Joe didn’t think the girl was far enough from his own age to be calling him a kid. He stared into her curved brown eyes.
Joe: “My name is Joe and that’s all I really know. I was helping some lady out and we came down here. I guess she was trying to free you.”
The blonde girl stood up and blew her nose into her shirt. She said something to herself, but Joe caught it as he rose up with her.
Blonde: “A woman, huh?”
Joe: “Yeah, and she got captured after she freed you.”
Blonde: “And you’re her partner?”
He answered without hesitation.
Joe: “Yeah, but she brought me in last minute and still never had the chance to bring me completely up to speed.”
Blonde: “You agreed to help her out without even knowing what her mission was?”
Joe nodded his head and smiled. It was stupid but true. He had gotten himself in a situation that might cost him his life and he had done so without the promise of a reward or even a clear purpose.
Blonde: “Do you want to rescue her?”
Joe: “No, that would be a bad idea. I think she planned to get caught.”
Blonde: “Hold on. What time is it?”
Joe stopped and pulled his phone out. His signal was completely dead but it still displayed the right time.
Joe: “It’s 3:43. In the afternoon.”
Blonde: “We need to go to the seventh floor.”
Joe: “You want to do what? That’s the floor below us, right?”
Blondie nodded her head.
Chapter 5
One More Thing
Joe: “We need to leave before they kill us. To leave, we go up.”
He pointed up at the ceiling.
Blondie: “We need to do one more thing before we leave. It’s important.”
Joe didn’t want to tempt fate any more than he already had.
Joe: “I’m sorry, miss—”
Blonde: “Dahlila! D-A-H-L-I-L-A!”
Joe: “I’m sorry, Dahlila, but I can’t think of anything more important than getting out of here alive. I have the keycard that we’ll need to get out of here. Now let’s go.”
Dahlila simply smiled. Her smile made Joe uncomfortable. He felt that she knew something that he didn’t, which he knew was extremely true. She walked over to him and placed her head on his chest. She looked up into his eyes and uttered a phrase that made Joe’s heart race.
Dahlila: “Kiss me.”
Joe: “Wha—what?”
She backed up and let out a laugh. Joe stood where he was confused.
Dahlila: “Never mind all that. I just wanted this.”
She produced the elevator keycard that Joe thought he was safely guarding in his pocket and giggled uncontrollably. Joe looked at her, hurt.
Dahlila: “Sorry for the deceit, but I may need your help on floor seven. In exchange, I’ll lead you out of here using a safer exit than the elevator. The elevator’s a kill-box at this point.”
Joe: “So how are we going to get to the seventh floor without the elevator?”
Again Dahlila smiled.
Dahlila: “Well, of course they would make stairs. We just have to find them and from there I can get us out.”
Joe: “I don’t know if this elevator key will work on any other doors.”
Dahlila: “It won’t, but one of these will.”
She produced three ID badges from her back pockets that were all white with blue rims and held them up for Joe to see.
Dahlila: “Now let’s go and we need to step on it.”
Joe followed closely behind Dahlila, who moved just as fast and with nearly as much grace as Beauty. She glided down the hallway going towards the elevator and past all the empty doors. Joe saw that a few of the doors they passed had electronic key locks, and was curious as to what was behind those doors. Ahead of him Dahlila had stopped abruptly at a particular door that wasn’t any more special than the rest. She swiped her keycard with complete confidence and opened the door. She entered and Joe entered after her into a narrow hallway. They walked all the way down the hallway, past another door that was also locked with a keycard, and found steps leading downwards.
Joe: “How’d you know this was the right place to go?”
Dahlila: “I’d say that I knew thanks to thirty percent observation and seventy percent guessing.”
Dahlila laughed, apparently amused by the truth and the fact that it had worked.
Dahlila: “I always saw guys coming in here and not coming out for long amounts of time.”
