"The sirens just went off," Maya turned to Liam, "are they really here?"
"I don't think there have been any false alarms," Liam says.
"Is Niall still in there ?" Layla swiftly glides the rusty back door open .
They surrounded the small born fire behind the lodge , throwing a piece of wood every once in a while to keep the flames alive.
"Where the hell is Rue!?" Harry appeared with an exasperated frown upon his forehead, pushing the ancient door even further. His frustration peeped in moments when he moved his jaw.
Everyone else just stared at him dumbfounded.
"The room, it's empty and the door is .. absolutely destroyed!"
"Maybe she's with Niall," Layla mumbled mindlessly.
"It was my mistake, I'm sorry. I locked the door , not realising .. I didn't want, you know for somebody to disturb her," Maya's words trembled out of her mouth , "Even her phone is in my possession, we need to find Niall."
"Where's Niall?" Liam asked with a bated breath .
"He's at the CAVE" Zayn chimed in, "He invited me too before he left."
"Great and the sirens are going off," Maya uttered sarcastically.
"Yeah what is that about?" Zayn questioned .
"Well these officers sent by the some superior authority ....they show up sometimes, very rarely and as you know they don't particularly like criminals ..."
"So.." he tried to interpret maya's words.
"So they kill them,pretty randomly . Every time they leave there's a lot of bodies to clean up."
"They just go in to shoot a bunch of guys because they don't like them, doesn't that make the criminals?" everyone silently listened , gathered around the fire to keep warm.
"Yes , that's probably how they make sure they're the biggest criminals and nobody crosses them." Maya answers .
Liam breaks the discussion "Harry you need to go there find Niall or Rue, if she's in there and I'll go look for her through the woods . If you find them come back here and I'll meet you in an hour."
He was always one to find order out of chaos. After his commands he exhales a worried sigh before turning to follow the blurry tracks into the woods.
Harry even with his height of boiling agitation decides to listen to Liam . He needs to get them out of there before one of them dies.
The soldiers will come in their altered masks marching and then slaughter or probably shoot bullets into their chest until their soul separates from body.
The woods don't scare him . He has been here before , he reminds himself .
Selfishness though a great live saver, lay beneath his desperation to get where his conscience took him.
Which is right in front of this mud mingled path.
——————
"Harry !"Niall screams rushing out of the entrance, being crushed by others ahead.
Harry reached there in time he thinks . He lends him his hand and pulls him out but before the being could utter a word , "we need to get the fuck out of here,"Niall cries out.
"Fine but- "
"No y—you don't understand ,we need to get out of here, they might catch us." Niall panics, repeating every sentence.
Harry's hand brushes the blonde's hair from his face , "You should go back to the lodge,I have something i need to do."
"You can't be going anywhere right now, they called us Harry . Someone out here is looking for us."
"What?"
"They announced our names a-and I j-just," Niall's takes a deep breath to calm himself down . "Somebody made an announcement and called us to the control room."
Harry's face died down a little absorbing all his friend's spilled words , it took a moment of comprehension but he quickly pieced it all together.
"Oh . I think it's Rue , she sort of ran off , escaped or whatever," Harry tried to explain casually followed by a stride in the opposite direction, "I'll go get her".
"No.Absolutely not , do you want to die? even if it's her who made the announcement . The sirens-", His mate frowned at the thought of what could happen if Harry goes in there.
Niall pulls him with all force but the latter doesn't budge. He screams and pulls again but Harry locks his arm .
"You should go back , I promise I'll be back in time," Harry assures.
Upon his words Niall pulls himself away with a slight push on Harry's lower abdomen, "this is on you styles." he scowls before turning towards the dark forest.
Now that he knows Niall's safe Harry collects himself and moves in the opposite direction of the crowd . On his way inside he's met with stares from all kinds of people , astounded by his foolish courage .
The place didn't seem so happening anymore .
It was empty for him to freely move without bumping into anyone except well ...the anticipated enemies. Were they sent by Adrien? He wondered. Even though he wasn't running his breathe caught up, like his chest was going to burst trying to inhale, his eyes frantically moved towards every direction. Only when he makes order of his thoughts he remembers the control room .
