The red beam of light moved over the metal cubes. Directly in from of him were three machines, two with round glass doors and one with a metal rectangular one. The doors stood open halfway, all were empty and clean. Left of the machines was another window, closed and barred.
Beyond the corner, to his left, was the heating installation. Copper tubes ran back and forth, left and right, in and out the walls, to a vertical gas burner attached to the wall. It was a clean installation, only a few years old. Do they have gas coming this far? Or a reservoir in the ground somewhere probably.
Beside the burner, was a bigger round vat. From it, also a lot pipes went seemingly everywhere at random. The vat was pretty big, about a person's height and two times as wide. It had a thermometer at the top part. At the front's bottom was another hole in the vat with a metallic device inserted, cables ran from it. Huh, quite the installation they have here. No idea what most of that is. No electricity though, should keep my eye out for the breaker.
The vat ran to the end of the room, where another door was. That's not headed to the kitchen, better check it out. He shone his flashlight over the laundry room, but couldn't pick out anything else of interest. The right corner had another rack with supplies: washing bins and laundry baskets, all empty; wash pods and fabric softener; supplies for cleaning like a mops, brooms, buckets, detergents, 100 different kinds and sizes of rags —all 'necessary', a vacuum cleaner,… Nothing he could use right now.
Derrek moved toward the door at the other end. To his left he read 45 degrees celcius. The window to his right gave him a view over a small terrace, and the shed further back. The light was still on there. Wonder if Peter is still there. Would Warren have gone to free him too? Or would they have forgotten him, again?
As Derrek stood thinking, his mind gave him a sudden alert. Something was wrong with scene. Not the shed, the terrace. It was a paved-off circle with plants surrounding it, a few paths paved paths providing access. It had a round wooden table with 6 chairs around it, five of which were empty. The sixth had someone sitting in it, back toward the window. Derrek froze, making sure to keep his red flashlight aimed at the floor, as not to give himself away. Dear mother of— Almost missed that. What is he —or she— doing just sitting there? I totally missed the terrace from the shed, the light must have blinded me. Was that person already there then? I don't see a pumpkin-shaped head, but it does seem hooded. Can it be Yves already? Sprinted down the stairs and then sit there. Dina? But why? Just sitting there?
Derrek stood watching his mouth agape, the silent chanting still coming from the kitchen wasn't helping with his feeling of unease. He turned off his flashlight and got closer to the window. The sitting person was a good five metres from the window, even in darkness the shape was visible. It just sat there. Unmoving. Derrek looked to its left and saw the path heading toward a large glass window at the bottom left part of the J-shaped house. That looks like a sliding window. Should reach it if I continue deeper this way.
Derrek watched it a few more seconds, no movement whatsoever. Is it even a person? Could be a distraction to get me on that terrace. I'll be able to see more from that sliding window.
Derrek moved from the window to the closed door. It was the same style of wooden door as the one before, big old keyhole included. He peeked through it. Hallway, no lights as far as I can see. I can hear the chanting from here too, probably another entrance to the kitchen too. He got up and opened the door.