OLD - Week 1 Day 6 Afternoon

They gathered outside the building, the clock showing that it was exactly noon. As Ellyn exited the building the midday sun was blinding, she held a hand to her forehead to shield her eyes.

 “Wouldn’t have been better to sneak into somewhere at night?” asked Ellyn,

“Well, like I said it’s mostly underground so it doesn’t matter when we go, Noon is a time that just works!” Seth Explained.

She looked around and counted 6 of the members from last night’s meeting were there, including herself and Seth. Ellyn saw the moustashe man from last night, who she now knew was called Blueberry. The bearded man as well, his name was Clarence, and the dark skinned man called Dahveed was there. Seth’s cart stood nearby, its unorganised nature looking more evident in the light. They had just finished going through some hand gestures that they would use during the activity, Ellyn tried it on Seth by pointing to her eyes then too Acorn. Seth nodded and told Acorn to stay with the cart. They joined the others, and Julian spoke up, “right, now we are all here we can commence!” He then went around the circle handing out bits of grey tape. “What is this for?” Ellyn asked. “It’s to stop you making noises when we get in there” Explained Seth, “Like if you stubbed your toe, this will stop you from yelling out.”

“That is so not comforting…” said Ellyn. Seth just smiled at her, “Oh, I forgot.” He said reaching into his satchel and pulled out the two blue vials from yesterday. “Don’t drink it until he says” said Seth indicating to Julian.

“Is everyone ready?” Julian said and all in the circle nodded together looking at one another. “You all know the rules, my word is law, don’t get left behind, no heroism and don’t be an idiot” He said with a nod to Seth,

“Ok, let’s not waste any more time!” Julian finished then downed his own vial of blue stuff. Ellyn looked around and everybody else had done the same, Seth looked to her and said “I suggest drinking it as fast as you can, it doesn’t taste that nice” Seth then proceeded to drink his own vial in one gulp, he then made a face at Ellyn with his mouth wide open, showing that the stuff in the vial had coloured it bright blue, Ellyn giggled then drank hers. When Seth told her that it didn’t taste nice he was more than slightly understating it. It was the worst tasting thing she’d ever had, Seth laughed at her as she grimaced at the taste. When she finished, Seth took the empty vial off her. Ellyn could feel the liquid trickling down her throat, which caused her to cough, Seth rubbed her back to try and comfort her, as the first time is never fun. Ellyn overcame the coughing and she looked around at the others, Julian who had gone first was jumping on the spot, others were jogging on the spot, Seth seemed to be able to remain calm but Ellyn could feel him shaking, “What’s going on?” Asked Ellyn,

“The liquid is special byronium as I’ve said, but what it does is it gives you a rather large energy boost mixed with adrenaline, anyway you’ll need it for this”, as Seth was speaking Ellyn could feel the liquid taking effect, Seth now saw this and nodded to Julian, “come on then!” He shouted then sprinted off towards the trees. Seth helped Ellyn up off the floor and then dragged her to a run after Julian and the others.

Ellyn felt as if she could run for days, there wasn’t a single ounce of her body that didn’t want her to go faster. Seth ran up beside her, and pointed to a passing tree, which was covered in sap, “Don’t touch those” he said “or you’ll never get out.” Ellyn now made special care to avoid those trees. After about 10 minutes of running Ellyn heard a shout from the front, and as it was passed down the line of runners she heard it was a command of “MASKS ON, SINGLE FILE, DON’T STOP”, Ellyn quickly pulled up her mask over her mouth and nose. The path narrowed to one track and Ellyn fell in line in front of Seth. Ellyn looked in front of her and saw a wall of fog which they were quickly approaching. Ellyn saw Julian disappear into the fog, followed by the rest of the team. Ellyn plunged into the fog, trying to keep to the path. After 20 meters or so, the path changed into a wooden boardwalk, their footsteps echoing through the mist. Ellyn looked down between the planks and saw that they were above some sort of toxic bog, there were sections of bubbling green water, followed by large areas of thick brown mud. There were several occasions where she thought she saw something moving under the surface. Her mask was making running harder as it took longer to draw enough breath. It was another 5 minutes before they emerged from the fog, the path quickly opened to a large field where Shouts once more spread down the line, this time saying “MASKS OFF, AT EASE” and saw the others stop running and walk instead. When she heard Ellyn quickly pulled off her mask and took in a lungful of air. She stopped so that she could walk next to Seth.

“What was that?” she asked Seth

“Some kind of nuclear waste-dump, radioactive and toxic barrels used to be buried there but a flood brought them all to the surface and contaminated the land.” He explained.

“Is that why we had to run?” quizzed Ellyn

“Sort of, mostly it’s so that no-one can tell that the building is our base but it’s not good to stop anywhere in those woods.” Seth seemed serious about this. They regrouped underneath a large flat tree that was only 10 metres high.

“Is everyone still with us?” Julian asked, the group nodded collectively. “How much left to go?” Ellyn asked.

“It’s just dair!” said Dahveed pointing to a pair of trees that looked suspiciously like a pair of aerials. Ellyn shrugged and tightened the straps on her outfit. They walked over to the aerials, and in between them was a vent, Julian whispered “Tape up!” and the group placed the tape over their mouths, Blueberry and Clarence wrestling with their facial hair so that the tape didn’t pull off their faces. Julian waved Ellyn in first and made noises that sounded like “Ladies first”. The vent was a metre square hole in the ground, Dahveed and Seth had pulled a grate off of it, so they could get in. Ellyn lowered herself into the hole, the metal was cold to touch despite the warm sun, even when she was hanging at full length she couldn’t find the floor, Seth walked over with a feather and began to tickle Ellyns fingers with it, she shook her head and tried to protest, but of course only noises emerged. After a few seconds, Ellyn let go, and fell one foot, before sliding down an angled incline within the vent, the bottom was smooth and gave no purchase as Ellyn tried to scrabble to stop herself. She slid to a stop when the vent levelled out, there was a few bits of leaves and other debris that had fallen through the grate, all of it was dry, luckily though Ellyn. She crawled up to a fan at the end and waited there for the others. Soon after, Seth arrived at the bottom, with an uncomfortably loud “whumph”. He crawled forwards to Ellyn and the vent. The room past the fan included a large block of some sort of machinery, as well as a table with chairs. The table was large and made from a dark wood, it was littered with bits of paper. The others arrived in quick succession behind Seth, and all grouped together at the fan. Julian nodded to Seth and he peered into the room, he was just about to turn off a fan when a man entered the room. He was tall and muscular and wore a tan uniform complete with hat. His black boots seeming loud on the concrete floor. He wore many badges on his top; he looked like some high-up official. Seth retracted his arm, and signed to Julian that someone was in there. Julian considered for a moment, and signed for them all to wait. And wait they did.