by Jon McGoran
I hit the DOOR CLOSE button, and Kiet flashed me a distressed look. As the elevator doors closed, the light on the security panel next to the door across the hallway blinked from red to green.
There was one more floor: IMPLEMENTATON. My heart was pounding. But we’d come this far, and we hadn’t really learned much to show for it.
I put my finger over the button and paused for a microsecond, looking at Rex, Claudia, and Kiet. They all nodded and I pressed it, sending the elevator even lower.
I couldn’t tell how fast we were descending, or how low we were going. My ears didn’t pop, but I could feel them adjusting to a change in the air pressure.
“Man, did you see those exoguards or whatever?” Claudia said.
“Yeah,” I said, “and I saw their weapons.”
Kiet nodded. “Lots of weapons.”
“They looked like the same exosuits we saw outside the mine,” Rex said.
The elevator stopped, and I fully expected the doors to open onto another version of the previous three levels. Instead, we were in a massive, dimly lit cavern of rough-hewn rock. Enormous stalactites hung from the distant ceiling, and where the floor hadn’t been cleared away, stalagmites rose up to meet them. They were a glassy black stone, weirdly iridescent. The same stuff coated the ceiling and walls, and chunks of it littered the floor.
The smell was even stronger. There wasn’t a soul in sight. We stepped off the elevator, our footsteps echoing in the distance.
The opposite wall of the cavern, maybe sixty feet away, was lined with huge steel doors, labeled NE1, E1, E2, and SE1.
“CCU-A, CCU-C, NE1, E2,” Claudia said. “They sure like their codes around here.”
“Are they mine shafts?” I asked. I had a hard time hearing myself speak over a whooshing noise I hadn’t noticed before.
“I don’t know,” said Rex, his voice rumbling.
The main cavern continued to the right, past the doors, narrowing into a tunnel that curved into the distance. A sign hanging from the ceiling said CENTRE RIDGE MAIN BRANCH. “This is the mine we saw from outside,” I said, pointing at the sign. “Centre Ridge Main Branch.”
“But…there shouldn’t be anything left to mine, remember?” Claudia said. Her voice sounded funny and slow.
Kiet seemed to be in shock. I was about to ask him if he was okay, when I sensed movement behind us and I turned to see the elevator door closing. Rex saw it, too, and he dove for the door, but it was too late. The door was closed.
“No!” Rex yelled, his voice echoing around us.
Kiet seemed to snap out of his trance and swiped the card to recall the elevator. The panel lit up and he pressed the call button, but the elevator was already on its way back up.
I felt strangely confused, and vaguely panicked. The four of us stood there, watching the numbers on the panels detailing the elevator’s progress. Still going up.
“It’s okay,” I said, pointing. “There’s another elevator.” As if on cue, the bell chimed to announce its arrival. I started to say “Come on,” but two thoughts penetrated the thickening fog in my brain.
First was a sense of alarm about that fog, a realization that something about it was terribly wrong. The second thought was that the elevator might not be empty.
“Wait!” I called out, and the others looked over at me sluggishly. The closest thing to a hiding spot was an indentation in the rock wall to our left, where it curved away from the elevators. “Over here!” I cried, beckoning them to follow me.
Claudia and Kiet came over, but Rex paused. “But—”
“Now!” I snapped, startling him into movement. He stumbled as he came over, and I grabbed his arm, jerking him around behind the outcrop.
He started to ask “What?” but was interrupted by the sound of the elevator doors opening, audible even through the growing background whoosh.
We ducked farther back, and looked on as the two exoguards from CCU-C emerged from the elevator. One stopped and the other continued walking across the cavern. With the breathing masks and distance, I couldn’t see the face of the first one, but I could clearly make out the horseshoe mustache on the one waiting by the elevator.
Two dozen chimeras emerged from it. I recognized a few from the level above us. Their skin was definitely gray, and they looked groggy, but they weren’t wearing breathing masks of any kind.
