DING!,
The elevator had come to a stop, dragging its parts along the walls outside.
There was a new door in front of them, made of metal bars.
"Come on we're here," He said as he got up. "Where the heck did we get to?"
Vic pulled it to the side and they got into the room, being a large warehouse-like building, lined with rooms from top to bottom, left to right.
It had to be at least 10-15 metres tall.
The place had four floors and each floor had a section of rooms with metal bars, that looked like they were meant to accommodate prisoners, and to the surprise of the two, they weren't empty either.
The people inside weren't visible enough to make out faces but the noise coming from them alone was a sign that people were in there.
Vivian got up and dusted her trousers,
"I can't believe you lay down on an elevator floor."
"Oh yeah? I can't believe how socially stupid you can be."
"You goat."
"Fowl spirit."
"Cow."
"Marine spirit."
"Evil-herbalist-guy."
"USELESS…"
"Hey, you over there, explain yourself."
He was dressed in a security officer's uniform, bigger than his small, wrinkly stature. His eyes, rounded with black circles, widened as he looked at the two, but a serious description on his face was indescribable.
Vic put his hands on his waist and locked eye-contact with the man.
"Uh… don't talk to me like that, don't you know my father is upstairs and he can lock you up too if you don't take your time yeah?"
It was stress-less, leaving no room for doubt.
Vivian slapped her forehead,
'Massive liar'.
"Abeg," the man jammed his hands together. "Please, I'm sorry, it's not like that, I was just doing my job ehn, have mercy, please!"
"You're lucky I'm a good person."
Vivian, who stood at the back, put two fingers to her mouth.
"Where is this place anyway?" Vic asked the man.
"You don't know? This is where Oga keeps all the peoples who have looked for his trouble till he eventually sacrifices them to Amadioha. He said he tells you the story every day like tales by midnight."
Vic, had been looking off into a distance, before he got back to the conversation.
"... Huh? Oh yeah I'm his son!"
He wasn't even listening!!
Vivian thought someone ought to give him a proper slap.
"Now, release all those lecturers that my father captured." he said, spreading his hand all over the place.
"Lector-what?" The officer scratched his hair as he looked at Vic.
"Open all the gates jor." He shot back.
"Are you sure, did the Oga above approve?"
"… YES!" He was loosing his patience now.
"Okay, what about the approvement letter?" the officer asked, with outs-stretched arms.
"Approvement??" Vic repeated.
'approvement…'Vivian thought
"Yes," the officer went on, "Oga always writes letters for anything, even approvement"
Vic furrowed his eyebrows and squinted his eyes, "Approvement a word though??"
"Em…" The man didn't seem to know what he was talking about, but the conversation was getting nowhere a that point. So Vivian stepped in front of Vic, her face looking downwards, and her voice louder than ever.
"Listen, we don't have time for any of this, if you don't release everyone in here, the sky will surely fall on you, big time!"
She gasped, panting for breath.
That was the most efforts she had ever put into a sentences.
But the officer got silent and only stared at Vivian.
Maybe it worked?
"The sky would fall??" Vic whispered to her, "What does that even mean?"
"...I don't know…" she covered her hands with her face "I don't know what I said."
The officer then cleared his throat, with his hand to his mouth, "Sorry sir, but who is this girl?" he asked, his voice low.
"Oh she?" Vic grinned from ear to ear, he looked like an idiot, "She's the love of my life, yeah"
Vivian's eyes widened.
"Yeah, we're getting married in the next few mo- D'oh!"
Vivian gave him an elbow to the side.
"Are you serious?" The officer smiled, he maybe thought them to be teasing each other, much to Vivian's despair. "Look, Love needs time to develop before you start thinking about marriage…"
"Hehehehe sure- oomff!!"
He got hit again, so hard he fell on his knees.
"Like me, when I met my wife, we took it slow for about forty-two years. It was after then that we realized that we were ready to get together. You see, this life is like bicycle-"
Before the man could continue, Vic cut in.
"Did you hear what she said?" His voice had gotten cracked with pain.
"Who? I didn't hear her oh. Any problem, small madam?"
Vivian groaned and turned around.
She couldn't bear any of it anymore.
"GET EVERY SOUL THE HECK OUT OF THOSE CAGES!"
"Ehn…?" the officer looked like he had just been told to commit suicide.
As Vic got back up to his feet, wheezing, the officer's eyes were fixed on him.
