Shock

-39-

The closer we got to our destination, the more hesitant I became about our plan, or, more accurately, lack thereof. I'd never been to the office buildings, I had no idea what kind of people we would find there or if we'd even find anyone there. Frankly, I was starting to hope we wouldn't. Then there wouldn't be any need for a plan.

Still, we kept walking. I kept my head up, mock confidence in my stride as I walked a few inches before Nathan and the dog, who we'd lovingly started to refer to as Hopper.
The streets grew less and less familiar. We'd passed the library some time ago, and now I was just using the street signs to navigate. Walk to the end of this street, turn onto another one... Geography wasn't my strong suit, but I knew St Matthews road ran perpendicular to Brixton water lane.
Unfortunately, I had no idea how to get to Brixton water lane. Nathan was no help either. A good twenty minutes after passing the library for the first time, we crossed it again, and Nathan started to notice.
"So... is it just me or does this street look a lot like the last?"
I was tempted to say 'it's just you', but there really wasn't any point in that.
"No, you're right. We're lost."
"Aha." He nodded.
"So... now what?"
I looked around for street signs. Found none.
"I don't know. I mean, if I knew where we were that'd  be something, but..."
Nathan kicked a loose piece of gravel.
"I really hate life without the internet."
I chuckled.
"Me too. If we could just get two minutes of WiFi to load a map, then we'd at least-"
"A map!" Nathan exclaimed.
"Yes, a map. That's what we need." I narrowed my eyes. "Why, what are you thinking of?"
"We passed a bus stop earlier."
"Yeah, bu-"
My eyes widened as my brain made the connection.
"Bus stops have maps in them."
"Exactly."
"Nathan, you're a genius."
"Well-"
"We've gotta get back to that bus stop."
"Right," he looked around.
"Uhm, this way."
Despite our fatigue, we managed to jog towards the bus stop, reaching it in five minutes. Hopper followed, a bit behind, though he seemed excited we were running.
"What was the street name again?"
"St Matthews road."
Together, we searched the board. Nathan found it first.
"There!" He jabbed his index at the map. I stepped closer to see how far we were removed from the place. We were near.
"We can get there in less than twenty minutes," I told Nathan.
"Great," he replied. "Let's go."
Gravel crisped under our feet as we walked the path we'd seen on the map. Nathan had taken a picture of it, just to be safe, and we were looking at it after every turn.
When we reached Brixton water lane, I started to feel jittery.
"The next street's it."
Next to me, Nathan started breathing heavily. I guess he was nervous too.
"So, uhm, what do we do if the building's closed?" he asked.
"You pick the lock." I smiled at him.
He didn't smile back. In fact, he looked rather down.
"We'll go back for Grace soon." I reassured him.
I felt guilty for having pulled him away from her like that. Even though it had felt like the right thing to do for Haley, I hadn't really considered the effect it would have on Nathan, especially since the trip had turned out to be longer than expected. Considering the last time Nathan had seen Grace, she'd been unconscious and badly injured, I could imagine how worried he felt.
"I'm sorry I made you leave her like that."
"No, don't be, you didn't... It was my decision to come along. And I thought I made the right call, for Haley, you know? But now..."
He stared at his feet as he walked, kicking bits of dirt and rocks as he strode along. His eyebrows were furrowed, jaw clenched.
As casually as possible, I took his hand and swung it lightly as we walked. I hoped it would calm him down a bit, but I wasn't sure if it worked since I could feel his palms turning sweaty quickly.
"You okay?" I asked after a few minutes, as I didn't want to make him feel worse.
"Yeah, it's just-"
"What?"
He raised the hand I wasn't holding and pointed straight ahead at a tall white office building.
"That's it, isn't it?"

