It took a rather long time to reach the pipe room again. We didn't use the cave that the creature took because Alex wouldn't be able to scale the walls with his crippled leg. That made me question the ladder, but he said he'd tolerate pain for it.
Not only did going through the maze of halls made finding the pipe much harder, we still had to be careful within these halls. The creature may be dead, but there were still pitfalls and traps and all of this stuff to look out for. To put simply, we didn't want to get this far just to be crushed by the walls closing in, or us falling to our death in one of the many pits this place offers
Thankfully, we were able to cover up Alex's wound with a piece of my hoodie that was ripping off. Hell, it made the halls colder now since my sleeve had a gaping hole in it, but it was good to know Alex wasn't gonna die in my arms from blood loss.
"Anne...how much farther do you think it'll be..?" Alex asked, concerned.
"I don't know, but I know we're going in the right direction. We have to be close." I stated.
I rubbed his back a little to make him feel easier, and he did seem to relax.
The way back wasn’t the same obviously. Many halls we went through either led down more and we had to turn around, or were just dead ends. It was frustrating to say the least. We beat the monster and survived, and now we can't find our way out?
You'll find your way, just keep looking
At least my mind was right about that. Every time we went up, we felt closer to the surface, and eventually, after what felt like 15 minutes searching, we found our way back to the hole I fell through earlier.
"Ahh, it's good to be back on track." Alex said, and I could tell in his voice the lack of blood in his system was making him loopy.
"Don't worry, we'll be out in no time, and once we do reach the surface, i'm taking you to the hospital." I told him.
He turned his head and looked straight at me like I was a ghost.
"You're gonna take me to the hospital too…? Wow, you're like an angel or something." He slurred, and I couldn't help myself and laugh.
"I guess so, I was sent above from the heavens." I giggled, as I maneuvered us around the hole.
Eventually we got to the wall again, and I had to punch in the code to open it. I guess this stuff is on a timed system, which makes sense. I mean how was I able to get stuck the same way Alex did without it being timed?
At this point, I felt my energy draining as I dragged him to the pipe, but I wasn't gonna dare give up on him. I kept pushing and eventually made it to the pipe.
"Alex, you sure you can climb the ladder?" I asked, making sure he was paying attention.
"Yeah, I can take the pain, just as much as you carried me all the way here." He smirked.
I give him a face and turn back on him.
"Alright, just be careful climbing."
I went under the pipe first and I could see that the ladder wasn't long. Just a few steps up, and above that was the orange sky. It felt amazing to feel the breeze on my face once again. After all the red and black I've seen for the past few hours, seeing a different color was so vibrant, like it had a filter.
I slowly climbed up the ladder, looking down on Alex, who was waiting on me, and I continued upwards until I reached the grassy ground.
The feeling was euphoric to say the least. It felt like it's been days, but I know it's only been hours, and the mere fact that I can enjoy out here after experiencing all the hell I've been through was breathtaking.
I knew I wouldn't be able to enjoy it for too long, but as I waited for Alex to climb up, I soaked in every moment I could, watching the birds chirp, seeing the sun halfway behind a cloud, the cool refreshing breeze that wasn't spine chilling. It was amazing.
After 5 minutes, Alex finally managed to crawl his way out, and even though he tried to play it off that the pain wasn't much, I could tell in his expression that it was unbearable.
"Alright tough guy, let's get you to the hospital." I said.
Where we exited, we were on the complete opposite side of the entrance, but thankfully the ruins weren't so big on the outside, so getting to my car wasn't too long.
As I was helping Alex sit down in the passenger seat of my car, he turned towards me and gave me the goofiest smirk I've seen yet.
"What's up with you? Other than the lack of blood?" I giggled, and he laughed at that.
"Oh man, when the doctors ask how I injured my leg, they're gonna be in for one big story, just you wait." He stated, staring gleefully at me.
I thought about that for a second. Right, others are gonna hear the story...as I navigated myself around my car, I had the same thoughts that I did when I was thinking of leaving Alex behind to get help. No one is gonna believe us. They're gonna think we're crazy.
All the research I did on the ruin before only stated that the danger of it were the traps and pitfalls. None of it ever mentioned the creature. Either we were the first people to have witnessed it.
Or we're the first to witness it and got out alive.
Thinking back on the bloody message we saw back in the hall, I'd assume others were down there, and yet I haven't heard anything about the creature. I don't think that person got out alive. The thought made me feel sick.
Alex noticed me in deep thought as I climbed into the driver seat, and faced me.
"What's with the long face? Out of both of us, you shouldn't be making that face. You took down an 8 foot creature!" He said, exaggerating with his hand movements.
"Well...do you think anybody is gonna believe us when we tell them what we saw…? I mean, it seemed like we were the only people who ever encountered the monster to have come out alive." I said, while still in deep thought.
"Well, I mean…" Alex said, realizing what I was thinking.
"It was horrifying, and challenging, but I think if we tried to tell others about it, we'd be deemed insane, wouldn't you think?" I looked at Alex with a questionable face.
"Hm...I mean, I guess that isn't a far thought now, but what am I suppose to tell the doctor on what happened?"
"I guess tell them that you injured your leg in a work related accident." I suggested.
"Alright then. My job does work with a lot of metal so I could say that." He said, smirking.
"But what about you?" He continued. "I mean, you were the one to have saved me multiple times, and killed that thing entirely...wouldn't you want some recognition with that..?"
I smirked and looked at him.
"As far as I'm concerned, I already got enough recognition from you, and that's all I care about. Besides, I would want to forget about all of this quicker than have the media all on me." I said.
"You got a point there." Alex said chuckling. "Alright, as much as I'd love to chit chat here, my leg is throbbing, so let's get this situated, then we can have conversations all day" he wheezed.
"Oh yeah, sorry." I said sheepishly as I started my car engine.
"Alex?"
He turned to me.
"What's up?"
"...thank you for everything. I'm not just talking about you saving my ass multiple times, but you just being….a good person to me…" I said quietly, thinking back on the dream. "...it's the first time someone has been so nice to me in so long.." I admitted.
"Like I said...you're a good person. You deserve the care and compassion that I gave you, and I hope in the future, you can find others that'll give you the same amount of it." He said, smiling. "I'm sure you will find those people. Just continue being yourself."
I smiled back at him, as I started to drive on the dirt path and towards the tree path.
"Thank you." I said, as I felt my eyes fill up with small tears.
"Don't mention it"
As I turned to the street, I took one last look at the ruins. The broken buildings still standing, while the main entrance was still open from earlier. I heard my thought chime in one last time before it left my view.
What a ride.
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