Awakening, Part IV

I descend, into the blackness of the gigantic beating heart. To my surprise, unlike the organic exterior, the inside of the heart is a vertical shaft, with a ladder leading downwards. It is as though I entered a different reality entirely as I climbed, as the air grows warm and my stomach gurgles.

Wait. When was the last time I ate? Since my awakening, I don't recall any food... and I remember something else. Before I'd awakened, or seen the beating heart. I was eating a burrito outside an office building, waiting for my girlfriend to arrive... again, I can only remember the fragment, however hard I try to recall the context. I sigh and continue climbing down, regretting thinking of my hunger - now I'm thirsty, too!

After several minutes, I reach the bottom. Beneath me is what appears to be sleeping quarters, with several bunk beds about the room - after a fifteen foot drop. I'd survive the drop, but I'd suffer a number of sprains, at least.

What can I do instead? I still have the lock-box and duct tape, tucked under my arm as I climbed. After a moment, a notion comes to me. I wrap the duct tape around the metal box once, and let it reel out, dropping about ten feet. (I don't have much duct tape left at this point.) Carefully, I swing it until it lodges under the top of the closest the bunk bed and tug gently towards me, pulling until it rests beneath me. The box comes loose several times, and I must re-seat it on each occasion.

Gritting my teeth, I let go and fall. The bed holds for a moment, the cushion on the top preventing anything worse than bruises, and then I hear snapping noises as the top buckles. Once more, I'm covered in dust and splinters, but I've survived. Nothing seems to be responding to the noise.

I get up, wincing as my leg twinges - how many falls am I going to have to suffer today? - and look around. Unlike the upper area, this room is walled with unfinished, dark stone. There's an open door leading out, but I'm more interested in the wooden chests at the foot of every bed. Rifling through them, I snag $10.27 (at least I'm probably still in the United States, wherever I am) and a bagged lunch - a turkey (?) sandwich and bottle of orange juice. I hesitate for a moment - after seeing that beating heart, I'm a little nervous about EATING anything here - but my hunger is too great.

The lunch is quickly finished. I look towards the doorway. Where now?