3.

--But how? By looking at those cuts on your arm for a while?

I was so upset that if I hadn't shut up when I mentioned your arm I would have said the first thing that popped into my head, whatever it was.

Denis smiled. His smile was somewhere between fearful and confident; he had a plan in mind.

--Sure, Jason, if we go down the road of scars -¡He called it!- we'll find our way out.

--The way out! Which way?

He smiled again, but this time his smile showed how confident he was.

--That way -he said, pointing to a corner where there was a large pile of boxes stretching to the roof.

I held out my hands in a way that meant I didn't understand anything.

--Remember I told you that these creatures are stupid despite everything? -I nodded-. Well, what do you think, there's something up there that they missed and even less when I -he rummaged in the back pockets of his pants- got this. -He showed me a knife.

--I can ask you where you got that... knife.

--Of course, I always keep one in my socks when I go for a walk, you know, my father had this problem that I would go into the woods to go for a walk and some wild beast would appear and I would have nothing to defend myself with but my hands. At first I wanted to agree to always carry the shotgun I had, but he got hysterical because of my age and because I don't know how to handle one, and he chose to give me this knife that still has its sharp edge. -He was silent for a moment. At first I thought he was giving himself a break because of the way he had spoken, but he wasn't-. However, if only my father had allowed me to carry his shotgun, maybe I wouldn't be here, maybe I would have blown that horrendous face on those eyeless things.

There was silence.

«Well, it's not so bad, in the end you were the reason I was able to escape from that shitty place», I've always had those words in my mind for ten years of my life and there's no night that those words are heard in my head as if it was something that my conscience doesn't advance to assimilate after what happened to Denis.

--Ok. -I raised my shoulders-. What's your way out?

--Come on. -He waved his right hand at me as he waved the knife in his left hand as if he was ready to slice someone up and I wasn't coming out of that "someone" list.

It took me a while to trust Denis, who at that time was not in his right mind but in a crazy state, so that he was on drugs or something like that because of the yellowish color of his eyes. Then I nodded and followed his lead. He went to the pile of boxes that he had pointed out a few moments earlier and climbed each floor that the boxes formed, as if they were steps that led him to the top of that room. Surely up there you feel that you are falling and so it was, you felt that at any moment your back is thrown back and at any moment the weight of your back is more than your own weight and you are drawn to the floor to... who knows what is happening to you. Yes, it was horrendous to be up there, several meters off the ground resting your feet on some boxes that you don't even know the contents of and being tempted by a voice in your head that says something like: "look back, maybe there is someone chasing you, then pick up the pace or you are going to get caught", but when you turn around you only observe how infinitely distant you are from the ground. Denis, on the other hand, was having a very good time; of course he was, because surely he had been hundreds of times climbing that mountain of boxes to lose his fear in one of them, or perhaps he already lost his fear by survival instinct, by the instinct of wanting to leave that room where sometimes there are people, but they go away and never come back, perhaps not complete but in the form of blood that is dripping every moment and degrading the ceiling.

He took the knife out of his mouth, which at one point I didn't see him put it there so he could climb up without any problem, and then put it back in his mouth to forcibly move a box that was bumping into the ceiling. He brought it very close to his chest, showing me an air duct that had a very rusty grate. He loaded the box.

--Hold this -although I understood him later because of his strange pronunciation due to the knife in his mouth.

I nodded, however, after analyzing it well, I said:

--What are you, crazy?

He was trying to give me that box that must have weighed a lot because of the way Denis was trying to keep it up.

--Tae it, take i -I heard him say and I refused.

--Hey, are you crazy? That thing must be heavy and I can fall over trying to take it.

--Take it fast, it's going to slip.

I accepted after a few seconds. He handed me the box.

--Be careful not to fall -he said with a long smile. Of course I saw the smile on his face from watching me struggle with the weight of the box.

--And what do you think I've been trying to do since I got on! -I said.

For a moment I was close to walking backwards by the heavy box. I held on for a long time and leaned forward to leave the box by my feet. I think I was sweating. Again I paid attention to Denis who took the knife out of his mouth and slid the switch up so that the blade would come out. I was now near the rusty grate that protected the air duct and was removing the screws from each corner with the tip of the knife. Finally, he put the four trunks in his right pants pocket.

There a thought crossed my mind.

--Why didn't you leave that duct without screws so that you wouldn't have to take time to remove them?

He looked back at me.

--Those eyeless things, the way they get people in here, they do it with the boxes, and the way they get people out, they get some boxes out too, and I couldn't risk them coming in here and seeing that the conduit is screwed out. I told you they're kind of dumb, but not so dumb that they don't realize that someone has been trying to get out.

