FLOOR 21: Judgement (The Tower Legacy Book 3)

by Jason Luthor

  “You’re honestly going to pretend you’ve got no idea? Is that how it is now? You just play dumb? Act like you haven’t been wandering around here, snooping?” His hand slams the desk, almost sending me jumping out of my chair. I can feel the impact between my ears. “Are you with them? Agitating for those terrorists?”

  “Terrorists?” My mind shoots to the diary. “You mean Carthage.”

  “Who the hell else is blowing up Apeiron property?”

  “Wait. Who do you think I am?”

  “Kid, you’re Johnny’s sister. Anna. You think we don’t keep tabs on family members? You know the sort of sensitive areas he’s been in. Why wouldn’t the company be watching out for him?”

  “Okay, but that still doesn’t explain what you think I’ve been doing.”

  “The spying, kid. The sneaking around. Ever since Carthage bombed the engine, you’ve been making around the building like some super sleuth. We know you’ve been using your brother’s keycard to get into places you shouldn’t. We know you’ve seen the stuff.”

  “The stuff?” I really don’t want to ask him what he’s talking about, but my gut’s pulling a hard turn because I think already know. “Exactly what type of stuff are we talking about here?”

  “We still don’t have a name for it exactly. Lab rats call it Creep. The name’s always bugged me, but it’s all I got until we know more about what we’re dealing with. Point is, you’ve seen it. Your brother’s seen it too, but we knew that was a risk with him working the lab and all. You though? What is it with you? You trying to sneak out secrets to the Carthaginians? Trying to tell them what we’re working on in here? What’re you playing at?”

  “I actually don’t know what you’re talking about because I am most definitely not involved with any terrorists. Accuse me of being curious all you want, because I’m definitely guilty of that. Terrorism though? Blowing people up? That’s really not my deal.”

  “Oh, it’s not? So, we’re supposed to take your word that you were just wandering around because you thought it’d be fun to get into Apeiron’s secrets?”

  “I don’t know what you want me to tell you,” I almost shout, and I don’t know why this is getting me so upset. I’m mentally telling myself that this isn’t really happening, but I can feel my chest clutching up and my heart going a mile a minute. It’s like I’m being possessed by something. “If you were being kept in the dark about secret lab experiments and weird stuff like the Creep, wouldn’t you want to actually do something and learn more about it?”

  It’s weird saying that. Whatever else is going on, I’d feel that way whether I was here or living back home. That was the kind of attitude that made me a Scavenger in the first place. Anyway, the guy just stares at me for a second before his teeth lock together, and I see his fists clenching. They’re big and meaty, like chunks of ham, and his muscles are flexing and stretching out of his shirt. “Well, you just think you’re something special, don’t ya?”

  “Uh, what? Not particularly?”

  “Really? Because it seems to me that I’m looking at someone that thinks she’s better than everyone else. Someone that thinks she should always get her way.”

  “I don’t—”

  “That how you get by in life? Always looking down your nose at everyone? Thinking you’re the best? Think you’re always faster and stronger than everyone else?”

  “Is this coming from somewhere? I mean, did I say something?” Something’s changing. It’s hard to really put my finger on it, but it’s like the lights in the room dim a little bit. Even the glowing engine behind the director looks like it’s shutting down. The big man himself looks like he’s starting to pour sweat down his face, and his shirt’s staining around his chest. “Maybe I should get out of here . . .”

  “Maybe you should, Jackie Coleman.”

  I kind of lose my breath a little when he says my name. “Wait. Weren’t you just calling me Anna?”

  “Who the hell is Anna?”

  In my mind, I’m thinking, what the hell is going on? I just don’t linger on it too much before I get out of the chair and back my way to the door. The whole time, I’m keeping my eyes on the director, and I swear like it looks like he’s getting bigger, to the point that there are tears ripping across his shirt. Anyway, when the door bumps my back, I reach around behind me and grab the handle. Guy still looks like he’s swelling up, like the muscles in his arms and back are just surging as I toss myself back out into the lab. When I slam the door behind me, I’m back outside, but everything looks like it’s gone to hell. The computers are all dead, the desks are rotting away, and the walls are dripping in Creep. It’s like everything changed the minute I went inside the director’s room. The lights overhead are enough for me to see, but it’s not like it was before. Things have definitely gone a lot darker.

