"Great…another cold, dark bunker," Elliot thought as they entered the ancient halls of what was once a high-security science facility, scattered with the remains of the scientists that once resided within. Genius minds, now nothing but dust and bone. Not unlike any of the other bunkers he had explored before, he often wondered what it was like for these people in their final moments. Were they afraid? Did they see the end coming? Did they suffer?
Kate, his partner, was never phased by these things. She was focused solely on the mission, that was all that mattered to her. Sometimes he admired her for that focus and dedication to the mission. She was a soldier, strong, tough and bold. But that meant she often came across as heartless, cold and intimidating. At first glance, nothing about her was warm and friendly. She had pale skin and cold, piercing blue eyes. If only that glare of hers was as deadly as it looked. It would make their missions a lot easier. However, Elliot knew her better than that. She could never scare him off, no matter how much she had tried when they first met.
Elliot pointed his torch to a trail of footprints on the dusty floor, "You were right, we aren't the only visitors. Someone's been down here recently. Group of…ten, maybe."
"Explains why the door to the tunnel wasn't sealed properly," she said, studying her surroundings. "Their trail only goes one way, no return prints. Which means they are still here somewhere."
"Or they found another way out…"
Kate took a moment to adjust the tie in her blood-red hair, then pulled out the old floor plan of the facility from her bag. "Right," she huffed, "there's no power. So, the security door to the main part of the facility will be sealed. No way they got past that point. This is the only way out on this side of that door. If they haven't come back this way, they are still here."
Elliot looked at the floor plan. As always, she was right. The tunnel was the only way out from this side. But it only made him more curious as to why the previous visitors hadn't come back if they couldn't go any further without power. "Alright, how do you wanna handle this?" he asked her.
Kate studied the floor plan for a moment. "There's a backup generator on this side. But, my guess is that the group ahead of us will be searching for it too."
"Good thing we have a map! Late to the party, but one step ahead!" he smiled.
"Do you have to be so optimistic about everything?"
"Come on, we can't both be dark and serious. What's the fun in that?" He watched her roll her eyes, but it only made his smile grow wider. Through all the years they had been partners, he loved pushing her buttons. It made the missions more interesting. She was a good soldier, but she needed help to lighten up sometimes.
"Look," she sighed, "if there are people down here, then it's more than likely they are after the same thing we are. We can't let them–"
"The power is still off. Which means they haven't found shit. This place is like a damn maze, but we have the floor plan. We will get to the generator first, open that door and if we find any hostiles along the way…we take them out. Not like we haven't done this a million times before."
"There's about ten of them, if not more. We don't know where they are or what weapons they are carrying…this is unknown territory"
"Ten of them against the two of us…I still like our odds. We've handled worse, right?"
"And I always end up saving your ass."
"Yes, you do! Because you're a badass. You're not gonna back down from a little thing like this, are you? Because that would be seriously disappointing."
Kate chuckled slightly, shaking her head. "Fuck, you're annoying."
"I'm annoying because you know I'm right! Besides, it's taken us too long to get here to turn back now just because someone else got here before us. Now, you wanna stand around talking in the dark, or do you want to continue the mission?"
"Fine…" she looked around at the ancient bones of the scientists, walking over to one of the skeletons still in a lab coat. She then crouched down to search the pockets, finding an old key card. "We'll need this once the power's back on," she said.
"Ah, great thinking! That's why you're the one in charge!"
"You can stop now."
"Yep, that was too much. Let's get moving."
The pair made their way deeper into the facility. Sure enough, the trail of footprints headed in the direction of the main security door with no signs that anyone had come back out.
"You know what we should do after we finish the mission?" Eliot asked with a smirk across his face.
"...not the damn beach again…"
"C'mon, we can retire and find a good spot down south. Somewhere warm and sunny to live out the rest of our lives."
"People like us don't retire, El…" Kate let out a sigh, still keeping an eye out for any signs of danger.
"So you wanna keep doing this until you get killed on a job one day?"
"That's the way it is. You know that."
"It doesn't have to be, Kate. Why have you got to be so serious all the time? We can just leave and never look back."
"No we can't! They will find us!"
"We will be careful, cover our tracks, get so far away that they won't waste the resources on us."
Kate stopped walking and turned to face him, giving him a glare that would cut right through him if looks could kill. "Stop it! Forget about the fucking beach. It was the dream of two drunk idiots…idiots that needed to escape reality for just a little while. So just stop, I don't want to hear you mention that fucking beach ever again!"
Elliot stared at her for a moment. She had snapped at him before, but he knew this time was different. He let out a sigh and nodded slowly. "You're right…it was just a stupid dream. Sorry, I won't bring it up again."
