Unexpected Detour

As the car slowly rolled along the heavily overgrown dirt road, Selina instructed Liam to stop near a broken stone pillar. It stood tall, its once smooth surface now chipped and weathered by the elements. Vines and moss cling to its sides, covering parts of the intricate carvings that adorn it. Its peak is broken off, the jagged edges jutting out like a crown. In the dim light of the overcast sky, it almost looked like a forgotten monument to some long-forgotten civilization.

The car door creaked open, the sound swallowed by the dense foliage that loomed around them. Selina stepped out moving towards the broken pillar as she reached out and wiped away some of the moss.

"Yes, YES. This is the way. Maybe an hour or 2 in that direction," Selina said, raising her right arm, indicating a direction past the stone. Suddenly, a loud crack of thunder rolled overhead. The air, now thick with humidity, clung to her skin as she turned to gesture for Liam and Kurt to follow. "This way," she urged, as she walked deeper into the dense forest, her voice steady despite the storm brewing overhead.

"Selena, wait!" Kurt hissed in a panic as he and Liam fell out of the car and stumbled over old vines and exposed roots in a hurry to catch up with her. "There's one hell of a storm brewing. We need to find shelter or wait it out in the car. We'll come back later," Kurt pleaded, concerned for her safety.

"We'll be fine…" Selina said softly as she kept moving forward, her eyes focused solely on what was in front of her. How she was able to safely glide around and over obstacles on the ground without looking around or down baffled her companions.

The woods enveloped them, branches twisting like gnarled fingers reaching for the sky with long twisted vines creating netted walls. Sunlight barely penetrated the canopy, leaving patches of shadow that danced at her feet. She kept her eyes trained ahead, focused on the narrow path that Liam finally caught sight of, winding deeper into the thicket.

Selina paused and reached back, allowing Kurt and Liam to each grab a hand before she continued walking. At that instant, the sky turned black, choking out the random rays of the late morning sun that had found them.

"Selina, are you sure about this?" Liam's voice broke through the sound of the rain starting as the wind began to whip the leaves and branches violently, the worry evident in his voice. She continued walking and gripped his hand tighter, casting a glance back at him. His face was lined with concern.

"Trust me," she replied, her voice confident and reassuring. They were almost there. Her anticipation and excitement grew stronger with each step.

As they pressed forward, the unseen clouds above them released a torrent of rain that pelted down like an angry drumbeat. Selina quickened her pace, the wet ground squelching beneath her soaked shoes. She pushed through the underbrush, ignoring the cold droplets streaming down her neck and soaking her clothes. Her thoughts raced. What lay ahead?

A flash of lightning illuminated the path, and just beyond it, something glinted through the foliage—a metal door, half-hidden by vines and moss. Selina felt a jolt of recognition, a spark igniting within her. This was it.

"Over there!" she shouted, pointing toward the door as her heart began to race faster than the storm. The group huddled closer together, the thunder rumbling ominously above them, matching the urgency in her chest.

As they approached, the door loomed larger, its surface marred by time, yet it held a weighty promise of secrets long buried. Selina reached out, her fingers brushing the cold metal, sending a shiver down her spine.

"It feels wrong," she murmured, searching for a handle or some other way to open it.

"Are you sure we should go in there?" Kurt asked, his voice laced with apprehension while Liam worked to push away the moss and overgrowth hiding it.

"There's something down there that we need," Selina insisted, though uncertainty tugged at her resolve despite the pull to enter. With one last look at her friends, who exchanged worried glances, she steeled herself and pushed the door open. It creaked loudly, echoing in the eerie silence as they stepped inside.

The stench hit them first—a mixture of damp earth and something metallic. They hesitated at the threshold, peering into the dimly lit space.

"An old mine shaft?" Kurt questioned out loud. "Okay, Selina behind me, and Liam in the rear." Selina had begun to object when Kurt interrupted her. "You can still lead by telling me where to go. This way, you stay safe!"

