Chapter Thirty-Four and Thirty Five

Chapter Thirty-Four: In Which Windy Takes Action

    If Windy didn’t happen to be in the game room, the future would probably be very different.  A lot of different things might have happened.  But what is important is that she did happen to be in the game room, as it just so happened that the game room did not have a door.  Which meant that Windy wasn’t locked in any room.  So, seeing in the TV that something was happening to Snow, she wanted to see for herself and possibly save the day.  If possible.

    So Windy simply walked out of the room and followed the screaming noise.  Occasionally it stopped, then it would continue.  There was this scary moment where the screaming was so loud, and it sounded like something was being tortured, and Windy really didn’t want to think that is was Snow though it probably was.  So she kept going.

    At some point she noticed that there was a string of yarn going the exact same path she was going.  Then she started following the string instead of the sound, and it led to a door that was unlike any door she’d ever seen.  It was smooth and shiny, with a red button and a set of numbers below the button.  The screaming was definitely coming from the inside though.

    Windy experimentally pressed the red button.  It let out a beep! noise.  The screaming stopped.  Then she heard footsteps.

    She ran.

    Windy ran as fast as she could (which was really fast), down the path that the string led.  Eventually she traced it back to a door that said Bedroom No. 5.  There were large banging noises coming from it.  She knew enough to know who that came from.

    She opened the door.  Flint (who happened to be banging on the door), jumped back in shock.  Then he relaxed a little.  “Oh, it’s you.”  Then he became suspicious again.  “Why weren’t you locked in?”

    “I was in the game room.  There aren’t any doors in the game room,” she answered.  Jack appeared behind Flint.

    “Um, I think you guys might be in trouble right now,” Jack whispered.  “You need to go somewhere safe.”

    “Which is?” Windy asked.  “By the way, I know where Snow is.”

    “Okay.  Is she safe?  In her room?” Jack asked.

    Windy rolled her eyes.  “No!  She’s the one screaming obviously!  Who else could it be?”

    “Where is she?” asked Flint urgently.

    “The room with the smooth metal door.”

    “Oh.  You mean the place where I stole an iPad from?”  said Flint.

    “What?”  That was Windy.

    Jack sighed.  “Dad’s secret laboratory.  Never went there.  Off-limits.  You need a code to get in.  I don’t know what it-”

    “592.  The password is 592,” Flint said.

    Jack was about to ask something until Windy grabbed them both by the arm.  “That’s all great.  Maybe we should get in the room now?  Just follow the yarn on the ground.”

    “Oh!  I put that yarn there!” Flint exclaimed.  “You know, when I was wandering and I just saw that door-”
    Windy interrupted him. “Yeah, that’s great, but we really need to get going-”  Then the screaming started up again.  Windy started running, considerably slower considering that she was dragging two boys with her.

    Jack broke off from her grip and started running on his own.  Windy let go of Flint and speeded ahead of them.  The screaming stopped abruptly.  Maybe Snow was already dead?

    Flint wasn’t a very adept runner, and he soon fell behind of Jack and Windy.  Eventually, he lost track of them altogether.

    “The string,” he muttered.  “The string should be on the ground…”  But there was no string.  Maybe he passed the door?  Maybe Windy had taken a wrong turn?

    There wasn’t any screaming, or sounds of footsteps, or any signal of where Flint should go or even where he was supposed to be.  Should he wander, hoping he’ll stumble into the right place eventually?  Or should he stay in one place?  Would Jack and Windy come back to find him?  Or maybe they’ll try to save Snow first.  He could shout and call for help, but he really didn’t want to attract any unwanted attention.  Or maybe-

    It was in the middle of his thinking in which the headache started.  His head started throbbing very suddenly and very suddenly.  It caught Flint by surprise and he collapsed on the ground, groaning.  What was happening?  He wasn’t sure.  All he could tell was the something was happening to his brain, and it was not good.  He tried to call for help, but he couldn’t tell whether he made any sound due to the pain in his head blocking out the senses.

    Then all was dark.

Chapter Thirty-Five: In Which Step Two Starts

    “Try to talk.  Can you?” asked the man.  “Just a word or two is fine.”

    What?  Who are you?  What are you doing? Snow asked, or at least tried to.  No sound came out.  She suddenly became scared.  What would the man do if she didn’t follow his directions?  Shove the awful liquid in her mouth?  Force her to scream more?

    “You can’t, can you?”  The man had a wicked gleam in his eye.  Snow flinched.  “Good.  The first step went perfectly, I see.”  The first step?  That was only the first?  “Don’t worry, there’s only two more steps, and you have a lovely break right now before I prepare for the next one.”

    The man disappeared from view.  Snow squirmed in her chair, trying to loosen the straps with no luck.  The lights glared down at her, and she couldn’t see anything but the lights and the ceiling.  Snow focused on listening instead.

    Footsteps.  Loud ones.  A small click noise.  A humming sound.  The man was muttering something Snow couldn’t hear.  More footsteps.  A small beep.  Another humming noise.  Distant footsteps.  More humming.

    Then silence.

    Snow was pretty sure he had left the room.  She tried to say things.  Her tongue was still there, she felt completely normal, but… there just wasn’t any sound.  Maybe the screaming made her lose her voice?  She shuddered.  Hopefully this wasn’t permanent.

    Then again, did it matter whether it was permanent?  She would probably never get out of this place anyways.  Maybe the man even planned to kill her.

    She became aware of her heartbeat getting faster and faster.

    Minutes passed, then Snow grew more worried.  Then finally, she heard a beep and the humming noise again, followed by footsteps.

    The footsteps grew louder.  Then, when it stopped, there was a soft thump as something hit the ground.  Then a whirring noise started, somewhere to Snow’s left.

    “Well, Snow, it appears you have company!” the man exclaimed.

    What company?

    “Erk… oomph,” the man said, followed by a thump.  “He’s heavy.”

    Snow strained to get a look, but her straps kept her in place.

    “Now, let’s get a look at you.”  The man came into view again, this time holding some sort of tube with a sharp point at the end.  It had black liquid in it.  If black liquid could look menacing, this one certainly did.  “Time for Step Two.”  He carefully inserted the sharp point in Snow’s arm.

    She flinched, thinking that it would hurt, but it surprisingly didn’t.  Then she started feeling really weird, like she wanted to throw up… and she did.

    “Well, that worked very fine,” said the man.