  I must stare into the room for a full minute before I hear something. It’s soft, so I don’t pick up on it at first. Then it starts picking at my ears. It’s a tapping, just this tap, tap, tap. It’s coming out of the darkness, and it takes a little more listening to realize it’s a keyboard. Nobody’s actually typing, but somebody’s definitely hitting a button over and over again. When I pull away from the door, my eyes finally adjust to the light, and then it hits me that there are four silhouettes standing in the room. They’re all turned away from me and standing at desks, but I recognize their grey skin and warped skulls. Creepers, all dressed in shredded lab coats. My hand’s literally on my bat the second I see them, but the worst part is walking down that row of desks again, just going straight down the middle and to the exit. I take it slow, and if there’s a way to breathe softer, I try and do it. Keeping calm’s one of those things you learn to do in the Deep if you want to stay alive. Every step comes at a snail’s pace, and I can feel a layer of Creep squishing under my boots. It’s not that loud, but there are Creepers that can hear you from across a hall. The best I can do is be as quiet as possible.

  I’m literally at the exit when something whispers, “Jackie.” The voice sends a cold feeling down my spine, and it’s only a colossal effort that gets me to turn around. When I do, the lights are flickering, but I can see those four Creepers standing in the aisle. They’re grinning with those teeth that looks like knives, and when the lights pop on, their tongues start licking at the air. One of them jerks its head at me, then its voice starts to regurgitate, like someone vomiting words. “Are you sure it’s time to leave work and call it a day?”

  I’ve barely processed it before I’m being thrown through the air as the room explodes in a rain of metal and plaster. A massive creature plows through the aisles, and while I’m trying to pick myself up, I watch the Creepers getting thrown to the sides while the whole room starts falling apart. The roof literally evaporates as this thing’s head tears through the ceiling. All I know is, I’m being showered in a storm of debris and rolling to dodge huge these chunks of the roof that are slamming into the ground. There’s a thundering noise when big pieces of concrete slam to the floor, and I’ve barely jumped away when the final piece smashes into the room. I’m back on my feet as fast as I can move, but all I see is light pouring down from above and this hulking thing standing in the center of what used to be the lab. Its arms are covered in shreds of cloth, and I vaguely recognize the voice as it looks at me and screams, “JACKIE!”

  “Kelly? Is that—”

  I’ve barely gotten the words out before he charges again, his feet shaking the floor underneath him as one of his massive fists swings over my head. I’m ducking and rolling away, but the director’s arm turns back at me. My feet push me away just before he slams the ground, but I almost go falling down as a huge crack splinters the floor. I’m forced to dance off before the weak sections beneath me fall apart, but the big guy’s charging again. He’s like some huge Creeper, but it feels a little different. He doesn’t have the typical infection, with all the tumors and growths, but his body is still ridiculously swollen, and his face looks like it’s been
warped into this monster mask. His arm goes swinging at me again, and this time I go passing beneath his legs. I jam sideways and swing my bat hard into his knee, and when it connects, his roar is so loud that I feel like my ears are breaking. I just make it worse for him by firing a few rounds up his back, but the bullets seem to soak into those huge muscles of his. At least he’s in pain. I couldn’t say that about Judge. This guy, Kelly, is actually feeling the hits.

  The problem is, so am I. He swings his fist backward, and I’ve just jumped away. Too bad I’m not fast enough, because I feel him clobber me across the shoulder. The next thing I know, I’m tumbling through the air and rocketing into the wall. I hit so hard that my body just ragdolls into the ground, and for a second, I’m struggling to pick myself up. It’s like I’m in a loop because again I’m not fast enough, and the next thing I know, the big guy’s lifting me into the air with those giant mitts of his. His fingers tighten until I’m screaming, and I swear my hips feel like they want to explode beneath the pressure. No matter how much I push against his fingers, his hands feel like iron bars clamped down around my waist.

