The Runaways: K.A.O.

X

"Hey, look up there." I pointed at the air vent. "Get me up there."

"That'll make too much noise." He said. 

  Beams began to shoot through the room, illuminating the dark space. I stepped onto the monitor that exposed us, and pulled Thompson onto the table. If we didn't at least try to get out, we would be killed. 

"You'd better surrender yourselves!" The malicious voice shouted. 

Killed. 

"Dammit man! You have a better idea?" I snapped and ripped off the air vents cover. 

Humanity would be let down. 

  He didn't say anything else to me, he helped boost me into the air vent. Once I was all the way in, I helped him up and waited for him to put the cover back on. I could hear the droids counting down. Not too long after we started crawling, you could hear the door open. 

 "Which way?" Thompson stopped behind me. 

"Damn HVAC's." I swore, there was no way to tell where we were going. 

"Up there!" I heard a droid cry and in an instant, bullets were going through the vent. 

  We moved away from their shooting aim until they took a break, there was someone likely climbing through the vents now to get us. I crawled over in a rush to Thompson's side, and we slid down into the first room we seen. 

  It was also dark with closed doors. 

"These rooms seem to repeat." I examined the room. 

"There's another vent." He pointed. 

"Yeah and there are more droids." I couldn't think of a solution, I'm surprised we weren't full of bullet holes. 

  The clicking of their boots echoed down the halls, they were fast. So were we. An idea struck me, it was the riskiest one I had so far. 

"We've got to split up." I said. "There are two parts to the building, you use the vents to get there and I'll lead the droids away from you." 

"Are you bloody mad?" Thompson yelled at me. 

"Just trust me!" I yelled back.

"Then you go through the vents, and I'll meet you there." He said. 

As the footsteps got closer, "I can't." I pressed my back against the door. 

"Why not?" I could see the concern in his eyes. 

"Because I know what they want." I paused. "I don't want to put you in danger." 

  I can't tell him it is me. 

"Nessie." He hugged onto me. "You'd better come back. You'd better come back to me." His voice wavered. 

"Of course." I urged him through the vents and pushed the cover on after he began crawling. 

"Wherever you run, we'll always be able to found you." The voice echoed down the hall, it made my skin crawl. 

Thank you, Thompson. 

"Three." I held my breath. "Two." They banged on the door. "One!" I swung open the door and ran past the group with all of my might. 

  As I sped down the hall, I could hear the group of droids chasing at me, occasionally shooting loud and close bullets. As I made my way through the maze of corridors,  I started to notice a small pattern in the walls. 

  My closest clues always came from decoration. 

"The doors." I stopped briefly. "RE?" I stared at the big letters. 

  Hearing gunshots starting to fire closer, I began running the halls again. Every door I look at had different combinations of letters, but when I combined the letters together, they would spell out words. 

"Reset?" I thought about the word I seen. 

The reset quarantine!

I ran in the direction the words pointed out. 

QU.

AR.

AN.

TI.

"LE?" I stopped at the next door, it didn't spell out quarantine like I'd expected. 

I knew this was too easy. 

  I looked around for the KAO's, but their gunshots nor footsteps were audible. I turned right and continued down that path, something must be wrong with the doors. I couldn't have made that mistake, could I? 

"Shit." I panted. "I'm lost." 

  After I caught my breath, my brain began to spin. I felt my stomach gurgle. I walked towards the next door, my fatigue catching up. The next door I seen had the letters "ST." 

"St? Lest?" It didn't make any sense. 

I continued down the hall, it seemed to narrow. 

AI.

I ran faster realizing what the doors spelled out. "Stairs!" This felt like a trap. 

  Once I reached the stairs, sirens blared alarming the entire facility that we breached the building. I ran up the stairs as quickly as I could, skipping steps in between. The higher floors began to lock their doors, so I had to run back down. 

Why couldn't I have been more specific with where I was going to meet Thompson?

  The lower levels started to close and lock their doors, and an aroma of smoke began to fill the air. They set the building on fire! I coughed smelling more of the smoke, and figured the safest spot was the staircase. I couldn't stay there forever, the entire building would eventually go up in flames. 

  I could probably find an exit following the doors on the middle level, that place shouldn't be in flames yet. I took a chance and the first open door I saw, I dashed through it. I covered my mouth and nose with my hand. 

  My brain began spinning out of control, it became hard to read the door signs. I rubbed my eyes and looked ahead, the bridge to the other side of the building wasn't in flames. However, I was one level on top of it. 

"How the hell am I supposed to find the stairs now?" I punched the wall angrily. 

"I'll help." I heard a voice, but it didn't sound very friendly.