by D Haltinner
A hiss came from down the tunnel.
Darren stopped. He didn’t know if Jack did, nor did he care.
Clunk. Hiss. Clunk. Hiss.
“Jack!” Darren yelled. The sound was still far away, but it still scared the shit out of Darren to hear it.
“What?” Jack yelled back. He sounded like he was more than a dozen feet further ahead, but with the way sound traveled in the dead air down here, Darren couldn’t be sure.
“Come on, let’s go before it comes after us!”
“No!”
Darren hesitated. He didn’t expect that answer. “What?”
“It isn’t coming any closer,” Jack said. “I don’t think we’re in any danger yet.”
“Yet! You have no idea how far away it is!”
“But it’s not moving!” His voice was growing fainter, he was still walking.
“Let’s get out of here before it’s too late!”
“I’m not going anywhere!”
Darren’s heart was beating like a damaged piston. He wanted to turn and run, he knew he had to, but he couldn’t leave Jack. He couldn’t leave the man to his own stupidity.
“Don't be an idiot!” Darren yelled. “You don’t know what that is!”
The sounds continued from down the tunnel, but they still weren’t growing any louder. He could still hear Jack over the noise when he yelled back.
“No!” Jack yelled. “You go back then!”
“I’m not going anywhere without you!”
“Either you come or go, because I’m still walking with or without you.”
Darren knew this went against his better judgment, but Darren couldn’t leave without Jack. He couldn’t let Jack get hurt, and he knew it was necessary to figure out what was going on. He kicked himself for doing this, then jogged ahead toward Jack.
“Where are you?” Darren yelled.
“Here,” Jack yelled back.
Jack didn’t sound too far ahead so Darren slowed up and put his hands out in front of him to make sure he didn’t run his roommate over. He waved them back and forth in the air until he felt the fabric of Jack’s jacket.
“That better be you,” Jack said from in front of Darren.
“Yeah,” Darren said. “We shouldn’t be doing this, this is nuts.”
“It isn’t getting louder, I don’t think it plans to come after us.”
“You’re nuts! After last time, I think it wants to kill us!”
“Then why isn’t it coming after us?”
“Because we’re going to it!”
“I said you can go back. I’ll be fine alone.”
“I’m not going without you.”
“Well, I intend to find out what’s making that noise, and what’s at the center of this thing. I have a hunch they’re one in the same.”
“That may be, but we can’t see a thing. We’re at a huge disadvantage here!”
“We don’t know if it can see either.”
“So what?”
“You might as well just go, because you aren’t going to be able to convince me to go back until we found what’s in this void,” Jack said. “And if that means we have to-”
Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Ca-chunk!
“What the-”
It was the same sound that chased them out of the tunnels on their first trip.
Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Ca-Chunk!
“I think we need to get out of here!” Darren yelled.
“Not yet!” Jack yelled.
Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! Ca-Chunk!
“What is that?” Jack said, his pitch rising. There was a scuffling noise coming from his direction.
“What?”
“My ankle-”
Jack’s voice cut out, replaced by a scream.
“Jack!” Darren yelled, flailing his arms ahead of him.
“Ahh!” Jack’s voice yelled. It was moving away from Darren fast. “It’s got my leg!”
“Jack!” Darren didn’t move. He couldn’t move forward even if he wanted to. His mind was trying to force him to turn in pitch and moved away faster than Darren thought he could run. He couldn’t make out if Jack was trying to say anything, but it was only a few seconds later that his screams died into the distance.
Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!
Then silence.
Chapter 44
Darren’s knees were shaking. He couldn’t feel the tremor climbing up his body, every nerve in him had gone numb as his heart poured adrenalin into every inch of his body.
He wasn’t sure what just happened. Jack said something had his leg, and then he was gone. Did something grab him and pull him away? It sure didn’t sound like he went by his own free will.
What if it’s going to come for Darren next?
The hiss, clunk sound vanished when the high-pitched alarm sounded in its place, and now there were no sounds except for Darren’s own heavy breathing. The sound of the blood gushing through his ear drums pounded straight to his brain, mixing into the hypnotic state that fear had thrown him into.
He needed to turn and run.
But what about Jack?
Screw Jack! He was the bloody idiot that wanted to venture into the void when they both knew something was in there.
He wasn’t the only one to enter the void.
No, but it was still his idea.
True. But he didn’t drag anyone else with him against their own free will.
What’s the point?
Jack might need help. He’s not the only one in this situation.
There are two different situations here.
No, it’s one. And he needs help.
Go into that void after he got dragged off? Hell no!
Got a better answer?
Turn around and run.
And leave Jack to fend for himself?
Yep.
And that’s what Darren did. He found past the paralysis, spun around, and ran back down the tunnel the way he came.
