FLOOR 21: Descent (The Tower Legacy)

by Jason Luthor

  At this exact second, I’m not even sure that’s my biggest problem, though. I mean, I have to decide. Do I head back to tell the commander that the Cultists might know we’re coming? I’d use my tablet, but there’s no signal in the vent. Then again, shouldn’t the Cultists know we’re already here? We did shoot up a few of their guys. You’d think they’d have some sort of alarm or warning system. These guys aren’t stupid, I mean, just look at the tech they’re using. These are some freaky smart experiments they’re running with the Creep. Thing is, I’m not sure trying to get back to Abbott right now would actually get anything done, and I know he’s probably got everyone with their guns aimed at the door. He knows how to take care of his peoples. Plus, if I stick around here, I might see something. Or hear something. What if these guys all leave? And didn’t that one hoodie guy say they were going to lock up for the night?

  I look down the vent and back where I came from. I’m stalling as I try to figure out my next move and end up burying my head into my hands. One minute passes. Two minutes pass. Five. Ten. Then I give myself a second to ignore the time, and the next thing I know, there’s one long moment of blackness as I rest my eyes. I only open them because I practically jam into the roof when the vent shakes to the sound of a door slamming. The lights are off, and the only thing in the lab I can see is the tube. Inside, it’s glowing green, and Vick’s body is still in there, kind of floating, but with everyone else gone.

  Holy crap.

  Did I fall asleep?

  It takes a second to dawn on me that I think everyone’s gone to bed. The freaking room is empty, and with no clue about what I should do, I start to crawl away when I think . . . wait. Couldn’t Vick talk through the tube? Couldn’t he hear inside the tube? Oh, junk. Could this idea I’m having work?

  “Vick!” I kinda yell, kinda whisper. It’s really more like a loud hissing. “Vicious Vick!”

  At first I barely see his head move, like he’s not sure if he heard anything or not. After a second, he lowers his head again, but I can’t let him fall asleep, and this time I yell, “Commander Vick McGill!”

  That gets his head fully out of the gunk he’s stuck in, and I cringe as strands of sticky fluid cling to his jaw. “Okay, who’s playing games with me? If that’s you, David, then you’re not going to get many points by trying to pretend you’re a hallucination.”

  “I don’t know who that is,” I call through the grate. “My name’s Jackie Coleman. I’m here with another Scavenger team to rescue you.”

  “Well, I guess I must be hallucinating then. There’s no way anybody came for me after this long.”

  “This is serious, Vick. I don’t know how much time I have, so I need your help.”

  His face looks back and forth, but I don’t know what he can be looking for. I mean, the room’s almost pitch black. “If you’re really with another team, who’s your commander?”

  “Commander Judas Abbott.”

  He can’t hold back one shot of laughter. “Well, damn it. Okay, fine, I believe you. How’d you get here?”

  “Can we talk about that later? Like, when you’re rescued?”

  “Oh, sure, sure. Good idea. How can I help though?”

  “I just need any info you might have about how many people are guarding you and who’s outside your room. Anything you can tell me about what to expect if we come for you?”

  “Lucky for you, there aren’t too many of these guys, and most of those down here are searching for Mike.”

  It’s like a gunshot to my stomach, and I feel my whole body tense up as my breath sticks in my lungs. For a second I can barely squeak out any words. “Mike . . . Mike’s alive?”

  “Yeah, and doing a hell of a job avoiding these nutters, at least if I can believe what David says. I think I can, since he never stops running his mouth and thinks he’s got everything under control. But didn’t you say we should focus on getting me out of here?”

  “Right, yeah,” I agree. “Okay, so, not too many people outside?”

  “There’s just one lab out there, and I see about the same eight guards all the time. They split shifts inside and outside, but don’t ask me about how many are here right now. I usually sleep at night. Like a normal human, or at least as normal as you can be when you’re drifting in Creep saliva.”

  God. It’s like talking to myself. “Great, okay, one room outside and eight guards there, tops.”

  “I think. No promises, kid.”

  “Well, it’s better than anything we knew before.” I switch on my flashlight and flick it back down the way I came. “Alright. Don’t go anywhere.”

  “Have you seen me? I’m not moving.”

  “Yeah, I got it,” I say with a shake of my head. “I promise we’ll do whatever we can.”

  “I believe you. Abbott and I aren’t what you’d call best friends, but he never leaves a man behind.”

  “So I’ve heard.

  I’m starting to shuffle my way back down the vent when I hear Vick’s voice one last time. “Kid?”

  “Yeah, Vick?”

  “Don’t die.”

  God. Believe me, I’m trying.

  Recording Thirty-One

  There are things in life I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to. Not as a Scavenger . . . not any way. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you do this so much that one day you wake up and you’re just this amazing killing machine. I’m talking about Commander Abbott and Captain Sunny both taking out two guards with knives. When it happens, it’s not pretty, and it’s not glorious or amazing. It’s bloody and way too real as they haul the bodies into the dark. Then they repeat the process, but I have to look because one day I might have to do this too.

