La Muerte Subita

Victory

Dan reaches out to hold Phil's arm as the elevator door open, his nerves raising the hair on his neck and arms.
Phil stands bravely as the doors open to reveal a dank hallway, damp and smelling of mold and wet and dust.
The thickness of the air makes them both cough harshly.
"Let's go" Phil whispers, taking his hand and leading him forward. They crawl through the small opening in the iron gate and continue down one of the dark brick hallways. The light here is so dim that Dan can barely see, which mean's Phil definitely can't see a single thing.
It's really only luck that helps them find the note attached to the wall, half ripped;
"Hey! I think I left the Keys in the boiler room!" was the only readable part.

Dan tugs Phil forward through the halls slowly, looking for a change in temperature. There were no signs of life in the halls, but there were small tunnels and holes dug low in the walls. Dan's hackles were still raised and he listened intently for any sign of monsters, or murderers, or ghosts...
Phil sneezed violently, and it echoed through the halls. Dan pushes him up against the wall, hand over his mouth.
"I think there's something in here." he whispers, terrified.
He can see Phil's disturbed too.
"Let's try and be quiet." Phil whispers back.
They tiptoe through the halls, avoiding puddles and trying to find warmth, but it seems wholly uneventful until they come across the boiler room, and subsequently the keys.

"That was too easy." Dan warns as Phil picks up the set of keys. Phil nods in agreement,
"True, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. I want this to be over with."
Dan can't help but agree as they shuffle out the opposite side of the room.
Just outside the doorway are two massive, hulking things that snuffle around blindly. Dan shrieks, and Phil grabs him by the hand and bolts back the way they had come. The giant monsters are following them, too fast and too tall to be human at all. It's terrifying and Dan can't help but trip over himself as they try to escape. Phil throws him down by one of the boilers and joins him, hiding in the small area between base and bend. Phil's hand is over his mouth as both the fleshy bodies' streak past their hiding place without a second glance.

Terrified, they wait a moment, but it's too loud in the boiler room, and too hot to stay much longer.
"Go, fast!" Phil commands, and Dan's standing up, rearing to go; "There was a ladder behind them, climb it!"
Phil presses the keys into his hand and pushes Dan away, crouching back down in his hiding space.
"I'll be right behind you!" he calls, and Dan runs. Runs to the ladder, fumbles with the key to unlock the gate around it, and he climbs to the top, staring down at the base.
Where's Phil?
He's a little frantic, climbing down a few rungs to look around.
"Phil?" he whispers harshly.
There's no reply.

Dan's about to climb down the ladder and search for Phil when he comes running toward him, creatures' right behind.
"Climb!" Phil screams, and Dan does. He climbs like his life depends on it, all the way to the top, not looking back until Phil shrieks in agony.
"Phil!?"
The monsters have the older man by the legs, attempting to pull him away from the ladder while he kicks them as hard as he can. It doesn't seem to affect them, and his grip is loosening.
"Go Dan!" Phil calls, pulling harder against the monsters.
"I'm not leaving you!" Dan cries, ignoring the cliché situation to climb down a few rungs; "Not again!"
There's a pain in Phil's face, but he reaches out a hand for Dan to grasp, and he does, pulling against the monsters with all his might.

Together they heave, but the monsters are still too strong, still pulling hard enough to injure. Phil is screaming in pain, and Dan can feel his heart rate in the pale wrist. It's fast, too fast...
The monsters let go, just stand there at the bottom of the ladder as Dan pulls Phil up to the top. Up onto a massive construction setup.
"Dan!" Phil groans, "Dan, I think they broke my ankle."
Dan pulls his foot into his lap and hikes up the leg of Phil's skinny jeans. His ankle is swollen and there is a sign of bruising, but it isn't bent in the wrong way or poking out of the skin.
"I think it's a sprain." Dan says, touching the bruising skin gently. Phil flinches harshly. Beside them, a panel of wall brightens; a screen. Dan leans in and reads the message aloud;
"Do you need medical assistance?"
Phil looks at Dan, then nods.
"Yes!" Dan calls, hoping that was the correct response. The monitor flashes a confirmation and dims back into the wall as Dan sighs in relief. It'll be fine.