Arya followed closely behind Maya, their run had now slowed to a walk. Normally Arya wouldn't have taken lightly someone shushing her.
But this was under different circumstances, she was already shaken up enough from the number of incidents she had experienced tonight.
Arya was very tempted to ask Maya if she knew where she was going, but she felt like Maya had a good reason for shushing her.
They had strayed from the general school area and had gone close to the far end of the premises. At this part of the school, there were fewer buildings which meant less light.
The few buildings at this end of the school were hidden by a cluster of trees, the building which they stood in front of had no light on. The only light illuminating the area was from one of the buildings they had passed while getting here.
Maya gingerly strode toward the building. The interior of the building was almost completely dark except a few warning lights flashing on the walls of the corridor.
Maya slowly made her way around the building, Arya followed behind like a slave that had to answer to her master's every request.
At the side of the building there was a window with a broken glass, Maya noticed only a few shards of glass on the exterior of the building.
She stood on her tiptoes and looked into the building and she could see the majority of the broken glass on the inside of the building which meant that it had been broken from the outside.
Some of the glass on the floor had blood stains on them, Maya didn't need a detective to tell her what the fresh blood meant.
Arya watched Maya with mixed feelings of fear and foreboding as she reached for the lock on the other side of the window.
The click sound from the window when the latch was released snapped Arya back to reality.
"Are we about to go in there?" Arya asked in shaky voice. The inside of the building looked like something straight out of a horror movie.
Maya was already climbing through the window, Arya was beginning to notice that the girl had a lot more guts than she gave her credit for.
After weighing her options, Arya slowly climbed through the window after Maya. Normally she would have preferred to mind her business, but she had become slightly drawn to Derek.
She had developed a slight likeness for the three she had gone on the expedition together with, even though she refused to admit it to herself.
She had treated them like they were baggage, but they still tried their best to keep up and help out. Especially Derek who had saved her.
She hated that the memories made her soft, but she just couldn't turn a blind eye when it concerned Derek. Even though she was still slightly on edge because he was hiding something.
But it was clear that he was not himself and he needed help and she was going to do what she could.
From the window, Maya could see the blood stains travel deep into the building. She followed the blood stains down the dimly illuminated corridor.
The interior of the building looked just like a class block. On either sides of the corridor, there were rooms just as big as a classroom. The windows were dark and the doors were thick metal doors with a small glass lite at head level.
The lights in the rooms were off making it impossible to make out any silhouette in the rooms.
"What is this place?" Arya questioned while looking from each window to the next, looking for any sign of life or movement.
"It's a laboratory" Maya replied curtly, it seemed she was in no mood to talk. There was a change in her movement and she was beginning to act apprehensive. This was putting Arya on an edge too.
'Why is there lab so far from the main school' Arya muttered to herself.
"It was not intended for students, it was for the use of scientists that were working on dangerous projects" Maya replied
'Define dangerous' Arya replied sarcastically in her mind. She didn't like the vague mention of danger. She had had her fair share of dangers and it wasn't a therapeutic experience.
The trail of blood on the floor vanished after a short while, Maya had a feeling that she knew the reason why.
Arya didn't miss the little details that pointed out the direction that Derek had run off to. Like the fresh hazy marks in the ground made by Derek's quick footsteps while they were chasing through the school and now the blood on the floor.
But she couldn't understand how Maya was still able to follow through even when such markers were not there.
It was like almost everyone she was getting to know recently had an air of mystery around them and she could not just unravel these mysteries.
Compared to how the building looked from outside, it was quite larger on the inside. Though they had been moving slow, they had walked for five straight minutes.
Maya, leading the way rounded a corner and came to a stop at the front of a door. The door was ajar and through the door was pitch black darkness.
"Arrrgghhh" the sound of groaning stretched far into the darkness. Beneath the groans of pain, they could clearly make out Derek's voice.
Maya fearlessly stepped into the darkness, Arya followed closely behind her. Arya had completely no idea what was going on, she just followed silently in Maya footsteps hoping whatever was happening was not going to lead to their demise.
The room was in total darkness and Arya was having issues adjusting to the total darkness, she reached for the wall, groping around for the light switch.
Hearing the sounds of hands against the wall, Maya reached for Arya a little bit late as she flicked on the switch.
"No" she shouted in a silent whisper.
What followed next was a series of pandemonium.