by D. N. Hoxa
I put the robe on, and I walked ahead. I didn’t care if they found me. What I feared was turning and staying a monster forever, but if the soldiers shot me and killed me, who was to say whether I would survive? And if I did, what would happen?
But none of that mattered to me when I walked out in the hallway filled with soldiers, holding in hand weapons designed to bring me and my kind down.
XIII
The guards didn’t notice me. They didn’t even look like they cared. Their devices didn’t beep so it was perfectly okay for me to be there, though they’d never seen me before. Well, at least not with white hair.
I went back to the ground floor. Elevators were all over, but they required a card, and I’d been foolish enough to not search for one in the pockets of the man I drank dry. I’d been too freaked out to even think about it.
It looked like I was going to have to go back to the stairs, keep my head down, and hope nobody noticed me.
I was about to go back where I came from, when my super sight caught the badge pinned to the chest pocket of a short, round guy, chewing gum. It said IT, and he stopped to wait in front of one of the elevators.
I rushed my steps, keeping my head down, praying that I wouldn’t call any attention to myself. I almost bumped into him when the elevator opened. He gave me a weird look, especially my hair, but I stared ahead as if I belonged there.
He pressed number six on the panel, and while we went up, I only focused on the noise he made when he chewed gum. I heard everything, loud and clear. The way his tongue moved, the way his teeth bit on the gum, the way he swallowed the flavor every five seconds, until the door opened, and I nearly felt sick.
The hallway was completely white and filled with at least fifteen people coming and going in both directions. They were all dressed in crisp white robes.
What the hell were they still doing there? It was way past midnight!
I panicked. I’d been so sure that I’d find the offices almost empty. Why the hell were they still there? Did they work all night?
It didn’t matter. I needed to get it together. With a deep breath, I shook the panic off and focused.
The place was so different from the floors below. Up there it was almost like a different world. A normal world. There were no walls, just windows, and everyone could see everyone, unfortunately for me. The office that stretched in front of me was huge, and inside it were six people. All six of them were filled with fresh, hot blood in their veins. Everyone had a computer. Computers I couldn’t possibly get access to.
“Aren’t you getting out?” the IT guy asked, and I almost jumped back.
Now wasn’t the time to look around like an idiot, though I had no idea how the hell I was going to pull this off. I gave him less than a smile and lowered my head. Damn Hammer for not telling me that there would be so many people in there.
To my left, there was the door to the stairway. Ahead, at the left corner, there was a white metal door with no sign on it. Next to it was a glass door with the letters Research etched in curvy letters.
I turned around and saw another wooden door across from the first one, on the right side of the hallway. It had a tag that said Archive. Bingo!
And then I saw the machine next to it. Authorized personnel only. So I was screwed again.
I was so desperate, I even briefly entertained the idea of simply killing someone and cutting off their hand to get me in that place. I swore I’d have a word with myself if I managed to get out of this alive.
Fear consumed me head to toe. It, together with battling with my thirst, was making me nauseated. The thought of leaving the building empty handed made me want to cry. And I said to myself, no, I’m going to succeed. I’ll find a way!
But unless I could find a hand and possibly an eye that the machine would grant access to, I wasn’t getting anywhere.
When I realized that a few people were looking at me, staring like an idiot at the freaking door, I moved towards it. I searched my mind for memories of how I’d gotten out of trouble and into places I wasn’t supposed to be in back when I was a human.
Lies. I had lied my way in and out of everything. Well, there weren't as many in’s as there were out’s, but I had lied perfectly whenever I needed to. The problem was that I saw no one to lie to, and I didn’t have enough knowledge to make up a lie.
But I wasn’t giving up. No, I switched to plan B, which didn’t exist until I finally thought to concentrate on the people around me and hear what they were saying. Plan B was to listen in on conversations and pick a lie from their words. This vampire thing was coming in handy. I just needed to learn how to use all my abilities first and panic later, not the other way around.
“She does nothing all day…” a man was saying to his friend.
“I wonder why they still keep her,” the friend responded. I stopped and stared at the door that was now only a foot away from me, and I wondered what the hell to do to gain time.
“I hear she’s screwing Jennings,” the first one said. That conversation wasn’t going to get me anywhere, so I concentrated on others.
“That new girl, Beatrice on 4th, I hear she’s nuts,” a girl said to her colleagues. I only concentrated on those spreading gossip, because the others I didn’t understand.
“Yeah, she made that Indian girl Michelle cry the other day because she didn’t deliver some papers in time. She was four minutes late,” one of her friends said as they walked into the elevator. I swallowed hard and tried to hear more.
“Yeah, that’s what I heard too. She…”
“Excuse me?” I jumped up and back, both hands to my chest. A man with dark brown hair and brown eyes was standing in front of me, watching me suspiciously. Shit.
“Yes?” I whispered. I couldn’t believe I didn’t hear him. I really needed to learn how to better use my vampire privileges.
“You’ve been standing here for the past five minutes. Can I help you with something?” The suspicion in his voice as he watched me, head to toe, made me even more nervous. I couldn’t afford nervousness. I needed to think clearly.
