The darkness was opaque, it was stifling, overwhelming, diu nia macibai in Derrick speak. Shaun noted that as he slowly let himself ease in from the minute crack he dared open of the door. Vi and Kev watched their big friend slide out of view and followed his lead, understanding that Shaun was not one to be cowed by any but the most terrible of things, butterflies strangely among them, don't ask.

Meanwhile, Shaun, already inside, squinted hard in an attempt to scan his surroundings, ominously, the lobby was deserted. Noting his two friends joining him in the empty hall, he winced at their loud footfalls. Turning to shush them, he was surprised to see that they were creeping as silently as they could towards him, even if every step seemed to ring deafeningly in Shaun's ears. Focusing himself, he realized it was not his friend who were loud, the lobby was dead quiet. Now there was quiet that we would normally face when we're alone at home, when we note the tick and tock of the clocks and the distant shagging of cats but this, this was different, this was absolute silence.

Not liking this one bit, he motioned for his pals to follow him into a side corridor, the one with the dead end, where a large painting hung.
'Shit,' whispered Shaun, a statement echoed by his companions from the looks on their faces.

'Where the fuck is everyone?' Kev asked, more of a statement than a question, as he looked back to pitch black lobby, lighted only by pale strands of moonlight.
All of them wanted to just haul ass out of the place, but knowing that their friends were still within the place and their inability to contact them, they had no notion of carrying out that thought, no matter how rational it seemed.

'Let's just find the lifts kay? We get up there, we get em if their there, if not we grab your carkeys and get the fuck out,' said Vi in a tone that even he himself found hard to believe. The seven of them had been together before they even knew guys and girls had different equipment, if they didn't find the others, they sure as hell aren't leaving till they do.