Chapter 1
3 years ago.
I ran down the abandoned street as fast as my legs could take me. The desperation of getting to the building being the only thing keeping me going. The only thing keeping me from completely losing it. I need to make it. I need to save him.
I had told him not to go. Begged him even. As soon as I heard her asking for help over the radio, I knew something was off. I told him something was wrong, but he didn’t listen. He never did. Kyle has always been a people pleaser, going above and beyond himself to help others. His heart of gold was the reason why I fell completely in love with him. We’re supposed to get married a week from now and I’ll be damned if I don’t get to walk down the aisle.
I made a sharp turn left and my pace quickens when the building with the red door came into view.
“I think I heard her mention a building with a bright red door,” Carson had said. “I passed one northeast of our current location.”
That was enough motivation for me to bolt out of our makeshift headquarters, hearing the shouts of protests from the others as I left. I knew I would suffer the consequences for abandoning my teammates and protocol but I didn’t care. In that moment, Kyle was more important.
Before I knew it I stood in front of the red door. It stood out against the worn down structure of the building. Like the rest of the town, the building had not been inhabited for almost a decade. The windows were all shattered and it appeared that part of the roof was missing. If the outside was in such bad shape, I can only imagine how bad the inside looked.
I lightly ran my hand along the red door, the smell of fresh paint still lingering. It made no sense. How had Kyle not noticed that this was a trap. How had he been so blind. So careless and stupid.
My hands balled into a fist and I brought my foot down on the door, causing it to swing off its hinges and fall to the floor with a loud bang. They definitely must have heard that.
I stepped inside and quickly surveyed the area. The building seemed to have once been a hotel, the grand lobby desk standing before me being a key indicator. The place looked like it was once beautiful but years of war and bombs had caused nature to take over. Mold was evident everywhere that I looked, to the point where the smartest decision would be to continue on with a respirator. Debris and glass scattered the floor and furniture and vines covered the walls and ceiling. The massive chandelier that was once hanging in the middle of the lobby was now on the floor and shattered into millions of little pieces, the sunlight coming in from the broken windows reflecting off the glass and causing a rainbow on the wall.
The building was eerily quiet, making me uneasy. I crouched down and flattened my hand on the floor, listening. I felt the vibration of the insects and rodents scurrying along the hotel floor and closed my eyes, letting out a breath.
I broke out into a run again, heading for the back of the hotel where the kitchen and dining room were located. I felt at least 5 pairs of feet coming from the dining room. The vibrations felt as if they were walking around in circles, but my powers are not as refined as they should be so I am not too sure how many of them there are or what they were doing. It’s in moments like these where I wished I had paid more attention at the institute.
When I heard the low murmur of voices I knew that I was heading in the right direction. With each step that I took they would get louder and louder, until I was right around the corner.
Once I did take that corner, a blood curdling scream followed.
