The door that led outside the lab was a regular one with a handle instead of the automatic we had all over the "regular facility". It also didn't have a keypad or something like that on the inside, even though it also didn't have a key hold

It actually had a keypad on the outside, but I couldn't see it at the time, I would only realise moments later

Since there was no point in staying in the lab, and it looked like we could get outside the room, I didn't hesitate in going for the door

I did hesitate a little in opening

First, I wasn't sure an alarm would ring out suddenly for some reason. I did consider going back to the vents for a second but considering the chances of an alarm were pretty low. Not only no alarm sounded while we were inside the vents, it wouldn't make much sense to activate an alarm for opening the door from the inside, it usually worked the other way around

The thing is, there was still a second thing to worry about before opening the door. I needed to check if there was someone or someones on the other side of the door

Sadly, even though I had better strength, agility, toughness, memory and reflex than the average kid, I didn't have enchanted senses. I guess I reached the limit with so much versatility, so my senses of hearing and smell were completely normal. I did think I had better sight than the average person, but I am not sure if I always had it or it was thanks to an experiment

It was a shame we didn't bring Meg with us, besides the obvious reason that we now need to search for her, since she had enhanced senses like hearing and smell. In everyday life, it was probably a bother, considering that noises I couldn't even hear made her miserable, and she could smell a fart 20 meters away and 30 minutes after it happened. It also probably affected her behaviour really badly, since I caught her more than one time smelling dirty clothes, other people asses, and reacting to small objects moving fast

On the other hand, in battles or situations where you needed to be sneaky, the enhanced senses were extremely useful. She could find someone easily even if they were hiding, and could detect a person before the other could notice you, giving you a tactical advantage. In this situation, she would have been able to hear if someone was on the other side of the door, or maybe smell it at least

Bad luck I guess

Since I didn't have Meg support, and neither of us had enhanced senses, we had to do it the old fashion way. First, I put my ear against the door and tried to listen to any kind of noise

Complete silence

Not that it helped reassure me of anything. There could be a person behind the door, just really really quiet, like playing with his phone, distracted, guarding a door, etc. Well, I doubt he would be playing with his phone under the circumstances, but you never know

So my next step was to open the door really slowly and take a small pick while crouching down since most people only see the top and not the bottom first. Worst case scenario, I see someone in the hallway and I quickly retreat behind the door, so it would only look like the door open itself. If I was lucky, the person would come check it out and I may be able to knock him out(not really likely actually)

But no one was on the other side

I admit, it makes me looks completely paranoid, right? I am paranoid

There is an old wise saying "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you". It was probably said by a seriously paranoid dude, but it's not like he wasn't right

And considering people were actually out to get me, it was completely reasonable to be paranoid under the circumstances. Better safe than sorry

My next step after slowly opening the door was to slowly sticking out my head and to look at the sides. No people on sight again

Since there was no one near, and there was no point in staying in the lab, we got out from the lab and started moving. To be honest, I just picked a random direction and started walking in a sneaky way(like in games, where it looks like you are crouching while walking). I wasn't sure how effective it was, but since most games and movies did it, I just copied it. As for Mei and the runner, they followed me from behind, mimicking my movements

The place was a long hallway, with forks, and different doors with handles and keypads similar to the lab. There were also some doors without keypads, but they were bathrooms, kitchens, some offices, etc

Strangely, there was no one in sight, and I didn't know if they were hiding for some reason, if the place always had low personal, or if they were in a specific place I didn't know about

I must admit that the place was extremely big, with no windows like the places I could visit normally and vents all over the place. It even had maps, something that it didn't take me long to find

There were a lot of names, like sector B,H,S etc, and I was currently in sector F. Unlike the other sectors that were in red and only showed how big they were and how to reach there, the sector F part showed different parts of what was inside it

I could see the red point marking where I was, a mark pointing where the lab I just came from was, and other places. There were the bathrooms, the offices, a kitchen area, some other places I didn't bother to remember, the teleporting pad, and where I was planning to go next, the Command Center

I thought it was the best place to find out where Meg may be and a way to get the f-ck out of that place

Since I knew where I was and where I came from, thanks to the map, it wasn't hard to find where I had to go. I admit I would have wanted to take the map from the wall just in case, but it was nailed to the wall, so I had no choice but to remember how to get there

Luckily, I have a good memory and a good sense of direction, so it wasn't hard to get there. After a 10 minute walk, while crunching and paying attention to my surrounding for any noise or presence, I arrived at the Command Center without problems

My original idea was to either look for a vent and go that way or try to break the door if it was locked. Luckily, the door was actually opened and you could see the inside of the place from outside

The only problem was that there was someone inside already

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Note: Thanks Neiden for the corrections =D especially the command room mistake, since it was the title of the next chap