Adam realized he was holding on to Grayson. They stood huddled together in the small space beside the door.
“Thank you,” Grayson said in a whisper.
Adam was too afraid to respond. What if the man was standing on the other side of the closed door, playing a game with them, waiting for them to step outside to freedom, only to find death on the other side of the door?
“He’ll be back,” said Adam. “That isn’t who brought me here. There are others.”
“I can’t remember how I got here,” said Grayson. “I was with my friends at a party in the city. I met this girl…” He choked on tears. “… I don’t remember anything after that. I think I’ve been here for a day. Maybe two. They just left me lying on that table the whole time.”
Adam pitied Grayson. He could tell, just by looking at him, that this trip to Eastern Europe was the biggest adventure Grayson had ever been on, if not the first time he’d ever left Northern England. He was the kind of pathetic underachiever that Adam normally despised, the sort of man who was content with living a life devoid of accomplishment. Probably engaged to a girl back home, a frumpy receptionist who planned to quit work and raise their two future children as her only career ambitions. And he would likely take the next twenty years to work his way up to a supervisor role in the mine where he was employed, before being made redundant in his early fifties when the mine gets shut down, with no transferable skills, and no hope for the future.
“We have to get out of here,” said Adam.
“But how?” Grayson was panicking. “Do you even know where we are?”
“I think we’re in a bomb shelter. It can’t go on forever. There must be a way out.”
“What do you think they were planning to do to us?” asked Grayson.
It was the question that Adam had been trying not to think too hard about. He was still alive, and wanted to keep it that way.
“It doesn’t matter,” said Adam. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Grayson bit his lip and nodded.
This asshole better not get me killed.
“I’m going to turn the lights out,” said Adam. “It’s dark in those hallways and we won't see a thing if our eyes are used to this bright light.” He paused. “It might also give us the chance we need to slip past whoever is out there unnoticed.”
Adam returned to the storage cupboard and opened the doors. He pulled out a set of clothes and handed them to Grayson.
Grayson quickly put on the oversized trousers and shirt. Adam did the same. When they were dressed, they stopped for a second and stared at each other. Adam knew that Grayson was looking to him for leadership and ideas.
“You ready?” asked Adam.
“I guess.” Grayson whimpered.
Adam flicked the lights off at the switch on the wall. He experienced momentary panic as the room turned black. Adam took a few deep breaths and waited patiently for his eyes to adjust so he could see again. He didn’t dare move an inch from where he was standing, or risk losing his bearings in the dark.
But there was not a shard of light down there. They waited a couple of minutes that seemed to go on for an eternity before either of them spoke.
“We should go,” said Adam.
Adam reached out and touched the door handle. He turned it slowly, but still it creaked painfully loudly. He opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Their eyes had adjusted enough to allow them to see in the dimly lit hallway.
Adam noticed insects on the walls, and he could now see the rats scuttling around on the floor.
Voices started yelling at each other back the way Adam had come from earlier. He couldn’t make out the words.
“Come on,” said Adam.
They were about to keep going when both men froze. A large silhouette appeared at the end of the hallway. Adam could make out that their opponent was wearing boots and overalls, standing tall enough to block out most of the light. And he was moving swiftly toward them.
Adam and Grayson dropped to the ground and curled themselves up in the fetal position, trying to press their bodies as close to the wall as possible. The rats prodded them with their noses and scratched at them with their claws.
The large man stormed right past them, oblivious to them hiding in the dark. He marched to the end of the hallway where it split in two directions, and took the path that led right.
“Fuck,” said Grayson.
“We go left,” said Adam.
“What?”
“Now!”
Adam was on his feet and moving before he’d finished speaking.
Grayson followed close behind.
They turned left at the end of the hallway and immediately saw why the giant in the rubber boots had turned right. It was a dead end.
“Shit,” said Adam.
He grabbed Grayson by the scruff of the neck and whispered in his ear.
“If we cross paths with them again we fight. Do you hear me?”
“But I don’t want to die,” said Grayson.
“Together we stand a chance.”
“Do we? Do we really stand a chance?”
“Are you with me? Because if you aren’t then I’m leaving you here, man. I won't let you get me killed.”
Grayson slumped against the wall and slid down onto his haunches. “Please don’t leave me.”
Adam knew he’d made a mistake. He should have trusted his instincts. Grayson was probably going to get them both killed.
He grabbed Grayson by the shirt and dragged him to his feet. Grayson didn't even try to resist. He followed closely behind Adam like a good puppy dog.
Adam knew it was dangerous following the same path that their captor had just taken, but they were out of options. Either they backtracked the way they came, or they followed after the man who was trying to kill them… or worse.
They heard screaming up ahead, which turned Adam’s blood cold. It sounded like somebody was being murdered. The hallway lights flickered on and off up ahead. They would be vulnerable in the light and needed to move as quickly and quietly as possible.
There was a room with light pouring out of it. That’s where the screams were coming from.
Grayson grabbed Adam’s shoulder and shook his head. He didn’t want to go in there. Adam brushed his hand away and continued toward the room. As they drew closer his fears subsided as he recognized the screams weren’t human, but only briefly.
