Don't Go Exploring

           It’s dusk, or maybe it’s dawn. After the last several hours I’ve had, my first step outside, I’m not sure what to make of everything around me. Keith had “found” this abandoned bunker. He said that no one’s been down there in a long time, so the six of us went.

           We didn’t know that only one of us would get out. Or maybe the others did too? Well obviously, not all of us, I saw Jamie taken right in front of me. No, I’m sure no one else got out. Either way, I’m alone at the moment.

           Where am I now? I think this is the place we entered the bunker, or maybe it’s not. So much panic down there. We didn’t know or at least I didn’t. Keith brought us there, but I don’t think he knew. He said he did research on the place, but clearly not enough.

           “Come on Kelsey,” Anita had said when I hesitated to come out there in the first place. “It’ll be awesome to go explore.”

           I had told them I had never been in these woods before. I told them that they made me nervous. But they insisted. So we all headed out there that evening.

           Once inside we saw the blood, “Guys maybe we should go.” I suggested.
           
           “Chill out. It’s probably animal blood. Besides, it looks old.” said Keith. He pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight, and the camera. He was recording. “Come on, let’s look further in.”

           Everyone else pulled out their cell phones turning on the flashlights. Except for me, I forgot mine in the car. Everyone was looking around the dank concrete tunnel. Gray concrete made up the walls, floor, and ceiling in an identical fashion. It smelled musty and damp. There was a slight humid chill in the air despite it being warm and dry outside.

           “Come on man, we should really go. We don’t know what’s down here.” Dimitri told them.

           But Keith wasn’t listening. Then Jamie and Anita started to follow behind him a few steps down the hall. Then the door had an electronic lock that was activated fastening the door shut tight.

           “We’re trapped!” said Georgia tugging on the door.

           Anita whipped out her phone and gave a groan. “There’s no service in here.”

           “I think I read about another way out,” said Keith.

           Dimitri took me by the hand. “Well, let’s find that other exit then.” He sounded annoyed, but at the same time, so was I. Neither of us wanted anybody to come in here.

           As the group walked on, Keith kept recording the blood trail that seemed to get thinker, wetter, fresher. Jamie noticed this and pointed it out. “Guys, maybe we should go back. Maybe the door is on a timer, and it’ll open on its own.”

           “No way, man. I know there is another exit.” Keith snapped.

           “But the blood-“

           “It’s animal blood. Maybe a wounded animal wandered in.”

           “Or a fresh kill,” said Anita.

           “Listen, if there are wolves or something down here, I’ve got a pocketknife and pepper spray.” He sounded so confident in his ability to protect everyone from a potential predator, but at the same time, his voice was cracking. “Don’t you want to get out of here as soon as possible?”

           “Who’s to say that another door won’t have the same lock?” I pointed out. “If we go back, we can wait for the door to open and-“

           I didn’t get to finish what I was saying. Dimitri squeezed my hand and Georgia gasped. The blood trail had stopped abruptly. There was nothing there. If an animal had done this as Keith claimed, there would be a carcass left or at least a pile of bones. But there was nothing.

           Keith, who was still recording did a pan of the floor. “What the?”

           “We haven’t been walking that long,” said Anita. She walked up and grabbed onto Keith’s arm. “We can head back and wait for the door to open.”

           “Why would it just stop like that?” Keith said more to himself than to the group.

           “Who cares?” Georgia said she was getting desperate. “I want to go back.”

           “We should really stick together,” said Dimitri. But Keith surged forward causing Anita and Jamie to follow after him. Georgia was behind Dimitri and me, hugging herself trying to suppress tears and panic.

            “Come on Georgia.” Dimitri sounded more annoyed as he led Georgia and me down the tunnel after Keith and the others.

           We almost bumped into them when we saw that they had stopped suddenly. The path ahead forked in two directions.

           “Which way?” Georgia asked. She passed by everyone up to the front to ask Keith directly.

           “I-“ Keith mumbled.

           “Which way?” Georgia repeated more frantic.

           “I don’t know. Okay? There wasn’t a lot of information about this place. I could only look at it on Maps. I saw a couple of different entrance points, but I didn’t know this would be a damn maze.”

