Sons Of War || Andy Biersack

Chapter 27

You gasped and stepped away, dropping the gun at the feet of the dead man. His body slumped back against his comrades and you turned away from the grisly sight. Angelo's eyes were wide and fixed and he was extremely pale.
"Let's go," Andy said firmly, kneeling down next to the body and grabbing the small ID card from the back of the dead man's pocket, then turning away. "We have a limited time frame."
He was correct. You gave Angelo a good shaking and pulled him along with you as you began walking after Andy. He was silent, as were you. None of you spoke a word as you began hurriedly walking toward the rock cliffs the dead man had told you to go to. He obviously hadn't been lying. If he had been, he wouldn't have shot himself in the head afterwards. You could only imagine the punishment he would have endured before death if his treachery had become known to his superiors. Either way, his treachery would be known, but he was safe from them now. You shuddered and walked faster.
The others that you had tied up would be regaining consciousness soon, and you were sure that it wouldn't take them to terribly long to get free of the ropes that held them.
Once you made it to the rock cliffs on the south side of the mountain, the three of you stopped walking and your eyes desperately roamed over the jagged rocks in search of a door or a path. You failed to observe anything out of the ordinary. You were about to let out a long sigh of aggravation when Angelo's forever-cheery voice piped up. "Well, I certainly don't see a door, but follow me! Here's a path we can follow. I'm sure it will lead us to the proper spot. See, I've been trained for things like this, and what you need to look for is a blemish, however small, in the larger picture. If you're looking at a specific area you are probably not going to find what you're looking for, but if you zoom out a little, you can find the small inconsistencies that indicate human construction. In this case. . . "
His voice got quieter as he walked up the hillside, blabbering and blabbering. You shook your head with a small laugh and followed him. Thank God for Angelo, you thought to yourself.
As you followed his lead, you found that there was indeed a path in the rocks, leading to a ledge that circled around into a narrow rock valley with looming rocks on either side.
As you continued moving, you suddenly started feeling familiar waves of dizziness washing over you. You slowed your pace staggeringly and leaned against the tall wall of stone, listening intently. The dizzy feeling intensified before you heard the ever-so longed for voice.
"Y/n?" It was as soft and urgent as ever. You couldn't think a single coherent thought in response to it. Like last time, it was as if your head space no longer belonged to you. "You are heading into trouble. The door should be heavily guarded. There are six sniper's in different locations that will shoot you on sight. Once you get to the fork in the path, go right. I must go now! Oh, something is very wrong!"
The feeling of being shoved out of your own mind suddenly left off, and the spinning all around you began to slow. You started to regain your senses, and the first thing you noticed was Andy and Angelo desperately trying to talk to you. You were sitting on the ground. Andy knelt in front of you and had a hold on both of your wrists, looking into your eyes worriedly.
"Y/n, please say something. Are you okay?" He asked as Angelo pressed the back of his hand to your forehead.
"She's not running a fever," Angelo confirmed.
"I'm alright, I'm sorry," you muttered. "I guess I just got a dizzy spell." You were not sure you wanted to tell them about the voice. People generally don't have voices in their heads, and you sure as hell didn't want them to think you were loosing it. Not at a time like this.
However, the voice had been right about everything so far, and you felt a mite shameful that you didn't even think about the fact that the door was probably guarded and you would certainly not be able to just walk right in; security pass and all. Although, there had been something off about the voice just then. . . She
sounded--distressed?
Andy helped you get to your feet and you leaned against him for a moment while the last of the dizziness went away. He wrapped his arm around your waist and held you against him for a moment before pulling back and looking uncertainly into your beautiful eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes," you nodded. "I'm okay. Let's keep moving."
You began walking again, though Andy stayed protectively close to you. Sure enough, as you continued on the winding ledge, you came to a fork in the path. Angelo quickly analyzed both paths and shrugged, saying, "I guess let's go left."
"No," you said quickly. "Let's go right."
"I suppose that will do," Angelo shrugged again. "We're just guessing, really. Hopefully one of the paths isn't booby trapped. That would be detrimental in the extreme! Speaking of extreme, it's so barren up here! The forest was simply glowing with nature and color, but the farther we go into the cliffs, the less nature I see! We plants; no animals! Not one bird to be seen . . . Er, except that vulture that's been circling overhead for a little while now..."
He continued speaking, but you did not continue listening. You were busy staying alert for the unearthly guidance that you were depending on to get you through this challenge and into the lab.
"I'm going crazy," you muttered under your breath.
"What?" Asked Andy.
"What?" You replied quickly.
"Uh, never mind. . ."
The ledge continued to get narrower and narrower until it was only possible to walk single file, with Angelo in the lead and Andy bringing up the rear. You felt no more strange forebodings or heard any more voices, but as you continued down the path, Angelo seemed to grow nervous.
"Perhaps we should head back," he said uncertainly, stopping and turning around to look at you both. You waited silently for direction, but found nothing there for you.
"Maybe that would be a good idea," Andy agreed. He seemed to be a little jumpy as well. "The walls just keep getting closer."
"Guys, the door will be protected. We can't just walk in. I'm not certain about this," you said. Maybe Angelo would have some idea's.