The determined and protective aura that Kurt projected silenced her as she pointed down the faintly lit corridor. How are the lights still on, Selena wondered as they quietly crept along.

At the end of the hall, they were faced with three closed doors. One on either side of them and one directly in front of them. Selena itched to open and explore the one in front of them. As she reached past Kurt to push it open, he gently pushed her hand down and gave her a stern look.

"We need to check these two first, make sure no surprises follow us into that one," he whispered, motioning to the doors beside them.

Selina turned and faced the heavy wooden door to their right. Kurt pushed against it as Liam watched for dangers behind him.

Shadows flickered against the walls, revealing remnants of a makeshift laboratory: old cells, chains hanging limply from the walls, and equipment covered in debris and dried blood.

"What... what happened here?" Liam whispered, stepping beside her, his eyes wide with disbelief.

"Whatever it was, it wasn't good," Selina breathed, her pulse quickening. The air crackled with tension, and she could feel the weight of history pressing down on them, urging her to uncover the truth.

As they began to walk around the room, the lights flickered brighter, illuminating the macabre scene in stark clarity. Selina took a deep breath, her heart pounding like a war drum. She was expecting to find something akin to hope here, not the remnants of pain and torture.

Liam stood at the door watching for danger behind them while Selina wandered around the room touching various objects, trying to get a hint of what had happened there.

In one corner, there was a stainless steel table with 2 pairs of heavy shackles hanging off of it. Next to it was a pile of discarded medical supplies, IV tubing, syringes, and half-filled IV bags of what appeared to be blood.

Some of the chains were broken, there appeared to be claw marks and bullet holes scattered throughout the walls. Selina followed the trail of stray bullets along the wall until she came upon a small desk hiding behind some overturned supply shelves.

"I think there's a computer here," Selina announced, when she spied a broken monitor. She found the hard drive on the floor, broken in several pieces full of bullet holes. "No good, it's pretty mangled," she said, inspecting the pieces.

"Maybe we can find the hard drive. It's worth taking on the off chance we can access some data." Kurt said as he joined her and shifted through the pieces.

"It's not here," Selina said as she suddenly turned her head and instinctively reached under the edge of the desk and picked up an SD card. "But I found a memory card," Selina said as she stood, passing it to Kurt.

"Fuckin' awesome," he cheered as he placed it in his pocket. "Well there's no lurking dangers here. Let's move across the hall." Kurt declared.

The trio slowly moved across the hall in the same formation. Kurt led the way as Selina followed close behind with Liam bringing up the rear, constantly checking behind him for danger.

This door refused to budge when Kurt tried to push it open. It took their combined strength and several minutes of pushing in sync to get it opened just enough for each of them to slide in sideways.

It was an office, also destroyed and covered in debris. Kurt and Selina moved around the room, inspecting everything they could. Curiously, Kurt froze, raised his nose and started sniffing. "I kind of smell lilacs and…" he said as he began sniffing the air again. He knelt down and dug through a pile of burnt ledgers, pulling out a scrap of fabric. "Lilacs and spring rain," he finished with a look of confusion on his face.

Liam and Selina looked at each other and shrugged. "I don't smell it," they said at virtually the same time.

"You would if you had your wolves," Kurt said. "Nothing to learn here, one more door to go," he said, sliding out of the room with Selina close on his heels.

Kurt stopped and sniffed when he reached the final door. "I can smell it stronger here. I didn't notice it all before."

Selina's heart pounded erratically in her chest, a frenzied thumping that threatened to burst through her chest. The magnetic pull towards the door was overwhelming. She knew beyond any doubt that what they needed was just beyond it.

"It's here," she declared, her voice hoarse with determination as she channeled all of her strength into helping Kurt push the door open. The muscles in her arms strained and trembled as they finally forced the heavy door to yield, sending a surge of adrenaline through her body. This is it - their moment of truth, and Selina is ready to face whatever lies behind that door.