Human One

20. Down The Chute

The darkness seems endless, a metallic smell filling my nose and cold metal against my skin as I continue to slide down the garbage disposal.

It's been about two minutes since I entered the chute, and I thought it would be over by now, but Max did say that it went down the whole mountain....which means it might take a few more minutes of being trapped in this darkness. Luckily, I'm not too claustrophobic, or I wouldn't be thinking this right now and would instead be throwing my breakfast up.

Suddenly, there's a ray of light ahead in the chute, and as I zoom towards it I wonder if it's an exit I can climb out of. Right when I slide past it, hands extending to grab onto the opening and hoist myself out, a bag of something is thrown on top of me, and I miss my chance, zooming past the opening in the top while struggling to shove the nasty bag that smells like rotten food off me.

"This can't get any worse", I huff out loud, finally managing to kick the bag in front of me.

Boy was I wrong.

My luck must be especially bad today, because in the next few minutes I pass by several different openings, and each one I tried to climb out of, only to be obstructed by a new bag of trash. The smell was horrible, and I didn't know how much longer I could last.

Finally the chute starts to slow, the slope becoming less and less steep. I lift my head, trying to see ahead, and thankfully I think I can see the opening based on the square of solid light up ahead.

I move my hands to the side of the chute, letting them slide over the metal before applying more force and bringing myself to a stop a few yards before the opening.

I switch myself around until I'm facing the opening and start to crawl, making my way towards the opening. Something hits my feet behind me, another bag of garbage most likely. I ignore it and keep moving forward and until I reach the exit, breathing a sigh of relief when the sunlight hits my face.

I'm so happy to escape that chute of terror that I don't even notice the large box beneath the chute until I'm falling into it, landing on piles of bags full of garbage.

I sigh, before starting to climb my way out of it, toppling over the edge of it and landing on my butt with a thump.

"Ouch." I mutter rubbing my bottom as I stand up. As if my butt wasn't already flat enough, now that had to happen.

I look around, seeing several large furnaces set up, but not a single Lightling around. Maybe it's their break time. I glance up at Mount Lux, squinting until I can make out the Villa at the very top, nearly invisible in the clouds. To think I was up there only a few minutes ago.

Focus Ashley, I reprimand myself, scanning the area once more. You have a person with murderous intent after you who knows that you're down here and will most likely be here any second.

Suddenly my eyes catch something in the sky, swooping through the clouds and descending from the mountain. 

It's a bird, my eyes make out, and most likely not any bird, but a certain Lightling in bird form that's making it's way here to greet me and send me off to the other side. Basically it's a killer bird.

I can't make out the bird's color, but I can imagine it's orange feathers based on the eyes I saw back in the Villa. 

Cato......yeah he always struck me as the murdering type.

I quickly move towards the jungle trees a few way, hoping he didn't spot me in the few seconds it took me to get beneath them. He'll be arriving shortly, and there's no way I can get back into Lucem Villa without him spotting me. Which means I'll have to go somewhere else.