Aegis: Catalyst Grove

by Nathan Roten

  “No, I mean, I don’t think so. I never have before. I am just as surprised as you are. It couldn’t have been me. Maybe it is part of their sick little game.”

  Kel was nervous. She was trying to tell the truth, but she did not want everyone thinking she was some sort of freak, so she tried to shift the blame to their captors. “Maybe there were small explosives built into the chair or something.”

  “Why on earth would they do that?” asked Graham.

  “I don’t know? Why did they lure us to that house? Why did they say we were going to be a part of something bigger, only to put black hoods over our heads and take us here? Maybe they are just freaks who get off on scaring us.”

  Graham didn’t want to believe that. He would much rather believe that he could finally talk to someone else who could do things that were unexplainable. At least that way, he would not be the only freak in the room.

  “Well, whatever it was, I am free from those ropes. We can figure out the details later. Right now, we just need to get out of this room.”

  “Agreed,” said Kel, with a silent sigh of relief.

  “Yes, get us out of these things,” said Damien.

  Graham shook the ropes from his legs and walked over to Damien. Picking at the knot, he worked it loose from his right hand. Flinging his hand free, Damien frantically began to tug at the other knot holding his left arm down.

  Seeing that Damien was more than able to free himself now, Graham walked over to Kel. He reached out to untie the first knot. She looked back up at him and met his eyes.

  “Hey, I’m glad you are not hurt. Really.”

  “I wouldn’t say that I am not hurt,” said Graham. “But thanks.”

  Pulling the rope free, he began working on the other knot, giving Kel the ability to work on the ropes at her ankles. Figuring Kel would want to be the one to help Ailey, he walked over to the long window looking into the hallway for any sign of Chase or Cavaness.

  “The coast is clear for now, I think. It is hard to see with the lights flickering like that. We need to find a way outside. I was out when they shocked me, so I have no idea how far they moved us. Do any of you know?”

  “No, I was out cold,” said Damien.

  “Me too,” replied Kel, as she continued working at Ailey’s ropes.

  Ailey looked up at Graham and shook her head side to side.

  “Well, I guess we will have to play it by ear then.”

  Grabbing hold of the door knob, Graham turned it so he could peak out into the hallway to see how to move forward. As the knob finished it’s turn, the flickering lights went dim, and the siren above the door activated in flashes of red light. The piercing sounds of a horn screamed through the room making everyone cup their hands over their ears, flinching in reaction to the loud scream of the siren.

  “OH NO! We have to get out of here now!” screamed Graham.

  Kel tore at Ailey’s ropes with such intensity that her fingers were turning red. “Come on, come on!” She wanted so badly to cover her ears. The alarm was so loud that she had a hard time concentrating on the knots, and the flashing of the red light was disorienting.

  Damien ran over and bent down to work at the rope on Ailey’s other leg. The knot was too tight to get out with his fingers, so he kneeled down and began to bite at it. He jerked his head back and forth with the fraying rope clamped in his teeth until the knot gave way. One by one, they got the knots untied, allowing Ailey to bolt up from the chair. They all ran towards Graham like cattle as they poured out into the hallway.

  With their heads on a swivel, they looked for their best escape route. Graham led the pack.

  “Stay right here while I check around the corner.”

  He jogged down the hallway to the right until he reached the corner. Placing his hands on the block wall, he eased his head around the wall to see if anyone was in pursuit. Graham squinted his eyes, focusing on the hallway as red flashes of light rotated behind him. With every flash, he focused intently on the stretch of hallway in front of him for any sign of Chase or Cavaness. Satisfied for the moment, he then focused on the doors and windows, looking to see what his options were. There were at least eight doors lining the hall, but they all appeared to be rooms like what they just escaped from.

  Damien couldn’t stand still. He had to do something. He grabbed the door behind him and closed it. As the door hit the jam, the alarm fell silent. The red light continued to flash, but at least they could all take their hands off their ears. Damien relaxed slightly, then jogged down the opposite stretch of hall from Graham to take a look. He jogged about twenty more feet until he reached the point where the hall bent around the corner.

  Getting down on his hands and knees, Damien thought his head would be less visible if it were near the floor. He poked his head cautiously around the corner. It was hard to see anything with the fluorescent lights flickering on and off as if they were in their lasts stage of life. Damien’s eyes widened and his palms began to sweat. He saw one large shadow and one skinny shadow grow as their owners turned the corner from the opposite end of the hall.

  Damien pulled his head back so fast that it made him fall backwards. Shuffling his hands and feet he moved back from the corner then turned around and stood to his feet. Running past the girls, he didn’t stop. He just kept saying, “Vamos, vamos, vamos!”

  Ailey and Kel didn’t have to know what that meant. They could see it in his intense expression. They were not alone. Damien ran up to Graham, grabbing him under the armpit, uprooting him from his crouched position.

  “Vamos, amigo! They are not down here, they are back there!”

  “What?”

  “Chase and Cavaness are coming down the other hall! Move it!”

