The path was clear of any resistance. The vampires caused a lot of damage to the structure of this floor. Security must be busy trying to contain them or kill them. 'If they were that strong, how did they get caught, to begin with?' I questioned myself. We finally got to an elevator. Someone had ripped the doors off, and I could see inside the elevator shaft.

"Shit, they screwed the elevator! Excuse my language," Rachel exclaimed.

"Damn, what do we do now?" I asked.

"We are going to have to climb up," Rachel suggested.

"Okay, I'll go first. I'm good at climbing ropes," I said.

I swung my weapon over my back and peered into the shaft. Looking up and down, I didn't see the elevator cabin. The cables were just out of my reach. I searched around the corridor for something I could use to pull the cable closer. There was nothing but leftover weapons. I could use the straps from them to make a makeshift rope.

"Hey, help me collect some of these straps so I can make a rope," I asked.

Without a word, Rachel began collecting rifles. It didn't take long to find enough to make our rope. 'All those days going to camp and being in the Girl Scouts was paying off,' I thought as I began making the rope. Ten minutes later, we had enough. I made two makeshift harnesses with some rope. Next, I connected them to gather and gave one to Rachael. We put them on quickly. Then, I connected another to the front of my harness. This would also loosen the cable to me. Now we have a safety tether together. There were leftovers, so I gave her some more. We had to wrap it around the cable tie and snap it on so we could tether it to the cable.

I finished with the preparations, and now all I needed to do was lasso the cable. Rachel stood by, holding my line just in case I slipped and fell down the shaft. My first attempt to lasso the cable failed. I braced myself for another attempt. I swung the lasso out, trying to make it swing around back at me. It worked, but I missed catching the other side. One more time, and I would have it. Again, I swung the rope out around, looping it back. This time, I caught it. I pulled the cable as close as I could. The cable was slick, as I had expected.

"We're going to need gloves," I said.

"Okay, hold on. I'll get some," Rachel announced.

A few minutes later, she returned with the gear. She gave me a pair, and I put them on, careful not to let go of the cable. I snapped my safety tether to the cable and tugged. It was tight and secure. It wasn't the best, but it was better than nothing. Once done, I swung into the shift, holding on tightly as I wrapped my legs around the cable. It was cold against my bare thighs and legs. I climbed up a few feet so Rachel could repeat the process. When she was good, we started our climb upwards.

The climbing was easier than I thought it would be. We were making progress as we ascended. An hour had already elapsed. We had passed over ten floors. I kept a count of how many floors we passed. After all this climbing, I wasn't even tired. A loud bang echoed up above us. The banging continued for a while and sounded ominous. Something was coming down at a high rate. Then I realized it was the elevator cabin falling. It caught on the walls as it fell down the shaft on fire, hurtling towards us.

"Fuck! The elevator is falling down!" I yelled.

I heard Rachel gasp in terror. 'What the hell are we going to do?' I thought frantically.

At the rate of its descent, we had about sixty seconds before it hit us. There was just one option. Untether ourselves and fall to the bottom. There was no way to tell how far we'd fall, but if we didn't, that cabin would wipe us out, anyway.

"Hurry untether and let go!" I yelled.

In unison, we both unsnapped and let go. For a second, I felt weightless as gravity took effect. The sound of Rachel and me screaming as we fell echoed with the crashing sound of the elevator falling. Thirty seconds later, we landed with a splash as we hit the water, sinking deep into a pool. Moments later, the elevator splashed above us, sinking. Rachel pulled on my rope, signaling me to swim out of the way. I floated behind her as the elevator fell into a dark abyss below us. We swam up to the area we entered. There was a tunnel next to the pool. Down the path was darkness, and I smelled a putrid smell. It brought back memories from my time in the Catacombs.

"Damn it! This is the Catacombs," I whispered.

"What does that mean?" Rachel asked.

"This could be bad. There aren't any lights down here. Pseudo vampires are down here. The ones Cordelia told us about. I remember now that someone helped me down here, but I can't remember who," I explained.

"I hope that person can still help you," Rachel whispered.

The light from the elevator shift illuminated a few feet into the entrance to the tunnel.

"Maybe we could make a torch?" Rachel asked.

"With what? We barely have any clothes on to begin with. This mini dress of whatever it's supposed to be isn't enough. I don't think we want to be down here nude," I pointed out.

"I would feel better if we had a light source, but I get what you are saying," Rachel replied.

"It's a maze down here, but I think there is a control room or something here. If we can get there, then we can get back up," I suggested.

"Do you think you can find it in this darkness?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah," I answered.

I pulled up onto the ledge of the tunnel with Rachel right behind me. I could still see the shape of her body in the low light. She was soaked, and her skirt stuck to her skin. The dress really was slutty, and it barely covered her bottom, revealing far too much. 'These doctors must be sexist or something. At least most of them,' I thought. I walked along the wall with one hand touching the wall. We were in total darkness a few steps later, and my senses adjusted in seconds. The putrid smell was close by, along with various aromas of what I deduced were those pseudo vampires. So far, they were not close yet, but I was sure they would catch our scent soon enough.

We crept in darkness for a long while, listening and smelling our environment. These things were all over the place. I noticed a group of distinctive smells that weren't human or pseudo-vampire. The scent smelled like wet dogs.

"Do you smell that Rachael?" I asked. that,

"Yeah, what is it?" Rachel responded.

"I don't have an idea," I replied.

A rustling sound caused us to pause. We could hear it was close and behind us. 'Why didn't we smell it,' I thought. Then, the slight air current caused my skin to develop goosebumps. The air was blowing from before us, making us effectively downwind. Whatever it was, it had picked up on our scent long ago. 'Where was this air current coming from?' was the only thought running through my head. We had to find out, and I didn't want what had our scent to catch us. There was no way to tell what was on our trail now.

"We have to run," I whispered.

A hard tug on my tether let me know Rachel understood what we had to do. I tugged back in response. Then, two times, three times, I burst into a full sprint with Rachel in tow. Behind us, I could hear multiple things giving chase. We ran a suitable distance before I slammed into a wall. I was ready for that and pushed through the pain, running with one hand on the wall. We ran around aimlessly, trying to lose our pursuers. They weren't gaining on us, but we weren't losing them either. We found ourselves in a circular pit with a dim light up at the top. This was a dead end, and the only way out was up. I couldn't tell how far up the light source was, but staying here was out of the question. I felt the walls, which felt jagged enough for us to climb.

"We have to climb!" I said with determination.

We climbed fast, and after about one hundred feet, we heard horrible cries from below us, motivating me to speed up my pace. I wasn't about to let these things get me a second time. The climb was extended, and a race to see who could reach the top. Several times, I heard something slip and fall down, crashing with a thump followed by howls of pain. That wasn't about to happen to me either.