  “How’s it feel, Jackie Coleman? To know you’re not the strongest. Know you’re not the smartest. Know you’re not the best.”

  “What do you want, Kelly?”

  “To show you how little you are,” he says as his grip starts to tighten. The guy’s laughing with that voice that sounds like a bass speaker, and it’s literally rattling my bones. The bigger problem’s that I feel like I’m going to burst from the pressure. I’ve never broken a bone, but I swear I can feel my side about to cave in. So, I’ve got to think quick. Maybe I’m not stronger and I’m not faster. You know what though? If dad taught me anything, it’s that I’m pretty damn smart. And big guy here? He’s got to have weaknesses, and I’ve got more than a gun and bat on me. So, before he can completely break my ribs, my flame knife’s flying into the muscles in his hand and cutting straight through. I don’t care how strong he is, if you cut the right places, every muscle in the arm stops working. He realizes what I’m doing and starts screaming at me, but it’s too late. I’m already dropping to the ground and running while he’s still grabbing at his hand.

  I can feel my lungs struggling to suck in any air, and it almost makes me panic. I’ve been hurt a lot of times, but I don’t know what it would feel like to have a rib break or something like that. Not that I can even stop to worry about it with the director turning to grab me. Thing is, I’m already at his knee, and I pound into that thing with a hit from my bat that’s so hard, the big guy drops to one leg. I see splinters of wood fly off my slugger, and my heart stops for half a second when I realize I’ve cracked it, but I don’t have time to let up. As this giant’s hitting the deck, I’m swinging behind him and uncorking two of my grenades. I’m literally running my way up this guy’s back while he’s trying to push himself back up, and all I can see is that shirt collar of his. I start to feel him lurching, and my sides are starting to burn, but I get one clean look and shovel my explosives down his back. Then I’m planting my hands and launching myself over his head. I start spinning away just in time to see him reel back, grabbing for the two grenades rolling down his shirt, but time’s up. The air explodes as a huge blast shakes the room, and I see black clouds and orange fire pouring over the guy’s shoulders and around his face.

  The scream he makes is so loud that it sends the room shaking. These enormous, splintering cracks snake their way through the floor, and it’s only seconds before the ground finally breaks away and sends us plunging into the darkness. For a second, I’m just floating, but I get myself together in time to steer myself toward Kelly until I slam into his chest. He’s built like a wall, and the hit makes me dizzy, but I’m able to pull my knife and put a deep cut into him before we hit the ground. The impact throws me clear, but I’m turning circles through the air, with the whole world flipping around me until I final slam into the wall. My ears fill with the sound of a crack like a gunshot, and I’m completely sure I’ve broken my tailbone or something. I don’t know for sure, but what I do know is that I’m screaming as I try to push myself off the ground.

  At least, when I look at Director Kelly, he’s just lying there, not moving. He’s panting though. I can hear his breath, like a fan blowing every time he exhales. Even though my head’s telling me to get over to him, my side is on fire, and I can barely stagger away because it feels like there’s a bullet shooting up my leg. It’s the first time I realize I’m limping. It doesn’t feel too deep, not like the bone or anything, but something’s wrong. Maybe it’s something I pulled, maybe I tore something, but my left leg’s definitely dragging. Then, when I try to breathe in, I feel a little bit of burning in my sides. It starts small and then starts bleeding up my body. God. I just keep thinking, let me be okay.

  Whatever’s wrong, I just can’t think about it for now. This guy might still be a threat. My gun’s ready in its holster, and my bat’s trailing in my free arm, but with all the pain screaming through me, it takes a minute before I get over to Kelly. I just don’t have it in me. Really, I’m just happy I make it, but the big guy looks beat too. The grenades didn’t tear him up, but they made his back look like everything’s been burned crispy. I’m not sure how much you can hurt a person infested with the Creep, if that’s even what’s going on with the director, but it doesn’t look like he’s recovering. Actually, he kind of starts reminding me of a big wounded animal. I just have to keep reminding myself that he’s still a Creeper of some kind. So, of course, I pull my gun out. That’s when he sees me. I just watch as one of his eyes drifts up at me as he smiles.

