaker. As I took my first step to continue walking I heard a shout in the distance. It rattled my eardrums. I nervously looked over at Lucas, crouched with bent knees about 2 feet away from me. I could see the paranoid look in his eyes. My patience hung in hair as we were ready for another shout, a shout that sounded from a pained young girl.
"Stop! Get out!" a husk voice from another hallway echoed throughout the building reaching the ceiling. This caused Lucas and I to immediately bolt down the lightless hallway. I slowed down a bit and stayed to the right feeling around the wall for a light switch or possibly a door to escape. My hand was shot with adrenaline and slightly shaking. As my hand grazed over the concrete wall, my hand suddenly met contact with the brim of metal bars. I held my breath. I could sense the arriving of footsteps slapping against the gritty concrete. I could make out a silhouette of someone running towards our direction... a short young girl with long hair clinging to her back. For a short second, she glanced in our direction. They made direct eye contact and I could feel a connection between her...like I did with Eleven. I could feel something wrong. As I blinked back to reality... she's not Eleven... I rubbed my palms against the thighs of my jeans. The girl was still starring at us in curiosity. I broke our gaze as I looked up at the ceiling slightly above our heads. I followed the ceiling wall until I found the spitting image of the one I saw on the first floor. My look towards Lucas said it all. Lucas and I began to slip off our shoes. Lucas slowly crept towards me. The girl, frightened turn back the way she came. I noticed spats of blood against the concrete path. The atmosphere seemed to thicken.
"I'll hike you up. Here, stand on my hands," Lucas harshly whispered. He linked his fingers together creating a mount for me. I gripped one of Lucas's shoulders and forced my left foot onto his hand to give him balance. Lucas pressed his weight down into his feet, using all of it to hold my light weight. I slowly reached up to grasp the vent cover. It was damp with condensation. I stretched my arm to push it through the hole. It made it through with a screeching sound of metal against metal. This caused a door to slam sharply throughout the opposite side of the building. I began to scramble to climb through the vent. Lucas pushed my feet until I was all the way propped on the metal hallway of vent. I reached down to help Lucas jump and make way into the vent hole. As their hands made contact, there were footsteps circulating throughout their hallway. As Lucas tried to jump through the vent, an almost purely white hand covered his mouth. Lucas screamed at the top of his lungs, causing my ears to ring. The hand yanked Lucas out of my sight. My hands were so sweaty I could barely walk on my hands and knees, so I skidded across the slippery metal. The vent boxes that I was in had no lights, since the hallways were dark as well. I crawled with my tense muscles toward the footsteps that were just down below him. I stopped in my tracks, suddenly, waiting for them to pass. I thought briefly to myself if it was worth saving Lucas in this territorially enclosed building or escape to reunite with El... or her body, anyway. As I exhaled, my breath became a cloud. The immediate bitter frosty air sent chills down my spine. The metal made me unable to comfortably touch it to continue my journey. I focused my glance ahead, yearning for a miracle.