"You can't trap people like this? What are you? A people-zookeeper?" He held on to his side, then raised his head to look at the officer in the eye. "How do you think they feel? Huh? What if your wife was in one of those cages?"
"See, leave my wife out of this-"
"No! Not until you do the right thing."
He was breathing hard, sweat dropping down from his face.
"Ah-what about Oga?" the officer's voice shook.
"What about you?" Vic rephrased his sentence.
The officer paused his gaze on him, before shutting his jaw.
"...Let me do that now, sir." He said as he turned towards a small office at a corner.
As the officer was about to go, Vivian recalled that Dotu knew about the newspaper. She turned and tugged at Vic's shoulder and whispered something in his ear – his eyes popped open and he turned to face the officer's back.
"Hey, security guy!"
The man paused and looked back, "Eh?"
At that, Vic limped up to him, "You got any idea as to, I don't know, how the guy upstairs knew about a newspaper that can predict the future?"
The officer looked at Vic with a stern, folding his arms.
"How did you know about that?"
"Uhm…" Vic stuttered, "As his son, there's nothing my father doesn't tell me, yup – it was just a few weeks ago when he was telling me about the time he got locked up in the bathroom of the private jet, it's hilarious but it's the laughs of our lives that make us who we are."
By now, he was standing straight again, although he was still sweaty.
"Eh?"
"I'm saying I'm his favourite son, he tells me things over the phone all the time." Vic rephrased himself.
"But that newspaper, it isn't something Oga would talk about over the phone o – he's very secretive about things like that-"
"Indeed, I am!"
A deep voice with a certain age echoed through their ears.
The officer, who was seeing the owner of the voice as clear as day, started trembling as if he was going to melt.
Vic, with a sigh and disappointed look, turned around to meet the glare of the man of the house.
Dotu the great.
In all his grandeur, he stepped out of the elevator. On seeing him then, even with his white T-shirt and cream coloured shorts, one wouldn't know that he was just napping by the poolside not too long ago. He appeared taller than expected as he looked straight ahead, not at anyone in particular. Vic and Vivian could read the deadly aura he radiated. They knew they had no way to reason with a guy like this.
'crap!' Was Vic's only thought.
Vivian only glared at the man, as if a message was written in Spanish on his face.
The man stopped in front of the three, still without looking at them.
"Something as esteemed as the future in the palm of my hands, would be something I would never tell even my own child, you filthy scum!"
If he had the looks to go with, he would be resemble a warlord with that voice.
But how the two college freshers handled the situation was like night and day,
Vic made a fake smile and spread out his arms, looking up at the man's head. "Hey-y! If it isn't the great lord Dotu himself, I've always wanted to meet the likes of you – and see for myself if your legendary hairline was the real deal… and wow, it really is receding!" he said.
Vivian, on the other hand only stared at everything with disappointment.
Here eye brows lowered, her eyes slouching, and her mouth an upside done v.
'This is what happens when I try to do things – life sucks, I can't even die the way I want to, and to make things worse it's going to be with stupidity's vessel itself.'
Vic continued at the man, who hadn't said anything to him yet. "I mean have you looked at your head in the mirror lately?"
One could only wonder what his end goal was.
"This one talks too much." he spoke with head still facing forward at... whatever was there.
"Y-yes sir, his soul would definitely trouble the gods." the officer replied with the single most scariest line Vic had ever heard.
"What?" he could only manage to ask.
"And I really wanted to sacrifice these two as a fitting example..." he said with a sigh at the end, then he turned towards the elevator and looked directly at the officer,
"Turn on the gas."
"Yes sir!" The officer answered without hesitation, then walked towards the corner room from before.
"No, no, NO!" Vic shouted.
He made a run for the open elevator door without a warning, leaving Vivian behind who only noticed him after he had left.
He looked up at Dotu, who kept walking to the elevator, "Hey! What did you do to the lecturers?? Where are you keeping them, yeah…?" he asked, with a never seen before rage in his eyes. "What did you do!?"
But it got to a point when the rest of the energy left him all at once – and like a brick, he fell with his face to the floor.
Dotu got into the elevator, the gate closed, and it began its accent, all without glancing at either of the students even once.
Vivian walked up to him, just to get a look at him in such a state.
'Well, that's what you get from being too positive'
Something caught her nose, something unnatural.
