Skinner had told Emily to wait a while, at least an hour after she heard everyone leave the lair. He said there would still be vampires there but there would only be a handful of them and she should be able to avoid them as they would most likely be hanging around the entrance hall.
She walked over to the door to her cell and listened for any kind of noise from outside.
Nothing.
She tried the door handle to make sure what Skinner had told her was true. He said he had left it unlocked when he had finished pretending to calm her down, which would get him in a lot of trouble if anyone else found out. The door opened slightly and she closed it again, listening for a reaction from anyone who might be waiting on the other side of the wall.
There was no noise again so Emily pulled the door open slightly, just enough to peer through the opening. The corridor seemed to go on forever, the light from the flickering torches hanging on the walls fading into darkness. She opened the door a little more, just enough to edge her upper body out. She turned to look down the corridor in the opposite direction. It looked exactly the same. No one to be seen. Not a sound to be heard.
Skinner had told her to turn right out of her door and head for the spiral staircase that would take her to the summit. He said the door at the summit was rarely locked so that would be her best chance of getting out. All she had to do then was find her way onto the main road and try to flag someone down who would take her back to the city.
That was the plan anyway. One step at a time, she told herself. Even though the stone walls were cold, the air was warm with the heat from the torches that lit the path ahead. The corridor curved to the left slightly so she couldn’t gauge the distance she had to travel. She didn’t think it was too far but she had been almost catatonic when they had brought her down to her cell. Judging distances hadn’t been on her mind at the time.
Wooden doors just like the one she closed behind her lined the corridor. Emily hoped the rooms behind them were all empty as she took her first steps. The silence of her footsteps made her thankful she had decided to put on her flats rather than heels the day before.
Step by step, she inched her way down the corridor, all the time looking out for the turning Skinner had told her to make and any hint of someone approaching her.
Then she saw something ahead. Not the turning she was looking for, but a shadow being projected onto the wall. Then she heard the heavy footsteps, getting louder and louder.
Shit! What am I going to do?
Emily was certain it was too late to turn round and run back to her cell. She’d already walked to far. She frantically looked around. There was a wooden door to her left and a heavy metal door on the opposite side of the corridor. Praying the wooden door wasn’t locked, she took a quick light step towards it and tried the handle. It opened and she stepped inside, closing it behind her as quietly as she could.
She took a second to regain some calm, then turned round to survey the room where she had thankfully taken refuge. It looked like a lab but the details didn’t sink in. Her full attention was taken by the familiar figure standing before her, who she hadn’t seen in a long time.
‘Emily?’ said Doctor Forrest.
‘Oh my God, what are you doing here?’
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