This is a serialized story – be sure to read in order: from A (afterthought) to Z (zealous).
Nash scratched his head as he stared at the half-completed puzzle. “I don’t get it. What do you mean.”
“Help me finish this.” She stuck in two more pieces. “Hurry! I think there’s a time limit on getting it done.”
“Why…” He left the sentence unfinished and picked up several similarly colored edges. “Aren’t you supposed to do these first?”
She nodded. “Just keep putting them in place.”
They worked at a feverish pace for the next few minutes. Nash finished the final section and straightened. “My back! Guess I need to exercise more. What were you expecting to happen?”
“Shhh… Just listen, don’t you hear that?”
“I don’t… Oh, wait. That whistling sound? Think it’s the wind?”
“Remember when we heard the thunder last night?”
“Or whenever it was. Yeah, so what?”
“Well, if that’s wind, then maybe we are close to the outside world.”
“So? What do we do about it? I don’t see any doors, no exits other than that hatch.”
“Shhh, I want to see if I can hear what direction it’s coming from.”
“Maybe it’s from the hatch and we missed something down there.”
They both strained to hear, but as suddenly as it started, it stopped.
“So much for that being any help. What made you think the puzzle held a clue?”
Courtney pointed to a section. “See here? It looks like a room exactly like this one, but in miniature.”
Nash laughed. “So you think we’ve been miniaturized?”
“Don’t laugh. As strange as it’s been, who knows? There are a lot of unexplained things out there. Didn’t you ever watch The Twilight Zone or Outer Limits?”
“Yeah, sure, but that was just fiction.”
“Was it? Do you have any explanation for all this?” She kicked a pile of clothes on the floor of the door side of the room and a click sounded.
“Court, don’t move!” Nash knelt by her feet.
“Why? What—”
He held up his hand. “It’s a trip wire. I have to see what it’s connected to.”
“Um, aren’t they usually attached to bombs or traps?”
“Give me a minute…” Nash removed obstructions carefully as he followed the wire. “Um, Court.”
“Yeah?”
“This isn’t good.”
“What isn’t—”
A huge explosion split the room…
To be continued…
Thank you.
Well, wow! Did not see that coming!
Neither did I…
It’s the wind, a wire – or something else?
Keep reading (and thank you for doing so…)
Didn’t expect an explosive near ending! Now, what have you dreamed up for X? Alana ramblinwitham