It took a great amount of strength, almost all that I had, to keep myself on my feet as I helped Elliot down the hallway. It was slow, too slow but there was nothing I could do to make us go faster.
Elliot could barely stand without me and he was too injured to go faster than a slow limp. His breathing was more quiet than usual and a lot more rugged. To which that was completely understandable.
My muscles in my arms, back, and legs burned as I pushed myself with all of the strength that I had. I was constantly flicking my eyes everywhere in paranoia that someone would turn the corner and find us.
I wonder if they had found the room and we went with the nurse unconscious on the floor. I did not hear any sort of alarm go off. So I guess we were still safe.
Somewhere in the distance behind us, I could hear many voices. My guess was there was a lot of commotion going on out front after what had happened at the meat plant.
I kept my voice quiet and soft as I spoke to Elliot. Trying to help keep his mind off of the pain that was still very obviously bothering him. Each breath carried with it a slight whimper that I could easily hear since he was resting his head on mine.
If I was not using both of my arms to keep him steady I would be rubbing my hands down his back soothingly. I wish there was something I could do to help ease his pain.
It was absolutely killing me to see him like this. I could focus on that later though. The first priority was getting him out of here so they could not take him away to be killed. Then I would find a way to help him with his pain.
I did not care that by doing this, I was now a wanted criminal. I would spend the rest of my entire life running from the law if that meant keeping Elliot safe now. My family would have been the only thing that would have kept me here, but even if they were alive I would never abandon my giant.
" Fuck!!!" I hissed from clenched teeth as I heard multiple oncoming voices from around the corner. I looked around wildly, finding that there was a storage closet close by. I pushed Elliot a little faster, wincing as he whimpered louder in my ear. I leaned him against the wall as I grabbed the ring of keys. They were all labeled so I searched for one that could be this closet.
My hands were shaking wildly as the voices got closer and closer. I found the one I was looking for and hastily unlocked the door. Pushing Elliot inside and then coming in after him. Closing the door quietly and locking it behind me. I heard Elliot thump to the ground and I crawled over to him. It was dark so I was careful to not knock into him and hurt him even more.
I took him in my arms and be buried his face in my chest as he breathed heavily from all of the energy he was spending and all of the pain he was in.
My heart pounded in my chest as I heard the voices go past the room we were in. " Please don't find us! Please don't find us! Please don't!" I prayed in my head. Hoping they would not try to open the closet. They did not though, they walked passed and I did not move a muscle even long after their voices disappeared.
I decided it would be best to give Elliot a couple of minutes to rest. As long as we were in here with the door locked it should be alright for a couple of minutes... I hoped.
I continued to stroke the uninjured side of his face to help and calm him down. I felt the ridges on his skin from all of his scarring.
" Elliot. I know your in a lot of pain. But we will make it out of here. I will not stop until your safe. You know I would do anything for you right?" I asked him. He gave a slight nod of his head and I stroked it again
I let him rest for a few more minutes, keeping him in my embrace until it was time to start moving again. I have no idea where we would go first when we were out, but all I knew is I would do everything in my power to help and take care of him.
I groaned slightly as he put some of his weight on me again. As I did before, I unlocked the door carefully and peeked out to see if we were safe. Then we were out in the hall again and around the next corner.
I kept trying to find the signs that would bring us to a possible back exit. I kept seeing signs that pointed towards the lobby and made a point to remember that direction so I did not accidentally lead Elliot there. I only slightly remembered the layout of the building from the volunteer work I used to do here four years ago. I never did a lot of it though, and that was a long time ago.
Every few minutes we had to slow our pace when it got too much for Elliot to handle. We would lean against the wall as he breathed heavily for a couple of minutes. I would scan the halls to make sure no one was coming.
I saw a few nurses go here and there but we were able to move around the corner before they could see us. It was bad though when we entered a long hallway and I heard voices approaching from both in front of us and behind us.
The thing was, there was only one door in the entire hallway. I pushed Elliot to as fast as he could go and we hurriedly limped over to the door. It was not a room but an Elevator.
It was the only thing we could hide in though. I pushed the button frantically and I prayed that no one was in it. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. I breathed through my nostrils in relief as I helped Elliot in.
I quickly pushed a button. I did not want to risk just hiding in it in case some of the approaching people were coming for the Elevator.
I held onto Elliot who continued to breathe heavily and remain bent over so he could rest his forehead on the top of my head. Since we were holding on to the railing he did not have as much weight on me and I was able to rub his large hands to try and soothe him.
I had pushed one of the up buttons. And I sweated in nervousness that someone might be at the doors when they opened. If it was one person then I would prepare to grab them and pull them in so I could close the doors. If it was a group... well I would go out with my fists swinging.
The elevator ascended for a few seconds before halting with a screech. The lights flickered for a moment before it changed direction and rapidly started to descend.
I held onto Elliot as we went past the floor we were previously on at an alarming pace. The elevator stopped and I held onto Elliot with all of my might to keep him from falling over. He groaned in pain and I held him in my arms.
The familiar ding sounded out as the doors opened and it was revealed to us that we were in some type of basement. We were obviously underground now since the floor we were originally on was the ground floor.
In front of us was a long dark hallway with flickering lights. Parts of the wall had graffiti on it and at the end of the hall, the light was dead. Making the end look like a black void. My eyes lowered to a paper on the floor right in front of the doors. Written in bold handwriting with black ink were the words.
TIME TO FINISH THIS
What. The. Fuck?!?!? Time to finish this?! what the hell did that mean?! There was no fucking way this was a coincidence. Especially when I pushed the up button and the elevator went down.
Who did this?! Joshua? No... I knew in my heart and soul that it was my framer. They had been hunting me for years now, and they were as tired of this game as I was.
I was not ready to walk into unfamiliar grounds with Elliot injured though. I pressed the up button again. The cranks and wheels above us creaked and groaned. But the elevator stayed right where it was. It was being jammed, leaving us with the only option of going forward.
I stared at the dark hallway in front of us. Somewhere beyond was the person who killed innocent people to frame me for some unknown reason. Then when I got out they immediately started trying to kill me. The only good thing that occurred from all this was meeting my group mates. Though the only one I had left was Elliot, I had no clue where Joshua was.
It occurred to me, both of the twins said that they did not kill my family. Knowing how Jack functioned, he would have kept them alive until I had gotten there just to make sure I saw him kill them. Or at least he would have gloated about how he killed them to torment me.
There was only one other person who would do this. My framer had to have gotten to them first. Ended their lives and now I was next. Only... I was not going to be. I had to get Elliot out of here, and I would not let them lay a single finger on him no matter who they were.
I continued to rapidly push the button, but no matter what the elevator would not move. It shook slightly as if it really wanted to, but it was stuck.
I growled out from behind my teeth, looking up with wide eyes at Elliot. His brown eyes were half-lidded and he wobbled slightly underneath his feet. What was I going to do? If we went down there he would be in just as much danger, maybe, even more, considering that this person was already ready for us and was waiting to kill us.
I wanted to protect him so badly, but I did not know what to do now. I wished willy was here so badly. He would know what to do, and even if he did not he would know how to keep Elliot and me from feeling so hopeless.
I closed my eyes and felt tears slide down my cheeks. I heard the giant grunt in front of me before a large shaking finger wiped away some of my tears. I opened my eyes again and he was looking down at me with a sad expression.
" No." He whispered out. I reached up with my hands and held onto his hand tightly. Looking up at him as if he had all the answers. He was right, now was no time to cry. If he had to go forward and meet an oncoming enemy then we would together.
This person was a predator who preyed on the weak from the shadows. But we were predators too, and they fucked with the wrong pack