--and you know what's in the boxes? Because they're quite heavy.

Denis shook his head.

--No, and I don't even care, but I can assure you of one thing: they are not bodies because if they were, they would have stunk after a few days and would have melted like the roof. -I looked at the ceiling, which continued with that constant stream of blood-. Maybe they are bones, but to make them heavy I doubt it and I didn't want to horrify my curiosity to know what is inside the boxes. You know, it is better to remain unaware of something than to know it and spend every second of your life remembering it.

He finished talking and looked back at the air duct. At this point he put his hands on the grate and pulled it out.

--Wait -I interrupted him every time he tried to take out the grid.

He looked back at me.

--What?

I looked into his eyes.

--Why didn't they ever know you had a knife in your socks?

--It's funny. -He smiled-. But I forgot I had one in my right foot, you know, I've kept that knife in the middle of my stocking so many times that I didn't even remember I was carrying it and I'd make a mess in the house looking for it or sometimes the blade would come out of the handle and cut me...

--No. -I interrupted-. I meant when you were already here. -I paused, remembering the past-. Hey, why didn't they know I was faking it? I mean when you told me to pretend to be asleep. Surely you know that these things can read minds.

--Aha -he replied-, but I don't know if it's because of what they injected into our necks to make us sleep or it's because of this place; the thing is that their "power" -he waved his fingers- is neutral when we are here or else they would have come at me when the blade of the knife came out that time and cut off part of my heel. Now that hurts, Jason. I held back a lot that time, about to cry from the pain; at that moment I remembered the blow and wanted to keep the knife with me.

Now everything was clear. The doubts that I had at some point in those moments were already answered and I chose to trust Denis, although not much; his look was very strange and he looked scared again.

--Then -I came back to the conversation-, you say that the exit is through that place.

--I think so, just follow me.

I kept silent with a scowl.

--What do you mean, "I think"? -I looked at him as he entered the air duct.

He came out of it.

--Just follow me. -He put the knife in his back pocket-. Trust me, I've been here too long to know the rules of the game.

I nodded and once again I saw him enter through that extremely small conduit that surely in one part we ended up getting stuck. He prayed a lot because that never happened and I reached him up to the top of that room. But while Denis was trying to enter the duct, I had enough time to look at the knife in his left pants pocket, which was almost out of his pocket, and I thought of something. He could not be seen with his five senses to carry that knife.

«I'm sorry, Denis -I thought- but you're not in a good condition to carry that.»

And I stretched out my right hand as far and as fast as I could so that Denis wouldn't go completely into the duct, even though I could take it off when he was inside, but who was making sure that Denis wouldn't notice that I was taking the knife away from him or that I could reach out and take the knife away from him in that little place. First of all, I preferred to try my luck in order to see if Denis would notice that I took the knife away from him or not. As easy as it sounds, I took the knife away from him. I was very afraid that he would notice. In spite of things, I pulled the handle of the knife that was almost halfway out and kept it on the inside of the right sleeve of my shirt. Hey, until that moment I had forgotten about the day I broke my boss' face; the drops of blood from that man were still intact on my shirt from the last day of work, except that now the shirt was very dirty as if I had bathed in mud; also, I had forgotten the cigarette... but where it was, no matter how much I felt my shirt, I could not find it except... except for the damn wet matchbox that appeared in a mysterious way in the right pocket of my pants. I put the box in the same place thinking that it would be of some use to me; what good is a box of wet matches? Oh yes, then I realized that, I did use that matchbox very well. Denis, finally, put his legs in the air and I heard him say

--Jason, get in quick or you won't know the way.

There was a tapping sound as if someone was hitting a can.

--Yes -I answered.

«Well, he didn't notice anything -I said in my mind, squeezing my tongue so it wouldn't come out of my mouth by mistake.»

And I kept up with Denis. Phew, it was even higher up there, I was afraid to look at the floor and see how high it was to fall. I took a deep breath while holding the knife in my right hand. The air duct inside was very dark or it could be the silhouette of Denis entering more and more, little by little, through that narrow place.

--Move, Jason, don't get lost, follow my lead.

--Okay -I told him, although I wasn't ready to enter that place, where I could see several bloodstains on the floor of the air duct with the naked eye.

