To Be A Killer

Chapter 22: Keeper Of Secrets

She sends me a raised brow, and I simply shrug. We both look that way, and while Nadia's eyes light up, I feel my heart sink down into my stomach. Hanging down a tree trunk in the distance is a rope ladder that leads up to what I think are decks built up above.

"Oh, a ladder," I force out. "Yay..."

"Yay, indeed," Nadia says with a grin. "I don't know about you, Five, but I'm shattered. Let's run to that tree, climb up, and fall asleep in the branches."

I open my mouth to protest, but another sound echoes through the trees, and it's not a growl; It's a roar.

A loud, deafening, terrifying, unnatural roar.

"Um, be sure to pull that ladder up after you when you get up there," Sam tells us with a wavering voice.

Nadia basically sprints to the rope ladder, and I'm right behind her. As much as I fear heights, my fear of whatever made that sound currently outweighs it. So I quickly follow Nadia up the rope ladder, only stopping when it starts to sway too much. When that happens, I cling onto it and yelp like a little girl.

I hate this. I hate my job. I hate heights.

Once the rope ladder stops swaying so much, I start to climb again. My muscles are tense, which makes this all the more uncomfortable, but I don't complain-mostly because my mouth is dry and I can't get my tongue to unstick from the roof of my mouth.

"Rope ladders are fun, aren't they?" Nadia asks, and I glare at her, wondering if it would be worth it to grab her ankle and give it a quick tug to scare the shit out of her. "I used to love those 'Go Ape' places. Remember those? Swinging between the trees and all that."

"Uh, no. The closest thing to swinging between trees for me was playing on the monkey bars on the playground," I answer.

Nadia climbs up to the top of the deck, and turns around to help me up as well. I dust myself off, stepping away from the deck's edge. Then, as I look around, I notice everything around me, and what's below me.

"Whoa..."

"What?" Sam asks. "What is it? Oh, I can see through your head cams... It's leaves. Very interesting."

"Haha, you're hilarious. Although, it is a little weird, seeing that these leaves are green even though it's the middle of September... in England." I hum. "But I was whoa-ing about the fact that we found the instillation we've been looking for. I think we've actually found two."

"Two?"

I drop down to my knees, turning my head so he can get a better view at the complex on the ground. "See it?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I remember something about that. Before the guys went Roufflenet dead, they said there was a building below them. Didn't know it was that massive though."

The building is only a single story, but it's still pretty large. It's built between the trees with a security gate at every entrance. I shudder at just how much those gates looks like fences. It's painted in a carmel color that helps it blend in a bit with all the bright colors.

And there's zombies down there. The building is practically crawling with them.

"How many do you think is down there?" I mutter, and Nadia grimaces.

"Hundreds. Maybe even thousands. We're not getting inside anytime soon. Although, a lot of it looks to be dead arms poking through the broken windows."

"Oh, nice," Sam comments. "And the second installation?"

"Oh, right. We're standing in the other one. It's up here in the trees."