I lie on the chair as Martin exits the room, my eyes are just barely open so I know when to act. I sit silently and as the seconds drag into minutes, I begin to get restless. So many things could go wrong here. There’s no guarantee this plan will work, he may not even get to the control room. We are by no means safe yet.
Come on, come on...
I still cannot believe this is happening. I honestly thought it was over for us. I honestly thought I was dead. I think back over Martin’s words, he had mentioned a billionaire – I wonder who that could be...
I also replay his instructions again and again in my head, ensuring I do not forget how to escape this hellhole. Exit and keep following the wall on the right until I reach the stairwell. Descend three storeys and then take the door on the right.
I can do this. I can so do this. We are going to live.
I wish I could move – if even just my head. I desperately need to see Aaron. I need to see that he is alright. I have come too close to losing him far too many times.
Please let this work.
As this thought crosses my mind, there is a brief humming sound and the room goes dark around me. For a short time, I am plunged into pitch blackness and it is somewhat frightening. However after a few moments, the room comes into focus – the outline of the light a few centimetres above my face a slighter darker shade of black than the background.
A smile spreads across my face.
He did it.
Despite how I am already in the dark, I close my eyes to help me focus. I am not exactly sure how this helps me, but for some reason it always has. I spring into action immediately, pulling the dagger from my pocket carefully – ensuring not to drop it – and I get to work on the constraints that confine me to this chair.
The first belt-like strap is slices by the small dagger and it comes loose. I find it a lot easier now to move my arm to unleash the others. As I cut through each new tie on me, I begin to get excited and work faster as freedom draws nearer and nearer. This is going to work. We are going to survive this.
As the last of the buckles fall loose, I spring from the chair and rush in the direction of Aaron. I can only barely see his outline against the darkened background of the room.
‘’Aaron wake up!’’ I yell as I begin cutting the restraints that tie him down, slapping him gently in the face with my free hand.
He begins to stir as I cut the second buckle and pull it from him.
‘’Aaron, wake up! We’re getting out here!’’ I explain.
‘’What?’’ he questions groggily.
‘’We’re going home.’’
As I carefully cut through the straps that tie him down, I explain about Martin and what he has done for us to him. Understandably, he questions whether or not we can trust him. I ensure him that we can, after all, the power has just cut out, and everything he has said so far appears to be true.
‘’Let’s go then,’’ says Aaron as he springs from the chair he had been strapped to.
Slowly but surely, we reach the door based on our sense of touch alone. To do this, we locate the closest wall and follow it around until we come to the door. I accidentally knock the torch over with my foot as we pass – which I probably would have not been able to find otherwise.
I click it on and the room lights up around us. I glance around briefly and observe the little that occupies this rather bare room. Apart from the table that sits in between the two chairs we had been lying on, there is nothing else in the room.
‘’Ready?’’ he questions.
I take a deep breath, gently push the door open and step outside.
‘’Let’s do this.’’
As we step outside, I press my hand against the wall on the right hand side and we begin our journey to freedom. The corridor stretches endlessly before us, it reminds me of a mental asylum from movies – all the walls are whitewashed, the whole place has an eerie sense about it. I am glad I have Aaron with me, because facing this alone would be truly frightening.
The sound of footsteps echoes on the ceiling above us, people are running about. This has obviously caused quite an upset among the scientists. I silently pray that we bump into nobody; we can’t afford to get caught.
I push the door of the stairwell open and we step out of the hallway. I shine the torch around us momentarily, there are steps leading both up and down. I lean over the edge of the railing and look to the floor and then to the ceiling. There are at four floors below us and three above us. This building is a lot bigger than I initially thought!
‘’How big is this place?’’ I question, thinking aloud without meaning to.
We begin moving down the stairs, the noise of shouting and footsteps echoes throughout the building; although none are close enough to us to alarm either me or Aaron. When we reach the bottom of the first flight, the sound of a door being thrown open sounds from a few floors below us.
‘’Shit,’’ mutters Aaron and I turn off the torch.
As quietly as possible, we move along the narrow hallway between the two flights of stairs and we try the door. Unfortunately, it does not budge. It is secured shut and we cannot get in.
‘’Quickly,’’ I order in a whisper and we make our way down the next flight of stairs.
