by Lauren Beltz
seemed to have recovered remarkably quick. “Aim for those, as they are already in sizable pieces we can easily use. They will be easier for you to lift and carry as well.”
Lenore tried not to dwell on the fact that they were talking about rotting human corpses. “Yeah. Okay.”
“Don’t put the gloves on until you get down there,” Davidson advised as she moved to do precisely so. “It’ll make it a lot harder to grip the rope.”
She didn’t ask why she would need to hold on to the rope if they were going to be lowering her down. Tucking the gloves into the oversized waistband of her pants, she looked at Davidson expectantly. “Here,” Daniel said as he moved towards them. He held out a flashlight to her, which none of the others had even thought about.
“Thank you,” she told him sincerely, clutching it tightly in her hand. He held on a moment longer before he released it from his grip.
“Daniel, if you can take the slack,” Davidson instructed, motioning with his head for Lenore to move before him. The space between him and the open doors left little room to stand. Lenore balanced herself against him as she awkwardly lifted one leg and then the other over his bent leg and his arm. As she moved closer, Daniel collected the slack in the rope.
“I’m going to lower you down slowly. We aren’t in any hurry,” Davidson told her. She could read between the lines. He didn’t want her to rush and panic, making an easily avoidable mistake. “Keep the flashlight aimed below you and keep us appraised of your progress. We only need to lower you to the top of the collection, not into it.”
The few hours of sleep she had managed over the last two nights had always ended abruptly as she had woken, screaming, from descending into a pile of writhing, moaning bodies. Lenore forced another deep, shaky breath, nodding to assure herself more than anyone else.
“You ever swim?” Davidson asked.
Another nod in reply.
“Lower yourself as if you’re doing a backstroke off the block,” he told her. It took a moment for her to understand what he meant. Ever so slowly, she squatted in front of him, dropping to her knees, her feet hanging out over the empty elevator shaft. She paused to close her eyes for a moment before she continued.
“Sebastian, grab on behind Daniel,” Davidson instructed as his arm muscles flexed as the rope slowly took on Lenore’s weight. Tucking the flashlight between her chin and her neck, Lenore let her lower body drop into the shaft. Her arms shook as she clung to the edge of the floor, waiting for Davidson’s word.
“Ready?” he asked. His eyes caught hers, and she could only stare. Unable to nod, and afraid to open her mouth in case she dropped the flashlight, she let out a squeak of agreement.
“Alright, let’s do this. Slowly guys,” Davidson reminded them as they fed her rope one handful at a time.
As soon as she cleared the floor, she fumbled to grab the flashlight. Cranking it as quickly as possible, she held it to her face and squinted as she searched for the power button. The soft, bluish toned glow that emitted cast her in a warm glow of relief.
When she pointed the flashlight down, she almost dropped it. “Fuck,” she cried out, her feet scrambling against the wall of the shaft. “Oh fuck.” She closed her eyes, clinching the flashlight against the rope at her chest. She felt her downward progress still.
“Lenore?” Davidson’s voice reverberated down the shaft. “Talk to us.”
Her lower jaw shook at she opened her mouth to speak. “Five floors,” she yelled up, quickly counting the number of sets of doors she saw until the top of the pile.
“Are you okay?” Davidson shouted.
It was a matter of perspective, really. She certainly didn’t feel fine, but she wasn’t physically hurt either. “Just keep lowering me,” she managed to shout back through the sour taste collecting in her mouth.
It was the longest span of time in her life. If she had her eyes open they were glued parallel to the ground for the majority of the time. Her stomach continued to heave as the smell worsened.
“Stop!” she screamed at the top of her lungs as she felt her boot make contact with something. “Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!” she repeated to make sure they heard. She only stopped yelling when the rope ground to a halt. She pulled her legs up towards her body, though the motion sent her off balance. As her side smacked into the wall, she aimed the flashlight down to take stock of what she had to work with.
The light glinted off the bloodshot iris of a face she didn’t recognize. While the vast majority of the top layer was discarded trash and sealed tight Hefty bags, this body had been tossed down completely attached. Lenore fought down the scream rising in her throat as she slowly tested her balance. Leaning her lower half down, she probed what her hands could reach.