Searching through every way , peeking into several spaces of piled drunk human scents, he finally stood in-front of the control room expecting no one to be there but to his astonishment, two guards stood there unhinged and seemingly unaware of the chaos outside.
"Who are you?" the buff man interrogates.
"Harry, someone called for me uh .. a girl about yay high" he searches upon the guards face but his met with a curious eyebrow twitch , "fully clothed, black locks that are actually dark brown, only in sunlight." Harry flares at him waiting for response but he got none; therefore he continued, "no..? An exceedingly stubborn lass who looks at you like she's ready to fight....come on , you made an announcement didn't you?"
Harry threw his hands in the air out of vexation.
"Oh ." With a long pause the other robust male verbalised, "the girl, she's well ... wait," the guard suddenly opens a door behind him searching for some thing, "she was in here just now, I think she must've have left."
Another well built, sturdy man walks out the same door stopping the guards speech ,"If you are looking for Rue,she is probably around the old restrooms."
Harry held his gaze in a little longer attempting assess the man's intentions before exiting the room , he had so many questions, "who are you?" is all he asked.
"A visitor,call me RM ,"he answered with a hand down his pocket standing with his calm demeanour.
Harry became doubtful of such a cryptic name, he was also engulfed with urgency , also 'RM' had access to surveillance. All that concluded that it was someone with authority.
Harry didn't have time to interrogate any further ; so he turned around and entered the long tunnels again , overwhelmed by his memories. Still remembering this place more then he thought he did.
He paused upon coming to same bar area , hands jittered involuntarily.
Everything inanimate was the same even table no 3. His hand grazed the still intact carving , lighter , softer but still there.
A&H Alice and harry , the words never escaped his lips. His eyes closed to collect his thoughts, to remind himself .
"Rue,"the words that do leave his lips.
He drags himself away to move forward into the dark long alley that might lead to the abandoned restrooms. Making his way with the flashlight , his body following the beam. The silence was such one could hear the sound of their own heartbeat. His heartbeat was getting louder every second , closer to bursting out of his ears. It stayed like that for a while until he heard a echoed clattering sound .
His pace even slower now , carefully taking each step , not waving his torch too far until he heard the voice of someone's footsteps closer and closer
*tap...*
*Tap*
*TAP*
He instinctively switched off his torch, when he felt someone's presence .
Closer and closer and someone crashed into him and impulsively all at once, his hands grabbed the frame and pushed it too the wall locked in,even though he knew.
"Rue,"by the sound of her soft whimpers and smaller frame, he was able to figure it out.
Before he said anything else her knee flew and hit his crotch .
Harry groaned as he held himself pulling away.
Whereas Rue on the other hand had no thoughts, all she wanted to do was get away from this place .
"Fuck you," she curses before attempting to get way only to be caught by Harry's hand, pulling her by her elbow in a swift motion .Within seconds of her crashing into his chest, Harry switches the torchlight on.
"You can do that later,we need to get out," her expression shifts from anger to widened eyes with confusion .
"Now,what are you doing here," she tilts her head in confusion .
Harry mirrors her confusion , he maybe expected a little more gratitude for risking his life in coming here.
"I was just happened to be hunting pigs here , seems like I found one. Let's go now,"he tried to suppress his anger with his satirical comment.
"I'm not pig!" Rue shrieked as both of them struggled to move further in the compact space.
"Well you're as dumb as one," he mumbled.
"Pigs aren't dumb." she revolted.
"Stop defending yourself," he said before pointing his torch towards the alleys entrance.
His eyes squinted in the dark as he spoke with a serious undertone.
"We need get out of here first .Follow me."
Rue steps in front of him being squished by the walls that barely could hold two people in between carrying her vanity on her sleeve.
"No." snatching the torch she starts marching in front of Harry towards the exit.
"Do you even know the way out?" his questions echoes from the empty walls.
"Better than you," Rue answers.