17. Maze Runner
I rattled the door in its frame and tried a second time to twist it open. Heavyset and solid, the wood barely moved. “Well, that’s great,” I whispered and carefully dropped to one knee, fishing around in my pockets for something I could use to try and pick the lock. Not that I had an ounce of experience in the matter, but the only other options available to me were much less subtle.
“What happened?” Harry swept up behind me.
“He locked us in here,” I muttered, feverishly taking out a few hair clips pinning my bangs away from my face. “Bastard must have been planning this all along.”
I bent one clip and tried to insert it into the lock, squinting to focus. So absorbed was I in my fruitless efforts to free us that I didn’t notice that Harry was moving until his good shoulder rammed into the door beside me. The vibration swatted the hair clips out of my hands and I rocked back on my heels, staring up at him agape. “What the hell are you doing?” I demanded.
Harry slammed his good hand into the door. “Blake!” he shouted. “I knew it! Shit. I told you this would happen didn’t I?” His face was flushed as he turned to glare at me for a second before smacking the door again. “Blake! Come back here you piece of shit!”
I struggled to my feet, tottering a bit, and grabbed for Harry’s arm. “Stop,” I told him, voice low and rough. “You’re going to–”
He pushed me away before I could get the words out, and with head spinning and stomach churning I fell into one of the desks, knocking the computer screen over where it smashed on the carpet with a muted shatter. The ruckus finally caused Harry to whip around, finding me leaning against the desk and holding my head.
“Crap… I’m really sorry,” he began. I waved him off.
“You need to be quiet,” I said. “Every time you let your tantrum get the better of you it lets them know we’re in here.”
As if on cue, footsteps, some shuffling, others dragging, thundered outside, and something struck the door with a wet slap.
“See?” I hissed as other assaults bombarded the frame. Shadows began to flicker beneath the gap in the wood.
Defeated, Harry trudged over to the desk next to me and sank into a chair, staring at the security screens. “I was just visiting,” he muttered. “I was never meant to be here.”
“I was supposed to be in the labs,” I replied. “If I had been I’d be dead long before now. That’s where it started, as far as we know.”
Harry stood up suddenly, craning forward against the desk as the hostiles outside swarmed about the door. “I can see him,” he muttered.
I turned around to gaze at the security screens. Sure enough, on the CCTV, ran Blake Warner, weaving through corridors empty of threat now that it had all been redirected towards us. “That son of a bitch,” I said under my breath.
“He always planned for this, I bet.” Harry rubbed at his eyes.
“Doubt he expected us to help the process along quite so much though…” I glanced across at him. He dropped his hand and wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Where’s he going, though? You think he knows about a bolthole or something like that?”
“Shh. Look.” Harry was focused on the CCTV, where a monochrome Blake ran with clumsy feet around a corner and, slowly and disjointedly, into the next screen across. “I don’t know where he’s going. Emergency exit, maybe? The labs? It’s anyone’s gue– oh, damn.”
Blake had opened a door perhaps too confidently and had walked right into the open arms of a hostile. His tiny digital form succumbed under the weight of his attacker. Harry watched. I couldn’t.
16. Teamwork
Despite having spent the majority of my time working in the research facility’s laboratories, I had never kidded myself that the rest of the building wasn’t equally as impressive. Heck, Dr Hacohen’s office had been evidence of that much, being that I had lived in it for a couple of days. Even so, as the door swung open into the security centre, it was enough to have my breath hitching in my throat. The lights were down, the large room illuminated by a wall of curved screens, and in the gloom I spotted a desk on its side, a few rotating chairs and half a dozen computers. With all of the screens combined we got a comprehensive layout of the facility, above and below ground. My legs moved without my permission, such was my interest, and I was past Blake before I knew what was happening.
Harry glanced over to look at me, fire extinguisher held at shoulder height. “What are you–”
He barely got the words out before something collided with him, tackling him to the ground. A rough snarl bubbled through the air; I thought I heard myself swearing but it was drowned out by the creature’s attack on Harry.
I didn’t think I could do much to help with my head pounding and vision blurring at the edges but, with a cursory glance at Blake to find him glassy eyed and agape, I found myself with little other choices. Harry was cursing and clubbing at the hostile with the fire extinguisher, though his bad wrist prevented him from getting any leverage on the thing.
“Hold on!” I called, tottering into the security suite as quickly as I could and frantically trying to free the letter opener from my belt. Harry gritted his teeth and struggled to throw the creature off.
“No problem,” I heard him grate over the gurgles and filthy nails trying for his throat. “I’ll just hang out here ’til you’re ready.”
Berating myself for my uselessless, I finally got the weapon in my hands and darted forward to help. Unfortunately I forgot about my tumble down the stairs not an hour prior and the result was something like a sack of potatoes coming to the aid of an octopus. I barely remember falling on top of Harry and hostile both, fireworks going off behind my eyes, but Harry’s grunt of surprise at least told me he was still breathing. Other than that, nothing.
The stink of putrid flesh filled my nostrils. I awoke on the floor of the security suite. Harry stood over me with a bottle of water, flicking a few drops into my face while his injured arm was cradled against his chest. “Good. You’re alive,” he said.
I wiped at my face. “What happened?”
He nodded to my left. Slowly turning my head, I made out the prone figure of a hostile with a letter opener driven through its ear. My eyes widened. “Did I do that?”
Harry’s laughter was surprising in its unexpectedness. “No. But you dropped that thing when you fell. I managed to get hold of it.” He held out a hand to get me on my feet, which I took gratefully.
“Any help from Blake?” I croaked, taking the bottle from him to gulp down some water.
“No,” he replied. “Coward even closed the door to stop from having to look at what was happening.”
“Great,” I mumbled, making my careful way over the door of the security suite. “Hey, Blake!” I called. “It’s all safe now.” I reached for the door handle. It wouldn’t budge.
Midas Plague 