Neither of the men was prepared for the horrific scene that lay before their eyes. This room was larger than any of the others, with row upon row of vats filled with murky water and deformed animal fetuses.
Adam ventured closer to get a better view of the monstrosities that sat suspended in liquid, preserved in their final death pose. It was like an ark of abortions. Baby sheep, horses, monkeys, every farm animal imaginable. Adam wondered if these were all experiments gone wrong, disgusting mementos of past failures.
The shrieks that pierced their ears sounded less human as they approached. It was an animal screaming for help. The sound made Adam shiver with fear. Its screams told a story of agony and hopelessness.
Grayson froze in front of the vats at the far end of the room, while Adam carried on walking toward the door to the adjoining room.
“What are you doing?” Adam snapped at Grayson.
Grayson pointed at the glass vats in horror. “They’re... human.”
Adam spun around and stared at the nearest vats. They were even more disgusting on this side of the room. There were human babies in all stages of development, and all manner of abnormalities. Some of them had anencephalic voids in their heads where brains should have been, others were formed with their insides on the outside, or strange genitalia that looked neither male nor female. There was a collection of identical twins that hadn’t separated, a few had even been stitched back together again with carefully placed sutures to mimic their state in the womb.
Adam pulled Grayson’s elbow and led the man forward. As they turned the corn
er and came upon another room filled with animal cages, a new wave of nausea hit Adam. This time, he couldn’t hold back the sick. He threw up across the floor at his feet. Vomit splashed on the cold tiles and some of it landed on his bare feet.
Almost every cage contained the lifeless, rotting corpse of a monkey. The hair had been shaved from their bodies around joints and their torsos wherever staples had been used to close surgical wounds and reattach limbs.
There was one cage which still had a monkey alive inside it, screaming uncontrollably. Adam approached the cage with caution. The monkey was dragging itself around the floor of the cage, smearing a mix of its own blood and shit in circles. The head hang limply on the body, connected at the neck by staples that were oozing blood, and a wound that gaped, exposing the muscles and pulsating arteries below.
“Jesus Christ, we’re fucked,” said Grayson, stunned. “We’re not going to get out of here alive.”
Adam spun around with his arm raised and ready to land a punch on Grayson’s face.
“Snap out of it,” muttered Adam. “Or I swear I’ll…” His words trailed off.
He was losing patience. He didn’t owe Grayson anything, and if the other man wanted to die so badly that was his decision. “You’re not fucking dead yet.”
Grayson began to panic. “Maybe we’re delaying the inevitable? Let’s not give them the satisfaction of whatever they plan to do to us.”
Adam wasn’t sure he understood what Grayson was inferring, yet the other man’s face lit up as if he’d come up with the most genius idea.
“We can help each other die,” Grayson continued. “A quick slash to the wrists and it’s all over.”
Distressing flashbacks of his mother in the bathtub invaded Adam’s thoughts. But the memories were tarnished like faded photographs burned at the edges, and his mother’s face was painted like a scary doll with hollow eyes and an evil smile. He held his head in agony as the headache that had been brewing since he woke up on the operating table reached a crescendo.
“You okay?” asked Grayson.
As Grayson’s hand touched Adam’s elbow it brought Adam back into the moment.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” snapped Adam.
Adam walked up to the cage containing the struggling monkey. As he drew nearer, he could see the fear in its tiny black button eyes. But there was something else in those eyes, something that the animal didn't need words to express. He reached a hand through the bars and stroked its fur. The monkey stopped struggling and stared up at him.
“What are you doing, man?” Grayson asked in complete disbelief. “Forget the monkey. Let’s go.”
Adam put a hand on the monkey’s head and gently stroked its soft forehead. It purred and made sounds as if it was trying to tell Adam something; the saddest story he had ever heard.
“I’m sorry,” said Adam in a soft whisper.
“Sorry for what?” asked Grayson.
Adam put his other hand through the bars and swiftly and violently drove the scissors through the monkey’s skull. It seized for a few seconds before its body collapsed in a limp heap and the animal died.
Adam had never been able to crush a disgusting cockroach, let alone an animal with intelligence. The thought of killing another creature, however disgusting, made him physically ill. But now he'd become completely numb to those emotions.
Grayson yelped. “Oh my god. Why did you do that?”
Adam pulled the scissors from the monkey’s head and wiped the blood and remnants of brains onto his pants.
“Put it out of its misery,” Adam snarled through gritted teeth.
Grayson stepped back and gave Adam space. His eyes darted between the only two exits in the room. The one that led back the way they had come, and the one that led them into the hands of the large man in boots who was hunting them.
“Come with me, or stay here and die. I don’t care what you choose to do,” said Adam.
Grayson kept close behind Adam. They walked with knees bent, ready to sprint for their lives if need be. They turned a corner and came upon another crossroad in the hallways, both leading into a black abyss.
“Which way?” asked Grayson.
Adam had to bite his tongue not to suggest they should split up and go their separate ways.