“I, uh…I just…” I turned to look at the door next to me, but I froze.
“Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before,” he said and took a step back. He put his hand in the pocket of his robe and grabbed something. Oh God.
Get it together! I shouted in my head and cleared my throat to try again. It’s now or never.
“I’m sorry. I’m from the 4th. See, my new boss Beatrice asked me to bring her some papers from the Archive and to have them ready by seven in the morning.” Again, with a pleasant smile, I waved at the door. “I told her I have no access, but she didn’t want to hear. Last time my colleague was late, well…she wasn’t exactly happy about it so I’m just waiting here for someone to let me in and out quickly.”
He still watched me suspiciously, but he didn’t back away any further. He pulled his hand from his pocket. I tried another smile, but I felt trapped from fear and from the thirst that was evoked by the clear blue vein on the guy’s necks, pumping fresh blood and rubbing it in my face.
“I work on the 3rd, and I don’t think I’ve seen you before anywhere,” he said, curling his brows.
“Oh, it’s the hair. It was something like yours, but I tried to lighten it a bit myself and well…” I pointed at my head with a shrug, “…but I’m going to get to my hairdresser first thing in the morning.”
I cursed them again for working this late. I mean, it was past midnight. If they hadn't been there, I wouldn’t have had to lie. I’d have just broken in or something.
“What’s your name?” He didn’t seem as suspicious as before.
“Alice,” I said the first name that popped into my head.
“Okay, Alice. I already met Beatrice so I know what you mean. I’ll let you slide this time, but the next, I’m reporting her.”
And just like that, he turned around and put his palm on the blue scanner.
“
Thanks so much! I mean, I have so much to do still, and I just need to get something fast.”
“What do you need?” he thought to ask. I wished he hadn't.
“Just some papers. I have the list with me.” I patted the empty pocket of the robe. He opened the door, and I followed him inside.
“Well, I need some things from Research first. I’ll be right back. Be done soon,” he said in a rush, and closed the door behind him.
He left. It was a fucking miracle. I was inside the Archive alone.
I had to be really fast, but when I turned around, I realized that fast wasn’t going to be possible.
The place was as big as a warehouse. High ceiling and shelves on all sides, filled with boxes, each one labeled. Useless.
I checked some of them, but found nothing important. Just reports of occurrences during twenty-four hours of every single day, starting from a year after the explosions. They’d been monitoring every single breath we took. Phone calls, regular conversation, school. They even monitored bathrooms.
But after the long shelves, on the other side of the room, there was the wall. A steel wall made of drawers. The metal was colder than my skin. The drawers were small. Each had a keyhole, and under it, a code. A code that started with a V and continued with numbers.
This was it. I felt it. This is where they kept the information about vampires. I tried to open one with a little force, but the steel was too strong. I thought about breaking one with my fists, but then I remembered the cameras.
The place had to have at least two. So I looked up, and around. I couldn’t see from the many shelves, but I could hear. I could hear the faint sound of the small machines moving. They moved whenever I did.
I found three. I knew that once I broke them, I would maybe have only a few minutes before someone came to check. I was going to have to be very fast. I had to climb on the shelves to reach up to them. I tried to keep my head down, but that was impossible. When I reached the second one that was above the entrance door, I ran out of patience. I grabbed it and squeezed it, deforming the metal and plastic. I did the same to the third on the farthest corner. And then I ran again.
I didn’t think about which drawer to open. I hit the one in front of me as hard as I could with my knuckles.
I had to slam my fists three times before it gave. My hand and knuckles hurt but only for half a second.
The drawer was filled with folders. There was nothing of importance there. Just a bunch of numbers and coordinates I couldn’t decipher. But I did read names.
Vampire names, put under the Code Red column. I didn’t recognize any of them, but I’d heard enough of their names to know when I saw one. So I broke another drawer. Again, nothing, but I did find a date. 04/14/2010. I saw the same number under the keyhole of the drawer I broke. When I checked the next one, and the next, I saw that they were all dates. V12112013, the next one said. 2014, 2015…and so on. I had to waste a whole minute until I found the date I was looking for. Five drawers with the same label.
I was beginning to get anxious. I knew I was running out of time. I broke the first, and the second, and the third drawer. My fingers shook as I went through the gray folders.
The door opened. I ran to the shelves. They couldn’t stop me now. I was so very close.
The man that let me in looked around. He stopped by the door and didn’t move. He was looking ahead, in between shelves, before he took a small step back. I knew what he saw. The open drawers I’d left behind carelessly. I hadn’t even thought to close them.
“Hello?” he called, his voice echoing through the high ceiling. He waited but a heartbeat before he turned around.
“I need guards in here!” he shouted. I snuck behind the door he still held the knob of before I knew what I wanted to do. I grabbed his wrist, and I pulled him inside with too much force. He flew three feet through the air before he landed on his stomach with a loud cry. I pushed the door closed and ran to him to cover his mouth. I didn’t have any more time. The guards were probably on their way.
