by P K Stadnyk
I walked to the end of the corridor and had a choice to go left or right. I decided right was better. I could hear noises coming from the left. I didn’t have any personal things in the room where I woke up. Just the photo. Maybe somewhere here I would find a kitchen or something to eat. I needed a mirror too; I didn’t know how I looked and couldn’t figure out how old I was. After few meters I regretted choosing this way. The water was deeper, and I thought I saw something running across. It’s just my eyes, I kept telling myself. The shadow I saw was big with an unnatural shape and amazing speed. If the water were coming from here, there had to be a bathroom or a kitchen. Soon, there was so much water that it reached my hips. I felt things on the floor that were soft and cracked under my weight. I hoped they were only parts of heavy soaked furniture. The “water’’ was hard to move in. With every step, it was getting thicker and thicker. I called it water to keep myself away from thinking of what it really was and getting sick. It was hard not to get nauseous when a strong rotten smell was tearing at my nostrils, trying to fill my whole body with it. The look of it didn’t remind of water at all. Finally, I found a door with a glass window that wasn’t as secure as the others. It had a handle, but it wouldn’t move. Perhaps too much water was inside, which reached the door window. I saw tables and chair so maybe the room was a cafeteria. I didn’t have a choice and moved on. I tried to open other doors in this corridor but more water was entering and the rooms were already totally filled with it. I wasn’t desperate enough to dive in it and look for something. It was so thick and murky that I wouldn’t be able to open my eyes anyway. I only hoped that wasn’t the way out of this place. I had to turn around and take the other corridor. The far end of this new corridor looked like it was a dead end. The ceiling had probably fallen down and closed the way. I sighed deeply and walked toward my new destination, wherever it was. I started to think that I might die in here and nobody would even know about it. Were my parents still alive? Was anybody in here alive? Then I saw someone in front of me just standing there. I had the same feeling when I woke up. Could it be the same person? If it were a person, came through my head. Did it open my door and now played with me and watched how long I would survive?
“Hello? Hello?! Hey! Who are you?” But I didn’t get any answer and it was still standing there. I started to run in the liquid, which was almost impossible. When I was close and could almost see its face, it just disappeared in front of me without the slightest noise. I didn’t believe in ghosts, so perhaps I was hallucinating. I still couldn’t imagine how I could see in complete darkness, which played with my eyes and feelings before it totally swallowed me. I felt like it was enjoying it. Finally, I made it to the intersection of the corridors but something was wrong. It wasn’t the same place. There were more of them: five. How could I have gotten turned around? The dead end corridor was straight and didn’t have any turns. I was sure of it. Maybe when I run toward the “person,” I missed something? Maybe I missed the turn? It had to be the explanation. It couldn’t just teleport somewhere else, right?
I closed my eyes and chose a random way. It looked pretty dry and full of doors. I hoped to find food in there. It was very cold. The first room had a normal wooden door with a brass handle that wasn’t even rusted. The door opened quietly with a slight push. I found a fridge that had some food in it. I didn’t know what it was, but I was so hungry that I didn’t care. I ate something that looked like rock-hard bread and drank some clean water from a bottle as I sat down on a chair at a desk. The room had no windows save for the one in the door. I noticed that after walking through the terrible liquid, my clothing was dry and even clean as new. I had long black leather boots reaching halfway to my knees, but they weren’t as heavy as they looked. The rest of my clothing was matching with black trousers and jacket from a material I couldn’t identify. I never felt anything like it. It was soft and hard, warm and cold at the same time. I searched my pockets. All were empty except for one, which contained a note: C199. What could it be? Was it my writing? It didn’t mean anything to me, but I thought I had better keep it. Maybe I would find out later, but all I really cared about was getting out. I looked for a source of light, matches at least, but there was nothing. Some of the rooms were locked or absolutely empty. One still had a light on, a very weak flashing bulb that was trying to compete with the dark. It was a shame I couldn’t take it with me. On the wall, I found numbers. C199 was one of them among many others. What could they mean? At last, I found a flashlight in one of the drawers of the desk. It even had batteries in. Maybe it was my lucky day. Suddenly, something shot past the door behind me. Immediately, I turned around but nobody was there. I ran to the door and looked through the window. When I heard heavy breathing close to the door, my curiosity, as always, won and I tried to open the door, hoping to catch the person I saw before. It was locked from the outside. Was there a key somewhere? I looked in the desk but didn’t find one, and when I came back to the door a pair of light greenish yellow eyes were staring at me. Then it emitted a terrifying thin high-pitched noise that hurt my ears straight to the brain. It was the worst sound I ever heard any creature make. It started banging at the window with its big fists while continuing to stare at me. I thought I would soon be dead when this creature succeeded in cracking the unbreakable glass. A few more punches and it would be just me and it, and I had no weapon. Then, just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone. Did it just get bored or did it want to play with me? Make me go out and hunt in labyrinth? Suddenly, the door unlocked but there was no clue or sign of who did it. The monster was lying on the floor with a massive hole in its head.
