Curious Minds

Chapter 2

Four hours later, I found myself belly to the dirt and clothed in dark colors from head to toe. My neon hair was fully tucked into a stocking hat to hide the brilliant color in the last light of the day. I had a mask hung around my neck for when we began moving to hide my face.
I was watching the guards patrolling the 10 foot tall fence only 20 yards away from where I was playing the look out.
"So, any animals to worry about?" Caleb whispered. He had crawled up beside me to see the fence and guards, his mask perched on top of his beanie.
"Not unless they are small," I whispered back.
Since the show 'Animal or Morph' had aired, Caleb and the twins were convinced I had some kind of power. I had always guessed right while watching the show, but was hoping the same methods I used would work in real life.
"This place has so many guards," Josh said from my other side as he and Drake crawled into position. Neither wore their hats, but both had the masks in place. "It can't be that important."
"They recently put the Andalite technology in there. Wouldn't you expect more guards because of that?" I snapped quietly.
As the guards patrolling became rhythmic and predictable, I gave the go-ahead.

Getting close was rather easy once the pattern of the guards was worked out. The fence itself was more of a challenge that we solved by using a gap at the bottom of the fence over a ditch.
Once inside we had to figure out which direction to take. The compound had buildigs of various sizes, all marked with letters and numbers. Our searches for the layout of this compound had not told us which building had what inside.
"Anyone know which building we are actually looking for?" Josh asked.
"The heavily guarded one," Drake told his twin.
"If you two don't-," I started.
"Hey! You kids," two guards said as they rounded the corner behind them.
"Split up!" Caleb ordered, dragging me to the left. The twins went right.
"Five minutes. That's it!" I yelled a few minutes later as I ran to keep up with Caleb.
"What?" Caleb asked as he pulled me around a corner so sharp, I nearly missed it.
"Before the guards spotted us," I gasped before we continued our run. We weren't sure if the guards had split or followed one set, but we weren't taking any chances.
"You were timing it?" Caleb said incredulously, leading me around a turn at random.
"Of course," I replied. "That building!" I pointed to a small, shed-like building a few turns later.
"What? No!" Caleb protested, coming to a halt. As the sirens went off nearby he changed his mind. "Fine."
Once inside, Caleb leaned against the door, searching for a lock. As he threw the bolt, I was looking at the piles of boxes, crates, and other stuff piled up.
Everything was neatly laid out in rows and aisles. I noted the lettering on each box and chose a random aisle to head down.
"Where are you going?" Caleb whispered.
"Looking. That's why we are here, right?" I shot back.
"We are in a storage shed. There's nothing to look at," Caleb said, following.
"Uh huh," I was busy looking down each connecting aisle of crates, hoping I was right. Ah hah! "If so, what's that?"
I stepped aside and let Caleb see the square outlined on the floor. It had a handle that indented to look like another shadow.
"See. We did need you," Caleb said as he lifted the square to reveal a ladder leading down.
"Wonder where it goes," I said, looking into the darkness.
"If it's like the ones in the map, it should lead to the main building," Caleb said.
"So you read the same blueprints?"
"Probably. I just didn't think there would be an entrance in the storage shed," he admitted.
I looked around again at the boxes. "Umm, Caleb."
"What?"
"This is the ammunition shed," I told him, reading some more of the boxes stacked around us.
"Oh," he said. Then he smiled.
"No."
His grin grew.
"What do you think they'd do if we were armed?" I asked.
His face fell after a moment. "You're right. Let's go."
"Ladies first," I told him.
Even though it was smart to leave the weapons behind, I still didn't want to.
The botton of the ladder was inky darkness made worse because I had shut the hatch on my way down.
I reached for my phone's flashlight, but Caleb had a normal one out and on before I could remember that we had left our phones behind.
Now that I could see, I looked around the small space we were in. It was large enough for two or three people to travel side by side. The walls and floor were dusty brick.
"You'd think someone would be guarding these tunnels," Caleb said as he headed in the only direction available: forward.
"Or just block the tunnels," I mentioned.
Caleb just nodded.