Unfamiliar Feelings (Krusie) Ongoing

Chapter 35

Susie wanted to call out for anyone that could be down there, but at the same time, she was too nervous to make a sound. She aimed her flashlight around every corner to make sure there wasn't anything that could attack her. All she found were a bunch of rooms in one long hallway. "Great." She mumbled. "I don't even know if I should be down here." She entered one of the rooms coming off of the hallway. It was an office with two lockers in it. Susie walked over to the lockers and opened them. Just pencils and a lab coat. Wait... lab coat... Maybe this is the right place. She walked over to the aged computer and tried to turn it on. The fans spun for a second, and then it stopped. "Hm." She looked in the drawers and didn't find anything useful. Just some dude's glasses. She left the room and continued down the hall. The next couple of rooms were just filled with files. She looked inside of them, but nothing seemed important. 

After almost five minutes, Susie got to the end of the hall. She slowly opened the door, shining her flashlight inside. It was a giant spiral staircase. It took Susie a minute to walk down. She finally made it to another room, filled with a bunch of computers and buttons. There was a huge window to the next room above the computers, but the glass was too dusty and dark for her to see through with a dim flashlight. She looked around the room and saw a barrel in the center with a bunch of burned paperwork inside of it. Why is everything here so secretive? These computers look nothing like anything I've ever seen back home. She picked up some of the lesser burnt papers from the ground and tried to read what she could. A... regulation failure? What does that even mean? Shutdown... Facilities... Illegal... they don't... "Ugh. I can't read this. Susie tossed it back on the ground, breaking some of the charred pieces off as it hit the floor. She got to the door that leads to the other side of the glass. 

Authorized Personnel Only.

She looked down at the door handle. The keys were already inserted. She turned the handle and went inside. The room felt very ominous. "Hello?" Of course, no one replied. She made her way into the open space and saw a bunch of goggles and labcoats on the floor. What the fuck happened here? She walked around and inspected the tables. Again, they all looked like they were set on fire at one point. There was another barrel in the center of the room. "Weird." She paused. "They have to have lab... materials... or honey somewhere." She looked around the room. "Why would honey be here, anyway? Guess I'll keep going." Susie continued into a room that was filled with shelves and drugs. "Bingo." 

Susie searched all of the shelves. She picked up a jar. What is this? A paste? She put it back on the shelf and continued searching. She began to doubt herself. Susie wanted Kris to be okay, so she didn't give up. "There has to be something here." She got to a section where the shelves were closed off by glass doors, and they all had jars filled with strange liquids. Half of the bottles said things Susie couldn't understand. There it is. How do I open the door? Susie tapped the glass and it shattered. The sudden loud noise shocked her. "Okay then." She grabbed the honey and made her way out of the room. The longer she was in there, the scarier it was. Something moved out the corner of her eye. Susie froze. "Wait... that's just a rat." Susie rolled her eyes at herself and continued up the spiral staircase, and the hallway after it. 

She went up the second staircase without a moment of hesitation. "Thank God, I'm out." She looked up. "Damn, it's really dark." Susie decided to jog back to the castle because she would personally not enjoy getting eaten by a giant. As she jogged through the gate, she checked her pockets for the plant. It was pretty strong, so it stayed intact. "Awesome." She put it back and ran onto the beach. "Hope none of those fuckers are around here." She looked around every bolder she passed just to make sure. She grinned and kept going. Jogging was super exhausting for her but she continued anyway. I need to work out more often. Almost there. The sand started getting soily and the further she got, the more grass she saw. Finally, she made it to the trees. Sometimes she'd hear buzzing noises, but would turn around and not see anything. "They probably learned to stay far away from me."