“Whatever it was, I'm glad they got out," I said as I turned my flashlight to illuminate the way on.
There was a short corridor filled with security monitors and scanners ahead of us and we needed to walk through the various check points and guard stations to reach the other end.
We stepped through the derelict machinery first, passing some kind of control station which had a wall with a collection of ID badges hung along it. The badges had metallic strips along the bottom of them which must have meant they doubled as key cards.
Coal leaned forwards, selected a badge with top level security and pocketed it.
Alicia moved on and walked along an unmoving conveyor belt which passed through an X-ray machine and then a metal detector. As she moved through the detector, a loud bleeping sound filled the air momentarily.
A flurry of movement took place as the four of us snatched guns from holsters and flicked the safety catches off. Alicia stepped out of the metal detector and the bleeping stopped.
"Okay, I feel stupid," Laurie said as she stowed her guns again.
I laughed nervously as I followed suit. The bleeping repeated as the rest of us moved through but there were no other signs of there being any power switched on within the compound.
Beyond the security corridor we headed up a short flight of stairs and entered a tunnel lined with doors on either side.
The doors each hid little offices which were laid out in a uniform pattern, each with desks, filing cabinets and old computers but nothing on the scale we were searching for.
The airlock on the outer door had kept the place free from dust and insects and the rooms felt strangely like they’d been recently occupied. There were coffee mugs on desks beside family photos and papers spread out on some as if someone had just been looking through them. Filing cabinets had open drawers adding to the feeling that the occupiers had just stepped into the next room and would be back at any moment.
But the deep silence proved that theory wrong. Our footsteps echoed in the empty space and the air hung still and heavy around us.
We checked behind every door but we knew there wasn't going to be anything different hidden within any of them. Eventually the corridor came to a junction but there were no signs to indicate which direction we should take.
“Do we split up?" Laurie asked.
I glanced over my shoulder in the direction we’d come from, feeling a chill on the back of my neck.
“I don't think so. It's best to stick together. Anyone have a preference?" Alicia asked.
“Left?" I suggested and we turned that way.
The corridor was fairly short and had just one set of double doors at the end. We pushed our way through them and were greeted by row upon row of bunks, not unlike those Taylor and I had been sleeping in during the Lawless Trials. Each had a small table and a bed with pullout drawers beneath it for personal belongings.
This was the first room we’d come to that showed any signs of disturbance. Most of the sleeping areas were turned out, the drawers pulled open and belongings slung around as if people had been looking for something. There was a lack of clothing amongst the things strewn about and there were several photo frames scattered in pieces. It was as if people had pulled them apart or broken them to remove the photos inside.
“Looks like they knew they weren't coming back," Coal said, kicking a bit of broken glass aside.
“This must have happened when it all changed. Hunter told me there were riots and people were crazy with fear. They were killing each other in the street just for a piece of bread," Alicia added, twitching a bed sheet over and revealing a dark, rusty-brown stain that looked horribly like blood.
We spread out across the huge room and walked along the aisles between the bunks but there wasn't much to see.
On the final bunk was a folded piece of paper with a name scrawled across the front of it. 'Elena.' I reached for the letter and unfolded it. The Message inside was short and hastily written.
We waited here as long as we could but the food is running out. I'm heading to that lake house we visited last summer. If you find this, you'll find me there.
I love you - Joel
“Why is there nothing useful anywhere?" Laurie huffed, kicking aside more junk.
“Yeah, I was hoping for a nice little map or something." Alicia smirked.
I placed the letter back where I'd found it with a shudder and hurried back towards the doors.
"It must have been for security, they wouldn't have wanted people to be able to navigate this place easily. We think they held all sorts of national secrets here," Coal said as we made our way back out of the dorm and up the corridor to take the righthand turn.
I was glad to leave the dorm behind and I didn’t look back as we hurried away from it.