“Ew, was that a severed off hand?” Fuji inquired, he furrowed his brows as we both stepped into the entrance.

  The hallway reached a long perspective… Narrow and walls were bombarded with doors on the sides.

  The stench of death, rotten blood and black mold lingered in the air.

  Each doors had a metal sign with a name and number. The closest door to us looked like this:

  Nobuko (dead)

  001

  Succumbed to anthrax

  “Jeez that’s horrible,” I stammered, the sign had splashes of red and brown.

  “They were probably using people for their tests…” Fuji presumed nervously, “I don’t want to die in here…”

  “Don’t worry,” I replied softly whilst squeezing his cold, bony hand, “We will find Akira and Rosie and take them home, it may take long…but it’s possible. I will make sure we won’t die in this horrible place, Fuji.”

  He released a faint smile, his eyes were no longer tensed.

  “Thanks…” he cooed quietly, “That really helped calm my spiraling thoughts.”

  “We move on and search for them?”

  “Yes, I’m ready.”

  BANG!

  Me and Fuji flinched at the same time.

  We both slowly turned behind to the door.

  BANG! BANG!

  I clutched Fuji as we both froze in place.

  I heard his hushed prayers as we expected the worst…

  CRASH!

  ...

  “Dang, that door is stubborn as heck.”

  “Diana?!” We both exclaimed.

  “Fuji?! Adithi?!” she yelped, “What are you doing here?!”

  “Uh…”

  “You two know nothing about this place!” she aggressively pounded towards us, glaring at us, “It would be best if you get out of here, I will find them myself!”

  “What?! NO!” Fuji yelled at her, his veins unveiling at his temples.

  “What the hell do you mean by no?!” she shouted back at him, her hands balled up together so hard it began shaking.

  “What I mean by ‘no’, is that we aren’t getting out of here!” Fuji harshly answered back, “We came here for Akira and Rosie!”

  “SO DID I!” she roared back, teeth clenched “I didn’t come here to put y’all in da-”

  “You are doing so by telling us to get o-”

  “ITS FOR YOUR BEST!”

  “HOW?!” Fuji barked as he clamped his hands on Diana’s shoulder, his nails were sinking in her skin.

  “Fuji!” I tried to interrupt, but it was like a grain of sand in a river.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “YOU’RE PUTTING YOURSELF IN DANGER IF YOU ARE ALONE!” He was shaking Diana vigorously, trying to knock some sense in her, “TELL ME, WHO THE HECK WILL HELP YOU IF YOU GET YOURSELF-”

  “ENOUGH!” I found myself standing in between, parting the two of them away from each other.

  “We could discuss like mature and sane people, not like some animal fight!” I exclaimed at both of them, my throat tearing raw as my voice rummaged across the hall.

  …

  “Not with this idi-”

  “DIANA!” Frustration leaked in my voice as I pierced at her annoyed eyes.

  Fuji’s head hung down as I glanced at him.

  “NONE of us are going anywhere!” I stated fiercely as I lowered my hands down, “I am not taking any sides, but Fuji is right, who will help you when you are in danger?” I turned to her, expecting a reply.

  Diana tried to answer back, but stumbled over her words.

  “I know nothing about this place, but I know two things; one, it’s disgusting, and two, it’s dangerous.”

  Diana’s eyes met mine with shame.

  “But I don’t understand you, Diana…” Fuji croaked, we both faced to hear him speak, his head was still low, “You could teach us about this place, rather than shooing us away.”

  “Fuji…” I cooed, “I know you are trying to express your feelings, but I think she understands her mistake now…”

  “How about we settle somewhere quiet and discuss this? Like how you said,” Diana suggested.

  Fuji’s tired eyes scowled at her, tensed and upset as he looked up to both of us.

  Diana raised her phone – that she was holding in her palm- to her face, the white screen cast a highlight on her soft features, her fingers were tapping and swiping.

  She suddenly turned her wrist, letting us have a look at the screen.

  It showed a map of a place.

  “I managed to find the interior map by the way,” Diana added, “If you ask how… illegal website.”

  “So, right now we are in the test subjects area,” she explained while pointing to the entrance of the map.

  “If we go straight, we are met with two paths,” her index finger gliding along the path, my eyes followed the pattern subconsciously.

  The end of the narrow hall was met with a huge rectangle.

  “The left side leads to the stairs, and the right leads us to another walk, take another right, and you are met with another pathway, this time, it leads to the equipment store.”

  The equipment store room was marked with a circle.

  “Why did you circle it?” I questioned.

  “I marked that as a hiding spot,” Diana answered abruptly “You do realize we are trespassing, there are cameras and we could be reported to the police, but the equipment store’s hallway doesn’t have a camera; possibly due to malfunction.”

  “What about the ‘X’s?” Fuji observed, he squinted his eyes at the bright rectangle.

  “I have labelled them based on two things: Possible danger areas and security cameras,” she responded, “The green ‘X’s mean security cameras, we should destroy or cover them, and the red ‘X’s mean possible danger spot, could be risky but on the other hand, could be fine.”

  How the heck did we switch from a whole escalating argument to Diana explaining like nothing happened?

  “Tell us more about the stairs,” I urged, wanting to know more.

  “Alright if you say so,” Diana responded, “This laboratory is a three-story place with a basement, the problem is: I wasn’t able to find out about the exact topics that each floor holds, so it can be very risky to go upstairs.

  “But I found out about the basement, it is like an auditorium for scientists to present their tests and findings,” as she held up a picture of the theater, one old man, stood on the podium, holding a caged rabbit.

  The rabbit’s eyes were missing…

  My heart clenched and held in place at that sickening picture.

  “I marked that as a low-danger area,” Diana continued, “It can even be another hiding spot, since I found no cameras there too.”

  “Is there anything else we need to know?” I asked before I forget the question.

  Her eyes bolted up at the ceiling, hesitating if she left any other information.

  “Nope, I think that’s everything,” Diana said rapidly.

  “Wait, should we check the entrance door to see if we can escape?” Fuji implied.

  “Oh yeah, that’s a good idea,” Diana commented as she paced slowly to the door, “You finally got some thinking senses.”

  She began with a gentle pull.

  The door did not budge.

  She pulled a bit more forcefully.

  Again… It did not budge.

  “Wait, let me try,” Fuji spoke as Diana moved out of the way for him.

  He tried an intense pull with all the strength he had.

  …

  The door barely moved.

  Unexpectedly, He tried to kick down the door, even hitting his shin in the process.

  Me and Diana made cheeky eye contact as we tried not to giggle.

  Fuji began breathing heavily, hands on his knees.

  Before finally, launching himself at the door.

  …

  Nothing moved…

  “No…” Fuji muttered anxiously, “No no no!”

  “Fuji, relax!” I tried to calm him down, “It could be budged, we will come back to it once we find something that could help.”

  “What if we are stuck in here?!” he shot his head at me, breathing shallow.

  “Wow, Fuji…” Diana called out, “I never knew someone with the nickname: “Chiller in the killer group”, would panic so badly.”

  “Diana, who wouldn’t panic?!” he rushed. “We are stuck in here! Of course I would panic!”

  “Hey hey, you two,” I quickly interrupted, this time it was heard, “I don’t want another fight in here.”

  Diana went silent as Fuji slumped on the floor, she quickly checked her phone.

  “It’s eight pm…” she said dismayed.

  “I guess we have to stay the night in here…”

  She added as she sat down next to Fuji, who had his head buried in his hands.

  She posed a serious look.

  “Don’t worry…

  “There is still a way out, don’t lose hope yet.”