Everyone stood silent, looking at Darren in disbelief.
"What the actual hell did you just do?" Karen asked, still sitting in front of the computer. She couldn't take her eyes off the broken screen.
"Everything here is beyond confidential. It is no good to escape just to be killed because we shared information we shouldn't even have. We stick to our original plan. We aren't risking anything getting out to the wrong type of people," Darren said. He looked at each person in the room, challenging them to try to argue.
I kept my mouth shut. I didn't know what to say if I had the balls to talk right now. People were supposed to be on their way to save us already, so the computer-smashing didn't help or hurt us, I supposed.
"You're insane!" Karen said and threw what was left of the computer onto the ground. "Our rescue will walk into a death trap!"
"IF there is a rescue coming, they will be prepared," Darren said and walked back to the door.
"What do you mean, if?" one of the white coats asked.
"We aren't worth the money and men it could take to save us," I said dully. I should have figured that out from the beginning. Secret island, illegal research; it would be more beneficial for them if we all died. Then the government could come and clear out the island. No one would ever know.
"Shit," one of the white coats said and put his hands on his head. He slid down the wall and looked on the verge of tears. "We're going to die here."
"Chances are, the government is sending someone to clean up the mess. If we can, at least, make it out of the facility before they come to blow it to bits, there's a chance they will save us before blowing this island off the map. Okay, well, the island is not on any maps, but you know what I mean," I said, trying to offer a sliver of hope before too many gave up.
"Right," said Darren. "For now, let's keep doing what we're doing and deal with whatever happens when it happens."
The drone and its controller were sitting on Dr. Kale's desk next to the computer. I started fidgeting with the controller until it sprung to life. The controller was a thick black rectangle with a large screen in the middle that displayed the drone's camera. It had three joysticks; one on each side, the left controlled the altitude of the drone. The right joystick controlled the speed and direction of movement. There was a smaller joystick just below the right joystick that controlled the camera.
"This would be easier if I had eight legs. So how do you want to do this?" I asked.
"We'll get it to the stairway and make sure we're clear the rest of the way. After that, we'll check the path to the weapons room and move as a group if it's clear. Everyone, stay here until me and Justin return," Darren said and opened the door for the drone to fly through. "If it goes bad, you guys stay bunkered down in here. The door locks when it closes, and they can't force their way in, so you should remain safe. For a while."
I remembered Dr. Kale's plan to lock the facility down to keep the spiders inside. "Does anyone know what in this room we need to get to in order to lock the facility down so we can trap the spiders in here while we escape?"
"Yeah, it's on the compu…oh," Justin said and had started to point to the computer, which was smashed and on the floor.
"Okay, so that plan is no longer a possibility. Let's just focus on the weapons and power for now," I said. I wanted to scream at Darren and tell him how stupid he was for destroying that. There could have been other uses besides releasing government secrets. Smashing the computer was stupid.
Why would someone just destroy a possible resource in such a desperate hour? Unless his goal was not for us to get off the island.
I glanced at Darren. As if he could sense my sudden suspicion of his actions, he looked right back at me. His glare was unsettling; I could almost feel his mind digging around in my head.
Could he have something to do with all of this? Was he purposely sabotaging every attempt we made at survival and escaping the facility?
The way the events have unfolded would look very bad for the U.S. government. It would have been easier for them if there were no survivors, or only one: Darren. He could have been using us to get to the weapons, but when it came to escaping, was he planning on being the only one walking out of here? He'd saved us a few times, but that could have been just to earn our trust so we continued to work together.
"We are wasting the battery life on that drone. Let's get going," Karen said, breaking the silence. I could finally tear my eyes away from Darren's. I realized everyone was staring at us. I could feel myself turning red.
"Yeah, okay. I'm ready," I said and focused on the drone's controls. Darren held his stare a little longer before giving the okay to move out.
Darren and Justin followed the drone as I directed it out the door. I flew above them as they walked down the hall toward the stairwell, keeping an eye on both ends of the hallway, so they didn't get ambushed in case any spider was hiding out around here.
They reached the door to the stairs. I positioned the drone so it would see into the stairwell once they cracked the door. Justin held up three fingers and counted down before yanking the door open. The stairs were clear, so I flew the drone forward into the stairs and made sure to check the ceiling as I started down the stairs.
I'm sure Darren was not planning to hurt us or leave us for dead. The stress is making me paranoid. He's on our side.
I wish my wife was here. She would scare everyone into their place and there would be no risk of betrayal.
"You're good at this," Karen said in a hushed voice.
"Well, I do game on the reg," I said, trying to sound cool, and was filled with immediate regret as soon as I spoke.
"What did you say, Dr. Gale?" she asked me.
"I think it's better for both of us if we move and forget I said anything," I said. "How much further?"
"It's two more floors down," she said as I directed the drone around a corner. "That's the door."
"Okay, so besides some webs, it's all clear," I said and stuck my head out of the room to see Darren and Justin standing by the door to the stairs.