The man struggled to get my hands off, but that just made me hold on tighter. I didn’t want to kill him. I’d already killed a man downstairs. His blood was so very tempting, but I was too scared out of my mind to give it all my attention. I had about a minute left. I closed the man’s nose as well to block air from going to his lungs.
As soon as he stopped moving and his head fell to the side, unconscious, I ran back to the files.
I took everything my hands could grab. Documents that might not have been about Everard at all. I felt sick to think that all of this was for nothing. I did it all wrong. Once again I cursed my pride and wished I’d been smart enough to let Hammer come instead of me.
When I passed the unconscious man by the door, I felt my teeth sharpening. This time, I remembered to get his card from his pocket. When I got close to him, I heard his heart beating slowly, blood coursing through him, so fresh and delicious. He was helpless. Drinking him dry would be a walk in the park. The one I drank downstairs struggled for his life. This one wouldn’t even have that chance.
It was a battle against myself to get to the door, open it, and walk out. I kept my eyes down and concentrated on turning my teeth to normal. I cannot let myself become this thing.
“… wrong with the cameras. We’re going to check.”
The simple sentence caught my ear as I called the elevator up with the stolen card, folders secured tightly against my chest. Two guards were going towards the Archive room, and they were going to get there before I could leave.
“Hey! Hey, you!” someone called.
I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping he wasn’t talking to me. “You just came out of the Archive, right?” Oh, yeah. He was talking to me.
I turned around reluctantly. The smell of their blood made me want to tear their eyes out. I was scared out of my mind, from what I could do to them and from what they could do to me. I said nothing because I didn’t trust my voice, though the vampire virus in me would’ve probably made it sound strong.
“I said, did you just come out of the Archive?” the guard said again, pointing ahead at the door to my right. I nodded once, but I couldn't make myself give them a smile.
“The cameras are not working. What did you do in there?” his colleague said.
“Just got some documents. I’m from the 4th…” I started to say and my virus didn’t disappoint with my voice.
“Hey, wait a minute. That stuff’s classified,” the first guard said. I read his name on the nametag of his green uniform. M. S. Connelly.
“I know, but my boss, Beatrice, wants them—”
“Beatrice?” his colleague, J. T. James, cut me off. “Beatrice has no business with those documents. No one from the Infrastructure Department needs those.” And he pulled out his gun and pointed it at me. His friend Connelly did the same.
“You might want to give them to me and put your hands up.”
Oh, shit. I was screwed. I was so, so, so screwed. The elevator doors opened. I looked at them and at the soldiers again. I could push them back and hop in the car, be gone before they could recover. But there were others who could see me. I searched my brain for a way out, but I knew that as soon as they got inside the room and saw the unconscious body, they’d never let me go. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.
The soldiers took another step toward me, cautiously. An alarm rang loudly. Red lights started to go off and on all around the hallways. People started to run. The guards looked around and asked what the hell was going on. The elevator doors started to close. The door to the Archive opened. I felt the man’s heartbeat growing fast. He’d woken up.
“Stop her…” he whispered, and I threw myself to the side and into the closing doors of the elevator before the soldiers could think to look at me. The elevator closed.
I didn’t breathe. I didn’t move. I pressed the buttons and held the folders tightly against my chest.
The doors opened. The red lights and the alarm kep
t ringing everywhere I looked. People were going nuts. I walked ahead to a bunch of soldiers preparing their guns. It was like my brain couldn’t function anymore from the fear. My brain cells had gone completely numb. I didn’t know how to think, and I was going straight for the soldiers.
Their devices, pieces of plastic cut in triangles attached to their belts, were beeping red. A vampire was nearby. They turned to look at me as I walked like I was hypnotized in their direction.
“Stop right there!” one of them said. I didn’t. He pulled the gun and pointed it at me. “Code Red! You need to follow procedure,” he said like that was supposed to mean something to me. I didn’t know what the procedure was.
“Can you hear? Step back now!” his colleague shouted and pointed his gun barrel at me, too. I stopped. They wanted me to step back. I just needed to pass the sterilization box, and I’d be outside. The same way I came in.
“I need to get out,” I told them and heard my voice as if it belonged to a stranger.
“Step back, now! This is Code Red, follow procedure 242.” Again, they shouted like I was supposed to know what the procedure was.
Something exploded right in front of the building doors and shook the ground. I smelled the fire as clearly as if I was standing right above it. The soldiers took their screeching earpieces off, flinching. “Stand back! 242, now!” they told me before they ran outside.
Others poured like rain from up and down the stairs, all headed for the door. I got pushed to the sides and back. My legs were still not my own. I saw a lot of the plastic triangles beep while they ran, but they didn’t even see me.
Then, someone grabbed me from behind.
A scream escaped me as strong arms grabbed my waist and dragged me back inside a door I hadn't even seen.
I didn’t struggle. I let my feet get dragged from behind. Whoever had me, I was going to let him take me. I shouldn’t have come here in the first place to find Anthony. I should’ve just stayed at the top of the Howling Building. I didn’t even feel like I was a danger to the human that held me and dragged me from behind.