  Damien’s momentum lifted Graham almost completely off the floor, throwing him forward and around the corner. They ran past the eight doors, quickly looking through each set of windows to see if they led outside, but they were all identical rooms to the one they just escaped from. As they reached the final stretch, they saw a door at the end. Beside the door was a little sign with a small line zigzagging in a downwards pattern.

  “Stairs.” Graham reached for the handle, but Kel grabbed his hand before he could take hold.

  “Wait! What if another alarm goes off?”

  “”I don’t see where we have a choice. This is the only way out.”

  Quickly trying to weigh their options in her mind, Kel tightened her grip on Graham’s hand for a moment, then relaxed, letting his hand loose.

  “Ok, your right. It’s not like they don’t already know we are here anyway. Let’s go.”

  Graham faced the door and turned the knob, bracing his ears for another screech of an alarm, but nothing happened. They all sighed a little, letting their muscles relax as they ran through the door. Looking down the stairwell, Graham noticed that there was not a set of stairs going up.

  “We must be on the top floor.” We need to find a window so we can see outside and get our bearings.”

  “We just need to keep moving,” said Damien.

  Taking Damien’s advice, they all started down the stairs. Approaching the next story down, Graham looked through the tall skinny window in the door to see what was on the other side.

  “It is too dark. I can’t see anything.”

  “Then neither can they,” said Kel.

  The sound of a creaking door from the story above made the decision easy. Graham put his left hand against the wall beside the door as a brace so, that he could open it without making a sound. It was a slow process, but he was able to open it silently.

  Graham motioned the rest of them on. They all ducked under his arm that held the door open. Trying his best to hold the door perfectly still, he shuffled to the other side and eased the door back into place. Just as the door closed, Graham saw two people come around the landing of the stairs. He ducked quickly so that no one saw him. Squat-walking like a duck, Graham waddled over to the others. They did not have time to do anything
else but sit there in the dark. The footsteps clapped closer to the door until they could hear the two men talking on the other side.

  A deep gravely voice spoke first. “They couldn’t have gone far. You take this door. I will go down to the 1st floor. Branson and Murphy are on the other side. I will radio in and tell them to do the same. We will pin them in the middle.”

  “Whatever you say boss,” replied Chase.

  “Just do it,” commanded Cavaness. The booms of his footsteps could be heard all the way down to the next floor.

  Graham huddled closer to the others. He could feel Kel’s leg up against his, and Damien’s shoulder met his on the other side. Ailey curled up beside Kel, burying her face into her stomach. They were pinned in the back corner of the room with no place to go.

  “Whatever you do, don’t make a sound,” whispered Graham.

  They were terrified. They took deep breaths as they tried to steady their trembling hands. They were completely exposed. They had no time to run to a room, under a table, or even behind another wall.

  Chase creaked open the door, letting a sliver of light pour into the room from the stairwell. All four of them tensed up at the sight of Chase’s form stepping through the door and into the room. They all squeezed their eyes shut, as if doing so would help them disappear into the darkness. Graham opened one eye. He tensed up even more at the sight of Chase looking right at them. Graham’s fist clenched so tight he thought he was about to draw blood with his fingernails digging into his palm. Chase stood there for what seemed like hours, staring right at them, but eventually he turned his attention to the rest of the room.

  Graham relaxed a bit knowing that Chase had not seem them, until he saw Chase reaching for a small switch on the wall.

  Oh no.

  Chase’s finger met the bottom of the light-switch. Graham’s heart sank knowing there was nothing he could do. The light would turn on and the would be exposed. This was it. It was over. He took in a deep breath as Chase flicked his wrist.

  “Click.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The Escape

  Darkness remained. Click…click..click..click… Chase moved the switch up and down multiple times, but the switch was dead.

  Chase grunted under his breath. “Great.” He took a a few more steps into the pitch black of the room. He held up his right hand as if he was motioning someone to stop. His fingers spread and were cupped as if he were palming a basketball. A few seconds went by as his hand began to glow a deep yellow color. Brighter and brighter it grew until it was almost too much to look at. The light from his hand casted large shadows on the wall of the tables and chairs scattered throughout the room. He was using his glowing hand as a guiding light. Never bothering to look behind him, Chase kept moving forward.

  “Come on guys and gals. Don’t you think you are a little old for hide-and-seek?”

  Graham surveyed the room while the radiating light from Chase’s hand gave him light enough to see. They were in a large open space. A few chairs and tables littered the room, some standing and others turned over on their sides. With the flashes of light instilling fear and curiosity, they all sat huddled in the corner of the room with their eyes open. Wherever they were, it looked abandoned.

  At that moment, the room reflected perfectly the feelings they all felt inside. Abandoned. Abandoned and hopeless. Not only were they left in a dingy room tied to chairs, but they had no idea where they had been taken. Who knows how far they had been transported. They were orphans who intentionally snuck out of their rooms without anyone knowing. Help would not come for at least a few days when Ms. Winstone and Mr. Kobble realized they were not just off playing in the woods. Who knows what would happen to them in two day’s time.

  The light was almost completely gone now as Chase continued into the heart of the building. Still huddled together, Damien was the first to break the silence.

  “Who are these people? First he can move like lightening, now he can light up like it?”

  What first got him excited and made him want to be a part of this ‘Aegis’ group now sent waves of terror though Damien.