She sniffed about, it was a gas, a familiar one, one you'd perceive around generators and car exhaust pipes.
In fact, the main generator for the faculty at school had such a smell.
Once upon a time, she had read the entire wordings on a generator her family had gotten when she was earlier.
It was just for fun then, but now, something from there was on her mind.
"Monoxide... Carbon monoxide!!" she covered her nose.
From what she had gathered, the gas was flammable.
Not only that, but it was a gas that could suffocate anything that breathes it in – and Vic may have gotten affected by it, thus explaining his loss of energy.
Vivian, on full adrenaline now – looked around the hall, her eyes first went to the room the security officer entered – she dashed there, taking short breaths. She stopped midway as if she was forgetting something.
'Leave him to die, it's for the best, no one would judge you, save him and say goodbye to a normal future - no, stop it!'
Shaking her head here and there, she ran back to where Vic was lying – carried him up in her arms and went again, to the door of the room.
As she expected, he was light as a feather.
She dropped him by the door.
Feeling light-headed already, she raised her right leg and hit it against the door as hard as she could. All her strength came to nothing as the door didn't fling open as expected.
She hit it again,
And again,
And even using her head at one point,
But More's the pity, the iron door didn't budge.
Her body felt wobbly, her vision was getting blurred out, she could collapse at any second.
But her mind was blank…
In normal circumstances, that would be a good thing for her but she needed it more than ever now,
Or maybe she didn't…
Biting against her teeth, she stepped back – then ran forward – this time, breathing the gas like it was normal air.
She rammed into the door handle with her foot causing the lock within it to break apart. The metal door swung open with Vivian and Vic flew inside and collapsed on the floor.
She gasped and heaved, the air inside the room was so relieving. While still on the floor, supporting herself with her hands, she used one of her legs to kick the door to a closing.
She looked up,
Vic was now across the room, facing a wall and still unconscious.
The officer however had been yelling all along – words she couldn't make out.
He pulled in Vic and locked the door behind him, walked towards Vivian, his hands moving in every direction.
She sat dropped down and pulled off her shoe, then with a well-targeted throw, she flung the hard sneaker at him on the head – hard enough to knock the man out.
"Heh Heh, did you see... that... Vi...c..."
'But then again, she's going to leave... all those people.. in... there...'
Her thoughts faded to a blur.
????
Friday, 10th March.
Control room
"HAAA-AAH"
Vivian came to with a gasp.
She looked around, as the memories came back to her, then it hit her!
They weren't safe.
Ignoring her well-being, she crawled up to Vic with her arms, turning him to lay on his back when she got there and checked his breathing by putting a hand under his nose,
And he was breathing fine! Almost snoring in fact.
'Yeah, this is all my fault - knowing that just feels right.'
But as soon as they arrived, she shook off the negative thoughts and focused her mind on the situation at hand.
She got up, swaying from side to side.
"I've gotta get out of here!" She turned to look at Vic, snoring on the floor, then she sighed like her life was about to give out.
He brought this on himself, is what she felt.
But someone would have to help him out.
So she got up and pulled off her sweater.
Today, she wore a singlet underneath, so she didn't have anything to worry.
"Thank God it isn't Thursday."
She then went next to Vic and picked him up, latching the fainted youth on her back with the sweater tied around his waist and hers, then holding his legs in place with her hands; – she looked like she was backing an overgrown baby, and Vic sure slept like one.
'I need a bucket list of my dumbest ideas… this will forever be number 1'
She looked around the control room hoping to find an exit and then she stumbled on a door.
On opening it, she was met with a stairwell, that just kept going vertical. From the looks of it, it was at least three stories high.
That was just a guess.
She sighed on thinking about it.
Without further hesitation, she started going up the stairs, at a step per second. Of course it wouldn't be easy since she was carrying someone behind her – Vic had a lean physique and his weight was about a quarter of hers, so he wasn't as heavy as she had thought he would be.
And not as light either.
So she worked her way up the stairs, relying on her past training and a bit of luck, so she wouldn't collapse and fall down the stairs.
For someone with a lazy demeanour, she knew how to put in the effort.
The stress of it made her remember the times when her older brother would make her sneak into martial art classes and gyms after school hours, just so she would get more experience in the area – she didn't see any real problem in it, apart from the fact that she was stealing experience she didn't pay for.
Although she never complained to him, she followed him religiously.