It could be that it was Denis's blood when he did those marches on his arm... now I understood, I knew in advance that those cuts were... he had mentioned something about a road, but what did he mean? That must have been the impulse that prompted me to immediately enter the duct, why he said to hurry if he didn't want me to get lost. It was really narrow. I struggled a lot to enter that rectangular cavity of no more than fifty long by thirty wide, although that was the least of it because once I went inside the duct, it seemed to increase its thickness and also the marks of bloody hands on the walls that could well be an indication of where to go, in any case I think that would not have worked in the end because as one was entering that place, apart from noticing that it expanded its dimensions, one realizes that the light is blocked as the minutes pass and the blood marks end. Maybe Denis thought about that before, in passing, he could see in his arm or feel the scars to see which is the way before advancing a few meters and coming back to see the drawing of the path again, if he had decided to make the drawing on the floor or on the wall. It was well thought out by him.

--Are they yours? -It slipped out of my mouth.

--What?

He looked back. We had already reached a point where one could turn around a little. I was silent as soon as I looked at Denis and his eyes, which seemed to be shining, but it was an effect of the light, of the little light there was.

--Eee... -I stammered-. I refer to the blood marks. Are they yours?

--No. -He looked back at the front of him-. These marks were there before. Apparently someone wanted out too and didn't succeed. But they were a great sign. They gave me almost half of the way through.

I was leaning on my forearms and knees to move, and so was Denis. My knees were already hurting; it was as if inside that air duct there were no marks of dry blood but rather small rocks that were encrusted in me at every moment.

--Denis, how much further? -I wanted to know.

--Only three more meters and then it's five meters on the left hand side and...

--How big is this duct? -I interrupted.

--I don't know exactly, but don't go far; be careful you get lost, there are many roads.

I turned my head to each side of me and saw that there were more paths.

--Where do those roads lead?

--I don't know, I told you these blood marks were there before and they led me, I just had to figure out the other parts of the road. It never occurred to me what might be on the other roads that cross this one. One day I wanted to explore them but I preferred not to spend time, you know, you never know when your last chance may be to find your way out.

There was silence except for the tapping that we made at every step of our way.

--Were you never afraid? -I killed the silence.

--Of what?

--You know. You said there were more people in that room before I arrived, you weren't afraid that one of them would give you away with the things without eyes.

--With them? No, I was never afraid, you know, I had that in mind and I preferred to work when everyone was asleep in case it occurred to you that you might come out alive if you gave some information about the attitude of the people inside the room of silence, that's what I like to call it: the room of silence. And when I was sure that I had found the way out, it would be time to tell everyone about the way, that's what I always thought about; but everyone has already left and the only one left is you.

Denis turned left. I followed him too.

--The room of silence? Why do you call it that? -I said with a long smile on my face, perhaps Denis knew I was smiling because of the way the words came out of my mouth.

--You are going to laugh, but I call it the room of silence because we were all so afraid inside that place that we couldn't even think of opening our mouths, just to kill that space of silence and tranquility, that one could hear the steps coming from them, from the other men that exist in this world.

His joke did not cause me thanks, in the least possible, perhaps he spoke too much that his joke was losing its grace little by little.

--Is that the great story of the name of that room?

Denis began to laugh as he pointed out to me a path in the midst of so many, through which one could see a long tunnel that had no end in sight.

--Many of those I tell this to laugh as they have never laughed before in their lives.

--I'm sure the people who were laughing must have been the next ones to come out next to the things without eyes.

Denis paused for a moment with a thoughtful face.

--Is something wrong, Denis?

--How did you know that they died?

I remained silent; I didn't know what to answer, let alone something that was just a joke.

--It was a joke, I never knew that they were the next to die, sorry.

--Don't worry, Jason, maybe it's a sign that you didn't laugh at my joke, maybe you won't be the next one to walk out the door of the quiet room. Lucky for you. You lucky bastard.

That was a great joke this time. We both went into kingdoms like complete fools. We turned to the right and from my point of view, there was only one road to be seen.

--Hey -I said as we followed the road- you were talking about your father and his shotgun earlier, where were you when they captured you?

--I told you, I was walking through the woods and these things came out of nowhere and cornered me and then they injected me. By the time I woke up, I was in the room of silence with more people hugging each other with a gleam of terror in their eyes. And you, Jason, how did you stop in the room of silence?

--I was at a gas station, I had smashed my boss's face in and one of those things appeared and he started saying some strange things. Then other men came and put me in a car.

--Then they came as usual and left you on the floor -he said.

Now we went down a road between two confusing roads.

--Are you talking about when I got to the room of silence?

--Aha -he said, and there was silence.

He had stopped in the middle of three roads and looked at each of them nervously.

--Which way, Denis? We must hurry.

