My Precious Nightmare

Chapter 45: The Hidey Hole

Even with vampiric night vision, Sky couldn't see a damn thing. She felt shaggy carpet beneath her as well as Lane's still, warm presence at her side. She could smell ages of dust and disuse, as well as the not quite Aster-ish smell of Lane's nerves.

For a countless amount of time, they didn't move an inch, listening to the thudding and commotion about the house. When the sound of searching came directly beneath them, Sky's muscles cramped from the force of her fear of making even the smallest noise.

Only once the house had been quiet for upwards to an hour did Sky dare to voice a most dire need.

"I need to pee."

Lane finally shifted beside her, as though the whispery words broke a spell.

"There should be a toilet to the right, in a little closet of sorts," he whispered back. "I'll get a light..."

But Sky's bladder, on hearing a toilet was so near, wouldn't wait for a light. Sky waddle crawled to the right until her head hit a fabric curtain of sorts. A bright, green glow revealed a cotton flap, but Sky couldn't think about that. She crawled past the fabric, felt out the low, porcelain goddess, and dropped her naked rear down. The sound of pee hitting the bowl was all but nonexistent. Just how did you make a toilet soundproof?

Sky found further evidence of sound proofing when she crawled back out through the flap and saw the foam walls and cushioned shelves of wrapper-less food items. A thick green glowstick hung from a hook on the low ceiling. There'd be no standing up here. Lane had turned his focus to unrolling a quilt out on what could have only been a foam bed mat. All and all, the short, small room wasn't much bigger than the walk-in closet below them, which Sky realized a moment later would have hidden the existence of the room on a map or blueprint of the mansion. The only way you'd even know it was there was if you carefully measured the walls of the walk-in-closet and matched it with the height of the walls in a blue-print.

When Sky noticed Lane messing around with something not foam or shag-carpet covered, he drew near.

"What ya doing, Lane?"

"Gathering recordings from microphones placed around the house," he said quietly. "They start recording the moment the door to here is opened and record the next 24 hours. They should tell us what went on."

Sky gave a low whistle. "Dang. You guys thought of everything."

Lane gave her a tight smile, then turned his attention back to the small laptop in his hands.

"There's food for three days," said Lane, gesturing towards the shelf. "And basic first aid supplies. Not that they're going to do us any good anymore, but you could always try the human blood again if you get hungry."

Sky looked at the black cooler Lane had hauled up with him and grimaced.

"I think I'll pass."

"Then make sure you let me know when you're thirsty," he said, slipping on a pair of headphones. "I'd hate to see what your instincts would make of this place."

Sky didn't want to think about that, because even as he mentioned it, she felt her throat getting that raw, aching feeling. Not to mention sucking on Lane in a dusty, 70's shag carpet hole was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

"So...how long are we holing up?" she asked.

"Until I've heard everything I need to," said Lane. "Don't worry. Whatever happens next, I've got you covered."

Sky snorted and ruffled Lane's hair. The younger Morianton gave her a glare only a hair's breadth of difference from his brother's.

"Those are my words, short stack."

"I'm as tall as you and only two years younger."

"Yeah, but I've always wanted a little brother."

He shoved her hand off, but his stiff expression had softened.

"You know, you could always marry Aster and become my real sister."

"Eww, yuck, I'd rather marry you."

"Cougar much? Hold that thought, I got to listen now." He adjusted the headphones on his head. "Aster might need us."

Sky couldn't imagine a situation where he wouldn't, from what she could remember of the chaos of outside.

"Is there another computer up here? I can find out what's going on in the city right now with the quarantine."

Lane gestured to a foam-covered cubby in front of him and started typing.

Sky found a rather thick, black laptop sitting in a charging port inside the cupboard and got to work.

__________________________________________

My sister when she first sees the cover of this book: "It looks like he's gonna eat her boobs!"

Me: "What's with you and mom and boobs? All my artwork, that's the first thing you point out!"

Sister: "Well, maybe you shouldn't paint a guy about to eat someone's boobs?"

Me: *throws a chair*

For real though, my mom and my sister always hunt down the boobs, even if the picture is of a man.