"Are you sure you're okay with us being here?" I asked, shining my phone's flashlight down the metal stairs.
"Yes, baby," Zen said. "I wasn't just got let you go back here alone. Not with that ghost lurking around here. Most likely." I put my arm around Zen's wide back and let my arm rest on side of their belly.
"What was that?" Zen said. I felt their body shiver.
"Relax, that's just me," I said.
"Oh," Zen said. They let out sigh. I pulled them to me and gave them a kiss on the cheek. I let them go.
"I really appreciate you coming back here with me even though you almost-" I said. "Its just I couldn't sit around all day doing nothing while we don't really know what's in store for us when we finally face the kidnappers. We don't even know if they'll just give us Bea back like that. We have to prepare ourselves somehow."
"Yup," Zen said. "I know." Zen grabbed my right hand and squeezed it.
"We'll get Bea back from Valentina or Maxine," Zen said. "The question is, which one of did it?" I sighed.
"We're going to know eventually," I said. "When we meet them at the carnival."
"Tailing them isn't a good idea either," Zen said. "We're going to look suspicious if they catch us plus their body guards just might shoot us once they notice we're following them."
"Yeah," I said. "So all we can do now is observe them. At least she and her dad got one thing right and forced themselves into the charity event. So all we can do is this." I stretched my neck a whole circle.
"Maybe we can ask Robert for help?" Zen said.
"I don't think that's a good idea," I said. "I'm not saying that I don't trust him but right now I think its better for us to be suspicious of him too, after all, he works for Maxine. We don't know what he knows."
"You're absolutely right," Zen said. "But I hate that it has come to this."
"Yeah," I said.
"I hope we can finish all of this sooner," Zen said. I nodded.
"Let's go?" I asked.
"Let's go," Zen said. I started climbing down the metal staircase. The clang of the metal echoed around us. When we reached the basement, I shone my phone's flashlight around. Zen did the same.
"They cleaned up," Zen said. "The blood streaks are gone." I took a deep sniff. Ammonia, I thought.
"I think they've just been here," I said. "The smell of the cleaning supplies they used is still around."
"You're right," Zen said. I took a step.
"Shit!" I said. My foot slid farther than I had intended. I felt one of Zen's big arms on my back and the other on my waist.
"Thanks," I said. I turned my foot to the left and slowly pulled it back. I slowly stood up with Zen's help.
"Newly mopped?" Zen said.
"Yeah," I said. I flashed the my phone's flashlight on the floor. It shined back.
"We should walk slowly then," Zen said.
"Yup," I said. We slowly walked towards the the door at the opposite side of the room.
"How do we open the door?" Zen said.
"We pick the lock, by we I mean you," I said. Zen sighed.
"I'm rusty so if I can't, don't get mad," Zen said.
"I have a plan B," I said and patted my bag.
"You brought a crowbar?" Zen said.
"I mean we can use it to try and open the door and use it as a weapon," I said. We arrived in front of the door. We shined our flashlights on the doorknob.
"And there's no keyhole," Zen said. I moved phone to shine around the door. I squinted to look at the bottom left corner of the door.
"Its open," I said. I slowly pushed the door open.
"I don't like this," Zen said. "I doubt they're careless like this."
"I still want to go," I said. "I'm not leaving here until I find some sort of clue."
"I know," Zen said. They walked past the door. I followed them. The stench of sewers filled the air. Ew, I thought. I covered my nose and continued walking. It echoed as we walked. I shined my flashlight below me.
A grated metal walkway in a tunnel, I thought. This must be how they get around so quickly. I shined my flashlight around me to see that the tunnel was more spacious that I initially thought. I bumped into Zen who stopped in front of me.
"Zen?" I asked.
"The walkway splits five ways," Zen said.
"Shit," I said. "Are there signs?"
"No," Zen said. "Just shapes."
"Shapes?" I said. "What shapes are there?"
