The corner of the guard’s mouth tips up in a barely there smile. “Bigger.”
“Then I hear you loud and clear.”
He motions down the hall again, and I take that as my cue to get the fuck out of there before his good mood wears off.
The echo of my shoes against the tiled floor follows me as I make my way down the dark hallway and scan the area for the white rabbit that will lead me to the rave I was assured would be a night to remember.
The inside of the building is just as run-down as the outside, and the walls are covered in so many tags it almost looks fake. Like someone handed a group of teenagers a bunch of cans of spray paint and told them to go hog-wild on whatever surface they could find. The floor is littered with trash and bits of busted drywall and broken office equipment, and the only source of light are dim battery-powered bulbs that hang from the ceiling every few feet and click on and off as you move under them.
I could use my phone flashlight to help me navigate, but don’t bother. I can see enough to find my way, and I’m not scared of the dark, so there’s no point. Besides, I have no clue if the guard and his equally huge buddies would have anissue with me using my own light when the dim bulbs were an obvious choice, and I’m not in the mood to find out what the consequences of breaking an unspoken rule are.
I’m about halfway down the long hallway when I finally spot the white rabbit on a metal door to my left.
Gripping the cold handle, I give it a twist, but the door doesn’t budge. Before I can pull on it again, a blue light appears on what looks like a card reader next to the door.
Curiously, I put my hand under the reader so the light shines over my stamp, and the loud click of the door unlocking tells me that was the right move.
The silence around me is unnerving as I pull open the door and peer inside. Another of those battery-powered lightbulbs hangs just past the door, faintly illuminating a set of metal stairs. There are no lights beyond the single bulb in front of me, and everything past the third step is cloaked in inky blackness.
Stepping onto the landing, I pull my phone out of my pocket and turn on the flashlight. I might not be afraid of the dark, but I’d rather not put my hand on the railing and use that to guide me. I’m not worried about traps or anything that can hurt me, but railings are dirty as fuck, and I avoid touching them whenever possible.
I also don’t know what kind of shape the stairs are in, and I’d rather not risk falling or hurting myself because I can’t see where I’m stepping.
My phone flashlight cuts through the dark and creates a small circle of light around me, but everything beyond a five-foot radius is still completely hidden from my view.
Following the light from my phone, I make my way down the stairs and into the abyss below.
It feels like I’m descending forever, but I eventually reach the bottom and pause to try and orient myself. Round lights,like miniature pot lights, flick on, glowing soft white from where they’re stuck to the wall directly to my right.
The concrete floors tell me I’m in a basement of some sort, and I shine my phone light over the wall as I search for the white rabbit with theXon it. It takes about a minute, but I finally spot it next to a massive metal door about fifty feet from the bottom of the stairs.
There’s another stamp reader on the wall beside the door, and I stick my hand under it. A light on the reader flashes, and I’m immediately assaulted by loud EDM and flashes of bright lights as I pull the heavy metal door open and slip into another large room.
Unlike the one I just came from, this room isn’t empty, and I turn off my phone flashlight as I wait for my eyes to adjust to the change in light and for my ears to adjust to the sudden onslaught of noise.
Whoever designed the room went all out with the soundproofing, and I never would have guessed there was a mini rave going on beyond that metal door if I hadn’t stepped right into it.
A complicated lighting system has been rigged up on the walls and ceiling with lasers and flashing lights that pulse and flash along with the beat of the music. The floor is covered with a thin layer of mist, like from a smoke machine, only it’s not dissipating at all. Massive speakers dot the space, and there’s a small, elevated booth surrounded by plexiglass where Helix, the featured DJ, is working his equipment while a small crowd of people dance enthusiastically in front of him. A huge projector screen has been set up behind the DJ booth, and the images on it shift between kaleidoscope-type imagery that’s trippy as fuck to hyper-realistic images of flames and fires that are perfectly timed to the music.
The overall effect is like being in sensory overload, and exactly the kind of escapism I’m looking for.
Pulling out my phone, I send off a quick text.
Jon: I’m here
I wait about ten seconds for an answer, then tuck my phone away when it stays quiet. Might as well check the place out while I wait for my “date” to get back to me.
Keeping close to the walls and shadows, I do a sweep of the area, taking in every detail as I look for anything that could be a threat or a problem.
There’s not much in the room other than the crowd, the DJ booth, and the equipment. I don’t see any guards or anyone who looks like they’re there as private security for any of the attendees, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any security around. Behind the massive projection screen is a second exit/entrance that’s surrounded by large trolleys piled with empty tote bags and other things that could transport all the equipment they brought in, but I can’t get close enough to it to test if it’s locked or not.
I don’t like the idea of being trapped underground with only one accessible exit, but it’s not a deal-breaker tonight.
Against the far wall are three doors with large, stenciledX’s painted on them, and instead of joining the throng of dancers, I head over to check them out now that I know the main room is secure.
I’ve just reached the first door when the music changes from an EDM song to a metalcore/house mashup, which is the type of music that Helix, the DJ, is known for, and I pause to let the music flow over me.
I’ve never seen Helix live before, but I’ve been listening to his mixes for years, and there’s something about them that just hits different from the dozens, if not hundreds, of other DJs I’ve heard over the years.
