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Jon slammed the door to the Archives as Martin rolled up his jacket and shoved it over the crack at the bottom. “Well this is just wonderful!” Jon hissed, his hair dragging over his face. “Martin, why didn’t you get more extinguishers?!"
“I tried Jon! Do you realize how hard it is to get them when you buy five stores worth! I ordered them, but they never came!” Martin snapped, pointing his finger at Jon. “You try doing what I do for a day and you will stop complaining!”
Jon looked at the door as muffled voices called for them to open the door. “If we even make it out.” He said grimly.
“You don’t even think we’ll live?!” Martin hissed. “What was your plan? Run into a corner with no way to protect ourselves! Do you even know what you're doing?!”
“I don’t!” Jon said, throwing his hands up. He watched Martin’s face drop. “I don’t know what’s going on!”
Martin pinched the bridge of his nose, letting out a heavy sigh. “Look, we have time to fight later, right now let’s find something to keep us alive.” He said, rummaging through the Archives. Jon watched as Martin pulled open drawers, papers fluttering out and the hinges squealed like rats.
“Martin-”
“WHAT?!” Martin snapped, his face red as he slammed a drawer shut. “You’ve already gotten us stuck here, what else do you want?”
Jon didn’t look him in the eyes. “There’s nothing here. I don’t keep anything that could produce a mess and ruin the statements.” He watched as Martin’s body stiffened. “I don’t even keep an extinguisher in here.”
“So we really are fucked?”
Jon nodded, sitting with his back against the wall, his eyes training on the door. “I’m afraid so. If you want to, you can use a recorder to make a last message for your family. I’m sure they would like to hear your voice.”
“We could still get out.” Martin said. “The Institute will have to clear this place out soon and as long as we stay put, we can survive.”
“We are all replaceable. We mean nothing to them.” Jon muttered.
“God, can you just be positive? Can you for once have something nice to say?” Martin said, leaning against the wall.
Jon looked at the floor. “If Gertrude can be so easily replaced, why can’t I? You, you probably will be harder to replace. They’d come for you.” He sighed. “I haven't done anything that they seem to like. What’s one more missing Head Archivist?"
“You can’t be serious? You may not be the best, but you are important.” Martin argued, but Jon waved his hand at him.
“Tim has already voiced complaints from people I had to interview, not to mention there will be a complaint at some point about how I talk about the statements. I’m hardly even qualified for this job.”
“You’re not wrong, but you still have a job here. You have people who care about you.” Martin said. “There’s people outside of this hellhole who are waiting for you.”
Jon shook his head. “No. If I just vanished one day, only the Institute would notice. I haven’t had a great relationship with my family and it's not like I have friends.”
Martin sat down next to Jon. “You have us.”
Jon scoffed. “I truly doubt any of you consider me a friend.”
“Look, you may be an ass, but you helped us. We do care about you.” Martin said. “We’ll get outta here.”
Jon could feel something watching them, and when he turned to the door, he didn’t see the worms. Great, he was going crazy after all. “Even if we do, they won’t keep me. I may be a good Archivist, but you would be better.”
“Don’t get soft on me, Jon. We aren’t going to die.”
“Shut up Martin. We will be left here.”
Martin’s jacket was sprayed from the door as white foam poured from the cracks. Sasha kicked open the door, foam covering her body, her face pulled in a blind rage as she whipped the fire extinguisher around.
“Sasha!” Martin shouted, nearly getting sprayed.
Sasha blinked, lowering her weapon. “Thank god you’re okay Martin!” She turned to look at Jon. “Hey Jon.”
“Thank you.” Jon said, but he doubted she heard him as her attention quickly snapped back to Martin.
“We’ve gotten most of the worms pushed back, but we think Prentiss is planning to launch a final attack soon. Elias has called for more firepower, but we don’t know when its coming.”
“Let’s gather everyone and get ready to hold the fort down. Find an area with multiple escape routes, but easy to hold.” Martin said, and she handed him an extinguisher.
“I’ll meet you in the break room.” She said, rushing off.
“C’mon.” Martin said, pulling Jon to his feet. “It’s not time to die yet.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming.” He hissed. “We will never speak of what was said here.”
Martin shrugged. “Whatever. Just learn to lighten up some.” He said, before charging off into the foam battlefield. Jon looked at Martin and smiled as he followed suit.