They slowly crept down to another level that they both hoped was the seventh floor. Dahlila looked around and kept low. She pulled Joe down to his knees so fast that the boy barely had time to let out a small cry which was quickly stifled by Dahlila’s hand. Joe looked at her accusingly, but she merely shushed him and continued moving forward. Down the hall was a door, but to the left was a window that spanned about a third of the hallway. Voices could be heard from behind the window, and Joe was getting that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was the same feeling he got whenever he knew he was about to get in trouble for something stupid. They slowly crouch-walked under the window and down the hallway.
Dahlila: “Almost there…”
Once they reached the door, Dahlila swiped her card and they hurried through. The voices behind them abruptly stopped. Once out the door Joe and Dahlila both stood up and looked around the hallway. Dahlila didn’t seem as concerned as Joe at the fact that they may have been spotted and moved forward with ceaseless determination. Her eyes seemed to be taking in every detail. Joe wasn’t sure where they were and couldn’t understand the purpose of this part of the stadium. There was nothing but long hallways and numbered rooms in each of the hallways. All of the doors they had checked so far were locked.
Dahlila: “Damn. I have no clue what door I’m looking for.”
She let out a sigh.
Dahlila: “This sucks.”
She stopped for a moment and looked down the hall they were standing in.
Joe: “What are you looking for?”
Dahlila: “A person. Let’s split up and search the hallway by ourselves. We’ll cover more ground that way.”
Joe didn’t like that idea, it made no sense to him. He didn’t even know who they were looking for. Before he could object, Dahlila took off and Joe assumed he would just search the other side of the hallway or another hallway altogether. He decided to do another hallway; he figured he would cover much more ground that way.
He now felt completely vulnerable. He knew he was someplace that he shouldn’t be, and even though he had gone in far deeper, he hadn’t felt the true depths of his fear until now. He saw the cameras that lined the halls and he heard the distant footsteps that didn’t belong to himself or Dahlila. He was in danger, and if he didn’t leave soon he was going to die. He knew this, maybe all along, but with Beauty and Dahlila he had forgotten his fears. Now, without them, he was as good as dead. He didn’t necessarily want to go back alone either, so he figured he should just continue looking for whoever or whatever it was that he was supposed to be looking for so that he and Dahlila could just go back together. What did she want? he wondered.
He softly pressed the handle on each door he had come across, which all had surprisingly low-tech methods of entry. These doors had metal locks that required metal keys instead of plastic cards and electronic circuitry. Joe could not take his mind off of the footsteps that he had heard earlier and the quieting of the voices when he and Dahlila had entered through the door. He began to sweat.
Joe: “Dang it…”
He became more anxious every time he failed to open another door and moved further down the hallway. He thought about the cameras and how they must have clear images of his face. He wondered why no one had come to stop him or Dahlila and that frightened him more than anything else. Why else would people this secretive be waiting to capture us, he thought. They were planning some grisly, horrific
punishment for him. One that ensured that he wouldn’t even get a proper burial.
Joe: “Dang it! I don't want to be here…”
He continued to press on through his fears and attempted to open any door that he saw. None would open. He looked back and saw that he’d tried at least ten doors so far. His stomach sank again. He thought about how he had touched all the doors and how his sweat-stained hands had left very noticeable fingerprints on each and every one of the perfectly polished handles.
Then he heard footsteps growing louder and that brought him to attention. They came from the front of him, at the end of the hall. When he looked forward he saw no one, but the person was getting closer, and with all the doors around him likely locked he was trapped. He backpedaled to the previous hallway. He wanted to run, but figured that if he could hear whomever’s footsteps as clear as he could, they would hear the pitter-patter of his running just as well, so he walked as fast as he could. He looked back to see if whoever owned those footsteps had caught him, but saw no one at the end of the hall. He reached his end and looked back one more time before turning the corner and suddenly feeling all the air being crushed from his throat.
