Subject A7

Chapter Sixteen

Dylan had found four tins of beans, he got a small fire going using the fireplace that was in the living room and had cooked it. There were a few plates that were not broken to use and some cutlery. I wiped it down a few times making sure it was clean before using it.
I found the taste to be quite strange but nonetheless, I did not complain and ate it rather quickly. As Dylan was starting to cook another tin, I decided to go exploring the house. It was starting to get dark so I grabbed a flashlight just in case.
I roamed around looking through the rooms, it was almost completely empty downstairs with the exception of a few broken plates, cutlery left to rust. Lame.
I wandering upstairs noticing the air had changed to a more of a foul odor, I looked around seeing three mattresses in the one room, there were clothes and other things there as well. I walked into what looked to be a child's bedroom. The paint was peeling and dust was almost everywhere you looked, in the corner there were dolls. Makes you wonder what happened to them... were they safe somewhere? Did they get infected? Were they taken by Arcane? So many questions left unanswered and would most likely never to be answered which was incredibly sad.

I opened the closest noticing that the clothes that were hanging were all shuffled to each side leaving the middle open which was very unusual, it could be just me thinking that. I leaned forward and started to tap on the wall, I moved along until I heard a hollow sound. Leaning back frowning at it, I checked both sides again and sure enough, there was a difference.
Excitement flowed through me remembering one of the books I had read, could this be a secret passage?
I pushed it as hard as I could but it only moved an inch. Maybe if I pulled it instead, I stuck my finger nails through and pulled it, much easier than pushing although my fingers did sting a little as I pulled the wall out revealing a dark entrance.
"Wow..." I pulled out my flashlight turning it on. For some reason, I was half expecting something to jump out at me. "Oh, don't be such a scaredy cat," I muttered.
I was about to take a step when Dylan's voice startled me.
"Avery?"
"Oh jeez, Dylan!" I clutched my chest glaring at him. "Don't do that!"
He shrugs his shoulders. What is his problem?
"What are you doing?" he asks me.
I point in the closest. "I found a secret passage?" I ignored the fact that he might be still mad at me for what happened at the river because I could not maintain my excitement at my discovery.
"Seriously?"
He walks over to have a look, I moved out of the way so he could get a better look.
"Shit, you're right..." he looks at me, I could see that he was nervous as well as curious about it just as much as I was.
"I'll get Colin and we'll go down together," he says, he left the room quickly. I glanced back down, there was a wall there and more stairs leading down to the right, I took a step, the stairs creaked slightly. My thoughts on the stairs from earlier came back as falling through the floor was not something you'd want to be thinking about. I kept going even when Dylan returned with Colin behind him.
Dylan was muttering my name with a few curse words, bet you anything it was because I did not wait for him, I laughed at the thought.
When I reached the bottom, it was a room. A secret room. The foul smell was strongest down here, I almost gagged.
"Don't you know the meaning of 'we'll go down together'?" Dylan shakes his head at me.
I ignored him walking over to the bench over near the corner, I looked at the old papers looking through it.
"Interesting, there are notes on the infected," I say picking up a book flipping through it. "There are five stages of the infection..."
"Colin, close the door behind you," Dylan says to Colin.
I could not believe what I was reading, there were so much details and sketches, the people in this place must've been observing someone who was infected. Looking away from the book, I looked around the room, I walked over using the light to guide me revealing a cage.
A small gasp escaped my lips when I saw a dead body laying on the mattress. That explains the foul odor.
"Do you see that?"

I felt Dylan come up beside me.

"What kind of house is this?" I ask him. "It looks like a family home but down here..."
He did not respond so that meant he did not have the answer.
Colin stayed close to Dylan to the point where I was making a face, like a kid, we get that you are scared but I am in the same predicament as you, grow a pair for god sake. When Dylan took a step back and collided with Colin who squeaked. He actually squeaked? I rolled my eyes.
Dylan shoots him a glare.
"Back off," he mutters to him.
"Right. Sorry!" Colin looks at me, I quickly avoiding making eye contact with him.
"Do you think we should leave?" I ask Dylan.
"Not quite," he points to a ladder. "Up to continue searching?"
A smile spreads across my face and nodding while putting the book securely half in the back my pants, Dylan led the way, Colin in the middle and me at the end. I glanced back nervously at the room before noticing a photo. I glanced up before walking back over to pick it up. It was a family of three, mother, father and their young son. It was a nice family photo. I look back over at the cage and walked over wondering if it was one of them that had became an infected. As I got closer, the flashlight revealed it to be a short redheaded woman, just like the one in the photo.

"It was the mother..." I bit my lip wondering what kind of emotions they were going through, what thoughts they were thinking. It would have been hard to put a bullet in her as she progressed in becoming an infected.

Not wanting to process all of this at once, I returned the photo in its rightful place and climbed up the ladder.
Colin stood waiting for me pressing his finger to his lips.
Dylan was peering through a hole, I tip toed over to him.
"What do you see?" I questioned him.
Dylan leaned back glancing at me nervously.


"We're not alone... someone is here..." were not the words I was hoping to hear.