Into the Void

by Amanda Frame

  I threw my backpack on the floor and flopped down on my bed, taking out my phone and calling Becca. She answered on the first ring.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked immediately, concern in her voice.

  “It’s John.” I broke down, recounting what my parents told me, trying not to sound like a complete mess. She said she would go with me tomorrow to see him, and I hesitantly agreed. If he was gone, Becca was all I had left.

  CHAPTER 45

  JOHN

  Pain. Pain everywhere. The sound of tormented screeching woke me, born from the throat of a species other than my own. My clothes were nearly gone, my exposed skin black and blistered. I lay in a pool of my own blood. Agony overwhelmed me, nearly blocking out the eerie screams.

  I turned my head toward the sound and white hot burst of pain shot down my spine. The monster was about five yards from me, half trapped under rubble. It pincers feebly snapped in my direction, but its life was draining, just as mine was. I imagined it was looking back at me, but its bulging insect eyes made it impossible to tell.

  Seconds, minutes, maybe hours went by, and it finally surrendered, giving a final shudder and breathing its last breath. Mine would follow soon.

  With this realization came peace. This nightmare would be over. I would be dead soon and it was all right. I had done my best to survive; there was no need to feel guilty for finally giving up. Humans weren’t meant to exist here.

  But as the death haze rose from the Leech’s body, I felt the need deep within me. The hunger that accompanied it was enough to jumpstart my survival instinct. I tried to fight it. A part of me, a big part, wanted to die. This felt like the right time. But my mind had cleared just enough to realize that I had a chance and I needed to take it. Otherwise I was nothing but a coward. Dying was the easy way out.

  I rolled over and began to pull myself along, each movement a new level of suffering. Blackened flesh grated off my abdomen. I screamed but kept moving. Three more feet. Two. One. I reached my hand out when I thought I could take it no longer, my vision about to go dark, my body about to fail. My fingertips made contact.

  The emotional rush blocked out the pain and exhaustion with a disorienting contrast, causing me to collapse onto the rubble, trying to hold onto something real.

  I opened my eyes as the pain dulled and sat up slowly. I ran my fingertips over where the gash in my leg had been. It was covered by a delicate grey scar that looked like it might rip at any moment, but I was no longer bleeding. The haze lifted from my mind, the exhaustion at bay.

  I did it. I was alive. It was pure luck that I came through this. I had been positive that today was the day I was going to die, but I hadn’t.

  The ruins smoldered around me. I had to get out of here. Something else was going to catch fire and I really did not want to be around when that happened, but I was so caught up in my relief and shock that all I could do was lie there.

  I stood up, still weak and shaking, and took in my surroundings. The bookstore was burned to the ground, embers glowing like an old campfire. My surplus store was as good as destroyed, but maybe some of the items inside were salvageable.

  I stepped out of the rubble, my eyes catching on the dead creature. For a moment, I was jealous. I shook the thought from my head and grimaced. I was still in pain but not even close to the magnitude I had felt before I fed off the Leech. But I was alive, and tomorrow was another day.

  CHAPTER 46

  JOHN

  I peered down the sight, eyes focused on my target. I pulled the trigger of the crossbow with a practiced exhale as I had done many times before. The bolt hit its mark, piercing the Leech’s eye from thirty yards away. Not surprising.

  I lowered the bow carefully and jogged towards the dead Leech. I had under two minutes to make it there. In the last seven months I had had a lot of practice. I was a skilled hunter. My dad would be proud, although instead of deer, I hunted monsters.

  Waiting a moment to steady myself after the emotion subsided, I ripped the bolt from the Leech’s skull with a grunt, wiping the oily blood on my shorts. I left the body where it was, starting the hike back home.

  I walked unafraid. Purposefully. Confidently. They were afraid of me now.

  I was something the denizens of the Void had had no experience with before I arrived, and all they knew now was that I was a creature who brought them death. So they stayed away.

  I had hardened, become a cruel and ruthless thing that I didn’t know was possible to turn into. I no longer slaughtered just for sustenance, but I usually took advantage of the meal regardless, for the more often I ate, the stronger I became. If a creature got too close to me, I killed it. If something was an annoyance or I felt it could become a danger, an arrow would pierce its skull before it even realized it had been seen.

  Only one thing mattered to me right now besides survival. Finding the girl.

  I’d spotted her again a few months ago. I was a skilled enough hunter now to stalk her without her knowledge. She split her time between a few different places. A small gift shop on the boardwalk next to the beach was a favorite. She would sit on the sand, staring at the ocean as if she saw the crystal clear waves of the human world, rather than the murky, thick water that lapped at the gray grit, a poor imitation of the hot white sand that I remembered warming my feet as a child.

  She would fade in and out, something I still couldn’t understand, but made me recognize that she was different from me, that she didn’t exist here under the same circumstances as I did.

  The girl didn’t seem too concerned about Leeches. If one got too close, she would fade, her image like the first few seconds of a Polaroid coming into focus. It seemed they couldn’t sense her then, and the monsters moved on, perpetually searching for another meal.

  She had control over her corporeality and I didn’t know how.

