Undead

Vent. (317)

MADISON'S POV.

"Now what?" Rosita huffs.
I stare at the trembling door as I think.
The loud banging from behind the door becomes the constant pounding in my head. I can hear them growling behind the door and I watch as the hinges become loose. Behind me I can hear Fangs starting to growl.

"Madison!" Kai calls me frantically.
I turn back around to them. I move over to the electric chair and think about the amount of times I've been restrained to it. Shocked by electrical currents, radiating through my bones, making me shake and almost die, for real this time.

"Vents." I murmur.
"Huh?" Rick walks over to me and puts his hand on my shoulder to turn me back towards the group.
I point to the ceiling and everyone follows my gaze.

I remember the times being strapped to the chair and through the pain I realized I didn't have many choices. I was locked down. But I had one, it wasn't much but it was enough to remind me that I wasn't completely out of control.

I could either screw my eyes shut and wait for the pain to knock me out or I could fight and keep my eyes open long enough to glare at Clover on the other side of the room. I often just looked up at the ceiling too. And as I lift my head to stare at the ceiling now, the same vent is there. It's old and covered in cobwebs. Who knows if it'll even open but it's the only shot we've got.

I take a deep breath before climbing on top of the chair. I can't quiet reach the cover of the vent so I use the tip of one of my arrows to unscrew the four bolts to the vent. It comes off easily but I'm not quite tall enough to climb up and take a look at it myself.

"Move over." Daryl grunts.
The chair is wide enough to fit both of us standing up on it.
"Hop on." He offers.
I climb onto his back and he boosts me far enough up that I can see inside the dark, metal, container.
"Flashlight?"

Somebody places one in my hand and I shine it down the vent. Cobwebs hang from each end of the metal container and they billow softly in the breeze. They look dirty and tangled and they fight to stay intact against the light breeze. Other than that, the vent is empty.

"Is it strong enough to hold us all?" Carl asks.
I shrug. "We don't really have a choice. I guess we'll have to find out." I respond.
I climb the rest of the way up and offer a hand for Rosita, then she helped Carl up, then Michonne, Kai, Rick and Daryl.
"I'm not moving until Fangs is crammed up here with us." I complain.

I hear Rick sigh.
"The dog will get us killed."
"I didn't bring him back to leave him behind again. Go get him."
Daryl grunts as he jumps down.
I listen as the dog cries once being lifted off the ground but Michonne and Rick help them both back up the rest of the way.

The vent, although it creeks a lot, seems sturdy enough for now. I lie on my stomach and look behind me to see what's going on. The vent is wide enough to fit two people next to each other but it's very low and I need to duck my head down to avoid banging it off the roof. Fangs shuffles his way up beside me, which looks almost funny and I would probably laugh if we weren't in this situation, but we are, and we're seconds away from being torn apart if this vent collapses.

Below us I hear the door finally buckle. The loud split of the door crashing to the ground sticks in my head like a shard of glass. I can hear as the walkers swarm the room, probably wondering where we disappeared to.
Fangs starts to growl again.
"Shhh." I warn him and he immediately stops. I pet behind his ears, to relax both of us I guess.

"Let's go." Michonne urges.
Slowly, I crawl forward. Each movement causes the vent to creek loudly and my heart hammers against my chest just as loudly. I begin to sweat from both nerves and the heat of all of us crammed in this small space. It makes it harder to move.