"Listen Brie-things are getting too dangerous now. I want you to run, as fast as you can-back to your car. STAY THERE! Wait for us, but if those creatures or their master shows up, LEAVE. Drive away as fast as you can. Keep yourself safe, ok?" I urged Brie.
"But you don't know what the shoes look like, or where to look for them." Brie said, trying to break free from Kaden's grasp.
"You've told us what the box looks like, and Kaden has his sixth sense thing, so we'll be fine." I replied. "Kaden and I are all wound up in this, but you don't have to be, and you don't need to get hurt. Besides, if we find those shoes, we're going to need a quick getaway. That's you." Brie looked determined and relieved suddenly. I eyed Kaden's hand on the back of her neck.
"Right, that's true, I'll have the car running and waiting. You guys get there and back quickly. I couldn't stand it if either of you got hurt." She hugged me tightly and then turned and quickly hugged Kaden. Grabbing the keyring from me, she removed the car keys and handed the rest back to me. "Be safe." She whispered and trotted off towards the parking area.
"Did you really have to push her like that?" I asked grumpily.
"She was going to come to that conclusion eventually, I just helped her reach it faster." Kaden explained with a shrug. I rolled my eyes and groaned as I put my tired muscles back into action, running towards the storage building.
The doors were locked, so I had the joy of trying a variety of keys in the lock. I tried to stick to trying the silver once, since the lock itself was silver. The longer it took, the more my anxiety grew, until Kaden took the keys from my shaking hands murmuring "Calm down" at me softly as he did. I just glared at him. He quickly found the right key, which made me glare harder.
"More quickly." Kaden urged, shoving me through the door. I looked over my shoulder to see a few monster straggling in our direction. Kaden slammed the door and we raced down the dimply lit stairs to the lower level. The lights were out, and I didn't know where to even begin to look for a light switch. Reading my thoughts, Kaden tugged me forward.
"No time." He said, pulling me down the hall. We finally reached an area with dim lighting, and I sighed in relief, only to realize the lighting was spaced too far apart to do any good. I had pretty good night vision, but this was just ridiculous.
The walls were lined with six foot cubed metal cages of a sort, barred metal doors with locks facing the hall on each side. Most were empty. I started looking for the box Brie described, and heard Kaden muttering under his breath. Finally I spotted the white box with the museum emblem on it.
"Kaden-here!" I shouted excitedly. This particular space had been abandoned in the middle of having boxes stacked along the metal wall. Part of the room was neatly stacked with labeled boxes, the rest of the room was covered in the torn remnants of the pallet and moving supplies. Kaden fumbled with the keys, and then the screech of metal echoed from above.
"Not to rush you-but I think we have friends.." I said panicky. The lock clicked and Kaden swung the door open. There was a sudden scrambling of misshapen feet down the hall. With an internal squeal, I pulled Kaden into the cage and slammed the door, scrambling with the key to lock it back. The first pair of eyes materialized out of the shadows as the lock clicked again into place.
"The box!" I yelled, turning to the wall of boxes. Kaden and I yanked packages from their neat stack to get to the museum box. The metal of the cage started to squeal as the creatures pulled on it, trying to get in. Kaden grabbed the box off the stack and I opened it to be sure we had what we needed. But what was in the box, wasn't the shoes.
"Wrong box!" I yelped.
"What? How? She said... and the residue.." Kaden was visibly upset. An impromptu screech of metal made us both turn to look at the door. The monsters had managed to pull up a corner of it, and were clawing with their long arms through the new hole.
"Just start checking boxes as fast as you can!" I yelled at Kaden.
"Yup." He replied shortly, dumping boxes open willy-nilly. Glass and other objects shattered and crashed onto the floor. I looked around the mess on the floor with my fingers crossed and-yes! Here was the most beautiful thing I'd seen in a while. A nice, sharp box cutter. As the door squealed yet again, I picked up the box cutter and extended the blade. I started slicing at the claws extended towards me, screaming with all my pent up fear and panic. A few monsters hissed as black goo started to fly everywhere, but they didn't stop.
"Any time now Kaden..." I screamed as they pulled the top corner of the door down. The latch was barely holding on. I swung at more grasping arms, but was caught by one creature, who pulled me against the bars. It pushed its head through the hole they had made, snapping at me like an angry dog. I felt a burst of horror as other claws started to sink into my skin. I kicked and sung the blade as fast as I could. The creatures tugged me closer, nearly pulling part of me through the opening. The latch let out another shriek and I felt the adrenaline take over my body. I screeched at the creature who was still gnashing its teeth at me, and stuck the box cutter in its face. It whistled a sharp scream, but didn't let go. So I dug my fingers into its eye sockets. That did it. It screamed in pain as it dropped me. I grabbed the box cutter and backed up, only to hear heavy thudding coming down the stairs, that echoed down the hall.
"Kaden..." I warned. The creatures paused momentarily to look down the hall. A pair of eyes appeared almost eight feet from the ground.
"We've gotta find those shoes NOW!" I yelled as the low, menacing chuckle of the nightmare king rolled down the hall.