Despair

Despair | Chapter 13

All at once, I was flooded with a truly foul smell.

I climbed down and down, the grip of my fingers loosening as I kept going, deeper and deeper as my strength began to fade. How long did I have to keep this up? My fingers trembled with every other bar, and I suspected the rust on the ladder would stick to my fingers forever.

Every once in a while there was a noise: either the squeaking of a rat, a banging, or it was the silence.

The silence was loud.

I shivered, scared at what I might find.

An eternity seemed to pass, and eventually (thank God) my feet touched the bottom. At last, solid ground.

Then I froze as I heard faint whispers and shuffling. Eyes widening, I turned to survey my surroundings. There didn't seem to be anything: still I stopped and listened.

Next thing I knew, I almost had a heart attack.

"Evan? Is that you?"

"AHHHHHHH!"

Flashlights clicked on, shining blinding light right at me.

"Woah," I breathed as I saw them.

There stood Abigail, and two other strangers, in poor conditions. Abigail's hair was practically a wasp's nest; there were scratches all over the three of them, and eyebags were forming under their tired eyes.

"Why are you guys out of your cells?" I asked them once I'd recovered from the shock.

"I'm Mason. We escaped. And hid in the sewers, right here." The boy standing next to Abigail replied, explaining to me. "How did you get out? And who are you?"

"These are the sewers?" I asked first.

"Yup."

The girl next to him was holding a shotgun, the type the guards occasionally used.

My mind was filled with so many questions, but before I could ask more of them, lights flashed, coming from the other end of the sewers.

"Oh, no." Abigail grimaced. "HIDE!"

The girl pointed the shotgun, pulling the trigger.

Click, click, click. No bullets came out, the guards nudged each other, and laughing at us.

We turned, taking the moment, running down the opposite way.

"Throw the gun away! It's useless, Sophia!" Mason yelled.

Sophia threw the gun at the guards, making them trip over each other.

The last three guards appeared, stopping.

One of the guards, the guard named Julian pulled a walkie-talkie out of his belt, and started speaking into it. "Search group five, found them in area S-6. Repeat; Found..."

We left them while the guard continued talking.

"That was a close call." Sophia told us as we climbed up, towards the fresh air.

The climb up seemed shorter than the other one down, and soon we were on the ground, sucking in fresh breaths of air.

I glanced around, noticing the nearby crates, with tips of guns sticking out. Neat. Landed near a weapon store.

I looked at the group. "Hey guys, there are some guns there. Not sure why the shotgun didn't work, but these probably will."

They looked over, taking in the crates.

"Jackpot!" Mason yelled, running over to a crate, pulling out a dark smooth pistol. "So cool!"

Before anyone could respond, Abigail put her fingers to her lips. "Shhh. Listen."

I stayed stay, ears like radar scanning. Nothing. Then I heard it. The sounds of grunts, fingers gripping onto the latches of the ladder, the sound of walkie-talkies; the guards.