3.5

Scuttling through the debris she smelled fresh bread. The hunger was tearing through her mind like a ice dagger, why did she have to chose a hungry rat or perhaps all rats were hungry all the time? She remembered the rodent she had tricked up on the rock, that one had been hungry as well. Looking around she saw the doorway to the kitchen and ran through following the wall around some side tables and then quickly infront of the large oven. Heavyset women were working doughs and preparing large chunks of meat and vegetables for the evening dinner. Jumping in behind a table she found some dropped vegetables that she greedily ate. After calming her stomach slightly she could think more clearly. Now where would her room be? The kitchen she supposed was in the basement so she would need to climb up somehow. She looked around the kitchen until her eyes found a service elevator. It was already half stacked with foods to be served at the dinner which would be a perfect way to quickly move up. Hiding as best she could she ran towards the elevator and was just about to jump up on a table placed just beside it when one of the women placed a large plate on the table blocking her way. Scrambling to stop and move into the shadow she accidentally disturbed some cutlery hanging along the side of the table. The clang of metal made the woman look down and see her. The scream that Emelie was expecting never came, but a tenderizing hammer did.

Emelie was shocked to be back in the white room. She had never been in a body dying until now and it was a frightening moment. She felt beads of cold sweat on her forehead. Concentrating on her breathing calmed her down enough to begin focusing again.
- No more deaths, ok?, she said to herself

- Squeek.
She was looking at another rat. It was brown and quite a bit larger than herself and it was showing it's sharp teeth at her. She put her head low by instinct and backed away far enough so she could turn and run away. After backing up a bit the other rat seemed to calm down and she moved away from it trying to figure out where she was now. She was even more careful to keep out of the light now. Waiting in the darkness under a bed until it looked safe and then run for shelter under a locker and then in under a closet. In the room she could hear several voices talking calmly and a few snores. Soldiers quarters she thought, it has to be close for here.
She stayed under the closet for some time figuring out how many men it was here, she managed to figure out it had to be six or seven of them, there could be more but they would have to be really silent while sleeping. She had tried to use her sence of smell to figure it out but again the smell of food was disturbing her concentration. Beside the closet there was a door leading into a circle stair heading upwards. There was no way down so she figured she once more had ended up in the basement. She jumped the stairs up to the second floor and was happy to do so unnoticed. She was in luck, here she could smell her own scent from her body in the white room, it was down a hallway that ended in a small room in which there was a table and a few chairs. A candle was burning on the table and there was some papers beside it and a quill of ink.
She could here the steps of a man heading towards the room. She hid under the table andsaw a guard with a large black dog entering the room. She saw the dog catch her rat smell and rush in under the table. The guard managed to hold on to the dog and yank it's chain so hard it almost choked the dog. The dog growled loudly when the guard pulled in the chain again and started moving towards the white room. Emelie switched to the dog and felt a surge of violence rush through her. She had an idea and a way that could just set her free.

The guard slid open the large wooden beam that locked the door and prepared to open the door when the dog all of a sudden snarled and attacked him. It jumped up towards his face but he managed to raise an arm in selfdefence. The sharp teeth of the canine dug deep into the flesh and the guard screamed in pain as he tried to shake the dog loose. Another attack landed hard over his ancle and he fell to the ground and his good arm stretched down towards the leg wound. The feriocious dog saw it's chance and fast as a dervish dug it's teeth deep into the throat of the guard. A gurlging sound bubbled up from the lungs of the guard as Emelie sent the dog running down the hallway and let it's mind go.

Coming back to herself she slowly stood up and carefully opened the heavy door. She stepped around the dying guard who tried to grab for her but she kept out of his reach. Then she ran down the hallway, past the circle stairs and down another hallway. At each doorway she stopped and peered in to make sure noone was there. She could hear the sound of the dinner going on upstairs so she continued to move towards freedom whereever it might be.