FLOOR 21: Descent (The Tower Legacy)

by Jason Luthor

  I’m staring into those frantic eyes when my stomach tightens up and my body begins to freeze. The world literally turns grey, and then everything is spinning until my legs feel like they’re becoming jelly. All my weight comes down on them, and I cling to the railing like I’m being tossed around on a boat. Again, I hear this other beat, ba-bump, explode through my head while everything in front of me starts to shift until I’m seeing double. No matter how hard I try to turn to look at my team, it’s like I can’t move my neck, and when I open my mouth to scream, I feel long fingers slide across my jaw and lock around my lips. Anything I was going to say gets shoveled back down my throat as I struggle to breath, and as the fingers are squeezing over my lips, I can feel a cold breath sliding down my neck while a dead voice talks into my ear. “David Marshall. Quite the character. He was once one of your own, and now look at him. Obsessed with discovering the secrets of the Tower. Still, he’s an arrogant man who thinks he’s one step ahead of everyone else. I wonder if he knew to plan for what comes next?”

  That’s all the voice says, and all at once the hands let go, and the world explodes with color again. My breath comes rushing up my throat, and the whole room shakes as the roof above us moans with something that sounds like a giant hammering down on it. The impact detonates the remaining computers, which throw showers of sparks into the air that swirl into the dust raining down on us. We all watch as fractures carve through the ceiling, and on the ground I see the Cultists go diving away as a sound louder than thunder sends gigantic pieces of concrete rocketing to the floor. A wave of slimy goop hurls to the ground and erupts in a splash of thick saliva, while above I watch a mass of tentacles squirm through the gap, prying the roof open and stretching toward the walls.

  Everything comes to a stop for a second as everyone’s guns go whipping around the room in what feels like slow motion. Abbott’s got his hand on his sword, and Marshall’s backing away, slithering to the exit in a sudden panic. I guess he’s never seen the Creep when it’s really angry. The front of his outfit is stained from the waist down with sticky mucus that drips in long strands, and he’s almost to the lab exit when another exploding boom hits, not from the roof, but from below me. I nearly fall down, but the railing helps me stay up for just a few seconds before I go tripping down the stairs. By the time I’m back up, I can see David ready to run out of the door.

  “Time to end this,” he says as his hand drops to his hip. I watch all the Cultists around him doing the same thing as they switch on small devices at their sides. It only takes a second before we start hearing a pounding from something slamming against glass. My face bends to the prison tubes sitting against the wall, and I watch as the Creep Beasts inside slam their fists against the sides, cracks bursting in spider webs for a few seconds. Then, with a final slam, the glass bursts apart, releasing a wave of gunk as the monsters go stumbling into the room. The sockets where their eyes should be look to the Cultists, and for a second they start sprinting until just, like, feet away from attacking, they all come to a stop. David taps the device on his hip and smiles up at us.

  “Didn’t you know? I was the foremost researcher in Creep and telepathic projection. We’ve known how to protect ourselves from these beasts for a long time. It’s simple, really, mimicking the projections of the human mind just enough to give an order as brief as ‘stop’ or ‘attack.’ Care to know what my next order will be?”

  We can all guess, but we don’t have time to. One final container bursts open with an explosion of glass that showers the air in glittering sparkles. A wall of Creep saliva erupts out in huge waves, and in the middle of it, I can see a blurry figure riding along. It morphs bigger and bigger, growing twice its size before smashing into the ground floor. It gets up slowly but it’s pretty obvious it’s a ton larger than any of the other creatures around it. I’m not even sure that David expected it because I see him fumbling with that weird device he has. There’s a long moment where everyone holds their breath because, at first, the big Creeper acts like it’s going to charge him, then turns back to face us. We should probably run but we just freeze. If those creatures come at us, we’re going to have to have a lot of fighting to do.

