NERTHUS
“Get him off me!” I scream pushing the dead body from me but failing miserably.
Danny scurries around him a few times before he decides on what to do and how to get hold of the body the best way.
With a groan, he pushes him off me, making me take a deep breath. “Oh, my God.”
He remains standing, staring at the dead man with a void look while I drag myself over the ground to get to the gun he had kicked out of my hand.
“Are you alright?” I ask as I sit up with a pained groan, and Danny nods.
Laying the gun into my lap, I massage my hand as I take another deep breath. “I think he might broke my hand too.”
Sighing, I look up while I let my shoulders slump. I watch Danny while my desperation still streams through me, and I can’t seem to be able to push it down.
I know exactly that there is more where he came from.
Danny has his gaze still directed to the dead man, his look is flowing into the void, and I gulp as I think about how I must get him out of this dark place as soon as possible.
“Let’s go! We have to get out of here,” I say, urging myself to get on my feet.
Finally, he moves, reaching me with wide eyes as he helps me up. “We should wait here for Arawn. You don’t seem in the state to walk far.”
“You are cute, baby. But we have to. We don’t know when Arawn will find us, and we still don’t know how many mercenaries are out there. We have to find a better hiding place, and then we will think about how to proceed.”
I scrunch my nose as I look down at my ankle still wrapped in the rusty chain.
“Let me,” Danny says, taking off his t-shirt before he grabs the gun out of my hold. Wrapping his clothing around the gun, he points it to the end of the chain incorporated into the wall.
I hold my hands over my ears, and cover on the floor as he shoots, disconnecting the chain with a deafening noise.
He puts his shirt back on, groaning as he slides his fingers through the hole. “Oh, man.”
“Don’t worry!” I say, grabbing his arm to pull him out of the room. “I’ll buy you thousands of new ones.”
I check the hallway twice, watching in all possible directions before I drag him through it.
“Where are we even going?” He asks in a whisper as we walk down the hallway with fast steps.
Rattling at a padlock that closes a double door on the left, I groan. “I don’t know. We need to get out or find a place to hide.”
Scoffing in surrender, I continue walking. “And if we find a way to get out of these chains it will be even better.”
My heart races in my chest as the hallway just seems to become longer and longer and I can’t find a means to get out of it.
All the doors at the sides are either locked or barred, making me despair even more.
I halt in my tracks, putting my hand in front of my face as I take another deep breath.
“Maybe we should go the other way,” Danny proposes, turning around.
Swallowing a sob, I shake my head. “No, this is where the man came from. We don’t know how many others there are and what kind of arms they possess.”
“But…” he hesitates for a second before he takes a step forward. “If you said you heard multiple voices. How can it be that nobody is here?”
I look up at him, passing my hand over my face as he spreads his arms.
“Isn’t it strange that they just let us walk out like that? Are we sure that nobody heard us?”
Closing my eyes, I push down the swarm of panic that rises in my chest, taking over my throat. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe it’s because there is no way out… On this side of the house.”
I blink at him as he tilts his head.
“Maybe,” I whisper, slowly feeling the strength leaving my body.
I should just sit up and have a panic attack right here.
Shaking myself to reality, I roll back my shoulders. “Let’s try another few doors, and otherwise, we will just sit in a corner and wait. I guess that Arawn is on his way.”
“Dude,” Danny sighs, letting his arms slump. “How should he even find us? It looks like an abandoned industrial building. Do you know how many of them we got out here?”
I whimper, taking a step towards him. “I know. But it is everything I have left. So, please don’t take that away from me. Also, I believe in him, and we really need that miracle.”
He exhales a heavy breath, lowering his gaze.
“Chop, chop, Danny-boy. Let’s find a cozy place to stay.”
While I scurry forward to the next door, he only follows me hesitantly, groaning whenever he finds another locked door.
We continue to examine every corner in silence until he gasps, making me turn around.
“Hey, watch this!”
With a turn of a knob, he opens a door with a gentle push, making a broad smile appear on my face. “Oh, my God!”
I put my hands on my mouth, celebrating silently, and follow him into the room.
It looks like a small dismantled classroom, and I scrunch my nose as I seem to smell something sketchy.
“I don’t know, Danny,” I say, scanning the room that was obviously created for a horror movie. “Maybe we should look for another place.”
“Oh, come on, Amber,” he moans. “This is the only one we found in like two hours we were rattling at different doors.”
He walks to the back of the room, lifting a table and a set of chairs to put them up as a protection shield. “Look, we could wait behind those for him. The thugs aren’t able to see us from the door and we have an advantage to shoot them, if something happens.”
“Okay,” I nod, sighing exhaustedly and he offers me a hand to help me step over a few shards and crushed furniture pieces to prevent me from hurting myself as I was left barefoot after they took my high heels from me.
Talk about weapons.
My mind already feels like spinning as we sit down and lean against the wall.
The sickingly sweet smell intensifies and I look around to find the source of it. “Do you smell this?”
“Wasn’t me,” he answers, looking at me like a guilty puppy.
I slap his arm playfully with a giggle and lean against him. “Never mind.”
My eyes suddenly feel heavy and as nausea starts crawling up my throat, I touch my forehead, finding my vision blurring already.
“Danny?” Sitting up, I look over to him, finding him knocked out.
His head is leaning against the wall as he appears to be sleeping, but my turning stomach tells me something else. “Shit!”
Is this a gas leak?
Clasping the leg of the table in front of me, I pull myself to my feet, but as soon as I turn back to Danny to grab him, my legs give out beneath me.
Panic takes over my body painfully as I lie on the floor, not able to move anymore. Slowly, I feel my body getting paralyzed, my senses drowning me deeper into a pitch-black abyss.