Aegis: Catalyst Grove (14 page)

Graham began to yell as he fell backwards, but the thud knocked the breath out of him instead.
 
The back of Graham’s head hit the concrete floor making him see stars.
 

Ailey jerked her head up to see Graham lying on the ground, then flung her head around looking at Kel with wide eyes.
 
Damien sat beside her with his mouth wide open.
 

“Was that you?!” said Damien, glancing in Kel’s direction.

Kel was just as shocked as anyone else.
 
“Graham!
 
Graham, are you ok?!
 
I’m sorry!
 
I don’t know what happened.”

Graham didn’t move.
 
He laid there with his legs dangling from the front of the chair, still in the seat.
 
His arms laid on the floor spread out at a 45 degree angle with the ropes still around his wrists.
 
Wooden debris was scattered all around him.

“Graham, please just say something!
 
I didn’t mean what I said.
 
I was just angry.
 
Please, get up!”
 
Kel was panicking.
 
She didn’t know if what just happened was even her fault, but she didn’t care at this point.
 
She just wanted Graham to be ok.

“Mmm, uhhh-oooo….my head.”
 
Graham groaned as he lifted his aching head up from the floor to look around.
 
“What the heck was that?”
 

“
No se, amigo
.
 
Your chair just exploded.”

“Ya don’t say.”
 
Twisting his body to the side, Graham put his hand on the ground letting his legs fall off the seat of the chair.
 
He pushed himself up on all fours then patted the back of his head with one hand, checking for blood.
 
He brought his hand back around to look, but there was nothing.
 
Fortunately the only thing that came from his tumble was a headache.

“Are you ok? asked Kel.

“I feel like a house was dropped on top of me.” Graham said.
 
He looked up at Kel with a small grin.

With a sign of relief, she smiled back.
 
“Well, at least you can click your heels now if you want.”

Graham stood up slowly as the pain in his back returned, coupled with new aches and pains from parts of his body he didn’t even know existed.
 
Graham patted down his chest, arms and legs, glad to see that everything was still in tact.
 

“Was that really you?
 
Can you make things explode?”

“No, I mean, I don’t think so.
 
I never have before.
 
I am just as surprised as you are.
 
It couldn’t have been me.
 
Maybe it is part of their sick little game.”
 

Kel was nervous.
 
She was trying to tell the truth, but she did not want everyone thinking she was some sort of freak, so she tried to shift the blame to their captors.
 
“Maybe there were small explosives built into the chair or something.”

“Why on earth would they do that?” asked Graham.

“I don’t know?
 
Why did they lure us to that house?
 
Why did they say we were going to be a part of something bigger, only to put black hoods over our heads and take us here?
 
Maybe they are just freaks who get off on scaring us.”

Graham didn’t want to believe that.
 
He would much rather believe that he could finally talk to someone else who could do things that were unexplainable.
 
At least that way, he would not be the only freak in the room.
 

“Well, whatever it was, I am free from those ropes.
 
We can figure out the details later.
 
Right now, we just need to get out of this room.”

“Agreed,” said Kel, with a silent sigh of relief.

“Yes, get us out of these things,” said Damien.

Graham shook the ropes from his legs and walked over to Damien.
 
Picking at the knot, he worked it loose from his right hand.
 
Flinging his hand free, Damien frantically began to tug at the other knot holding his left arm down.
 

Seeing that Damien was more than able to free himself now, Graham walked over to Kel.
 
He reached out to untie the first knot.
 
She looked back up at him and met his eyes.
 

“Hey, I’m glad you are not hurt.
 
Really.”

“I wouldn’t say that I am not hurt,” said Graham.
 
“But thanks.”
 

Pulling the rope free, he began working on the other knot, giving Kel the ability to work on the ropes at her ankles.
 
Figuring Kel would want to be the one to help Ailey, he walked over to the long window looking into the hallway for any sign of Chase or Cavaness.

“The coast is clear for now, I think.
 
It is hard to see with the lights flickering like that.
 
We need to find a way outside.
 
I was out when they shocked me, so I have no idea how far they moved us.
 
Do any of you know?”

“No, I was out cold,” said Damien.
 

“Me too,” replied Kel, as she continued working at Ailey’s ropes.
 

Ailey looked up at Graham and shook her head side to side.

“Well, I guess we will have to play it by ear then.”

Grabbing hold of the door knob, Graham turned it so he could peak out into the hallway to see how to move forward.
 
As the knob finished it’s turn, the flickering lights went dim, and the siren above the door activated in flashes of red light.
 
The piercing sounds of a horn screamed through the room making everyone cup their hands over their ears, flinching in reaction to the loud scream of the siren.

“OH NO!
 
We have to get out of here now!” screamed Graham.

Kel tore at Ailey’s ropes with such intensity that her fingers were turning red.
 
“Come on, come on!”
 
She wanted so badly to cover her ears.
 
The alarm was so loud that she had a hard time concentrating on the knots, and the flashing of the red light was disorienting.
 

Damien ran over and bent down to work at the rope on Ailey’s other leg.
 
The knot was too tight to get out with his fingers, so he kneeled down and began to bite at it.
 
He jerked his head back and forth with the fraying rope clamped in his teeth until the knot gave way.
 
