by Marty Chan
On the other side of the doors, more furniture had been stacked in what looked like an obstacle course. Li climbed over a gurney and slid between two tall filing cabinets.
“Who would set up this blockade?” Priya asked as she scrambled behind Li.
Xander shrugged. “I guess someone wants to be left alone.”
“But why?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said.
“Will you two shut your mouths?” Li whispered. “They’re going to hear us.”
Xander fell silent. He wouldn’t tell Li this, but he was very impressed with her and wondered how she had found the courage to do all this when she had been so scared.
Priya and Xander made their way through the obstacle course and reached Li, who stared at a trail of footprints leading to an exit.
“I think they were protecting this door,” Priya said.
Li nudged Xander forward with her elbow. “Open it.”
“Me? Why not you?”
She held up her phone. “I’m lighting the way.”
“Fine, fine.” Xander gingerly pulled the door open. On the other side was a stairwell. But this one was different than the first one he had explored. Barbed wire was nailed across the staircase leading up, but someone had snipped the wire that was supposed to block the steps to the basement.
Priya looked over his shoulder. “That’s the way to the morgue.”
“Are you sure?” Xander asked.
“I think.”
Li gritted her teeth. “I bet we’ll find Omar down there.”
Xander peeked down the stairs. A faint light was coming from the lower level of the hospital. Someone or something was definitely down there.
Li said, “Let’s go.”
“You first, Priya,” Xander suggested. “You seem to know your way around this hospital.”
Priya didn’t reply, just stepped in front of them and prepared to descend. Li tapped her phone screen and shut off the light. The glow from below was enough for the teens to navigate the stairs.
Xander waved at his friends. “Hold up.”
He returned to the hallway and unscrewed a leg from a wooden chair. He hefted it, testing its weight. It was solid enough to do some damage. He handed it to Li.
She stared at the chair leg. “Do you think we’re going to need weapons?” she asked.
Xander answered, “We have to be ready for anything.”
He unscrewed two more chair legs, one for Priya and one for himself. Once armed, they made their way down the stairs. The light below seemed to flicker. As they reached the landing and turned the corner, Priya spotted the source. Set beside an open door was an old-fashioned lantern. The candle wick inside cast an eerie orange glow on the walls.
Priya reached the bottom of the stairwell and peered through the open doorway. More lanterns were spaced out along a corridor that ended at a set of metal doors.
The gang crept in.
Xander gripped his chair leg, ready for an attack. Priya eyed the doors along the corridor. She signaled the others to stop and listen.
They could make out a faint murmur of voices.
Xander glanced at Priya. She frowned and said, “I hear them too.”
Li twisted her hands around her chair leg. “If they hurt Omar...”
Xander took a step toward the doors and spotted the sign above them. Morgue. “You were right,” he said.
Priya shrugged.
“Omar has to be inside,” Li whispered. “And alive.”
She pressed her hand against one of the doors, but Priya grabbed her wrist. She tapped her right ear. They leaned closer to hear the voices on the other side.
“Dude, all you had to do was split,” a gruff-sounding man said.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here,” said a familiar voice.
Li turned to the others. “That’s him. It’s Omar.”
Priya put a finger to her lips. “Shh. We need to know how many people are in there.”
A woman interrupted. “Quest, what’s your bag, man? The plan was to scare the kids away, not take hostages.”
The one called Quest answered, “Rainbow, let me think. Just chill.”
“Please. Let me go,” Omar pleaded.
“Took us a long time to set up our home here, dude,” Quest said. “And you think we’re going to let you go and tell the fuzz? No way. Winter is almost here, man. I don’t plan on waiting in line at the shelter for a lumpy bed.”
“I won’t tell anyone. I swear,” Omar said.
“Don’t flip out, dude,” the woman said. “We need time to think.”
Xander stepped back and whispered to Li and Priya, “They’re squatters, I think. Homeless people living here.”
Li shook her head. “No. They’re kidnappers.”
“Whoever they are, we have to get Omar away from them,” Priya said. “We have to call the police.”
Xander chewed his bottom lip, unsure. Li slid the chair leg under her arm and reached into a pocket to pull out her phone. As she lifted the device to her face, the chair leg slipped out. Xander tried to catch it, but he was too slow. The wooden leg clattered on the tiled floor.
