by Leito, Chad
43
The Original Clock Room
They walked down a winding, narrow hallway, lit with torches. Their feet stuck to the ground; the soles of their shoes were covered in Salvaserum. All of the Multipliers were still breathing hard from the effort they exerted in the last room.
Allen turned occasionally as he walked to speak with them about what to expect up ahead. He had wiped the Salvaserum on his chin off on the sleeve of his shirt, but had done a poor job of it, leaving a thin, drying layer of black. The hallway was flanked with torches that cast harsh shadows over his face.
“This is it,” he growled. His voice was terribly low and menacing, as though he couldn’t yet return it to a normal pitch so soon after being tempted to bite innocent humans. The Multiplier’s instinctual urge to kill disturbed Asa. “We’ve almost made it. As I’ve said, there is supposed to be some kind of obstacle in this next room that corresponds with a clock. We’re almost there.”
They walked on for another minute, traveling through the long corridor before they came to an opening that looked out onto the room beyond. The room was divided into three areas. The first, which was where they were standing, was roughly the size of a Winggame Plaid, and was decorated with cushioned red chairs, mirrors framed in gold, and foot stools covered in mink fur. Everything was dusty, but still looked expensive and comfortable.
The second half of the room was a round body of water. Above the body of water was a clock, its hands showing the time of 11:45 PM. The body of water spanned from wall to wall, and you could not access the third part of the room without either going over the water or swimming through it. Asa stared at the dark water, concluding that something in the water corresponded to the hands on the clock above. Asa wondered what would happen to a person swimming in the water as one of the clock’s hands passed over the equivalent area on the clock. Would a current drag you under, and you would never return to the surface? Would bullets rain down, tearing you in half? Would you be attacked by water-creatures?
The third part of the room, which sat on the far end, was the size of a small foyer, and ended in giant, metal double doors with knockers crafted to look like crows.
One is metal, it’s locked away, Asa thought, remembering his father’s riddle.
They all stared for a moment. Asa looked up at the second, minute, and hour hands of the clock, and imagined an invisible force-field out on the water. Asa concluded that whoever was going to cross to go to the next room would have to wait until the minute hand moved fifteen minutes forward, otherwise, it would impede a swimmer’s route on the left side of the circular pool. Swimming on the right side was an option, but Asa wouldn’t feel comfortable swimming with the second hand traveling in the opposite direction as he was moving; it would give him substantially less time to cross.
Allen’s eyes were serene as he stared across the water at the great double doors. “It’s so close,” he said. “The vaccines are right there.”
Rose took out two cigarettes, lit both of them in her mouth at the same time, and handed one to Edna, who accepted it with a trembling hand. The cigarette filters had Salvaserum imprints of Rose’s lips on them. “If what you say is true, Allen, and there’s some kind of trap in that water that follows the hands of the clock, I say we go one at a time. No reason we should all die if we get it wrong.”
Allen considered this, rubbing his chin. “Then I guess that means we need a guinea pig to swim across when the clock strikes midnight,” he said.
“I’ll do it,” Asa volunteered.
Ned chuffed, and gave Asa an angry look.
Allen turned to Asa, his face unreadable. “Why would you want to do that, Palmer?”
Asa tried to think quickly. The real reason he wanted to be the one to cross was so that he could do his best to destroy whatever vaccines were in the next room. “I just…” Asa paused, looking at the ground, wishing he had more time to think. “I wanted to make up for what I did back there, when I ran off the carpet. I’m sorry. That was foolish. And, you said that rank is decided by who has been a Multiplier longest. I’ve only been a Multiplier for a few hours, so I think that I’m a natural choice to put my life in danger and cross.”
Allen seemed pleased. “That’s very noble of you. Good job, Palmer.” And then he walked off and took a seat on the sofa in the first part of the room. The rest of the Multipliers did so as well, sitting in the comfortable cushioned furniture. Asa went off on his own and sat alone against the wall, hugging his knees. He wanted to be by himself to think. He was mentally preparing himself to practically commit suicide.
