Read The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide Online

Authors: Erica Stevens

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The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide (7 page)

BOOK: The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide
3.58Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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He remained motionless, unable to respond to Bobby as he sought to regain his composure. Carol had been so delighted in her pigtails, rotund suit, and orange face. Her favorite part of Halloween had always been carving the pumpkins. His parents had put so much work and love into that haunted house. They'd been so pleased with themselves, and so had the other parents that had participated, including Riley's. They'd shared drinks and laughs after, and debated who had managed to scare the children the most.

Xander managed to bite back a sob as he inhaled shakily again and blinked back the tears that burned his eyes. He focused on the present, on the room around him, before the past could bury him.

"Xander?"

"I'm ok Bobby," he managed to croak out.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." He just wasn't going anywhere near what was to the right of him again. He'd been in that house, he'd seen what had happened to those people, and though he knew he shouldn't be, he was convinced that one of those bodies was next to him. "Everything ok out there?"

"There's no one around. Do you want me to come in?"

"No, if I need help I'll let you know."

"Be careful!" Mary Ellen called to him.

He was trying, but he didn't even know where he was in the room. He'd been hoping to find a door but stumbling around blindly was getting him nowhere right now. Taking another deep breath, he straightened back up. He was determined not to be weighed down by the apprehension threatening to consume him. He could do this, somehow.

He shuffled forward again, but was brought up by another desk. Moving gingerly around it, he tried to keep his shins from looking like Riley had taken a hockey stick to them again. His right hand connected with something solid. Relief filled him as he fumbled over the wall. "I found a wall!" he called back.

"Ah, that's good I guess," Bobby replied.

"Better than the desks."

He began to move sideways along the wall as he felt over the surface. There were breaks in the plaster but none that felt like a doorframe. His hand came in contact with molding seconds before it fell into an abyss. Xander groped forward for a few seconds before he realized that he'd made it to the hallway. He glanced back at the window before taking a shambling step forward. He grasped hold of the doorframe and stood half in and half out of the hall.

"Hello!" he shouted. He strained to hear anything but the silence remained absolute and profound. He took a few more hesitant steps forward. "Hello!"

He thought he heard something in the distance, a dull thud, or perhaps even a muffled shout. His breath hissed out of him as he let out a low curse and glanced back at the dim light filtering through the broken window. It wasn't much, but at least it had been something to guide him back.

Bracing himself, he squared his shoulders and crept a few feet further toward where he thought he'd heard the noise. "Hello!"

There it was again, a muted tap that barely resonated within his ears. "Did you find something?" Bobby called.

"There's a hallway. I think I hear something."

Their heads disappeared from the window and he could hear them talking before they reappeared again. "Maybe you shouldn't go any further!" Bobby called.

He didn't like the idea of going down there, not even a little bit, but he couldn't leave here if there was still a chance he could help those people. "There are probably some more windows around you guys, why don't you see if you can dig them out?"

"Xander…"

"I won't go far, just see if you can get some more light in here."

Bobby shook his head and sat back. "We'll see what we can do."

Xander closed his eyes, took a deep breath and made his way down the hall. He kept his left hand braced on the wall, his right hand before him, and counted each step he took. There was more than a few times his left hand fell into another open doorway but he continued straight. "Hello!" he called again.

The dull thud seemed a little louder now as it drew him onward. "Hello!" he was shouting now just to hear a voice, just so he didn't feel so completely alone. "Hello!"

A loud thump almost caused him to jump out of his skin. He just barely suppressed a shriek that would have made a scream queen proud. He froze, his heart pounded in his ears as another thud sounded from his right. Keeping his left hand on the wall he leaned toward the right as he felt through the space. "Hello!"

Another forceful knock sounded as his hand came up against another wall. He dropped his left hand and used both hands to maneuver as he searched for some obstacle, or another doorway. Another bang shot his head toward the ceiling as the noise seemed to echo and vibrate around him. He knew that the noise couldn't be coming from above him, but the convoluted hallway made it difficult to discern the right direction.