  “Good.”

  “Good?”

  “You were as good he said you’d be.”

  “What do you mean? As good as who said I’d be?”

  The director laughs, but it’s weak, just completely different from that deep boom he was just throwing around. It actually makes me feel kind of sad for him. Still, there’s this smile that curls at his lips as he says, “Judge.”

  I feel like somebody’s stabbed me in the heart. “What did you say?”

  “He’s kept me alive . . . for so long. Like this. A monster.”

  “How long . . . how long have you been this way?”

  “Can’t tell. Too long. Centuries. Hundreds of years.”

  It’s like he reached down my throat and pulled out my soul. Between the pain in my body and the shock of hearing how long he’s been down here, I can barely keep standing. “You’re telling me we’ve been in this Tower . . . for centuries? Why? What’s the point?”

  “To save us.”

  “How? How was this place supposed to save us?” My mind snaps back to the diary. “This place was supposed to protect people. It was supposed to keep them safe from things happening outside. You’re telling me you were alive then?”

  He laughs, but it’s just as depressing as before. “Research director.”

  “You have got to tell me more. How did all this happen? How did the Creep start spreading like this? What caused it?”

  “No idea. He wiped it from my mind.”

  “Then what do you remember? Anything? Anything at all?”

  “Only what he lets me.” The director stops, and then he’s . . . he’s sobbing. Like, he’s got tears running down his cheeks. “I remember hurting people. That’s why he won’t let me die.”

  “Oh, God.”

  “Please, finish it. I’ve lived too long. Like this. Like a monster. Please.”

  It’s too much for me. “I can’t. No. No, I can’t.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m not a killer!”

  The big guy smiles. “Yes, you are. You’re the magnificent killer. The dark angel.”

  “Stop it.”

  “He’s shown me what you’ve done. Not just to the infected. To humans.”

  “They made me do that. I didn’t have a choice! But I don’t just go around offing people because I think it’s okay. It’s not like I have a lot of opt
ions when I’m getting shot at and hunted. I’m . . . I’m definitely not just going to stand here and tell you I’ll kill you either. Do you get that? Maybe there’s some way I can help. I mean, you didn’t ask for this. You didn’t want to be this way. Maybe if I stop him. Judge.”

  “Stop him?” His eyes close. “Impossible. He was the first.”

  “The first what?”

  Not another word gets said before the big guy suddenly screams, and as his voice is shaking the room, I’m doused in a mist of crimson spray. I stagger backward as I realize Judge is standing there, looking at what’s now a corpse. That big scythe of his is dripping blood as his eyes turn to me and he asks, “Not a killer? Is that truly what you think? Is that your greatest fear, Jackie Coleman? That at the heart, you’re just a monster? You’re obviously capable of far worse than what this brute was.”

  “Judge.” I can barely say it. I’m too busy staring at the dead, still body of Director Kelly. “What . . . what did you . . .?”

  “Unlike you, Jackie Coleman, I know what I am. I came to terms with it long ago. It seems you haven’t. I thought you were afraid of something shallow. I thought you feared your lack of strength. Well, it’s quite obvious you have strength, of a sort, in abundance. You don’t seem to particularly be frightened by the idea that your enemies may be physically stronger. You’re . . . innovative. You find other ways of dealing with those in front of you.” If a skull can smile, that’s what Judge does as he stares at me from under his hood. “I admit to being wrong. You don’t fear being weaker. You know precisely the sort of chaos that you’re capable of even when you’re at a physical disadvantage. Oh, yes. You don’t have to be the strongest to bring hell. Perhaps that’s what truly frightens you.”

  “Why the hell did you kill him?”

  “You understand that he’s already screaming up here,” he says as he taps at his temple. His bony fingers are wrapped in shredded brown cloth. “I told him either you’d kill him, or I’d reward him with death if he killed you. I forgot to mention I’d be holding onto his mind after he passed.”