On the couch, Michael and Ned were whispering in angry voices with Allen, possibly trying to convince their leader not to trust Asa. Asa wasn’t worried about it. Allen had trusted him up until this point.
Asa felt his body tremble with fear as he thought of what would happen after he went through with his plan, came out the door and the Multipliers discovered that he had destroyed the precious vaccines. He closed his eyes. He didn’t want to think of the kinds of torture he would have to endure at the hands of Allen, who would be inconsolably enraged when he found out what Asa had done. He wasn’t ready to die. He thought of how his father had found the strength to kill himself when he needed to. Asa thought that he could do this, but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t scared.
Asa gently ran a hand along the injury on his neck where Allen had bitten him. The area was hot and tender beneath his fingers. At least I’m not a Multiplier, he thought. At least I have a chance to stop them from getting the vaccine.
He took a moment to think about what it would mean if the Multipliers were able to steal the vaccine in the back room, and then replicate it. On face value, being able to Multiply once every day instead of once every month didn’t seem like such a big deal, but Asa was astonished at what he came up with as he did the math. If there were two hundred fifty thousand Multipliers in the Hive, as he had been led to believe, and they were all able to Multiply every day, they could raise their numbers to two hundred fifty million in just ten days. The impacts were staggering. They would then probably go to war, and be unstoppable. What army could compete with such an abundance of highly mutated creatures in combat scenarios? More frightening still was the thought that while they were fighting, the Multipliers could continue to make more Multipliers by biting humans, always replenishing their dead.
Asa looked up. It was already 11:50 PM. Time was slipping away. Asa’s face produced a thin layer of sweat. How much more time do I have to live? He wondered. Thirty minutes? Twenty? He grabbed at his stomach as though that could help with his nausea. The clock ticked loudly, and to Asa it sounded like it was mocking him.
Asa cocked his head to the side as an interesting thought crossed his mind; I wonder if I use an echolocation cry if I’ll be able to detect the invisible force-field that corresponds with the clock? Asa let out one of his incredibly high-pitched cries, went momentarily deaf, shut his eyes, and then a map of his surroundings filled his head. He could see that Ned and Michael were still upset and talking with Allen on the couch. Asa could not detect anything over the water—it was clear.
But there was something else. He couldn’t believe it, initially. He thought that something had gone wrong with his echolocation. He let out another cry, closed his eyes, and saw it again.
Standing in the hallway, out of sight from the Multipliers, were familiar faces. Jen, Roxanne, Mike Plode, Viola Burns, and Lilly Bloodroot were four feet from the main room. They were surrounded by crows.
Asa’s breath caught in his throat. He thought that he would never see his teammates again. He felt bewildered and confused.
A swarm of crows came into the room, and Asa realized what had happened. It’s just like when I fell from that tall tree and I couldn’t get up, so the crows brought my mother out to help me. The crows had gone and somehow gotten Asa’s friends to leave the dance and come help him.
My guardian angels, he thought. He let out another echolocation cry
, and concentrated on his friend’s faces. Their cheeks, noses, and ears were marked with small abrasions and lacerations from where the crows had grabbed them with their beaks, and pulled them to this place, where Asa was in danger. The Sharks were still in their formal wear, Mike was wearing a tuxedo, and the females were wearing elegant dresses.
The air in the clock-room was suddenly full of flapping black wings and screeching birds as the crows flooded in. Edna hollered and stood, waving her arms above her head, trying to protect herself from the flying birds.
Allen also stood. He wore a concerned expression as he looked over the birds, but stayed where he was, not sure what to do.
Cawing, one of the crows swept down and rammed into the side of Edna’s face. She screamed wildly, arms flailing, and took two steps back. The birds seemed to feed off of her fear. Three more attacked, soaring into her neck, her shoulder, and her forehead. She shrieked, took two hurried steps backwards, and fell into the circular pool of water in the center of the room.
Asa’s hand came to his mouth in anxiety; even though Edna was a Multiplier—an enemy—he didn’t want to see her killed by whatever lurked in the dark pool.
