ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 21

                                    

                                          
Silently, they walked side by side. "How far until we reach the exit?" Nikola asked without looking at him. "Just a ladder. Through there and up," Leon replied, trying to catch her gaze but finding nothing. Nikola nodded and picked up the pace. "What do you plan to do once we... get out of here?" he started again, now looking in her direction. "Oh..." she trailed off, staring thoughtfully at the ground. Disappointed, Leon turned back ahead and navigated through a pile of paper and toppled drawers. "Will you continue your research?" For a while it was quiet.
"Hm?" Nikola asked, finally looking up at him. 
Leon looked away again. "Doesn't matter."
Shortly after, they reached the ladder, and Nikola gestured for him to go ahead with a hand gesture. "After you." 
He simply nodded and grabbed the first rung of the ladder. As he climbed up through the narrow tube, it grew darker, and when he finally reached the top, he had to lift some sort of lid. "And? What's up there?" came the voice from below. "Looks like a garage; the exit's that way," he called down, pushing the lid completely aside. "Coming up," Nikola called from below, her fingers lightly tapping the iron rungs as she ascended. Meanwhile, Leon was already in the garage. As Nikola crawled out of the hole in the floor, Leon turned to her. "This needs a keycard. Then we can get out." Behind him, a machine blinked. "Oh, things can never be simple," she sighed, finally pushing herself out of the hole. "Doesn't seem like it's meant to be," said Leon. 
"Oh, who knows if this damn key card is here anyways," Nikola began, spinning around in frustration. "This area is huge... what are the chances?"
"Oh, don't always think so negatively, it's gotta be around here somewhere," Leon said, smiling gently at her. Nikola glanced back at him over her shoulder and sighed. "One can only hope."
⋆｡°✩
Nikola opened the door to the left of the hole in the floor they had just emerged from and entered. They had split up to search for the key card. Everything here was relatively dark and desolate. And it stank. When the door closed behind Nikola, she felt nauseous. Those noises. There must be at least a thousand zombies here, judging by the sounds. She slowly stepped forward and opened another door. Was this some kind of cell? 
Then a scene of horror unfolded before her. A corridor full of cells, each containing snarling, growling zombies. "Oh shit," Nikola cursed softly as she tiptoed past the flailing hands. "Be nice and quiet!"
At the other end, a different smell hit her nose, and Nikola made a retching sound. A few more steps revealed the source of the stench. It was one large prison here, the bars thick and rusty. Behind them lay the source of this foul smell. A man (or what remained of him) lay on the ground. His eyes bulged terrifyingly from their sockets, his face crushed, his skull undoubtedly shattered into a thousand pieces. Nikola gripped the bars and staggered. 
A guttural sound escaped her throat. 
She dared to take another closer look. Around the neck of this gruesomely mangled person hung the object of desire. The key card. Nikola composed herself and rattled the prison door. Nothing. She searched for the keyhole but found none. Then something caught her eye to her right. A locking mechanism for the cell. 
It very much looked like electronic parts were needed to open the door. She let go of the cell and inspected the electronic lock mechanism. "Nothing can ever be easy," she cursed as she realized that two parts were missing. "Please, please let them be down here."
"Leon!" she called as she pushed the exit door to the Garage open. "Leon, come here, I found it!"
Distant footsteps could be heard from the other door Leon had disappeared into. Then the door slammed open. "What?" he asked, hope flickering in his eyes. "You found it?"
"Well, not quite as you probably hoped," she said, gesturing towards the door. "It's in there, but unfortunately behind bars. And of course, it would have been way too easy if it were just unlocked, but we need two electrical parts to unlock the door of this cell and get to the key card," she sighed, running her finger over one of the cars in the garage. "A electonic part like this one?" Leon asked, holding something up. A box with a picture of an electric part like the ones she saw at the panel. Nikola couldn't believe her eyes. "Yes!" she exclaimed and snatched the orange box from Leon's hand. She opened it, and indeed, an electronic part, just like the one in the cell. "You're a genius! Please tell me you have a second one," she said, pleadingly.
"I hate to disappoint you...", he slowly said and she sighted. 
"But there's a way up; I reckon it'll be in the police station," he continued thoughtfully, looking at her expectantly. Nikola felt dizzy at the thought of that damn police station.
Back there ??? Oh God.
"Yeah, it could very well be up there.", she then said.
"Then let's go, shall we?" Leon asked, already turning his back to her.
"Yayyy," she replied in a sarcastic tone and followed him.
As they ascended the stairs to the police station, something occurred to Nikola. "Oh yeah... the key card is hanging around some guy's neck, and he's pretty badly messed up..."
"Badly messed up as in?"
"Badly messed up as in crushed face,"
Nikola replied.
"Oh"
"Yeah, oh."
They walked for a while.
"You'll see... I don't want to know what did that poor guy in.", she once again started.
"Let's hope we don't run into it, whatever it is."