           Dimitri sighed, “Looks like we’ll have to split up.” His nonchalant tone didn’t surprise anyone, he was always like that, but what he said started a frenzy.

           “Weren’t you the one that said we should stick together?” said Jamie.

           “You have a better idea? Should we flip a coin for it to see which way to go?”

           “It’s better than splitting up.”

           “We’ll cover more ground if we split up,” Keith said jumping in. “Going back is pointless since we know that door is locked.”

           Jamie tossed his hands up in defeat. “Fine, who goes where?”

           “Keith and I will head with Anita to the left. Kelsey, Georgia, and Jamie go to the right.” Dimitri said. No one bothered to argue, so with everyone’s phones lighting the way, we headed in our respective directions.

           Georgia was clinging close to Jamie but made sure that I covered her other side. She had her phone put away to conserve its power. So, our only source of light came from Jamie’s phone. “Please tell me that we’re close to an exit,” said Georgia.

           “If we manage to find the exit, we should leave one person at the entrance, one person needs to go for help, and the last person needs to go back in to try to find the others,” I said. “Splitting up was a bad idea.”

           “Why would it be a bad idea?” Jamie asked.

           “Because splitting up only results in more splitting up,” I said matter-of-factly.

           We walked in quiet for maybe four steps when Jamie’s light went off. And then we heard a scream over Georgia’s squeal.

           “Was that me?” Georgia asked timidly as she grappled with her phone to turn the flashlight on.

           “It sounded like Anita,” said Jamie.

           “Come on, let’s go,” I said as I continued in the direction we were going.

           “Shouldn’t we go back to help them?” asked Jamie.

           “We’ll help more if we find an exit,” I told them as I ran ahead, giving them no choice but to follow me.

           “Kelsey!” Georgia called after me.

           I could hear their footfalls behind me with the bobbing of Georgia’s phone flashlight being my only guide.

           Georgia was scared and started to sob. She ended up dropping her phone. I can only assume both she and Jamie dove to the ground in search of it. But it was too late, we heard a hit and a grunt. When Georgia managed to her hands on her phone, we saw Jamie with a bloody face on the ground being dragged away. He was quiet, probably dead already. Georgia let out a blood-curdling scream.

           As I look up at the sky now, everything becomes clear. It is sunrise. I wiped the sweat off my forehead. I heard a noise coming from the bunker behind me. I turn, but I’m not afraid. I know who it is. Dimitri comes out from the depths. He is dirty and sweaty, bloody. I guess we both need a shower.

           “Hey, there you are.” He said as he put his arm around my shoulder, and I leaned into him. “Nice work down there.”

           “I handled Georgia just fine, but Anita, she was quite fast,” I said to him. “She got away from you.”

           “But you caught her in the end.”

           “She never suspected a thing. Didn’t even notice all the blood.” I said taking a look at my hands and clothes.

           “You cleaned them up nicely. I can’t say I’ve seen a more beautiful piece of artwork.”

           “What about my piece two years ago in Colombia? I quite liked that.”

           “Yeah, but it didn’t have as much of a, hmm, personal touch.”

           “I’ll miss them though,” I said quite sadly.

           “We tried to warn them,” he said.

           “But they just wouldn’t listen.”

           “We did have some good times with them, before tonight.” Dimitri smiled causing me to smile too.

           “Do you think we’ll ever find friends like them again?” I asked hopefully.

           “The world is full of people my dear. It won’t be hard to decern the playthings from the pets.” He gave my shoulder a rub to fight off the early morning chill.

           “Where shall we go next?” I asked him.

           “Wherever our work takes us.”

           We shared a kiss as the sun continued to rise into the sky. We didn’t realize we spent over a day and a half down there in our bunker. Our friends, and a few other practice runs, were deep in the winding tunnels. The floodlights we brought down there ages ago illuminate the artwork we’ve worked so hard to create.

           Positioned just so. A beautiful piece of human artwork. Like body-painted models, except ours are, perfect. All that is needed is some time, some people, and a lot of clear resin.

           Eternally perfect.