Flames

Chapter 8 Hidden In Sight

Reika groaned in irritation, that one raven kept squawking on the car above ground.
Conall sprung up to a sitting position.

"Will yo-u ju-st shut-up you bird!"
Fully awake from his outburst she got up slowly. Yawning or any slight movement caused biting pain to lash through her torn muscles.

"I'll tear your feathers off if you don't shut up!"
She groaned at his stupidity only to receive a half dead glare.

At least their shoes had kept their feet semi warm, but her ankles felt too compacted.

"Can you stop yelling, please?"
He rolled his eyes and vigorously rubbed his shoulders.
He could really be a jerk when he wanted to.
Glancing up she noticed the opening above them was shut, they were in the dark.
She examined the encompassing walls for an opening.

"Great. Were trapped." 

He was not only a complainer but whiny. 

Reika was cool as a cucumber at first, but when there wasn't an exit...not so much.

"Stop looking. Let me boost you up and see if you can push it off."
He cupped his hands and made a step. Not wanting to injure him she put her foot on his interlaced hands carefully.

Why did she care? What was wrong with her?
The verse from yesterday crossed her mind, to love. She wanted to but didn't want to show emotions or be weak.
It was the worst mental predicament.

Balancing herself she reached the ceiling and pushed up on the metal slab.

It pained her shoulder blades and whole upper part of her body, but the oval seal was stuck.

"Try twisting it." 
Reika tried rotating the plate of lukewarm, silver metal without success. Were they going to die down here? Was Grain planning on...getting rid of them? She shoved the fear away and thought more about her bladder.

"Yeah, it won't budge. At least there's food, but I really need the bathroom."

She hopped down and ran her fingers nervously over her baggy pants.
He waved his hands theatrically and sniffled, they had shoe marks.
"Well duh, I don't know what you're gonna do, we're stuck."

"I think that's very obvious, Conall."
Just then an alarm rang out, penetrating the cement borders.
They snapped out of fighting mode and shot each other a worried look.
Feet thudded above them. They were out in the middle of nowhere, what was happening?
The metal over the top lifted with a shriek.

"Sounds odd." He whispered, right before a head poked into sight.
The German man.
"Get yar lazy butts outa here, there's loads-a work ta do."
A silver ladder dropped with a bang onto the floor and Conall scaled it without hesitation. As Reika followed, it was pulled up and the metal lid clapped shut.
A yelp got stuck in her throat. Crud, she was alone again.

A few seconds ticked by and the ground tipped slightly right. She slid. 

Snaking out an arm she took hold of the bar of a wooden rack, just in case something worse happened.