Edna resurfaced spat out a mouthful of water, and was watching the birds overhead when the second hand on the clock above ticked past the thirty second mark. If Allen was right, and the circular body of water corresponded with the clock above, then that meant that the second hand just ticked past Edna. As Asa watched, nothing seemed to happen for a moment. Edna waded over to the shore, still watching the crows above.
A tentacle, white as milk, emerged from the water and wrapped around her face. The tentacle had several suckers, which grabbed onto her skin so hard that lines of blood and Salvaserum fell down her cheeks. She opened her mouth to scream, but before any noise could come out, she was dragged under the water with immense force, leaving bubbles where she had just been.
There were even more crows circling the room now; to Asa it looked like five hundred birds.
“EDNA!” Joney screamed. He hobbled through the swarming crows, and knelt at the stone shoreline, looking into the water where Edna had disappeared. “EDNA!”
“What is going on?” Allen shouted. He was swatting at the birds as they flew through the air. “Where did they come from?” He caught one crow by a wing and ripped it into two pieces.
Ned was looking at Asa, his brow furrowed. Michael took out his knife and was cutting the crows in midair. Rose stayed seated, and swatted at the flying birds with open palms.
While the Multipliers were preoccupied with the crows, they were not paying any attention to the hallway leading away from the room. Asa saw his teammates creeping in over the stone floor, Roxanne leading the way. Her hair was curled and pulled up elegantly atop her head in gold clips. Her golden-green eyes were narrowed and there was an angry smirk on her face. Her feet were bare, and Allen didn’t hear her until she was right behind him. His eyes widened, but he didn’t have time to turn around.
Roxanne’s right hand was balled up into a tight fist. Asa predicted what would happen before it occurred; She’s going to use her electrocution ability to deliver one of her deadly punches. She reared back, and then punched the back of Allen’s head with inhuman force. Her fist moved with power as though it had been shot out of a cannon. When her knuckles made contact with the back of Allen’s head, there was a sickening crunch, and then his frightened eyes instantly turned dull and unresponsive. His knees, ankles, and hips released their posture and Allen’s body collapsed to the floor.
Roxanne turned and smiled at the other Multipliers—her eyes communicated an unspoken challenge. Asa wondered if the Multipliers were aware of Roxanne’s unique super strength.
“You dirty bitch,” Rose said, and she sprinted towards the Sharks, along with Ned. Michael stood still for a moment, and Joney was still on his knees, staring into the water where Edna had disappeared.
Asa quickly surveyed the room and considered the humans’ odds of defeating the Multipliers. Of those who were conscious, there were now four Multipliers and six humans, including Asa. If the Sharks were typical humans, they wouldn’t have a chance, but Asa believed that with their different mutations a victory was not outside the window of possibilities. Especially if they don’t take out Roxanne early, Asa thought. She’s the only one of us who may even have an advantage against the Multipliers.
Asa and Jen caught eyes for a moment across the room, and he was mentally brought back to when she caught him kissing Charlotte at the dance a few hours ago. He hoped that he would be able to explain—to make her understand—and for a moment he forgot about the ongoing fight, the crows that surrounded, and was consumed with a cold, empty feeling in his chest.
Jen turned to face Rose and Ned, who were charging her and the other Sharks, and Asa forced himself to concentrate.
Asa looked over to his right to see a series of crows slam into Michael’s face, making him bleed. He had his knife out and was slicing at the crows with one hand while using the other to guard his face, but there were so many of the black birds that guarding them all was impossible.
To Asa’s left, he saw that Joney was still crying over the dark water, looking down as though he expected Edna to emerge. His face was inches from the surface, and the bobbing waves almost touched his nose. Asa looked up and saw that fifty five seconds had passed since Edna was pulled under. The second hand was about to make another round.
Asa wasted no time. He ran forward and planted the bottom of his foot on Joney’s buttocks, sending him splashing over the edge. The second hand passed his mark on the clock, and the long tentacle wrapped around the Multiplier and pulled him under.