He didn’t bother trying to feel for what was in front of him. It was hard to run straight when he couldn’t see anything, and he bumped his shoulder against the wall a few times, but he continued to run as fast as his numb muscles would allow him too.
What was that thing that got Jack? Was it the same thing that was making those noises? It sounded like old machinery, but no machine that Jack knew about could catch a man by the leg and drag him off.
Is that what happened to Troy?
It was possible. It was more than possible, that had to be what happened. His footprints entered the void and never came out, and unless there was some exit in the blackness that Darren didn’t know about, what else could have happened?
Troy. It was because of him that Darren was down here. It was because of him that Jack might be hurt. It was also because of him that Darren got reassigned to work with Audrey on the research paper, but it was also his fault that Audrey was now involved in whatever was going on down here.
Darren ran, hoping that there was some possible way that Jack would be okay, but knowing that it was too late for that. Maybe God would forgive him for abandoning Jack down here, but what else could he do? There was no way that Darren could help him without being able to see. It was impossible.
He hoped Jack would realize that. If it wasn’t too late already.
Darren pulled his flashlight from his pocket and turned it on. He had no idea how far he had ran so far, but when no light spilled out in front of him, he knew he wasn’t out of the void just yet.
Could whatever took Jack leave the void? There was really no way for Darren to know but it was best to assume it could, and run until he got to safety. Run until he was out of the tunnel.
And then what? Call for help? Would a 911operator believe his story? Would the police believe him?
No, of course they wouldn’t, but what else could he do?
Leave Jack to his own destiny.
It might not be too late though.
It is.
He could have gotten free.
He might only be hurt.
He’s dead.
It’s what his gut told him. Jack was dead. It was too late to even attempt to help him. There was no point in risking himself or anyone else to try and help Jack because it was too late already.
Tuesday was what was important. Jack took a risk, and it didn’t play out, but the risk was worth it. Unless they figured out what was going on, and what was going to happen on Tuesday, there was going to be a far worse fate for everyone else. One person’s sacrifice was nothing compared to what could happen on Tuesday.
And now it was up to Darren and Audrey to figure it out.
Could they do it themselves though? Whatever’s in the void is more dangerous than Darren realized. How could two college freshmen compete with whatever attacked Jack?
They couldn’t.
But they had to. They were the only hope for all the people above ground.
Not alone they weren’t.
Who else could they tell? Who else would believe them? And if someone did believe them, why would they want to risk their lives when they could just pack up and go?
Maybe it was hopeless. Tuesday wasn’t very far away, and so far they haven’t learned anything that could help them stop whatever is going to happen.
Part of Darren thought he knew what was going to happen. But it was only a thought-he had no way to back his theory, and only one thing to help support his idea.
The void was going to engulf the campus.
He couldn’t offer any proof except the growth of the void behind him, but it was starting to make sense.
What happens then?
Darren couldn’t venture a guess, but he knew it at least meant a fate worse than death. The tunnel burst into shape in front of him as he passed outside of the void. He didn’t know if what had attacked Jack could leave the void, but it was better to be safe than sorry, so Darren continued to run away from the black wall behind him.
Darren panted, sweat dripping down his ribs from the waterfalls beneath his arms. He didn’t think he had ever run this fast in his life. It was hard to gauge his speed in the monotonous tunnels, but when Jack’s backpack came into view, Darren knew he had to have been running fast enough to qualify for the Olympics.
Not that fast.
How else could he have gotten to the bag already?
Not by speed.
Then how?
The void expanded.
Could that be? Could it really have expanded while Darren and Jack were inside of it? He supposed it could if it was growing in spurts. They would have noticed if it was moving at a steady rate this fast just standing outside of the darkness.
Unless it was moving.
Darren hadn’t even given that thought much consideration. If whatever was hidden inside the void moved when it attacked Jack, it could have moved its disguise with it.
It sounded far away from them when it attacked Jack, some where near the center of the sphere, so it must have used something else to catch Jack by the leg and drag him away. What, Darren had no idea, but something dragged Jack to the center of the void.
Either option was possible, but Darren had no way of trying to figure out which one was right. There had to be something else in this tunnel that could explain it, because Robert Blackburn sure seemed to know what was happening, but how could they find it in time? They’d have to explore the rest of the tunnel, but time was growing short.
Darren reached the backpack left below the hatch to Rosch Hall and flung it over his shoulder before gripping the handholds that led up to the bathroom above him.
He stopped himself.
What if someone noticed the window Jack broke? Darren would climb right up into the waiting arms of the police.
He couldn’t risk that, so Darren jumped back off the foot holds and ran north along the tunnel toward the library. He’d have to exit by their normal entrance in the library, but that shouldn’t be an issue. He’d just climb out the boiler room hatch and push his way out the front door. No one should be in the building, so they should never notice.