Quest’s voice boomed. “What was that? Rainbow, Sage. Check it out.”
“Run,” hissed Xander.
They ran to the stairwell. When they reached the doorway, they turned to look back. The doors to the morgue were open. A red-haired woman with a ragged jean jacket peered out. Behind her stood a stocky man with a bushy beard.
“The kids!” she shouted. “They’re back!”
The bearded man yelled, “Get them!”
A half dozen squatters poured into the hallway.
This time it was Priya who yelled, “Run!”
Chapter Nine
Xander ran past Li and Priya and vaulted up the stairs two at a time. Fear had given his legs fresh energy. He nearly grabbed the railing for support before he spotted the barbed wire coiled around it.
He scrambled to the main level and bolted through the doorway. Then he leaned against one of the large filing cabinets and tried to shove it toward the door. It wouldn’t budge.
“Give me a hand!” he yelled as Priya and Li burst out of the stairwell.
Priya slammed the door shut behind her while Li pressed her shoulder into the cabinet. It scraped against the tiled floor, screeching like fingernails on a chalkboard. Priya joined in. The filing cabinet lurched along until it was wedged up against the door.
Just in time. Thumps echoed on the blocked door as the squatters slammed against it. The door nudged open a crack.
Xander yelled, “We’ve got to push more stuff against the door!”
Priya and Li shoved another cabinet toward the door while Xander used his weight to keep the door from opening any wider. They slammed the second cabinet in place, knocking the door shut.
“That won’t hold them for long,” Priya said.
“It should buy us time to get out,” Xander replied.
“What about Omar?” Li cried.
More thumping against the door.
Xander looked from the door to Li and Priya. He couldn’t abandon Omar, but there was no way they were going to fight this many people. An idea dawned on him. He pulled the girls away from the door.
“Li, find a hiding spot. Priya and I will lead the squatters away. When you think it’s clear, go down and free Omar. When you’re safe, text us, and we’ll find a way out.”
“Okay. I just need a…” She headed to the overturned wooden chair that Xander had pulled apart for weapons. She unscrewed the last of its legs and slapped the makeshift club against her palm. “Ready.”
“Find a place to hide,” Xander whispered.
She slipped into one of the rooms near the stairwell while Xander and Priya navigated the obstacle course to the other end of the hall.
Priya snapped on her headlamp. “Turn yours on too, Xander, so they can see us.”
Xander switched on his light and climbed over the g
urney blocking the end of the hallway.
The door finally squealed open, and the first of the squatters burst through. The woman spotted Priya immediately.
“Quest! I see them!” she yelled.
A tall man with long, scraggly hair and a fringed leather jacket emerged from the stairwell. He patted the woman on the shoulder.
“Good work, Rainbow. Now let’s get them!”
The rest of the squatters scrambled through the obstacle course, moving like a swarm of angry ants.
“Go!” Priya shouted at Xander.
He sprinted away while she tipped over the gurney. He reached the intersection and glanced back. Priya hurtled toward him with the squatters in hot pursuit.
At the back of the group, Quest yelled, “Don’t let them escape!”
The plan was working.
“Li, wait for us!” Xander shouted, pretending his friend was up ahead. “Priya, hurry! We have to catch up to Li!”
Priya ran slow enough to give the squatters a chance to close the gap. Then she joined Xander around the corner.
“This way,” Priya said as she took the lead.
“Where does this take us?” Xander asked.
Priya answered, “The cancer ward.”
“How do you know your way around this place so well? I’m seriously lost right now.”
Footsteps thudded behind them. Xander hoped they had lured all the squatters away. If not, Li was going to have her hands full rescuing their friend.
“Come on, Xander!” Priya shouted. “Down here.”
She veered onto another corridor, her headlamp showing the way. Xander raced after her. There was no need to go slow. The squatters could see their lights.
He caught up to Priya at another intersection.
“Did Li text yet?” Priya asked, panting for air.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the screen. “No.”
“How much time does she need?”
Xander peered over his shoulder. “As much time as we can give her.”
“Let’s go!” Priya shouted as she sprinted to the left.
“Stop!” Quest yelled. “Don’t go down that way!”
