Derrek closed the door behind him. The tractor's floodlight lit most of the room from the windows in the back. He had entered some kind of pantry.
Directly beside the door to the left was a rubber mat with three pairs of clean top boots. A sink beside it for easy access, with a detachable faucet. Deeper to his left, to the corner, were racks filled with supplies: Pasta, sauces, containers, peanut butter, flour, cornflakes, … the usual.
Against the opposite wall was a big horizontal freezer, a green light shone at the bottom. It looked like an older model. He imagined the humming which was drowned out by the still running tractor outside. Damn, hope it runs out soon. Sorry earth.
Beside the freezer, in front of him, were a few more shelves and a cloth rack. Clean jackets, overalls, socks, and working gloves were organized here. A closed wooden door was beside the rack, he saw a faint light come from beneath the door and through the keyhole. Was that on before? To the right of the door was a mat with some slippers on it.
To his right was an open doorway with another room that went further beyond the corner. It was darker there, no window at the back, but he was able to make out some big metal cubes. Looks like the laundry room. Beside the doorway was a closed bin, with some folded up drying racks stacked against the wall behind it. Yep, laundry. Handy. Don't want the house all messy every time someone's been busy outside.
Muffled footsteps came from above him. If it was a wooden floor, he could have heard where it went, but the sound just faded without an apparent direction.He's on the move, I need to find the stairs. Probably somewhere to the front of the house. Derrek glanced the room, everything seemed normal. He remembered what Ashley had said, that there was something prepared in the house. This didn't seem to be a part of it. He moved to the closed wooden door, wanted to open it, but hesitated just a bit. The lights weren't on. They want me to go here. Can't give em that. He ducked and peeked through the keyhole, an old classic big keyhole, fitting for this type of door.
The scene beyond the metal was something different than he expected. To the left, he could just see the end of a kitchen counter, behind it was a table, filled with candles and what seemed like skulls. Hmm, a platter of human skulls for lunch. Macabre. At the right end was another wooden door, similar to the one he was peeking through. He edged a bit more to the left and at the corner he spotted a metal lining. Fridge, so the kitchen with a table to eat. Good to know. Now let's see if—
He heard a key enter the lock behind him. Derrek came up from his haunches, turned and grabbed for the door handle. He pulled, too late. The lock turned almost in sync with his pull. He smacked the door and let out an exclamation.
He moved to the sink, which had the window above it. Mr pumpkin strode by with a glance at him. He grabbed the window handle, but stopped as only then he spotted the window was barred. My luck… But I'd do the same if I were living deep in the fields.