StoryZ

Chapter 4

5 MONTHS LATER...

She was not a survivor, Angelica, was not a survivor.  Not anymore.  Her dad was one of the top ranking Seargents in the Hole, which was a seldom title, especially since the outbreak of Parasites.  She had been living in this high tech, underground, government facility one week before the first Parasitic bit someone.  Her family knew it was coming, they came down here to protect the scientists and doctors so they could find a vaccine, or hopefully a full cure.  She knew almost everyone here, and was an only child with one father, and few friends.  "Sophie, what do you miss most about the surface. " Angelica would always ask this question when they were alone together, but Sophie would never mind; "well... if I have to say something different, ugh, freaking high school, like normal, boring high school. "  "same!  I mean it felt like torture back then, but now, I feel lost without it. " Sophie erupted in laughter, "how dramatic...anyways, are you going to sign up to be a soldier, my brother and older sister are, I think I might too. "  "you turn 15 in what, like a week?" Sophie nodded and smiled, revealing a row of perfect white teeth.  "Yeah I might sign up, I know my dad wants me to, but I don't turn 15 for another 3 months, so you'll probably be a corporal by then. "
The two stared at each other in silence, then they  bursted into innocent teenage laughter.  The next few days were the same:  breakfast, school, lunch, homework, recreational time, physical training, dinner, then sleep.  It was ok, not the worst, so she'd try to get as much excitement as she could out of this deep underground base.  One day class ended a little earlier than usual, so the few students left, Angelica quickly glanced at Sophie's metallic desk and saw her keycard to enter her house, "Sophie, Sophie! " no response came, so Angelica told the teacher that she'd just go to Sophie's room and give it to her herself.  Angelica ran down the cold hallways, her all white, skintight jumpsuit keeping her warm.  When she got to the archway that would lead to Sophie's living quarters, an all black door stood in the way with a sign that read:
"UNDER CONSTRUCTION
PLEASE RE-ROUTE FLOOR 23
AND COME THROUGH THE BACK ENTRANCE"
Angelica groaned, she was on the 16th floor.  She was about to walk away when she saw a pretty big vent against a wall, she smiled and was relieved to find out that she didn't need  to break it open, cause it had a latch and the vent opened straight up.  She quickly slid in.  She knew this place in and-- well, in, she could fit inside with enough leg room, and if she got too scared, she could always turn back.  She started to crawl in the direction of Sophie's room, but there were no openings on the sides, only straight ahead.  Angelica crawled for a long time until the air became heavy and extremely cold.  She figured she was getting close to some AC unit.  Then she realized the cold air was coming from a tiny vent on the end of this tunnel.  It was way smaller than the one she came in through, and the bars were too thick for her to see anything inside.  She didn't call for Sophie cause she knew she was far from her brunette friend.  Angelica pushed on the vent, but it was too strong.  She started to crawl backwards and towards the exit when she heard an eerie growl. She froze, did it come from behind her?  She looked back and squealed, but there was no one there.  She crawled back towards the vent and pushed again, getting ready to crawl backwards as fast as she could in case she didn't like what she saw.  "Hello?  Are you, um, hungry...or something? " The vent rattled and Angelica jumped up so fast  she hit her head on the ceiling of the vent.  The vent rattled and shook even more.  Angelicas heart was beating and punching the bottom of the vent, deafening her ears.  She heard a faint cry, and a ray of light came from the corner of the vent.  Angelica stayed still and just watched, small fingers came through the tiny opening from the corner of the vent, and it started to pull the rest of it until it completely broke loose.  A face came into view.  It was completely encased in shadow, then it disappeared with the blink of an eye.  "He-hello? " Angelica heard grumbles and grunts of struggle until she heard snarls and snapping of a jaw.  Angelica bolted down the vent, but while still maintain eye contact with the hole of light where she saw that face.  The sounds would get louder and louder the more she got farther away from the face.  Then it turned into words.  Angelica stopped to hear a young female voice saying "help!  I know your ther--- help!---ugh--get off! " The girl would keep getting interrupted by these banging and snarling sounds.  Angelica gulped,  with a completely shaking body, she crawled towards the girls voice.  Angelica clenched her jaw, closed her eyes, and shoved her face through the square space.  When she opened her eyes, she was in a room with concrete floors, and black Glass walls with light panels on the ceiling.  She saw a door swing shut as if someone had just left and a whole bunch of whirring sounds buzzed and hummed all around the room.  "The heck...what is this place?" She whispered to herself as she rotated her head around to get a somewhat 360 degree view.  Then a loud bang echoed from the end of the vent, the way she had come in, and suddenly Angelica couldn't see the exit.  She started to panic, no one is coming for me, they don't know I'm here, I can't crawl out of here the space is too small, I'll starve and die and be stuck here.  These thoughts tormented and made her start to cry and kick and scream.  The whirring from the room grew louder and louder as if answering her cries, a quiet beeping, then the room exploded with gallons of water.  Angelica didn't have time to close her mouth or take in air, the pressure of the water pushed her back and back through the metallic tunnel, engulfing her in water, until a mysterious gapping hole was in the floor of the vent and she and the water fell through.  She just remembered being underwater, hitting rocks and scrapping by bigger rocks, how the water bent and twisted her as it pleased, the saddest part was that she was in complete, utter darkness, and her wish was coming true.