But at the end, she realized that it was an elaborate scheme he used to get her stronger, more powerful, combatant, to use her as a weapon against his many foes.
It went on like that for throughout her junior secondary school years, till she got sent to a military boarding school by the child care organization following the demise of her parents.
Her brother was there to see her off the day she left home,
But after that day, she never heard from him again.
"tch! Stupid… memories."
She wanted nothing to do with him, or her past.
She wanted nothing to do with anything, not her life, not someone else's.
'Ironic… this is irony!'
Her mind always looked for opportunities, excuses, triggers that would allow it to bring up an unwanted memory.
Like a hive with different species of bees, you'd never know which one would come out next.
Controlling her breathing, she made her way up the stairs, getting slower and slower by the minute. Her legs felt like they would snap at any moment, she was now sweating all over as the stairway had no ventilation, but she hadn't even gone up a floor.
'Weak… useless...'
The only motivation she had at the time was to get Vic out of the building alive.
Despite herself.
She had come to realize that there was no way they could've saved anyone from a place this dangerous – and what's worse, she dragged along a guy she didn't know well into her delusions.
No, it was the opposite.
Vic, he somehow convinced her on a suicide trip.
Why did she agree to it?
She couldn't think for herself.
"Graaah!"
She increased her pace up the stairs – hoping she would get out of the vicinity before things got more complicated.
Soon, she got passed the first floor,
Then the second,
Then after about 20 minutes, she got to the third – Vic was still unconscious.
She opened the only door she saw there and went through it, to see that she was now at the main floor, the same area that they started from.
The air-conditioning from Dotu's living room greeted her coolly, she felt relieved as she heaved a sigh.
"hahh... hahh... I'm here! I made it!"
She walked a little way towards the living room and stooped near a wall to catch her breath
'it's quiet, I can't tell if the guards are still arguing.'
She set Vic down on the tiles, tying her sweater on her waist and knelt down, placing her ear on the tiles and listening in for surrounding sounds.
Among the things she could hear,
A distant argument, the gate-men perhaps?
Some women chatting nearby,
A television, probably the source of the women's chatter,
Approaching footsteps.
"…!"
She went over to Vic and picked him up on her back again, with much difficulty, she didn't even bother using her sweater this time. Then she sneaked towards the back of the building, looking for that one door that led outside when…
"Do not move," He still wore a cream coloured pair of shorts and a white shirt, she could tell just by glancing a bit at him. "That is, if you value your life."
The place being empty, his voice bounced back and forth the building, and she could hear him take off the safety from the pistol he was holding.
A sweat drop fell down her cheek, her heart raced like never before.
By instinct, she raised her arms up, dropping Vic to the ground.
THUD!!
Gunpoint.
Her very first.
"Face me!"
She did as he said, shaking like he had a serious fever.
She looked at the large man standing at the gallery, a gun pointing at her.
Saliva had gathered in her mouth, causing her to gulp.
"Now, I want to know the name of the scums that broke into my house."
'Broke what'
"Evaded my priced guards."
'Idiots really'
"And tried to free my prisoners, all within my own vicinity, under my nose!"
'Screw this guy!'...
For some reason, she wished he could hear her thoughts.
"ANSWER ME! ARE YOU DEAF!?" He roared.
"…vi…vo…"
BANG-!!!
"ANSWER ME!"
"VIVIAN… it's Vivian!" she shook in her shoes.
"And your adjective?"
"Viv… Gloomy Vivian."
"Ha ha ha." So the man could laugh, "Such a fitting one, for the likes of you that is. Yes, people like you deserve to always be ashamed."
"…"
She felt her spirit wash out of her body.
"And you are in my house why?"
"W…we… I wanted to look for, lecturers."
"Lecturers? What lecturers?" His voice couldn't be read.
'don't tell him anymore or the school is in trouble' …
"No, what, in the first place, makes you think I'm with your lectures." He said, raising the gun a bit higher."How much do you know? Gloomy Vivian?"
Now she just felt sick.
She felt sick every time she hear that adjective.
"Uhm… i-its… emi…"
'Having a student here, that thing has failed me for once.' Dotu thought to himself.
'There's no way someone like this knows anything useful… that star…'
Vivian on the other hand,
'He-he's pitying me? Why do I fell like I don't want that?'
"… Who is he?" The man points the gun at Vic.
"He's my course mate." At least she could say that with a straight voice..
