Countdown (Part I)

Nazari had finally managed to break through the hacking program's barrier and enter the control room. It had taken a while for him to crack open the coding behind the program, but now that everything was resolved in the fastest way possible, he was glad to finally gain the possibility of finding his most favourite child's whereabouts. He wasn't the least bit worried over the fact that some unknown individual had accessed his facility, for he blindly believed in his abilities to capture him before anything of grave consequences affected his project. His only worries lied on the safety of the escaped child, the most vital part of his study, his goddess of luck.

- You, - he pointed to the youngest of the assistants, -check and see if the main power source is back on. We can't have the whole laboratory functioning supported only by the reserve generator.

- On it sir, -he replied, rushing towards the back of the room.

The control room, of which the entire floor consisted of, was a completely open space surrounded in all four corners by large computers and monitoring screens, with numerous wires spread across the iron covered floor. In the middle of the room stood a large rectangular table, with sheets of paper covering its whole surface, while in the back were two large generators which empowered the facility. Due to the sudden infiltration in the system, the main generator had momentarily shut down, so the job was now left only to its substitute.

- The power's back on, sir, -the assistant reassured.

- Great. Now to find my dear child…The device is not responding. Whoever blocked the system response must have interfered with the signal too. Our little visitor knows what he's doing. There's one smart intruder we have in our midst gentlemen.

- Damn it, as if we had nothing else to do, now we have to run after some mole, –yelled the youngest.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Nazari approached in a rush and slapped him across the face, with a grim look on him. Immediately after, he returned to his normal calmness and started speaking in a reproaching tone:

- Swearing is bad. Don't do that again. I really can't stand people who swear you know? She always told me to stay away from such individuals. I hope you don't make me forced to fire you. You don't want that, do you?

- No, sir…- he replied, trying to hide his anger.

- Very good then. I'll be right here working on regaining the lost signal. I need you two to go upstairs and check around the corridors for the child. There is nowhere to hide around here so I expect you to find her without any delay. And when you find her, make sure she's unharmed. I can't allow anything to happen to my dear child now, can I?

- We'll be on our way then sir, -said the other assistant, pushing forward the youngest, who was still enraged by the slap he had received, which he made sure to express as soon as they were far enough not to be heard.

- Swearing is bad he says. Psychopath. Who does he think he is? A saint? I so want to erase that stupid smile off his face. I should've thrown a punch back at him.

- You need the pay, don't you? We all do for one reason or another. So just grit your teeth and bear it. How long do you think I've been here? I've seen people turn back at him, and the end wasn't pretty. He might look delicate, but he's hell strong, trust me. Forget about it. All we need to do is find the kid. Then everything will go back to normal.

- As if there's anything normal about this place!

- Well, you're right about that. Enough complaining now, move along.

…

00:27:17

Renasa and I had managed to sneak up the fifth floor without any problems, and we were now looking around for the pain relievers. The room was dimly lit and the enormous supply of cabinets made it harder to tell which medicine was which.

- Found it. Drink this. There's no water here so just swallow it as it is.

- Ugh, it's bitter, -she said with an uncomfortable look on her face, as she barely managed to swallow the pill.

- Great, now wear these, -I passed her a pair of old rain boots I had previously found in one of the lower cabinets. -They're a bit big, but you'll have to make do with these.

I then grabbed a few bandages and secured them in one of my coat's pockets along with the packet of leftover pills. Now everything was ready for us to escape that hellish place.

- Let's move along now. Make sure to always stay behind me.

- Ok.

The way down to the fourth floor was as easy as it had been when we had first come up. The real trial would only begin from now on. We were back on the so familiar view of the iron corridor, running straight ahead, passing through numerous closed doors where the other subject laid. I didn't have the courage to look around. I couldn't. For if I would, I'd begin thinking of all the children hiding behind those doors, all the children trapped in that nightmare, whose smiles he had stolen, whose sun he had stolen, whose lives had been turned to nothing but a dream, a never ending dream with no escape. No forgiveness could be given to someone who had dared to shatter and shredder all their freewill. He had turned them all to his puppets, whom he could control as he pleased without any regard. I had promised myself I'd do anything to stop that, to save those children and prevent others from ending up as the replacement of all the ones who had lost their lives in his hands. I was finally closer than I had ever been to fulfilling that promise. If only I managed to get out. No, I had to get out. Or everything would be over.

