A muffled clang of a door opening up above us makes me stop talking instantly. I asked Liam, “That was the door right?”

“Yeah. Come on, we need to hide.” Liam whispered to me and I dashed to flick the lightswitch off, darkness flooding back. The only light we had now was from Liam’s flashlight.

He grabbed my wrist, dragging me towards the first door without a lock. Liam turned the handle and the door opened to a storage closet. He pulled me inside and I closed the door behind us. Before Liam clicks off his flashlight, I notice shelfs of canned food, water, paper towels, and some medical supplies. We head to the back of the room and crouch down behind the last shelf in the back left corner.

“You really are an idiot, man, not leaving the crate on top of the hatch? What if someone came in here?” A deep male’s voice said, heavy footsteps treading on the stairs.

“No one even knows this place is in use.” Another’s man’s more soft voice responded, “Besides, all the doors were still locked. It’s fine.”

“This time.” The first man said, “But if someone did get in here, we’d both loose our jobs.”

“I know, okay? I’m sorry.” The second man said. By now it sounded like they were walking through the hallway.

“Just don’t do it again.” The first man grumbled.

They had moved too far down the hall for us to hear the response of the second man. I nudged Liam and whispered, “What should we do?”

“I think we’ll just have to wait here until they leave.” He whispered back.

“This feels really crazy, doesn’t it? All of this.” I said, waving my hands around.

“Yeah, I mean, two weeks ago I was completely content with my life. Now I’m running around looking for answers from people with guns.” He sighed.

“I’m sorry.” I winced.

“For what?” Liam asked, incredulously.

“Seriously? For dragging you into all of this.” I said.

“You didn’t.” He shook his head.

“Yeah, I kind of did.” I responded.

“Fine, maybe you did a bit, but with or without you, eventually I was going to want some answers.” He said, smiling softly at me, “So don’t go feeling all guilty, especially if something happens to me. Besides, this way I get to have someone watching my back.”

“Ditto.” I said, the response inadequate, but the only word I could seem to form. I wanted to say exactly what he said back to him, because it was how I felt too, but for me, saying it was practically asking for something to happen to one of us.

The loud, jarring sound of a heavy door being shut stopped us both. We froze and strained our ears to make out the conversation of the men out the door and down the hall.

“Just leave it.” The softer voiced one said, exasperated, “We’ll only be like five minutes.”

“And have our lives on the line if something happened?” The deeper voice one said.

“It takes so long to unlock it and there’s no one else here.” The first one argued.

“Fine.” The second one responded, “But, if anything happens, it’s all on you.”

“Nothing’s going to happen.” Their voices grew louder as they came closer and now were much quieter. Their heavy footsteps clunked up the stairs and I yanked Liam towards the door by his arm.

“What are you doing?” Liam hissed, resisting my efforts.

“Calm down. We have a few minutes, and this is our one chance to see what’s behind that door.” I stated and Liam gaped at me.

“We have no idea how long they’ll be and if they catch us-”

I cut Liam off and said, “They won’t. Don’t you want to see what they’re hiding? These doors are locked tight and we don’t have any access to the keys. If you want answers, then let’s get them.”

Liam stared at me for a few seconds before nodding. I opened the door a crack and peeked out, no one was in sight so I pulled the door open wide. I motioned for Liam to follow me out, he closed the door behind us and we walked quickly to the end of the hall. I pulled on the door handle and it opened smoothly.

“Yes!” I let out quietly under my breath at the success. I quickly retracted my pleasure as what was in the room came into focus.

Cages.

People in cages.