Playground

Descent to Hell

Author Note: PG, nothing too bad here.

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"RUN!" I screamed at the top my voice while a shiver run down my spine.

None of my mates even thought of questioning me as I bolted down the hallway, they just bolted right after me. There was no time to think, for me or anyone else, as we ran down the stairs heading for the bottom of the skyscraper. Panic was bubbling just under the surface of my mind for what I knew was coming.

Other screams started to erupt from around us and after a few floors other people started to fill the emergency staircase like us. I did not hesitate to throw slower people out of my way, probably signing their death sentence. Just a step behind me was Rock, my team mate and friend, who too didn't hesitate to throw people away. He was a big man and a gym lover, six and a half feet tall and large almost half of that. At some point we heard many screams fly downwards on the other side of the wall, which only made me more glad we took the stairs. I quickly lost count of the floors and couldn't see any indication on the walls, but it wasn't long before my skin started to crawl again and we heard a loud explosion that shock the whole building.

I froze in place and somehow we managed to remain standing and unharmed, but our descent was now blocked by an entire flight of stairs gone missing right under my extended foot. The surface underneath was too uneven to try jumping down.

"Back up! Get back to the door!" I shouted. Some part of my brain dimly noticed that my voice was shacking almost as much as my hands. However, the adrenaline coursing through my veins kept me from getting distracted and I quickly ran back taking again the head of our small party. This time Rock remained tail and I was followed by Jim.

"Follow me, quick!" I yelled to him on top af the screams and noise.

More explosions rocked the building and I could just start to make out a hint of smoke. Time's up, I thought while avoiding the lift hall and heading for another emergency stair. Jim just nodded and fell in step right behind me while fiddling with his blueprint device. I left him be as there where enough eyes for the group without his for now. He knew we needed to get to at least to the eighteenth floor, if he could give us a faster route it was all for the better.

I reached an access to the second emergency stairs and again started to shove people away. Jim jammed his device in a pocket and grabbed my belt just as I plunged down the steps. There where no windows in this one and the light flickered on and off almost in tune with the people screams.

Suddenly the ground moved from underneath us like a toy tower in the hands of a giant kid. I fell, bringing down the others with me just as that sensation started again and the concrete of the stairs ceded, dropping us down.

My heart sunk as I watched Patricia fell screaming from an hanging piece of stair and twist in the air, badly landing just after me on her left side. I didn't know where or how I landed but I shot back up and knelt beside her, she looked at me with tears of defeat blurring her beautiful eyes.

I raised my eyes to see the other shakly get to their feet and knew I could not continue with them. I rose and grabbed Rock and Jim, "Jim, you know the way better than me, Rock will open the way for you." I looked at them in the eye, "get the others out of this place. I'll see you on the other side..."

Janet came up and clasped my hand in hers and finished my sentence, "wherever that might be."

I just nodded to them and pushed them toward the door before kneeling back at Patricia side.

She looked at me and asked why I stayed there with her when she was already dead.

"I doesn't matter," I answered vaguely. "We have to go. Now!"