Images of those burnt, oozing bodies making their way toward him flooded his mind. He could almost see them creeping up on him, their arms outstretched, and their faces melting off as they grasped for him.

Xander shook his head to clear it of the crazy images. That would be impossible, there is no way that anyone could have withstood whatever it was that had happened to the people in that house. He had to get his runaway imagination under control.

A faint sliver of light still showed when he looked back toward the doorway. It bounced a little, and shifted as it illuminated a patch of the floor. Xander swallowed heavily and turned back around as he started down the hall. He opened his mouth to call out again, but the word froze in his throat.

Somewhere, he wasn't sure where, but he thought he heard the dull drip of water. Was he near a bathroom? The cafeteria? A broken water fountain? The faint plop of water on tile increased the further down the hall he moved. He heard the splash seconds before he felt the water soak into his sneaker.

"Wonderful," he muttered. "Hello!"

The thump came from his left again now. Fisting his hands, Xander fought the urge to smash them into a wall, but losing his temper and hitting something again wasn't going to do him any good. His feet sloshed in the puddle as he made his way back toward the other wall. The thud sounded again, closer and still on his left. His foot slid into nothing, he almost fell on his ass as he yanked it back from the hole it had slipped into.

A cold sweat broke out across his brow as he pressed his forehead against the wall. He wasn't sure how much more his heart could take. He may be only nineteen but he was fairly certain he could have a heart attack, and probably would have one, before he got of this mess. Taking a deep breath he pushed off the wall and tried to stay calm when he saw that the sliver of light had vanished.

"Hello!"

Another thud echoed, and then he heard what he assumed was a muffled shout. He edged to the other wall and cautiously crept his foot forward. The ground beneath him remained blessedly solid as he crisscrossed back to the other side. The puddle sloshed over top of his ankles and slid uncomfortably into his sneakers. "Hello!"

"He… Here!" The word, subdued and broken, was one of the best things he'd ever heard.

Something brushed across his face and he instinctively threw his arm up to knock it aside. It swung away before brushing against him again. Xander seized hold of it; his fingers ran over the rubber and wire tubing in his grasp before he pushed it away and continued on.

His hand fell into nothing again, but instead of a doorway, it took him a few steps to realize that he was at a crossroads. "Hello!"

The banging continued to come from his left as another, "Here," called out to him. He glanced back, but there was nothing to see that way, not anymore. Xander branched to the left and continued to count his steps as he moved down the hall, though he doubted the counting would do him any good, not anymore. He couldn't shake the notion of him roaming these halls like a trapped rat until he died.

He was seventy five shuffles down the hall when the shouts came from his right again. He fumbled forward and his hand fell into the doorway of another classroom. "Hello!"

"Here!" The shout, though still muffled was far clearer and louder than before. His shoulders slumped as he took a deep breath and moved cautiously into the room. He brushed aside more wiring and kept his hand braced against a smooth, cool counter as he used it to guide him forward.

He tried to recall the multimedia classrooms from high school, and if this one was anything like Foxboro, there would be another side room where the TV and radio equipment were kept. There may also be another room that acted as a studio, or that could even be the room he was in. An explosive curse escaped him as he came up across something that hit him in the shin and knee.

His hands fisted on the counter as he inhaled harshly through his clenched teeth. He thought he might have preferred a hockey stick. Taking a deep breath, he went to kick aside whatever it was he'd walked into, but it didn't budge. He bent down and felt over top of it. It appeared to be a cabinet of some kind as his hands scrambled over the rectangle shape. He grabbed hold of the back of it and pulled it forward. It groaned and squeaked as it scraped across the tile floor.

He managed to shove it out of the way enough to take a couple of steps forward before coming across another obstacle. "What the…" his voice trailed off as he realized that this may be what was keeping the people trapped.

"Hello!"

"We're in here!" The voices were clear and strong as they shouted over top of one another. "Get us out please!"

