Chapter Four

This place may not be somewhere where humor is acceptable, but I couldn't stop laughing as Delilah squealed and cursed.

In case it wasn't obvious, I chose to force her to do the work. Now all four of us were scooting down the wall, two in one direction, two in the other, until we finally found something.

So far, it wasn't looking too good.

There had to be a way into this room. Unless we were underground, in which case there'd be a ladder or something down to the bottom from the top, but I'm certain I was unconscious as they brought me down. How would I go down a ladder? And if they dropped me, I would have some back pain, yes? Unless the ladder was very short, or the ground was padded, which I think I would have felt, as I had both laid down in and stood on the ground. Obviously...

The thoughts were running around my mind in all directions. And they would've kept running around my head if I didn't ram into a structure on the wall.

Convinced I had hit yet another wall, I went to start going down the new wall when it ended sharply. My hope building, I felt around the place and yelled for my cellmates (if that's what you would call them) to come and see. Sure enough, I flipped up the switch and my eyes were immediately blinded. I'd never gone from being in complete darkness for hours, maybe days, to white light piercing through my eyelids and my soul and... Jesus, it was so bright!

I shielded my eyes with both hands, searching for the source of my pain. Finding that the lightbulbs covered the entire roof, I realized I would need to just let my eyes adjust. I really hoped it wouldn't take too long, though. Being in complete darkness was one thing- at least nobody could see. But say one of the creeps who captured us came into the room and could see us while we were blinded by the sudden brightness? We were completely vulnerable in that state, and it was enough to make me open my eyes and let them adjust out of necessity.

Apparently I was the only one who realized this. Once my eyes were adjusted enough that I could see vague outlines of the others, I saw that they were all covering their eyes and cowering just as I had been only minutes ago. "Open your eyes and let them adjust," I told them, still feeling like my irises were roasting.

"Umm, that hurts. A lot." Parker's voice was strained.

"I'll save you, Parky!" Delilah shouted, and I saw her stumble around and fall into him. Under any other circumstance I would have laughed hysterically, and probably honestly fallen on the ground myself. But now was not the time for that. I helped both of them up and told them they'd get used to it.

"Honestly guys, don't let me be tougher than you," I snorted, and that seemed to do the trick. Dakota's eyes opened immediately and he fought to keep them open. I turned my head away and focused on something more productive- finding a way out. My eyes were completely adjusted now, and as I looked around, I realized we were in a chamber of a sort. There didn't seem to be a way in or out, which was puzzling and impossible. Unless we came through the white walls and roof around us, there was no logical way we could have gotten in here.

"That's it!" I shouted, causing all of them to yell back at me to shut up. Ignoring them entirely, I began searching the walls as I had been only a few minutes before. "Come on, come on," I whispered, barely audible to those around me. It was nerve-racking, the way my hopes had been raised. But it was the only logical conclusion I could think of- not that it made much sense to begin with.

"Why exactly are you trying to peel something off of the wall?" Parker asked carefully, as though he was afraid I had gone insane. I was on my second wall now, feeling around everywhere for some kind of lifted panel. The amount of movies I had seen testified to my theory that the door was hidden in plain sight, and I was prepared to search every last corner for it.

"Door. Exit. Entrance. Help me." I spoke in short sentences, focused entirely on trying to break us out of the prison. He knelt down beside me and began copying my movements, but I shook my head. "Go to the wall over there," I told him without a glance in his direction. Soon his presence faded, but I barely noticed. When a shout rang in the air, I stopped immediately and ran over to where he was prying at something.

A door. Okay, not really a door, but a tunnel, a tunnel about half the size of a door, leading straight and then into darkness. The walls were metal and cold. I shouted to the others and they came running to see what had happened, gasping as they saw the hole and rejoicing. I positioned myself to go through but I was shoved out of the way. "I did all the work, so I get to go first!" Delilah spat, swatting at me feebly. I glared at her.

"You did nothing. Get that into your thick head." I pushed her out of the way. "Plus, we don't know what's back there. You wouldn't want the scary ladybugs to eat you, would you?" I taunted, and she didn't seem to understand that I was mocking her.

"Oh, gosh, you're right! You're so much more worthless than me. You should go first."

I decided to let it go, relishing instead in the whiffs of fresh air I was getting from the passageway. I crawled inside the geometric tunnel, able to move on my hands and knees, which was much more preferable than an army crawl. It seemed like it was going on for forever until finally I reached forwards with my hand and found nothing solid underneath. Startled, I slipped and fell onto the ground with a grunt. I laid there for a few minutes, shocked.

I was free.