Young Writers Society

Lasan nodded in agreement. "It shouldn't take too long to get to the other rooms," the lizard said. "If this place hasn't been touched in the last few decades, I don't think anything's going to happen in the next few minutes." He set a scaly hand on the back of his neck. "You know, hopefully."

"There is always the possibility that we will trip some kind of fail-safe or alarm," Briar said absently, tucking her makeshift lockpicks into her pocket.

"I would rather hope for an alarm," Nubes said. "A failsafe could actually stop us, but I doubt there is anyone alive who might do something about the alarm and impede us."

"And we've got weapons and fists in case we do trip any failsafes," Lasan said.

Ryder scanned the area around them.

"I know this probably isn't my world, but I don't see anything that resembles a trap from where I come from," he said. "I don't if the rest of this place is like that or not, but I'll keep an eye out for anything that looks familiar."

Briar nodded and gestured for them to take the lead.

Traps didn't seem likely, but then, she wasn't from here. This was a scientific facility, a fail-safe all its own. To put a trap in here was to put the residents in needless danger. Still, she had no plans to stop being cautious.

Walking up to the door of interest, the lizard tugged at the handle. Yep, it was locked.

"Want to pick the lock, or can I just break it?" Lasan said, looking back at Briar.

She thought for a moment, "I don't think it will matter if you just break it."

There were plenty of other locked doors to hide behind if worst came to worst. This one wasn't going to change anything.

Nodding, the lizard set his scaly hands on the handle, leaned against the door, and pressed down.

The lock didn't budge, but it did make a strange grinding noise. That was all the motivation needed for Lasan to try again, and again, and again. And, after the fifth try, he heard a satisfying snap! - the door creaked inwards.

Lasan used his tail to push it back towards the wall as he stepped into a much more crowded metal room. An enormous fan stood at the center of the room, humming as it created a gust of wind that funneled into metal shafts. The shafts stretched towards the walls, covering them.

"So that's the wind," Lasan yelled over the roar of the fan. He pointed to some of the metal shafts. "I wonder if those lead to the other bunkers?"

Ryder wandered in after Lasan, ignoring the loud hum of the fan as he inspected the metal shafts. He peered into one. It was too hard to tell from outside of it if Lasan's guess was right, but it did seem like it would make sense.

"It probably does," he shouted back.

Briar lost interest in the air conditioning rather quickly. Instead, she examined the other doorways, trying to guess what was behind them.

A place like this ought to have a lab of some kind, what did that place look like after so long of leaving whatever chemicals they used alone and untended? Were there any ongoing experiments when whatever happened killed the scientists? Did whatever happened have something to do with what they were doing here?

The lizard made his way back to the entrance, gently nudging Nubes out of the way. As strange as the room was, it didn't look like there was much there. No bodies, no signs of life, nothing that told him where exactly he was.

"Where should we go next?" Lasan said, looking back at the others. "The door to the left, or the door to the right?"

Briar stepped back into the room and frowned, "I don't think it matters," she said, "There's no way of knowing what we'll find behind either until they're open."

"If that's the case," Ryder said, rejoining the group, "then I think we should pick right."

"Right it is," Lasan said, walking out into the hallway. He headed to the door in question, breaking its lock like he had done with the last door.

This time, he found himself in a yet another hallway. Nothing notable about it, except for the door at the other end and the clear glass window to one side.

The lizard set the tip of his snout against the glass - just a little warm. On the other side, what might've once been bushes, flowers, and trees had been crammed into every square inch of a small room. Lights glowed yellow over the flora, while the ground had been covered in mud and traces of water.

Oh, and all the flora was dead.

Lasan stared into the mass of brown leaves, bent stems, pale tree trunks, and what might've once been fruit. "Is there anything alive here?" he mumbled, shaking his head slightly.

Briar walked through the door and stared at the dead plants, trying to identify them.

"If my earlier estimation is correct, the only things that could survive independently in an environment like this would potentially be viruses, mold, or invasive species," she said absently to answer his question.