Chapter 42: Chapter 42
Eric and Jimmy ran through the hallways as fast as they could, jumping over bodies and navigating through corners. The floor and walls were painted with blood and bullet holes as they progressed.
Eric, holding his weapon up tactically, led the way, enduring the pains creeping all over his body, while Jimmy was right behind, following Eric, his grip tight on the bloodied blade.
Jimmy, while running, was only half-focused on their current situation. His mind was scrolling through the desperate and somewhat regretful action he had taken just minutes ago.
Seeing people get killed was one thing, but killing someone with your own hands, murdering someone, was another thing entirely.
He felt sober, filled with guilt, regret, and almost emotional about it, but the tense, life-threatening events didn’t give him enough mental state to process all that. He remained silent and focused.
"There!" Eric said loudly as they turned and ran into a different path, seeing a wide, open room with bright lights illuminating from it.
No more than a second after sighting the illuminating room, a huge steel door began to slowly descend at the far front, gradually blocking them away from the room ahead.
"We have to move, Jimmy!" Eric said loudly, pushing his body into a quicker sprint, sweat dripping from his face as he ran, his gaze fixed on the front as he watched the steel door drawing close to blocking their path.
With the door almost touching the ground, they finally got close to it and both slid smoothly in sync on the floor, crossing swiftly, inches away from getting crushed.
**Thud!**
The steel door finally closed shut with a long collision to the floor, sealing them away from further danger.
Successfully crossing, Eric and Jimmy stood up swiftly, almost out of breath as their hearts raced, turning to face the steel door.
"Ah... Didn’t think... we would actually... make it," Eric said to Jimmy, bending over and placing his palms on his knees, panting hard to catch his breath as words skipped from his mouth.
Jimmy, standing by his side, was also panting heavily, swallowing saliva as he tried to catch his breath, sweat dripping down his forehead.
"Ooooh, I’m too bloody old for all of this," Eric said, slowly getting himself together as he raised his body upright and placed his hand on his waist, his chest heaving from the intense breathing loop.
His mind slightly relieved, he turned around, hoping to find out what type of room they’d gotten themselves into as bright light bulbs illuminated the space from above.
As he turned, his heart skipped a beat.
"Woah, woah, woah. There’s absolutely no need for another bloody scene," Eric said loudly, tension gripping him as he stretched his arms forward and walked slowly.
Seeing the sudden and unexpected reaction from Eric, Jimmy also turned around to find out what was going on, his mind racing with the thought that they might finally have been cornered and caught by the soldiers.
Turning around, his eyes met with something unexpected.
It was a huge, brightly lit room, the ceiling very high above the ground. About a hundred chairs, desks, and advanced computers were everywhere. It was the main operation room of the building.
Jimmy was very surprised to see this, some of this tech he had never seen before. What was even more surprising was that apart from himself and Eric, there was nobody else in this huge operation room except for two others, Yelena, who was holding a hand weapon and pointed it at the forehead of a woman in a fitted white and black uniform, who stood with both her arms raised in surrender.
This was the main reason for Eric’s reaction as he approached Yelena.
"Yelena, put down the gun," Eric said, reaching Yelena and placing his palm on her hand, trying to push it down from aiming.
"It’s needed to make her cooperate," Yelena replied, pointing her weapon at the woman and staring at her with a cold look in her eyes.
"She’s staring down the person who tore through a platoon of armed blokes like paper and left chaos grinning in her wake." Eric said, his voice loud but calm as he reminded her, his hand still on Yelena’s, trying to push it down but unable to.
Seeing his efforts were of no use, a clear sign of the physical difference in strength between himself and Yelena, he withdrew his hand and stood by her.
""Your mere presence is enough to make her cooperate. We don’t need another bloody episode of your torture routine," Eric added, his voice softer and calmer as he gazed at Yelena.
Pointing the weapon accurately at her head, Yelena stood still in silence for a bit, her finger tempted to pull the trigger.
And then she placed her hand down and let go of the weapon as it crashed on the ground, walking away from Eric slightly.
"Thank you," Eric said softly, a bit of relief washing over him as he watched Yelena drop the gun and actually listen to him.
He then turned to the woman in uniform, whose arms were still raised.
"You. What’s this place, and how the hell do we get out?" Eric said softly but loudly as he approached the lady.
