⋆The Survivors [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]⋆

Chapter eight

"Clear!" I called out to Duke, putting my gun down as I stared around the room anxiously. The constant high-pressure situation we found ourselves in was more exhausting than I thought it would be. With every new room, I felt my heart rate increase to almost painful levels. I'd never been so sweaty and anxious while being riddled with adrenaline. 

Duke came around the corner nodding before we moved back to the staircase, getting ready to search the four-story building, both of us moving in sync. I covered our backs as he made his way up to the second level. I inhaled trying to steady myself, trying to keep my arms loose waiting for Duke to check the next door. The secondary building is very much like the first, filled with boxes with jumpsuits and more cells but thankfully they were empty. But what surprised both Duke and I was that they had a few rooms that were filled with lab equipment, filled with supplies and what looked like a call centre monitor with headsets all over the place. It looked like a tiny reception which gave me the creeps.

The second and third floors were laid out like science laboratories, both different in scary ways. Level two from what we could surmise was for the humans, we found in the previous building, and it looks like they were being experimented on. 

"Fucking hell..." Duke breathed finding a few documents that showed they were trying to go further in-depth about our genetics and our bodies. As Duke read them out, I made my way through when suddenly I was overwhelmed by a horrible smell. I gasped dropping my gun as my hands slapped over my mouth before I turned away unable to look at the sight. 

Laying on the cold hard tables were two bodies, their eyes closed and their grey jumpsuits had been left open. Their torsos had been cut open and blood had stained the table, their clothes and their skin. Duke rushed to me before he turned away, hissing through his teeth and all I wanted to do was throw up. 

"We... We gotta get moving. We need to keep moving. C'mon Olive," Duke breathed reaching down to grab my gun as he gently took my hand, pulling me down the hall away from the corpses. 

We leave the third floor in silence and I could hear Goliks moving through the staircase from the lower levels. Duke pressed his finger on his mouth as we climbed quickly, running on our toes before we rushed into the fourth level. 

Duke pushed me inside first closing the door behind us as I began to scan the floor, my gun raised as I began to check the entire room with Duke mirroring my actions. The room was filled with desks and offices, very similar to what you would expect from an office building. Checking each block, I felt my guard lowering as I didn't hear or see anyone coming towards us or even looking up. 

In the centre of the layout was a centre office that was walled off with glass panels so I knew it was empty but as I stepped towards the door and I pushed the door feeling a sense of deja vu hit me so hard I froze in the doorway. 

"Clear," Duke called out but I couldn't respond. I couldn't think, move or feel anything as I took in the scene before me. "Olive? Olive?" Duke rushed up looking around before sighing annoyed, putting his gun down. 

"Yeah... sorry. But I recognise this place," I murmured to him as I stepped into the office and I could feel the confusion in his eyes. I turned to him as I moved around the desk, my fingers running along the desk. The confusion seemed to give way to something akin to suspicion, his fingers twitching around his gun. 

"You've been here before?" 

"No. Not this location specifically. Of course not. But this room, this office, it's like... I've been in one just like it."

"Well... Most offices look the same." Duke frowned watching me, glancing over his shoulder making sure we were still alone. The room while massive didn't have a lot of things inside of it; a big desk, a comfortable desk chair with an extra chair across the desk. Sitting down at the chair, my legs aching painfully as they almost screamed in relief, I paced my hand on the top right drawer, not yet opening it. I glanced up at Duke who looked like he was at the end of his rope. "I'll bet you my dessert tray for a week that in this top draw, there will be a pair of socks," I murmured in utter seriousness.