Survival Gamers [An Original Story]

Chapter 7: The Other Side of Me

"How are we going to get inside? There's probably human workers everywhere in a plant like this!" I exclaim.

"Easy. We find the fire escape." Jack answers.

"Fire escape?"

"Every good nuclear plant has a fire escape somewhere." He explains, running around the side of the plant. Grunting, I follow him around the corner, and, I kid you not, I walk around the corner just in time to see Jack's bushy, black tail disappear through a door.

"Wha--Jack! Wait!" I call, running after him. I swing the door open, running inside, only to halt myself abruptly. Just two steps inside the door was a railing. We're on a balcony. I think, looking over the railing at all the human workers running the plant. There's gotta be like... a hundred of them down there. Maybe more! I think.

"Come on, Klere! Let's not wait for the grass to grow!" Jack snaps at me from the side. I turn to see him ducked in a crouch, crawling down the balcony path. Glancing back at me, he nods his head towards the floor, indicating for me to crouch down.

Uninterested in arguing with him, I crouch down, crawling after him on my hands and knees. The balcony path stretches across the room to a doorway with a stairwell.

"Come on!" Jack exclaims quietly, swiftly disappearing behind the door. Getting up from the uncomfortable crouch position, I run after him through the door. Looking around, I watch him disappear down a flight of stairs, and follow after him. I can't see him, but I can hear his footsteps swiftly stepping down flight by flight. Down and down I follow him, one floor. Two floor. Five floors. Ten floors.

"Jack, where are we--" I cut myself off, reaching the bottom floor, I realize in horror that it was not Jack I was following, but a nuclear plant worker! He walks off through the door, calling out to some other worker. Just as the door starts closing, I see his friend peek his head around, narrowing his eyes at me. Oh no! I think, sprinting back up the stairs as the door clicks shut.

As I climb the stairs, I hear the door open downstairs and a voice echoing throughout the stairwell.

"Hey! You! Who are you? Explain yourself!" The voice calls out. I've got to find Jack! He must've gotten off on one of these other floors... I think.

"Hey! Stop it wherever you are! Show yourself, immediately!" The yelling continues, and I can hear several pairs of feet rushing up the stoors. Frozen in panic, I glance down the stairs where the footsteps grow ever louder, then the closest door at hand.

"Well, don't got any better ideas." I mumble to myself, swinging the door open and sprinting out into the open. And by open I mean a giant room... full of nuclear plant workers... all staring at me with their ugly faces. "Oh crap..." I mutter to myself. Seeing me, the workers immediately break out in gasps of surprise and disgust.

"Put your hands in the air! Now!" I freeze, the fur on my neck bristling. I can see from the reflecting in a nearby metal dish that the worker behind me is holding a gun. I just know I'm going to regret this... I think, slowly and hesitantly raising my hands in the air. "Now don't move!" The man yells. I sigh. This is definitely going to be the end of me. I am so dead. I think. Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement. Something is swinging towards me. Before I've had time to react, I feel a sturdy hand grab me by the shirt collar and before I can even scream 'ah', I'm yanked by the neck into the air.

"What the--!" I scream, watching the room fly by in a blurr. Then we slow down, down, down, and I've just a second to see Jack, with one hand gripping my shirt collar, and the other wrapped around the string of a crane. We're swinging. On a crane. Through a room. With workers below us who hate our guts and most likely want to kill us. I think, gritting my teeth nervously as the crane swings back the other way, and the room becomes a blur once more.