((Made of Stone by Evanescence)) He chose one of the other six elevators–not the middle one, where they had usually forced him inside. There must be a reason why the machines had always selected that one. Usually, two illuminated circles would appear when someone would show their palm before the panel but it did not work now. The smooth, plain white surface remained the same. The footsteps behind him were getting louder and louder. So close. He must get inside right now; otherwise, every single pain he had gone through would be useless. He pressed his palm around the panel; nothing appeared. With all his strength in his tired, thin body, he tried to push the white barrier aside. ‘Open! Open! Open!!’ he screamed internally. All his force was on his hands; there was nothing to grip on, not even a hairline crack. ‘Clunk. Clunk. Clunk’ the noises came from right behind him. Before he could turn around, a heavy strike landed on the back of his head. He lost his balance, feeling dizzy.

((Throne by Bring Me The Horizon)) Up it was, but he realized after wasting a few seconds that would not have mattered. The door opened immediately. Twenty-five was ready to give a bullet to whoever awaited on the other side, but thankfully, it was vacant. Inside, he had to display the hand again to see the floor numbers. There were 60 circles in total, unlike in the middle elevator, including the ones combined with alphabets, such as the current floor B3. He could easily figure out how the ‘Bs’ on ten floors represented basements because of one button G. He had heard a few times some people mentioning ‘ground floor’ casually, and G could only mean that. If that was the case, B could also be something related to ‘ground’; for that, Underground would make sense, and similarly, it also meant ‘basement’. In choosing a floor, he had to gamble, since he did not know where he should go. Although they had dragged him along multiple levels while they were humiliating him, the numbers of fl

((21 Guns by Green Day)) He swung around and found no one was there; she was gone. The door was closing shut under his eyes; on its surface were the twirling vines he hadn’t noticed before. The metallic black vines were moving as if they were sentient. He doubted he would be able to get out of this room himself. He could try breaking the door but he didn’t. It turned out to be the right decision because while twenty-five was indecisive about what to do next, his enemies had blocked the only way out. If he broke through the door, they would have killed him, as they were already at the door when the woman exited. The surveillance team informed them how he was inside and even the exact location he was standing. In less than six seconds after the scientist’s exit, they entered the room with lethal force. He was between the desk and the glass wall when they barged in. Dozens of guns fired simultaneously; a deadly rain of bullets envelop the room in vengeance, too eager to tear their

((Black Summer by Red Hot Chili Peppers)) “What do you mean by that?” Jack hesitated. “I asked, what do you mean by that?!” she asked louder this time. “Did you just call me crazy?!” The woman appeared old, weak, and exhausted but her voice was shockingly loud and high-pitched. Jack who was twice the size of her flinched at her shout. “Maybe,” he mumbled with a sneaky glance. “Only ghosts live in that place.” His voice got even quieter. “O father in heaven! Did you hear what he just said? I can’t believe this! He thinks I am crazy! He thinks I am making it all up!” Forcefully, Haleigh pulled her hair with both hands. “He thinks they did not kill my baby! How dares he?! How could he assu…” Jack jumped up and tried to remove her wrinkled hands from her scalp. A few strands were already falling out. “Motherf--” he cursed as her head hit his jaw because she was shaking her head wildly. “It hurt!” he whined. “I did not say you were making it up. I just thought you needed to… St

((Chop Suey by System Of A Down)) On the way, Haleigh could not stop feeling grateful to Jack and Luke, flying the brassy hovercar. It was dark out there as the dawn had yet to come, but every hovercar had night-vision. She could not stop feeling grateful to both of them. According to Jack, this used to be a clunker before they dragged it out from a hovercar graveyard nearby and carted it to one of their friends who knew how to fix vehicles. Still, this was the kindest thing people had ever done to her, including her families that no longer existed. Thinking of the last time she had flown along this route, she kept hearing Hannah’s words. ‘I wish he becomes the president.’ That had been one of those rare moments Hannah bickered with her. The stubborn girl; she had always had her own opinions. Haleigh almost smiled. How long that had been? Mere two weeks ago. She heard someone–not sure who; it could have been Jack or Luke or a stranger on the street–talking about that: Wafford had