The silence between them as they continued their mission seemed to bring a chill to the air. He wanted to say something to lighten the mood. But he knew that now wasn't the right time. The mission had taken its toll on her. Finding this place was hard enough, now there were more obstacles to deal with.
Kate suddenly stopped and tapped his arm. "You see that?" she asked, pointing her torch at the floor a few feet away from them. A trail of blood, a lot of it, coming from one room and into another. She looked at the map again then back at the trail of blood. "It's leading to the power room…"
Elliot slowly crept towards the other room. He pressed his back against the wall beside the door, pulling his gun out of its holster. When Kate gave him a nod, he looked into the room. Holding the torch high with one hand and his gun in the other. "Empty…" he said as he scanned the room that was once an office. He then found where the trail of blood had come from. There was an open vent in the ceiling, some blood still dripping from it. "Well, those visitors definitely didn't find another way out."
"Stay sharp," Kate spoke in her commanding tone, "they could still be breathing."
"All this blood, doubt it."
"You're probably right. But let's just be ready for anything until we know for sure."
They slowly walked out of the office and back into the corridor to follow the blood trail to the power room. Elliot was certain that no one could survive losing this much blood without some serious medical help. They were definitely going to find a body.
Kate turned the handle of the door, trying to push it open. But something was barricading it from the other side.
"Give me a hand," she said as she took off her backpack and got ready to push. Elliot nodded and got beside her. With a couple of hard pushes, they got the door open enough to get through. Elliot shone his torch around the room, seeing the large metal cabinet that had been used to block the door. He then found a man, sitting on the floor in a pool of blood with his back against the wall, holding his insides in his hands. The man appeared to be in his forties with short greying hair and a mustache. He was in good shape, besides the obvious tear through his body. No weapons, but he probably lost them along the way through the vent or before he had even gone in there. Anything could have happened to this guy. But one thing was certain, he went through hell. Elliot wished he could say this was the worst thing he had ever seen.
Kate crouched down to place her fingers on the man's neck. "Cold," she said, shaking her head. "I'd say he's been here at least twenty-four hours."
"I'm more concerned about what got him," Elliot replied, scanning the area cautiously in case whatever killed this man was close by. "This guy really climbed through that vent with his guts hanging out?...Damn…"
"...and he barricaded himself in here too." She pointed her torch at the broken lever of the main power switch, letting out a sigh. "He practically dragged himself here to shut off the power and lock this place down. He ripped the lever clean off. Whatever killed him is still in the main facility…and he wanted to make sure it didn't get out."
"I kinda hope his buddies died before he shut the power off. If not, then he sentenced them to death when he locked everything down."
"Look at him. Do you really think they stood a chance either way?"
"You got a point…" he ran a hand over his face. "So, what now?"
"You know what. We're getting what we came for."
"Which is on the other side of that security door. If we turn the power back on, we'll let whatever it is out."
"We don't need the security door, we can use the vent."
"You…can't be serious…" he looked at her with disbelief. "We don't know what's in there. A group of guys went in and only this guy came out…with his intestines in his hands!"
"Where's your annoying optimism?"
"That was when it looked like we only had people to deal with. But a beast that can take out an entire group of ten men?…we aren't equipped for that!"
"We've never returned empty handed. And you know what will happen if we do."
"I know we were just talking about this…but do you really want to die today?"
"If we turn back…we're dead anyway."
Elliot let out a frustrated huff. He knew she was right. Going back empty handed was out of the question. Whatever could happen here, it was certain that going back after a failed mission would be a worse fate for them both. He sighed once more. The dead man climbed into the vent to escape what had killed him, which meant it had to be a beast of great size to be unable to follow its prey through a vent. Despite the limited options, he was still reluctant.
"This vent wasn't on the map…it could lead anywhere."
"We will follow the blood," she shrugged, "this guy left a pretty decent trail."
"And what's the plan when we reach the other side?"
"Stay low, keep quiet, study the surroundings. Then we figure out where we are on the map and go from there."
"...well, I promised I'd follow you anywhere, right?"
Kate's expression softened for a moment, showing a hint of a smile. "If anything happens…"
"We'll make it out of this. Both of us."
"That's usually the last words of an idiot that's about to die."
"Hey! I'm trying to be annoyingly optimistic here!"
She chuckled, the sound making Eliot smile. "How about we see if we make it out of this first. Then I'll let you celebrate any way you want."
"Oh really?" he grinned at her playfully, his thoughts immediately creating the lustful scenario in his head. He was fully aware that wasn't what she meant, he just wanted to tease her. Surprisingly, she seemed to ignore his joke. "Come on, let's get moving," she said as she walked back into the office. She then climbed up into the vent through the blood.
"At least I'll have a good view…" He chuckled before following her.