[Diana]
I couldn't sleep a wink from thinking about all the information Samina shared with me. I tossed and turned on my bed all night and barely had any rest, not to mention, my parents and I did return home later than usual. I even got to hear my brother come home, weirdly enough he got into a fight with dad last night. I didn't hear what their argument was about but it seemed serious since mom had to step in to stop them.
"Alright, enough of that," I said to myself, "You still have to get to class, so stop dawdling and let's get ready."
I got up from my bed, grabbed some clothes from my closet, and headed for the shower to freshen up.
~o0o~
After finishing up, I prepared my things and left my room. As I exited, I heard muffled noises coming from downstairs.
"What was that?" I thought to myself.
I cautiously walked into the corridor to better hear what was going on. Just then, the sound of shattering glass echoed through the house. Shouts and screams filled the air, I heard my dad shouting and my mom's cries, then suddenly, it stopped.
"Nolboft," I cursed under my breath.
I silently made my way back to my room, locked the door, and tried calling Samina; however, the line just kept ringing so I canceled the call and looked around for any way of escape. That's when I remembered the window and dashed towards it.
I quickly opened it and peered out to see kilometers of floors below. Jumping out would only be a last resort...
I pulled myself away from the window and kept searching, time was against me and I needed some way out fast. I headed to the bathroom, looked around and saw the vent. So, I grabbed a stool and climbed up to open the vent and clawed my way up into the ventilation shaft.
"Well, hopefully the open window will throw them off," I thought to myself.
The vents were surprisingly spacious enough for me to switch positions in, so I quickly closed the vent. As soon as I did, the door to my room burst open and footsteps came rushing in. I stood still, not wanting to expose my location.
"She must've jumped," A voice said.
"Alert all forces, and check the vents as well," Another voice replied.
As soon as he said that, I started to inch my way towards a turn in front of me. By the Creator's name, I do not want to get caught so I started to quicken my movements. Slowly, but surely, I made my way to the corner and then I turned, a new pathway emerged. At the end of it were two diverging paths, so I had to choose quickly, however, I couldn't decide and my anxiety was building up.
"Deep breaths, deep breaths, Diana," I whispered to myself.
And so, I pushed on, slowly creeping around the vents...
~o0o~
After crawling, for almost an eternity, in the vents, I made it to the end of the ventilation system. I opened the vent before me and hopped down (thankfully the drop wasn't too high). I looked around and found myself in a cavernous room filled with pipes and wires sprawled across the walls and ceiling. I stood on a small platform overlooking the room, and from my vantage point I could see rows upon rows of generators and at the center was a gigantic circular object. The object emitted a soft blue light and jutting out of it were the pipes and wires that criss-crossed across the room.
I looked around and found a sign to the left stating that I was now in the building's reactor room, explaining the presence of generators and the core at the center.
I climbed down a set of stairs in front of me and kept my eyes pierced for any way of escaping and calling for help. I tried calling Sam again while walking around, but to no avail.
Mother warned me about this... if anything like a break-in would happen and all of them were incapacitated I would have to leave the apartment and look for help. I just didn't expect it to happen right now...
I attempted to call the police and 112 (Cragholven's emergency hotline) but there was no signal, so all I could do was look for a way out of here. Once I got down to floor level, I looked around and found a door with a small window to my right. I headed towards it and peered out of the circular glass. This seemed to lead to a hallway which extended in three directions, which was even more stressful.
"Maybe I should keep looking around," I thought to myself.
That's when I heard it, voices.
"There!"
"Get the girl!"
I turned to find three armed men, clad in black armor, dashing towards me. I opened the door and made a run for it, taking the left hallway.
I kept running, making turns and throwing down anything big to stop those soldiers' advance. My legs were now starting to burn with every step I took, and with each passing moment I could hear the soldiers' voices come closer and closer.
"Creator above, please, help me!" I thought to myself.
As I rounded a corner, the moment I've been dreading finally occurred. In front of me was not a guard, but a blank, gray wall; a dead end.