Virginia was doing her best to remain calm. The last twelve hours of her life had been surely the worst.
Leaving out the headache and the frightful state of her body. She had no idea where she was or how did she get there to being in the first place, and they weren´t getting any answers from this girl called Ludmila either.
One moment she was doing breakfast for his husband and sending off her daughter and the next she was in the airtight-dark cubicle, dragged out by the infuriating screech of the alarm.
Was her husband in a similar position to hers? What about her daughter?
Edward… Camile…
Thinking about her about her daughter and husband only made her feel more miserable, so she had decided not to from very early on.
Well, she did try asking Ludmila about her daughter, no, tried asking would be an understatement, she pleaded for answers but to no avail.
“After you sleep again and are more stable I’ll tell everything” Were the words the young woman stated. Virginia wanted to believe it but a part of her just couldn´t, maybe two parts.
“Everything all right?” asked Adrian.
“Y-Yes, of course!” She answered, maybe with a little more of enthusiasm than necessary for the situation “At least as much as it can be…”
Adrian nodded as he finished the preparation for her to sleep in the hall-room.
Virginia couldn´t go back to sleep in the cubicle, she wasn´t claustrophobic but something about it terrified her, and wasn´t it natural? The surprise was Ludmila convincing the others to do so.
The hall-room was a relative medium sized but really stylish room that was just outside the corridor with the cubicles. It had the map for the complex as well as a table and a two black chesterfield sofas with thirty cm long footing and four cushions that were her bed and pillows for this night.
“Are you going to be alright? Do you really don´t want to sleep in the cubicles? They are so comfortable!!” mumbled Ludmila.
“I´ll be just fine, I think” Virginia tried to sketch out a smile but it didn´t came out quite right.
“Okay, okay, but remember! If you need anything I´ll be at the gym!” said Ludmila as she left the room.
“Anyways, I´ll be on the bike to see if I can get a few kilometers off that mark before I go to sleep, feel free to drop by if you feel scared… or need anything” said Adrian.
“Yes, I´ll do that”
Even though Adrian was at least 8 years younger than her, he gave this trustworthy feeling that was hard to come by and it was just what she needed to calm herself at a moment like this.
As Adrian left to the gym Ross came through it, they exchanged a glare and a smile and went on their way.
In the past hours those two came together nicely but Virginia wouldn´t call it a friendship, it was more the bond between two people with the same goal, a silent agreement of cooperation.
Even though Ludmila warned them against overworking themselves those two were dead set on opening the doors and getting out of there as soon as possible.
As for the way out, it was pretty straightforward, they just needed to open the big door at the end of the hallway on the other side of the complex as was explained for Ludmila while they were touring through the complex.
The door was hexagon shaped and had four lights on its bottom half, three red ones and a green one for the doors they had yet to open and the one they already opened respectively.
Straightforward but tricky
The door already opened was the first one in the corridor with the cubicles.
As for the doors yet to be opened, there was one in the cold chamber, one in the garden and one in the gym.
The door at the gym was the first one the group came by while exploring the complex. This door was far the simplest, it had an exercise bike right in front of it and a counter on top with the number 4.000 and initials kms. Using the exercise bike would make the counter go down.
Even though there was no riddle, this was the one that made the group the more hatred. There was only one bike and Adrian estimated that based on the speed of the average speed of it, 4 days was the bare minimum the group cold hope to clear this door in
¿Are we going to be 4 days locked up in this place? The thought past through everyone´s head, followed up by the calming words of Ludmila that even though they already heard a thousand times until now, they didn´t fail to comfort everyone.
Virginia thought that there was definitely something charming about her.
And four days was nothing short.
The second door they visited was the one in the cold chamber, right after the warehouse in the kitchen.
The food supplies could last for at least three months if properly managed, and in that she was in charge. She had not only cooked breakfast but also lunch and dinner for the group, act that allowed to free her head, at least for a short while.
Regarding the door, there wasn´t a lot to talk about, it was on the right corner of the chamber so the light from the door to the warehouse couldn´t quite fill it in which made it impossible to see the riddle, the door, or anything at all on that side of the room.
They tried reflecting the light from the warehouse using a knife to light it up but it was fruitless, the knifes had a somewhat opaque edge which made the reflection too weak to distinguish anything on the cold dark of the chamber.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Before leaving the warehouse William found a pack of beer. A find he wanted to celebrate with Teodoro before Ludmila strongly advised against it.
William was a strange fellow, he had an old fashion way to talk as well as a weird concept on technology. He got scared at the fact of the doors opening by themselves and repeatedly extended his hand to open them before they automatically opened.
Every door in the complex was automated so this became a habit for him. Virginia found it weird he never saw one before, she knew they weren´t that common in some countries but still.
The third and last of the small doors was the one in the garden.
The garden was by far the biggest room in the complex. Every single inch of it was filled with green wiry grass and flamboyant flowers. Virginia loved flowers and could cross herself as knowledgeable on the matter but she couldn´t recognize half the flowers on the place, varying from strange color frames to weird shapes.
“Do you like flowers too?” asked Ludmila crossing her fingers behind her back and leaning her hips forward.
“Yes” she answered bashfully.
A robust sycamore like tree stood beautifully in the middle of the room, surrounded by the beautiful color scheme of the flowers it caught everyone´s eyes the moment they entered the room.
It was so beautiful Virginia thought she could stare at it forever, she wished her husband and daughter were with her to see it.
Or in another thought, maybe not.
Much like the big door at the end of the hallway this one had 3 lights, the difference being the red button and a card sized gap to the right.
It didn´t take too long for Ross the button presser maniac, to press the button, and a yellow card came of the gap, the instructions were simple yet tiring.
