Nelia
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"Don't worry Senpai, just get behind me. I'll protect you."
I stare with wide eyes as Maggie elbows her way in front of us, brandishing the new weapon she found: the metal baseball bat.
"Where'd you get that?" Oriana asks hesitantly, keeping her distance from the point.
"Never mind that," I say in annoyance, shoving my sister to the side. "We gotta go! Della's getting away!"
"What's going on down here?" I hear Michal's dry voice.
More footsteps follow, and cell phone lights are turned on. I would groan if the circumstances aren't so serious. Every second we waste is another yard of distance being put between us and Della.
Soon, almost the whole gang is down here with us: Michal and Nolan, Isabella, and Vena.
"You guys shouldn't be here," Oriana says weakly, after explaining the situation. "Cameron needs you upstairs."
"Dallas and Veronica are with him. He'll be fine," Vena shoots back.
I take a deep breath and prod Maggie forward. She stumbles into a dark hallway, holding her weapon out in front of her like a sword.
It's like we're entering a whole different world.
It's freezing down here, and I can see everyone's breath hanging in the crisp air. The walls look dark and half-rotten, almost completely stripped of wallpaper. Black scorch marks stain the ancient surface. The ground is riddled with various debris and decades-old layers of dirt.
Several rooms branch from the tunnel, and when we peer into them, we see barren bunkbeds. This looks like some kind of underground hotel, or a bunker that had been really nice at some point in the distant past.
We descend some steps and cross a series of more rooms, this time bigger and containing tables and chairs. Some sort of lounge, and a dining area, and--
Isabella gasps, and Michal shines his light on a dark doorway on the opposite wall. A few boards had been hammered across the center of the door frame, but someone could easily slip under it if need be. This isn't what was most disturbing, though.
Splattered across the frame and the boards was crimson blood. Fresh, by the looks--it's dripping down onto the floor.
I see Vena cover her mouth in horror.
"DELLA!" Michal shouts, charging forward and shining his light under the obstacle. He gets down on his knees and peers into the next room. "DELLA! DELLA, ARE YOU THERE?"
"Michal, shut up!" I hiss. "You're practically telling the killer where we are."
Silence. Nolan turns to me with wide eyes.
"Killer?" he repeats. "You--you mean Ronnie? Who said anything about him being a killer?"
I shrug my shoulders nervously, gesturing around us. "Look where we are--perfect place for a serial killer to be on the loose. This is the exact same thing that happens in horror movies."
"Well, if Ronnie or whoever it is can hear me, then so can Della," Michal says quietly, still looking into the dark room in front of him. "DELLA! DELLA, DON'T WORRY, WE'RE COMING!"
He starts to lower himself into a crawling position, and he wriggles his way under the boards.
"Michal, stop shouting!" Oriana says anxiously.
Just when his legs disappear into the next room, a loud crashing noise sounds from down the hall of which we just came. Vena jumps back, eyes wild.
"What was that?" she asks in a shaky voice. She turns to Oriana, repeating her question even louder.
I touch her shoulder firmly. "Shhh," I hush her, breathing fast. We're all on the verge of full-blown panic, but we can't let our fears get the best of us.
If Ronnie, or the killer, or someone else equally dangerous is out in the hallway, then we have to be as silent as mice.
"Go," Maggie instructs us in a whisper that was just barely audible. She points with her bat to the space under the boards on the doorway. "Hurry up! I'll hold him off as much as I can."
Vena doesn't think twice. She slides down onto her stomach and crawls into the next room. Nolan follows, but Isabella is a little more hesitant. When another sound disturbs the silence--I can imagine a chair being scooted across the floor, or a similar object--Isabella ducks under the boards and disappears.
He's getting closer.
I grab Oriana's hand and tug her toward the doorway, but she holds fast, shooting Maggie a glare.
She grabs onto the baseball bat, but Maggie doesn't relinquish her weapon.
"Stop it, Maggie," she says. She nods to the doorway. "You go ahead and go--and you too," she commands, looking at me.
Before we can argue on who can be the hero, my phone goes off, vibrating like an amplified stereo.
I freeze, a deer caught in the headlights.
My screen is lit, flashing the entire room in its dim light, screaming at me about some kind of alarm that I don't remember setting up.
Before I can get my shaky thumbs to slide across the screen, I hear a rapid set of footsteps scramble to the entrance of the room, and that's enough to make anyone jump out of their skin.
Vena screams somewhere from the other room, probably watching us from the shadows. Someone pushes me down and toward the doorway, and hands come out of the darkness to drag me to safety. As soon as I make it to the other side, I help Michal and Isabella pull Oriana and Maggie through, all the while screaming at each other to run.
And we do. I lose my phone somewhere in our escape, which is probably a good thing. I wouldn't want it going off again when we're desperately trying to hide--not when our lives depend on it.
We run for about five or ten minutes, nonstop, and I have a sneaking suspicion that we're going in circles. Finally, Maggie can't take it anymore, and she collapses against a wall, heaving for air. We all stop then, gasping and struggling for breath. We're in a really long hall this time with more bedrooms on each side.
"This was a terrible idea," Michal whispers. "Who's bright idea was it to go down into a spooky dark basement, anyway?"
"Oreo Senpai," Maggie explains simply.
Oriana lets out an annoyed sigh. "It wasn't my idea--I heard Della scream somewhere down here. She was here. I know she was."
"Well, wherever she is, she's not here anymore," Vena says. Her words carry a heavy weight.
She's right. She's absolutely right.
"We gotta get out of here," I tell them quietly. "What we need to do is call for help--"
A rotten floorboard creaks from somewhere down the hall. Rather than flash a light into the area, everyone hides their phones in fear of being discovered. I feel naked without mine, and I find myself reaching out to touch my sister.
Something flies out from the darkness, landing on the ground and sliding toward our feet. We all flinch backward, but before we all have the sense to run, Isabella bends down to pick up the object.
Just faintly, I see her look in my direction.
"It's yours," she says. "It's your phone."
Suddenly long, scrawny fingers come out of the shadows right behind Isabella. They latch onto her shoulders, and there's a split second in which I see her shirt collar being tugged backward, her eyes widen, and a look of pure terror wash over her face.
And then she's dragged into the darkness.
Screams consume this underground world. It's all I hear as we sprint in the direction we think Isabella is being taken, but whoever has her in their hold, they are way ahead of us. All we can use to track her down is her own screams.
"ISABELLA!" we shout after her.
"LET HER GO!" Vena shrieks.
Cell phone lights bounce off the walls, but they are of little aid to us in our mad chase.
Finally, we stumble on a perfect circular hole in the ground. The rungs of a ladder can be seen descending into some sort of chamber below.
"The sewers," Oriana whispers, trying to catch her breath.
There is a heavy rusty top nearby that should be lying over the hole. Someone had moved it to reveal the entrance.
Isabella had fallen silent.
"ISABELLA!" Michal calls, shining his cell phone down into the murky depths of the sewers.
A long moment passes, in which we all hold our breath and listen to Michal's voice echo down some distant tunnels.
Then Isabella screams somewhere far away.
She's down there. Maybe Della is too. There's only one way to find out.
.........................
Next chapter: To Play God
Sitting right below them is a huge meat grinder, roaring with a ravenous hunger for human flesh.