I didn’t know what to make of that, but I knew it was important. I knew it had something to do with the panic I’d felt just a few minutes earlier. The explanation was just outside my grasp, and I screwed up my face with the effort of trying to think of it.
The last chimera off the elevator was lagging, and the exoguard with the mustache gave him a savage kick in the small of his back. I almost cried out, but Rex somehow anticipated it and put a hand over my mouth. The chimera tumbled across the stone floor, stopping in a twisted heap. The exoguard that had kicked him grabbed him by the arm without slowing down and dragged him across the stone floor.
A dull tone reverberated through the cavern as the set of massive doors marked NE1 began to open. It first revealed a tunnel almost as high and wide as the cavern itself, sloping downward into the distance. The ceiling was clear for a little ways, but after that it was thorny with stalactites.
As the doors opened wider, I could see clusters of chimeras every twenty or thirty feet along the wall, swinging picks and wielding shovels. Some were chipping away at the glassy rock that coated the floors and hung from the ceiling, others were shoveling it into metal carts.
Rex’s hand fell away from my mouth, and I whispered, “God. That’s horrible.”
As the guards marched the chimeras inside and the doors began to swing closed behind them, one of the stalactites splintered and fell, bringing with it a large section of ceiling. The miners below tried to scatter, but two or three disappeared under the rubble. As the doors continued to close, other miners began frantically digging them out. The exoguards watched, and kept their weapons at the ready, but none moved to help.
A loud ding rang out, almost immediately swallowed up by the thunderous clang of the massive door closing. I was struck by two thoughts almost at once: that the ding sounded a lot like the elevator, and that the lightheadedness I was feeling was awfully similar to how I felt before I passed out in Centre Hollow. We had to get out of there, fast.
I stepped out from our hiding spot and saw that indeed the elevator we had come down in was open, its light spilling out across the stone floor, beckoning.
As I turned back to tell the others we needed to go, I heard a sharp percussive thwap as Kiet’s mop handle hit the stone floor. Kiet and Claudia were crumpled next to it, unconscious, and Rex was down on one knee, visibly struggling.
For a moment, I tried to process the situation. I knew that if the elevator doors closed, if we got stuck down there, we’d probably die from whatever poison we were breathing before we were even captured.
Rex looked up as I took two shuffling steps toward him.
“Get up,” I said, my voice thick as I reached down to grab the mop, my hands feeling around on the ground for it as my eyes refused to focus. I turned and shoved the mop through the elevator doors, just in time for them to lightly close on it, then open again.
When I turned back, Rex was on his feet, swaying back and forth.
I grabbed his shirt, struggling to look into his eyes. “Got to get out of here,” I said, “…get them out of here.”
He looked like he was straining to focus on me, but he nodded and reached down to grasp Kiet by the arm. I grabbed Claudia by her shirt and we dragged them both onto the elevator, past the mop, still lying across the threshold. Rex pulled Kiet into one corner, then collapsed against the rear wall with a loud thud that shook the elevator car. I slumped against the side wall. Reaching out with my fingertips, I grabbed the strings on the mop head and pulled it inside the elevator.
The doors closed and I shut my eyes, letting the sickly lethargy wash over me as I waited for the lurch
of the elevator to take us away from this nightmare.
Except it didn’t. Forcing my eyes open, I saw that none of the buttons were lit. Because none had been pushed.
My brain couldn’t come up with a single curse word.
I grabbed the arm rail running along the wall and pulled myself to my knees, and threw my hand at the highest button on the panel as consciousness finally left me for real.
CHAPTER 24
The headache was worse than when I woke up outside Centre Hollow. A lot worse.
I opened my eyes, still on the elevator floor. Rex and Claudia and Kiet were next to me, and with a jolt of panic I threw myself onto Rex to make sure he was breathing. He let out a snort when I landed on him, and I kissed him on the cheek and held his head to my chest, fighting back tears of relief.