Asa stood there for a moment, staring at the empty water, breathing. He was about to turn around and attack where he was needed when he heard footsteps quickly approaching. Asa felt hands wrap around his throat, and he was thrown onto the ground. He tried to gasp, but his airway was restricted. The pressure on his throat was unbearable.
He looked up to see Michael staring down at him. Michael straddled Asa’s abdomen, and his big, hairy hands were squeezing down on Asa’s neck with bone breaking force.
Asa tried to inhale again, but still found it impossible.
Michael’s face was covered in bleeding gashes, and crows continued to ram at him, tearing at his flesh, but he acted as though he didn’t feel the pain. “Teddy told us you wouldn’t change,” Michael grunted through bloody, clenched teeth. “He said that there was somethin’ different about you. Now I’m gonna kill your cocky ass. You think you can trick me, boy? Do ya?” Michael’s hands squeezed even harder.
Asa tried to pull at Michael’s wrists, but this did nothing. Michael’s skin was slick with blood, sweat, and Salvaserum, and Asa was not strong enough to pull him off. Asa looked up into Michael’s rage-filled eyes and hoped that this wouldn’t be the last image he saw before he died. He kicked his legs. Michael sneered. Asa’s vision began to tunnel down.
BANG!
There was a flash as bright as lightening, and then the side of Michael’s head exploded in a shower of blood and tissue. His decapitated body rolled off Asa and he fell into the dark stone pool in the middle of the room.
“You okay?” Viola asked. She was standing above him, lightly blowing on the explosive nails on her right hand, which were smoking.
Asa wheezed in a couple of breaths and sat up enough to watch a tentacle pull Michael underwater. “I’m alright,” he said, and he hauled his body to a standing position with great effort before taking in the surrounding sights.
Rose looked dead. Her face was caved in and deformed; she was limp and slumped against the wall. Roxanne appeared severely injured as well. She was face down in a puddle of blood. Boom Boom laid beside her, his leg twisted in a grotesque manner.
At some point in the fight, Ned had acquired Michael’s long hunting knife. He held Jen roughly by her blond hair and had the sharp edge of the weapon pressed against her throat. His short hair was matted w
ith blood, and his nose was swollen and crooked. Crows continued to slam relentlessly into him.
“PALMER!” Ned called, his eyes bulging and wild. “Call the birds off! Call the birds off or I cut through her pretty neck!”
Viola looked at Asa, and he stepped forward. Lilly backed away from Ned, not sure what to do.
“CALL THEM OFF! Don’t play dumb with me; I know what you can do! Teddy told me about how the crows listen to you! You’ve got three seconds. ONE! TWO!” Ned’s eyes were bloodshot and bulging. Asa believed that he was serious.
Asa whistled, and then called for the birds: “Crows, be still!” He felt silly saying the words, but the crows were just as obedient as they had always been. The black birds landed on the stone floor and looked up at Asa, waiting for another command. Asa felt like a magician. The room grew incredibly quiet as soon as the crows stopped cawing and flapping. Asa could hear the soft waves of the water in the middle of the room; he could hear Viola breathing beside him.
Ned smiled and then spat blood on the floor. He was pulling Jen’s hair so hard that her eyes were filling with tears and she was biting her lip so that she wouldn’t cry out.
“Don’t hurt her!” Asa cried.
Ned laughed without humor. “Don’t hurt her? Kind of like you killed all my friends?” He jerked at Jen’s hair and she cried out.
Asa felt helpless as he looked at Ned and Jen. What does he want? Asa wondered. Viola, Asa, and Lilly were standing ten feet away from Ned and his hostage.
“Let me tell you something that bothers me about you, Palmer—you always think you’re in control.” Ned licked his lips with a black tongue. “You woke up on that stretcher a few hours ago, and you knew you hadn’t changed. But did you freak out? No. You kept on. You lied. You kept your cool. And when I caught you trying to shoot Allen’s head off, you brushed it off. You think that you’re untouchable, don’t you? DON’T YOU?” he roared.
Asa shook his head. All those times he had felt so helpless—he had been the furthest thing from feeling in control. “No,” he said.