“He walked closer and saw that the green trail of oozing fungal matter led into one of the dead-bolt slots and disappeared into the room itself. From this close, he could feel something emanating from the door.
Heat.
Slowly, he reached out his hand and laid his palm flat against the metal.
BEEP.
He jerked his hand away from the door and nearly jumped out of his skin at that noise, because he was standing a few inches from the thermistor alarm when it went off, and the sound was right in his ear. He shouted in surprise.
Naomi looked up, "What?"
"Door's hot. I mean the door is hot. And the green shit is coming out of that room, and there's a fucking Rat King, and curiosity is awesome and everything, but I feel like this is about as far as this shit goes for me."
She stood. "Me too."
"Let's get out of here."
"We can't leave them like that, though." She gestured to the rats.
He looked at her, uncomprehending, "What, you want to take them with us?"
"Of course not, but they're suffering."
"Yeah, well, I don't have any Oxy on me."
"I can do it," she said.
He looked down at the metal pipe in her hand. "Are you serious?"
"You want to leave a dozen animals in agony? To starve to death?"
"No, I would like to get the fuck out of here and not think about them."
"Wait by the door, I'll be right there."
"Fine. Cool. You're weird as fuck, but, I don't know, I'm cool with it." He started to walk away.
"Can I have the flashlight?"
"Hell no"
She looked at him.
He clarified. "I mean, um, wouldn't it be better without it? You know, just get the job done? Not have to look at a lot of gross shit?"
"I'm fine. Go ahead."
(...) "You get any of that shit on you?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"I'm sure." She came through the hatch and he closed it, shoving the big black handle in its place. The locking mechanism did its job again; it must have been thrilled to get to open and close twice in ten minutes, after decades of just sitting there minding the store. It sealed up the tunnel with a reassuring chunk of metal in metal.”
jacobvanloon
baratheonpilled
areudirty
theartofmadeline
tangentwithtanner