I checked Claudia and Kiet to make sure they were breathing, too. I had no idea how much time had passed or if I had actually reached the button before I passed out, or even if the elevator had gone up and then come back down. For all I knew, we were still down in the mine, with armed exoguards waiting on the other side of those doors.
I jabbed my fingers on the top button, BASEMENT, the one I’d been aiming at before, but the doors opened with a ding, revealing that we were already there.
There was no way of knowing how long we had until someone could come along and discover us. And there was no way I could get the others off that elevator myself—at least not Rex. I wouldn’t know where to hide them or myself even if I did.
I was frozen with indecision. Any second, someone below could summon the elevator and bring us all back down into that hell. And if I pulled the knob to stop the elevator, an alarm would surely go off somewhere. I hated the idea of being exposed while I was trying to rouse the others, but that seemed to be the best option.
I put the mop between the doors again. Then I started slapping everybody. Gently, but insistently. I started with Rex—left, right, left, right—then moved on to Claudia and Kiet, “Get up, get up,” I said, my voice hushed and urgent at the same time. “You’ve got to get up. We’ve got to get out of here.”
I went from one to the other several times until they were all awake. My headache had largely subsided, but I could tell they were waking up with doozies. The doors closed on the mop, then opened again.
“What?!” Rex said. He sat upright, then winced, holding his head. “Where are we?”
“What’s going on?” Claudia said, looking pained.
“We’re back in the basement,” I said, gently shaking Kiet. “You’ll feel better in a minute.”
Kiet groaned, squinting up at me and screwing up his face.
“We’ve got to get out of here,” I told him. “Can you get us out?”
He propped himself up on his elbow, thinking. Then he nodded, his eyes clearing and his face resolved. “Yes. I know a way.”
I turned to Rex and Claudia. “Are you ready?”
They both nodded. Rex still seemed a little sluggish.
“Are you sure?” I put my hands on his elbows and looked into his eyes.
“Yeah,” he said. “Yes. Let’s go.”
“Okay.” I turned to Kiet. “What’s the plan?”
“I’ll go first and signal when it’s clear. We’re going back up those stairs across the hallway. On the first landing, there’s one door that leads out to the lobby, and another that leads outside.” He thought for a second. “The building is L-shaped, with a south wing and an east wing. That exit is right at the bend. It’s going to let you out onto a grassy area between the two wings of the hospital. Stay to the left. Go past the dumpsters at the end of the building, cross the driveway, and you’ll see an empty lot they’ve cleared for construction. To the left of that is the edge of the woods.” He looked at his watch. “I’ll meet you there in the woods.”
“Wait, you’re not coming with us?” Claudia said.
He shook his head. “My shift’s done in twenty minutes. If I’m not here to punch out, they’ll know something’s up.”
“But what if they already know you helped us?” I said. “What if they arrest you or…or worse?”
He shook his head. “I have to risk it. I can’t lose this job. It’s the only lead I have on finding Devon.”
It made sense, I knew. He was our inside man at OmniCare. We needed him to keep his job, too.
“Where in the woods should we meet you?” Rex asked.
Kiet didn’t hesitate. “There’s a creek a little ways in. Follow it upstream until you come to an abandoned fishing shack. I’ll come find you there in an hour.”
“Are you sure it’s abandoned?” I asked.
“It’s falling apart. I stumbled across it on a hike. I don’t think anyone’s used it for years.”
“Nothing to fish,” Claudia said grimly.
“Okay,” Rex said. “Thanks.” Then he turned to Claudia and me. “We better go.”
Kiet nodded and went out into the hallway, nonchalantly looking left and right. He opened the door to the stairway and poked his head through, listening for a moment, then beckoned us to follow.
We hurried after him, and as I bent to grab the mop, a button on the panel lit up, for the IMPLEMENTATION level. My stomach lurched as I thought how close we had come to being sent back down there.
I caught up with the others across the hallway and we hurried up the steps to the first-floor landing. Kiet swiped the card through the panel next to the exit and pushed the door open. Cold, fresh air hit me like a slap in the face, blowing away the remaining cobwebs.
