Blood.

It was the first thing that caught Trent's eye as he stormed inside. Not the grimy walls or the swinging light bulb above the solitary chair, but blood. The bright red blood on Pikkins' shackled hands and feet, and the deep gashes on his face.

Trent's eyes flickered to his second lieutenant, bound and bleeding on the chair. Though only for a moment. They switched to the savages around Pikkins just as quickly. The idiots that were slowly turning their heads to face the newcomers. The idiots in masks and suits smeared with red blood.

Blood that should have stayed inside Pikkins.

Trent's arm moved towards the savage holding a knife, the asshole closest to Pikkins, and he let his gun point at the space between the savage's eyes before he pulled the trigger. A second shot echoed from behind him, and the two Tectans dropped to floor, dead.

Three ticks.

That's how long it had taken for Trent and his team to blow the door open and drop the violent creatures. Just three ticks. It had felt much longer though. Time seemed to slow down when he had a gun in his hand.

Dex had rushed to Pikkins' side before the Tectans had even hit the floor. They placed two fingers on the second lieutenant's wrist and turned to face Trent in absolute silence. The ticks felt like long hours before Dex finally removed their finger with a small shake of their head.

"What do you mean no?" Freya snapped from beside Trent.

"Is he ..." Axel walked over to the limp Pikkins tentatively, placing a trembling hand on the second lieutenant's shoulder.

"He's alive," Dex said more to Trent, their eyes narrowed, "but barely." They began untying the ropes around Pikkins' limbs, "If we want to keep him alive, I need my supplies."

Trent nodded, all of their equipment had been taken away when they had gotten captured. Dex was right, they needed it back as soon as possible if they had any inclination of returning home.

He took a moment to study the room, it was small, dark and square. There was only one other door in the room, and it was directly across the one they had broken into. He turned back to the hall they had begun their journey from. Hall, room, room. That was an odd way to design a building.

Trent placed a hand on one wall of their small square room, the paint wasn't wet, but it was brighter than the one in the hall they'd left behind. Something the darkness had concealed very well.

This part of the building was newly made. Very odd. Buildings hadn't been constructed for centuries. It wasn't something the Absolute Rule allowed. Besides, the Tectans shouldn't have had the resources to raise walls or take them down. At least not secretly.

Trent rushed back down the hall they had come from ignoring the confused calls from his team. He hadn't noticed it before because he was so used to the lack of windows. The Absolute Rule had forbidden windows after all. Windows let in light, and no one wanted to go into the light anymore. Not since the Event.

He ran a hand along the wall, his heart thudding in his throat as he walked.

"Umm ... Captain," Axel began, following Trent into the hall, "what are you searching for?"

Trent didn't respond, he didn't have time to play twenty questions with the rookie. And until he knew for sure whether he was right or wrong, there was no point worrying his team either.

He had barely reached halfway through when he saw it. The sudden difference in colour in a single square section of the wall. Trent let out a slow breath air to calm his racing heart. Just because the wall had been repainted in the square section didn't mean anything yet.

He knocked three times on the wall with the old, peeling paint. Solid. Trent then repeated his ritual on the newly painted section. He didn't need to knock all three times, but he did anyway. Each knock slower than the last. Each pause longer.

Trent rest his head on the wall with a defeated sigh.

Hollow.

There was only one reason a single square section in the middle of the wall would be hollow. He turned back to his team. They were scattered across the two rooms, watching him silently.

Expectantly.

Trent took in a small breath. He was going to have to break the news to them gently. He knocked on the hollow part of the wall again, "Do you hear that?" Trent asked.

"It's hollow," Axel said with an uncertain shrug. Behind him, Dex paled.

Trent waited for the youngest member of their team to connect the dots himself. But he looked just as confused as the first time.

"Why would a square section of the wall be hollow four feet above the floor, rookie?"

Freya swore and spun to face Dex who remained silent. Their eyes flickered to her for a moment, expression grim, before they turned back to Trent.

"Windows," Trent finally said when no one else would speak. He knocked on the hollow wall again.

"You can't have windows underground," Axel insisted. He took in a shuddering breath, turning from Trent to Freya to Dex.

"No," Trent agreed trying to maintain the calm in his voice, "you can't." He glanced around the room again. "This building has been remodelled recently, I don't understand how it evaded the Absolute Rule, but it did." Trent looked at each of his three soldiers, "There's no doubt, we're above ground."

The silence that followed was deafening.

Axel took a shaky step back, "But we can't tell time!" he said in between wheezing breaths, "we'll never know if we're heading out into the dark or the light!"

"No, we won't," Trent admitted again. It was far easier to stay calm now that the rookie was panicking. "That's why we can't go barging in to every door we see." He pointed at the room Pikkins' sat in, "That room is new," he told his team, "which means they've created a little trap for us."

Axel's breath had turned short and wheezy by now.

"Rookie?" Trent raised an eyebrow, "If we're going to make it out of this alive, all of us need to be sharper than before. If you can't do it, then stay back, the three of us will come get you later."

Axel whipped his head towards Trent, "No!" he cried, "what if there's a crack and the light seeps through?! You know what follows the light, Captain!"

"Which is exactly why I need everyone here to be vigilant, Axel." Trent took in a small breath, the worry was starting to make him a little sick, but he couldn't show it. They were all relying on him to escape this place alive. "And there is no one as skilled in close quarter combat as you," he then said, a lot slower, hoping Axel would take the bait more than anything else. "But I'll respect whatever you decide."

"I'm not dying a coward!" Axel insisted, but his voice was just as high and shaky as before.

"You're not dying at all if we can help it," Freya said firmly, inducing an uncertain smile from Axel.

"We good?" Trent turned to each member of his team, confirming a nod before nodding himself, "let's go."

They moved back to the small, square room. Trent and Axel in front, Freya with a rifle in the back and Dex and Pikkins in the hall. Trent pointed at the space under the door, "No light," he told Axel, forcing a reassuring smile on his own face.

"No light," Axel agreed and he began silently counting down from three.

With another crash and spraying splinters, the door gave away. Trent and Axel pointed their guns into the darkness.

Nothing.

Trent took one small, careful step into the next room. It was much darker than the one he was leaving behind and his eyes hadn't quite adjusted to it.

There was a small metallic 'clink' by Trent's feet. In the sliver of fading light, all he could make out was a cylinder. And his heart nearly stopped.

Tick.

Axel frowned.

Tick.

He began to bend to inspect the device.

Tick.

Trent used every ounce of remaining strength to try and tackle the rookie back into the previous room.

And the world burned so bright that Trent couldn't see anymore.

(1417 Words)
(Tally: 3090 Words)