SCP-5043

Escape

Tom bolted down the hall.

Which was hard, considering the heavy chains locked around his neck and wrists.

He went from door to door, yanking and pushing on the handles, desperately trying to enter.

He heard loud boots stomping in the distance.

Tom turned a corner and started trying more doors. The second door he pulled on opened with a creak. He dashed inside the pitch black room, unsure of what he would find.

Tom stumbled blindly over to a wall and dragged himself to a corner. He was shaking so hard that large chains attached to him started to clank together. Tom took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down but to no avail.

After a few minutes, he had calmed down to the point where the chains made no noise if he stayed still. But if he was going to escape, he couldn't stay still for very long.

Thinking quickly, he tugged on the bottom of his pant leg, pulling it out of his shoe. Tom ripped the coarse fabric up to his knee and tore it off. He then wrapped the thick chains in the thin fabric. Just as he finished, there was a shuffling noise from the opposite corner of the room.

Tom's heart skipped a beat.

Something was in there with him.

He held his breath for what seemed like minutes. When Tom absolutely had to breath, he let it out slowly through his nose.

Then he heard a different sound, not very far from where he was.

The sound of doors being opened, shouts, then slamming said doors.

Tom needed to hide.

Now.

He held his chains tight and stood up, still nervous of whatever was in the corner. Tom strained his eyes, seeing two large, boxy figures lying horizontally on the opposite side of the room. Underneath them seemed to be a space even darker than the actual room.

Good place to hide, Tom thought.

He shuffled over to the other side of the room, his chains making muffled clanking sounds.

When he got to the other side, he could see that the horizontal figures were actually beds. Not bothering to check if anyone was sleeping in them, Tom crouched down and crawled into the dark space.

The sounds of shouts and slamming doors became closer.

Closer, and closer, and closer.

Until Tom could hear the footsteps of whoever was checking the rooms.

The door of the room was pulled open and a light switch was flicked, filling the room with harsh, fluorescent light.

Whoever was sleeping in the bed above Tom made a slight sound of irritance and rolled over.

Tom held his breath.

"Rise!" a somewhat familiar voice shouted.

Tom stared at the pair of shoes adorning the person who had barged into the room.

Groans were heard as two pairs of feet hit the ground, the beds squeaking as they stood up.

Tom shuffled back slightly, trying to not make any noise.

"Have either of you seen someone come into this room?" the voice asked.

"I've seen you come into this room!" a new voice said from above.

A sigh was heard in newcomers direction, then they asked,

"Have you seen someone, other than me, come into this room?"

Another new voice chimed in,

"Nope! Me and Matt were asleep for a while."

"Are you sure?" the one with shoes asked.

"Actually," the one called Matt said, "I heard some weird clanking noises a few hours ago. Why do you ask?"

A pause filled the room, followed by the sound of a radio being turned on.

"He's in here." shoes said, "You two, come with me."

The one with shoes led the other two out of the room, as sounds of boots filled the hallways.

The door closed behind them.

Tom was trapped.