Blackout

8. ATLAS

Laughter echoed through the tunnel. It rang though my ears as we ran, covering up the harsh sounds of our breaths and pattering footsteps. A loud slam echoed from behind us; they were coming. Running down the dark tunnel, Minnie and I kept going, on and on until we stumbled into some abandoned bunk area.

We paused for a moment to catch our breaths while surveying the dusty room. There were cut-outs in the cement wall, old bedding sporadically placed, along with a few desks and chairs. I guess this really was some military base, I though with a grimace; poor soldiers.

Pit.

Pat.

Someone was coming from the tunnel behind us.

Looking around frantically I saw two halls we could escape through, then an idea came to mind. Grabbing Minnie's arm, I dragged her over to the wall, "Top bunk," before taking her phone and quickly turning off the light.

She caught on quickly. Following her up the side latter, we silently rolled up in the dirty sheets. No, not that type of dirty. The space was small though, obviously for one person only. In order to fit Minnie was basically on top of me, my arm around her waist as we faced each other. Our breath mixed, our faces only inches apart.

A bright flash lit up the room, making us freeze. Thankfully the sheets were a dark green. From the shadows I could finally make out Minnie's face, she was absolutely terrified; her eyes shut, tension running though her body. My thumb rubbed circles on her back for comfort. Breathing slowly so they wouldn't hear us, we carefully listened as the person walked around the room, probably inspecting things.

"Marco," a voice sang. It was the girl.

Silence.

"You're supposed to say 'polo' ya know," she whined.

Screech.

Metal dragging across metal.

I winced at the noise;

 she was right beneath us.

Bang!

A fist on metal.

My hold tightened on Minnie as she flinched, almost jerking from shock.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Fingernails on cement.

We stayed still as stone.

After a few minutes for she hmphed and her footsteps faded away, the light along with them. I let out the breath I had been holding as we relaxed our bodies.

We stayed in our position for a few minutes, savoring the peace of not dying. Laying there, hidden under the flimsy fabric with her, I couldn't help but think about Minnie. She always captured my attention. Minnie was an oddity; intelligent and stunning, yet always in her little shell. I remember when I first noticed her in sophomore year, my buddies nagged me endlessly about my crush so much that I eventually got over it. She definitely didn't want some jock anyway, she far above that.

"We should probably go," Minnie whispered in my ear.

Agreeing, I carefully let her out of my grip as I jumped down from the barrack. Helping Minnie get down, we stood awkwardly against the cement wall.

"So," I put my hands in my pocket, "Which way?"

To my absolute surprise, she quickly exclaimed, "No, no, no! You decide!"

I thought she was pretty sure about everything. The corner of my lip quirked up at her indecision; so, the bright valedictorian didn't like making decisions. Though it did suck, because I had no idea which way was better. We didn't know which way that crazy girl went so that definitely didn't help us.

"First one we see then?" I suggested.

"Okay."

Turning on her flashlight, Minnie gasped, stumbling and almost falling back into me. Holding her up, I peered at what scared her and froze in place. Carved in the metal beneath the bunk we were just in was a message:

FOUND YOU

A chuckled echoed from behind me, making me turn around.

Nothing.

It came from a different area of the room, I pivoted again.

Nothing.

"Come out," I called out to the shadows around the room, knowing she was listening and watching.

"You cheated," a cold voice giggled from a corner as I whipped my body around to finally see a figure emerging from the shadows near one of the exits. It was the blonde girl with a crooked bunny mask on, her white outfit speckled with crimson stains. In her hands was a dripping crowbar.

I held Minnie behind me with my arm, "Get away."

"But I found you," she pouted. She pouted.

"And," the Bunny-girl continued with a voice shrouded in malice, "You cheated. You didn't say 'polo.'"

"No, we were playing hide-and-seek, not Marco-Polo," Minnie interrupted.

"Oh," Bunny-girl paused looking at Minnie, then shrugged and stalked forward, "Still won."

Holding up her crowbar, the psycho charged at us. I shoved Minnie out of the way as the girl got closer. She got me once with her crowbar before I grabbed it as she tried to bring it down again. Yanking it from her grip the girl backed up. She tilted her head as I handed Minnie the metal bar, "Meanie."

I stared in disbelief as Bunny-girl then pulled a pocket knife from her back pocket and held it up. She came at me again, this time with the smaller bale aimed at my neck. Moving too slow at first, she wound up nicking me in the shoulder before piercing my back with it. I hiss as a searing pain flared up from the wound.

That hurt like a bitch.