by Jason Luthor
“You’re talking to queen tech head over here. I wasn’t exactly fitting in with Tower royalty while I was buried in my computers.” I actually laugh a little when I think about it. “You know, you were actually that guy. Tower royalty, I mean.”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. You had half the girls back home actually falling over themselves to be around you. Mike, half the time I saw you, you’d be playing your guitar surrounded by what can best be described as a flock of females.”
That makes him smile even more. It’s like I’m on a roll or something. “Better times, before all this. Don’t think I’ve really thought too much about it. Funny part about popularity is I didn’t ever think it was that important. Yeah, I was glad people liked hanging around me, but I didn’t need a hundred people to like me. Just wanted a few. Sometimes, only one.”
“Jackie.”
“Pretty much. All the girls in the world didn’t matter. Popularity. Whatever. You didn’t miss out on much. From my perspective, I appreciated it, but I always felt alone. Nobody wanted to talk about what was important to me, which was finding out about this place. You know?”
“I think we’re all kind of down here because we never quite fit in back home. Too curious, you know? Tommy was an athlete. I was a science kid. You were the popular guy, but I guess the one thing we all had in common was we wanted to know more about the Tower and how this all got started. That, or we were some sort of misfit.”
“Kind of makes you realize why they didn’t mind losing a few of us during the Scavenging. Less troublemakers back home if we die down here.”
That makes my eyes pop. “Yeah. Wow, you’re right. I never thought about it that way.”
“Well, guess that’s something we have in common.”
“Troublemakers for life, yo.”
He’s been smiling for a while now. Not gonna lie, it makes me feel super relived. “Thanks for talking to me, Dodger. Needed it.”
We both break when we notice Tommy coming back around the corner. It’s nice to clear the air, even if I’m still not sure about his plan. When we start going in circles, it really gets the shivers in my bones. Mike’s not stupid. He knows this. At the end of the day though, I’m still glad I got a chance to talk with him. It’s easy to start ignoring someone, and then you just get into a bad habit of avoiding them. It’s like you build up this awkward wall that eventually you can’t break through. Our talk helped out with that.
Again, that doesn’t mean everything’s perfect. The truth is that I think I have a perfectly legitimate reason to feel . . . well, anxious might be the right word I’m looking for. I don’t want to freak out anyone or anything, but I’ve started, I dunno, hearing something. I don’t know if it’s my imagination, or if I’m having a borderline hallucination, but that screeching Tommy talked about? You know, that this Judge guy supposedly makes with his scythe? All I’m saying is that I think I might have heard something like that the other day. It’s hard to tell, you know? Nobody else heard it, I don’t think.
Plus, I mean, it was probably just a Creep hallucination. We were calf deep in saliva and the walls were pumping with veins and muscles. You know, the really Deep Creep. It was pitch black, and only Tommy’s flashlight was helping us get around. It’s not like we were in a good place, and the Creep does play with your fears. So, yeah, I mean, ever since Tommy brought up the scythe guy, it’s been on my mind. It’s not like I’d want a run in with anyone like that. I guess I must’ve been worried about it more than I thought because I could’ve sworn that I heard something. It was super faint, like it was a few hallways down, but it definitely sounded like something metal dragging on the ground. I could barely see two feet in front of me, and the whole hall was wheezing, like a giant lung. So, my ears were just pumping with the sound of what was basically heavy breathing, when I just heard this echoing screech way behind us.
It was loud enough to me that I had to stop and take a look. The light from my flashlight cut pretty deep into the hall, but I really didn’t see anything. Still, I kept hearing it, you know? This ringing, echoing metal sound. Tommy actually had to get my attention, and I realized I’d been standing there for a few minutes. Can you imagine that? I felt like I’d only been turned around for a few seconds, but actually, so much time had gone by that Tommy almost lost me. That’s actually how Scavengers die down here. You hear those stories all the time, about a Scavenger who heard something or saw something, then just wandered off. Maybe it’s the middle of the night, or maybe they just stop following the group, but they vanish. Their bodies never get found. I really don’t want to be that guy.
