()%The Thing Within #ONC2023

Chapter 2

The others must have heard the turbulence. "All phones are dead. Nothing's working." Rupert's observation took me by surprise.

My eyes met his, evoking a familiar warmth within me, a warmth that only hours earlier failed to awaken. It was a feeling I'd grown overly familiar with over these passing months. Only this time, it felt like a drop of warm water upon the icy ground. It was a warmth that poked me with a thorn of guilt, as my mind lingered on my parents' death. I looked away, feigning interest in my phone. Pressing the internet button, I typed in the keywords local news and soon realized that the internet too was down.

Rupert rose, leaving the guys to their discussion, and came to sit beside me.

I sat up suddenly.

"I'm sorry, about—," he said, his voice tinged with concern and sorrow. Though he didn't finish his comment, I knew what he was referring to.

I shook my head. "I know. I'm sorry too, for your paren—." I couldn't finish the sentence.

Rupert must have understood what I wanted to say. "Luckily, my Ma and Pa had already gone off to visit Rebecca."

"Oh!" Rebecca was his sister. So that meant that they'd been spared last night's horror. "I'm glad they were spared."

He nodded as he fixed his eyes on me. There was that warm feeling again.

"How are you keeping up with the virus?" I asked.

"It hasn't worsened. All I've got are slight chills that come and go," he said.

Thoughts of everyone I knew who'd succumbed to the virus poked at me. I felt sick imagining the same happening to Rupert. My stomach churned suddenly.

After what seemed like a long silence, Rupert spoke again. "The guys and I have been talking. We have put forward two plans, and are still deciding on which one to go with."

I gave him my full attention. "Okay."

"James' father is a doctor who's gone underground."

"Underground?" I asked.

Rupert nodded. "Yes, in the old underground city of Derin, which runs beneath the southern half of this town. According to James, he's working on a cure for this disease." He hesitated a while before continuing. "James wants to go to him, and we'd like to go too."

"But wasn't the entrance to Derin sealed off two years ago after the quake?"

"Yes. But there's a path through the old underground tunnels that once connected the town's oldest buildings."

"But those tunnels have long since been flooded."

Rupert shook my negativity away. "I know. But it's worth a try."

I tried to assimilate what he was saying, imagining myself swimming through dark flooded tunnels.

"We have to try something." His tone was extremely soft, as he flashed me a quizzical look suddenly. "Have you got any ideas?"

"What about the underground bunkers?"

"That's the other option we were discussing. But the guys think that's literally suicide, as it's just a matter of time before whoever's killing off the townspeople makes their way over there. Anyway, that's where Rebecca and my parents are hiding out."

I thought of what I'd heard about our town's underground bunkers. "Aren't the bunkers secured by a state-of-the-art technological system operated only by those inside? No enemy should be able to get in." I said.

"Have you seen how fast they took the internet down? If they wanted to get into those bunkers, believe me, they can."

Since the massacre started, no one could pinpoint which country was behind it. Though, there had been rumors that Crisium was the perpetrator. "Those soldiers? Are they from Crisium?"

He shook his head. "We thought so. But Crisium has a different uniform. For one, they're missing Crisium's trademark symbol, the red and green striped flag."

Amazed I was that he'd had the time to notice that. I barely had time to respond as more gunshots sounded, closer this time, as if they were right outside. In silence, I contemplated all the options, as I watched the others blot out the candle before seeming to hold their breaths as we waited.

The library was in the basement of my deceased parents' lodge house and contained a lone ceiling door and no windows. Even if someone entered the lodge through the front door and searched inside, they would never find us, unless they knew of the secret passage at the base of the closet. The only ones who knew of it besides my parents and I were a few childhood friends. Childhood friends, I thought, as a sinking feeling engulfed me. I shuddered to think of what might have become of them tonight. Pushing the thought from my mind, I focused on the present.

Knock, knock, knock! I jumped at the sound of someone knocking on the door above—the one at the base of the closet, the supposedly secret door. My mind reeled. Seconds later, a loud explosion rocketed the area, and in its passing came muffled voices. We waited in our frozen stance for almost fifteen minutes until everything grew quiet again. There was the sound again. Three distinct knocks on the door above, a door I couldn't remember bolting after our descent into the library.

I rose, staring up at the ceiling door, hesitating whether I should open it. Perhaps it was one of my childhood friends.

Whoever it was robbed me of my decision. I imagined that my huge-eyed and agape stare must have reflected the panic that seized me. Within moments, the raised door and lowered ladder confirmed my fears. Someone was descending into the safest abode I knew.

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