I took a closer look at the monster or maybe overgrown rat. It was big, hairless, and its dead eyes were still staring at me. It wasn’t similar to anything I had ever seen before; however, I still hadn’t gotten my full memory back. I wanted to take a closer look at it, but I heard a noisy snoring behind my back. I quickly turned around, expecting to find another of these things but, instead, found a teenage girl in the corner of the room. I couldn’t tell if she had been in there all the time or if she had just entered. She sat in the corner shaking. It wasn’t snoring I heard. It was her breath.
“Hi. Are you okay? How did you get here?” She didn’t seem to see or hear me, so I came closer. “Hey, are you okay?!” Her closed eyes slowly moved toward me. I came closer. She was very thin and her skin seemed thin as paper filled with veins. When I was few feet away from her, she opened her eyes. They didn’t have a color but were dead white. She moved forward and tried to grab my hand. I jumped away. She was moving her head forward and to the sides, trying to smell or hear me. Then she got interested in her hand and started biting it.
“Stop! Why are you doing this?! Are you hungry? Here, have some bread.” I threw her some of the bread I had left from the kitchen and ran away. I turned around before leaving and saw her eating it with her own blood on her chin. What the hell was this place?! Was she so hungry she had to eat herself? What was wrong with her eyes? And that monster, who shot it?
CHAPTER 33 - A SHADOW
I decided not to check any more of these rooms and just run toward the end of the corridor. If there was an exit, good; if not, I would try another. I decided to run as long as my strength lasted. I had had enough of this place.
I ran for couple of minutes without the slightest sign of tiredness and my breath stayed even. When I ran, I felt my feet on soft, sometimes cracking things. Every few seconds, squealing came from under my feet. A few times, I saw that shadow again, but I didn’t care. If it didn’t want to talk to me, I didn’t want to either. If it wanted to play games with me, I was ready. I imagined that it was surprised that I didn’t care. Suddenly, I slipped on something and fell. In front of my eyes, lay something dead and stinking; it reminded me of a meter-long mouse without a tail and massive ears. I quickly tried to stand up, but I felt something heavy on my back pushing me back down. It turned me around and I found myself on my back with a foot on my chest. I looked up an
d noticed that the shadow was holding me down with HER foot.
“Hi!” I said waving my hand at her, but I didn’t get any response out of her. She looked at me for few minutes and offered her hand to me. I gladly took it; that meant she didn’t want to kill me. She gave me a sign to follow her. I tried to turn the flashlight on, but she took it and threw it away. She then started to run very fast and it was hard for me at first to catch up with her. I noticed she could see in the dark as well and had a very athletic build. She stopped every few minutes to listen for something, but, to me, it was just complete silence everywhere. Finally, she stopped next to one wall and waited for few minutes, listening and looking for something. When she didn’t find anything, a special part of the wall moved up and a room appeared in front of us. She pushed me in and closed it. Maybe she couldn’t speak.
“Do you have a name? Who are you? What is this place? What was that monster? Did you kill it? WHAT ARE YOU PLAYING AT?!” I started shouting. It was annoying trying to talk to her without getting any answers. Was she deaf? I stood up and grabbed her in my hands, but she was faster, got free, and turned around. She thrown food at me and gave me a glass with something white. Milk! How long had it been since I drank milk! She looked very familiar to me. I had pictures and answers somewhere in the back of my mind, but I couldn’t get them out.
“Eat!” she yelled.
“Will you answer my questions, please? I don’t remember anything. I haven’t seen anybody here who would be normal or alive; just you. Please. Also, I know you from somewhere. Did you let me out?”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“To check.”
“To check what?”
“If you’re one of them.”
“Am I?”
“No.”
“One of whom?”
“Them.”
“Are you always so talkative?”
“I can stop talking if you want. So, what do you remember?”
“Nothing. Just my childhood. I don’t remember how I got here, who I am, or where am I… But I know you… from somewhere.
“Strange that you remember me.” She smiled. “I let you out. You were the first one I found who was normal and untouched. Your name is Max. I don’t know how we both got here, but I know where we can find out. You have a note in your pocket.”
“How did you…?”
“What does it say?”
“How can I be sure you’re not just trying to play with me or take my note then leave or kill me?”
“I would have done it already. Now give it to me.”
“C199. That’s all it says,” I told her.
“Eat, get some sleep, and we’ll go. I need to prepare. There’s a bed where you can take a nap. I’ll wake you up.”
I found a bed but couldn’t fall asleep. I closed my eyes and waited for her to leave. When she left, I looked around her stuff to find something about her. I found a broken mirror and looked at my face. I had a short beard but still looked very young. My face was clean, even my teeth were clean.