Tommy’s Recording 23
The team looks like it’s holding it together, although I kind of wish I had more experience with this type of thing. Mike’s been better. I mean, him and Dodger are actually talking now. Imagine that. I think the group talk we had was good for everyone, and I’m still doing my part to try and encourage him. Anyway, it’s gotten us this far, wherever ‘this’ is. The going in circles thing always makes me edgy, but Mike always finds a way to get us back on track. That’s how we found our way into this, I don’t know, this lab. Place looked like it had taken some solid blasts. It’s not easy to tell different explosions apart, but the place looked like it’d taken a few grenade hits. I could be wrong. The pattern was familiar though.
So, I’m looking around, and all the desks and computers look like they’ve taken some pretty heavy damage. There’s tons of debris, but it’s easy to spot out the blast marks on the ground where the explosions went off. Plus, the bodies. It’s obvious this happened pretty recently. The first thing that grabs me is the Creepers all over the floor. Not all of them are intact. I hate going into details about this type of stuff, but the least I can say is the place is a mess. There were a lot of people here once, and the lab looks like it must’ve been ground zero for something. The Creep’s as bad as I’ve seen, and the walls are lined with even more bodies. Well, skeletons, but the point’s the same. Something started here, and there were a lot of people that got caught in it. On their way out, people got trapped by the Creep, but the worst damage happened in the lab itself. You can tell they were messing with some high-level stuff. I mean, the room’s full of those tubes we’ve seen Creepers grown in, and there’s all sorts of engines and tech I can’t even start trying to understand. Most of the heavy tech is in the second lab we can see past the shattered windows. Of course, Mike’s pretty insistent that we head down there. “She came this way,” he says while we’re searching the area. “She was being chased. Can’t say for sure what happened, but I know she went out through the lower floor.”
Who am I to argue, right? So, we make our way down, and it doesn’t take long before we see damage that’s even worse than what we saw before. The hall looks like it’s been scorched to hell. There are doors that have been ripped right off the walls, and there are still fires burning. I don’t do a search of every room, but what I do see makes it look like these are chemical fires. That’s the only explanation I can come up with for why they’re still burning. Some rooms have jets of flame burning out of exposed tubes, so some type of air based chemicals have to be floating around. You can actually smell a pretty acrid stench in the air. It’s not the sort of place you want to stick around for long, and not just because of the chems. I’ve seen lots of bodies during our trip by this point. I mean, it’s kind of a job requirement when you work as a Scavenger. These halls though . . . It’s hard to put it into words. There’s a lot that went wrong here. There are body parts everywhere, like the explosion just ate through a horde of Creepers. When the detonation went off, it really looks like it cleared the entire wing. Whatever Jackie did, if she’s the reason all that happened, and I’m pretty sure she was, it’s hard to see how she could’ve survived. Then again, we’ve thought that before.
The damage gets worse the deeper we go, and I can actually feel my heart starting to pump a little. There’s
exposed wiring everywhere that’s shooting off blue jolts of electricity, plus fire’s plastering the walls. I’m not sure how long it’s been since this happened, but the flames are still bright. The hall’s lit up enough from all the destruction that we don’t even need any working lights. It’s all pretty bad. At one point, we come to a part of the floor that looks pretty shaky, and it’s just scorched with this huge black mark. “Must’ve been where the bomb went off,” I say as I bring us to a stop. “I don’t want to risk more than one of us at a time here.”
Dodger nods. “Yeah. I’d guess there’s a pretty strong chance that too much weight might make the floor give.”
“Kind of like what happened with . . .” I stop and look over at Mike.
He finishes my sentence. “Kind of like what happened with Commander Vick.”
“Yeah. The hall looks like it’s holding together, but I still don’t want to risk it, even if the labs have reinforced floors. Let’s just head over one at a time. We’ll do this safe and stick to our climbing gear in case the floor opens up.”