Just like Yelena, the lady had a cold look in her eyes, a hard face without expression as she stared at Eric, slightly unbothered but cooperative as she held her arms up.
"It’s a hideout, ten thousand feet below the surface, and you can’t leave, not while the whole place is on lockdown," the lady replied, her tone calm like a normal conversation as she gazed at Eric.
"Why the bloody hell is it on lockdown? Who placed it on lockdown?" Eric questioned, motioning his body in sync with his words.
"In order not to get information out or the hideout location exposed, the lockdown system is placed on standby by the higher-ups if there was ever a breach... in this case, you three," she said to Eric, her voice calm and direct.
As they engaged in their conversation, Jimmy finally came to their presence, watching Eric interrogate the lady as he stood beside Yelena. Her arms were folded and she was looking at Eric, but then she noticed Jimmy beside her.
Noticing him, she narrowed her eyes slightly toward him and immediately noticed something very obvious.
"Your hands are shaking," Yelena said to Jimmy, her arms still folded as she faced forward.
Hearing her, Jimmy brought his right hand toward his face and saw his hands vibrating uncontrollably, something he hadn’t noticed until now.
"Oh... yeah. It’s just stress, that’s all. Hehehe," Jimmy said, looking at the palm of his hand, a nervous giggle coming from him, trying to hide his trauma.
Yelena held her cold, narrowed look toward Jimmy, her expression one that clearly didn’t believe what she was being told.
"You and I both know that’s a lie," Yelena said, her eyes narrowing back to Eric in front as she maintained her folded arms.
Jimmy, stunned by her words, turned to look at her, wanting to say something but couldn’t.
"Your hands are shaking, and your blade is out of its sheath with fresh blood on it... Did you kill someone?" Yelena spoke, her voice sharp and direct with pinpoint speculation.
Jimmy’s heart pounded hard by her response. He brought his face down, sadness and guilt enveloping him.
And then, he bagan processing all that had happened, feeling very emotional.
"Toughen up. You’re not weak anymore," Yelena said, her voice and tone slightly softer in a bit of rough consolation.
Her words made Jimmy lift his head once again and stare at Yelena, standing quietly still to hear her speak as barely visible tears brewed in his eyes.
"Like you said... it’s about survival. You’ve seen what the world is. Violence is the only language it understands," Yelena said, her focus forward as she spoke.
"It shook you. It should. But you stood your ground, did what had to be done."
"Not everyone keeps their word about getting stronger. You did."
She added.
Jimmy stood still, feeling a surge of encouragement as his eyes brightened up as he gazed at Yelena, his eyes blurring with held back tears.
Meanwhile, Eric was in a very serious conversation with the lady in front of him, whose arms were now down, his voice audible, direct, and hurried.
"So, when’s this lockdown ending? How much longer are we trapped in this hellhole?" Eric questioned, his voice loud and desperate.
"Approximately two hours, right before...." The lady spoke, but stopped before she could finish, her eyes narrowed into a more serious look.
Eric was confused about her incomplete words and sudden pause, and was desperate to get information on how to get out. He persevered, wanting to know why she stopped.
"Before what? Right before what?" he asked loudly, motioning his body.
Seeing his reaction, she stood for a bit before proceeding to a computer screen and pointing, showing him a visual of different live record angles in the building.
"Before that," she pointed at the screen.
Curious to know what she was talking about, he walked up to the screen and took a look at it. He could see different camera angles from the building, all thirty two of them displayed on the screen levitating on the desk in front of him as he leaned forward.
Eric could see soldiers running about as they moved swiftly through the hallways, some ran to dead ends blocked by the steel doors, others were entering rooms.
It was then Eric noticed something wrong. soldiers were all suddenly slowing down their pace and falling straight to the floor. The scene was so confusing and disturbing, he leaned closer, squinting his eyes a little to focus.
And then he saw something bizarre going on in every camera angle. Soldiers vomiting as they expelled torrents of blood from their mouths, with blood also gushing out brutally from their rear end.
Their eyes, nose, ears, and all other openings on their bodies were bleeding brutally as excruciating pain enveloped them. They fell to the ground, shaking intensely, and eventually dying.
It was truly a gruesome sight to see, filled with horror and sending chills down eric’s spine.
"My God!"
Eric spoke