Mutual Anchors || Liam Dunbar [1]

027

•C h a p t e r   t w e n t y - s e v e n•

-F e a r-

☾ ☾ ☾ ☾

♪ Afraid to make a single sound
Afraid I would never find a way out, out, out
Afraid I'd never be found
I didn't wanna go another round ♪

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Liam
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Malia hits the brakes hard as we pull up to the water treatment plant building. We all jump out of the car fast because we don't want to waste an extra minute.

We run into the building and through the door. It smells of different chemicals and is dimly lit by yellow light.

All I can hear is my fast heartbeat and the sound of steam coming from the pipes around us.

I look down one of the three dark corridors in front of me and wrinkle my nose at the smell of some chemical fluids. "Valeria?" my voice carries across the corridors to who knows where, because this place is so damn big.

"Valeria!" Mason calls as loudly as I do, but there's no answer back. He turns to Scott, who is watching the floor intently. He's probably trying to listen, but you can't hear much here. Everything echoes and I can't tell what sound is coming from where. "Can you catch a scent?"

He shakes his head and frowns. "There's too many chemicals."

It totally ruins my sense of smell. It's like pouring ammonia up your nose.

"Then this might take a while," Mason shrugs.

"We should split up," I point around. "It's a pretty big place, so it'll be the best idea."

"I agree with Liam," Malia nods.

"Pay attention, if anything happens, just yell or whatever, and I'll run over there, okay? Just don't let anyone else get lost," Scott looks at us all seriously, and then we all run off into each corridor separately.

Who would have expected this place to be so big? I thought the water treatment plant was some small building and not some huge maze.

I watch the big pipes on the walls and take a deep breath. "Hayden? Valeria? You hear me?" I pause. "Valeria!"

Nothing. Absolutely no answer. All I hear is the sound of steam beside me. I swallow and kick the wall.

I forget the pain in my leg and run down the corridor. I keep calling out the name of a girl I haven't seen in almost 20 hours and the name of her friend. My friend's, too, actually.