Toxic nation

Chapter 7: Warren

Warrens PoV.
Written by vw2000

I bolt upright in my bunk and look around to see if anyone else happens to have heard the dreadful noise that echoed from the floor above. Unfortunately for me, the entire collective of people in the room seem to be heavier sleepers than bears hibernating for winter and so, I decide to head to the doors in order to investigate. Quietly I sit up in my bed and slip on my spotless brown leather boots and head down the dimly lit corridor.

It takes around 5 minuets to find my way through the dull grey maze of steel until I find my way back to the entrance of the inner vault. When I arrive there feeling exhausted and annoyed, I am greeted by two large men in army green berets, holding large black guns.
"Where do you plan on going Warren?" One of them asks, who I then realise is one of the bullies that I went to school with, that I can't seem to remember much about.
"To the bloody moon," I remark sarcastically,"isn't it obvious?"
The men then, (in their words)  'politely' request me to go back to bed after ramming me in the cheek with the butt of one of the guns.

It still stings as I creep down a few halls before stopping.
"Why am I actually taking those idiots orders, I need to find out what's going on!" I say loudly to myself in an almost heroic monologue before realising that I was way too loud and dart for cover behind a box of food rations, squealing quietly like a tiny mouse.

An hour I wait behind that box before realising how I can finally get past those guards to the screaming that I realise had just started again. There are no windows considering the fact that I am deep underground. Also, the vault door seems impossible seeing as, if I ever made it past the two brutes, I would have to find a way to open the huge creaky door without alerting anyone of my presence. My only chance of escape is the rickety ladder around the corner which is the emergency exit for the soldiers. Usually there would be a guard stood in front of it however, they had all moved to have a meeting in the giant control room to the left of the vault.

After taking a moment to breath in the stuffy air and check that the area is clear, I run to the ladder and quickly grab each rung as I precariously climb in the dark to the mystery above.

The ladder seems to lead up infinitely in to the dark abyss above. As I climb higher and higher, for what seems like forever, I see a light shining from the wall to the right. When I reach the level in which the light is coming from, I realise that it is the door to the next floor of the vault. I am unsure what this floor is but there is a key card scanner which  appears to be broken because the door is slightly open and part of the scanner is hanging off the wall.

Nervously, I push open the door and peer around the room. Directly in front of me there is a large table with what appears to be clamps and knives. Lockers line the walls and there is a large window at the back of the room which points into another large space with a chair with straps on it and a table which is splattered with an unknown substance. I edge slowly towards the table and stare down at the various blades which sparkle on the dull, dented steel of the table. Swiftly, I grab one of the knives and push it up the sleeve of my jacket, ensuring it doesn't cut me in the process. I then proceed to the door at which I pause for a moment, listening to the screams on the other side of the door. They sound familiar, distant but familiar and I question where I have heard them before. Then I realise, the screams that I hear are from Ben.

Bursting through the door, I enter what appears to be a similar room to the chair room, though this time there is someone sat, tied down with thin rope- Ben.
"What the heck is going on here?" I yell and glare at a the bully from earlier who proceeds to snarl angrily at me. Before he speaks, a skinny man with large, bug-like eyes and a dirty grey lab coat appears through a side door, armed with a syringe.
"Ah, Warren is it? Michael here was just telling me all about you." The man nods towards the bully. "Oh how rude of me, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Edmund Finch and your friend here was about to undergo a little... shall we say, test?"
"What do you want with him?" I ask, cautiously.
"Ah, well that is easy Warren," he grins and steps closer to Ben,"his body."

Without hesitation I pull the knife from my sleeve and throw it, the blade piercing Finch's right shoulder, causing him to yelp and fall to the ground. Michael, the bully, charges at full force towards me, but I quickly dodge, sending him toppling onto the table in the room next door. When I turn, Ben has already got himself out of the ropes and is stood weakly by the door.
"Uh,what the f-"
"No time to ask questions, we need to go!" I yell as we both dart towards the staircase with the rusty exit sign above. We stumble franticly up the stairs and eventually reach a metal door with a pull down leaver. With one final breath, I push down, light erupting into the previously dark staircase.