74 On The Run (2/2)

”It is a long story, and it doesn't matter right now. I will tell you about it once we are safe.” Idil said. ”Now, we must find a way out of here.”

I nodded. We started looking around us to find a path away from the cell wing and the surgery room.

”You haven't received the book, did you?” Idil asked me. I understood which book she was referring to. ”If only we had that with us right now, it would be much easier.”

”He sent that book himself, didn't he?” I asked her. ”I mean, after he defected...”

”It was my suggestion to send that book to you.” Idil said. ”We had a deal. I would help him destroy this facility and delete all of his service records, and he would help me escape this underground maze. With his knowledge as an ex-scientist, we thought we could acheive that. The only thing we didn't anticipate was the interruption of your new friend.”

”All those years... You didn't tell the old man about the existance of The Community ever before?” I asked her. ”What were you thinking?”

”Only if I knew it would make so much difference, I would've told him before...” she answered. ”Besides, The Community was avoiding appearing in this place anyway.”

”Perhaps The Community was afraid of being noticed by the scientists down here.” I said. ”That could explain why they were avoiding this place. It sort of makes sense now...”

”Yeah. If they had any power over this facility, they would've destroyed this place instead of messing with people like us above surface.” Idil said.

”But why are they so powerless against the scientists? What do they know, or have, that we don't?” I asked. ”They were hunting us one by one when we were up in the school building!”

”I don't know, I never knew.” said Idil.

I began hearing footsteps. Someone got out of the surgery room, with a flashlight in his hand. He was coming this way, but he had not yet noticed us.

”Shh... We have to hide.” I whispered.

We walked past a few doors and turned left. In this new corridor, there was an open, unlabeled door on right.

”In there.” I said. Idil and I got inside the room and closed the door. As we closed the door, it went pitch black again. There were no longer any light coming from the flashlights. We waited until we could no longer hear the footsteps, but we didn't get out.

”It smells like a toilet in here.” she whispered.

”I can't control how the room smells.” I whispered back. She sighed. We stood there in silence for a couple of minutes.

”So, I think we are safe for now. You can tell me more about that man.” I said.

Just when Idil was about to begin, we heard bursts of gunshots far away in the facility.

”What is with the aggressiveness of those guys?” I said. ”Are they shooting everything that moves just because the electricity went out?”

”I don't believe that they would be so stupid. Perhaps we are not the only ones who antagonized them.” Idil said.

I heard a weird sound behind me.

”What did you eat?” I asked her.

”It wasn't me.” she said. It took a couple of seconds for me to panic.