4 Episode 1: The beginning and the ending (3)

I walked into the room and saw a timid girl lying on the ground.

Coffee coloured hair with a slight fringe wearing a yellow v-neck off shoulder jumper and light stone coloured trousers.

There were no signs of bleeding but the room was noticeably messy.

Looking around, I saw two windows facing into the open area within the building; one in the kitchen and one in her room.

I chucked a saucepan at the kitchen window. It shattered and the saucepan fell into the green bushes below.

A brief moment later, I suddenly hear a lot of loud footsteps coming from the window. The soldiers were running down the stairs. I quickly approached the girl.

"Hey, hey, wake up! Are you alright?" I said as I shook her slightly.

"Ugh..." she muttered as she opened her eyes. She slowly blinked a couple of times before asking, "who... how'd you-"

She rose her voice. "Are you with those people outside?!"

"Wha- you mean those soldiers? No I'm not!"

"Let go of me!"

"Wait shh-" as I covered her mouth.

"Mmm... mmm!"

I looked around and saw there was an area under the bed as expected. The room design was similar to my place I'm staying.

I let go of her, quickly opened the side of the bed frame and yeeted the luggage towards the door. She was stunned by the loud noise and started to feel dizzy again.

I reached out, took her hand and helped her under the bed. I shoved myself in after her and shut the door.

"Over here!" We heard in the distance as they marched towards us.

"This was the room we couldn't get into."

The soldier pushed and banged the door, but it wouldn't open.

More soldiers started appearing. They searched the area and walked into room 2002 with their guns held up. One of the soldiers noticed the broken kitchen window.

"This must be what we hear earlier."

"Yes sir."

"Hm... did anyone pass by at the stairs?"

"No sir, all clear."

"Where did these sneaky rats go..."

It was dark and dusty.

Didn't they head down by using the elevators earlier? I'm sure each one can fit 10 people... how many soldiers are there?

We couldn't see much from the gap but we saw a soldier walking into room 2003. He searched around and opened the luggage I threw out. A breeze of dust came our way.

"Aa... choo!"

I hear a loud pitch sneeze. It hurt my ears.

The soldier stopped searching, closed the luggage and looked around. I looked at her and quickly covered her mouth and nose from the second wave of dust.

Suddenly the ground trembled restlessly resembling an earthquake.

"This area's not safe sir."

"Forget about the search, let's head to the next location."

"Yes sir." They all said.

They marched away down the stairs.

We were lucky. We would of been discovered if she sneezed again. I was relieved but she suddenly bit on my hand.

"Ouch!"

"Let go of me!"

She pushed the door open and wiggles her way out. I followed her and pat myself clean from the dust.

"Hey... you got a little..." I said to her as I pointed to the side of her hair.

She patted her hair and turned away, "Hmph!"

"...you're welcome," I said.

I looked at the door behind her. It doesn't seem like anything was blocking it. In fact, there was nothing there that I could see.

"That's... did you do that?"

"Do what?" She said with an annoyed voice.

"How'd you block the door?"

"...just this and that..." she said quietly.

"This and that?"

"Yes, you see this?" She pointed.

There were thick ropes running around the top and the bottom of the door. They were connected to the bathroom door. She made a contraption that when one door opens, the other one closes.

"But.. that doesn't explain how the front doors kept shut...?"

"..."

She looked at me, then looked at the mini fridge.

"Ah..." I realised that the mini fridge was holding the bathroom door open.

"I hope you don't get billed for this," I giggled.

"..." she looked a bit flushed and turned away again.

"Alright, alright, you did well, sorry for what I said okay? Let's get out of here. I still have a place to visit..."

"Ah... okay."

She looked around and gathered some stuff into her bag.

I looked at my watch, 10:28 am. It's only been around 20 minutes since I left uni. I have to hurry. I need to find out what the hell is going on.

* * *

There were some useful things in the room next to hers. Amongst the items I found, the Swiss Army knife with cute cat stickers was one of them.

There was also energy bars scattered on the floor.

It seems like the owner of this room was a fan of cute things and frequently visited the gym. Where could she of gone? Or rather, where could all these people go?

I took a peak at her. She's the only one still here...

"Are you ready?" I asked.

She was holding her bag and nodded.

We left the room through room 2002 and headed to my original destination, room 2020.

* * *

As we walked down the hallway, we noticed more and more debris filled the area. She was nervous and stayed behind me the whole time. I wasn't feeling too great either, I was still trembling slightly.

We arrived. In front of us was a wide open door and a trashed room.

We walked into the room. I scanned the area for Janda but he wasn't here. I thought maybe he would be hiding but he was no where to be seen.

The broken monitor kept flashing and the desktop beside it was pried open. The hard drive was missing.

I banged my fist on the table and sighed.

"Are... you alright?"

"...Janda is not here."

"What?"

"My friend... Janda is not here. I was late."

"Oh..." she quietly said.

She reached out her arm but retracted soon after. She turned away and looked at the room.

*Beep*

"Hm?" I looked around.

*Beep*

The screen turned on. It wasn't flashing anymore but he was there. Janda was in the screen.