--Just give me a moment, I need to think which way to go.

--Which way to go? -I said hysterically-. I thought you knew which way to go.

--I do, just give me time to think.

--Why did you bring me here if you didn't know which way was out?

He came back to see me. He had some fear in his eyes, but at the same time he looked confident.

--I thought you were going to think the same thing I did; I thought if I told you I didn't know the whole way out, you wouldn't come with me. I had the idea that today I was going to get out of this hell or die trying. If I told you that there was still a long way to go to find the way out, you probably wouldn't have come and if they showed up when I wasn't, maybe they would take you to the place where no one comes back from and maybe they would be waiting for me too, wherever I went.

I remained silent, thinking about the pile of words I was going to say to him.

--Why did you think I wasn't going with you for...?

--His name was Luis! He got upset when people called him Lu. -He looked at me nervously-. Lu was with me when they came to the forest and captured me, but they didn't want any witnesses, even though he wasn't someone they were looking for. I don't know what they were looking for, but they selected people and brought them here.

»He was with me for a long time that we almost thought they were going to forget us, however, that was not the case; sometimes they intended to take him to Luis, but they brought him back because he was a person they brought back so that he would not tell other people that there is a group of non-human beings who take people away and never give them back. There is another room of silence, well, many, I don't know where they are, but I was in another one and when I was sleeping they brought me here, but Lu was no longer there, they had taken him while he was sleeping and it was all my fault.

»It's my fault that Lu is gone. I should never have dug a tunnel in the other room of silence. He laughed when I said, "room of silence. Those things haven't gotten me beyond the door because they like to drive me crazy in this place where they apparently think I won't find my way out. Now I don't want that to happen to you too. If they go to the room of silence and don't find us, there will be no one to pay the price, but we must hurry to find the way out.

It's okay. All traces of anger that circulated in my veins at that time vanished in the same way that it came. I was left with my eyes fixed on Denis, this time with the same certainty with which he spoke of finding the way out.

I agreed with all his words.

--I apologize for making you say all those things.

--Don't worry, Jason. You'll see how we'll get out of this place. -He paused slightly as he inhaled deeply and exhaled at his own pace-. What do you say we take the path on the right, then we go through...

--Why do you say we go the right way? -I interrupted him.

-You think the blood marks were all over the road we came, I went down each road after the blood marks ended and many of them didn't lead to each, as it sounds, Jason, they didn't lead to anything and this road is the one that leads to other roads, maybe some of them don't lead to anything and one is the right one, you just have to find out what's on each road.

I nodded again.

--Okay, Denis. Let's go to the path on the right and if there's nothing there we'll come back to see the next paths.

--That's right, Jason.

There was silence for a few seconds.

--Then let's keep going; let's not waste any time.

--Yes.

Denis hurried along. He continued to make a right as he had assured himself. The air duct of this place started becoming smaller as each meter passed by, and you could see at first sight... you could see a light! Something that accelerated us little by little because we had something in mind. That light, slightly obscured by some horizontal lines, was a sign that it was a room with an air duct, just like the room of silence from which I arrived at the beginning.

--Is that the exit? -I said to Denis in a happy tone.

--I don't know, maybe it's another room of silence and maybe the door is open.

My heart never beat so strongly when I had at least one hope that I could get out of that place at last. However, things were not going to be as easy as one might suppose. Denis had reached the grate that covered the air duct which had several slits in it that he couldn't get through and was pushing it out with his hands, but nothing worked.

--What happened? -I asked.

--It looks like it's screwed in from the outside and I don't think I can get my hand through to try to remove the screws.

--But you can see something from that room.

--It's not a room, Jason -he said as he looked into the crack space. -I think it's... Well, it does look like a room, but it's with the door open.

--Open!

--Aha.

--So what are we waiting for? Try to push the grate.

--No. We'd better go to the other roads in case there's an exit on one of them.

I remained silent as I analyzed his words.

--Well, if we don't find an exit on the other roads, we'll come back here to remove that grid.

--Because it's obvious. Turn around and come back.

--I'm coming.

It was quite uncomfortable trying to turn around in that place whose dimensions were only enough for you not to get stuck and be able to move with some difficulty. But in the end, after seeing that it was impossible for you to turn around like that, you tried to put your back on one of the driver's walls so that you could try to put your legs on the other wall in order to make the attempt to roll, but in spite of that, I didn't get anything more than hard blows to the head.

--I better get back -I said.

Denis nodded.

