I continued on, pushing my way through the ceiling, until I was too exhausted to move any more that way. The bend in my ankle was burning and I couldn't leave it like that much longer, so I put my ear down to the paneling, listening for a voice, footsteps, anything that could mean life below me, but heard nothing. Taking a deep breath, I moved the paneling to the side, and peered into the darkness below.
The sound of the paneling moving made my heart stop, if for only a moment, and I started breathing again. The room below was dark, inky, and I could see nothing. Grabbing the fragile looking pipes, I quickly lowered my body out of the hole as far as my arms would extend, and then let go. My feet hit the ground with a thud and I fell.
My ankle hurt slightly, it was burning, but I had to move, I couldn't stay there. I got up and hobbled to what looked like it could be a door, and then I froze. I heard a murmur from the other side of the room. I felt as cold as ice, and my heart pounded in my ears as I slowly spun around, searching for the source of the noise and a place to quickly hide.
I inched along the floor, feet moving very short amounts of distance at a time, until I was finally at the other side. I almost gave up, assumed that the noise was a figment of my imagination, until I heard it again, much closer. I glanced frantically around the room, until I spotted a little section that looked like it had a childs fort built around it.
I put one foot in front of the other until I finally made it there, and I gasped. Carter lay in a pile of old clothes and garbage, curled up on his side, sleeping. I was nearly mesmerized. I was fascinated with the way his shirt clung to him, and the way his lips parted slightly in his sleep, making every breath pronounced. It was hard to picture him as the bad guy before, but it was impossible to see that in him now.
The little fort was made out of old cardboard boxes, filled with tiny things so that they would not fall over on their own. I leaned a little closer, hoping to get a better view of his face, when I somehow managed to knock a box down and directly onto him. I froze as i watched it land on him. My breathing stopped, and i swear my heart did too.
He jerked away and I jumped back, scared, backing into the wall and making an awful racket. He leapt to his feet, but stopped when he saw me. His eyes softened and they held what looked like concern. He walked over to me, and I didn't even try to back away anymore, I had no place else to go. He grabbed me by my shoulders and held me at arm's length for a moment, and then pulled me in close. His arms wrapped around me, and at first it felt wrong, then I just melted into him. I began to cry. He just held me and let me cry, my shoulders heaved and shook, and he never made any attempt to make me move. His arms were warm and comforting. I craved that feeling, and i leaned into him more and slowly felt myself calming down.
When I finally finished crying, he took my hand, and looked into my eyes, and led me towards a door in the back.
"I'm going to get you out of here. Someone is coming for the others, I promise. You have nothing to worry about." He stated simply. I just looked at him. What did he mean that someone was coming for them? Were they going to be rescued?
"I can't leave until I know they're going to be safe. It isn't fair. I would be betraying them, I just can't." I pleaded. I hoped that he would help me save them, that something would happen and maybe we could make it all better.
"Look at me," he said, "Someone IS coming. If we have any intention of getting out, we must get out now." His eyes pleaded with me too, and I knew I was going to listen to him, regardless of what my mind was saying, because my heart was saying to trust him. I took his hand again, and he led me to the door. He unlocked many different locks and then cracked the door.
It was broad daylight out, and the sunlight burned my eyes. I couldn't see hardly anything, and I had to squint through the tears that sprung to my eyes. He didn't give me a moment to adjust though, and he dragged me out into the sunlight immediately into a run.