In Memoriam - An Unus Annus Fanfiction

06.12. - 12/06 - Mark and Ethan Attempt an Escape Room

»Unus?«

A few anxious moments of silence passed before he got a response.
»I'm here. Where are we?«

Annus squinted, trying to make out his surroundings.
An uncomfortable tingling stabbed his eyes when the room was suddenly lit up.
They were in what seemed to be a log cabin, but not quite. It was a singular room, with a locked door that led outside into a big front yard.

His blood froze when he heard the crack of static.
»Look who is back.« If felt as if Darks voice lowered the temperature of the room. »And you were so close to your room too!« The hint of a twisted smile seeped through his words.
»Look, I'm not a monster. The trap isn't active yet. You probably have fifteen minutes left before the hounds are released, if you understand.«

All color had drawn from Unus's face. His voice was a little more than a whisper.
»When need to get out of here.«
Annus kneeled down next to him. »Are you alright? You're shaking.«

Unus gulped and nodded. It looked less like a motion of agreement than one solely made for the purpose of reassuring oneself.
»Whe have to get out of here,« he repeated, less shaky this time. With Annus's help, he got up, wiping the dust from his suit.

»There must be a way out,« he said walking over to the coats hung up on the wall right next to the door.
He took his time inspecting every pocket of them, before triumphantly pulling out a small key.

He moved over to the front door as fast as he could, almost stumbling over his own feet.
Fumbling with the small iron key, he tried opening it. »Come on, come on, open damnit!« He muttered under his breath.

Annus shook his head, worrying about his friend. His behavior was strange, even for Unus. He seemed paranoid, afraid even.
While Unus was trying to get the lock open, Annus began investigating the room himself.

He noticed a metal plate in the wall underneath the coats. Pushing a heavy fur pelt aside, he revealed what he first thought to be a socket.
However, the metal plate could be pushed aside, revealing a small keyhole.

He called Unus over, and the key fit perfectly into the small opening. Something behind them clicked, and their heads spun around in unison.

Annus stood up slowly, one hand outstreched like closing in on a wild animal, approaching the freezer that stood behind them.
He gave the lid a tuck, and it opened.
The wall is rested on had been broken out, connecting the inside to a narrow tunnel.

»I'm not going down there.« Unus shook his head.
Annus threw him a pity smile. »I'm afraid you have to. There's no way that I fit.«

Hesitant, Unus leaned over the edge and peered down into the darkness. »Oh, I don't like this,« he whispered. »I think I see a head down there.«

»Its definitely no head,« Annus assured him, although he wasn't so sure of that himself.
In a sudden burst of bravery, Unus hoisted his leg over the edge, crawling into the tiny space.
Annus watched as he vanished into the darkness on all fours. The whole room seemed to hold it's breath in anticipation.
Thirty seconds passed, then one minute. He was beginning to worry.
»Unus? Are you alright?« He asked, speaking into the empty metal container.

He nearly jumped into the freezer when he heard a knock behind him. He spun around, and Unus's white face looked at him from the other side of the door.
With a big grin, he unlocked it from the outside, opening it up for Annus, bowing like a butler when he walked through.

»You scared the crap out of me.«
»Didn't know how else I could get your attention. I've never seen someone staring into a freezer with so much focus.«
Annus motioned for him to be silent. With a nod of his head, he directed Unus's attention to a large metal cage standing next to an old camper.

They carefully closed in on it, stopping in their tracks when they saw a motion. The dirty face of a woman appeared behind the bars.

»Is this another trick?« She asked with distrust in her voice. »Because that's not gonna work again.«
With his palms raised, Annus moved closer until he was face to face with her.
»We're not Dark and Blank. We've been caught by them as well.«

The black haired woman seemed relieved. »You need to help me outta here. They hooked me up to some kind of machine. Punched a needle in my arm.«
Annus's gaze fell upon the inside of her elbow, where a metal needle stuck out of a bad bruise.

»What can we do?« He responded, as calmly as possible.
She pointed at the camper. »I think you control it from there. They always go in there and send some drugs or something through my veins. Sometimes it's painful as hell, sometimes nauseating. Never pleasant.«

»I'll go check it out,« Unus said, already halfway inside.
»Hey don't just leave me here,« Annus yelled, following him. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about this whole situation.

Inside the camper was a station full of buttons. They were labelled with all kind of different chemical formula.
»I have no idea what any of these mean,« Unus confessed.

Annus shook his head. »Me neither. We can't just push them randomly, can we?«
Unus laughed and made a face. »Probably not.«

Something buzzed at Annus's leg. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the scarab he got from Marvin. It was glowing faintly, vibrating like a silenced phone.

He turned it in his hands, noticing a small gem just beneath it's head. He gave it a push, and the golden bug stopped vibrating.
»Hey it's me, Marvin the Magnificent. Can you guys hear me?«
»Yeah, we can hear you,« Unus spoke into the scarab phone.

»Oh, great. Listen, I know you're not in your room, right? Apparently Dark set up a trap, a pocket dimension not meant to escape. What do you see?«

Annus described the log cabin to him. »There's a woman in a cage out there. We think that she's another victim of Dark and Blank. She's hooked up to some kind of machine. They drugged her, we're currently trying to figure out how to turn that off.«

»What kind of drugs? Can you give me formulas?«
»There's C16H13ClN2O, which I never want to spell out again. Also C21H23NO5, and C9H13NO3. And last but not least C34H11ClO5.«

After a short moment of silence, Marvin asked him to repeat the last one.
»That's not a real formula,« he wondered. »Something's wrong.«

»What do you mean?« Annus asked.
»Something about this isn't right,« Marvin repeated. »How much time do you have left?«

Unus shrugged. »We had fifteen minutes. There's maybe six or so left.«
Annus shook his head. »It's less, I think. This is just a trick to stop us from escaping, right?«
»Yup,« Marvin verified. »Get the hell out of there.«

They both left the camper, trying to ignore the pleas of the woman. »You have to help me! Don't leave me here!«

Unus made an anguished face and shook his head. Annus pointed at the wooden gate, leading out of the yard. It was closed with a simple number lock, like you might find on a high schoolers locker.

»The wrong chemical,« Unus concluded. »Try 3-4-11-5.«
Annus rotated it, but the combination did nothing. They went back to the camper, to make sure they got it right.

After multiple failed attempts of using the numbers from the chemical formulas, they heard a crash from inside the cabin.

A horrible sound followed, vaguely sounding like a bark.
»Didn't think they'd mean it literally,« Annus shrugged, before kicking against the gate.

Heavy claws etched themselves into the glass of the front door. »Hurry!« Unus screamed, panic breaking the pitch of his voice.
»Not like this! Hurry! Hurry!« He pushed Annus aside, kicking at the gate with all of his might.
»Open! Open! Open! Godammit!« It swung open just as the door gave in behind them.

With reckless abandon, Unus broke headfirst into the darkness. Annus followed right behind him.

Dark watched the spectacle, his mouth standing open in disbelief. »This is a pocket dimension!« He yelled at the scene, gesturing wildly. »You can't just expand a pocket dimension!«