Labyrinth of White - The Moon Trilogy - Book #1

Chapter twenty-five:

Clarity gingerly placed the syringes into her pocket, keeping the laser gun in her hand. She had only picked the gun because it had looked fairly simple to operate, but she didn't like the way it felt in her hand. The metal was so cold that it almost stung. The syringes felt heavy in her pocket.

She followed the others into the hall.

"The code to the doors is 34669014." Rachel said as they went.

"How did you know that?" Clara asked, confusion in her voice to match that on her face.

"I figured it out from watching you," Rachel replied, her arms crossed.

Clara nodded. "Ah..."

"So, the code is what, exactly?" Sam asked. Clarity was glad that he had. She hadn't been able to remember the code either.

"34669014." Alex and Rachel said in unison. This time, Clarity was able to remember it.

She repeated the sequence of numbers in her head a few times until she was sure that she wouldn't forget. And even then, she wasn't exactly sure.

"Now that we all know the code, we can start opening doors. The faster we can get the people out, the faster we can leave." Alex said. Everyone nodded.

"I can help remove any implanted technology," Clara said, her hands twitching.

Alex hesitated, eyes dark, before nodding.

They split up and started opening doors. The first few doors that Clarity opened, the rooms were empty. She grunted in frustration. Then she noticed that there were small, red letters written on the keypads. They read "Unoccupied."

Once she'd figured that out, she just skipped over the doors that had the red letters. When she came to a door that had green letters reading: "occupied" she typed in the code. Her heart was starting to thump painfully fast, and she could see her fingers shaking.

Lying on the metal table in the middle of the room, there was a skinny young lady. Her bones seemed to poke through her chocolate-colored skin. Her curly hair was long and tangled. Sweat plastered curls were stuck to her forehead.

The girl's dark eyes fluttered open, and she drew in a sharp breath, her skinny frame tensing up. but when she saw that Clarity was by no means a hostile, she visibly relaxed.

Unlike Clarity and the others, the girl's bony frame wasn't strapped down, so there was no need to unstrap her before she sat up, wobbling a little.

"Who are you?" she asked in a small, husky voice. Clarity guessed that the girl was only a little younger than herself.

"I can't explain right now, but I'm here to help. I promise that I won't hurt you." She replied, forcing as much sincerity into her voice and trying to keep in from wavering. The girl couldn't know how high-strung Clarity was, or she would be even more fearful that she already was.

The girl nodded. Clarity walked over and helped her to her feet, keeping nearby in case she was about to fall again. However, she seemed strangely sturdy for how scrawny she appeared, and she was able to stand solidly.

"Just follow me. I'll get you out of here." Clarity said, guiding the girl with her hand.

When she stepped back into the hallway, Rachel passed. She was leading a group of people behind her; some had wires jutting out at odd angles, others had metal disks similar to the one Alex used to have. All of them looked just as underfed as Clarity's girl.

Clarity walked passed Rachel and unlocked the next door, trying hard not to let the girl see as she typed in the code because her hands were shaking so much that they were sure to give away just how tense Clarity was.

She emptied this room in much the same way as the first and soon, she had a small group of people huddled behind her. One older man was unable to stand on his own, so two of the stronger ones were helping him along.

She was about to unlock another door when she heard a shout. She whipped her head around, searching frantically for the source. She had to know if the yell was a cause to worry.

And a cause to worry it certainly was.

There were two guards running towards her at a full-on sprint. There were a few stifled screams from the group behind her, and the group collectively shuffled backward as the guards made their advance.

She pulled the laser gun out of her pocket and fired at the guards, not sure exactly what she was doing. But the gun fired, so that was at least a sign that she was firing it right. If only her hands weren't shaking so badly, she might have actually hit one of them. As if was, she was pretty sure the shot came within at least a foot.

She pulled the trigger again and this time, the thin beam of red light hit the first guard in the chest. He dropped to the ground with a mangled yell, and his face contorted briefly before falling slack like the rest of him.

The second guard wasted no time on his fallen companion. He continued rushing forward, pulling a gun from its place on his hip.

Had Clarity moved a second later, she would probably be dead. The red beam from her gun stopped the guard dead in his tracks just as his finger tightened on the trigger. He fell just like his buddy, and then there were two bodies in the hallway in front of them.

She moved a little quicker from then on. Her fingers grew steadier each time she typed the code in. Surprisingly, none of the room's occupants were unconscious. The number trailing behind her slowly grew larger and larger, each cell she opened adding another bedraggled person. She had to pause a few times for the weaker ones to catch up, but otherwise, she moved fairly quickly.

She heard occasional far-off grunts and a few blasts, presumably coming from the others. But she didn't meet any more guards as she ran. The drowsiness she'd felt after waking up had disappeared completely, replaced by a frantic determination.

She turned a corner and found herself in the entrance hall. The elevator doors gleamed coldly at the other end. She didn't even pause to look at them. Her eyes roved instead over the rows of doors on either side until she caught the glint of green lettering that told her there was someone behind that door. She hurried over.

But then the same harsh, lilting scream from before halted her in her tracks. The sound made her uncomfortable, and it was clear that some of the group felt the same. The people squeezed a little closer together as they moved forward.

The screech sounded again, and she went rigid for just a moment. She shook her head and went on with her job, unlocking five more doors and adding five more people to her ever-increasing group.

Then she came to the only door that could possibly be the source of the ragged shrieks. There was only one more occupied cell along the whole hall, and it was much too far away. Her finger hovered above the keypad.

Do I really want to unlock this door?

She shook off the uneasy feeling and her finger flew over the keys. The light flashed green. There was another scream, but it suddenly cut off as the lock disengaged.

She pushed the door open slowly. For the first time that she had seen, the lights inside the room were not turned on, and she felt as if she was stepping into an abyss. Her skin crawled.

She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. She blinked rapidly. She didn't want to go into a pitch-black room with someone who was most likely crazy. But then again, she couldn't just leave an innocent person to die just because she was a coward.

Oh well, it's now or never.

She squeezed her eyes shut as she plunged into the darkness, her blood turning to ice.