“1.500 km on bike” read Ross.
Everyone sighed.
After that, they made a schedule to use the bike to open the door as fast as possible, despite Ludmila warning against it.
First was Ross who just finished his shift on the bike and took a shower, second Adrian, followed by Teodoro and finally William.
Herself and Victoria didn´t take shifts on the bike duty but had other tasks to fulfill as part of the group, her job was cleaning and Victoria had to work on opening the door in the cold chamber.
As for Leonardo, he was the last person to wake up and get out of his cubicle, the man seemed dizzy and for good reason, the rest of the group was young and they were all in a frail sensitive state after getting out of the cubicle, Leonardo who seemed to be no younger than ninety years old had to be devastated so everyone decided it was for the better to just let him rest.
“Are you going to eat something before bed?” asked Virginia.
“No, I´m fine, where is the rest?” answered Ross.
“Teodoro is in the playroom and Virginia is still at the cold chamber. Leonardo went to sleep after talking to Ludmila… ah, William already went to sleep as well”
“Huh? What did they talk about?”
“I don´t know, they did so in the cubicles”
“I see, well, I´m heading off, you should take a bath before going to sleep too, it was a hell of a day” mocked Ross doing a gesture with his fingers that she smelled while entering the room the cubicle´s room.
“Ahh..ah..h.. RR-Right, I´ll do that!” She answered, trying to cover her red face as much as she could while heading off.
Crossing through the gym she saw Adrian and Ludmila at the bike near the door, they seemed to be talking about something and when she was noticed, Ludmila smiled at her.
Nodding, Virginia jumped into the bathroom, and started undressing.
Starting with her sweater and skirt, followed by her shirt and socks she quickly noticed she didn´t grab the change of clothed she left prepared at the hall-room.
Quickly, she dressed back and went out to the hall-room.
She quickly pounced toward her bed-couch where she left the change of clothes and grabbed it.
*CRACK*
The sound of shattered glass quickly followed so she moved her right feat to find a pair of glasses just next to her bed-couch.
She bent down and carefully picked them up.
The right glass was completely shattered and in a useless state but the left one was untouched. She sighed in relief.
Didn´t William say he couldn’t see much without glasses? Maybe it could help him, Virginia pet the glasses over the table near the teddy bear Teodoro found in the hall-room and made a mental note to deliver them to William once he wakes up.
Back on track, with her new change of clothes Virginia resumed her bath journey and quickly got over it.
Back again to the hall-room she met Victoria and Teodoro who were going to sleep as well, Virginia followed them to the room and saw them off into their respective cubicles. Only the cubicles of Adrian and Ludmila remained open.
Victoria then returned to the hall-room, shut down the lights, grabbed the teddy bear and laid down on the bed, sleeping in this kind of situation was hard, she was always restless, but this time it was justified.
She hugged the teddy bear as strong as she would hug her daughter when she returned, if she returned… No! If things were as Ludmila said maybe this was all a misunderstanding and she would be back at home with her family in no time.
Yes, maybe that was it, the young woman didn´t feel like a liar, what´s more, she felt trustworthy, but didn´t overdo it, she knew they were scared and acted so according to the situation so they didn´t get overwhelmed.
If she was in her place, she would probably make everyone else freak out and kill each other. The thought made her smile, it was good to have her.
Virginia quickly opened her eyes, she didn´t know how much time she had slept or if she even sleep any to begin with but if she did then, she could hear from Ludmila where they were and why.
The thought made her feel anxious and prone to get up but suddenly she heard footsteps and the sound of a door opening.
Adrian? Ludmila?
She swallowed, the sound of footsteps in the dark, an unknown place, taking all the factors into account of course she would freak out, and rightful so, even if there was no reason to freak out about since it was probably Adrian after finishing with the bike, he had to be.
But if he wasn´t?
Virginia warily, without moving a finger tried to examine the dark room, but to no avail.
The sound of the steps grew closer and closer, she was now sure, they weren´t coming from the gym, but from the opposite direction, she swallowed again, her heartbeat doubled and the doubt invaded her mind.
What if the person behind all this decided to show himself?
What if Ludmila lied?
The pressure was too much, and to make things worse, she had dropped the teddy bear in her sleep, that was the deterrent. In a heartbeat, gathering all her courage she stood up and ran as fast as she could to the gym´s door, Ludmila or Adrian had to be there.
She ran as fast as possible and heard a brute move coming from behind which only made things worse.
Adrian was still on the bike but Ludmila wasn´t anywhere to be seen, so she ran as fast as she could towards Adrian.
“Adrian!” she screamed.
Adrian turned back to find the thirty one years old woman tearing up running as fast as she could towards him, so naturally he had to ask.
“Virginia? What happened?” He quickly got off the bike and grabbed her shoulders.
It took a few seconds for her to swallow her tears enough so she could start talking.
“I-I heard footsteps and got scared, so, so I ran and…” she couldn´t help herself from tearing up but, the courage she had shown was plenty and Adrian comforted her.
“Go to the garden, Ludmila is there, I´ll check out if the hall-room is safe”
“N-No! Don’t leave me!”
“It´s ok, you will be fine, I promise”
Adrian stood up and headed towards the hall-room. Virginia didn´t want to be alone, but didn´t want to go to the hall-room either. The moor between two evils, quickly Virginia decided going to the garden, cleaning her tears as much as she could on her way there.
Took a few more sobs and a quick glare at Adrian before he headed into the hall-room for her to reach the garden´s door.
The sycamore tree stood beautifully in the middle of the room as it had always, underneath, Ludmila´s corpse coldly stared at her with the head barely clinging to her bleeding neck.
The colorful flowers that ornamented the beautiful garden were now mostly dyed red.
Virginia fainted.