223 Exploring (2/2)

”What?” Erith looked over at him with a look of disgust and doubt on her face. ”Are you going to eat seventy year old food?”

”Maybe the cans will still be good,” Zaksus answered for Noah. ”At least that's better than nothing.”

”We'll have to look around,” Mura said. ”Maybe we'll even be able to find some way to heat up our bodies.”

”If the lights are able to be working,” Irina deduced, ”then there should also be a way to create heat somewhere, somehow.”

”Or blankets would work as well,” Muria suggested.

”We'll have to look around,” Loyd nodded.

”But where?” Noah asked as he looked to both sides of the large hallway.

”We'll have to try our luck,” Alvelyn said as she closed her eyes and sighed. After pausing for a brief moment to regather her train of thought and recover from the fatigue and weakness felt due to hunger, she opened her eyes. ”We shouldn't split up. We don't know the layout of the place and it is likely that we'll become lost.”

”Yeah,” I nodded, agreeing to her. She must've noticed as well the exact details of our situation and is also actively doing what I am trying to accomplish. ”Staying together is safer.”

”Then which way will we go?” Zaksus asked.

”Left,” Alvelyn said with a stern voice.

”May I ask your reasoning?” Noah took a step over and asked with a bitter smile on his face.

”Just because,” Alvelyn shook her head and said.

”There's really no point in arguing about which direction,” Loyd immediately stepped in to support Alvelyn's decision. ”We know nothing about the layout, so choosing both sides are the same for us.”

”Loyd's right,” Mura nodded in agreement. ”Then we'll go left and look for either a cafeteria or a storeroom.”

”Zaksus,” I said to him before we started walking. ”You take the rear.”

”Again?” he whined. ”Fine...”

After the decision was made to go left, we went left. I believe this wasn't a decision made with any deeper consideration involved, as there is no real possible way for Alvelyn and I to even anticipate anything that might be waiting for us. It's just somewhere that she just so happened to decide that we go. It's better than sitting around and wasting time deciding which way to go.

The walk down the hallway left was rather...frightening. The hallway was barely illuminated as most of the light bulbs did not work, making it so that the only ones that did work were scattered. However, what is weird is the distance between the ones that worked and the ones that didn't. They were all evenly spaced out, almost as if someone had intended it to be so. There is no way that the light bulbs actually failed in this pattern. I refuse to believe it did.

”How far do we have to walk for?” Noah complained. ”I'm so tired...”

”We're all tired too,” Luna said, trying to comfort him.

”We just have to keep going,” Loyd muttered. ”Until we find somewhere we can warm ourselves up.”

”Zaksus,” Noah called out. ”How're you doing back there?”

”It's scary,” Zaksus responded. ”I keep looking over my shoulders and all I see is darkness around me. The only light that I see is just so far behind us...”

”Keep your voices down,” Alvelyn shushed them.

”Why?” Noah asked.

”I suppose it's to conserve energy?” Irina asked.

”That and something else,” Alvelyn nodded and said. Her countenance appeared rather sluggish, somewhat more so than the others. She stopped talking momentarily to gather her breath and come up with an excuse other than revealing to them the truth before continuing again. ”The building might collapse if we speak to loud.”

”The vibrations,” Irina seemed to immediately understand what Alvelyn was talking about. ”I understand,” Irina then whispered in a hushed voice.

I glanced away from them and kept my eyes focused forward on the back of Loyd's head as he illuminated the path ahead of us with the flashlight. With the illumination the light provided, him, Mura, and Muria looked at the door label in search of someplace that resembled a cafeteria or a possible storage room. I am sure we will eventually find what we are looking for and be able to rest for the night. However, what I am worried about was the occasional footsteps that I heard that was not in sync with those of ours.