by Sara Brooke
Maybe I could ward off my attacker with a razor, he thought sarcastically.
The elevator was up ahead, but just as he was getting close, he heard a noise in one of the rooms behind him. It sounded strange, likes someone was repeatedly bumping into a wall.
Jimmy weighed his options…he could leave the noise alone and take his chances downstairs, or he could check out the strange sound.
Listening carefully, he couldn’t make out any voices…just the strange rhythmic bumping noise.
He decided it was worth checking out and worried that perhaps someone was stuck or in trouble. So, he followed the sounds and found himself standing outside one of the rooms. The door was closed and he carefully turned the knob and stepped inside.
The lights were off, making it very hard to see. He could barely make out a figure facing the wall. It looked like a man who was slowly banging his hand against the window. After a few moments, the figure backed up and walked towards the window again, banged into it, then stood there for a few more moments banging on the glass slowly and methodically.
Jimmy watched this happen over and over again while his vision cleared and his eyes grew accustomed to the dark. The scene was bizarre and mesmerizing, yet a small voice in the back of his head was quietly screaming ‘Get out! Get out!’
Suddenly the bizarre repetitive dance stopped and the man stood staring at the wall. Jimmy finally shook himself out his reverie and began to back up. The silhouetted man turned around and it was then that Jimmy realized something was very wrong.
He started to scream, but it didn’t last very long.
Chapter 11
First came the screams…
Claire and Leslie covered their ears and sobbed as the sounds of death and violence erupted several rooms away from them. They held each other tightly and waited for the inevitable.
Then…came the knock.
It was slow and seemed to linger as if the person on the other side of the door was sliding a hand up and down the frame.
Knock
Knock
Knock
“Maybe it’s Jimmy and he’s hurt,” whispered Claire. “We can’t leave him out there.”
Leslie glared angrily and whispered back, “Are you fucking crazy? We can’t open the door. We don’t know what the hell’s out there. What if it’s one of those crazy people trying to get in? You know what Jimmy said…he said he saw that black guy, Bryan Jackson, jump out of the window. And there’s all those other people running around out there.”
Claire went over to the door and asked carefully, “Who’s there?”
Nobody replied, but as she turned back around someone knocked on the door again…and this time it was harder and with more purpose.
“Oh shit,” she whispered. “What the hell do we do?”
Leslie was about to reply, when the door was thrown open with the force of someone kicking it forward. Splinters of wood flew out in every direction and the door hit the wall with ferocity.
Both women shrieked and crawled under the bed, curling up against each other and frightened beyond words. From their vantage point, they could hear someone moaning and grumbling and saw two sneakers appear in the doorway. The sneakers were stained red and very dirty.
As the sneakers moved forward, they watched as the intruder entered their room. They could tell that it was a man and that he was injured because he was walking strangely. Instead of lifting up his feet to take steps forward, he was dragging his right foot along the ground. Claire thought it was possible that the man had broken his foot while kicking the door down.
They watched and held their breath as he shuffled past the bed and went to the window. The man began pounding on the glass with the palm of his hand. The sound reverberated throughout the room and both women tried to remain as still as possible to avoid detection. They weren’t sure what they were facing, so it was easier to remain silent and pray.
The thumping finally stopped and it sounded like the man was going into the bathroom. Claire and Leslie looked towards the open door and a silent agreement passed between them. It was time to escape.
Suddenly, Leslie screamed. Claire watched in horror as the man dragged her out from under the bed. As the woman’s face disappeared from view, Claire didn’t hesitate. She crawled to the other side of the bed and ran out of the room, Leslie’s screams echoing in the air behind her.
***
Dan moved slowly across the building. From the blueprints, he knew that to get to the loading dock, he would need to pass through several backdoor areas and service entrances. And frankly, he wasn’t sure what he was going to find.
But his fears were unfounded. He realized that most of the service people, with the exception of the medical clinic personnel, had left. It was unusual because at any one time, he’d been told that a general group would remain on location to ensure that the subjects always had access to clean bedding, food, and amenities.
He thought back to when he’d made his first phone call to Zyne. At the time, it had seemed like there were more people around. Had a group of people left before the doors were locked and closed off? Dan knew that the building automatically locked up in the event of a disaster and that Zyne security was the only group that could control access.
So, it was possible that a group had been alerted to leave…
Dan quickened his pace. He was beginning to feel like a rat in a maze.
Turning a blinded corner, he ran smack into Claire who had decided to escape down the back stairwell instead of taking the elevator. Her hair was plastered down by sweat and she was red-faced.
“Dr. Johns,” she gasped. “Upstairs…”
She couldn’t continue, so he held her in his arms as she sobbed uncontrollably. When she was finally spent and able to speak, she stared at him with swollen eyes and told him about the assailant upstairs.
Dan thought quickly. Who was still unaccounted for?
Rick, Rosa, Jennifer, Teresa…they were all dead.
That only left Bryan…and…Tim.