'Of course, she must be from that school, a student?' "You, you're not going to tell me what you're doing in my house are you?" he pointed the gun back at her.
At that point, she didn't care if he fired a shot...
"Look I can't let you two leave here alive, I hope you know? So you can die with whatever you know. But here's one thing that can save you," he started walking down the spiral stairwell, "If you can tell me what you know about a special newspaper, one I'm sure you've heard of, and I'll let you and your friend go, that is-"
Vivian opened her mouth,
"It's a newspaper that can predict the events of the future in the form of news extracts and we got it from Femi whose a man in a shed in a bush at my college right here in this town but he doesn't let us buy it just as long as we go to him at nine AM every day to get the paper from him and I swear that is all I know! Please don't hurt us and we'd get out of your hair forever! You will never see us again! Please!" Tears she held back were running down her cheeks after having said all that in one breath, but her voice didn't sound very apologetic, it just cracked in some sentences.
'That should be enough,' she thought.
'So much for not telling him about your school though, but you've barely started and there's still lots of fish in the sea.'
'SHUT UP, YOU'RE GOING TO DIE RIGHT NOW!'
'Well we had a good run…'
"You know where this man, Femi, is?" The large man, times two her size up close, was now standing in front of her.
She only glared at him, tears still flowing down her eye, but her face made her seem like she was frowning.
Hmm, I'd only need one of you to tell me the details," He told her, without looking down at her. "Which means… this idiot has to go." He pointed the gun at Vic's body at the corner.
Hearing him, her blood began to boil.
A brief madness took over Vivian.
Madness that had been welling up deep inside.
Madness, with its own consciousness, that had simply had enough.
And enough was enough!
Dotu's hand is on the trigger when his eyes meet with Vivian's who is dashing at him,
From behind him, to his front, she reached for the gun in the man's grip.
He didn't see her coming on time.
She came at him, full throttle.
He pulls the trigger but before the gun fires, Vivian uses the side of her palm to knock the gun out his hand.
The gun did fire,
It shot a bullet which brushes pass Vic's coral yellow jacket, it barely hit him.
She landed on the her left foot and with a swift kick of her right leg, she hit at Dotu's chest and sent him flying off his feet and landing with his back at the rails of the staircase.
Vivian balances herself on both feet and looks at the man who could only stare at her with bewilderment in his eyes.
Five seconds pass,
Dotu dipped his hands in his shorts.
Vivian looks at the gun. It's near a wall of the living room.
She runs and leaps at it, picks it up in her right hand and rolls back to her feet, but in a crouching position.
She turns towards Dotu from behind her shoulder,
But now, another pistol is being pointed at her,
She gasped for air, her face drenched in sweat.
The room felt like it was burning all over despite the cold air from the air conditioner.
Now Vivian hadn't held a gun before that moment,
Her hand is on what she thought was the trigger, but she didn't know if she was ready to shoot anyone,
Not yet,
Not like this.
She isn't as swift to shoot as Dotu.
"Die!"
She sighs out of relief, he's too enraged to go after Vic again.
And hesitation was not on the man's mind, as he shoots her from his standing on the base of the staircase.
But his aim is thrown off by desperation and the self-pleasing need to get a head-shot at her,
His shot misses Vivian's face, but only inches away, causing it to cut off some strands of her hair.
"...!!"
She feels her heart skip a beat,
Her breath restored once it got beating again.
It was then the whistle from the bullet shot a moment ago, zipped past her ear.
"tch!"
It startled her.
She raises the gun and presses hard on the trigger with it facing Dotu's torso,
"BLAM-!!"
Her arms fly upwards from the force of the recoil.
The screeching sound from it almost deafened her.
But she hit him!
On his left hip to be exact,
She had aimed for his torso, so she is more or less on point for her first try.
The 50-something year old groans like a wounded animal, and falls on his side.
"BANG-!!"
She shoots him again,
Almost on the high of the moment,
Or on the brink of fear,
He would have still gotten up.
The bullet dug into his shoulder,
The recoil hit her again.
Because at the onset, she had aimed for his head.
She tries shooting again, but the gun had run out of bullets.
With that, Dotu loses consciousness and he collapses face down on the floor, like a torn sack of meat.
Vivian stood there and looked at him, then at the gun in her hand, which fell from it shacking, then at the thick crimson liquid that leaked from from man's body.
