Two black and white eyes stared back at her, rippling in the hot breeze. Information was printed below the child’s face. This was the second missing poster she’d seen in the past four months. Two children, about the same age, disappeared in the middle of the day. 

“Hey, are you ready to go?” 

Penelope turned at the sound of the familiar voice. Approaching on a red bike was a girl with long black hair. They both wore t-shirts and shorts, desperate for a break from the hot desert sun. But as the sun was beginning to set, the first hints of orange touching the sky, the two girls had decided to go biking. 

“Do you think we’ll even be able to get in?” Penelope asked, turning her back to the flier. 

“I don’t know, but it’s worth a try. It’ll be fun, Penny!” Charlie answered, eyeing the piece of paper stapled to the wooden pole, feet fidgeting with the pedals of her bike, eager to leave.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Penny sighed, hopping onto the bike that lay against the telephone pole she had been staring at just before.  Wheels upsetting small stones on the long stretch of pavement, the girls began to pedal out of town. 

Bikes leaving skid marks in the dirt, Penelope and Charlie came to a stop. The town sat in the distance, lights from the clustered buildings standing out as the last curve of the sun sat on the horizon. 

“C’mon we have to be quick. My mom will already be mad enough at me if she finds out we didn’t actually go to the movies.” Charlie said, rolling her bicycle to lay behind a shrub on the side of the road.

“I’m surprised she even lets me leave the house, after those kids went missing,” she added. “You’re lucky. Your parents don’t care what you do.”

Penny shrugged, casting her eyes downwards, from the view of the desert hills to the brown shrubs in the growing darkness.

The two turned to the side of the road, where a cement square protruded from a sandy hill a few feet away. A circular steel door was built into it, and Penelope ran her hand over the rough orange surface. It was covered in rust, so much that the girls thought it must have been abandoned for years.

“We probably won’t even be able to get it open.” Penny said glumly, staring down at it with a frown on her face. “And even if we do, it probably leads to the sewers or something.” 

“It’ll still be cool.” Charlie answered, approaching the door with a large metal crowbar she had fished out of one of the backpacks. Grunting, she managed to stick it between the door and the cement. Penelope joined her, and together the girls pushed down on the bar gasping and panting as they used all their strength. Suddenly, the sound of metal scraping against concrete filled the silent night. Their gazes lifted to each other, smiles creeping back onto their faces. Soon, the smallest crack appeared between the door and the cement, and eagerly, Penelope stuck her fingers between it, mindless of the scratches it was giving her. The door suddenly seemed a lot lighter. Within a couple minutes, the two had pulled it open, and it swung back with a loud creak from its rusty hinges. Left in its wake was a large black hole. 

“We did it.” Charlie panted, getting to her feet, as sweat dripped down her forehead. 

“Pass me the flashlight!” responded Penny, peering into the darkness. Reaching into the large backpack that sat next to their bikes, Charlie retrieved two flashlights, handing one to Penny.

With a click the girls turned the flash lights on. 

The black space filled with the yellow beams of light, transforming the unknown into a small room tightly packed with shelves. A small ladder led down into the room.

“Whoa,” they breathed in unison. 

To Penelope’s surprise, Charlie hopped into the doorway and quickly began climbing down the ladder. 

“What if it’s not secure?” She called after her, hesitant, her eyebrows bunching in worry. 

“I’ll be fine.” Charlie reassured 

Her feet finding the cement floor, Charlie aimed her flashlight around. Above her, Penny had started the descent into the small room. The shelves were empty, and covered in a thick layer of dust. She took a slow turn around the room, eyes scanning the walls. Opposite the ladder, she spotted another door, this one rectangular, the type you’d see in a hospital. As she scanned the room, in the corner of her eye she caught a small movement. Charlie’s heart leaped, as she spun around only to see another missing poster gently fall to the ground, from the opening above the ladder, where Penny had just been. They were everywhere, she thought, blowing wherever the wind took them, like aimless birds. Shrugging it off, she turned back to Penelope.

“What do you think this is?” she asked quietly, thoughts still churning in her mind, racing in and out like cars.

“I don’t know. Maybe some abandoned bunker or something.” Penny suggested, examining the door that Charlie stood in front of. Charlie lifted and pressed her fingers against the handle. Pushing down, she discovered it wasn’t locked. Sharing a glance with Penny, she pushed it open. 

Before the two girls stretched a long hallway. The walls were white, along with a matching white tiled floor. A few doors dotted the walls, with small matching thick glassed windows that peered into the rooms, and about thirty feet away, the hallway curved, blocking the rest of the place from view. The only light came from the wide beam of the girl’s flashlights, sweeping across the hallway. 

Penny’s mouth fell open as she ran her flashlight along the walls. 

“It’s huge” she commented, turning to look at Charlie who was already trying the various doors. 

