Crawl into the vent.

“I’ll go first. That way you can pull me out if I get stuck.” you tell Nira.

You carefully crawl into the vent opening. The walls pinch you a bit but you fit. Pulling with your arms you half drag, half crawl deeper into the ductwork. You feel a tap on your shoes.

“I’m right behind you.” Nira calls.

You keep crawling forward. The smoke is still strong enough to make you cough and the duct gets darker as you go along. Soon you can’t see anything. Without warning your hand hits a wall ahead of you.

“Are we trapped?” you wonder. You feel around in the dark to the left but there’s another wall. You slide your hands to the right and find another opening.

“Why’d we stop?” calls Nira.

“There’s a turn up here and it feels like it goes down.” you reply.

“How far down?” Nira asks, sounding worried.

You stretch as far as you can into the drop but don't feel anything except air.

“Can’t tell.” you answer.

Nira is quiet for a moment.

“I don’t like this. It could drop down several floors. A fall like that might kill us. Maybe we should go back.”