We all need help | s a w

fifteen

The sky was dark and looming. A low cloud of fog was impairing her vision through the windshield. She drove with aggression, but not enough to get her pulled over. She couldn't get caught driving with a sling on, that would ruin her reputation. She knew what she was doing was dangerous, and she knew she shouldn't behind the wheel, but she had to do what she was going to do. After a few days of working from home, Kailey became curious as to what happened to David. Nobody else seemed to be wondering where he went, but she couldn't let it go. So instead of sitting home wondering, she did a private track of David's cell phone. Fortunately, he had it on him when he went missing. The results gave her a rogue address outside of the main city. She didn't share this information with Mark, and decided to take it into her own hands when he wasn't around.

So there she was, driving alone in the darkness. Her gun was laying in the passenger seat, and the radio was silenced. The only sound in her ears was her heartbeat and the sound of the car humming. She had been driving for twenty minutes, and she was just beginning to get close to where she needed to be. She took back road after back road until she started to see a building. When the dim light of a streetlamp revealed an old, beaten down house she knew she was at the right place. Remote enough that nobody would just stumble across it and try to explore. She parked her car by the door. It seemed to have some opened locks on it. Chains were dangling down onto the rotten wood porch. She held her gun pointed towards the ground, ready to fire at a moments notice. The door creaked open when she turned the knob. She held her gun into the emptiness, aiming at nothing but everything at the same time. She put her gun in the back of her pants and pulled out a flashlight.

Before she went inside, she looked around outside. There was nothing outstanding that would catch her attention, so she moved on. When she entered, she noticed a metal gate behind the door that was open. It looked heavy duty, like if someone were to be locked inside they would never get out. She noticed the grit of dirt under her shoes as she walked. She used a flashlight to allow her to see her surroundings. The first room she found was mostly bare, a radiator that was grimy and rusting stood in the corner. There was a trapdoor in the floor with a ladder attached to the wall it revealed below. She looked behind her, then started to climb down. Her body screamed at her to turn around and run away, but her determination made her descend down the rungs one at a time. She noticed a foul smell as soon as she let her feet hit the concrete floor. It looked like an industrial basement below the ordinary house. She shined her light on the walls. They were solid concrete with pipes running down them. She slowly made her way down the hallway, shining her light on every single thing she came across.

She didn't expect to find much, but when she turned the first corner she covered her mouth. The smell became stronger. It was a scent that you could associate with a crime scene. Her stomach dropped as she let her flashlight reveal the floor. Laying there was a body, old blood pooling around it. A mangled cry escaped her lips and a tear fell down her cheek. The face was familiar, but different. It was the body of David Tapp. She choked back a gag as she stepped over him. She wanted to go further, to see if she could find somebody or something else. She didn't have time to grieve yet. She walked quietly, not finding anything else until she came to the end of the hall. A large metal door. It wasn't a regular push/pull door, it was one you had to slide to open. She held the end of the flashlight in her mouth as she gripped the handle with her good arm and slid it open. A panicked gasp game from inside and she immediately pulled out her gun, clenching the end of the flashlight with her teeth.

"Help me," A voice called weakly from inside. She immediately put her gun away and her attention went to the back corner of the room. As it traveled, she noticed a few things. Her light revealed a large blood puddle in the middle of the floor, a dead body laying not far from it. it didn't seem like the blood came from that body, though. Her light went over the face of the dead man. It was the same person who had shot her. Next to the scene, another man was chained to a pipe, and he was sitting propped up against the wall, alive. "Please." He cried, weakly.