The eyes disappear farther into a distant corridor before I can see who they belong to.

Above us, thunder from the ongoing storm grows louder with each passing second. As water drips from pieces of the rooftop that have been ripped away, there’s a loud creak. The only exit in the room soon slams shut before our faces. I run toward it and try to pull it open, but it’s locked. “Gilbert?” I look over my shoulder. He’s just standing there, with numbers blinking across his eyes.

“…Gilbert? Hey?”

Again, Gilbert doesn’t reply. I’m not sure if he’s ignoring me, or if he just can’t hear what I said. He seems pretty lost in what he’s doing. I can only hope this isn’t how it starts. And that whatever was watching us seconds ago, has nothing to do with his current state.

A minute passes. Two minutes. Something slithers past my foot. The surface of its skin is chilled. I lift my leg and turn to face my newfound enemy, but again, there’s nothing in sight. My throat goes dry. What the hell was that?

After more than three minutes, Gilbert’s concentration finally breaks. He clears his throat. “Please, forgive me for the delay,” he says. “It seems we are locked in.”

“Thanks.” I narrow my eyes and throw him a doubtful glare. “I couldn’t tell.”

“I appreciate your patience, understanding, and cooperation with this matter. Rest assured,” he nods, “I have not forgotten about your case, nor about your missing friend. The plan is still as follows.”

“Uh,” I cross my arms. “What do you mean it’s still as follows?”

“We will collect the Android parts, in order to check for potential viruses that may have not been activated in the past, but may still remain in their databases.” Gilbert pauses to look past me. “Sir, you say you could not tell… do you also happen to have trouble with your vision—”

“No, for fuck’s sake, it was a joke!” I sigh. “Also, are you kidding?” I rest my hand against my hips. I frown, and point to the staircase, where something was obviously watching us. “We’re not alone in here. And there’s barely any light. It’d be stupid for us to carry on.”

I spare the front door another glance. “Can’t you kick this thing down?” I say. “You’re an Android, aren’t you? You should have enough strength to do something as basic as that.”

Gilbert squeezes his elbow. “Granted, that is in the realm of my capacities, however, it would not be safe.”

Amid the silence, the noises of feet shuffling in the darkness echo from a nearby room. My palms curl into fists. My nails dig into my skin. “Because staying here is?” I ask him.

Gilbert’s lips purse into a thin line. “There is a ninety-eight point seven percent chance that the entire building would collapse in on itself if I were to destroy part of its structure,” he says. “This would also imply, that if we were to survive such a calamity, there would not be any evidence left. Only rubble. Only scraps. I do not want to be what you humans call pessimistic, but if such a scenario were to occur, we would then only have a mere zero point zero-one percent chance of success in advancing our current investigation.”

“Okay…” I roll my eyes, then shrug. “So, basically if we go out the front door, we’re screwed?”

“I am not sure I understand what that means, Sir.”

“Good,” I wave him off. I turn to face him and force myself to smile. “You don’t need to—” I’m about to insult him again; before we can argue any further though, something causes both of us to pause.

Gilbert and I fall into a certain silence I know all too well—a warning. The calm before a storm.

Across the floor above us rings – the sound of a piece of metal being knocked over. As the noise reverberates across narrow hallways and the staircase that leads to the museum’s entrance, I bend my knees and change my stance without thinking, in case we need to defend ourselves, but Gilbert reaches out and grabs my wrist. He holds me back. He tugs at my arm, until my jacket’s hood is pressed to his chest. “Don’t,” he whispers, close to my ear.

Plunged into bleak obscurity, we are left with nothing but the feeling of holding onto one another. I part my lips to ask him: Why?

The sight opposite of us answers my question better than he ever could.

A shadow runs across the half-deteriorated alcove that sits at the top of the stairwell. Gilbert’s grip tightens against my sleeve. I guess the good news in all this is that maybe the Android’s truly on my side, since he’s protecting me. But still… “We can’t go up there. We need to find an emergency exit.” I gulp. “Seriously, we should come back later, we’re not prepared for this. It’s risky.”

“It is on the second floor,” he says.

I blink. “What is?” Oh, please, he better not be referring to what I think he’s referring to.

“The emergency exit, Sir. And the parts.”