"Haaah, haaah, aahhh,"
She had just shot someone, TWICE!
She kicked the gun away, backing herself to the large entrance door behind her.
"YEA-AH!! ACTION SCENES!"
At some point, Vic had woken up, and what a noise he made.
"I-I-I…" Vivian looked at her hands shaking violently, then she rubbed the hands on her head, hoping they would stop, roughening her hair in the process."I... I didn't want... I mean..."She collapsed on her knees.
"Anyway, come on, let's get the out of here, yeah? He walked up to her with one of his winning smiles.
"I… I just…" Then it hit her, "YOU! YOU WERE AWAKE? ALL THIS TIME!?" she glared at him, her hands still on her head. "Look! Look at what I did to a human being! No, I didn't mean to... It just..."
"First of all, I woke up as soon as I jumped back there (lie)." He looked at Dotu's body, his smile turning to an expression that fit the mood, "So, today was fun, wasn't it?"
"This, this is the worst day of my life."
"You're exaggerating. He's just-"
"I killed him, Vic." she pointed at Dotu with a shaky finger, "He's DEAD BECAUSE OF ME!!"
"Good riddance." he said while walking up to the door.
"…! Not there!" she said with a cough, "The guards, I can hear them, they're coming."
Vic, who's hand had been holding the know already, looked at her with bizarre.
"Girl, what kind of ears do you have!?"
She didn't answer him, instead she got up and ran towards the door to the back yard.
Vic groaned, and was about following him, when his leg kicked the gun on the floor.
"Hmm."
A minute later, guards invaded the house building from everywhere with guns and all seriousness. They swarmed the living room and the corridors, pointing their guns at every corner and object in the building.
"Search the area, those gunshots came from here and I want to know where…" The older guard paused as he saw Dotu's lifeless body.
He ran up to him and knelt by his side.
"LORD!"
He checked the man's vitals, his eyebrows furrowed."Oh, NO!"
"What happened to him?" Another guard asked.
"He isn't alive, as you can see." The guard know as Wisdom, noted.
The rest of the guards who heard it gasped.
"Someone call the hospital, NOW!"
"Who could've done this? Are they still around?"
"I want the whole are searched, no one leaves this compound, apprehend any person you deem suspicious. FIND THOSE MURDERERS!"
"YES SIR!"
"Wisdom?"
"SIR!?"
"Come with me, the rest of you should head out NOW, I want to hear good news afterwards, is that clear?"
"YES SIR!"
And so, the guards spread themselves all over the building, searching every room, corner and space possible.
Vic and Vivian were hiding in a cleaner's closet at the end of a hallway, they had heard the whole thing the guards had discussed and were fear struck.
Vivian, being the smaller one, had hidden inside a cardboard box, while Vic stayed at a corner next the door.
"I have an idea, but you have to follow my lead if you want to live."
"…"
She was still shaken from before, Vic could tell, but it wasn't the time he could use for such a thing.
The door flung open afterwards, hitting Vic on the nose, but he held the door handle to keep the door from swinging back.
A guard, a heavy gun in his hold, entered the closet and turned on the lights. He stood in front of the doorway for a while, surveying the room for any abnormalities. He was about to go further into the room and investigate when a voice from outside called him
"Shey you want to sleep there ba? Let's move on abeg."
"Hmm." the guard turned off the light and shut the door.
Vic, who had been holding his breath, let out a loud sigh of relief a moment later.
"Well, that was close yeah?" He walked out of the corner, "You can come out now, Miss rat."
Her legs were twisted inside the box, she couldn't get up.
So she shook the box from side to side, trying to fall it down.
Vic just frowned at her.
"What am I going to do with you?"
"A little help would be nice." she said with a timid voice.
"Oh, right!" he squatted in front of the box, then tore it in half by holding the sides.
Then she stood up normally, her hands spread out.
"Thanks."
"Go!"
And Vivian stepped out of the way, giving way for Vic to toss the box to the back of the room.
He walked up to the door, then turned the knob with his ear glued to the door,
"Wait…" Vivian called out, to which Vic stopped.
She out her ear on the wall and lowered her breathing rate.
"The whole building is full of people," She said, then stepped away. "No way we can get through, I suggest surrender – it's immediate death but I have nothing else to live for, you'll probably be okay too."