Outside was just as Kiet had described. One wall extended straight away from us on our left, and another wall extended away at a right angle to it. In front of us was a square of frozen grass and mud, dusted with snow and crusted with ice.
“That way,” Kiet said, pointing to our left. “Driveway, woods, creek, fishing shack. I’ll find you there. You’ll be fine.”
He turned to Rex and handed back the security card. “Probably best if I don’t get caught with this.”
Rex smiled and took it from him.
Somewhere above us, a door opened and footsteps started coming down the stairs.
Kiet mouthed the word Go.
Rex patted him on the shoulder. Claudia and I gave him a quick hug, then we stepped outside.
I turned back to wish Kiet good luck, the but door was already closed behind us.
CHAPTER 25
The wind swirled around us, angry and cold under a wintry, blue-gray sky.
The walls on either side were plain concrete with evenly spaced windows. The ground floor was slightly elevated, so as we crept along the south wing, even Rex could easily stay beneath the lowest windows. But there was no cover from the windows in the east wing, which all seemed to be staring at us.
We ran low and close to the wall. Like rats, I couldn’t help thinking.
I kept waiting for someone to start yelling or alarms to go off or something, but the only sounds were our breathing and our feet on the frozen ground. At the end of the wing, we paused next to a trio of blue dumpsters. It was so cold, they barely stank.
The driveway was in front of us, a few feet below ground level, sloping away from the parking lot to our left and down to Bogen Road, which curved back around toward the front of the hospital. A second driveway branched off the far side of the first, leading up to a muddy construction area. Beyond that were the woods. Just like Kiet said.
Claudia looked back at Rex and me, and whispered, “I’m going to take a look.”
We nodded, and she crept forward with feline grace. I wondered briefly how much of it was because of her splice and how much she’d always been like that.
She came back and shrugged. “It looks clear, as far as I can see.”
The longer we waited, the more likely we’d be caught.
I nodded and Rex nodded back. He held up his fist and mouthed the words On three.
Then he silently counted, raising a finger each time: one…two…three…
The ground was slick, and as soon as I started down the short slope to the driveway my feet began to slide, but somehow I kept them under me.
Claudia looked to her left, and as her eyes widened, I could see the twinkling of blue and red lights reflected in them. I looked over, too, and saw three police cruisers, lights flashing, and a cluster of cops standing around them.
Behind me, Rex’s voice rumbled, “Oh, shit.”
The cops were too far away to have heard him, but all at once they turned and looked right at us.
“Go!” Rex grunted, but he didn’t have to. Claudia was already halfway up the embankment on the other side of the driveway, scampering toward the open lot. I crossed the driveway and sprang, planted a foot on the steep slope, and vaulted up to the top. Claudia was already sprinting across the lot, kicking up little clumps of mud with each step. I took off after her, but almost before I started running, I realized something was wrong.
There was no low, heavy breathing or footfalls behind me. I skidded in the mud and looked back.
Rex was running back across the driveway.
“Rex!” I called out.
“Go!” he called back. “I’ll catch up!”
“Come on, Jimi!” Claudia cried, her voice jagged. She was practically across the cleared lot.
The police cruisers were already screeching in tight circles as they turned in our direction.
Rex kicked the blocks out from under the wheels of the closest dumpster. “Go!” he thundered again as he pulled the dumpster toward the driveway.
I realized at once what he was doing. If the cops made it to the driveway leading up to the dirt lot, they would easily chase us down in their cars.
“Go,” he said once more, quiet this time, but emphatic, clear as a bell even though he was so far away. Then he twisted his body, grabbed the edge of the dumpster, and shoved it onto the driveway.
It tipped over and landed with a massive clang, blocking the driveway and sending trash bags tumbling everywhere. As Rex took off across the driveway, the first cruiser slammed into the dumpster, almost pushing it into him. He sidestepped the dumpster and kept running.