And I went about my business. Just like that time when Denis recommended that I go to the same position as before so that they wouldn't notice that I had opened my eyes, I moved slowly as I placed my hands on the floor of the duct and pushed with them as well as with my legs, or I chose to put my hands on the walls of the duct and from there go at the pace of the strength of my arms. The latter was very helpful because we were no longer moving at an insignificant pace, now we were moving about half a meter each time. I managed to see where we were starting from and I told Denis:

--We are close now.

--It's okay. You advance a few more meters to be able to leave and enter the other path.

--Ok.

I obeyed him to the letter, when I already left the way of the right, I advanced some few meters so that Denis could leave and later enter the way of in the middle with much difficulty. «I wish the path there was more room in case we have to go back», that was what I had in my mind as I tried to turn around and was constantly hitting my head on the duct ceiling.

--Wait for me, Denis -I shouted at a very high volume.

--Don't talk too loud, Jason. Imagine they're underneath us and they hear us.

I nodded and followed him on the middle path.

Just as I had wished a few moments ago, the path was very spacious, at every step the walls were moving away from us and so was the ceiling and one was able to stand up and walk with one's back down, but we didn't think about that in case we took a bad step and went down who knows where in that mysterious place.

--Damn it! -I heard Denis say.

--What's going on?

He looked back.

--It's nothing, it's just that there are two paths here. I hate it when that happens, it's going to take us a long time to go down each road and it's our luck if there are other surprise roads.

--Imagine if one of these is the way out. You don't have to say it's bad luck; you have to see what's in each one.

--Okay, but hurry up. -He stood up; nothing mattered now-. You'll be careful where you walk.

--Yes -I attended, and just as Denis did, I stood up with my back bent.

Denis' previous comment made me a little nervous because I thought that at any moment I was going to collapse next to a piece of the air duct, so I took steps as if I was walking on an ice floor which at any moment would collapse next to me.

--Move, Jason -he exclaimed in a desperate tone.

--Yes.

I continued my analysis of the floor I was walking on (as if I were on an ice floor), but I stopped for a moment with a frown when I heard a squeak on the floor when I set foot on it. It was a metal plate that was loose or that was my idea.

--Hey, Denis; come look at this.

He turned around.

--What's going on? -He said as he approached.

--Look. -I pointed to the metal plate-. Is there a way to remove it?

--I don't know. I don't know.

He squatted down, and I squatted down to pull the metal plate, which was loose, and if we could get it out of its place we could see what it was hiding. So we did it, both of us pulled the plate and set it aside, looking at a very strong light from the side and placing the plate near me. It was a hole in the floor of the air duct, perhaps with effort we would enter it but we sliced our stomachs with the metal stakes made around the hole; perhaps someone also wanted to escape like Denis but the floor collapsed and formed that hole, that's how I thought and planned to tell Denis that, although later I put that idea aside and told him:

--Do you think we'll find the way out if we go down?

--I have no idea -he said as he shook his head-. But we'll see what's on the other roads. What if we go down and there's no way out. -He stared at the hole. I did it anyway. You could see a corridor full of several thick brown spots. I was very doubtful that those spots were blood, and I didn't even want to ask Denis that-. We'll be in serious trouble if there's no way out down there. Look, let's look at the other roads and if we don't find anything, then we'll have to take a chance...

We listen to some steps.

--Damn it. Jason, be quiet -he said.

I planned to ask him why he should be silent, but the question answered itself as the steps began to come closer and closer.

--Hide, Jason.

I listened to him. I got as far away from the hole as I could before the steps were heard below us.

--Do you think this Jason has woken up yet? -said Kevin's voice.

--I hope he's awake now and doesn't give us a headache about how crazy people get when they wake up. I hope he didn't die. That's my worst fear, that he won't wake up because he's already dead -the voices went underneath me and went further and further away-. We should look for another way to bring people into the facility, because this sedation thing makes us lose a lot of people.

-Well, let's see if Jason's awake yet and then see how we bring people into the facility.

--Okay.

The voices as well as the footsteps disappeared or were no longer heard as before.

--Oh no! -Denis said. I looked at him. There was a fear in his eyes that I had never seen in a person before-. They are going to the room of silence.

--Is there a problem?

We continue to make eye contact and to terrorize our dilated pupils. Denis lowered his gaze and then looked up at me to clarify:

--The air duct inlet, we didn't leave it closed, did we?

I shook my head from left to right.

--Oh no! Come back.

--But why?

--Even if they go and don't see us in the room of silence, they won't doubt that we escaped or that we're in it and... and we left the entrance of the duct uncovered, it will be a matter of time before they see it and assume that we went that way and entered to look for us. They're going to find us sooner or later if we're still here. It's better to go to the quiet room and pretend nothing happened.

