Page 7 of Hell's Fear

“Do you listen to anything I say?” she inquired and turned her back on him.

“There’re usually different backgrounds, and we have to solve the puzzles to escape,” Inglorious offered, and Marsha beamed at him, causing Fish to glower.

“Someone notices me,” she said in a dig at her husband.

Fish nearly made me laugh with his indignant expression. “I listen!”

“Yeah, you hear very well when I say I want to get laid,” Marsha hissed, and Fish took on a mulish expression.

“Always pay attention to a beautiful woman,” Inglorious teased.

“Shut the fuck up, cocksucker,” Fish retorted.

The guide who’d been waiting with us looked at a clock and spoke. “You have four hours to discover the main room. Remember, refreshments are provided in room three, but the countdown doesn’t stop while you eat and drink. Once you reach the final room, when everyone else arrives, you have an hour to escape there. Have fun. Your time starts now.”

He opened the door, and we entered. I was the last to enter, and as soon as I crossed the threshold, the door slammed shut behind me.

“Okay, so I guess we start with the table,” Willow said, heading towards it.

Marsha and Davies joined her while I took in the first room. The walls were made of corrugated sheet metal, and there were several lockers and a wall of shelves with toolboxes and other stuff. The floor was plain wood, and there was a bright single bulb hanging from a wire.

Inglorious stood near a stack of boxes with strange marks on the sides. Fish was examining a pile of different lengths of pipes while Grey looked at the door. He reached out and touched the handle and twisted. He offered a rueful smile when it didn’t open.

“Worth a try,” he said, amused.

“So we’re in a factory?” Inglorious asked.

“Judging by the décor, either that or a warehouse, a garage maybe?” I agreed.

“We need to find two batteries for this box. It has a clue,” Marsha called.

“How do you know that’s where we begin?” I inquired.

“Because it says so,” she retorted, and I walked over to the table.

Marsha smirked as she pointed to a plaque, saying, ‘Start here.’

“Well, I suppose that couldn’t be any more obvious,” I said, chuckling.

“What are those weird marks?” Willow asked.

“Do we just open stuff randomly?” Fish inquired, rattling a toolbox.

“There’re two symbols here. A triangle with a circle inside, and the second is a snake with two lines above it,” Grey described, peering at blocks on the table. “I think we need to find the matching figures, and then we’ll discover the batteries.”

“I found the key,” Davies called, opening a lockbox by the door. “It’s locked behind this Perspex frame, which needs a key itself to open.”

“Are those symbols over there?” Marsha asked as I walked over and began studying each box.

“Fish, you check those toolboxes,” Willow said.

“Houston, we have a problem,” Smokey replied, searching a locker.

“Oh shit,” Grey agreed.

The locker contained loads of containers, all with the same markings as the blocks on the desk.

“Hey, over here, there’s a base and a drawing of a shape made out of those boxes,” Smokey called.

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