  But that’s when the gigantic monster suddenly slams down on the other Creepers, like it just goes into this berserker rage where it starts mauling them. It practically tears them to pieces while the Cultists start filling up its back with gunfire. I have no idea what the hell is going on, but the beast ignores their bullets as it barrels at them and takes a swipe, tossing almost the whole group around before it smashes into Marshall. They go slamming through the back door and into the outside hall, where I hear gun fire reacting almost instantly. Whatever this thing is, it has to feel something because it retreats back inside as it covers its face.

  I’m rushing down the stairs without thinking, which is probably best, considering what me and the team find. The thing’s bigger than any Creeper we’ve seen, at least ten feet tall easy, with its skin pulled so tight over its face that I could be looking at a bare skull. Its shoulders are swollen with muscle in basketball sized tumors that carry people-length arms that swing with razor sharp fingers. This is all sitting on legs the size of cannons that it uses to fire itself upward, its fingers digging into the massive trunk of tentacles for a second before it throws itself at us. We all leap to the ground as it crashes into the wall and collapses the left staircase, the entire thing just exploding into concrete dust behind us. I’m still rolling along the ground as I watch the spot I was just standing on evaporating into nothing.

  Everyone spins away as fast as we can, but this thing’s fast. It barrels across the room with a force that smacks Tommy clear into the wall, and it’s all so quick that it happens between breaths. Tommy’s barely touched the floor before I’ve got thunder erupting out of my hands. My gun’s clip empties so fast that I don’t even realize I need to reload, which doesn’t dawn on me until I hear the empty click-click-click of my rifle dying. That’s when I see the monster opening its jaws. A horrible shriek erupts as it punches forward, snatching me away with the speed of a train. It’s what I imagine flying would feel like. Horrific, terrible flying. I’m in its palm when I slam into the wall with so much power that, for a second, I could swear my lungs collapse. There’s this fire that burns up my spine, and I scream as its fingers start to crush down around my bones.

  And that’s when he’s there again, like he’s always been for us. Abbott. His sword’s out as he soars through the air, but somehow the creature sees him, and it twists to the side at the last second. The commander’s blade buries into the beast’s shoulder, and it howls until my skull’s rattling and my vision’s blurry. Somehow, through all that, I realize that the commander wasn’t able to stop this thing. I’m so used to Abbott being able to cut through anything that I’m stunned when I see the sword come to a stop deep inside the monster’s shoulder. Black smoke is rising as the blade continues to burn deep inside the muscle, and flames burst along its skin. Abbott wasn’t expecting this thing to still be standing either, and he collapses to the ground just in time to catch a foot to his chest that sends him tumbling along the floor.

  That split second gives me an opening though, and my bat falls into my palm faster than I can breathe. At the same time, my hand is flipping open the bag by my side and whipping out a long injection needle, the same kind my dad gave me to use on Creepy Sally. With the creature’s face turned toward the commander, I ram the tip of the needle into the monster’s arm. For a second, its hand tightens a little more, squeezing around my ribs until all the air is forced out of me, and I’m gasping for just one breath. I’ve got its attention, and its face is snarling at me. Still, it doesn’t seem able to let go, and its arm is getting stiff like a beam of wood. The muscles in its wrist are shaking as the injection is having some weird effect, like the creature’s paralyzed for a second with its arm fully stretched out. I’m choking, and I feel like I’m about to pass out, but this is the only chance I’m going to get.
I haul my bat backward and feel every muscle down to my fingers tensing up. This can’t just be a hit. This has to be monumental. “Eat it,” I can barely whisper as the tip of my bat turns in an arc that cracks into the beast’s elbow. It connects so hard that I hear a sharp snapping break from the Creeper’s bone, and suddenly it’s screaming as I’m falling back to the floor. For a second it’s grabbing at its arm, but life doesn’t get any better for me. I’ve barely put a few steps between me and this thing when I see a wall of armed Cultists blanketing the air with a curtain of lead, their guns completely emptying into the room. That gives me maybe half a second to hit the ground, and then I’m rolling around and watching the beast soaring above me. It collides into the group, grabbing at some and throwing them aside before pounding at them with its clenched fists. My stomach revolts as I see walls painted red. If it were any other day, I’d probably give myself a second to vomit. Today, I can’t. Today, I just don’t want to die.