--We can go through the hole.

--Do you think we'll find a way out if we go down there?

I was silent with my heartbeat racing just like that when Denis told me to go to the place before so that "they" wouldn't know anything.

--Hey, and if we go to the other road we took in the beginning, where that grate was.

--No, Jason. I've been through this before and I'm telling you that it's better to go to the room of silence so that they don't suspect anything and leave again.

Maybe in those moments a part of my head was activated that made clear to me the thousands of ways I could get out of that one, but Denis's eyes were full of fear. He knew something that he wasn't telling me yet and maybe if I knew the answer I would be as terrified as he was, but if there's one thing I learned throughout all that time it's that you're too quiet without knowing the truth. I nodded to him and turned around to speed up as much as I could in that place that was shrinking with the passage of time. Never in my life was I so afraid as in that occasion where my mind kept telling me to hurry up because something bad was going to happen if we didn't get to the room of silence in time.

--Walk fast, Jason!

I was drowning in my own breath. I stopped standing with my back down and leaned on my knees and hands to crawl through that place that was shrinking in size.

--When you get to the point of the three roads you go straight ahead, I'll tell you where to go -he said in his agitated voice.

I was about to get to the point of the three roads. My heart was jumping in my chest and sweat was coming off of me like a wet rag that you squeeze to get the water out. I got to the point of the three ways and listened to Denis and continued directly.

«Move, Jason; move», someone in my mind said.

My knees hurt like never before and my hands were another case that I even lost track of the pain in them because of the fear that was circulating in my veins.

--Walk to the left later -said Denis.

It was already frequent that I hit my head on the ceiling of the air duct while he diminished the space between each wall and wrapped me in the mysterious darkness where it was frequent that I heard voices telling me:

«Hurry up, Jason; hurry up.»

I turned left very quickly.

--You follow the path to... the left. Yes, the left.

I wanted to fly off to nod, but what was I thinking at that moment?

I saw the road and then I turned left as Denis told me.

--To the left the next time, to the left.

I wanted to throw up so badly.

«They have already reached the room of silence -said the voice in my mind-. You'd better turn around, they're going to find you, and you'd better go where the grate was and kick it out.»

--To the left! -Denis yelled at me as I walked by without realizing I was doing it.

I turned left. The space became even narrower than I had imagined it would be at first.

--To the left too, Jason -he said.

It was almost impossible to get around that place. I felt the sweat drenching my face and lubricating the walls of the air duct. I would inhale and exhale through my mouth and could taste the sweat as something sour that got stuck in my throat, but when I planned to breathe through my nose the smell made me want to vomit more as the blood marks began to appear and look like they had just been made.

I turned left.

--I can't move anymore -I told Denis as I struggled to move through the duct.

«Hurry up, Jason; hurry up.»

It was impossible. It looked like a worm trying to get out of a very closed place. Now I was breathing wildly as if I was having a claustrophobic attack that actually started to be a part of my day when I have to go to very closed places and I think I'm in the position of being stuck in the air duct with no chance of getting out, unless I struggle with all my might. And so I did, I tried so hard to get out. I stretched my arms out in front of my head just like before to crawl out and in fact that did work; I advanced half a meter each time and Denis also chose to do the same.

--Hurry up, Jason; we have time to close the grate while they're stuck in the door. Oh, also, you'll go to your place so they don't know you're awake.

--Yes -I said in a slightly calm voice as I watched the exit from that spot.

«My place, my place -my mind said at every turn- my place.»

I was able to pull my arms out. I put my hands on the edges of the air duct opening and slowly pulled myself back into what was stuck inside the duct.

--Damn it! -I said.

The door. Now the door was ringing. Someone out there was forcing the door open.

«Hurry up, Jason; move.»

He was from the waist down inside the air duct.

The door continued to sound as if someone wanted to throw it down.

My right leg came out first. I held on to the pile of boxes that I initially thought would collapse as soon as I put my hands on the boxes. I crawled to get my left leg out of the chute. I saw Denis trying to get out of that place.

The door squeaked too much.

--Hurry up, Denis -I said at a perceptible volume for him.

He was already halfway out of his body. My heartbeat was very fast and was getting worse as I looked back and calculated how loud I was. I helped Denis get his legs out, something that was sure to make me go backwards. He checked the place where he had left the air vent while he was digging through his pockets to get the screws and knife out.

Again the door squeaked.