Dan hadn’t seen either of them. He knew that Tim was dead and wrapped up in one of the sleeping rooms upstairs, but given what he’d seen and the fact that Jennifer reanimated, anything was possible. So, he tried to get a description from Claire.
“Well,” she said, “I was really trying to get out of there. All I could see was this bald guy with…well, his head looked really strange. Kinda swollen and egg-shaped.”
“Was he black or white?”
“Oh, he was white. I could at least see that. But he was also kind of red and swollen. He looked awful…really sick.”
Or dead, thought Dan. But he knew better than to divulge that piece of information given Claire’s mental state. He needed her calm and rational so that they could both escape. And there was no doubt that she was describing the only remaining subject unaccounted for.
Tim.
The surfer had somehow reanimated after being stabbed to death. Dan wasn’t sure exactly what element of the gene therapy was allowing this to happen, but was only too aware that once cell manipulation began…anything could happen.
Swallowing hard, he tried to remember how long it had taken Rick to essentially disintegrate. He had turned shortly before Tim, so perhaps the surfer would find himself in the same situation and not pose as much of a threat.
Dan knew, however, that there were many unknowns and the effects of the gene therapy could create unimaginable situations. He resigned himself to the fact that the only thing to do now was to plow forward, and bring Claire with him. Kneeling down in front of her, he spoke softly and directly.
“Claire, please listen to me. We can’t stay here. We’ve got to try to get out. Do you understand?”
Claire nodded numbly.
Dan continued, “We’re going to go over to the loading dock, which is down the hallway. Once we get outside, it’s going to be dark and hot, but I need you to stay quiet and let me do what I’ve gotta do. I’m going to try to cut a hole in the
tarp so that we can escape. But, you’ve got to be quiet. Ok?”
The woman appeared to be in shock, so Dan gently rubbed her shoulder and stood up. Then, he carefully led her down the darkened, empty hallways until they reached their destination.
A closed door entitled “Dock” indicated that they were in the right place. As Dan reached for the door, the two could hear what sounded like a man howling in the distance. Claire looked terrified, so Dan took her hand and pulled her through the doorway.
As they stepped outside, they were encased by a dull yellow glow. The lighting along the dock was set on an automatic timer and immediately turned on at 7pm. Dirty bulbs lined the walls in different spots, casting weak rays of light that reflected off the covering that surrounded the building. The overhanging tarp created a small space to move around on the landing, but at the ground level, the floor was a dark pit of nothingness.
Pulling out his knife, Dan walked to the edge of the landing and found a piece of material that was hanging down. Due to the contrast from the artificial lighting, it was impossible to tell if the perimeter was lit from the outside, so the doctor took a deep breath and quickly grasped the material, poking the knife over and over, until it finally popped a hole through the covering.
Prepared for gunfire, he jumped back quickly and waited.
The night was silent, with only the distant ambient sounds of activity rumbling in the distance. A surge of hope rose in his chest. This might actually work, he thought.
Dan walked over to the edge of the landing and found a small series of steps that led to the ground. Motioning for Claire to remain where she was and keep quiet, he crept down the stairs and found himself standing on soft grass, interrupted in different places by tiny gravel. Lowering himself to the ground, he crawled along until he reached a spot of material that had been fixed to the ground by a spike.
Dan pushed the knife against the material and once again, made a small hole in the tarp. He began painstakingly tearing the hole open slowly and deliberately.
***
Standing up on the landing, Claire had been trying to focus and calm her racing nerves. She was terrified that the man she’d seen upstairs would find them and knew that the howling in the distance was his angry call.
She’d escaped and he knew it.
Standing outside alone wasn’t calming her nerves either. She nearly had a heart attack when Dan cut out his “test” hole and unhappily waited as he went down the stairs in search of a hidden area they could use as an escape route. Claire could hear Dan in the distance as he dropped to the grass and began to work on the material once again with his knife.
Looking up, all she could see was yellowish material hanging overhead. Dan was right. It was hot and stuffy. Claire had never been prone to claustrophobia but she could feel the tight quarters begin to press in on her as small beads of sweat formed and quickly dripped down the sides of her face.
Feeling faint all of a sudden from the heat and stress, she decided to lean against the door. Pushing her back against the wooden frame, she sighed and closed her eyes. The sound of Dan sawing away against the material and the distant outdoor noises were strangely soothing and amazingly, Claire found herself dozing off.
A low hum in the distance slowly caught her attention. At first it was very low and seemed far away. It was soothing and pleasant. Almost like a foghorn singing a mournful melody in the hazy shroud of an early dawn stretching across a quiet lake.
But the humming grew louder and warning bells began ringing in Claire’s mind. Straining to hear, she opened her eyes and pressed her ear against the door. The humming was actually moaning and every so often she could hear a frustrated, angry bellowing in the distance.
“Dr. Johns,” she whispered loudly. When he didn’t answer she went to the edge of the landing and could see him quickly sawing away at a small but growing hole. “Dr. Johns!” she whispered again, this time more urgently.
