Something Different

Part 11

He nods, and slowly begins to open the hatch. I stood back, cautious as ever.

When the hatch opened, Sylov peeked in. "Nobody's down there. It's clear."

"Mind if I go first?" I look to Sylov.

"Sure," he said, as the three made sure there was nobody coming.

I hop down and land, looking around. I see a couple of tunnels leading opposite directions. I look up and call up to the boys.

"There's two different tunnels down here. Come on down."

 I move out of the way so they can jump down. Sylov drops down, then Drew, and then Arthur. "Should we split up?" Arthur asks, looking down the tunnel to the left.

I shrug. "Seems like the best option, but its Sylov's call."

Sylov nods, as he begins to go down the left passage. I follow instinctively as the boys head to the right. I catch up with Sylov.

"So what do you think this is?"

"Dunno. Maybe a prison of some sort."

"Let's hope we don't get caught..." I sigh softly and look to Sylov. "Nice job with that guy earlier. Impressive."

"Not getting caught is something we do well," he said, holding his switchblade at the ready.

I chuckle softly and pull my blade out of my boot. I blush slightly when I look at Sylov. He just seemed so...well-fit for the job. He was always looking forward, always aware. I wanted to be like him. He was so strong and powerful. But I still questioned how I felt towards him.

Sylov glanced at me, as the two came upon a few doors. Sylov silently walked to the one on the left, and pointed to the one on the right.

I nod and head to right door. I shift the blade in my hand to get a better grip. Sylov opens the door quietly, peering inside and then closing it gently. I go into the right door silently and look around, nervous. My heart is racing, and I can hear it in my ears. I didn't have a good feeling about this. Sylov moves to the door I'm near. The room I'm looking in is basically empty, except for a few boxes.

I go to the boxes and look in. I look behind me to make sure I was safe before looking in again. I search for something strange. A few guns, explosives... Nothing out of the ordinary for a military base. 

"There's a Fuckton of 'em in next room," he whispers.

I jump at the sound of Sylov's voice. I laugh at myself and turn to face him. "Let's check it out." I go to walk over to check out the 'Fuckton' of stuff. "Nice vocabulary by the way..."

He holds my forearm tightly before I enter, preventing me from going in. "I meant people."

I look back, my eyes wide. I take a step back and remove his hand from my arm. "People?! Like prisoners? Should we radio for back up?"

"No, I mean people as in people with guns who want to feed us a machine gun sandwich."

"Shit...we gotta go, now." I begin walking away, nervous for our safety.

"If you go, go, I'm doing some more digging around in here..."

I hesitate before stopping. I turn around and walk back. "Well...I'm not just leaving you behind."

Sylov doesn't respond and begins walking away quietly, deeper into the unknown.

I follow, silent as well. My heart begins thudding and I bite my lip. "W-we should just go...its stupid to be down here."

"I'm investigating more, whether you like it or not."

"F-fine! But I'm leaving you behind like -" I stopped and bit my lip again. Be careful what you say... "Never mind...let's just go..."

Sylov keeps walking, but then stops, and slowly looks at me, smiling strangely. "Oh... Would you look at this... Stairs. I hope I don't... Trip and fall..."

"Sylov...?" I take step back, a bit frightened. "Do not mess with me right now...I am not in the mood!"

"These stairs must be... At least two stories tall... It'd be a shame if... Someone you liked we're to tumble down..." he said, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Stop it, Sylov! You're insane! Y-you scaring me..." I stepped back further, gripping my gun tightly.

"Aw, I'm just fuckin' with ya. Trying to have a little fun, in...a dark sorta way," he said, laughing a little bit as he began to walk down the stairs.

I sigh in relief and try to calm down. "I can hardly hear anything over my own heartbeat because of you.." I begin walking down the steps as well, still a little uncomfortable.

"Come on, it's just a little harmless fun. I'm not unsteady enough to just randomly trip."

"No, you just seemed crazy enough to hurt yourself like that!" I huff and go red with embarrassment. "You're an asshole..."

"I love my job," he said, chuckling.

"Tch..." I smile slightly, shaking my head. "I'll admit...it was a little funny..."

"You were horrified."

"Of course I was. One of my friends was acting insane and rambling on and on...but its kinda funny now, since I know now..."

"It was all a joke."

"Thank god." I smile to Sylov and laugh a bit. I get closer and slap him. I hold the smile. "That's for scaring the hell out of me, darlin'."

He endures the slap, and smiles. "It's nice to mess with people's minds once in a while."

"Ah, I love it when you smile..." I continue on, blushing slightly. "So, uh...mind if I ask what happened to the guy before me?"

"Simple. During a mission, he disobeyed orders and got killed. Not by me, he made a bad choice and got himself killed."

"Oh...I'm sorry that happened. Were you two close? Or am I the closest anyone could get trusted with you?"

"Not exactly. He was a recruit, and it was his first mission. The idiot even knew what happened if he disobeyed direct orders."

"What a shame..." I keep my eyes straight ahead, a little bored. I sigh softly and rub the back of my neck to try and relieve the soreness caused by sleeping weird. I look back to Sylov, my hand still on my neck. "So when are we getting out of here, Red?"

"Well, we're going to explore and try to find something. If not, then we leave and detonate this place... Somehow..."

"Somehow? I continue rubbing my neck, enjoying the relieving pain of it. So how far down do you think these tunnels go?" I blink, curious to see what my commander says to me. "Hell? An even bigger base where we could be blown to atoms?"

"That'd be fun, blowing up hell." He said, taking his pistol and checking the ammunition, then tossing it to the side.

I chuckle and smile at Sylov. "Real cute, Sylov. I'm glad you're not totally heartless."