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Chapter 19 - Can We Keep Him?

I nearly screamed when a chunk of metal fell from a shelf and clattered to the floor in front of me. It was official: I didn't like places underground. I shuddered at the darkness surrounding me, but nevertheless continued forward.

The whole hideout was really unstable. There was no telling how old it was or who used it, but every once in awhile we would spot an insignia and the letters V.E.I.L. It took me more than enough time to figure out that this was the presumed organization that Dead Bolt worked for.

We made our way farther into the bunker, and stopped when we reached another door. I opened this one with another button and thought that this place needed better security than just a button for everything.

We stepped inside and immediately, the door closed behind us. An alarm went off and a glowing clock on the wall across from us started counting down.

"I think we just tripped an alarm," I said. Tristan gave me a no, really?! look and I rolled my eyes at him. I walked closer to the clock and saw that we had two hours left until something happened.

"It seems that we have triggered a bomb," Ruby said, sighing. My eyes widened and I spun around to stare at her.

"A bomb?! You've got to be kidding me! We have two hours to get out of a locked room until it explodes? No way, I'm sorry, but this can't be happening," I started pacing and growing hysterical. Aer tried to calm me down, but I couldn't hear her. I wasn't good with enclosed spaces, especially when there were three other people in that room with me.

I sank down to the floor and pulled my knees to my chest, trying my best to keep myself from hyperventilating. The others sat down as well and we sat in silence; the only sounds being my fast-paced breathing and the ticking of the clock counting down our doom.

This is fine, I thought, slowly gaining control of my breathing. I haven't even reached twenty yet and I'm about to die, but it's fine.

——

Tristan had a pacing problem. After about twenty minutes of sitting around with the clock ticking, he got up and started to spew ideas at us. Along with the rapid fire idea-spilling came unstoppable pacing. At one point, he suggested that Aer slam herself against the unopening door until she finally broke through. Aer quickly shut that idea down with an uncharacteristic glare.

"There's no other way to get out of here," Tristan muttered, trying, and failing, to pry open the rusted door with his bare hands. I let my head fall in between my knees and sighed. I heard Tristan kick a bench with frustration and then something beeped.

My head shot up to see some kind of humanoid machine glow to life. Its robotic eye lit up with a red light and the other eye opened. It opened its mouth to make some sort of sound, but all that came out was a static noise. It obviously was surprised and shut its mouth.

Everyone in the room stopped moving and stared at the robot. Its head moved from side to side in a rickety way and then stayed staring forward. It seemed to understand the situation because it looked at our panic-stricken faces and then to the ticking clock on the wall.

"Hello?" Tristan asked. The robot looked at him and didn't stop staring. Tristan visibly became uncomfortable.

"I think it wants to say something," Ruby said, standing up and walking closer. The robot followed her with its eyes and watched her until she sat down next to it. "Can you get rid of the bomb?"

At "bomb," Ruby pointed to the clock and the robot followed her finger with its eyes, but it did nothing. It looked at the clock and back and that's when I realized it couldn't move.