One Bright Spot

Chapter 9

Drowning:

I do everything in my power to drag my feet so the boys would have a chance to catch up.

My captor manages to drag me up the stairs and onto the elevator. Just before the doors close, I hear thundering footsteps of my calvary coming up the stairs. "Kota!" I shriek.

"Shut up", the captor hisses at me. Of course, I don't listen to his suggestion.

"Ethan! Josh! Theo! He-" He clamps his hand over my mouth. 

"I told you to shut up!" I try to speak through the muffler, but to no avail.

The doors are closed and the elevator innocently takes us upward.

He shoves me towards the wall. I am not ready for it, so I end up smacking my head off of it. The blow sends a jolt of pain through my skull. I stumble until I regain my balance.

It feels like forever that we are in the elevator. We're going to the second or fifth floor. I can't tell which one, but surely we would have been there by now.

Then it dawns on me: What if there are more than the ten floors, not including the two levels underground? The '2' and '5' together could stand for '25' or '52'! There could be 250 levels or 520 levels!

The elevator finally stops and when the doors open, I am greeted with a concrete hallway. It is maybe ten or twelve feet high. There are lights hanging on the wall every five feet or so on either side of the hall. There are lights hanging on the wall every five feet or so on either side of the wall.

He shoves me out, sending another jolt of pain through my head. Something warm slides down the side of my face. I lift my hand up to it and when I pull it away, there is blood. Blood does not make me queasy or squeamish, but the loss is making me a little light-headed.

He jerks me roughly down the way, leading me around a turn in the hall. It is a dead end with door like you would find on a submarine or on a navy ship.

"Where are we?" I ask. My voice echoes throughout the bunker type place.

"Well, I guess it won't matter that I tell you", I can just detect a hint of an accent in his voice,"Since it'll die with you." On the inside, I am freaking out; on the out is what I hope is a calm, collected look.

"We are inbetween levels 5 and 6, just one of several secret floors in this building. Many of them contain air craft. Others contain arsenals of guns ranging from your average hand held to your missile launchers."

Maybe if I can keep him talking, I can wrestle his gun away from him.

"Then, of course, the very top floor is special."

"Special how?" I ask, somewhat genuinely interested.

"Since you won't get to see it, I'll tell you. There's a secret door that leads you to a portal that takes you to another world. It is full of past trainees, like yourself, who are just waiting for the director to give them orders. All she has to do is say the word and they'll be marching into Crelis. They'll take it, or die trying. And if they fail, she'll send in a new squad until she wins or the Crelisians surrender."

We reach the door and he lets go of me with one hand and turns the wheel, keeping his gun trained on me. Did he never learn?

"What does she want with this world she's after?" I ask to keep him talking.

He turns to me,"Diamonds. Millions and millions of diamonds. They're underground, so she's getting you all used to being underground, for when you go digging for them. Get it?"