00:19:45

We had just reached in front of the room where we first met, when I heard the subtle sound of approaching footsteps.

- This way, -I whispered as I pulled Renasa inside the room closing the door carefully, as quietly as possible.

- Wha…

- Shhh… Be quiet.

I raised my hand up to her mouth to stop her from making any sound, as the sound of the footsteps kept getting closer and closer. The sound got louder and as it approached the door we were hiding at, it stopped. I reached my other hand towards the pocket where I kept the syringe, ready to take it out at any opportunity, when the sound of the footsteps was heard again, this time heading towards the corridor we had just passed through. Then we heard the loud creak of the opening of one of the doors and just after the same creak signalizing its closure.

- It's okay now, we're safe, -I said as I removed my hand that was blocking her from speaking.

- Who was it? What if they find us? We need to leave right away. We need to…

- You know, I think I liked you better when you were silent.

- Ha-ha, real funny. I'm serious Gil, what if they come back?

- It must have been one of the assistants coming to check the subjects. Seeing as there's no one running around must mean he still hasn't entered the control room. We have to hurry down…

- Now what? -Renasa asked as a blipping sound interrupted my words.

- Great, I totally jinxed it. Now it's getting personal. She totally hates me.

- Who?

- The goddess of fate of course. I really have the worst luck possible.

- What happened?

- Someone must have broken through my hacking. The control system's accessible again, which means we're going to have people after us any moment now. We have to hurry before we're too late.

- How much time do we have left?

- Around 17 minutes.

- Can we make it? -she asked, wearing a worried expression on her face.

- We have to make it. Let's move now.

00:17:21

We stepped out of the room with utmost caution, as not to make our presence known, and kept going forward, while running straight to the end of the corridor. The scenery was left unchanging as the clock kept ticking, leaving us with less time with every passing second. We were slowly getting closer to our goal of escaping, but I couldn't wash away the premonition of something hindering our plan. And it turns out I was right to worry, for as soon as we reached the stairs going to the third floor, we heard voices coming our way.

- Gil, -Renasa whispered in a trembling voice while clutching my arm.

- Shhh, let's go back up quietly.

We slowly climbed back up the stairs and hid behind the wall leading to the corridor we had just passed. I could feel her whole body trembling right beside me and her heavy breathing made her anxiousness obvious, so I kept trying to calm her down.

- It'll be fine, I'm here with you. Trust me, we can do this.

Meanwhile the voices kept getting closer and closer and were now close enough for us to hear their conversation.

- Damn it, it still stings. I wouldn't stay here for even a second if it wasn't for the good money. No swearing! No swearing he says! To hell with him!

- Are you not tired yet? You've kept repeating the same sentence over and over ever since. Just punch the wall if you want to vent your anger, stop it with the complaining. I'm going up ahead.

- Oh, that's a good idea.

A loud noise was heard accompanied by someone's swears, then followed by the sound of approaching footsteps. I reached down my pocket for the syringe, fully prepared to use it this time, and as soon as the unknown man reached the turn of the stairs, I forcefully injected it on his torso. He fell to the ground as soon as the liquid was emptied out, but only after managing to alert the other behind him with his screams. There wasn't enough time to react, when he came up running almost immediately, throwing a punch which forced me to ground. He then tried going after Renasa, who stumbled down in fear and barely managed to escape his grasp. I took that chance to get up and grabbed the man by his throat, forcing him towards the wall. He kept trying to escape my grasp and like so, the both of us trying to push the other with all our strength, we struggled across the corridor for quite a while. As I saw that it was getting harder to keep his strength in check while trying to keep him away from where Renasa was standing, I had to make sure she moved to a safer area, where she wouldn't be affected by the aftermath of our brawling.

- Get away from here, Ren!

- I can't! –she screamed as she got up from the floor supporting herself in the wall behind her.

- Get out of here! Now!