He now couldn’t see anything but the ceiling, his body flailing against the pressure of a man far bigger than himself. What little air he had was nearly gone and his eyes started to water. His hands could only yank at the ears of his attacker. He was on the verge of giving up when he felt the hands around his neck slacken and his body fall to the ground. About two seconds later the body of his attacker fell next to his. It was a woman, a huge one, in a uniform with the word “W-Sec” on it.
He struggled to find his lost strength, and looked up. To his surprise, it was Dahlila’s face. The light above her made it hard to tell. He slowly stood, and was even more surprised by what was behind her back.
Chapter 6
Stranger Danger
Joe struggled to breathe, and began to cough loudly.
Joe: “Is that what we came here for?”
Dahlila: “Shutup with all that coughing. This is not a what, but a ‘she,’ if you hadn’t noticed. She has a name. Now come on, we need to get the hell out of here.”
The air of the place felt different. It felt livelier. He looked down at the little girl that held Dahlila’s hand ever so gently. She couldn’t have been any older than nine; he guessed seven. Joe had never seen a little girl with as little hair as she had, or one quite as dark as her. He couldn’t help but think that he had misheard Dahlila when she had called the little one a “she.” After studying her features, he was convinced of her femininity however. She looked calm despite her surroundings, and simply looked at him as if unaware of how much danger they were in. Why is she so dang calm? he wondered. The little girl looked right at him as if he were talking right to her.
Joe: “Who is she?”
Dahlila: “Her name’s Melissa. Melissa, this is Joe.”
The little girl knelt down and relieved the unconscious guard of her flashlight.
Joe: “And why is she down here?”
Melissa: “Because my daddy’s a very important man.”
She gave him a reassuring smile, reached out and gently grabbed his trembling hand. Joe pulled his hand away from the little girl. He was too embarrassed to show her how scared he was.
Melissa: “It’s okay to be scared a little, Joe, we all are. Especially me, since I’m just a little girl. But we all have to be smart and work together to get out of here.”
Joe was flabbergasted by the wisdom of that. If she can be brave, then so can I, he thought.
Dahlila: “Let’s go, guys. I’m going back to the stairs.”
Melissa: “Bad idea. They already know you’re here. There’s another way up. A safer way.”
Dahlila: “Sounds good. Lead on, lil’ sister.”
Joe: “She’s your sister?”
Dahlila: “She wishes.”
Melissa smiled.
Melissa: “Follow me. This way will lead us right out of here.”
“STOP RIGHT THERE!!!”
Melissa: “Oh no!”
The group looked back and saw a team of guards in blue behind them. The word W-Sec lined their clothes like a brand name. Dahlila and Joe ran like the wind after Melissa, but she was only a little girl and began to fall behind.
Dahlila: “We need to get out of here now! Come on!”
Dahlila picked up Melissa and the girl scrambled onto her back. Joe was amazed at the woman’s show of strength, and surprised that even with the extra weight of the girl that Dahlila still outpaced him. They approached a fork in the hallway.
Melissa: “Take the right up there. Then at the end a left, and be careful, they have guns.”
Dahlila responded to her instructions precisely, with Joe right behind trying to keep pace.
Melissa: “Now up ahead a left, and run all the way to the end and take a right. Don’t turn at the middle.”
Dahlila: “I could’ve just took a left the first time.”
Melissa: “I’m trying to confuse them. I want them to think that we don’t know where we’re going. Now keep running!”
They ran and ran, taking another right, then a left, right, left. They didn’t stop running until Melissa halted them.
Melissa: “Dahl, use your level seven keycard for this room.”
Dahlila swiped one of her keycards and they entered the dark room. Once they closed the door behind them, Joe couldn’t see anything. The little girl shined a flashlight up towards the ceiling.
Melissa: “Daddy told me never leave home without one of these. Daddy’s usually always right. Now I need you two to help me climb up there.”