One by one, they got the knots untied, allowing Ailey to bolt up from the chair.
 
They all ran towards Graham like cattle as they poured out into the hallway.
 

With their heads on a swivel, they looked for their best escape route.
 
Graham led the pack.
 

“Stay right here while I check around the corner.”
 

He jogged down the hallway to the right until he reached the corner.
 
Placing his hands on the block wall, he eased his head around the wall to see if anyone was in pursuit.
 
Graham squinted his eyes, focusing on the hallway as red flashes of light rotated behind him.
 
With every flash, he focused intently on the stretch of hallway in front of him for any sign of Chase or Cavaness.
 
Satisfied for the moment, he then focused on the doors and windows, looking to see what his options were.
 
There were at least eight doors lining the hall, but they all appeared to be rooms like what they just escaped from.
 

Damien couldn’t stand still.
 
He had to do something.
 
He grabbed the door behind him and closed it.
 
As the door hit the jam, the alarm fell silent.
 
The red light continued to flash, but at least they could all take their hands off their ears.
 
Damien relaxed slightly, then jogged down the opposite stretch of hall from Graham to take a look.
 
He jogged about twenty more feet until he reached the point where the hall bent around the corner.
 

Getting down on his hands and knees, Damien thought his head would be less visible if it were near the floor.
 
He poked his head cautiously around the corner.
 
It was hard to see anything with the fluorescent lights flickering on and off as if they were in their lasts stage of life.
 
Damien’s eyes widened and his palms began to sweat.
 
He saw one large shadow and one skinny shadow grow as their owners turned the corner from the opposite end of the hall.

Damien pulled his head back so fast that it made him fall backwards.
 
Shuffling his hands and feet he moved back from the corner then turned around and stood to his feet.
 
Running past the girls, he didn’t stop.
 
He just kept saying, “
Vamos, vamos, vamos
!”
 

Ailey and Kel didn’t have to know what that meant.
 
They could see it in his intense expression.
 
They were not alone.
 
Damien ran up to Graham, grabbing him under the armpit, uprooting him from his crouched position.
 

“
Vamos, amigo!
 
They are not down here, they are back there!”

“What?”

“Chase and Cavaness are coming down the other hall!
 
Move it!”

Damien’s momentum lifted Graham almost completely off the floor, throwing him forward and around the corner.
 
They ran past the eight doors, quickly looking through each set of windows to see if they led outside, but they were all identical rooms to the one they just escaped from.
 
As they reached the final stretch, they saw a door at the end.
 
Beside the door was a little sign with a small line zigzagging in a downwards pattern.
 

“Stairs.”
 
Graham reached for the handle, but Kel grabbed his hand before he could take hold.

“Wait!
 
What if another alarm goes off?”

“”I don’t see where we have a choice.
 
This is the only way out.”

Quickly trying to weigh their options in her mind, Kel tightened her grip on Graham’s hand for a moment, then relaxed, letting his hand loose.

“Ok, your right.
 
It’s not like they don’t already know we are here anyway.
 
Let’s go.”

Graham faced the door and turned the knob, bracing his ears for another screech of an alarm, but nothing happened.
 
They all sighed a little, letting their muscles relax as they ran through the door.
 
Looking down the stairwell, Graham noticed that there was not a set of stairs going up.
 

“We must be on the top floor.”
 
We need to find a window so we can see outside and get our bearings.”

“We just need to keep moving,” said Damien.

Taking Damien’s advice, they all started down the stairs.
 
Approaching the next story down, Graham looked through the tall skinny window in the door to see what was on the other side.
 

“It is too dark.
 
I can’t see anything.”

“Then neither can they,” said Kel.

The sound of a creaking door from the story above made the decision easy.
 
Graham put his left hand against the wall beside the door as a brace so, that he could open it without making a sound.
 
It was a slow process, but he was able to open it silently.

Graham motioned the rest of them on.
 
They all ducked under his arm that held the door open.
 
Trying his best to hold the door perfectly still, he shuffled to the other side and eased the door back into place.
 
Just as the door closed, Graham saw two people come around the landing of the stairs.
 
He ducked quickly so that no one saw him.
 
Squat-walking like a duck, Graham waddled over to the others.
 
They did not have time to do anything else but sit there in the dark.
 
The footsteps clapped closer to the door until they could hear the two men talking on the other side.

A deep gravely voice spoke first.
 
“They couldn’t have gone far.
 
You take this door.
 
I will go down to the 1
^st
floor.
 
Branson and Murphy are on the other side.
 
I will radio in and tell them to do the same.
 
We will pin them in the middle.”

“Whatever you say boss,” replied Chase.
 

“Just do it,” commanded Cavaness.
 
The booms of his footsteps could be heard all the way down to the next floor.

Graham huddled closer to the others.
 
He could feel Kel’s leg up against his, and Damien’s shoulder met his on the other side.
 
Ailey curled up beside Kel, burying her face into her stomach.
 
They were pinned in the back corner of the room with no place to go.

“Whatever you do, don’t make a sound,” whispered Graham.
 

They were terrified.
 
They took deep breaths as they tried to steady their trembling hands.
 
They were completely exposed.
 
They had no time to run to a room, under a table, or even behind another wall.