"Starting from the left, a star, a flower, a diamond, a book, and a cap," Zen said.
"Hmmmm," I said. "Let's try the flower."
"A hunch?" Zen said.
"No, a guess," I said. "There's nothing that indicates what does shapes mean and how we should read them. Its better to pick one and not waste time." We continued walking to the northwest grated metal walkway.
"I'm surprised," Zen said.
"About what?" I asked.
"I would've though you'd want to maybe think about what places these symbols can lead to," Zen said.
"I want to know but we don't really know how the kidnappers think with these things so its hard to deduce," I said.
"Ahhhh," Zen said.
"I'm surprised too," I said.
"Why?" Zen asked.
"Because you're being brave right now, even if its so dark around us," I said.
"I realized its not the dark that's scary but what's hiding within it," Zen said. "So as long as there's no sign of anything like that, I'm fine. Plus, you're with me." I rubbed their back.
"I'm glad to hear that," I said.
"Thanks," Zen said. The walkway led us to turn multiple times and go down a few floors.
"Where are we?" I said.
"This place is confusing," Zen said as they stopped. "I don't understand how those kidnappers use this." I stopped behind them.
"Another one?" I said.
"Yeah," Zen said.
"How many this time?" I asked.
"Six," Zen said.
"What are the shapes?" I asked.
"A gun, a square, a circle, a flower, a basket, and a top-hat," Zen said.
"Maybe the flower then and see where it leads us to," I said.
"Okay," Zen said. We continued on the metal grated walkway with the flower shape.
"I wonder how long do these go," I said. "And how many places it leads to."
"Too many to count," Zen said. "Its the only explanation how they can follow us easily."
"And why we can only follow them through this walkway," I said. "Or at least try to." We turned left, then right, then forward before turning right, and then left. My phone vibrated. Zen stopped again.
"Seriously?" Zen said. "Can we take a break?"
"Sure," I said. Zen sat down in front of me. I turned around and sat down. I checked my phone and saw that Virginia sent a text. I opened my phone for the full message.
"Virginia wants to talk," I said. "She said she feels weird about the charity event and why the company is investing heavily on this." I locked my phone.
"She catching up," Zen said. "I wish we can get her help on all this. She would've been a good detective like you."
"I agree," I said. "But, we still can't. I'm sure those hooded kidnappers are still watching us and if we rope Virginia in, they're going to torture Bea and Maine, and now Rammie too." I leaned on Zen's back.
"Fuck," Zen said. "Do you think they're watching us right now?"
"Most likely," I said. "This is their territory."
"But why are they letting us roam around?" Zen said.
"Like you said, it must be part of their plan," I said.
"Then why are we doing this?" Zen said.
"There's still a small chance that they're not watching us and we find a clue here that can help us that Bea or Maine left," I said.
"We already found what Maine left," Zen said.
"No," I said. "Maine didn't leave that. The kidnappers did."
"What?" Zen said.
"They wanted us to know that they have Maine," I said. "Though it doesn't confirm if they're the same ones who took Bea. But with everything-"
"Its most likely they are," Zen said.
"Yeah," I said. I stretched my arms up.
"We should go," I said. "I don't think its safe for us to stay here for long." I stood up and turned to face Zen. I watched them stand up. They forward a bit.
"So we have a triangle, a bottle, a-" Zen said.
"Zen?" I said.
"Blood," Zen said.
"What?" I said.
"There's blood on this walkway," Zen said.
"It must be the right way then," I said. "What's the symbol?"
"A flower," Zen said.
"Maybe it leads to where they hold their new captives," I said.
"Rammie," Zen said. They bolted forward on the bloodied walkway.
"Zen!" I shouted. I ran after them. We turned left then right then right again but I suddenly can't see them. I continued running on the walkway. I hate their heart sometimes, I thought. I took a couple more turns before I saw a light at the far end of the walkway.
