Ones and Zeroes

Chapter 12: Mixed Up

He could see his friends' smiles from the rooftop he stood atop. They all ran forward towards the entrance cheering quietly while waving their arms in the air excitedly.

George finally made it down the building to his friends. Dream ran up first and practically jumped onto him. This caused him to fall back a little, but he still stood up and hugged the boy in front of him back.

"You did it George you did it!" Dream spoke into George's hair.

"Yea dude, you did amazing!" Sapnap said looking at George amazed.

He enjoyed the hugs and love from his friends. He hadn't remembered the last time he received such admiration. He yearned for it. But as much as George loved that his friends congratulated him, they had to get going. "Guys I hate to be a party pooper, but we do need to get going if we're gonna get out before the sun comes up."

Dream held on for a second longer and then coughed a bit, letting go of George. "Right. Let's go guys." He started leading the group towards the entrance. "Weapons out."

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Dream looked down at the map in his hands, still using one hand to grip a rifle in his hand. Dream noticed how close they were to their destination.

"Up at this next corner we're gonna make one left and look for a door that says research statistics and data filing." He whispered to his friends sneaking behind him.

They reached the corner and turned left down a dark hallway. This hallway, like many others, continued into other endless hallways in a complete circle. They all pulled out their flashlights to read the copper plaques attached to the multiple doors. Each door's label was engraved with words relating to research.

The five boys all walked down the hallway slowly, they had to be careful to not trigger any possible alarms.

I looked at each sign as I passed the doors. Each of them were labeled as labs and testing rooms. I didn't want to know what VILE had behind those doors. Whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"I found it!" Quackity whisper yelled to the group. His hand jiggled on the handle. We all ran to his side to the door. "Ugh, it's locked."

The door looked to have a simple locking mechanism. There wasn't any major security like the usual keypad or card scanner.

Sapnap seemed to take note of this as well. His eyes glided over the silver knob and the small keyhole. He cracked his knuckles before moving forward. "Watch and learn boys, watch and learn."

We all backed away to let him do his work. The boy pulled out a small tool that looked like a screwdriver. He pushed the thin rod of metal into the keyhole and moved it around. He placed his ear against the door so it sat close to the door handle. After messing with it for a couple minutes, a soft click concluded that he had successfully picked the door lock.

"Yes!" Sapnap said excitedly while getting up and putting away his tool.

I started to lead us into the room quietly.

"Good job Sapnap." George congratulated the boy.

"Thanks. I know I'm amazing." Sapnap smirked.

"Be careful, you don't want to inflate his ego too much." Karl warned George. I heard light chuckles from all of them.

The room was large and pitch black. I felt the walls for a source of lighting. My hands hovered over a light switch before flipping it to illuminate the room.

In the bright light, multiple shelves and cabinets were pushed against the back wall. A singular desk with a monitor was pushed to the left side of the room. Large red letters were painted on the front of each filing cabinet. It was all alphabetical.