Dan looked up from his work to see Claire silhouetted against the darkened, eerie lighting.
“What?” he asked irritated, not wanting to stop working on what might be their only chance for an escape.
“I heard something on the other side of the door. I don’t think we’re safe. It sounds like that man again.”
Suddenly a loud crash made them both jump. Turning around, Claire could see that the door was still closed, but she wasn’t sure for how long. Racing down the steps towards Dan, she motioned in the other direction.
“We’ve got to hide. That thing is close by,” she whispered, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.
Dan considered his options. If they made too much noise, the guards would figure out what was going on. But if Tim came crashing outside, it wouldn’t matter. Their cover would be broken.
They really had no choice.
“Ok,” he agreed, “Let’s scale the building, but be very careful. Any weird movement, and our cover will be blown.”
Claire nodded and followed the doctor as they pressed their bodies tightly against the wall and slowly made their way south…away from sounds that reminded them of how fragile their lives were.
***
The creature that had been Tim was furious and confused.
The world was a red haze of anger and hunger. It was mad and wanted to kill and destroy, yet was in a never-ending swell of pain. As it lumbered down the hallway, it could smell the people who had once been there. A combination of acrid sweat, fading perfume, and body odors tortured its nostrils.
As it moved, a trail of slime followed behind it. The thing no longer resembled the surfer’s easy manner. The cellular activity deep within its swelling body was creating intense regeneration that was too much for the outer layers of skin to keep up with. Every orifice was growing, while the dermis was breaking apart from the tension. The cells were filling with water and dividing…again and again…
But the creature, despite its reanimation and handicaps, could hear very well. And the sound of shoes scraping against gravel sounded amplified in its wounded ears.
It needed the sounds to stop.
Furious, it growled and then screeched at the top of its lungs. Up ahead, a door emerged in the distance. The creature raced towards it.
Chapter 12
It was 9pm.
The perimeter surrounding the Illusions building had been pushed back more than a mile. The media was furious. They’d been standing around all day, conducting live shots with a clear view of the building behind them, glowing yellow in the hot Florida heat.
But now, their live shots would be happening in the dark without any background visuals at all. The group had been moved out to the highway and wasn’t being told why. National guardsmen closed off the road, putting up cones to block any incoming traffic.
Once the “civilians” had left the perimeter, the final phase began.
Chapter 13
As Dan and Claire carefully crept along the outside of the building, they began to hear strange sounds outside. And then, they watched as the tarp began to shake and shift. It seemed as if it was being manipulated at one end and then another.
Whatever was going on, they were in the wrong place.
“We need to get back inside,” whispered Dan. “If they’re letting us out, we need to get back to the pool area.”
Unfortunately, they were on the wrong side of the building. The pool deck, along with all of the other guest amenities were strategically located on the other side of the building, away from all of the service entrances, loading docks, and off-loading ramps.
“How are we going to get back in?” Claire asked. She hadn’t seen any doorways along the wall since they’d left the loading dock.
Dan sighed and looked down.
“We’re going to have to go back where we came from.”
“What?”
“I know, I know. We don’t know if it’s safe. But, we don’t have a choice. If we keep on going in this direction, we’ll end up at the entrance and then have to wa
lk all the way around to the other side. It will be much faster if we cut across.”
Claire was silent. She wasn’t sure she agreed with him.
“Look, I’m going back. If you want to stay here, hidden in the dark, I’ll come back for you.”
Looking around, Claire decided that she felt safer hiding in the dark, than going back towards what she felt was imminent danger. She didn’t want to be alone, but figured if she waited, Dan would come back for her.
“Ok, but you promise to come back for me, right?” she asked hesitantly.
“Yes. But take this for protection.” Dan handed her the gun. “And don’t hesitate to use it if you need to.”
Claire took the gun slowly and stared at him with wide, sad eyes. He suddenly felt horrible, realizing how many lives had been impacted by his mistake.
Leaning back against the wall, he said softly, “Look, I’m so sorry. I’ve fucked up royally and now you have to pay for it. Hopefully, we can both make it out of here alive and I promise you, I’ll make it right.”
Claire didn’t know what to say. She wasn’t sure why the doctor was apologizing to her…a lowly member of the cleaning staff. But he was handsome and sincere, so she felt inclined to give him the solace he was so desperately seeking.
“It’s ok,” she said and reached out, gently stroking his cheek.
Dan blinked, surprised at her gesture, but appreciated it. He came closer and hugged her tight. The human contact felt good and comforting. As he held her, he could smell the faintest of perfume along her neck and dug his face into her hair, breathing in her femininity.
You’re acting crazy and desperate, a soft voice whispered in the back of his mind, but Dan ignored it. He knew that every moment left was fleeting and was determined to pull comfort from this kind, pretty woman who didn’t openly blame him for this disaster…
Pulling back from Claire, Dan looked into her face and realized that she was very attractive. His groin tingled and he felt a stirring that didn’t belong in such a dark, ominous place. But still, he was attracted to her. Leaning forward, he kissed her lips gently.