Chapter 14

I am in the other room thinking hard about what we have to do next.

Okay, so first, I need a weapon. Then, I am going to have to find something to break the chains or attack the guy with the key.

I sigh once again, massaging my head with my hands. The latter is what I will probably have to do. I listen for people approaching and move to the room across from the chute room. This one is filled with metal shelves housing all kinds of random stuff. One shelf is covered in phones and wallets, another with clothes. It looks like people's belongings from before the bombing.

But why would they be here like this?

I'm too busy panicking to bother thinking about it more right now. I search all around the room and in the very back, leaning against one of the shelves, is a decent looking machete. The handle is crusted with old blood and it feels gritty in my hands, flaking and falling to the ground. I fight back a shudder and try to be grateful for this little ray of light in dark times.

Making my way back, I start to think about who would have the key. I guess that it's probably the lewd guy that I headbutted earlier. Just thinking about it makes my forehead ache. I slow down my steps, coming back to the room. All of a sudden, I hear Mikayla scream, and my body moves on its own, throwing me into the room and I swing the machete as hard as I can at the figure looming over her.

Everything goes in slow motion, the blade of my weapon sliding smoothly into the man's neck, stopping about halfway through. The incredulous look in his eyes as blood flows freely down his body from the wound like a crimson river. He tries to speak but only gurgles as he spews blood from his mouth as well and then his body just falls, collapses to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding. Mikayla is a blubbering mess after what she just saw but I had to do it. I didn't have a choice; I went on autopilot from the fear of being alone again. I don't want to die alone.

I fall to my knees, barely registering the rough pain from the impact of my shins onto the concrete. Exhaustion hits me but I ignore it. We aren't in the clear yet. Forcing myself to stand, I dig in the man's pockets, hoping to find the key to the shackles around Mikayla's ankles. Luckily, I was right. The lewd man had the key, I turn and release her from the chains, the skin around her ankles is blistered and red from her struggles.

"We have to get out of here. Let's go, before someone else comes." I urge her to stand and run with me, but she is panicking, worse than me.

A resounding slap across her cheek has her looking at me with bewilderment. My hand is now tingling with irritation, the skin of my palm radiating heat from the impact.

"What was that for?!" She almost screams at me, fury emanating from her blazing hair and eyes.

I almost feel scared, putting my hands up in surrender I offer a sheepish smile.

"You were freaking out and we HAVE to go. I think I found a way out of here, but we have to hurry."

Thankfully, with that, she forgets about the fact that I just brutally slapped the sense right back into her.

I grab the machete, sheer confidence building inside of me at the sound of the blade separating from its fleshy sheath.

I can protect us. I will protect us.

We run to the door and make our way to the chute room as quickly and quietly as possible. Once inside I explain to Mikayla that my plan is we slide down the chute. She agrees and we decide to go without wasting any more time because all hell will break loose when they see that we are gone somehow.

"I'm going to go first since it was my idea."

She nods in response and I climb up into the chute, the smell stronger than before inside of it. I turn my head and take a deep breath before letting myself fall into the darkness, the few seconds of nothing but falling a blessed vacation.

I thought that I couldn't find anything more shocking in this place, but I was proven wrong real fast when I landed from jumping into the trash chute. Turns out, it's their body disposal chute. The dumpster I fell in is chock full of soupy skeletons. Their naked bodies explain the things I found in the other room. The sun has baked the rotting flesh, without clothes the skin and muscle easily separated from the bone, and the heat combined with how long it's been since some of these were dumped has resulted in a big bowl of liquefied organs.

Immediately, my stomach flips and involuntarily heaves, which is fine since it's empty. Right after I get myself under control, Mikayla comes barreling down the chute and the minute she hits the bodies I am once again coated in miscellaneous guts.

It takes us a good ten minutes to get out of the dumpster and find a slit in the fence around the building to get out and run for the woods. We have no idea where they took us and so now, we must figure that out before looking for my family. We run as fast and hard as we can through the woods, the wind and sound of the trees moving are liberating. We survived.