“You’ve got to be shitting me.”

Eli smacked the pile of rubble with his metal spike in frustration, the sharp metal clang echoing around him. It was the third dead end he had found. He had no map, no directory, and no fucking clue where an exit was. His going had been slow already, given the amount of corpses and debris he had to step over and climb around. Not to mention the couple of times he had to duck behind something to avoid one of the myriad psychopaths prowling around the hallways like deranged animals. He only had a few more paths that were left unexplored, otherwise he figured he’d find a still working pod and go back to sleep for another hundred years or so. Or however long the power lasted on this heap of junk.

He turned on his heels and walked back to where he had remembered the path split in two. He had used the time tested method of eeny meeny miny moe to pick which one he took, and that had apparently failed him. So much for scientific method.

As he turned the corner he practically ran into a girl who was leaning against the wall. He guessed, by the way she jumped, that she wasn’t one of the killers in this place. She was clutching her side, her hands dark with blood. [i]Good,[/i] he thought, smiling. Better her than him.

To make sure this bitch didn’t try to follow him or anything, he held up his spike towards her, pointy end first. He put on his most deranged smile and made enough eye contact to make it uncomfortable, then walked around her and continued down the path. Hopefully she’d have a bit of sense and go off in the opposite direction to bleed out or whatever. Eli [i]was[/i] a business man, but in the business of saving people he was not.

It was equally as frustrating going down this gray, metal, bloodsoaked hallway as it was going down the various other gray, metal, bloodsoaked hallways, but Eli had hope this was the gray, metal, bloodsoaked hallway he was looking for.

Eventually, he found a hole of blinding light, a gentle gust of fresh air flowing through it. He had never been so happy to see a hole in his life. Well…

As he exited the godforsaken prison, hopefully not into the arms of the authorities who might be waiting to take him to a different godforsaken prison, he covered his eyes to the sun. Eli realized, based on the fact that he could breathe, that he was not in space. That was a good thing, he supposed.

After a moment of blindness, Eli’s eyes adjusted to the bright light. He found himself standing on the outskirts of a circle of people, all of various builds and genders and psychological states. One was dead on the ground and the rest looked like they were just about there as well. He was happy he wasn’t the only one unlucky enough to get fucked up in their unexpected landing.

Eli decided he might as well join the group, everyone seemed to be doing it anyway, and it’s not like he’d survive in the woods for very long.

“Am I too late to join the drum circle?”