Turn the handle, locked. Move on.

She continued this until she neared the turn in the hall, yet all of the doors were locked. Behind her, Penny grew quiet.

“I think we should go.” Penny said suddenly, backing towards the closet they had just come out of.

“What do you mean? This is so cool!” 

“Look around,” Penny said, bending to touch the tile floor. “It looks clean. There’s nothing here that looks abandoned.” 

Charlie now looked around, observing what Penny had said. The floors were shiny, not a speck of dirt standing out on the white surface and the walls looked freshly painted. The door handles barely squeaked and the air didn’t have that musty smell, the kind that was like the air hadn’t been stirred by movement in years. It smelled fresh. 

She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but no words came out. Penny was right. Feeling a pit begin to grow in her stomach, Charlie moved towards Penny, but her curiosity won. 

“It doesn’t make sense though. Why was there that hatch in the middle of nowhere? I say we just look around the corner of the hall, and then we’ll leave.” 

“But-” Penelope started, pausing to think. With a sigh, she reluctantly agreed. “But we need to be quick.”

The girls crept down the hallway, reaching the turn. They peered around the corner, flashlights in hand. Another long hallway, lined with doors and one big glass window, equally as dark as the other hall.

“Okay, let’s go.” Penny contentedly said, as she turned and started heading back towards the closet. But as silence followed, she turned back around, to see Charlie heading down this new stretch of hallway. Closing her hands into fists, frustration burned at her. Penelope walked towards her, hand outstretched to snatch Charlie by the arm. But just as she reached her, a long dragging sound echoed through the darkness. The girls froze. Penny felt the hairs on her arms and neck stand up like soldiers at attention. It felt like her heart stopped, and her stomach was floating. Suddenly, Charlie had her by the arm, dragging her swiftly to the nearest door. She pushed down on the handle… and to the girl’s stunned surprise, it opened. They rushed into the room, practically sliding across the tile floor to hide under a table. Hearts beating, they sat in the darkness, listening to the faint sounds of footsteps in the distance. A few minutes passed in the still darkness. Then, slowly Charlie lifted the beam of the flashlight, sweeping it across the room. They were surrounded by counters, with test tubes and metal tools sitting atop them.

“It’s some kind of lab..” she said to Penny, her voice barely above a whisper. 

A shudder ran through both of the girls, as they looked around in horror.

“This-” Penny began, but was cut off by a sudden loud thump. And then another loud dragging sound, much closer this time. Her stomach dropped like a brick into water. Next to her, she heard the soft click of the flashlight turning off, concealing the girls into darkness. In the pitch black, her hand searched desperately for Charlie’s, for any confirmation that she had not been abandoned. Finding her arm, she locked Charlie into an iron grip, her fingernails digging into her skin. But Charlie didn’t notice, shaking so badly, she could focus on nothing other than the shadows her brain made up in the dark, and the slow dragging sound approaching them. It grew louder and louder, until the girls held their breath fearing it could hear their quiet inhales and exhales. And suddenly, it was silent. The silence was terrible, not knowing what the thing outside the room was doing. But still, they stayed perfectly still, staring into the darkness for what seemed like an eternity. 

Until a creak shattered the silence like a crashing wave. Someone had opened the door. And now the dragging sound returned, just feet from where the girls cowered. Penelope let out a whimper. Not being able to take it anymore, Charlie pressed her finger to the button of the flashlight, tears streaming down her face. Light illuminated the room. A pasty white face stared back at them, its puffy skin seeming to be hanging off its frame like melted candle wax. It dragged it’s limp body behind it, while it’s bony arms clawed at the ground. The creature’s skin was covered in what looked like stitches oozing liquids that made Penny sick to her stomach. Charlie screamed, as it slid towards them from across the room. Closer it crawled, until she could feel it’s hot rancid breath on her skin, making her gag, but still her legs refused to move. Suddenly, it launched itself at Charlie, throwing her head to the ground with a sickening crack. Dark red liquid began running from beneath her mop of black hair, as her flashlight clattered to the floor. Penelope stared, eyes wide. Her stomach rolling, she realized it was blood, Charlie’s blood. Penny’s limbs flailed, scrambling from under the table as the creature turned its attention to her, lumbering away from Charlie’s limp body at an alarming speed. Turning to run for the door, sharp nails dug into her ankle, pulling her back down to the ground, her body hitting the linoleum floor with a dull ache. In an instant, its misshaped body was on top of hers, its head looming above her. Staring into its widening mouth, with rows of sharp teeth, something in her head clicked. Deep under the swollen skin, and bloodshot eyes, was a familiar face.

 Penny’s last thoughts as the creature's teeth sunk into her skull, sharp pain shooting through her body, making her go rigid, was how similar this creature looked to the child in the missing poster.