Now that we aren’t in danger, I am able to get a better look at Claire.

She has light brown skin, and short blond hair. She is very tall, she looks like she is about three or four inches taller than me, and I am six feet tall.

I’m always bad at guessing age, but I would say she is between her mid thirties to late twenties.

She is wearing a clean light grey jumpsuit with a black tool belt, as well as the full-mask respirator that I gave her. The jumpsuit denotes her as an ‘maintenance technician’.

She has a plain face, and brown eyes. The most noticeable thing about her face are her eyebrows, which look like they are just growing in after being burned off.

…

*cough*

She draws my attention.

‘Shit I must have looked like a total creep, just staring at her for a minute.’

“So, what happened with you?” She asks me.

Stolen novel; please report.

I think back onto the events that lead up to this moment and begin my story.

“After the alarm started ringing I tried to make it into the panic room, but there was a huge crowd, I didn’t think I would make it in time so I hid in my janitors closet until the fighting stopped.”

She nods.

I continue my story. “I tried to see if I could send a signal or find out what was going on from the security room, but the entire system is offline. Then I decided that I needed some sort of weapon to defend myself, my plan was to get to the elevator, go down to storage and see if I could find any weapons or supplies so that I can survive until help comes. But the elevator is sealed tight.”

“With my tools I should be able to fix that.” She interrupts.

“Then I saw your signal. On the way here I got into a fight with two aliens, I survived but they aren’t as lucky.” I finish.

“I see.” She replies. “Last night I had to cover for someone, so I stayed up late and didn’t get much sleep. Today, after I finished doing the basic maintenance check I was so tired that I decided to take a nap.”

I yawn, I feel tired too.

“Then I woke up to the sound of the alarms but couldn’t move. You see, I get sleep paralysis. By the time I could move again, well. I realized that staying here is safer than trying to reach the panic room. So I waited, the I decided to try and send a message to see if there were any survivors, and to get them to come here because it is safe. That was about half an hour ago.” She ends.

“So you said that you can get through the elevator’s door with your tools?” I ask.

“Yes, it will take a while, and be a little noisy but it should be possible, I’m not a senior maintenance technician for nothing.” she boasts. “Are you sure it is safe out there?”

“No, but if we stay here eventually long term exposure to the toxic air will kill you, mask or no mask.” I answer.

I check my EHS, “The indicator is on dark orange, which would be the equivalent of being inside a burning building and breathing in the smoke, and skin contact would be like poison ivy, but your jumpsuit should last a while.” I relay. “And it’s probably only going to get worse. Anything out there that isn’t dead yet, is either going to be dead soon, or is immune.”

“Well, I guess we should get out of here asap.” She says.

She grabs her tool box and wrench, and I grab my trash bag, I ditch my bloody scissors for a crowbar. Then I open the door.