Please Stand By! by Emily Rennie

Author:Emily Rennie [Rennie, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

31

Scampering up flights of concrete stairs. Torchlight bouncing off the grey walls. The ground seems to sway under my feet as I take two steps at a time. I can’t shake the sickening feeling that at any moment, a strong hand is going to grab my ankle and yank me back down into the shadows.

We pass the second floor. Can’t stop. God, my knees and feet are throbbing. By the time we’ve careered up the final flight of stairs, Tabby is wheezing so hard I’m worried she’ll faint.

Immediately, the atmosphere feels different from the bleakness of outside. The hallway is lined with plush red carpet, the kind a celebrity would walk up and down on, which makes perfect sense if Lila is up here. Dim, solitary light bulbs trail their way down the corridor, emitting a soft glow. On either side, there are doors. Thick doors, made of sturdy wood; not the best to kick down if it comes to it, but also not impossible.

“Ok,” Val says after a moment of catching her breath. “Ok. We’ve made it this far, which can only be a good thing.”

“We should split up,” I find myself saying. My voice sounds muted to my own ears in this smothering helmet. Beads of sweat cling to my brow. The urge to wipe them away is itching at my insides. “Tabby and I can try to find the control room first while you look for Lila. We’re too obvious together as a group.”

Val purses her lips as she considers this, and then points up at a vent in the ceiling. Even from here, I can see the grill is loose and old. “Give me a boost,” she says.

“You can’t be serious,” Tabby hisses. “What if you get stuck?”

“I won’t get stuck,” Val says. “Purely because I wouldn’t be able to live with the humiliation. Now give me a fucking boost.”

There’s no time to argue about it. I knit my fingers together, trying not to grimace as Val’s boot grinds against my skin. She places a hand on Tabby’s shoulder and hoists herself up, ramming her other elbow against the wobbly grill. It doesn’t shift. She hits it again.

I grit my teeth with the exertion of keeping her balanced. “Some – sometime today, please,” I pant.

“It’s not fun for me either,” Val snaps back, with one final clang of her elbow against the metal. The grill moves, and she pushes it up and out of the way. She leaps up, arms trembling with the strain as she grips onto the inside of the ventilation shaft.

“How is it?” Tabby asks as Val disappears inside.

“Disgusting,” comes the echoed response. “Lots of dead spiders.”

I shake out my stiff hands with a groan. “If you find Lila, do not kill her,” I say to Val. “We need our answers.”

There’s no response, but I know Val’s heard me. I can’t even contemplate the idea of her ignoring my advice, and I’m hardly going to hoist myself up into the ventilation shaft to chase after her; I need to stick with Tabby.

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