The building wasn't exactly what you'd call a skyscraper, but from afar, it did look like one. The place had to have had at least twenty floors, and each wall was covered in windows. It wasn't brand new, but it was modern enough. Certainly strong enough to withstand the earthquake. There wasn't much, if any, visible damage.
On the driveway stood a dozen or so cars, but I didn't expect their owners to be anywhere nearby. Most of them looked like company cars, with the dark blue logo printed on the side. A few had broken windows. None of them were parked between the lines, though it wasn't clear whether the earthquake had moved them, or some asshole had parked them before. Either way, we nearly had to climb over a grey sedan to get to the door. It didn't open, obviously, it was automatic and the power was still out.
I grunted and kicked the glass in frustration. My ankle popped, and I inhaled sharply in surprise.
"You okay?" Nathan asked.
"Yeah, that was just... a stupid thing to do."
He smiled and I was happy he didn't look so down anymore. I didn't even mind my sore foot.
"We'll find another entrance." He said.
"Yeah, of course. We have to."
Nathan turned to the side of the building, but then appeared to change his mind, pivoting back towards me.
"Can you walk?" he asked with a nod to my foot.
I quickly nodded.
"Yeah, yeah, it wasn't really hurt anyway."
"Okay, good."
I told Hopper to stay where he was, and to my surprise, he actually listened. Then, I followed Nathan as he turned and we walked around the building. At the back of the side wall was a small, red door. Nathan walked towards it and I already reached towards my head.
"I assume you'll need another bobby pin?"
"Actually," Nathan pulled down the handle and the door opened with ease.
"Huh." I hadn't expected it to be that easy.
He glanced back at me.
"Ready?"
"Not in the slightest."
He chuckled and together, we stepped inside.

We stepped into a hallway that had only two exits: the door we'd just entered through, and a set of stairs leading straight up. Without saying a word, we took the stairs.
At the top, we found a hallway with a bunch of doors on either side.
"How do we know where to go?"
"I..." I didn't know what to say. We'd gotten there. We'd even in without even the slightest problem. But this was where our lack of a game plan was actually starting to trip us up. The building was huge. There was no way of knowing where we'd find people, let alone if we'd find people.
"Charlie?"
I was aware I was staring straight ahead. I could see the bare white walls and the wooden door frames and the lifeless lights on the ceiling. I could smell a hint of paint in the air from a room that had just gotten restyled and I could feel water in my shoes, soaking my feet.
"Charlie?" Nathan repeated.
"I'm sorry," I managed to get out.
"What? Why?"
"I shouldn't have brought you here. This was a waste of time, Nathan, I'm sorry."
I could feel him take my hand in his but I didn't look at him.
"Charlie, we knew It'd be like this. Right? We've got time. We'll check every floor if we have to. And if we don't find anything... Anyone... Then that's okay. You know we had to try."
I finally managed to turn my eyes towards him. His voice had sounded calm but he was looking rather worried.
"What if we came here for nothing?" My voice was less steady than I would have liked, but I was past the point of caring.
"Then we got a nice workout," he joked.
I smiled.
"How do you not hate me yet?"
He looked down.
"I could never do that."
After all the trouble he'd got in by following me, it would have been probable for him to hate me. I'd known he didn't, considering he was still there, but it was nice to hear anyway. If anything, it gave me a bit of hope.
"Thanks,"
He gave my hand a tiny squeeze.
"So, are you ready for more stairs?"

My legs were killing me. We'd checked the first four floors already but we'd had to stop before reaching the fifth. We were both exhausted, and I was pretty sure we could have both fallen asleep on the spot if we hadn't had each other.
"I'm tired..." Nathan muttered.
"Don't talk about it, you'll make it worse."
"How does that work?"
"I don't know, I just want to sleep." I closed my eyes, which was probably the worst idea at that moment.
"I thought we couldn't say that."
"We can't, but I-"
"Shhh!" Nathan interrupted me.
"What?"
He suddenly seemed wide awake, jumping to his feet and ascending a few steps.
"I heard...something."
"What did it sound-"
Then, I heard it too. Footsteps. Faint, but they were there. We exchanged a look before tip-toeing up the rest of the stairs to the fifth floor.
The hallway was empty. The rooms were not. The footsteps we'd heard originated from a door on the far right side. We seemed to have a mutual agreement to not speak until we reached it. But as we were about halfway to the door, the floor got quiet again. The only footsteps we heard were our own and we abruptly stopped.
Our eyes were glued to the door in anticipation. When nothing happened, we started towards it again.
When we finally reached the door, we didn't open it right away. We stood there, side to side, staring at the polished wood.
I took a deep shaky breath and put my hand on the knob.
It's now or never.
With that thought, I turned the knob and pushed open the door.
The office was a whole lot brighter than the hallway, though it was still pretty grim. The primary light source were the hesitant beams of gloomy morning sunshine coming through the huge window on the opposite wall. The room was rather large, meaning there were still a few parts enveloped in shadows. In the center stood a big oak desk with a laptop on it, nearly buried in papers and folders.
But that wasn't what got my attention at that moment.
Behind the desk stood a figure, staring out the window. It was a dark haired man, dressed in a suit. When he heard us come in, he seemed startled. He turned to see who had entered his office, and when he did, my jaw dropped.
It was Greg.