Page 8 of Hell's Fear

We all wandered over and studied the picture.

“So, we build these into those images and get the key?” I asked.

“I don’t think it would be that easy, but it looks like the first step,” Willow agreed as she started collecting the boxes. Grey helped collect the rest of the triangle ones, and then I watched, amused, as everyone argued about how to make the shape.

Finally, Willow smacked everyone’s hands and began building it. “Who’d have guessed spending hours with the Hellions and their Kego would come in handy?”

Fish groaned as Willow continued. “I’m so tired of stepping on those damn Kego bricks.”

“Those fuckers hurt,” I agreed, thinking of when Olivia used to play with them. I was happy Olivia was long past them.

Willow swiftly created the two images, and then we all stepped back.

“Now what?” I asked.

“Something should have happened,” Marsha said. Fish reached over and pressed on the snake, and the entire thing moved backwards, and a key appeared. He repeated the actions with the second and discovered a battery. Davies snatched and connected it while Smokey rushed to see if the key fit the lockbox. It didn’t.

“This has to go somewhere,” Inglorious mused, peering around.

“This is locked,” Willow called. “Hey, Smokey, bring it here.”

A panel on the wall opened, and we all winced. The damn thing held a winding mechanism that needed gears to twist.

“I hate shit like this,” Grey complained.

“They could have provided the gears,” Smokey bitched.

“They kinda have,” Grey said, looking at four little ones.

“Okay, so, everyone, search for cogs. Who’s good at puzzles?” I asked, turning to stare at Marsha. Everybody else followed suit.

“I do crosswords, not these pains in the ass!” Marsha exclaimed.

“Not my problem,” I replied with a grin.

We spread out and began hunting for missing gears.

“Anyone got an idea how many are needed?” Willow inquired after we’d found three.

“There’s a number six here,” Marsha called as she placed cogs to see how they fit.

We searched for another ten minutes, and Fish discovered the final piece.

Marsha had been moving gears back and forth and we prayed the last one fit.

It did.

Marsha wound the little handle, and the machinery moved, and a section in the wall popped open, and Inglorious crowed as we located the second battery.

After fitting it to the box on the table, I pressed the on button and almost groaned when another symbol lit up the ceiling.

“Guess we have to find this one,” Davies said, sounding grumpy.

Everyone spun around and began hunting. Fish remembered the toolboxes had keys inside, but we had to discover the container with the correct image. Inglorious found it, grabbedthe key, and headed for the Perspex box. We all sighed as the lockbox unlocked, and Inglorious handed Marsha the key. She opened the door, and we stepped through.

The next room was pitch black, and then suddenly, a light flickered into existence.

“This looks like fun!” I said dryly, looking at the now-familiar metal walls and wooden floor. There was a worktable alongside one wall and another full of manuals. Lockers stood against the third and contained cans, and the door was in the fourth. There were several trunks under the table, and above the door, a red timer began a twenty-minute countdown.

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