“I suppose you didn’t want to mention we have to go through town hall to get to the top room, huh?” Cole asked. The men were huddled around an entrance to town hall, the east entrance, to be exact.
“Figured that would have scared you away.” Root let out a meager smile.
“No shit,” Zach said.
Town hall was empty, and Cole didn’t remember the last time he had seen it this way. Usually there was an event, or at the very least, vendors selling supplies littered throughout the open space. Today, nobody was here. Even the building on the far west side of the giant hall seemed empty. Of course, the building always seemed empty, because it was a dark, stone-carved, blob of a building without windows. It didn’t inspire any sort of liveliness. Growing up, Cole had often wondered if they had built it like that on purpose, to be plain and boring to encourage people to not look up to the workers in town hall, even though everyone did. All workers here, from secretaries to elders, lived better than everyone else in town. Better food. Better accommodations. Better life. It was hard to believe, staring at the lifeless, un-decorated blob of a building. It reminded Cole of the potato cubes sometimes served for lunch. Uninspiring and lifeless.
“Where is everybody?” Root whispered.
“Well they cleared out the area earlier. I wonder if they’ve quarantined people.”
“They cleared out town hall?”
“I think it had something to do with the threat from outside. They even kicked us out of our barracks,” Cole explained.
“Shit man, I missed a few things.”
“Being in jail will do that, huh?”
“You said something about a threat from the outside?” Root turned away from town hall to the men. “What do you know?”
“I was eating and then a bunch of enforcers and guards just kicked us out, talked about some kind of attack. That’s when we were sent here, to the town hall, for more,” Zach said.
“Yeah, then they gassed us all. It was wild.” Cole still wasn’t sure if he had fully recovered from the gassing, but so much had happened in the past hour it was hard to know the cause of his tiredness.
“Damn. Well we have even more reason to get to the top room. Find out what exactly is going on.”
“Hope we find answers,” Zach said in a dismissive tone.
“Let’s just run for it. Do they monitor this room?” Cole suggested.
Both Zach and Root shrugged.
“Worst case, they are watching us and then what, catch up to us? I don’t see anyone around, do you?” Zach added.
“Agree,” Root said, stepping out of the doorframe. “Let’s go.” He started with a light jog, before picking up speed.
Cole stepped out and ran to catch up. Root was faster than he expected him to be. By the time Cole reached the steps of the building, Root was at the top. Zach pulled up behind Cole.
“Fast for an old man.”
“I’m not old,” Root said, peering inside the doorway to the building.
Zach and Cole bounced up the steps two at a time.
“Seems empty inside, too.”
Cole looked over Root’s shoulder, and to his surprise, the building was empty. Not empty like nobody was there, but empty like nobody had ever even been there in the first place. There were no chairs, or tables, or desks. There wasn’t even a light anywhere.
“Was it this empty when you came through the first time?” He asked Root.
“I was blindfolded most of the time, actually.”
“Hmmm…” Zach whispered from behind Cole. “Not really what I had heard was in this building.”
“Yeah…” Cole trailed off. Something was wrong, just like he had seen in the assignments room.
“You boys ready for a hike? We’re about to walk up more stairs than you could probably imagine.”
Cole was still gasping for air from the sprint across the town hall floor, but knew this was more important.
“It’s okay, we can stop for air if you can’t keep up.” He winked at Cole before darting toward the far stairwell. Cole and Zach exchanged brief looks before following behind him.
To say it was more stairs than Cole could imagine would be an understatement. The stairs just kept going. He didn’t remember how many times they had to stop, because he lost count after a dozen. Root was no help in keeping hope alive, as any time Cole or Zach asked if they were near the top, he’d just give a shrug and keep powering through. Cole didn’t understand how he had that much stamina, especially after being in jail for so long. It was a miracle that Cole’s legs didn’t simply quit working or fall off, and when they turned a corner and finally saw a door, Cole let out an audible ‘Hallelujah’ before taking a final breather.
“We’re here boys!” Root declared.
There was a plaque on the door that simply said, ‘Top Room.’ It was bronze and tarnished, and the door was a plain wooden door, but it was the most amazing thing Cole had ever seen.
“How come…” Zach took a deep breath. “Nobody’s guarding it?” He sucked in air as Root answered the question.
“Nobody was last time, neither.”
“I find it hard to believe…” Cole breathed deeply. “That someone just let us walk up here.”
“Maybe their attention is elsewhere.” Root said, without much doubt in his voice. “You ready to break up this party?”
“I swear to God Root, if there are more stairs behind this door…” Cole laughed weakly.
“I promise,” Root laughed. “This is it.” He stuck his hand out and turned the handle. The door squeaked as Root inched it open. The light of monitors flooded the stairwell. Cole squinted. When the room came into focus, he saw an eerily familiar sight.
“It’s empty,” he said. “Nobody’s here.“
It just gets more peculiar. Hmmm.