Vedrana ran toward The building . Nigel’s cries were becoming increasingly shrill and desperate.
Hang on, Nigel, Vedrana thought.
She held out a glow stick, but it only provided a foot or two of illumination. She swung open the door to the basement and the lodge’s radio room. It was in a dark and musty-smelling part of the lodge. Everything was so old that Vedrana wondered when the last time it had a real guest. As she descended the staircase, a gaping hole appeared before her. More screams came from inside the hole. She heard a scuffle. It was like someone was boxing in the dark. She jumped in the hole without a second thought. She landed in a defensive position. The dull green glow from her glow stick provided the only illumination. Nigel was throwing punches blindly. Three of the mad ones had surrounded him. One of the deranged had a bat and hit Nigel in the head. The force didn’t seem like it was hard enough to cause a concussion, but Vedrana eliminated the threat by cutting its batting hand off; the man roared. The area below the stairs was narrow, and she didn’t want to accidentally risk hurting Nigel, so she punched each attacker until they were away from Nigel. Once separated, she applied her own special flavor of brute force. Moments later the attackers were dead. Nigel fell to the floor, grasping an injured arm.
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“Are you alright?” Vedrana asked.
“I will be, but I think more are coming.”
Vedrana couldn’t see a way to the staircase other than the way they had come. But after she moved some boxes she noticed something. There was a hole in the wall just wide enough to fit a human body. She was thin but feared getting stuck if she tried passing through. She heard moaning from beyond the wall. More of these freaks were coming, and she needed to be prepared. Nigel tried to stand, but cried in pain.
“My foot, I can’t stand on it.”
She did her best to barricade the crack in the wall. She used anything she could find to block the passage.
“Nigel, are you okay?” Blanka said from above.
“I think my foot is broken and we’re trapped.”
“I can’t see a way out of here. Try to rig a harness from rope, sheets, blankets, or anything else you can find,” Vedrana said.
Sometime later, Blanka threw down a series of sheets tied together with several knots. Vedrana tied the sheet to Nigel and Blanka and Eva pulled. He was almost to the hole in the stairs when the sheet ripped.
“Hang on just a little longer,” Blanka said.
Nigel’s arms stiffened, and a spasm caused him to let go. Before he could plunge back into the dark pit, Eva grabbed his arm and pulled.