Page 97 of Rebel Rising: A Dystopian Romance

We stopped suddenly with a massive crash and we were thrown down in a heap of tangled limbs.

"Is everyone ok?" Coal called out. His flashlight had gone off and we were left in darkness.

“No," Alicia replied with a groan of pain.

“I think I'm in one piece," Laurie confirmed.

“Maya?" Coal called.

I heard him fumbling with something and the flashlight flickered back to life. Someone had landed on top of me and winded me badly enough that I couldn't speak. Coal was at my side in a moment, I saw him wince as he put weight on his right leg but he covered it quickly.

His hand twisted into my hair as he helped to prop me up and checked me over.

"I'm fine, just winded I think."

My arm was throbbing with pain too so I wriggled my fingers experimentally and was relieved to find no evidence of a break.

Coal shone the flashlight above us. We’d fallen down a further three floors before crashing to the bottom.

"Shit, for a minute there, I seriously thought we were all dead," Alicia gasped as she clambered upright and brushed herself off.

“I think I might be," Laurie said, laying flat on the roof of the elevator and taking a huge shuddering breath. Coal pulled me to my feet, his eyes lingering on mine as he finished his examination and I offered him a shy smile.

“I'm fine too, thanks for checking," Alicia goaded him.

“You're bullet proof Liss. I'm not gunna waste my time worrying about you," he replied casually.

"Or me apparently," Laurie huffed, rolling herself upright.

“Okay, okay - shut up now." Coal stepped away from me and slammed his boot down onto the hatch. It finally gave up and shattered into pieces.

Coal jumped down and thankfully, though it bounced a little, the elevator stayed firmly in place.

Fuck doing that ever again.

The elevator doors opened onto a room with glass partitions splitting it into sections. It was lit with a dim red glow from several lights which hung around the space. Some form of emergency lighting was running on the bottom floor.

There were guard stations on either side of the corridor beyond the elevator and signs stating the floor to be 'Level Eight Security Access Only.'

“Well, would you look at that? Turns out I'm level eight cleared," Coal joked as he whipped out the ID badge he’d pocketed earlier.

A few steps beyond the elevator, a smoked glass wall blocked our path. The centre of it held a door which had a keycard scanner.

“Here's hoping there's enough power left to make this work," Coal said, swiping the card.

“Welcome to level eight, Eric," a mechanical sounding voice greeted us as the door slid open.

Coal grinned and we moved inside. The room was laid out in a kind of twisting pathway which threaded through all of the partitioned zones. Smoked glass encased the zones which each contained a computer console with more buttons than I had any idea what to do with and several screens.

"Jackpot." Alicia smiled broadly and strode ahead. The room twisted on and on and soon I couldn't see the elevator behind us.

A thin, ringing clatter, like something falling to the floor drew my attention back the way we’d come and I paused, glancing over my shoulder.

“Did you hear that?" I asked the others.

“What?" Laurie turned her head too and we stood for a moment, listening.

“I dunno, I must have imagined it." I shrugged and we hurried to catch up to Alicia.