The gear’s meant to drive a pivot into any surface so we can use the ropes to drop into a gap, but they’re good for situations like this, too. You just stick the pivot, hold onto the rope’s handhelds, and hope nothing gives way underneath you. I have Mike and Dodger go first because, well, I’m the biggest guy on the team. Still, even though I’m sort of expecting the floor to swallow us up, nothing happens. We just end up on the other side, so I remote recall the pivot and keep going. It’s pretty anticlimactic, but at this point, I’m just glad that we can catch a break from everything we’ve been seeing.
I’m not sure what I’m expecting when we clear the corner, but I know it gives me all the proof I need that listening to Mike’s been the right move. The hall’s still burning like some living hell, but at the far end, I can see this . . . I mean, it’s a Creeper as wide as the hall, but it’s this mutated thing that’s all arms and one giant head. It’s almost like some gigantic, demented spider or something. “Mike. Is that what you saw?”
“Yeah, man,” he says as he nods to me. “That’s the face that was trying to eat Jackie.”
“It looks . . . well, from here it looks pretty dead. I mean, it’s not moving.”
“Nah.”
“Well, I guess I’m supposed to go first this time.” I start bringing the team up, but I’ve got my rifle ready to go if that thing makes a move. Even if I’m confident that it’s dead, it’s not like you want to take any chances. Still, I’m really more concerned about what’s on the other side. See, the thing is, I’ve been nervous more times than I can count since we got beneath Floor 21. I’ve seen people die, and I’ve almost gotten killed. If there’s one person that has to survive though, it’s Jackie. This was her dream, and I don’t know, I feel like I owe it to her to get us out of the Tower.
Still, this is where Mike’s vision ends, and the way the hall looks, I just can’t wrap my mind around how anyone could’ve lived. I mean, there’s always a chance. It’s just that an explosion that big in a hall that small would be lethal. Plus, this monster thing. I’m just feeling like someone is squeezing my chest and won’t let go. I start picking my way past the side, and I can feel my breath getting short. Even my legs get shaky as I get my eyes around to the other side and looking down at the end of the hall.
It’s just, you know, the one thing I don’t want to see. I don’t want to see her there. I don’t want to see her lying there after all this, burned up and bloody. That’s not what I want to remember. So, I practically lose my mind when I realize I won’t have to. The second I’m free, I sprint to the end of the hall. If Jackie was ever around, she’s not anymore. “She survived.”
Dodger’s by me half a second after I stop. “This looks like the place the explosion ended. Not many scorch marks past here.”
“Yeah, and not much fire. Whatever got set off, it stopped here. If Jackie got caught . . .” I stop. There’s just too many things that could have gone wrong. “Do you think she could have . . . never mind. I know she didn’t die here.”
“Tommy. Do you see any Creep? That’s the only thing that would’ve taken her body.”
She’s right. Mike’s already doing a look down the hall. Nothing’s on fire further down, but the heat must’ve been enough to drive the Creep away for a good distance. “So, it couldn’t have absorbed her.”
“I don’t know what happened to her after this, but I doubt she got wiped down here. I was more convinced she’d died after the jump than this place. At least here, we can tell that what Mike’s been saying is true. I mean, this thing,” she looks over at the corpse, or whatever it is. Its tongue is about seven feet long and just laid out on the floor. “This looks exactly like what Mike described.”
“Yeah. You’re right.” I get to my feet. “Mike. Buddy. You got anything new on where to go next?”
He trots back over my way, but he’s not looking confident. “Nah. Nothing yet. If anything’s going on with Jackie, I can’t tell for now. Just glad we didn’t find her. You know.”
“No, I know, man.” I really do. If there’s one thing me and Mike are both solid on, it’s caring about Jackie. “Okay, well, we’ve been at it for a while. Let’s try to find out where we are and think of where Jackie would’ve gone after this. I probably don’t have to say it, but keep your eyes out for any Pocket Space generators that could help us. We could always use more supplies.”