"That's probably true, my dear," he said thoughtfully. "We certainly don't look like we belong here. If we didn't get shot on sight, someone would surely be alerted to intercept us."
And yet, as you all stared at each other in thoughtful silence, you got no strange feelings at all; aside from your regular tension.
What the hell was going on?
"Let's just keep moving. The path can't go on forever," you said firmly, taking the lead. The other two shared a forlorn glance and followed after you. The rocky path finally came to a sudden stop, and because of this you almost fell off the cliff-side. It took a sharp turn right off the edge, just out of sight for anyone who was unsuspecting. Thanks to your exhaustion, you had been walking pretty slow, and Andy cought you by the collar of your shirt as you lost balance because of your sudden stop. You fell back against him, your heart racing.
"What the hell!" You said breathlessly, stepping backwards away from the sickeningly steep edge.
"That was a close one," Angelo commented, leaning over the edge to see the bottom.
"Can you fucking not?" You were not fond of heights, and Angelo's actions were giving you more than a little anxiety. Where was your stupid fucking voice to tell you that you were about to walk off a mountain?
"I don't get it," you stated angrily. "Where are the snipers? Where is the door?"
"We clearly went the wrong way," Angelo said sadly. "A shame we have to do all that walking again for nothing. If only we had gone on the other path! What I wouldn't give for a time machine..." Angelo blabbered about time machines basically all the way back to the fork in the path, but you were busy seething over your misdirected advice. Why did you even follow the dumb advice of a disembodied voice you were hearing in your head? What was wrong with you?
You followed the other path for about three miles before Angelo stopped talking suddenly and knelt down on the dirt looking at something very closely.
"What is it, Angelo?" You asked as though he was a dog. He responded with a grunt, gesturing for you to kneel down beside him. Doing so, you laid eyes on what he was so enticed by.
On a low rock deeply sunk into the earth, there was a small red bear painted crudely onto its surface. It had to be the bear that the man had spoken of. "You'll see a small red bear marked close to the entrance." He had said just a moment before blasting his brains out.
"So...where's the entrance?" Andy asked, looking around the barren rocks and finding nothing of unusual pattern.
"And the goddamn snipers," you grumbled. Could the voice have been wrong? What the hell is going on, you thought again for the second or third time that day.
You began to feel even more silly for ever believing in the voice in the first place. A moment after this thought, you began to feel legitimately worried for your mental health. Could this whole situation have caused you to crack?
Like a fucking eggshell, your inner monologue answered.
"Well, I don't see any snipers," Angelo said with a bright smile. "But I think I may know where the door is."
   "Really? Where?" You questioned. You certainly couldn't see where they might have hide a door.
"There," Angelo pointed straight up the high wall of rock. "Hold my binoculars!"
He removed the broken article in question from around his neck and handed it off to you, beginning to climbed up the steep edge. You stared at the binoculars for a moment (wondering why the hell he hadn't discarded them) before looking back up as he climbed with surprising agility. He stopped suddenly and peered very closely at something that had apparently cought his attention.
"Hm," you heard him say loudly. "That's strange! This rock isn't made of--WHOA--"
"Angelo!" You screamed, dropping the binoculars and beginning to climb quickly, Andy close on your heels.
He (Angelo) had pulled on the particular rock that had cought his attention and he was suddenly swallowed by the hillside. From your angle, it looked like he'd fallen straight through the rocks.
It was a bit more of a difficult climb than Angelo had made it seem, so you were in quite a state of distress by the time you actually made it to the point where he had disappeared.
"Which rock did he mess with?!" You asked anxiously, pulling on every rock you could get your hands on.
"You went to far, I think it was this one--AH!" Andy disappeared out from under you with a strangled yelp, but now you could see what had happened. The rock was a leaver, and it opened a trap door out from underneath you, literally dropping you into the hillside and closing immediately afterwards.
You climbed down to the proper level and pulled the rock, unable to help cursing in alarm when you feet were suddenly taken out from under you. Even though you had expected it, it was still not a nice sensation.
You slide, rather ungracefully, down a slide that reminded you of Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets. It suddenly turned and your momentum ended abruptly as you smashed full force into Andy, who seemed to have just gotten to his feet.
He fell on top of you with a a few colorful expletives and you groaned under his weight, trying to shove him off of you.
   "Stop that, I'm trying to-!"
   "Get off, you are so heavy! Untangle your leg from under me-!"
   "Quite moving! Would you please get your fucking foot out of my-"
"Amazing!" Angelo interrupted your flustered quarreling and examined the tiny room you had found yourselves in. "They built this directly out of the rock. Why, it must be a hundred years old! But look at this door. . . this looks fairly new and polished. . . Such high tech lock systems! I've never seen anything like it. There doesn't seem to be an exit. How peculiar. . ."
You dislodged your person from that of Andy's and straggled to your feet. The room was strange and impressive, but the first thing that cought your eye was not that of the door or the walls or even the locks.
It was the small camera located at the corner.
Whoever was on the other side of that footage knew you were here.

Hey guys! I hope you like this chapter!!! This book should be hitting a climax soon and then come to an end. I think it should be soon, but these things always take longer than I estimate. Please tell me what you think and vote and comment or whatever you want! Love, your nervous author,
-Skye

PS. I tried to post yesterday before bed but apparently it did not publish and I didn't notice! Sorry guys! Here it is!