  Not like I’m completely emotionally adjusted to firing guns yet, either. I’m just better with those. When we move into the hall and start shooting, there are four or five bodies on the floor in seconds. That’s how it’s supposed to go. I mean, that’s what we practiced. Blood sprinkles the walls as bullets speed off, then Utada’s busting open the door. Her gun’s turning left and erupting when her head pops backward in a cloud of crimson. I don’t even have time to process what happened as I follow Commander Abbott into the room with our guns screaming. That gives the team a second to follow us in, but I’m not really paying attention to that. Whatever hesitation I had when I first did a room clearing apparently isn’t sticking now, because it feels like it’s all automatic. Actually, it feels way too easy. Just point the gun, squeeze the round, and watch somebody fall. Guys hit the floor, and it’s over in less than a minute. That’s not what’s difficult. I mean, yeah, your heart’s racing when you’re getting ready to go, but then you just can’t afford to panic. Your body takes over. In a weird way, it’s like playing basketball. If you think about it too much, then you miss the shot. It’s the same thing in a fight, except if you think too hard here, then you’re dead. Really, when you're in the moment, everything's over before you can breathe.

  Except this is when reality starts rushing back at you. I look back at Utada and she’s crumpled on the ground. I don’t even remember stepping over her, and Shields isn’t even bothering to help. I mean, why would he? The bullet dropped her instantly. Even in the best circumstance, it’d be hard to save her, but here? This far down in the Deep? There isn’t any way to get her somewhere that she can be taken care of. Sunny doesn't look like he gives a damn. He’s made it increasingly obvious that this is all business for him. Thing is, Abbott’s still standing over her, and the weird part is, it’s barely now clicking for me just how personal he takes it. He’s not kidding when he says he doesn’t leave a man behind. So, the commander takes a second to prop her up against the wall, and I’m just wondering . . . what now? He towers over her body without a word, and all I can do is just watch him for a minute until he finally clears his throat.

  “She was a good Scavenger,” he finally says. “She didn’t hesitate when I told her she’d be running point or scouting for us, and she never complained. I couldn’t begin to tell
you what her personal life was like. She was a quiet person and took her private life very seriously. I always respected that about her. She wasn’t here for glory or rewards. After all, she was from Floor 7. There were no rewards for her outside of the chance to win the honor of Scavenger Hall for her floor or, at most, the possibility of retiring as one of us. In the end, she died as she’d lived: by putting her life on the line so others would live. Utada was the best of us. May we remember her until Tower’s end.”

  “Until Tower’s end,” we all agree as Abbott collects her tags and gear. “After we’re through with this operation, I will return her personal belongings to her family,” he says as he opens up a Pocket Space window and funnels her stuff inside. It closes as he walks away, and I can’t help but stare at her for a second. She’s just . . . there, with her eyes staring out across the room. Utada almost has the same look as that guy I shot during my first room clearing. It’s almost like she’s still around, even if I know she’s not. It’s weird because I didn’t really know her. You know what really kills me though? I’m never going to. That chance is just gone. Forever.

  “Coleman,” the commander says quietly. “We’re not done here.”

  I nod back at him and I raise my rifle when he says, “Right stack.” Me and Tommy line up behind him, and Shields pushes up on the other side of the door. The commander swings his weapon inside and we follow, but the room is pitch black for a second. It takes us by surprise, since you never want to go into a room blind, and we get out of the light of the doorway as quick as we can. There’s no reason that we don’t get blasted at that point, except that we get lucky. A silhouette is an easy target, and the fact that nobody’s waiting for us inside is the only thing that saves our lives. Actually, it’d be wrong to say there was absolutely nobody inside. I mean, there’s one guy there.

  He laughs from inside his glass prison.

  “Commander Judas Abbott. Took you long enough.”

  Recording Thirty-Two

  Something funny I never thought about when it comes to your legs is that they kinda stop working if you stop using them. By which I mean, literally, they just lose muscle and die off. Not completely, but Vick’s been floating in his prison for almost a month, and Sunny and Tommy practically have to carry him when we retreat to our room. The big break we have through all of this is that Abbott’s at least been leaving motion sensors around, so his tablet is tracking anyone that could be creeping behind us. He doesn’t pick up anything though, so we’re able to get back without a problem. At least, we get back without any more problems. The last thing I see is Utada looking at me when we leave the lab, and it feels like her eyes are burning into my mine. It almost feels wrong to just leave her there, but what can we do except remember her and try to finish this out? And that sucks, not just because it hurts the team, but because that’s a life. I’ve spent my whole teenage career avoiding people, and now I wish I could go back a few days so I could learn more about her.

  But that’s impossible, and I mean, there’s only one thing I can do, and that’s keep going. Once we’re back, we get Vick settled behind the bed. At least we’re able to get him a pillow to put his head on, but it’s gross just seeing him lying there. His legs literally look like they’ve shrunk to chicken bones, and he’s just covered in slick, shiny goop. I don’t know how he’s running his hands through his hair, ‘cause the stuff just slides through and cements like hair gel. At least he looks happy to be out, though. “Thanks,” he says as he breathes hard, like he’s just come out of the womb or something. “You probably don’t know how bad that was.”