  The thing’s still got Abbott’s sword in its shoulder as it turns on the last of the Cultists. It hits me that at some point, David Marshall abandoned the fight, and apparently his men aren’t exactly going to risk their lives if he’s not. They wave at each other for a second before dashing out of the door, and that just leaves the monster looking at me and the team. For a second it stands there before crouching low, its growl sending tremors through the ground, when I hear Abbott’s voice ordering everyone to start cooking some grenades. My hand flips to my belt, and I’ve got an explosive in my hand almost as fast as it takes Abbott to charge the Creeper. When he shouts at us to launch, all I know is that this explosion’s going to be big, and he’s going to be right in the middle of it. Still, even if I’m terrified that we’re going to hurt the commander, I listen. I mean, I have to. If anyone knows what they’re doing, he does.

  The whole team launches their grenades at the same second that I see Abbott hitting the ground. He’s rolling under the beast and out of the doorway at the same moment the air is igniting in waves of hot orange blossoms. They practically go off all at once, and we all dive to the side as ripples tear along the creature’s muscles. Fire carves scars into its skin before its body is torn to pieces in the detonation, and the last thing I see is it vanishing into a cloud of crimson smoke.

  For a long second, everything’s gone black, and I feel like I’m listening to the world through earmuffs. When my eyes do pry open, everything looks hazy and my body is shaking, plus I’m doused in a thick layer of moisture. My body won’t stop trembling as I try to pick myself off the floor, and my ears are filling up with a droning noise that makes my head feel like it’s going to explode. It’s so loud that it’s impossible to hear anything else for a second. I’m not even sure there even is anything else to listen to as I push myself off the ground. That’s when my arm rebels, screeching at me as I try to put weight on it, and I can’t hold back a scream as this pain like a knife cuts into my muscles. I’m sucking wind as I lean away, and my legs struggle to straighten out. It’s literally taking all my focus just to get back onto my feet. My vision’s swaying pretty hard as I look around, watching as the smoke settles down to the floor, the red swirls mixing concrete clouds that choke my throat. For a second, I feel myself heaving. I cough out the fumes, struggling to get any air I can into my lungs while I plant myself against a barely surviving table for support. My hand braces against it as I fight back the urge to lose my lunch all over the floor. The dust feels like it’s collapsing my throat, and I’m on the verge of panic when I finally start to feel air sucking down my windpipe again.

  Somehow, in the middle of all of that, I see the collapsed corpse of that giant Creeper out on the ground. It’s been torn apart, something you’d hope would happen after being hit by, like, five grenades, but it’s just doused the ground with gunk and slime. I’m not sure, but it looks like there’s more than blood pumping through these things’ veins. It’s dead though. Or, at least it’s not moving. I just watch it for a minute as my breath starts to come back in small pants. Then, after a second of staring, I realize someone’s missing, and my head suddenly snaps upward. The commander. I push myself off the table and start shambling over to the doorway, my voice choking up as I call out for him.

  “Commander!” I barely manage through coughing fits. “Abbott! Where are you?”

  All I can see is the creature and the crimson stained walls around it, and it hits me that the amount of explosives we used was just out of control. My legs start to panic and push faster with the fuel my heart’s frantically pumping. “Commander Abbott! Commander, are you there?”

  It’s not far to the creature’s corpse, but it doesn’t react. Everything’s quiet as I jerk toward the door on an ankle that feels like it’s got a nail hammered through it, and all I can do is listen to my own voice as I shout into the emptiness. “Commander!” I’m a heartbeat from the doorway when the creature moves. That’s all it takes to freeze me in place and send my fingers into a frantic dash for my handgun. I have my barrel pointed dead ahead and my eyes are rocketing down the sights as I brace myself, watching as what’s left of the beast’s torso shift toward me. It forces me to take a step back as it awkwardly tilts upward onto its side and falls in my direction.

  And that’s when my eyes light up. “Commander?”

