Cryptotrappers!

Cryptotrappers- The Reign of the Yellow-Robed King Part 2

Days passed, and Eva stayed with us recovering in the main lab. The beginning was rough, she barely shifted from where she lay, and spoke even less than she moved. Her breathing was laboured, and she was deteriorating fast. Her afflictions from the incident seemed to worsen every day, and every night that we slept, we worried that when we awoke, she would be gone. Randy hardly left her side whilst she recovered. And slowly, very slowly but surely, she did recover.

Sid moved the desk back in front of the wall, to ensure that it wouldn't be opened again, to make sure that she couldn't return until we knew it was safe. We'd barred it shut, of course, but we wanted to take no chances with Eva's safety. As much as we hoped that we'd just be able to trust her to not go back down there, the Eva that we knew was not the same person as this Eva, the Eva after the bombshell. And it's hardly like the Eva we knew was always exactly the most trustworthy person alive. When she began to have enough strength again to walk, we didn't let her leave our line of sight. But all she did was pace aimlessly, and walk from seat to seat. She didn't even try the wall door. We thought that whatever was down there, it was over.

If my attempts at counting days had succeeded, though they did blend together often, Eva has been back with us for nineteen days before I was shaken awake by Randy in the early hours of the morning.
"Michael, wake up. Come on, wake up, we need everyone ready."
Groggily, I opened my eyes, which were locked with his own.
"Eva?" I articulated, as best as I could.
"She's gone." Randy confirmed, as I threw myself suddenly bolt upright.
"Gone?" I asked, panic-stricken. "What? How? Like, 'gone' gone? Is she-"
"No, she's not..." Randy spoke over me, hands on my shoulders. "At least not as far as we can tell. She's nowhere in the main lab. The Deep Lab is still blocked off. Sid's checking around to see if there's anywhere she could be inside, Lucy's checking the elevator."
The door was flung open, as Lucy herself stuck her head into the room.
"Heard my name. Get Sid; I've found something."

The four of us stood at the elevator, looking down at what seemed to be nothing, as far as we could tell. But Lucy was adamant.
"There's a major dust disturbance from the buildup across the last few weeks. And if you look just there, off to the side, hair bobble. It's not mine, I doubt it's any of yours, Eva was on the elevator."
"But why would she leave the lab?" I asked, looking between my coworkers, hoping that someone would have an answer. The blank faces were telling.
"I don't know." Lucy responded, direly. "But we should go out as a unit and find her."
"Not as a unit, too dangerous. I'll go." Randy offered, but I quickly stopped him.
"I'll go, alone. If she's trying to avoid us, I'd be the best option to try and get close without her knowing. The less people go out, the less people are at risk of being infected by whatever's turning people. And I'd say that my skillset includes drawing out things not looking to be found."
Randy turned and looked directly into my eyes, with intent and resolve.
"Michael, you're not going out on your own. I'm coming with you, at minimum, end of the conversation."
"No." Sid replied, putting his hand firmly on Randy's shoulder. "He's right. If Eva catches wind of us coming, she might panic. I trust that he can do this by himself. Besides, if she does come back, we need to be here for her."
Sid's eyes didn't meet mine. For a moment, it almost looked like he was looking straight past me, his thoughts as obtuse as always. But before I had time to put too much thought into that, he shook his head and looked straight into my eyes as Randy had.
"Bring her back safe. And don't die."
Steadying myself, I stepped onto the elevator, knife at the ready, and looked back at my three teammates, as I ascended from the lab into the city above.

There was a certain balance to my approach for finding her; if I didn't want her to spot me it would be preferable to stick to the shadows, but that was also the place I'd be most likely to be attacked by a rogue brave Carcosan. But that was a risk I'd take to ensure that I could reach Eva whilst she was safe. God did I hope that she was safe. All of my senses were on high alert as I looked through the blackened windows of abandoned buildings, freezing at any sign of potential movement inside. The longer I walked, the more doubt that I'd find her crept into my heart. And that was when I heard the first notes of the music.