Finally, I thought. I stopped running and switched to dragging my feet. I took deep breaths as I walked towards Zen.
Why are they just standing there? I thought. Oh, they're not, they're kneeling. They found something? "Zen," I said when I was close enough.
"Dos," Zen said. "You need to see this." They did find something, I thought. I walked closer to Zen and peeked over.
"Shit!" I said and fell backwards to the floor. I accidentally threw my phone but I was able to catch it before it slid to the right and falling down into the endless pit below us. Its not something, its someone, I thought. I stood up and walked closer to Zen to peek once more.
"Is that-" I said.
"Helen," Zen said.
"Shit," I said. "Is she breathing?"
"Yeah," Zen said. "We should get her to a hospital soon though."
"No hospital," Helen said weakly.
"Helen," Zen said. "Stay awake okay?"
"Carry her," I said. "Give me your bag. Let's go back the same way. We don't know how farther it is if we continue." Zen handed me their bag and their cellphone.
"Okay," Zen said. Out of nowhere, lights shone on my eyes. I saw that they were coming from in front of us.
"Hey!" one of them shouted.
"Stop right there," another one shouted.
"Shit," I said. "Hurry Zen. We have to go." I watched as Zen carried Helen like a baby. They put her arms around their neck.
"Run!" Zen said. I turned around and started running back through the walkway where we came from. Shit, shit, shit! I thought. The people behind us continued shouting at us.
"Faster Dos!" Zen shouted.
"Can you keep up?" I shouted back.
"Yes so run faster!" Zen shouted. I ran faster. I steadily shone the walkway with our phone's flashlights. Are we close? I thought. I shone the flashlights around me quickly.
Shit! I said. I can't tell. "They're catching up!" Zen shouted. I turned back and saw the lights getting closer. The walkway and the room started to shake. I stopped and held on to the railings.
An earthquake? I thought. I turned around and saw Zen holding onto the railings while barely holding onto Helen. I walked towards them. I felt something big hold onto my torso.
The ghost? I thought. Seriously? I was slowly being pulled up.
"Dos!" Zen shouted.
"Let go of me!" I shouted. I felt their grip tighten around me. I felt something heavy on my head.
"AGHHHHHHH!" I shouted. I quickly put our phones in my pants' pockets. I pushed back on the heavy thing with my hands. It feels like a hand, I thought.
"You really want to finish what you started before huh?" I shouted. Where is your fucking face? I thought. Judging from your hands. I left my left hand pushing against the hand on top of me and used my right hand to open my backpack. I grabbed the crowbar I brought. I aimed at where I thought their face was.
There, I thought and threw the crowbar. It hit with a clang. The room stopped shaking, the grip on my body lightened, and the pushing down from above me stopped.
Shit, shit, shit, I thought. I pushed myself up onto the giant hand.
"Follow my voice!" Zen said. I put my hands forwards, ready to grab something. I jumped towards Zen's voice. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, I thought as I fell in the darkness.
"Zennnnnnnnnn!" I said. I felt a hand grab mine. I sighed. Zen started to pull me up. I used my other hand to grab onto the railings and push myself up. A light slowly shone on face. Once I was over the railing and on the walkway, we both fell down onto it. We were both breathing heavily.
"Thanks," I said.
"Anytime," Zen said.
"That was close," I said.
"Yeah," Zen said.
"Where?" I said as I pointed to the lantern. It was barely glowing but enough to see a few inches around.
"A hooded guy left it," Zen said. I pushed myself up. They ran away? I thought.
"Helen," I said. "We need to get Helen out of here and bandage her wounds." I quickly brought out our phones from my pockets. I turned on both phone's flashlights.
"Where's Helen?" I asked.
"Behind you," Zen said. I turned around and saw Helen laying on the walkway.
"Let me," Zen said as they squeezed past me.
"Yeah," I said. I watched as Zen carried Helen like a baby once more.
"Let's get out of here," Zen said. I nodded.