  The biggest conundrum was why she often visited the hospital. I wanted to follow her inside, but the place was swarming with Leeches. While they were hesitant of me, I still didn’t like being so outnumbered. But, being bored, I decided I would find a way to get inside. Unfortunately, I couldn’t fade away into almost nothing in order to enter unnoticed.

  There were few nocturnal Leeches, and none seemed to actually spend the night near the hospital, so I figured that would be the best time to enter. That posed a problem. They couldn’t see me, but that also meant I couldn’t see the girl.

  She always went in the main entrance. So my plan was to enter the building at night and wait in the lobby. She had been going back to the hospital every day for the last four days so I thought I could time it out reasonably well to catch her coming in. Today was the day.

  Once I got back home, I gathered the essentials in my backpack and started the walk to the hospital. I wasn’t looking forward to it. It was long and tedious, but I had killed two Leeches in the last three days so I would have ample strength to make the journey easily.

  I took the highway, hopping over potholes and seeing how far I could kick chunks of pavement. Little things to pass the time. I wore combat boots now, so it wasn’t difficult. I had shed my sandals long ago. For some reason I still didn’t understand, they no longer reappeared as my clothes did every day. Maybe because I didn’t want them anymore.

  It was the very beginning of dusk by the time I reached the hospital. I had timed it perfectly. I hiked down the off-ramp that led almost directly to the parking lot and hid behind a concrete divider, watching the Leeches with my binoculars until I was sure there was a clear path to the entrance. They would start to leave soon.

  It was a while before the area was clear enough for me to creep slowly across the lot, keeping low, not wanting to use an arrow and risk not being able to collect it. I stood up straight and scanned the area once I reached the sliding glass door. I had to pry it open and could see the glass was scratched and foggy exactly where I needed to place my fingertips. This had been done many times before by a different set of hands.

  Inside was a
large reception area with a desk in the center that would probably hold at least four computer stations. I ran my hand over the top. It was a dingy brown vinyl, peeling in places. It was probably made to look like wood in the human world. I absently pulled a few strips off and dropped them on the floor, trying to figure out my next move.

  There were wide, low windowsills underneath the large picture windows that doubled as benches. Enough light was streaming so I could make out the reception area well, but to my dismay, there wasn’t much else in it. There was some artwork and a bank of elevators on the far wall.

  I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, taking in my surroundings. Where there were elevators, there was usually a stairwell.

  I saw the door. It looked heavy, a small window set into it inlaid with metal mesh, the kind that prevents someone from punching through the glass.

  I approached the door and cocked my head, just staring at it, thinking that maybe I should look around the first floor for a better option. The decision was made for me when a shadow passed over the door, as if something had walked in front of the large windows in the lobby. I ducked inside the stairwell, the heavy door squeaking as I closed it, making me cringe.

  Loading my crossbow, I held it ready and peered out the small pane of glass. A Leech walked across the lobby and down a hallway. It was in shadow so I couldn’t make it out clearly, other than that it was about average sized, walked on two legs and looked vaguely humanoid. Its shadow didn’t disappear. It paused, then turned around, entering my line of vision again. It swept its head back and forth. I thought it might have sensed me.

  I shifted my bow into position, waiting, seeing if I might need to kill it. After a moment, it continued on its way, and I lowered my weapon and put the bolt back in the quiver.

  What now? There was a good chance the girl would enter this stairwell, but I didn’t have anywhere else I could hide. I guess I could duck down a hallway, but…

  My options disappeared when I heard the squeal of the front doors being pried apart by something very corporeal.

  “Shit,” I whispered, and ran down a flight of stairs. I reached the bottom and sank to the floor, back against a door that had a faded “B” painted on it. I only had to wait a minute.

  I heard the squeak of the door being shut and then the soft sound of human footsteps moving upward, away from me. I counted the steps until I heard another door open with a metallic squeal and then shut gently.

  I dashed up the stairs as quietly as I could, counting my own steps until I stood in front of the fourth floor, where she must have gone. I pushed open the door with the faded number four painted on it. The hallway was pitch black. There was no choice but to turn on my flashlight. I didn’t hear any more footsteps so I figured she was far enough away that she might not see it. Even if she did and started running, I could chase her, yelling all the way that I just wanted to talk, that I didn’t mean her any harm.

  I panned my flashlight up and down the hallway, seeing a sign that said “imaging” on one end and one that said “ICU” on the other. I’d start with imaging.

  I kept alert for any sound or movement, human or otherwise, but hadn’t seen or heard anything so far. This place felt weird. I couldn’t place it. It sparked an odd feeling in my chest. I heard a door creak and switched off my crank flashlight, trying to determine where it came from. It was behind me. Back toward the ICU. I turned around and headed back the way I had come, trying to soften my footsteps to glide across the floor, as I did when I was hunting. Killing.

  I ran my fingertips over the walls, trying to get my bearings since I could see almost nothing without the flashlight. As I turned the corner, however, the crack under the door to the ICU was visible, as though there were windows on the other side, letting the dusky sunlight in.