Darren gripped the shoulder straps of the backpack banging off of him with one hand, and ran northward down the tunnel with the flashlight beam bouncing around the path in front of him. The previous footprints in the dust covered floor were turning into a clear path from the traffic over the last few days, surrounded by valleys of aging dust on each side. No sign of any sounds came from behind Darren as he ran, but he didn’t slow down until after he passed the intersection leading off to the other side of the campus, and approached the steel door they had cut through that very morning.
His breath was beginning to get away from him. It looked like glitter was falling through the air in front of him, but he knew there was none. His heart hammered in his chest enough that the sound echoed through his ears and his legs felt like rubber, but Darren kept walking.
He was too far away for anything to come after him. He couldn’t be positive about that, but he was too tired to care right now. If he heard something behind him, he’d run again, but didn’t think that was going to be necessary. He hoped it wouldn’t be at least. He didn’t want to end up like Jack.
Darren walked until he reached the hatch beneath the library’s boiler room, and climbed up the footholds. He had to shove the flashlight in his pocket in order to use both hands to push the hatch up while trying to balance on the small cement indentations. He managed to raise the hatch with a grunt, and pushed it all the way open until it fell back into the boiler room. The sound of the fires burning beneath the tanks of water broke into the silence of the tunnel, and Darren climbed up into the room.
Darren closed the hatch and freed the flashlight from his pocket before moving the door leading out into the main library. He shut his light off as he cracked open the door-the latch was still blocked open-and then squeezed through the crack, closing the door behind him.
A dim light drifted across the room from a few security lights left lit all night, so Darren reached behind him and slid the flashlight back into the backpack he was wearing. He saw no sign of anyone else and had nothing except the dull hum of the boilers drifting through the door behind him, so Darren walked toward the front entrance, checking around each corner of bookcases before stepping past them.
The last thing he wanted was to be caught now. Not after what happened to Jack and making it this far himself.
When he reached the librarian’s desk, he ducked his head down in case there was some sort of security camera and pushed out the front doors into the cold air of the night.
He went straight to Audrey’s dorm.
Chapter 45
Darren stepped back from the southwest dorm’s door after finding it locked. There was no one else out at this time of night and all but two rooms in view had their lights turned off, so there was no way for him to convince someone to let him in. He looked up at the windows, trying to remember how many rooms they passed when Audrey brought him up to her room, thinking now that if he figured out which window was hers, he could throw pebbles at the glass until it woke her.
With his luck, he’d probably break the window with his first throw.
He couldn’t stand out there in the freezing dark all night, so Darren ran to his own dorm and rushed in through the front door with Jack’s backpack bouncing against his ass. He ran up the stairs, not passing a soul the entire stretch, then ran to his room and pushed his way inside.
The light was still on, just as they had left it. The room felt enormous after spending time in the tunnel and the confines of the void, but it felt even emptier than it ever did before when Darren looked over at Jack’s side of the room. He tried to shake his roommate from his head and went straight to the phone, dialing Audrey’s room number.
Darren’s heart continued to hammer in his chest as he listened to the phone ringing.
Why wasn’t she answering?
It got her too.
What did?
The thi
ng in the void. It got her.
It did not!
Then why isn’t she answering?
Darren slid the back pack off his shoulder and let it drop onto his chair. He ran his hand through his hair, telling himself to calm down.
She’ll answer. She just needs a minute to wake up.
She won’t answer.
Yes she will.
It already got her too.
It did not! Knock it off!
There as a click on the line, followed by a heavy breath.
Darren didn’t wait for her to speak. “Audrey! It got Jack!”
“What?” Her voice was only at half strength.
“It got Jack!”
“What are you talking about?”
“It ju... ju...”
“Darren, are you okay?”
“No!”
“Here, why don’t you come back over,” she said. “I’m awake now, so I’ll go meet you at the front door.”
“I’ll be right there,” he said.
Darren hung up, made sure his wallet was still in his pocket, and ran back out the door, slamming it shut behind him. He ran down the steps two at a time, hitting each landing with enough force to send a jolt through his spine to the base of his skull. He reached the first floor and ran at full speed to the entrance, pushed his way outside, and sprinted through the night back to Audrey’s dorm.
Audrey was standing just inside the door, wearing the same gray sweater she had on earlier. Her arms were crossed below her chest, her hands tucked deep into her sleeves. Her eyes were glassed over and staring wide at the floor until Darren ran up to the door.
“What in the world happened to you?” Audrey asked when she opened the door. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I may have,” Darren said as he stepped into the warm air of the dorm and wrapped his arms around Audrey.
“Let me get you back up to the room, then you can tell me what’s going on,” Audrey said.
Darren nodded and followed Audrey down the hall and up the stairs. When they reached the room, she opened the door and Darren followed her in before closing it behind him.