  “I don’t like this Graham. This guy is some sort of freak, and I don’t want anything to do with it or him. What do they want us for anyway? Are they going to turn us into freaks too?”

  “Keep your voice down,” whispered Kel.

  “I don’t know. We need to concentrate on getting out of this place, ok. Let’s do that first, then we can worry about what they want with us,” said Graham, trying to calm Damien down.

  The only option now was to go back upstairs. This would be the only floor they had already searched and would not think to look for them on. Waiting until they were back in complete darkness, Graham told them of his idea.

  “You heard Cavaness. They will be searching this floor and the lower one from both sides. The only place we have to go is up.”

  They all thought for a second, then nodded in agreement. Standing up, they walked back over to the door. Graham silently opened the door and let the others go out into the stairwell, closing the door behind him and followed them up the stairs. Going back through the 3rd story door again, they huddled together.

  Kel wrapped her arm around Ailey for comfort as they tried to figure out what to do next. Damien turned to look through a window into one of the many holding rooms. Chairs, tables, wall. That was it.

  “We have got to be able to see outside.”

  “I know, but we are going to have to tread carefully up here. Opening any doors could trigger another alarm. We got lucky last time. I don’t think we will be that fortunate again,” said Graham.

  The lights overhead continued to flicker as they ran down the hall, around the corner and past their old room. Not stopping, they continued running to the other end of the hall to the next corner where Damien had first seen Chase and Cavaness. They tip toed past a few bathrooms separated by a dingy water fountain with the front panel detached and lying on the floor. The walls were stained with age and neglect, and cobwebs lined the top of the wall like crown molding.

  The wall to their right ended, giving way for a large open room. It must have been some sort of break room for the employees. There were small circular tables and chairs with a dilapidated couch in the corner. A few cabinets lined the wall 90 degrees from the hallway with a small sink and a coffee maker beside it, housing a broken glass pot.

  Looking to the opposite side of the hall, they saw more doors, but they looked different. There was one large window beside each door with long, plastic strips hanging from the top. They were to type of blinds that could be manipulated with a little white stick. You could twist the strips to let people look into the room or twist them shut for privacy. These were all twisted shut, but fortunately the hands of time had torn some of the strips off of the track that held them in place.

  They all ran to a different window to have a look into the rooms. “These are offices for the people who used to work here. Graham looked through the small gap in the hanging plastic. There was a large wooden desk with a leather chair fallen on its side. “This one has a window!”

  “So does this one!” said Damien.

  “I think all of them do,” said Kel, looking into the next office.

  “Don’t you go screaming at me,” said Kel to the office door. She grabbed the knob and twisted it hoping the alarm was intended only for detainees, not staff. Alarm or not, it didn’t matter. It was locked. Graham and Damien tried their’s as well, but the knob would only turn slightly before the lock stopped it’s momentum.

  “Give me a break!” said Graham. Looking over at Kel, he said, “Hey, just do your little blast thing.”

  “I told you, that wasn’t me.”

  “It was you. You slammed your hands down and my chair blew in half,” said Graham, getting frustrated with Kel’s lie.

  Kel’s face began to turn red. “IT WASN’T ME.”

  She stared at Graham with a spark of anger in her eyes. She wore the angry fac
ade, but Graham could tell she was hiding something.

  “Whoa..ok, fine. Don’t tear my head off,” said Graham, not wanting to rattle the cage.

  Turning around to try the door again, Graham gritted his teeth. Something was not right. He couldn’t help but notice the tone in her voice. She knows. This isn’t the first time this has happened to her. She is hiding something. Either she is like me, or she is one of them. He had to keep a close eye on her. He had trusted Chase and looked where it got him. Whatever companionship he felt with Kel was gone. He was not going to be fooled again. She could not be trusted.

  As the rosiness of her cheeks faded, Kel looked to her side, realizing that Ailey was not with her. Her gut sank as a wave of panic surged through her core.

  “Ailey! Where are you?” Trying not to be too loud, she whispered as loud as she could. “Ailey, where did you go?”

  Graham turned around. He hadn’t known Ailey for more than a few hours, but they couldn’t help but feel protective of her. She was so innocent and precious. They all ran down the hall, coming to an abrupt stop as they saw the open office door. They ran through the door to find Ailey with her hands up against the outside window, looking out over the forest that surrounded them. Kel ran up behind her throwing her arms around Ailey; her eyes getting misty.

  “You scared me half to death! Why didn’t you come get me?” Cradling the back of her head, Kel pulled Ailey tightly into her chest. “I thought something had happened to you.”

  Ailey pulled away from Kel and looked into her eyes. She smiled at Kel letting her know that she was ok. Kel wiped a tear and smiled back cupping her hands around Ailey’s cheeks. Ailey tilted her head so that she pinned Kel’s hand between her check and shoulder as a hug.

  Meanwhile, Graham and Damien were looking out the window for a way out. There were no stairs on the outside of the building, at least not on this side. They were completely surrounded by trees. Wherever they were, it was isolated.

  “This just keeps getting better and better,” said Damien. “We are no better off now than when we were in that room.”