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Survival: The Escape, Chapter 15.5

by KateHardy


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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Tue Nov 02, 2021 1:07 pm
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MailicedeNamedy wrote a review...



Hi Harry,

Mailice here to finish the chapter with a short review! :D

That's a great ending to the chapter. In any case, in this chapter I think Aria deserves the medal for competent leadership. :D I was quite amazed about that throughout the whole chapter, and here again, but it developed into something new during the reading, where I realise that Aria is also a bit stubborn in parts and wants to show that she has something going for her, similar to Harry. Maybe she wants to impress her mother or her brother, that's still something where I'm unsure and where exactly her motive lies. (I definitely would have liked to see Harry in a leadership position there too).

In this chapter, you've laid one tension stone after another, which has led to the fact that we're now in a rather shaky point, where I don't know how much longer this will go on. I think you've still got it all figured out though, I'm just unsure where this is going to take me. :D

I think the actual real problem I keep noticing is the constant repetition of "to say". But I like here that you tried to add in some new terms, like adjectives, so it doesn't seem so monotonous. Definitely a small step in the good direction! :D

I liked how in this part everything settles down a bit, so we can also mentally prepare for the next chapter. In summary, it was a great chapter. I liked it a lot, especially because of Aria's performance.

Have fun writing!

Mailice




KateHardy says...


Thank youu for the review!! :D



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Mon Nov 01, 2021 8:57 am
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ForeverYoung299 wrote a review...



Hey! Forever here with a review!!

A lot of things happened in this chapter. It was quite a journey
from peace to trouble. I am amazed by the fact that the Carpathians were so distracted and didn't manage to catch up with the team. Like everything is in their favour and still they couldn't catch these people. They couldn't even see five people going inside the hallway even in the blinding light. It's definitely a bit strange and relieving at the same time. Well, quite some revelations there. I don't think we ever saw the forbidden hallway before. At least I can't recall. It's again a bit strange that the hallway is forbidden and there are no guards in there. Like on one hand, the aliens appear to be so concerned about security and on the other hand, they appear to be very careless when it comes to the same. It's just a bit inconsistent but I think it exposes their nature.

Wow. So, the aliens don't think of the humans at all. Like I thought that the power of the lights has decreased and is never going to increase but seems like that is not the case. They have made arrangements for everything. When they need, they will do everything and nothing for the humans. Ah that is kind of brutal and a bit selfish too.

I do wonder how they are really getting everything they need for them. For what did Ryan keep the iron bar with him? I do wonder about it. A person will not keep an iron bar without a reason. Also, why couldn't the aliens here anything? I mean from the descriptions, I assume there were terrible sounds. The aliens are half-deaf. That can be a reason. Still, they should hear something at least.Perhaps they couldn't hear because of their own noises and shouts.

Now with the tunnel. hm.. The absence of lights made me think a bit about it. If it really belonged to the aliens and moreover, if it were in use, the lights should have been there.I don't know maybe the lights were turned off. However, if the lights were actually not there, I do doubt if the tunnel belonged to the aliens. Perhaps, the tunnel was actually constructed by the humans. The area appears to be quite forbidden and most probably, that was the reason why the humanity constructed the tunnel there. I wonder why the hallways was actually forbidden.

And now is the most interesting part. Where they are going to go. If they somehow reach some alien labs or storage rooms, there is a great probability that they will discover something that the humanity doesn't know. I don't think the alien will pay attention to the storage rooms and labs when their security is in danger.

Overall, this chapter was a good one. I do want to know how they reallly got the tools when they needed. Was it coincidental? Aria seems to know a lot about the passages, not to mention, more than Kate, perhaps.

Keep Writing!!!

~Forever




KateHardy says...


Thank youu for the review!! :D



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Sun Oct 31, 2021 4:33 pm
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RandomTalks wrote a review...



Hey Harry!

RandomTalks here with a short review!

So we are at the end of chapter 15. Well, we have certainly come a long way. And considering that they have not escaped yet, I have a feeling that maybe the first book is simply going to be about the escape and in the next one in the series we are going to learn about what happened after the escape? Not sure, though.

I really like the way you keep building on the suspense. You usually maintain quite a fast pace in your stories, and I have to say, it works very well with this particular world you have created. Because they are always on the move, because something or the other is always happening, we are walking through this whirlpool of events and actions that our characters are going through. We feel their nerves, their fear, their anxiety and their steel determination, but then we are moving again for the next adventure.

As for the plot, its moving along quickly now. I am not very sure about the layout of their camp, but since Aria mentioned that they are running towards the Hub, I am going to guess that they are currently moving away from the door that's supposed to be their way out of there. The "forbidden hallway" reminded me a bit of the "forbidden third floor corridor" in Harry Potter. I am sure the aliens are not hiding three-headed giant dogs behind their closed doors (are they?), so moving on. Aria mentioned that the storage rooms lay beneath the camp. It was an interesting detail, but I don't think that's it. I can come up with several interesting theories about what it is, but I know I don't have the patience for that. I am just going to take a peak into the next part. (Very convenient, I know).

For the first time, we got to see Ryan in action. Well, his massive size must lend its certain benefits in necessary times like these. I was a little curios about why Aria thought the aliens would not follow them here. If it is a restricted area, shouldn't it be more heavily guarded? And what's preventing them from coming in there?

A few tiny nitpicks:

It was much slower going than before

I think you can rearrange the sentence here into, "It was going much slower than before".

but that was for the regular ares.

A small typo here. It will be 'areas.'

That's all!

Keep writing and have a great day!




KateHardy says...


Thank youu for the review!! :D

Hmmm yeah, pretty much that's the plan :D Book 2 will be the plan after the plan xD....if they get out that is ;)

Ohh...Aria just thought the aliens would not expect them to go that way because its supposed to be dangerous and restricted. :D

Thanks again!!




Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.
— Francis Bacon