He tucked his torch into his belt and swung over the edge. I followed, taking my torch and putting it through a loop in my own belt so that the beam pointed down at my feet. Then, trying my best not to let my hands tremble, I took hold of the first rung.
The ladder felt rough beneath my palms. The metal was flaked and splintering and tried to work its way into my skin. My hands were slick with sweat and I slipped on a crumbling rung. My heart thudded in panic as I scrabbled to hold onto the cold metal.
I pressed myself against the ladder, clinging with arms and legs desperately whilst I remembered to breathe again. The torch was knocked from my belt and I looked down to watch as it spiralled, the beam twisting around the shaft, down, down, down and thunk. It went out instantly.
The sound echoed hollowly around the elevator shaft.
"Are you sure it's safe?" I called out. My voice bounced back around us.
Coal hopped down onto the roof of the elevator and stamped his boot against the metal. It banged dully as he repeated the process several times.
"Doesn't look like it's going anywhere." He reached up and helped me down behind him, Laurie and Alicia followed.
A low groan welcomed our weight onto the roof and I glanced nervously at the cables holding the elevator in place. We moved to the centre of the roof and I set to work trying to prise open the maintenance hatch.
The handle had rusted shut and I couldn't get it to budge. I kicked it and instantly regretted my choice as pain shot up my leg and my toe throbbed.
"Stupid, bloody, broken old piece of-"
"Junk?" Alicia offered grinning. Why was she always so happy?
"Let me do it, I'm stronger than you." Coal grabbed hold of the handle and heaved. Nothing happened for a fraction of a second and then there was a loud metallic clang. Coal flew backwards and landed heavily on his ass, the handle still gripped in his fist.
I felt the metal beneath my feet flex slightly as he hit the ground and shifted uncomfortably.
"Oh thank heavens we had a big strong man here to save us," Alicia gushed as she stepped forward, picking her machete off of the elevator roof where it had landed. She jammed the big knife into the edge of the hatch and tugged. The elevator gave a loud groan but the hatch still didn't move.
"Any chance this isn't actually sat on the bottom floor?" Laurie asked, glancing at our feet with a worried expression.
"I thought this place was all on one level. There could be twenty floors for all I know," Alicia replied unhelpfully. The elevator made another loud groaning sound.
"Hurry up," I hissed at Alicia and she applied pressure to the hatch again.
The elevator shuddered and dropped an inch, I felt my stomach swoop.
"Get back on the ladder!" Coal stood and started moving towards the access ladder but the elevator groaned and dropped another few inches. My knees buckled a little beneath me and my breath caught in my throat.
"Oh hell, I don't want to die like this," Laurie moaned as we all stood still, too terrified to do anything that might make the elevator drop any further.
The echoes of the elevator's groans sang in the empty space above us as my heart tried to break its way out of my chest.
"Just one step at a time." Coal gestured Alicia to move towards the ladder and she took a tentative step.
Her fingers brushed the metal rung just as the elevator gave out and with a massive metallic whine it plummeted downwards.
I screamed as my hair whipped up above my head and the thought of how long my body might lay at the bottom of an elevator shaft flashed though my mind.
There was a squealing sound as the brakes tried to work and we stopped as suddenly as we had dropped. I staggered into a crouch and my fingertips brushed the metal beneath my feet. Alicia reached for the ladder again and hauled herself up onto it. We all started to creep across the roof after her. Alicia was climbing quickly to make space for the rest of us.
Just as Laurie took hold of the first rung, a high pitched squeal that set my teeth on edge broke the silence.
"No no no-" Alicia yelled but the rung had already snapped and she was falling backwards, off of the ladder and down towards us. Laurie twisted aside, away from the ladder as Alicia fell towards her.
There was an almighty crash as she hit the elevator, her arms wrapped protectively over her head, and a hollow thunk reverberated all around us.
We didn't move. None of us dared to even breathe as we waited for the inevitable to happen. The silence was pregnant with the promise of a quick death.
Alicia lowered her hands and looked up at us. "For a minute I thought we were all going to-"