Moonchild | Neteyam

49

CHAPTER 49

       With no other idea, and certainly not a better one, the three teenagers found themselves climbing along the wall toward the ceiling. With their only leverage being pipes and various other metal bits that stuck out of the wall, the task proved itself to be a little bit of a tricky one - but they only had to suck it up and remind themselves that they used to climb trees back at home. This had to be second nature to them.

So why was Erìhe finding it so difficult?

With every pull, she hoisted herself higher up on the wall and found herself to be immensely discouraged by the two boys being so much quicker than her. By the time she had scaled halfway up the wall, Neteyam and Lo'ak were already hanging onto the pipes of the roof by their hands and feet, looking down at her expectantly.

"Hurry up, bro," Lo'ak hissed as the two halted, waiting for her to get a move on. Whereas Lo'ak seemed impatient, Erìhe noticed Neteyam looking over at her with a concern filled gaze, his braids hanging loosely down his shoulders. She tried shooting him a small smile but found herself unable to muster one.

"Yeah, I'm right with you," Erìhe huffed instead, "Just a little winded, is all," she murmured to herself with a frown on her face, willing herself to climb up the last bit of the wall before reaching out to grab the large red pipes of the ceiling.

Hugging the pipes tightly, Erìhe leaned her head back a bit to meet Lo'ak's eyes and nodded her head to signal that she was good and ready to go. But the second Lo'ak and Neteyam began climbing across the ceiling again, her face scrunched into a grimace and she fought against her body to keep ahold of the pipes, forcing herself on. Her limbs were screaming at her to stop, but she refused to look down at herself - afraid of what she might come to find. She did not feel any jabs of pain anywhere, other than the overwhelming exhaustion, and she made herself believe that it was a good thing.

The three were now slowly making their way across the pipes, ignoring the blasting noise from the alarms and listening out for anything that they would have to be wary of.

It didn't take even three minutes of climbing and Erìhe struggling to keep up, that the sound of soldiers running and yelling at one another from the floor below caught their attention and forced them to halt in their movements. "Move, move!" A man in an AMP suit was yelling and four men ran past him as he continued to yell out orders, "Evacuating, people. Come on, let's go."

The three waited with baited breaths as they peered over their shoulders at the men below. When the last of the soldiers ran past, the AMP suit pilot followed behind, leaving the hall empty for a while. Erìhe leant her head back and attempted to look past Lo'ak and over at Neteyam to see what they would do next.

It seemed as though Neteyam had reached a part of the ceiling where it got higher, yellow platforms allowing them to continue their journey above the floor. He pulled himself onto one, testing its weight, before beckoning Lo'ak and Erìhe over to do the same.

In no time Lo'ak was crouched next to his brother, both of them watching Erìhe moving over. "Why are you being so slow?" Lo'ak demanded as the girl held out her hand for a little help. Wordlessly, Neteyam pushed past his brother and took Erìhe's hand with both of his, pulling her onto the platform with ease.

"I don't know," Erìhe shot at him once she was fully perched on the yellow surface. She waited for Lo'ak's snarky response, but instead frowned when she was met with complete silence silence. With her brows still furrowed, from confusion rather than irritation now, she looked over to see his eyes blown wide, just staring at her.