Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
the 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒉 ...
A CREAK FOLLOWED bya hiss indicated that a door was opening. Pale light flooded into the small room, painting the Glader's faces in ghastly hues. Bewilderment and fatigue settled upon each and every one of their countenances.
Nobody dared to move, scared of the reality that lay behind the door. Teresa was the one to push open the door slowly, stepping out tentatively. The metal groaned in effort as it creaked open, exposing a dimly lit corridor. Ria shared a look with Newt before she followed the others out of the door.
Teresa looked back, fear captured within her eyes as she paused. Abruptly, florescent strobe lights flared to life above them, one after the other in perfect sequence, illuminating the previously dark corridor. Ria swallowed thickly, her heart pounding wildly. The Gladers began to move slowly, eerie sounds of dripping and thumping from the metal pipes that lined the passageway echoing. They were in some kind of building.
It wasn't many paces before they stopped. Ria saw a vivid green lightbulb attached to a wall, a heavy door beside it. What lay behind it — nobody knew. As the girl lifted her head, her eyes were met with a sign the same shade of green as the light. EXIT, it read.
Ria's head span with dizziness. Could this really be it? She wondered if her parents were stood behind the door, waiting anxiously for their stolen daughter to tear through the doorway and into their arms constructed of tenderness and love. They would weep and comfort her, clutching the girl close to their hearts and they would never let her out of sight again. The image sent a wave of misery through Ria's body. Of course her parents weren't there. They were probably dead, blood decorating their countenances and their bodies cold.
"Seriously?" Frypan's sarcastic comment distracted Ria as she was forced back to reality. The door still loomed before them. Thomas hesitantly stepped towards it, his shaking hand hovering over the handle for a few seconds. Then, he pushed it down and a hollow clicking sound reverberated off the walls. The faint blaring of an alarm was drowned out by the scraping of the door as it opened. Ria's eyes widened at the sight of horror that played out before her.
It looked as if the room had been under a threat — maybe even an attack. Ominous flashing lights irradiated the entire room and as Ria cast her gaze down, she had to bite back a gasp. A man in a white lab coat was slumped lifelessly. His crimson blood was splattered behind him, rolling down the wall like a tributary of slaughter. His face was stained red and glass shards were scattered all over the floor. The lights continued to flicker on and off, adding to the macabre atmosphere.