--What are you doing? -I whispered-. Leave that there, just put a box for him to hide it.

Denis looked at me and nodded and did what I said.

I wasn't going to let him stand there and put the screws in, and I certainly didn't want him to notice that I took his knife. To tell you the truth, I don't even know how I was able to get out of that air duct with a knife always in my hand, well, not always; when I came out of the duct the knife was inside my shirt and I just pulled it into my hand.

«My place, my place -my mind said again- my place.»

We came down from the pile of boxes so quickly that we must have been close to falling, but the fear we felt was greater than anything else.

The door flinched, and already there were voices behind it.

«My place, my place -again-, my place. »

Denis stayed close to the pile of boxes and I, for my part, shot out towards my place, where the stream of blood was constantly falling.

--Jason, wait...

Someone came in.

I closed my eyes.

Silence, there was only a silence that accelerated my heartbeat and made me breathe too fast, but I was looking for a way to control my breathing so that it would be noticeable that I was asleep, if I didn't choke or start coughing first.

--Hey, Denis, why are you sweating so much? -said Sam's voice.

I'm sure I was that way too. I hope my sweat can be distracted by the blood that's pouring in my face," he said in his mind.

--Hey, Sam, look at that.

Again there was this mysterious silence.

--But what's going on here? -Sam spoke-. How did you...? Oh, I see.

Silence.

--They thought we wouldn't notice anything -said Kevin-. Hey, Sam, do you think those who are sleeping can change their position?

It was true. A voice in my mind shouted at me the truth of things. They were so right; one of them had moved me and I went back to the same place from the beginning. Maybe that's what Denis wanted to tell me before they came in.

--I don't know -Sam replied-, only sleepwalkers can do that, but will Jason sleepwalk enough to change places?

--Or that fool Denis moved him while we were gone, maybe he likes to watch his partner bathe in blood... and apparently in sweat too.

He was shaking a lot.

--You didn't think we'd notice, Denis -said Kevin-. I don't understand what your urge is to tell everyone to pretend to be asleep. We're going to give you another chance, has Jason woken up?

--Leave it, Kevin. How about we check it out.

There was silence except for a slight laugh which must have been from Kevin. I'm starting to tremble with fear of the unknown. The laughter got louder.

--Wake up, Jason -Sam said.

And he put his foot on my neck and started squeezing it mercilessly. I opened my eyes as soon as the pain in my neck made me jump from suffering.

--Ugh! -I screamed, putting my hands over the shoe on Sam's right foot.

That wetness again. Sure enough, my neck was vomiting blood.

--Well, you're awake at last -Kevin howled.

I kept fighting. There was no way Sam was going to take his foot off my neck and put me out of my misery, instead he was squeezing my neck even harder as I screamed like a desperate madman.

Sam saw Denis.

--I know they were very foolish.

Sam knelt down and grabbed my hair to get up from him.

--Look at him -he said with a big smile-. That's Denis Tonto, maybe you would have been better off not listening to that fool.

There was fear in Denis' eyes. He shovelled his back pockets looking for... he was looking for his knife and then he looked at me with his eyes fuller of fear...

--Awww, how romantic, you both look so disappointed -Sam spoke again-. Do you have anything you'd like to say before you leave this room?

Denis was still very afraid; he was hiding something.

I was discovering the razor-knife with a single idea of just flicking the switch.

--Tell me, Jason, do you have anything you'd like to say before you leave this room?

--I'm returning the favor, you eyeless bastard.

I touched the switch. I flicked it and as soon as the blade was uncovered from the handle I directed the knife at his neck so he would know what it felt like to have his neck bleed, but I guess I was too slow for Sam to think fast and have me before I slit his throat. He held the wrist of my right hand a little close to the tip of the blade on his neck as he squeezed my neck with his forearm.

--Sam, are you all right? -Kevin asked.

--I can handle this one by myself. It doesn't matter if he dies.

Now I was directing my wrist toward my neck to slit my own throat. But I was also fighting him so that the blade of the knife would be directed at Sam.

--You think you're going to beat me? -he said-. ¿Eh? You're very wrong, human.

I stopped fighting him to guide the blade in one direction. This time I pulled the blade. My wrist slipped quickly out of Sam's hand as the blade of the knife cut into the palm of the eyeless thing. Sam screamed and then stopped holding my neck as he circled his right hand so his blood wouldn't come out... his dark blue blood. No, it must have been a hallucination, maybe it was purple, maybe it was coagulated blood that was circulating in his veins, if he had veins, and it was the one coming out of the cut in his palm.

