Surviving Patorum

Chapter 9

I stand frozen in place. My hand enters my pants pocket, and I pull out the keycard. I examine it with trembling fingers, ensuring it's still in one piece.

"What's that?" Dally asks, his eyes flicking to my hands.

"The key to that door." I point to room 32.

"The hell you get that from?"

"Mr. Smith's office."

Dally throws up his hands. "You want a death wish, don't you? You're a suspect in a murder, and you will get executed if Mr. Smith finds out you've been snooping around and stealing from him."

"He's not going to find out," I say, gripping the keycard and causing my knuckles to turn white.

"Don't tell me you're going to go in there." Dally's eyes narrow.

"I—I have to." I stutter. I don't know what is riskier, going into an unknown room or being out in the open when I'm being hunted.

"Are you crazy? Who knows what's in there? Mr. Smith could be there now, and you would be walking into a lion's den." He sighs. "I forbid it. You're not going in there until we clear your name."

"How will we do that?"

Dally's hands go to his forehead, and he rubs at his temples. "I don't know. We're safe for now. You need to find somewhere to hide." Dally looks over to the cave across from the door. "Like there."

"No," I protest. "I'm not hiding in a cave."

"You're going to have to."

The sound of shouting echoes through the tunnels, making my body rigid. I can hear rubber boots against the metal flooring. It's the guards, and they're looking for me.

"Go!" Dally shouts. He makes a run for the cave's mouth, and I follow. I peer down into the darkness of the cavern. The lights illuminate about ten feet down, so we'll have to climb farther to be hidden. Dally jumps in first, holding onto the edge of the rock to steady himself, and drops down onto a ledge. "Let's go!"

I lower myself into the cave, step by step, and climb down deeper. My hands ache as the rough surface of the rock digs into them. My shoes reach a lip, and I step down, trying not to let go of the rocks above me. The sounds of the guards are getting close, and I can hear the metal on their uniforms jingle as they run. My heart beats through my ears, and my skin feels every painful touch in the darkness. I inch farther down into the cave, watching the light disappear. I hear water. The faint sound of dripping fills the cavern. My shoe's hit a wide enough rock for me to balance on.

"Jump down!" I hear Dally say.

I trust him and let go of the rock. My shoes slam against a hard surface. It's pitch black, and I can only see the light from out of the cave seeping inside.

I see the faint click of a lighter. The flame comes to life on the second flick of the flint wheel. Dally holds it near my face, letting me be able to see his. "You alright?" Dally asks.

I clap my hands together to get the remainder of the sand and pebbles off them. "Yeah."

"This shit's scary." He whispers, waving the lighter around the rocks. The pocket of the cave we are in is about ten feet wide and about twenty feet high. There are no offshoot cavers or tunnels. I can hear the guards passing over us and their boots echo down the cave.

"Doesn't look like we can go farther into the cave," I say.

"Looks like you'll have to camp out in here then."

"No," I resist. "There's no way I can stay in here."

"If you don't want to be killed, I suggest pitching a tent and taking a nap."