“Just keep quiet, and stay close,” said Adam.
They hugged the wall as they crept through the dark. The floor was crawling with cockroaches, and with every step the insects crunched under their feet. Adam squirmed with disgust at the thought of the filthy insects’ guts squishing between his toes.
The sound of cockroaches crunching would almost certainly give them away. They hadn’t seen nor heard any of their captors in what felt like forever.
Where are they? Do they know where we are? Are they playing with us?
Another turn and another crossing of hallways, which seemed to never come to an end. One way led to blackness, the other to a bright white, flickering light.
“That’s the way out.” Grayson’s voice squeaked as he spoke.
They rushed toward the light, coming in from a small window, no larger than a shoebox, above a large wooden door. It had to be the exit, or entrance, whichever way you looked at it.
The men raced for the door and felt everywhere for a handle.
“There’s no door handle,” said Grayson.
Adam’s fingertips traced the outline of a keyhole which was empty.
“It’s locked,” Adam said, utterly defeated. He stepped back from the door and stared up at the light coming in through the window. He’d been disappointed before, but this time he had a hunch that this was their way out.
Grayson jumped in the air and smacked the palm of his hand against the glass. His hand made a mighty thump. The glass must have been several inches thick.
Adam could see what was about to happen, but was powerless to stop it.
“Hey!” yelled Grayson. “Help! Help us!”
Adam smothered Grayson’s mouth with a hand and pushed the man roughly up against the wall. Grayson’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in fear.
“I should have left you to die,” Adam said, spitting with rage.
Adam pushed himself away from Grayson and clutched his throbbing head. He spun in circles, trying to think clearly, but his mind was overwhelmed.
“I’m sorry.” Grayson flopped back against the wall and slid to the ground.
Adam didn’t want to look at him. He felt guilty for attacking the only ally he had down there, but the guy was just a pathetic excuse for a human being, wanting to roll over and die without a fight.
The sound of heavy footfalls heading toward them sent a chill down Adam’s spine and silenced Grayson’s blubbering.
“They’re coming,” Adam whispered under his breath.
He pulled Grayson back up onto his feet and gestured for him to follow. The two men crept stealthily back the way they came. He knew they were on a direct path toward their captors, but if they could make it back to the room filled with the caged animals and jars of preserved parts, they might be able to find somewhere to hide.
As Adam turned the first corner a fist landed squarely in his jaw. He was knocked back onto Grayson, sending both men toppling down, and the weapons in their hands skidding across the floor. A cockroach crushed under Adam's head as it made impact with the ground, and its internal juices splashed across his cheek.
“Help!” screamed Grayson, as the giant wearing rubber boots grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and punched him hard in the face. Blood streamed down Grayson’s face as his nose snapped. He stumbled backward, clutching his face, blood falling between his fingers onto the floor.
Adam’s hands madly searched the floor for the scissors he’d been carrying, but he came up empty. He looked up at their attacker, who must have been almost six and a half feet tall, and almost half as wide.
Grayson tripped backwards and landed with a heavy thump and crack, breaking bones as he hit the ground. He howled in
pain.
“My leg,” Grayson screamed. “I broke my fucking leg.”
Adam watched as Grayson dragged himself backwards along the floor. Grayson’s hand came down on the end of something sharp, slicing through his palm. He clutched the metal object in his hand and held it out defensively in front of him.
“Don’t come any closer,” Grayson threatened their attacker with the scalpel in his hand, but the giant turned around and looked at Adam instead.
The overhead lights flickered on momentarily. Adam caught a glimpse of their attacker’s face and was taken by surprise. It was a woman. Granted, she had the presence of a man, but she was definitely a woman. The lights flickered out again and Adam knew he had the element of surprise on his side.
He launched himself directly at the woman, landing a shoulder directly in her gut. She heaved and fell back onto the floor, pulling Adam down with her. The giant slammed a cupped palm over his ear, deafening him with the blow. Adam was hit by a wave of the most intense nausea. His whole world started spinning around him.
The giant held one of his wrists and lifted him off the ground. She punched him square in the guts and let his body flop onto the ground while he choked and spluttered.
Adam tasted blood in the back of his throat. He squirmed on the ground in agony, unable to bring himself to get up, powerless to help as the giant made her way towards Grayson.
Grayson was curled up with his back against the wall, holding the scalpel out in front of him, his hand shaking like a leaf in the breeze.
“I said don’t come any closer!” Grayson’s held the scalpel out and rose to his feet.
The giant stood still for a moment and let out a humph. She took another step forward and Grayson put the scalpel against his own neck.
The giant froze.
“I’ll do it,” threatened Grayson. “I’ll fucking cut my own throat if you come one step closer.”
Adam pushed himself back to his feet. He resisted the urge to vomit and leaned against the wall while he waited for his vertigo to pass.
The giant made her move toward Grayson.
Grayson raised the scalpel to the angle of his jaw. Adam screamed and rushed forward.
“No, Grayson,” he yelled, as he tackled the giant once again.
Headhunter: An Extreme Horror Story Page 5