Joe volunteered. He followed the direction of Melissa’s flashlight to a table and moved it right below the spot she had pointed. He climbed atop it, with Melissa soon after, and pushed up on one of the cold metal tiles. It proved surprisingly tough to move, but Joe managed it. He hoisted little Melissa up and over soon after and then waited anxiously. She hadn’t informed Joe or Dahlila what would happen after they lifted her. Joe could hear the voices outside getting closer. He dared not yell at the girl for fear of being discovered, so he whispered as loud as he thought possible.
Joe: “Psst, Melissa, we need you. They’re going to be here any minute now.”
He became aware of his sweating again. He had nearly thought that the girl had fled, until she dropped a rope down for him and Dahlila.
Melissa: “Come on, hurry!”
They climbed up, pulled the rope with them and placed the tile back in the spot where it was left. Joe could only see wherever Melissa pointed her flashlight.
Joe: “So this somehow leads out of here?”
Melissa: “Yes just follow me. I’ve done this a bajillion times before.”
Joe: “Who helped you get up here before?”
In what little light they had, Joe could see the little girl’s expression turn somber.
Melissa: “His name was Joe too, and he was a good man. I told him that he couldn’t escape through here on his own but he tried anyway.”
Joe: “What happened to him?”
Melissa: “They caught him on level six and that was the last I heard of him.”
Dahlila: “Men never listen to little girls.”
Melissa shook her head and walked faster ahead. She had a much easier time getting around in the dark than Joe did. Her small size made navigating the cramped space no issue, especially compared to Joe, who was crouching down. He found it hard not to trip over his own feet. He had walked into a few strands of spider web and had nearly eaten some when he went to ask Melissa to slow down. Besides the area directly around Melissa and slightly ahead of her, Joe was surrounded by black. The group walked as quietly as they could in a direction that Joe could not even guess.
Eventually, the three of them did encounter a sliver of light from above them. Melissa stopped and pointed at it, but Joe had already guessed what needed to be done. He struggled but managed to push
aside the tile floor tile above out of the way and pulled himself up to take a peek at the next floor. He saw no one. He was in a bathroom. He pulled himself up first and listened for sounds for a few seconds. When he heard nothing, he reached down and pulled Melissa up. Dahlila had already climbed up by the time he was finished with that.
Dahlila: “I know where to go from here. Hop on my back.”
She looked at Joe and grinned.
Dahlila: “Not you, Joe.”
Dahlila led them all into the hallway. Joe recognized the furnishings from earlier. This was the floor he and Beauty had first stopped at, UG6 or level six. The halls were mostly empty but for the occasional security guard that ran by. Joe, Dahlila, and Melissa all hugged the walls and kept low as they crept towards a set of double doors. They had to duck into a room when a group of guards rounded the corner so fast they were nearly caught. Once the guards had passed, it left the path open for the group to run forward through the double doors and up to the stairs. They ran up one flight and Joe tried to press on, until Dahlila grabbed him.
Dahlila: "Wait."
Joe: "What?"
Dahlila: "You don't want to go up there. What we need is in here."
She put Melissa down and felt around a small corner of the wall.
Dahlila: "I overheard them talking about what this place was like before they got the elevators. They used to have to climb up and down with a ladder. They said it was over in this direction and I remember ... ah here it is."
She tapped the wall with her right foot first, and then with a quick burst of strength kicked the top part in sending the shattered wood down to the floor. Her next two kicks broke through the rest leaving them enough space to walk through.
Dahlila: "I tried to escape before and ran over here. I remembered seeing some funny looking lines around here. Let's go!"
They followed her through an area that looked very unpolished compared to the rest of the facility. There was dry, dusty rock and dirt all around them, like they were in a cave. There also wasn't any light ahead. Melissa shined her light forward so they could at least see their feet. Finally they spotted a rope ladder hanging up ahead. It stood out in the darkness, a dingy beige color that was probably white at one time. Dahlila tugged at it firmly.
Average Joe and the Extraordinaires Page 3