The sound of approaching footsteps grows louder as we descend; the people that are causing these footsteps – at least three of them by the sound of it – are almost upon us. They seem to be moving quickly up the stairs and judging by the beams of light flashing through the stairwell every so often, they also have torches.
When we reach the next floor, the group of people that are ascending the stairwell begin to climb the one leading to us. I curse silently and place my hand on the door handle. This has to work, otherwise they will meet us and we will be caught. We will be murdered. It will be over for us.
Please be open. Please!
As the footsteps draw scarily nearer, I press down gently on the door handle and it makes a clicking noise. I then shove the door open and the two of us step inside. Before even checking to make sure we are alone, I turn and shut the door quietly behind us as the men reach the floor we are on.
We stand in silence as the footsteps approach the door. I become very conscious of my breaths, I feel as though I am breathing very loudly. Light breaks through the crack between the bottom of the door and the floor as the light from the torches the people on the other side of this door have get through.
A second later – much to my dismay – a hand grabs the door handle I am still holding on to and attempts to open it. My hearts almost jumps out of my chest, and I cling to it for dear life, making sure it doesn’t budge. I have to make them think it is locked. I pull the handle towards the ceiling, hoping I am strong enough to keep it from moving down. The door handle rattles for a moment in my hand, and eventually, it stops.
I let out a sigh of relief and the people continue up the stairs – the noise of their footsteps slowly fades away. I don’t even bother turning on the torch, I do not want to know what is in the room around me. To be honest, I am afraid of what I may discover. Perhaps the bodies of our fallen friends...and foes for that matter!
We count to sixty, and then I silently open the door once more. As we step back out into the stairwell, the noise of the group that passed continues on up to the higher floors. We don’t waste any of our precious time. We continue at a quick pace down the stairs.
‘’This is the floor,’’ I say as we reach the bottom.
We enter through the door and I switch on the torch. A rather long corridor stretches out before us with two doors on either side of the hall at the end. Apart from the two doors, the corridor is extremely bare. Using the torch to illuminate the area around me, I spot a camera in the right hand corner of the room however there is no red light blinking. They switched off with the lights.
‘’Which door?’’ asks Aaron.
‘’Right,’’ I say and we push through.
Yet another flight of stairs opens before us, which we climb down carefully and I realise immediately where I am – as Martin had said. I am in the corridor in which I stopped Nathan only hours ago, presuming we were unconscious for as long as it felt.
We move with an extra spring in our step, we are so close now. I can almost feel the gentle sea breeze on my face. I can almost feel the sand beneath my shoes. We are almost out of here.
‘’Keep moving,’’ instructs Aaron as the noise of someone approaching us from behind sounds in the corridor.
The fact that it sounds like only one person is some small consolation. Still, I do not wish to meet anyone else. I want to reach the boat and I want to get off this island for good. I want to return to my family. I want my happy ending with Aaron. Surely we’ve been through enough to deserve at least that – something which I know I took completely for granted before.
We enter the small computer room we had been in earlier and I notice the tazer bolts still lodged where they were earlier when we had thought we were going to escape. None of the computer screens have images on them any longer, they are all blank. The power is off everywhere.
We move through the room and out the shattered window – again the glass crunches underfoot. We are now walking rather briskly, excited to be almost outside this building. We are so close to being free. It is nearly over.
As we stand above the staircase that leads down to the beach, and I see natural light shining through the exit, I smile and the two of us break into a run. I turn off the torch and shove it into my empty pocket; there is no need for it any longer.
Aaron’s hand locks into mine, and the two of us step out onto the beach. The sun shines in the centre of a flawless blue sky. It is as though mother nature herself is rejoicing our freedom. We have done it, we are finally free, we-
‘’Not so fast,’’ says a voice from behind us, the two of us stop in our tracks.
No. Surely it can’t be.
I turn and stare into the eyes of someone that surely should be dead. A girl stands in front of me, one I recognise only too well. She walks slowly towards us with a limp on her injured right leg – from where I smacked her with the oar. She is soaking wet and her eyes are bloodshot. She really looks like a sight from the depths of hell itself. In her hand, aimed at us, is a handgun.
‘’Niamh,’’ I exclaim.