  I pushed the doors open just a crack and peered through. I clutched my chest as the odd feeling grew stronger, and saw the girl. She was sitting on a desk, kicking her legs, staring at the door of a patient room, seemingly deep in thought. Not only was the girl there, but echoes of people were fading in and out constantly. Every once in a while she would study one for a moment, then go back to staring vacantly through the window of the door.

  It was getting darker and I was losing sight of her. But I didn’t know what to do. I was distracted by the pulling in my chest. I wanted to follow it. It felt familiar. Good.

  I could see her well enough to notice her turn her head to the side, away from me, and focus on something, then hop off the desk and walk in that direction. She seemed to be looking at the echo of a man, hunched over and hobbling with the slow movements of old age. She hugged him.

  It was another person. Like her. My jaw dropped.

  “Where’s Jayden?” she asked.

  The old man shook his head and her shoulders dropped, disappointment clear in her body language.

  “He couldn’t…” the old man started, but they turned a corner and I didn’t hear the rest of his words. I opened the door just enough to sneak in but stepped in a puddle of water. It startled me, and I looked down at my boot. I didn’t often see water in this place, and when I did, I avoided it when possible. As soon as I took a step forward and crossed the water, exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks, and I almost fell to my knees. This had happened to me once before when I ran through a drainage ditch. Just one more thing I didn’t understand.

  I shook my head, trying to fight the urge to sleep. It helped that my heart was still racing, not just with the realization that there were others like her, maybe even others like me here, but because I was drawn to something. The pulling was stronger, it was becoming a need, not unlike when I was starting to weaken and knew I had to kill something soon. But it was different too, not as tainted. More like a longing than a hunger.

  I followed the two of them around the corner, staying in the shadows.

  “When did it happen?” the girl asked.

  “This morning,” the old man replied, sadness in his voice.

  “Was it a Stalker?” she asked.

  “No,” he said, “his parents made the decision.”

  I saw her shake her head and look down at the floor. “I’m so close, Albert, I know it,” she said desperately.

  I heard him sigh and he took her hand. “Liz, I don’t have much time, I’m going to let go. If I can.”

  “No, I just need a little more time!” she implored. The emotion hurt my heart. I hadn’t heard a human voice other than my own in almost a year. I had forgotten how powerful words could be. I gripped my chest again, compelled to move towards them.

  He took her hand in his. “I’m an old man. Even if you found a way back, how long would I live? It’s my time to go, it has been since before I arrived here. Keep trying if that’s what you need to do, stay strong. I can’t help you in this. None of us have been able to do the things you can, and I’m sorry, but maybe you will find someone soon who can help. I wish I could be here for you, I truly do, but my heart isn’t in it. I’m sorry, Liz.” He hugged her and walked a few rooms down, back in my direction. Leaving her where she stood.

  “Albert, wait!”

  “I love you, honey, I really do, but you’ve got to let me go.” He pushed open the door to one of the patient rooms, still facing out toward her. I gasped when the feeling hit me, stronger than ever. I knew what it was now, the familiarity. The time in my parents’ basement. The moment before the demise of my body, right before I touched it, right before it was hit by a car. That feeling of connection. The pull of the physical world. It was there, in that room.

  I jumped up and took a few steps forward, unable to stop myself. I heard the girl yelp in surprise and the old man stumbled back a few steps.

  “Who are you?” he said with a shaking voice.

  “I… I…” I couldn’t answer. I was focused on the room. The closer I got, the more intense the feeling became. The need drew me in, overwhelming my exhaustion. I approached the man. He took a few steps back. The girl came forward and got betw
een us defensively.

  “Do you know where you are? My name is Liz, I can help you,” she said, her voice trying to be reassuring. I kept coming closer, not answering. I took at glance at her face and saw a change in her expression, flashing from comforting to suspicious to afraid.

  “It’s you! Stop! Don’t come any closer!” She tried to get between me and the door, but I pushed her out of the way and darted inside.

  Barely visible in the center of the room was a body, seemingly floating in midair. The old man’s body. Its transparency waxing and waning ever so slightly.

  The feeling I had was such a contrast to this world that I let out a sharp sob. I felt the connection to humanity just out of reach.

  Hands shaking, breathing ragged, I forgot about the people on the other side of the door, unable to focus on anything other than the pulling in my chest. There was a welcoming emptiness waiting for me, a different kind of Void, one that would bring warmth and joy and life.

  “Wait! Stop!” a woman’s voice cried as the door slammed open.

  I reached out. I just needed to touch it…

  CHAPTER 47

  ANNA

  “Perfect timing. He’s being discharged,” a cheerful nurse said to me.

  “What? Really? So he’s fine?” I said, relieved and confused.

  “He’s in room 116 if you’d like to go see for yourself.”

  I jogged down the hall, following the room numbers, Becca at my heels. The door was open and John was sitting on the bed, putting his shoes on. He looked up as we entered and smiled.

  “Anna! It’s great you’re here, you can give me a ride home,” he said casually. “And you must be Becca?” He stood and shook her hand.

  “Uh, yeah, hi, nice to meet you,” she said, smiling.