Chapter 16
We Play Hide and Seek with Death
[Daisy]
“Let’s move,” said Aria, “time’s up.” Daisy nodded. She was far from ready to be running again but at least she wasn’t gasping for breath anymore. And most importantly, they really could not afford to wait round. Helping Kate to her feet, Daisy started after Aria, the boys behind them.
Kate’s face was flushed pink from exertion and she was still out of breath. Daisy had discovered a whole new level of respect for the girl from the past few minutes. At first glance, it had looked like she’d crack under the pressure but despite the fact that she was clearly very far out of her comfort zone, she hadn’t complained and kept pushing on, even though she looked like she was barely able to put one foot in front of the other by the end of that extended running session.
The two of them jogged to keep up with Aria’s rapid walk as they descended down into who knows where. The slope downwards was getting noticeably steeper the further they went and if it got any worse they could probably use it as a slide. Daisy laughed at the thought. Harry would definitely be down for that. Although he was probably the only one that would go along with an idea as crazy as that.
“What are…you…you laughing at?” whispered Kate, in between breaths.
“Hey, try not to talk too much,” said Daisy, before realizing how that must have sounded. “Sorry if I came off as rude, but talking can make it take longer for your breathing to become normal again. Oh and I was just imagining something. Don’t worry about it.”
Kate simply smiled in reply. She flashed her a quick thumbs up which hopefully meant that she had accepted the explanation and was not mad. Daisy winked in return.
The rest of their trek passed in near complete silence, without just the occasional grunt to break it up. As they’d continued along, Daisy could feel the smooth metal walls around change to rougher brick. It was a weird feeling on her hand, having never felt anything besides smooth metal on a wall but it wasn’t an unfamiliar one. She’d been down to the museum several times and run her hands along the ancient section of brick wall on display. The brick surrounding them at the moment felt a little more organized that the artefact, with no signs of chipping and a smooth almost machine like finish. She assumed this was probably the Carpathians imitating the human techniques, either that or the sample they had in the museum was an older less machined variety.
As they continued even further down, she had her answer with the brick turning to the rougher finish that she remembered from the museum. That was definitely man made. Confirming that theory were the occasional bumps that her hand passed over. They felt like smooth glass, and they were hot to the touch. It was almost certainly old fashioned human lighting.
“Well, that’s interesting,” said Aria, breaking her from her thoughts.
Daisy looked to see what they had come to a stop in front of. It was a set of double doors, made of what looked to almost be wood, although Daisy couldn't be sure with the darkness surrounding them, the old lights set into the wall not being lit up. Daisy figured she should be happy about that. It meant the aliens didn't expect them to have come down here.
“Do you know those are human-made walls?” asked Kate.
“I figured," said Daisy, "I've seen things like this before in the museum."
“Ahh, awesome, these are pretty amazing,” said Kate, “I wish those old lights were on too, they have such a nice cool feel to them. The lighting the Carpathians use are just horribly depressing compared to that.”
“Hmm, so you think that maybe we're at some old human hideout?” asked Daisy.
“Or they just forced humans to build it,” said Aria, probably having overheard the conversation,“not trying to spoil the mood, but that is more logical.”
“So is that door locked?” asked Harry, moving in from behind. Letting the change of subject slide, Daisy took a step back as the siblings moved to inspect the door.
“I didn’t quite get around to trying the lock yet,” said Aria, “why don’t you do the honors?”
Harry stepped forward and gave the door a gentle push. As he did that, a large shriek filled the air. Daisy turned. A faint white light was visible off in the distance. Something was coming down after them.
“Guess they checked that hallway after all,” said Aria.
“Well that's the bad news, but the good news is: the door’s unlocked,” yelled Harry as the large wooden doors swung open, the clicking of old machinery barely audible over the sound of scraping claws starting to fill the air.
“RUN,” yelled Aria, “hopefully there’s some place to hide down there.”
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