I flashed them a thumbs up, and they disappeared into the stairwell. After a few moments, they appeared in the view of the drone's camera. Justin held up three fingers again, and I flew into the new hallway. Most hallways were lined with door after door, but this hallway was just metal walls. The only light came from my drone, making this hallway seem quite ominous.
"This seems a little creepy," Karen said, voicing my thoughts.
"Agreed. Is it the only room on this floor?" I said.
"Justin and Darren's rooms are on this floor. The weapons are their responsibility. But other than that, no," she said.
The hallway came to an end with a split.
"Is the room left or right?" I asked.
"Should be to the right, I think," Karen answered.
I urged the drone to the right, and red eyes shone in the light of my camera. I sucked in a surprised breath and held it, not thinking that the spider couldn't hear me. The spider took off, running under the drone and down the opposite end of the hall.
"Follow it!" Karen said.
I whipped the drone around and pursued the spider as it dashed down the hallway.
"This must be a younger one; it's only barely bigger than us," I said as I tried to keep the camera directed on the spider.
The further we went, the more webs filled the hallway; it got so bad I couldn't keep up with the spider and had to slow way down to maneuver the drone around the webs. Even with the spider out of sight, there wasn't anywhere to go besides straight, so I kept the drone heading that way. After a while of careful drone flight, I found where the spider was headed. A giant hole in the floor. The hole was at least sixteen feet long, maybe longer, and stretched wall-to-wall in the hallway.
"Did they do that?!" I asked, flabbergasted by the size of the hole. It should have taken days or weeks to get something so large.
"We certainly didn't," Karen said. "But how could they?"
"Could their venom really burn through this much metal? Or maybe they could bite their way through? With their size and pincers, it wouldn't surprise me," I said. "I'm going in."
"Shouldn't we go to Justin and Darren first? We know the hall is clear for now," she said.
"We need to see what we could be facing. Then Darren and Justin could load up on weapons and come get us. That way we could protect ourselves before we trek to the room. If we leave now, we are too vulnerable," I said.
"We need to move now. Being overly-cautious in this situation is just as dangerous as not being cautious enough. The more time we wait, the longer we risk discovery or the hallways being overrun with spiders. Plus, if they see the drone it could throw them into a frenzy," she argued.
"If this is their nest, then we're risking all our lives in that hallway if they decide it's time to come up," I said back to her. "We can't risk them seeing the drone, but we can't risk not knowing what's there; plus, that other spider already ran in there, so they could be all riled up as we speak!"
"Keep your drone aimed at that hole until we're in the room. You can warn us if you see anything, and we can get to cover," she said and left the room.
What is with people in this facility just walking off? No manners.
With a groan, I followed her, the remaining group on my heels. I was not happy about leaving our safe zone. There was no getting to cover. Even with the drone aimed at the hole, the best it could do was give us a few seconds of warning to prepare for death. If there were spiders lurking beyond the hole and they decided to come up before we got to the armory, game over.
I used my peripheral vision to keep myself from tripping on the stairs. I may have stumbled a few times, but I did not trip. Ask anyone.
Okay, I might have tripped once or twice.
I refused to take my eyes off the screen until we were safe in the weapons room. There were a few times I saw movement deep in the hole, but nothing ever came of it. We joined Darren and Justin outside the door. Karen explained the hole in the floor to them and why I hadn't looked up from the drone camera.
"You did the right thing," Darren said.
"Why the hell didn't you look down the hole?!" Justin said.
"They can look once we're at the guns; for now, it doesn't matter what's down there," Darren said. Justin didn't respond, but he frowned at Darren.
It was weird to me that the roles of Justin and Darren seemed to have switched. On the ride into the facility, I was under the impression that Justin was in charge and Darren had to listen to him. Ever since the eggs had hatched, Darren assumed control and Justin became his subordinate.
Or maybe my suspicion of Darren was causing me to see things that did not exist. I was forcing situations to fit into my negative and paranoid thoughts.
"Do another run down the hall to make sure the room is still clear," Justin said to me.
I was hesitant to take the camera off the hole, but we did have to get in the room, and if there were spiders waiting for us, we would never make it. There were sure to be more than one entrance the spiders could take onto this floor.
I flew as fast as the little drone could; from the door, we stood behind to the door to the armory, then back to the hole.
"Okay, we're clear. Let's hurry," I said and inched the drone a little closer to the hole.
"Stay close, we're moving fast," Darren said, and we rushed through the door.
We got to the door of the armory spider-free; Justin swiped his ID, and we were in the most beautiful place I could imagine for our given situation. The walls were lined with assault rifles and shotguns. Every inch of the walls. Huge boxes were brimming with handguns, a container full of grenades, and in the middle of the room, more beautiful than any painting could portray, was a grenade launcher. There were enough weapons in here for a small army. The only thing missing was what we really needed, the small army.