Vic put a finger under his chin and an arm on his waist, "Hmm… that does look grim, Let's try anyway!" he said, then snapped his fingers, "I've got an idea that could work, follow me!"
Vic then left Vivian in the room with the door open.
"Here we go," Vivian followed after him "Yay me!"
So she followed Vic as they walked along the hallway, hiding their footsteps and anything that could prove their presences.
They were walking past a row of doors when without much of a warning, Vic opened a door next to him and stepped into the open room.
Vivian, confused at first, entered the room with him without much of a resistance, and closed it from behind.
The room they entered looked to be a small guest room, with all the rustic furniture covered in white clothes and cobwebs and dust, the room looked like it hadn't been used in a long time.
Vic walked through the furniture and leaped over some wires and ropes till he got to the window. He flung it open and started climbing out of it till he got outside, to the car park where he stood, waiting for Vivian.
And like clockwork, she closed the door behind her and walked through the dusty room, dragging her legs and bumping into some furniture and climbing out the window as Vic had done.
"The ambulance would be here any hour from now, let's do it, yeah?"
With that, he ran towards the parked jeeps under the large blue canopy, Vivian following behind him.
Vic was then in front of a jeep, at the driver's door
"You are open!" He called out and pulled against the door handle, which, to Vivian's surprise, swings the door open. "After you?" he said with a satisfied smile.
At this time, she couldn't be mystified.
But she didn't like where he was going with all of this.
"What are you going to do?"
"All will be clear when we get there," He gave a vague answer, "Now get in before this chance ceases to EXIST!"
"You're not planning to drive… Are you?" She wanted to confirm.
"You followed me all the way here and you're asking questions now?? Just get in." he sounding like he was in a haste.
He had a good point.
Or she had no answer.
She crawled into the jeep, sitting on the passenger's seat.
"OKAY!" Vic exclaimed as he hoped into the driver's seat.
He locked the doors and looked down at the keyhole to see it empty.
"Too easy, yeah?" he smiled as he began opening the compartments into the car, he found the car keys in the pigeon hole. "Oh there we go."
Vic then started the car by pressing the accelerator and turning the key to the right. The car roared with the sound of its engine echoing all over the compound, anyone in there could've heard it.
He looked at the gear shaft with a puzzled expression
"Where's gear 1?"
Vivian slapped her own forehead.
"This car has an automatic transmission, you didn't have to push on the accelerator or-"
"Huh?"
Her shoulders slouched.
"You can't drive can you…?
"Just give me the basics, yeah?"
"Shift the gear shaft to D… or something."
She wasn't any better, most of her info on driving was from watching others.
"Oh yeah, obviously D is for Drive, duh?"
He shifted the gear stick to D
"Now what?"
"Go!"
He didn't see them coming, but about three guards had walked up to the car and surrounded it at all sides. One who looked like the main guard banged on the window of the driver seat to get Vic's attention.
"HEY! OPEN THIS DOOR NOW!"
"Dotu's…?"
Soon after he said that, he hit his leg on the accelerator and pushed it as hard as he could, causing the vehicle to dash forward, pushing Vivian into her seat, and causing the guards to jump back.
The jeep rushed with such force and speed across the compound, it broke open down the huge black gate. It swung out and let the vehicle drive out of the building and once again, into the open community.
Or rather, into the overgrown bushes in front of the Dotu's compound
"…!!!"
Vivian thought she was going to throw up.
"You know, they used to call me the 'Car King'?"
He pressed hard against the brake pedal and kept the steering wheel spinning leftwards, but the car didn't turn into the left direction at the right speed and the forward momentum from the speeds of a minute ago were hard to control, turning suddenly like that almost made the large vehicle capsize on its side.
Vic leaned to the left of the car,
Vivian, noticing what he was trying to do, did likewise,
And the car followed, and landed on all fours again.
That manoeuvrer left them both out of breath.
"I can't believe that worked."
But the main guard along with guard Wisdom and some others were heading in the direction of the now parked jeep.
"Shoot a hole in the tires Wisdom, before they leave!"
Wisdom turned around to look at the boss guard,
"Sir?"
Then…
"DRIVE, they're coming!"
"Oh yeah!"
He stepped on the accelerator once again and rocketed out of the area with only the tire marks on the dirt road as a trace.
The drive was a silent one, both parties being too stunned to say anything, but Vivian's mind recovered from its clogged state and started racing at a million thoughts per second as it had done before they left the underground prison.