X – Xysters

This is a serialized story – be sure to read in order: from A (afterthought) to Z (zealous).

Their vision was obscured by smoke and their ears were ringing from the sound of the explosion. Courtney still covered hers while Nash was digging his index fingers into his as he shouted, “What was that?”

“What?”

Louder he yelled, “What was that—” The smoke had cleared a bit. “Courtney, don’t move!”

“Nash, I can hear you but not clear enough to understand you.”

“Don’t move!! Whatever that explosion was, it split this room in half. There’s a huge hole in the middle.”

Courtney’s vision and hearing improved at the same time. “Oh my—” Her eyes widened as she looked down into the seemingly bottomless hole just steps from her feet. Nash stood on the other side of the chasm. “What do we do now?”

His ears also back to normal, he shrugged than replied, “Take a couple of steps back, for safety.”

She nodded and stepped back several times. “Can you see into it? Do you think the hatch room blew up?”

“Maybe…” He looked around the room. “But it also exposed that.” He pointed to the wall behind her.”

“What?” Courtney twisted to see what he saw. “A door!” She started towards it and stopped. “But you can’t get to it. Now what”?

“Have faith, dear friend,” he spouted with a silly accent. He went to the desk on his side and lifted the top off. “Remember when we couldn’t afford desks to we used old doors on top of filing cabinets? Stand back, I think this is long enough.” He moved to the narrowest part of the split and dropped the down on top. “See?” He pranced over the door to her side and bowed. “Now, let’s see what this door holds for us.”

Courtney twisted the knob but it wouldn’t turn. “It’s locked.”

“The key has to be here somewhere. Whoever set this up has let us out of every area.”

Courtney glared at him.

“Well, most of the time. We just have to find the right key. Start searching for anything that looks like it could be used to open the door. You take this side and I’ll go back to the dorm side.”

They each searched their side of them room. Nash slumped into the desk chair and called over to Courtney. “Nothing here, you find anything?”

“Actually, maybe. Come here and take a look.” She held up a battered and torn canvas roll.

He carefully crossed the desk bridge. “What’s that?” he asked as he peered over her shoulder.

“I think it’s a tool roll of some kind. Help me undo this cord.”

Together they struggled to untie the knot and it finally gave way. Courtney unrolled the canvas and they stared at what appeard to be several surgical instruments.

Pulling one out, Nash proclaimed, “Forceps. No help.”

Courtney took out the next one. “Scalpel. No help either.”

Nash tried again. “Clamp?”

Courtney nodded and pulled out another instrument. “Retractor. Nope, no good.”

“Last one. What the?” Nash stared at a strange instrument he’d never seen, not even in TV shows or movies. “What kind of surgical instrument is this?” He handed it to Courtney who furrowed her brow as she studied it.

“Thinking back to my forensic classes, I think this is some kind of file or rasp. It had a funny name.” She held up her hand to stop him before he could interrupt her thoughts. “It had to do with bones. Let me think a minute. Shyster, no, meister, no, xysters! That’s it. I remember it because it was so strange. They told us it was used to scrape bones. I don’t think it’s used much nowadays. Wait! What are you doing?”

Nash had taken the tool and was using it in an attempt to open the door. When he slid the tip into the lock, it fit. He looked at Courtney and she nodded. He turned the tools and they both heard the door click unlocked. “Ready?” he asked.

“As I’ll ever be. Let’s do this.”

Nash turned the knob.

To be continued…