“There are dozens of black trash bags, Seb!” She moved the flashlight under her chin and scrambled to pull on her gloves.
“We only need one,” she heard him shout down. A shadow cast on the light streaming down from above. Lenore risked a glance up to see Sebastian’s head poking through the shaft doors.
“How do I know which one to pick?” It had been so foolish for her to volunteer for this task. Anna or Sebastian would have already been done by now. They knew what was down here because they had put it there.
“Just grab any of them and tear a very small hole in the bottom corner. If it leaks out blood, then it’s part of a body and we can use it. Just make sure you cover up the tear you make with the bag you took down with you, or the body will be useless to us before you reach the floor again.”
“For the love of God, will you please stop saying body?” she yelled. Moving the flashlight to her left hand, she held it against the rope as she gripped it firmly, afraid she might slip out of her harness if she leaned too far forward. Her right arm extended out, making a grab for the closest bag she could see without the ability to acutely aim the flashlight.
A simple tear in the corner was much easier said than done as she battled to get a grip of the flashlight, the rope, and the bag all at once. Once she had made the rip, she had to maneuver everything to point the flashlight at the tear to see the outcome. As she did, she felt something trickle down the leg of her PVC suit. “Blood!” she yelled back, quickly rearranging the flashlight to grab the empty bag she carried. “Definitely blood. Not yet!” she yelled as she felt Davidson start to immediately pull her back up. She almost dropped the flashlight from the sudden jerk of movement, which then took her twice as long to encase the bag she’s picked up with the empty one she’d carried down.
“Okay!” she finally yelled up once she sat securely in her harness. She held the bag with screaming arms, leaning forward against the rope so that the weight of the body would not tip her backwards out of the harness. “This dude is heavy, if you don’t mind putting a little urgency in it this time!”
Her ascent quickened noticeably at that remark. By the time the top of her head was level with the floor, she thought she might have dislocated one or both of her shoulders. Her arms screamed, but she refused to let go of the bag. Positioned with her back to the hallway, she felt a tug as one of the guys scrambled to catch her under her armpits and pull her in. Another grabbed the bag from her hands as soon as they could reach.
As soon as they eased her onto the floor, she collapsed against whichever unlucky gentleman had pulled her in. “Easy,” he murmured close to her ear, arm catching her. Dropping the flashlight to the floor, she turned around and hugged whoever it was. It was not a pulse of adrenaline that coursed through her during the entire ordeal. It was a foreboding sense of dread and terror. As her feet found purchase on solid ground, it seeped out from her body. She sagged against him in relief.
“You okay?” he asked. Daniel. She could feel him looking her over, searching for any sign of injury.
“Fine.” She shuttered against his chest. She wasn’t ready to stand on her own feet just yet. One more minute, she promised herself as she clung to his arms for support.
“You did good,” Sebastia
n commented as she felt him squeeze her shoulder. “You did great,” he amended.
She felt hands at her waist, working to remove the harness. She made no effort to help as she tried to calm her breathing. Then hands were pulling the harness away, followed swiftly by the pants of the rain suit.
“Come on,” Daniel urged softly as he pushed her gently away. He helped her unzip the jacket and tug it off her shoulders, discarding it to the pile on the floor.
“Oh shit,” Sebastian said just as they turned to face him. His face had gone pale.
“What?” Lenore asked, her heart sinking. Just the thought of having to make the trip again made her want to vomit.
“It’s Hayley,” he said. It took a moment for understanding to sink in. Of all the infected bodies they’d dumped in the sweep, she’d unknowingly grabbed Hayley’s. She turned away from Daniel just in time to heave up what little water remained in her body.
Davidson
He only had to knock once before William opened the door. Though they had arranged to meet up to go over supplies, William looked hesitant to let Davidson in now that he had arrived. After William opened the door and motioned Davidson in, he understood why.
“It appears I’m not the only one who’s been keeping secrets,” Davidson commented dryly with a nod of his head towards the neatly piled stash taking up both the coffee