Either way, Samuel headed off in that direction, desperate to get away from the yelling and banging Matt and his friend were inflicting on the stairwell door. At least the Trident security system was failproof. As a bank they were required to have the highest-grade stainless-steel doors, trackpad entry and even retina sensors in some parts of the building. Everything was designed to protect and seal, though there was very little left to safeguard anymore.
He was halfway down the hallway when Samuel stopped for a second, swearing he could hear something coming from one of the printing rooms. He waited outside and listened, trying to discern what the sound was. It sounded almost animalistic; a whimpering not too dissimilar to the sound a frightened dog might produce. Curious – and convinced whatever was inside couldn’t be a threat to him – Samuel pushed open the door and walked inside.
“Oh jeez, Cassie! What are you doing here? Are you okay?” Dashing over to the woman who was crouched down behind one of the industrial sized printers, Samuel put his arm around her and allowed her body to lean in against his. Cassie was one of his friends, a younger woman who worked in the marketing department alongside him, specializing in graphic design and print. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to control her breathing.
“Sam,” she mumbled, “I’m scared. What’s going on?”
“Have you been in here the whole time?”
Cassie nodded, her head rubbing against Samuel’s shoulder and brushing against his chin. “Everything happened so fast,” she started to explain. “I couldn’t get out, I tried but I…” Cassie trailed off, losing her words to another flood of tears.
“It’s okay,” Samuel soothed her, holding her body closer to his. Cassie suffered from anxiety attacks and he could only imagine the panic she must have endured being in the building when everything happened. “I’m here now. Take it easy, Cass.” Samuel had become somewhat of a father figure to Cassie, one of the youngest employees in the marketing team. She was in her early twenties and this was her first proper job. Trident operated a pretty strong graduate scheme that attracted a lot of New York’s young professionals. It was one of the reasons the bank had continued to thrive and grow over the years, surpassing its main competitors at the top of the market – until now.
Although Samuel had never married – by choice – he had always wanted children. Growing up he had always been close to his sister, the young sibling relationship they shared one that could never really be rivalled. Like many siblings though they had grown apart as they got older, their relationship still good, but no way near as close as Samuel knew it could be. At times he wondered whether it was his upbringing that had led to him have difficulties making friendships in school and at college, only really being able to engage in relationships properly when he reached his twenties and found people who were more similar to him. But even now, Samuel wasn’t blessed with a large group of friends. He cherished the relationships he had made at work and always did his utmost to maintain them. While he was thankful for many of the lessons his parents had taught him, he struggled to place social status above friendship.
“Are you all on your own?”
Cassie nodded again, her heart rate finally slowing as she began to feel comforted by Samuel’s presence. After hiding out in the print room for over an hour, she was happy to have someone else by her side. “I just couldn’t get out, Sam. Everyone was shouting and panicking. It was too much. I didn’t know what to do.”
“It’s okay, Cassie,” Samuel repeated. “Don’t worry about it. We’re going to get out together now. I’m going to check the elevators. Do you want to come?”
“Okay,” Cassie agreed, making eye contact with Samuel. “Are you sure it’s safe?”
“You’re the first person I’ve seen on this floor,” Samuel replied. “We’ll be fine, I’m sure.”
Leading the frightened young woman to the door of the print room, Samuel walked outside and gave Cassie a couple of seconds to process that they were, as he had assured her, completely alone. He only hoped that would remain true when they reached the elevators. He really didn’t know what to expect. If the elevators were working then it would be bizarre that no one had visited their floor yet. If they weren’t working then that posed them with the problem of how to get out. The stairwell was likely still occupied by Matt and his friend and the last thing Samuel wanted to do was walk Cassie into that chaos.
“Huh, that’s weird,” Samuel pressed the elevator button again and looked up, seeing the same error message on the digital screen above. “It says they’re all stuck on the nineteenth floor.”
“Why would they all be up there?”
“I don’t know,” Samuel shook his head. “It’s odd. Do you know if there is anyone else still up there?”
Cassie shook her head and shrugged. The alert had rung out around the company, starting with a few ripples of confusion as certain people checked accounts or saw errors flashing up on their screens. She had been in the print room at the time looking at the negatives for a new advertising campaign they were due to launch in the Fall. By the time the details had dripped through to her nearly the entire floor was in mass panic, questioning what was happening and if it was
