Delirium

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Russians

Hours later, with bloody nails and massacred cuticles, Steve admitted defeat. The screwdrivers were nothing compared to the thick metal doors. All they did was scratch the top coating- and even that took time.

Still, Liv refused to give up. She jammed the flathead screwdriver into the small crack in the wall and turned it to try and pry it open an inch- even a half inch or eighth inch- anything to help her see what was waiting on the other side.

Robin, who woke up an hour before, walked up to her to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's not working."

Liv froze with the bent screwdriver barely sticking between the tight crack. She swallowed and felt her dry throat start to close up. "This is our way out," she cracked. Her arms felt like lead after hours of endless work. They fell lifelessly beside her thighs, the screwdriver dropping to the ground. She turned to look at Robin, then peered at Dustin, Steve, and Erica behind her. "I-I don't know what else to do."

Dustin checked his watch. "Jesus, we spent all night in here." That note didn't make Liv feel even better. That means she had been working on cracking the door for nearly ten hours with no luck. "Hey!" Dustin perked up as he looked at Liv. "The mall is open!"

Liv's eyebrows shot up as she glanced at the walkie. "The mall is open!" She rushed to the table with Dustin and climbed on top of it. Her ribs ached but she tried to ignore it as she helped Dustin up into the hatch. She handed off the walkie then reached up to grab the edge of the hatch. The moment she tried to pull herself up, her ribs screamed and shot pain down her spine. "Ah!" She crumbled, dropping from the hatch as she fell to her knees on the table. She landed indelicately on some boxes and clutched them to prevent herself from falling over.

"Liv!" Steve rushed to her and grabbed her hips to keep her still. "You can't do that, alright?" He warned her. "Man..." He rested his forehead on her shoulder. "You're going to give me a heart attack."

She laughed at his theatrics. "I'm the-the one with possibly fractured ribs but you-you are going to have a heart attack?" She laughed more, tensing her sides and sending droves of pain through her ribcage. It attacked from both sides, leaving no part of her untouched by the serrated heat. It was like a knife sawing in and out between her ribs, carving her up like a turkey for dinner.

Still, she couldn't help it as she collapsed against Steve and lost herself in loud, painful laughter.

Steve placed a hand between her shoulders before slipping his other arm under her knees, then he picked her up from the table and set her down on the floor. "Liv," he whispered soothingly. "I know that laughing probably has to hurt you right now." She nodded, still laughing as tears filled her eyes and wove down her red cheeks like waterfalls marking their new paths. "But if you keep laughing you're going to pass out and I really need you awake right now, okay?"

She shook her head, unable to produce a single word as the laughter stole all breath and reason from her.

Robin and Erica peeked over Steve's shoulder to watch her dive head-first into a fit of hysteria.

"It's like the girl with the wallpaper," Erica made the connection.

That was the last piece that pushed Liv over the edge into full-blown panic. She gripped Steve's shirt in two handfuls and pulled herself into his chest as she laughed. Her laughter caught up in the fabric of his shirt and muffled as it came back to her. It sounded soaked down, like denim in rain.

"Liv?" Robin sang her name lovingly. "Have you moved out of the we can still make it out alive mindset?" Liv nodded as the tears continued to trek down her cheeks. "Are you now in the this is all hopeless and we're going to die in this stupid elevator in these lame sailor costumes mindset?"