Post by Charlotte Rae Devereaux on May 12, 2019 3:29:38 GMT

this is the time

open

♚ The alerts popped up violently on her phone’s screen. Charlie was on her feet before she could think and left her office so fast that her chair was still spinning. They had planned for breakouts before, run drills on locking everything down, but this wasn’t right. Some of those doors weren’t supposed to fucking open. Jelani’s door wasn’t supposed to fucking open. She took the stairs nearly two at a time on the way down and prayed she wouldn’t break her fucking neck. The lower floors were full of people, and she flattened herself against the wall to let a crowd past. They were running without purpose; everything and everyone was everywhere.

That’s when it occurred to her.

All the alerts had been for internal alarms. No one had made it out because the exits were locked. They were going to fucking cannibalize themselves. It was a brilliant bedlam, one that could burn bright and bore a hole through everything she had spent the majority of her life doing. Monroeville could burn itself out, the chaos consume them all, but another place like it would only spring it up in its place. They would only be doing someone else’s dirty work if they killed each other. No, there had to be another way. She turned sharply on her heels and followed the twisting corridors until one split off into a narrow, keycard controlled room. It beeped open for her.

All it would take was a four-character sequence and every exit would come to screaming life. She typed the first three before she could registered what she was doing. Each sequence was unique to the holder; he would know it was her. She finished it and stepped back. Everything would be different pretty soon, and she didn’t want to be around.

the one where charlie hits the panic button

table (c)ulv of adoxography