Chapter One Hundred Twelve

Chapter One Hundred Twelve
Gabriela

I stood behind Dom as he does something until a click sounded and something pops open further into the closet. Just as it does the sudden sound of a door bursting open reverberates the walls causing the foundation to shake slightly beneath our feet.

"Fuck, we need to go now!” Gia hisses in urgency shoving me into the closet with the two of them and slamming the wooden doors shut.

It becomes dark and cramped but soon I hear the wall on the side open and cool air brushes my skin.

"It's a tight fit so we'll have to manage going down but its either that or face whatever the hell is out there." Dom states in a whisper and proceeds to head down the very steep and narrow stairs.

Just like the basement it was pitch black and we couldn’t see a damn thing but there was no way I was being left behind. "You should go next." Gia whispers next to me, the slight concern in her voice.

I knew it was because she was thinking of the baby and I appreciated it, but I was going to be perfectly fine. Then Dom snaps, "Absolutely not. You're following me. I won't take the chance of you leaving some kind of clue for them to follow.”

"Oh my god." Gia sasses back with clenched teeth and doesn’t bother to argue with him further.

After she goes I head in next, quietly closing the little sliding door back. It was definitely cramped in this tiny stairwell. I could barely stretch out my arms halfway to the walls on each side of me. I carefully descend down, trying hard not to bump into Gia but Dom wasn't making it easy. I knew he was trying to go down as fast as he could, but his pain was becoming too much for him to handle at this point.

"Need help there buddy?" Gia asks in a condescended tone that made me sigh.

I knew it was only going to rile him up more than he already was.. "I'll be fine." He snaps back. I wasn't sure what was going on with him right now. One moment he seemed to take it in stride about her background and the next he wanted to bite her head off.

Granted it didn’t look good that her brother's men showed up out of nowhere to a place that was well hidden all in the same night that she shows up. In fact, these odds were looking quite against her. But no matter what she says or how she proves her worth it was going to be hard. Dom wasn't just hurt physically. His emotions about everything were all over the place right now. I was even getting the brunt of some of his sharpness. Being related to the enemy definitely had some moments, that's for sure.

Suddenly the air grew colder the further we descended, the smell of dust and metal sharp in my nose causing my stomach to churn a bit. "How far down does this go?" Gia whispers.

"How the hell should I know, I've never had to evacuate somewhere that was always safe to us before." Dom grouches at her.

Then he calls out, "Whoa!" Followed by Gia slamming into him and me slamming into her.

"Damn it! They should really install some damn lights down here." He groans. Then I hear him fiddling with something, followed by a curse. “It's locked." He then begins slamming his shoulder against a hollow wall that I soon realized was another door.

"Dom, you shouldn't-"

It opens on rusted hinges that screeched loudly. I quickly cover my ears from the piercing sound.

"What was that?”

My eyes widen at the muffled voice above us. "Hurry!" Dom hisses and we all rush through the door only to be in an even darker room.

“There is no way they didn’t have lights in here.” Gia begins to search around her as I try to get accustomed to the darkness.

There wasn’t even a window. I reach out only to collide into something solid on my right. Scrambling across the surface it felt like a dresser of some sort or maybe a filing cabinet. I hit something on top causing it to fall over, the noise slightly making me jump.

“Sorry!” I whisper as I take a hold of whatever it was.

Oh, it felt like a flashlight. Searching for a button I turn it on and was glad the batteries still worked. Shinning the light on what was definitely a cabinet I find more flashlights sitting on top. Thank goodness to whoever thought to place them right here next to the doorway. Grabbing another one I hand it Gia and then one to Dom.

Fumbling with his he shines the light further into the room. Stacks of decaying paper and broken shelves and misshapen furniture were everywhere. Almost like this place was ransacked. It was an office of some sort, a very old one. The wood of the furniture looked very outdated, and the papers and files were yellow with age.

“I’m going to guess no one has been down here since your grandfather’s time?” Gia asks as she gently kicks a closed box that threw dust up into the air.

“Guess so, but who cares about all this junk. Look for a panel that is the way out. According to the manual there should be one in here somewhere.”

I close the door behind me in case the men upstairs somehow finds the linen closet and sees our flashlights moving around. Then we all start searching the walls. It took us roughly ten minutes when Dom grunts at moving another cabinet as tall as he was and looks behind it, popping his head back out and states,

“I think I found it.”

Rushing over to him we help move the entire thing to reveal another door. This one had a coded panel. Not sure why when it was supposed to be an escape route, you would think it would be simple enough to get the hell out of here.

“Please tell me you have the code to this thing.” Gia asks him as we stare at the buttons.

“Well…”

He lets his sentence fall.

Great, we were totally stuck in here until we figured out the code or the men above will finally find us.