  Abbott’s grimacing at me through a blood stained face, but the corners of his lips twist into a smile. “I’m fine, rookie,” he says, although it’s kind of hard to agree. His uniform’s torn open, and his vest is ripped in shreds. Well, at least he doesn’t look like he’s bleeding, and he does have enough strength to push himself up off the ground. “But good work, Jackie.” I hear those word, and I don’t know why, but I feel . . . proud, that he tells me that, and I grin like some schoolgirl suck-up that just wants teacher’s approval. Still, it feels nice to have his respect. My feet close the gap between us, while my hands tuck my gun into its holster. I’m a little concerned because my arms are swinging wide in what I’m dreading is about to become a hug. His smile invites me in though, and I move into his arms against my better judgment.

  And then my ears crack, and I watch the commander’s smile vanish as his body whips sideways. The entire world slows to a crawl as he starts to tumble to the ground, slowly dropping as blood decorates the floor. My ears are still booming with the impact of his body as I scream, my eyes firing to my left at the source of the gunshot. I’m literally convulsing as the room echoes with my voice as I shout into the quiet, my eyes burning as they light up on Captain Sunny. He’s standing there by the stairwell with Tommy’s neck buried under his forearm, a gun raised and already pointing at Tommy’s head.

  “Sunny!” I scream as my fingers fly at my gun.

  He motions with his armed hand. “Stop. You know what I’ll do, and I have no problem doing it.”

  That forces me to hold back and I feel my teeth grinding over each other. For a long moment, we’re just staring at one another from across the distance, when I start to hear a noise beside me. It’s Abbott. I can’t help but think, hot damn, that man is a survivor. I see him propping himself up, but blood’s forming small rivers out of his upper left chest. “Commander?”

  His teeth clench as he sucks air and tilts his face at me. “Alive,” is all he says.

  I give him a nod as I turn back to the captain. “Sunny. Why? Why are you doing this?”

  “You know why, Jackie,” he tells me. “Or has that little voice in your ear gone quiet?”

  At first I think he’s talking about my hallucinations, but then I realize it’s something different. My fingertips press at the listener locked at the side of my head. “No . . .”

  “Maybe you should ask your real boss why this is the way it has to be. I’m pretty sure he was hoping you’d be the one to do this.”

  “Pygmalion?”

  A voice crackles into my ear. “I’m sorry, Jackie. I never intended to do this but Mike is simply too valuable to me. To us, as a species. I need him brought back here.”


  I step away and cup my hand over my ear because I don’t want to believe what I’m hearing. “What . . . I mean, what’s the point? The point is to get Mike back alive, right? So why try and take Abbott out?”

  “Your friend Mike has a gift. I told you that I felt humanity’s only chance was to break the pattern it existed in here in the Tower, and I haven’t changed my mind about that. However, what’s more likely? That we somehow carve our way through floor after floor of Creep? How successful have you been at that? It would require so many people that we’d risk triggering an incident.”

  “Okay, I get that. But why attack us? If you need Mike, aren’t we doing what we we’re supposed to? Aren’t we finishing the mission?”

  There’s a long pause on the other end, and I can just barely hear him breathing. “What I need to do to Mike . . . it will be painful. It will be lengthy, and in the end, he will die. The gift I will be able to give all of humanity is the gift to master the Creep. Mike’s penchant for precognition and telepathic projection can be measured and replicated in the human race, but it will require experiments that I don‘t think you would condone. I certainly know that Abbott never would. His commitment is too much to his men and not enough to the species. I’ve told you before, Jackie. Only I see the larger picture. Everyone else’s view is too narrow. They don’t have the history and the breadth of experience I’ve been given as the Tower director. Unfortunately, that includes you as well. I’d hoped you’d see my side, but from what I saw, you and Abbott were simply too close. You’re too close to Mike as well, and unlike last time, I know there’s no way I could keep you quiet. Not while you knew he was being held captive and taken apart. That is why your mission ends here.”

  My eyes go over to the commander, and I drift toward him. He’s breathing hard and looks like he’s barely keeping it together. I can’t force myself to get any closer, and he just looks up at me for a second before asking, “Jackie, what’s going on?”