  Abbott settles onto the back wall. “Thirty days in the Creep? That’s impressive from you, McGill. I never took you for a man with such iron in him.”

  “You never took me for much of anything, Abbott. You always did think I was second rate.”

  “And you always thought I didn’t deserve my position.”

  I can’t hold my head back from rolling over toward them. “Commanders . . .”

  Vick’s eyes shoot at me before circling around to Abbott. “Kid’s right. I don’t like you and you don’t like me. Big deal. We’ve got other things to worry about.”

  “Like getting out of here,” Abbott agrees. “Our personal differences aside, you and I both know we have an obligation to that last Scavenger.”

  “Mike,” he says, and again the name makes my heart stop for half a second. “Yeah. They’ve been chasing him for weeks.”

  “Why, Vick? I need to understand what’s happening here. You must have heard something important while you were a prisoner.”

  “While I was a prisoner? Give me a second here, Abbott, that was just fifteen minutes ago.” He smirks as he props himself up on his arms. “Of course I heard stuff. Like I told your girl here,” he says, looking at me, “David Marshall’s not what you’d call a quiet man.”

  The name smacks my eardrums like a baton. “What did you just say?”

  “Huh? What do you mean?”

  I look him dead in the eyes. “What did you say his name was?”

  “Oh. David Marshall?”

  “That’s what I thought.” My head is suddenly pounding as a flood of memories start pouring through my brain. “This makes way too much sense. When we first got down this deep, we heard two guards mention a guy named David. I didn’t think about it at the time because, I mean, David’s not exactly a rare name.”

  Abbott looks over to me. “Jackie. What’s going on?”

  I have to force myself just to look his way. “Commander Vick’s saying this David guy’s been running experiments on people. David Marshall. My dad knew a David Marshall a long time ago. It was a guy he worked with studying the Creep.”

  “Wait. Why would a scientist of that magnitude, studying with your father, come below?”

  “I don’t know. Seriously, all I know is that he got into some trouble because he found something. Dad said he thought it was because he was trying to keep something away from Tower Authority, like it was something he didn’t think they should have. So, instead of getting taken to Reinforcement, Marshall decided to run. I mean, this has to be the same guy, right? The name’s the same. Not to mention, who else would be able to run experiments like this? My dad said this guy had already been doing some experiments with humans.”

  Vick shoots a short chuckle. “Well, that’s a piece of work. Explains how he’s been able to do everything he’s been able to do. It’s not like it’s easy keeping the Creep under control, which you’ve probably figured out by now.”

  “Yeah, I kinda have.”

  Abbott cuts us off with a wave of his hand. “So, let’s assume for the moment this is the same man. This is a scientist with close knowledge of how to manipulate the infestation, and apparently, he specializes in using it to interact with humans. What’s the end game for him?”

  Vick shrugs. “Guy’s got a pretty inflated sense of ego and purpose. What I mean is that he thinks he’ll save mankind by uniting it with the Creep. He’s really big on talking about fate and humanity’s future. Bunch of nonsense if you pay attention.”

  “There’s a lot here that’s not making sense to me.”

  “It didn’t make sense to me either. Then again, I’ve been down here a while now. It might help if I just start from the beginning, right? So, how much do you know?”

  “We know, or at least believe, that you breached Polar North, detonated the device there, and sparked a Creep Incident. It initiated a Lockdown as high as Floor 1.”

  “No joke?” his head drops to his chest. “No wonder they want Mike so bad.”

  Abbott’s arms fold across each other as he leans in. “Why? What’s going on?”

  “Okay, well, thing is, the explosion didn’t cause the incident. I’m sure it didn’t help, but that was the least of our problems for a while. Actually, we outran the explosion somehow.”

  “That’s how you got down here to Floor 40.”

  “Right. There wasn’t an incident right away.�
� Vick pauses for a second. “Like I told you, that has to do with why they’re after Mike.”

  “Again with this person. What makes him so special?”

  “I didn’t think anything was at first. I mean, he’s kind of an erratic twenty-one year old, but there’s nothing special about that.” He’s so nonchalant. It’s like he doesn’t care that we just lost someone. That, or he’s just used to it. Anyway, Vick keeps going. “It wasn’t until we were trying to make our way back up the Tower that we got caught. Mike had some kind of breakdown in the middle of the trip, which we both know can make the Creep go crazy. There was no way we were going to escape, so I decided to take one for the team and set some explosives so everyone else could get away. Honestly, I thought I’d get killed in the process, but obviously no such luck. When I came to, they were hauling me into that lab you saw. Getting dumped into that tube was the worst of it, but you’d be surprised how fast you can get used to something like that.”

  Abbott’s fingers are digging harder and harder into the bridge of his nose. “Vick, you’ve always been a talkative fellow, but I’m looking for some solid answers right now. We’ve been down here for weeks trying to find you and to be quite honest? I want to go home. So, do you know anything about what these Cultists are doing or why they want Mike?”

  “Come on, Abbott. You know what they want. These guys just want to merge with the Creep. With all the wandering you’ve been doing, I’m sure you’ve seen some of the experiments they’re running. That’s David’s favorite subject to talk about.”