She had a nice place here with a bed, kitchenette, and clothes but nothing special that could tell me anything about her. I decided to go back to bed in case she came back early. I put my hand under a pillow and found a piece of stiff paper. It was a photo of me and her holding and kissing each other as teenagers. It was taken somewhere that looked like here but everything was nice and shiny. What was her name? I already had strong feelings for her and started to worry if she were okay. My heart started to beat faster and stronger. I never felt such a love for anybody. Still, I couldn’t remember us falling in love and later times. I was glad I wasn’t alone anymore.
I fell asleep and dreamt about the mystery woman. Pictures flashed in front of my eyes. I saw her laughing, crying, sleeping, angry, and both of us together watching a movie at night or hanging out somewhere. Were those my memories or dreams? I hoped it was the former.
Even when we were sitting in different rooms, we still felt like one and nothing could separate us. Our hearts and souls were always shouting for each other. There were moments that we tried to kill one another but it always ended quickly and made us stronger. I remember I hated to see her cry; it was tearing me apart. When she smiled, it made me the happiest man in the world that she was mine and that smile was for me. She was my world.
I was wakened up by the door closing. I put the photo inside my coat on my heart. “How was your preparation? Are we ready to go?” What was her name? I remembered almost everything about her but couldn’t remember her name. I knew she still had feelings for me. I could see the light in her eyes when she looked at me, and she didn’t stay quiet and angry for too long. Maya! That’s her name. Alvin’s sister! Should I tell her now or wait till later and surprise her? Did she remember about us? Probably yes, if she let me out.
“Yes. Did you sleep well? It’s not the best bed, but it’s better than the floor, right? There’s some more food. We need to be prepared to go for quite a while before the next stop.
“How about you? Did you sleep?”
“I’m okay.”
“You need to sleep at least for few hours.”
“I think that will work. If you hear anything, wake me up right away.” She went to sleep, and I decided to check if she packed everything. She fell asleep very fast. I went to cover her with the blanket she looked so beautiful and calm just as I dreamt of her. All I could do was sit and watch her. She woke up after few hours.
“Anything?” she asked.
“No, everything was nice and quiet.”
“Good. How long did I sleep?” The clock on the wall said 5 hours had passed.
“Not long.”
“Are you ready?”
“I am. What do you remember? What happened to you?”
“I remember as much as you. It comes back slowly with time, so maybe I remember more than you. I just need to take something.” She reached under the pillow to grab the photo. Her hand was looking for it everywhere even under the blanket. So, I still meant something for her.
“Did you? Never mind. We need to go.”
Before we left, she took one last look at her room and we were off. I felt safer with her instead of wandering around by myself, and she knew the place better than me. We ran past hundreds of doors. I was glad that I didn’t decide to check all of them. She stopped sometimes and walked around, looking for something on the walls. Once, I couldn’t contain myself and asked, “What are you looking for?”
“Signs. We’re still at level A, which means we have two more to go, and this one’s very long. I hope we aren’t running around in circles. You have a note that said C, right?”
I looked at her surprised and nodded. I had completely forgotten about where we were going. I was still in my dreams and her presence in front of me only made it harder to concentrate. I couldn’t stop myself from wanting to touch her. Mostly I wanted to be close to her and talk like we used to.
“Okay. Let’s go then,” she said.
We kept running and something was following us far behind, but every time I looked behind, it wasn’t there. I didn’t want to stress Maya, so I kept it to myself, hoping that the creature would get bored and let go. Suddenly, there were two of them, then three, still keeping their distance. Maya stopped at once, and I bumped into her back. She probably heard them and started running faster. I didn’t have problem with that, even with heavy backpack she gave me. I didn’t feel any strain.
“Finally! We’re at B now. Keep close to me.” That shouldn’t be a problem, I thought. The creatures were still behind us lighting the darkness with their terrible eyes moving behind us without making the smallest noise. We ran faster now, and I heard somebody scream in front of us. Maya, however, didn’t stop. The creatures left us alone. Perhaps in front of us was something even they were afraid off. The closer we got, the more blood I saw on the walls, floor, and even ceiling. The smell was awful too. Rooms here were even more secured than mine with only a very tiny w
indow in the door.
“Shhh! Quiet! Do you hear that?” I managed to stop in time but didn’t hear a thing. Maya started to move back slowly and stopped. “I think it went away. We’re very close to C now. Are you okay? We’ve run for good couple of hours.” We did? I didn’t even feel my breath getting heavy. All I felt was flying like a butterfly following a beautiful flower in front of me.
Something brutally pulled me out of my dreams again. It was very big and furious. It fell from the ceiling along with something wet that landed on my head: blood. That thing was different from the others by height, weight, and look. It reminded me of a massive orangutan mixed with a little bit of bear. It opened its mouth and started growling at us.
“Don’t move. Maybe it’ll walk away,” whispered Maya through her teeth, but it was too late. It stood on its four back legs and was getting ready to attack. Its paw with half-meter-long claws cut the air in front of us. Something clicked in my head and I found myself jumping on it and kicking and hitting it. Somehow, I knew its weak spots and finished it with a broken neck. I jumped off it without a scratch not quite believing what happened.