Xander fumbled across another cabinet. He grabbed hold of the back to pull it forward but it didn't budge, not even a centimeter. He managed to find the handles and jerked on them, but the doors remained locked. Wiping his arm across his brow, he leaned back on his heels as his mind churned.
There had to be something…

Staying on his hands and knees, he moved straight across the floor as he searched for something to break the lock with. "Are you still out there?"

"I'm here!" Xander yelled back. "Just hold on."

Reaching the wall, he turned and moved over a few feet before crawling back toward the cabinet. It took three more passes before his hand connected with something solid upon the floor. His fingers scrabbled awkwardly over the object until he realized that it was a video camera. It wasn't the best thing, but he should be able to make do with it.

He scurried back to the cabinet with the camera tucked under his arm and located the handles once again. Raising the butt end of the camera above his head, he smashed it down on what he hoped were the handles. It thudded off the cabinet and his hands screamed in protest as it hit floor.

Shaking off the lingering tingles in his hands, he grasped at the handles to find them still intact. He grabbed the camera and swung it down four more times before it broke apart in his hands and crumbled on the floor. He shook his hands out again as he stretched a tentative hand toward the handles, in the hope that at least one of the blows had managed to break it free.

Relief filled him as one of the handles twisted in his hand and broke off. He slipped his finger into the hole, located the lock, and pulled it back. The bottom door sprang open; a wave of whatever had been stored inside spilled around him and buried him up to his knees. Xander shoved the cameras, what felt like DVD players, and maybe some lenses off of his lap. He rose to his feet and began to kick and shove everything aside to make room to move the cabinet.

When he was done, he grabbed hold of the cabinet and managed to maneuver it out of the way. He was panting by the time he was done, but at least it was finally clear. "Can you get out?"

He heard the click of a knob and then what sounded like someone shoving their shoulder into a door. Something scraped and then it became silent again. "No. There's still something blocking the door."

At least the voice wasn't muffled anymore. Xander fumbled forward, his hand came in contact with the door and then slid down toward the handle. He ran over the frame and brushed up against a mouth and mustache in his exploration. "Sorry," he muttered.

"I'm not hitting on you, but that's the best thing I've felt in awhile," mustache informed him.

Xander chuckled as his hand slid further down the door. He didn't understand what was blocking the door, couldn't figure out why they couldn't get it open. He knelt down, and his knee connected with something metal. It appeared to be some kind of camera stand as his hands slid up and down it. He followed the stand to where it had become wedged against the cabinet he'd just pushed aside.

"Close the door." The door scraped and the stand clattered to the ground. Xander lifted it up and threw it across the room; he was temporarily pleased by the noise it made as it crashed into the opposite wall. "Try it now."

The door creaked open; he heard the loud sigh of breaths as someone began to cry softly. "It's ok Molly, we're out now."

Sniffles filled the air, but the crying didn't completely stop. "Thank you, thank you so much. I thought we were going to die in there."

Xander recognized it as the voice that belonged to the mustache. "Yeah, ah… you're welcome," he replied awkwardly. "It's going to be difficult getting out of here. I'm pretty sure I remember the way, but we have to go slow and hold onto each other. Grab my shirt."

He found mustache's groping hand and wrapped it around the bottom half of the back of his shirt. "How many of you are there?" he asked.

"Four," mustache answered.

"There's water and wires to watch out for, but I only came across one hole in the floor."

"What's happening out there?" a small voice squeaked.

"Nothing good," Xander answered honestly. "But I don't know what exactly happened, or what is happening."

"How did you manage to find us?" mustache inquired.

"Luck," Xander muttered as he made his way cautiously toward the doorway. He called out obstacles and directions to them as the man's clasp remained firm on his shirt. He made it into the hallway and counted the steps back toward the split. The heavy breathing and scuffling sounds seemed extremely loud, though he didn't think he'd have been able to hear them under normal circumstances.

BOOK: The Survivor Chronicles (Book 2): The Divide
3.58Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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