daylight | s. harrington

the flayed

"We're totally gonna die down here." She breathes, causing me to laugh.

"Oh, yeah." I reply, as she starts to laugh as well. "Lamer than how I thought it would happen, but dehydration in a secret Russian elevator doesn't sound too boring. You know, if they find us."

"At least we'll die together." She states.

"Ah, the bright side." I smile, as she hits me on the shoulder. Erica, Dustin, and Gen fall asleep pretty quickly, once we come to the conclusion that we're gonna be stuck here for a while. Robin, Steve and I stay up talking about different ways we could possibly get out, coming up with a whole lot of nothing. I don't remember when exactly I fell asleep, but I do remember waking up with shallow breathing and feeling sweat on my face.

"You okay?" Robin asks, adjusting to face me better.

"Yeah," I breathe, plastering a smile on my face. "Yeah, just very uncomfortable."

"Uncomfortable because of the nightmares?" She questions. My facade falls and I run a hand through my hair. "Look, that was an overstep. I'm really sorry-"

"Robin." I cut her off. "It's fine. Truly. It's the same nightmare over and over. I'm not even sure what it means, but it's terrifying. You know how ear infections hurt more when you get older?" She gives me a slight nod. "Well, nightmares are scarier. Probably because they deal with more realistic fears rather than the boogie man or monsters. Granted, with the events of last November, they are so real. That's besides the point. Can we just keep this between us? I've told Steve the bare minimum and he doesn't need to know any more than that. At least not yet."

"You got it." The blonde smiles. "And if you ever want to talk about anything. Nightmares, Russians, the dingus. I'm available." Steve starts to stir, so I mouth a 'thank you' towards the girl and return my head to rest on top of Gen's. Quickly, I'm out like a light.

The next morning I wake up to the sound of Dustin's voice echoing through the elevator. He's calling out a code red, which isn't going anywhere because we're too far out of range. No one's coming to help. Steve climbs up top and tells the boy to save the battery. I stand and stretch my limbs, trying to wake myself up. I hear running water, like a faucet, from my right and turn to find one of the boys relieving their bladders.

"Can you redirect your stream please?" Robin calls out to the pair above. The stream moves slightly over, but still in eye shot of us. Robin scoffs and Gen laughs at the girl's disgust. A banging sounds through my ears and I look at the young Sinclair girl, who is slamming one of the green tubes against a metal box. "Hey, hey! Be careful, careful, careful." Robin takes the thing from the girl's hands. Erica states that it could be useful and Gen asks how.

"We can survive down here a long time without food, but if the human body doesn't get water, it will die." Erica states, placing a hand on her hip.

"I hate to break it to you, but this is not water." Robin offers.

"No, but it's a liquid, and if it comes down to me drinking that shit or dying of thirst, I drink." Erica shrugs.

"Yeah. And you end up dying faster." I combat. "Besides, we can only survive without food for three weeks. Water, a few days. Either way, we're gonna die, so let's not quicken our deaths by ingesting a strange liquid." Silence falls over us and Robin moves towards the door. I follow her actions and we share an 'oh shit' look as we hear the sound of a motor on the other side. I run over and pull myself out of the vent. "Hey, we've got company." I inform the two boys and we get back into the room and hide behind boxes, waiting for the men who just entered to leave. As they exit and the door begins to shut, Steve wedges the tube of green liquid to keep it open for a bit. He ushers us to slide underneath it, I'm the last one before him. He nearly gets sliced in half, as he makes his way under the door. The tube shatters and the liquid melts the ground and a portion of the electric door. Robin asks the young girl if she still wants to drink it. We turn around and see a long ass hallway behind us. My workout for the year is about to be completed. "Holy mother of god." I breathe.