Scouring over the paper, I use my index finger to trace over the names, the various colours skipping across the page until I come across Ana’s name. It’s right there in front of me, staring back at me.
Annabelle De Rossi.
A green stripe of colour across her name.
My breath catches in my throat when I see the colour. She isn’t dead. She’s still alive. She has to be.
“Dean?” Eli says, his head still dipped low.
“Yeah?”
“I’ve found Sophia here. There’s an orange line across her name.”
The orange must mean that they’re due to be picked up.
“Are you sure it’s her?” I hate to question it but I don’t want my best friend to put everything onto this young woman, hoping that she’s actually his sister.
“It’s her. Look.” Eli says, tipping the paper towards me.
Sophia Rodriguez, age thirty.
I look up at my best friend, Eli Rodriguez, who had a sister who was only four years younger than him, constantly attached at the hip with each other.
“It’s her Dean, I know it is.” He whispers, his eyes glazing over as he looks at me, and I take the paper from his hand and fold it into a neat square before slipping it into the front pocket of his vest.
“Then let’s finish what we have to do here. Find Ana, then we can get to your sister.” I order, knowing if I don’t put some ground rules down, he’ll spiral. Eli shakes his head and rolls his shoulders, then takes his gun into his grasp.
“Let’s do this.” He says with certainty and leaves the office with me and Lyla in tow.
We clear the hallways and corridors, noting that everywhere we look is empty, like something spooked Ricky and for some reason, I can’t seem to shake that idea.
“What if Ricky found out about the driver and the girls?”
Eli stops in his tracks for a moment before turning on his heels to face me. “And he cleared everyone out?” He asks with an edge to his voice, like he’s feeling what I’m feeling.
“Yeah.” I nod. “There’s no way this place is this dead all the time with how many girls Ricky is collecting. They’re either hiding somewhere, or we’re too late.”
The words are sour as they leave my mouth. I want to believe that they’re just hiding somewhere, waiting for us, not that we’re too late again. I watch as Eli takes a deep breath, probably collecting his thoughts then lifts his head to face me. “We scour the building. There’s gotta be something here.”
I try to keep that positive mindset but I feel like I’m slowly going insane, like a dog chasing its tail, over and over again until that’s all it knows. The finish line is always inches away from my grasp and I’m never fast enough to make it, continuously falling at the final hurdle.
That’s how I feel without Ana.
Insanity.
“Yeah.” I simply say, my voice low. Then we continue scouring the place, checking every single inch until we come across a door we didn’t see when we entered the building. Eli stops at the side of me, Lyla at my feet and we both share a look between us. Communicating without words, I lift my gun as Eli wraps his hand around the metal handle, pushing it down until the door clicks open. The sound echoes around the large space before quickly falling silent again.
A set of stone steps comes into view from behind the door, which seems to disappear into a void of blackness, leading me to pull my goggles down over my eyes. Immediately I’m able to see into the dark abyss, noting the stairs go all the way underneath the prison before trailing off to an unknown destination.
Before entering the dark stairwell, I fish around in my pocket on my cargos for a short lead that attaches to my belt and Lyla’s vest. She’s excellent off of the lead but it’s dark as fuck down there and I’m not risking her safety if anyone tries to grab her. The metal clasp clicks, then locks around the O ring that’s on the back of her vest, successfully attaching us together.
I lift my hand and signal with two fingers to Eli that I’m going down first, he nods and falls in line behind me, protecting my six. The three of us work like a well oiled machine as we take silent steps down towards the basement, my rifle ready in front of me. Through the night vision goggles, a similar hallway to the ones upstairs comes into view, the small space leading us towards a singular door and I lift my hand to signal to Eli to stop. I hear his feet come to a halt behind me and I motion with my hands for him to stand at the side of the door with me taking the other side.
Lyla takes her place at the side of me, her stance strong and focused.
Eli takes the handle in his hand and gives me a sharp nod the moment he opens the door and I’m in there, rifle first. Within seconds I’ve got the whole room scanned over, finding it completely bare. I don’t even notice the smell at first, adrenaline bursting through my veins, but then it hits me like a ton of bricks, burying me under the weight of it. It’s nothing like I’veeversmelt before. I thought those bodies outside had a foul smell, but this is something far worse. It’s worse than death.
Standing in the middle of the room with my hand over my mouth, I watch Eli enter the room behind me and almost instantly he begins to cough, his body doubling over with the foul stench.
