At The Hub, Aria didn’t waste any time picking a route. She aimed for the one hallway where she knew the Carpathians weren’t likely to search: the forbidden hallway. She risked a glance behind her to make sure the rest were following. They were all keeping up easily so far. She ran deeper into the corridor just as the lights flicked on. These weren't the normal dim ones either, on this time things had been turned up to full brightness.
It was blinding. Aria had never seen the lights become quite that bright ever before. She could barely see what was in front of her. Adding to that was the fact that she was slowly starting to get winded from all the running. She imagined the rest of them couldn’t be much better off. They had to find some kind of tunnel or room or something to duck into or they were going to get outrun.
“Look for a door,” she said, taking a small risk as she raised her voice to make sure everyone heard her.
“There,” said Harry, almost immediately and she skidded to a stop, turning backwards. Blinking furiously to try and make her eyes focus properly, she made her way blindly towards the area that Harry was pointing at. She saw Daisy and Kate, do the same, Kate leaning against Daisy for support, clearly almost out of breath. Her eyesight soon cleared enough for her to finally see it.
“Open it,” she ordered.
Harry tried the door, shaking the handle furiously a few times before turning to them and shaking his head.
“Everybody get back,” said Ryan quickly, raising his iron bar. Harry got the message and ducked out of the way as the bar whacked into the door handle with a loud screech as metal rubbed against metal. Ryan took a deep breath and whacked it again. And again. The handle finally gave away on the fifth smack. Taking a couple of steps back Ryan drop kicked the door, sending it flying inwards as Ryan himself fell onto his back. Harry helped him get to his feet.
“Let’s move,” said Aria, giving Ryan an appreciative nod,” you guys go first.” Harry and Ryan staggered inside as Aria moved to help Daisy with Kate who definitely seemed to be feeling the effects of their sudden burst of speed.
Aria looked down into the corridor that the kicked in door had now revealed. From what Aria could tell it was the beginning of some sort of tunnel. There didn’t appear to be any lights on inside. Aria had no idea what was down there, but she knew it couldn't possible be any worse than what was behind them.
“I know we’re all very much out of breath, but we can’t afford to stop quite yet,” said Aria, keeping her voice calm as the herself tried to take stock of the situation,“ let’s keep moving as fast as we can.”
They made their way inside, being careful to step over the door that Ryan had kicked in. It was much slower going than before but they stumbled their way towards the darkness as fast as they could. The darkness seemed oddly comforting for maybe the first time in Aria's life.
She could feel that they were moving down some kind of slope. The tunnel was clearly leading down. Down to where, Aria couldn’t even begin to guess. As far as she knew only ancient storage rooms lay beneath the camp, but that was for the regular ares. The forbidden area could lead to some kind of secret alien lab for all she knew. No human had ever made it in and out alive.
Once they were far enough down that the light from the corridor outside no longer illuminated them, she called for a stop.
“Let’s all take two minutes,” said Aria, knowing the other four would need a break if they didn't want to collapse from overexertion,“ but only two minutes. We have no idea where the guards are. If they come this way, there’s no way they’re not going to spot the door.”
She leaned against the wall to catch her own breath, now that the immediate fight or flight situation was over.
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