She looked at me. I was shocked at what I saw in that blood.

--You're a bastard. -He came closer.

As soon as he came towards me, I pointed to one place: his stomach, and I put the blade of the knife through that gelatinous thing that was his stomach.

--Aggg! -He howled as he held my right wrist, this time to stop me from stabbing his stomach, but I turned the knife to the right so that it would pierce what was inside. Drop it, damn it -he said with a slight stain of that dark blue blood squirting from his lips.

He put his hand in my face and scratched it or something to see if I would drop the knife and stop stabbing his stomach which was vomiting small amounts of the dark blue blood.

--Aggg! -I also said when he put his fingers on the inside of my nose to look for something in there, not just my snot but some kind of switch that would make me bleed right away.

I pulled my face away from him. He put his south hand on my chest to push me down, and boy did he do it, he made me go down on my back, but without first keeping my right hand closed. I fell on my back, but with the knife in my hand closed. Sam put both hands to the hole in his stomach which was vomiting that dark blue blood.

--You're going to pay for this, human -I heard him. The words were barely understandable because of the constant coughing he had from the blood draining into his throat.

He lashed out at me, who knows what for, maybe he wanted to strangle me while I suffered from the twinges of my neck or maybe he wanted to take the knife away from me so he could cut my skin. Whatever he wanted to do, I blocked him by directing the knife towards his neck, perhaps to the same position where he inserted that giant syringe into my neck.

«I'm returning the favor, you eyeless bastard», I planned to repeat to him, however...

Kevin came up, I don't know where from, but he was behind me and held my neck.

--You forgot about me -he said.

It was true.

I reached out with my right arm to grab the knife from Sam's neck. He was lying on the floor with his eyes dancing in all directions as his dark blue blood spurted out around the blade.

--With me no… -He opened his filthy mouth again, but I dragged my right hand to his face, just as Sam once tried, although I wasn't poking around his nose, I was poking around his eye sockets.

Yes... where there was nothing but a void that hid mucus and living skin. I knew this because I stuck my fingers inside his eye sockets and of course I felt something gelatinous inside, and I stabbed him to the point that Kevin screamed and let go. He rolled his body on the floor. He took his hands to his eyes, or where they should be instead of empty holes, even though they were now flooded with that same dark blue blood. I crawled as fast as I could to get the knife from Sam before Kevin reacted and grabbed one of my legs to keep me from getting to the knife. Thank heaven that didn't happen and I approached Sam's body, which was swimming in a pool of his own blood. I immediately took a deep breath to remove the knife from that horrendous body.

--Leave him alone -Kevin shouted as he stood up and walked toward me.

I squeezed the knife handle with my left hand and pulled the blade from Sam's bleeding neck. Kevin's face was as red as possible, and it was a little strange that because his blood was blue not red, he told me in those moments of terror. He opened his mouth where there were broken teeth like pieces of glass and he sure wanted to stick those teeth in my face. Without further ado, I let my body do the rest. My left hand directed the blade of the knife to Kevin's forehead and he just walked up, and his skull was pierced like a watermelon. His eyes, or well, those holes in his face were looking at me, he felt that way when the blood from that eyeless thing slipped down his brow, went through his nose and dripped on the floor.

I pushed the thing aside, without first dragging the knife from Kevin's forehead, and jumped to my feet. My hands were shaking so badly that I couldn't control them or keep them steady in one place. I looked at Denis, he was standing near the pile of boxes totally paralyzed, in shock, with pale skin and eyes pointing at things without eyes. I took a few quick steps and was face to face with him, but still Denis was looking at them.

--Denis -I said. The door was open, my heart jumped for joy at the sight of that-. Hey, the door is open, we can get out.

He moved his eyes to me.

--What's wrong with you, Denis?

--No. -He shook his head-. Nothing is wrong with me.

--Then we go, Denis; the door is open, we go out.

He nodded.

I felt his right shoulder to hurry him to the pace he was going.

--Humans... -somebody said. Let's look back at the same time and see that it was Sam struggling to pronounce every word-. You think you've won -he said-, but you're wrong. No one has left here. No one has ever escaped from this place. You think you can escape from our facilities, you think you can escape from our hands; you are wrong. Each one of you is going to have a horrible fate, as you cannot imagine in your life. I wish you much luck, humans -he said and looked at us.

There was silence from now on. We saw the body of that man without eyes and I assumed that he had already died; perhaps Denis also believed the same. We were silent for some seconds in front of the door with our minds lost somewhere in the world, but then we came back to reality.

--Come on, Denis, let's get out of this place -I said.