Hell's Prison

Chapter 18

Dark Timing

Almost an hour later, Lexus, Tamara, and Jabari had found a new floor of the house to explore. Strolling quietly down the hall, the three young, adults were getting hopeless of survival.

"You two are quiet." Tamara mentioned hoping for conversation.

After a short delay, she realized they were thinking about something.

"Must be something on your minds?" Tamara responded with a slight, fake chuckle.

"We're trapped in a cage being hunted by a psychopath of course, there's a lot on our minds." Lexus stated honestly.

"Exactly! I got shit to do and hoes to fuck!" Jabari claimed jokingly.

Lexus and Tamara both stopped walking and glanced at him.

"Hahaha!" Jabari laughed.

The girls both started giggling. After lightening up the mood, Jabari decided to be a little real, since the three of them were the ones that seemed to be left.

"Honestly y'all, we can make it out of here alive as long as we don't slip up and protect each other." He stated truthfully.

Lexus nodded her head as she kept scoping out the area.

"Yeah, that would be the obvious thing to do." Tamara responded calmly.

Then, a small glimpse of light appeared up ahead of the pathway.

"Am I the only one seeing that?" Jabari asked the girls.

The young, adults slowly drew their attention towards the shining light. It appeared to be a different type of room. Unlike the other rooms that they'd come across before. Not only was there light beaming from the area, but also a trail of footprints.

"Let's check it out." Lexus insisted Jabari and Tamara.

Leading the way, Jabari walked up to the trail with the girls. He bent down to investigate what the trail was made of mud from outside.

"How'd mud get here?" Tamara asked curiously.

Lexus had her assumptions. Due to the fact that she had made it out but came back with the cops, she knew it could only be two different people. The killer or the other cop.

"Well, obviously...It was the killer. It couldn't have been Lexus because she wasn't on this floor after she came back." Jabari explained to Tamara.

All that came next to Lexus was how close could he be. Because the tracks of the footprints weren't even dry yet.

"If it wasn't the killer, it could've been a cop. Either way, we need to go and find out." Lexus demanded.

"Yeah, we might be closer to whoever it could've been than we think. Stay close and keep an eye out." Jabari commanded the girls.

The three of them walked inside the room. Following the mud trail, Jabari, Lexus, and Tamara all beamed highly nervous about the situation they were walking into. Their anxiety was so high, they couldn't hear their own heart beating faster than normal.

"Ya know, I'm surprised you haven't asked for the gun yet Jabari." Lexus said trying to hide her rising fear.

"Yeah, cause if I see him...I'm going to beat his ass till he dead."

"Oh shit!" Lexus reacted with a laugh.

"Besides I don't want a gun with one bullet." Jabari replied sarcastically with a smirk on his face.

"Makes sense." Tamara added.

"Aye, I'd rather have a gun with one bullet than have my two good arms cut off by a machete." Lexus snapped back with a laugh.

"Alright, let's just say you see the killer and you take your one shot. What the fuck you gone do if you miss? Throw the gun at his ass?" Jabari questioned with curiosity.

"Shit, hell yeah! But I ain't going to miss though." Lexus responded without hesitation.

"Y'all are crazy!" Tamara said with a chuckle.

"Slick. Being trapped in a place like this will do that to you." Jabari mentioned as a joke but was serious at the same time.

"What you gone do, Tamara?" Lexus asked.

Tamara wasn't a fighter. She never knew how. But she decided to give an answer that sounded funny like Jabari and Lexus.

"Me? I ain't doing shit! That's why I'm following you two." Tamara replied with a nervous smile.

Jabari and Lexus both busted into laughter.

"Makes sense." Jabari and Lexus both said at the same time.

"What y'all trying to say?" Tamara responded with a slightly, higher pitch in her voice.

"Hold up, the trail leads in this room over here." Jabari announced as he saw how the trail led them from one room to a bigger room with a bigger door.

Light was shining from under the crack of this door just like the one where the trail started. Tamara came up with an idea.

"Look under the crack before you open it. You might be able to see something." She suggested Jabari.

Just as Jabari was about to take a peek, Lexus stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.

"I'll do it. I'm shorter than you so it might be best." Lexus advised him.

Lexus peeked under the crack of the door and scoped around the room. All she could see was what appeared to be dark, black obstacles and fluorescent light shining between the obstacles.

"You see anything?" Tamara asked curiously.

"Nothing really. It could be safe to go in." Lexus answered truthfully.

She got up from the floor and looked at Tamara and Jabari. Unwilling to admit it, Lexus was glad she wasn't alone at the moment.

"Alright, let's go in." Jabari insisted with confidence.

Jabari placed his hand on the doorknob and started to turn it open.

"Wait!" Tamara spoke nervously.

"Uhmm, why?" Jabari asked.

Jabari and Lexus both glanced at Tamara waiting for a response. Tamara looked back with fear written all over her face.

"Shouldn't we have a strategy plan before we go in?" Tamara questioned anxiously.

"We've already talked about this. Besides, whatever plan we do come up with most likely won't work since we don't know what's the situation behind this door." Lexus responded.

"Exactly, we'll just have to adjust and improvise to whatever we run into." Jabari added honestly.

He knew Tamara was nervous about walking into another room that could be a trap or even a run-in with the killer. Yet, Jabari just wanted to go ahead and face the reality waiting behind the door. All the hesitation was causing him to become more skeptical about if they would make it out alive or not. Then, he glanced at Lexus.

"You ready for this?" Jabari asked looking for her confident answer.

"Hell yeah! Ready as I'll ever be." Lexus claimed bravely.

Then, it was decided. The three of them was finally making the move. No more hesitation! Only time for action.

"Alright, in we go." Jabari mentioned just before he begun to open the door.

Without entering, Jabari let the door slide open fully to get a view of the inside. From the other side of the door, Jabari, Lexus, and Tamara all looked inside.

"I'll check the area." Jabari demanded as he stepped inside the room of the slight darkness.

Lexus took aim with the gun and kept her eyes open for anything fishy. Jabari found the light switch as he rubbed his hand against the wall of the room. He flicked the lights on and turned around to check the area.

"Oh shit!" Lexus screamed.

Jabari quickly positioned himself ready to attack.

"What the fuck!" Jabari panicked.