Mike nods as he starts to wander away again. The one thing I know that keeps his head in the game is the thought that Jackie’s alive. If that goes, he probably won’t be far behind. The guy’s already looking into nearby rooms to see if he can spot any sign of her. I’m about to start doing the same when Dodger hooks my wrist with her finger. Actually, I’m so on edge that I almost jump. “Yeah? Did I do something wrong?”
“No. No, of course not. Just, sorry about doubting your instincts. You know, about Mike.”
“Oh. Well, that’s nothing. I mean, even I was doubting myself about him. We both know that some of what he’s been saying is a little nutters. He’s been right though. I mean, if this all does turn out to be because of Jackie.”
“I’m pretty sure there’s nobody else that could leave this kind of path of destruction behind them. I mean, just the amount of Creepers we saw . . .”
“Yeah, it’s enough that she must’ve taken out half the population in the Tower.”
She smiles at me. “You look happy.”
It makes me realize that, yeah, I am happy, and I can barely stop grinning. “You know, I am, honestly. First good news we’ve had in a while. I think I needed it.”
“We probably all did. I know you’re doing your best, but this place would be rough on anyone.” She’s about to walk away when she turns to look at me again. I talk about Jackie a lot, but there’s something about how I feel when Dodger looks at me a certain way. Guys need to get that look once in a while. “Before I get off to scavenging, since that’s still a thing we do . . .”
“Do we? I thought all we did was kill crazy scientists and monsters.”
“Just on the side. But, uh, just wanted to say . . . I’m just really proud of you, Tommy. Um, Commander.”
That makes me smile. A guy can’t help it. “As you were, Scavenger.”
Still, when I’m walking away, I can’t help feeling . . . unsettled. Ever since that night, when I first heard the scythe, things haven’t felt right. I was able to forget about it for a day or two, but I swear that, every now and then, I still hear something down the halls. It’s that metal screeching, like that Judge guy’s just waiting out of sight. I only hear it for a second before it disappears, like it wasn’t ever there, and I figure I must just be paranoid. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t stress me out. It’s like something you remember hearing as a kid. You can recall it, but it’s faint. You can kind of get your mind around it for half a second before you forget it. Then again, with all the Creep we’ve been in, it’s probably not a surprise tha
t I’m hearing things. I’m just hoping I can hold it together long enough to get Jackie back.
Jackie’s New Recording: Nine
It’s one word that wakes me up. “ANNA!”
I don’t really know what’s going on when I open my eyes. It’s like, at first I’m seeing Demons. Shadow men. They’re walking past me. No, they’re running. Most of them don’t even pay attention to me, which is weird, since the last time I saw a lot of these guys, they were literally draining the heat out of my body and trying to kill me. This time though, it’s like they have somewhere to be, and one of them is even waving at me, like he wants me to get up. It’s too weird for me to process at first. Still, the seconds keep rolling, and I realize the shadow men are changing. It’s like I’m flipping into a different dimension or something, because there are flashes where they look like real people. Like, flesh and blood people. It’s really disorienting. At first, I think I might have a concussion or something, but I squeeze my eyes hard, and when I open them, there aren’t any shadow men anymore. They’re all people now, and the one guy waving at me is someone I recognize. “Johnny?”
“Anna, we have to move!” I can barely get through my head what’s going on, not to mention I can barely even push myself off the floor. It’s even weirder when I feel him grab my hand. Are hallucinations supposed to be able to grab your hand? All I know is, I’m being pulled down a hall, and we’re surrounded by guys who are armed to the teeth. Some are wearing helmets, others are wearing vests, but it’s not like anyone’s got what you could call a uniform. It’s more like they just put this stuff together from whatever they could find. Whatever’s happening, I feel like I can at least trust Johnny. I feel it as much as you feel the air in your lungs.
“Johnny, what’s going on?”
“What in blazes do you mean, Anna? Did that explosion hit you that hard across the skull?”
“It sort of feels that way.”