We were jogging towards the flight of stairs to the back exit of the 3rd basement floor when Bennie raised his balled fist and took a knee. I followed his posture and awaited his next move. He paused for 3 seconds and looked at me over his shoulder. Raising a pointed finger to his lips similar to a quiet sign and tapping his open palm to his shoulder. Okay, understandable. Be quiet and watch our six.

We slowly stood up crouched jog towards the 3rd basement floor exit stairs. Well those airsoft sessions we had really are useful in this kind of situation. Alright compartmentalize, focus. Dissimilate the situation, remove unneeded questions, and follow Bennie's lead.

One: There is a critical failure in the facility.

Those emergency lights are a sign of it. Never, I mean never did the lights went out like that in a year of our job here in the mesa. The facility was new including the equipment and machinery. So it's either someone fucked up or it's an emergency maintenance routine, but that is usually accompanied by announcements and posts on the bulletin board.

The mesa is decked out like this. The entrance 1st floor. The 2nd floor basement is where we keep all the equipment and types of machinery to keep the mesa running. All the heavy equipment, forklifts, barrels, working sections you name it it's there. The 3rd floor basement is the worker's quarters. Our bunkrooms for short. Here we each have a small but sizeable living space enough to call it a small apartment. Quirks of the job. Fully airconditioned accompanied by a small shower and personal toilet. A small kitchen and a small bed space. Imagine a shipping container but with a home on the inside. That's how it feels.

The 4th floor basement is the administrative area. All paperwork and the collar boys and girls as I like to call them are located there. All the costs and data about the maintenance and upkeep of the mesa are located there. I don't know why they built the mesa this way but I don't ask questions. As long as we get paid and go out whenever in our free time I don't really care about the details.

Two: The cause of the critical failure is either external or internal.

We have no way of knowing. No announcement on the PA. No advance info on the bulletin board. Nothing. Bennie and I have to assume it's internal. As for our job description. We need to keep the generators running, but the way Bennie implies right now. That isn't our job right now. Besides I ain't gonna clean up the mess the nightshift team created if ever they were the cause of this. Both Bennie and I follow the saying. You fucked something up, you clean it up, but that only applies outside of our sphere of influence. We always have each other's back. If one of us messes up, then damn it all to hell we'll fix it together or fail together. No questions asked, no blaming. Just solve the problem and be done with it.

If the problem was external, it's salvageable. Because no critical machineries are damaged and maybe some cables just short-circuited up from the facility to the town. The cause of the external is unimportant because there is another team assigned to that. The worst-case scenario is if the damage was internal. If the damage is too FUBAR (Fucked Up Beyond Any Recognition). I'm sure as hell Bennie and I won't step inside the generator for fear of being turned into crispy fried chickens human edition. Sure as hell we won't turn to Dr. Manhattan for that matter. That's fiction.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Three: We need to get as far away as possible.

As Bennie stated the urgency of us getting the hell out of dodge of this place. It's either something that came up or something is very wrong. I know Bennie. he isn't the one to fuck around when he has that look. The look of pure focus. Objectives first, questions later. Who am I to argue? Out of all the times he saved my ass during my life. I wouldn't even dare question him. Especially now when we are borrowing time. But I knew better, I knew something he doesn't even think about right now. He's so focused on getting out that he often forgets a very important fact in his line of thinking. Is the cause of our flight like scared kittens caused by the failure of the facility or something else altogether? Or maybe even both? I don't know. That's not the point. The point is.. *Booooom

I staggered and bumped my knee on the steps we were taking toward the 2nd-floor basement. "Fuck!" I groaned. "Get up! Move it! Don't make me kick you to make a point Richie!" he said while assisting me with his free hand. We were already panting a bit because seriously! We took the elevator for almost a year while working here and you expect us to be fit climbing almost a few hundred steps of stairs during an emergency no less? "Fucking Murphy is knocking on our doorstep already Big Ben," I said while panting. "No shit. that's why I took the stairs, not the elevator Richie," he replied while gasping for air.

I was so out of breath climbing these fucking stairs. Like yeah, I get it. Powers out no elevator, even if there is power during an emergency Bennie and I would always decide to take the stairs because, in the off chance, the elevator will get stuck, besides the possibility of suffocating. Who knows when the elevator would open or even when help would arrive? Those movies where they just climbed on top of the elevator ceiling? Seems so fucking easy right? NO. I can't even reach the elevator ceiling let alone the both of us doing a piggyback maneuver in an enclosed elevator. Even if we reached the so-called "panel", how the fuck would we know if it's bolted or even accessible. That's the reason why we took the stairs. Sadly our lung capacity is as mundane as a fucking fat fucker streaming online name Caseroelle. or Caseo or something.

As we reach the exit door to the side entrance of the facility towards the back side of the parking lot area. We took a few seconds of breathing time. "That explosion sounds Murphy like right?" I stated. "When it rains, it pours Richie," Bennie replied between gasps of air.

If there were people left in the quarters I wouldn't know. In the working areas? I wouldn't care. Even if we tried to wake up or usher some people to follow us. Who would actually listen? They would likely shun us or even think we're a bunch of idiots. All that matters is keeping Murphy away from us. Much more likely anybody who would follow us then would be a liability. Another responsibility Bennie and I don't have the capacity or skills to look after. So I shoved it off my mind. It's just me and Bennie right now. We can think about the consequences later.

"Keep following my voice, we'll get through this. Just like we always do." Bennie stated. " I got your six," I replied laser focused.

Bennie held the handle of the exit door and looked me straight in the eyes. "Remember what we talked about," he emphasized. "Roger that Big Ben. Stick to you like a glue."