Xander peeked over his shoulder. The squatters were closing the gap. They held up lanterns and were bathed in an eerie orange glow.
“Dude, we just want to talk to you!” the long-haired man called.
“You’ll have to catch us first!” Xander screamed back as he took off. He sprinted toward Priya’s light, following it through a series of corridors until he crashed into Priya’s back.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
She pointed ahead at the web of yellow tape stretched across the corridor. Just beyond the tape, ceiling tiles dangled above a deep crater in the floor.
“Whoa,” Xander said. “Let’s try to double back.”
He turned around. Too late. The squatters rushed around the corner.
“We have to go through,” Priya said. “Follow me.”
She tore down the plastic tape and inched along the floor. Xander hugged the wall, his backpack scraping against the slimy surface.
Quest yelled, “Stop! Don’t go any farther!”
They ignored him and continued making their way past the hole. The squatters reached the broken web of tape.
“They’re almost on us,” Xander said. “Move it, move it.”
Priya took another step.
Crack!
The floor gave way under her feet. Xander reached for her arm, but she slipped through his grasp and fell downward. She grabbed the edge of the remaining floor and clung to it.
“Help!” she screamed. “I can’t hold on.”
Another loud crack as the floor started to give way.
Xander grabbed her wrists. He tried, but he wasn’t strong enough to lift her out. Priya was going to fall in.
Chapter Ten
Xander could feel his grip on Priya slipping. She clawed at the floor, trying to grab anything.
“I can’t…hold on…much longer,” Xander grunted.
“Don’t let go!” she screamed.
“I’m trying not to,” he groaned.
She started to slip out of his grasp.
Suddenly another set of hands reached out and grabbed Priya’s arms—right before she fell. It was Quest. He was stretched out on the moldy floor. Behind him, the other squatters had a hold of his legs.
“I’ve got her,” Quest said. “Pull us back.”
Xander was stunned. The squatters were helping. They hauled Quest back while he pulled Priya out of the hole. She scrambled to safety at the end of the hallway. Xander inched away from the hole and joined her.
Quest dusted off his jacket and smiled at Priya. “You okay?”
“Why did you save me?” she asked.
“What do you mean? You needed help,” Quest said.
Xander shifted closer to his friend. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” the woman in the ragged jean jacket said. “I’m Rainbow. This is Quest. That’s Sage with the beard.” She pointed to the others. “Destiny, Marley, Dusk and Ocean.”
Xander was stunned that they were being so friendly. “I’m…I’m Xander,” he stammered.
“And I’m Priya. And…uh…thanks.” She was still a bit shocked by what had just happened.
“No problem, Miss Priya.” Quest gave a little bow.
“Good to meet you,” Rainbow said. “Now do you want to tell us what you’re doing here?”
“We were playing Spirits and Specters,” said Xander. “It’s a role-playing game where we pretend to be ghost hunters looking for evidence of the supernatural.”
“Sounds trippy,” Quest said. “Find any ghosts?”
Priya shook her head. “It’s just an excuse to visit creepy abandoned places.”
“Creepy? Not cool, man, not cool,” Sage said. “This is our pad, man. Where we crash, you dig?”
“We’re sorry,” Xander said. “We didn’t think anyone was living here.”
Rainbow sighed. “We were hoping to keep it that way.”
Xander eyed the group. “So what are you going to do with us?”
Quest leaned forward and growled, “You’re never getting out of here.”
Priya froze. Xander gripped her hand, waiting for the worst.
After what seemed like forever, Quest leaned back and laughed. “The look on your faces, man. Totally priceless.”
Rainbow shook her head, a big grin on her face.
Sage clapped his hand on Quest’s back. “Good one, man.”
Quest motioned to the open hallway. “You cats have to leave now. Just don’t tell anyone we’re crashing here.”
“You know this place isn’t safe,” Xander said, nodding at the broken web of yellow tape.
Rainbow nodded. “Yes, but we know where the dangerous spots are. Plus, it beats living on the street. Weather’s turning. The fuzz are always busting on us.”
“The fuzz?” asked Priya. What the heck did that mean? she thought.
“You know, the police,” said Sage. “They’re always riding us, man, cramping our style.”
Xander looked at Priya. He wondered if she was thinking what he was thinking. These people were very odd. And they sounded like they were from another time.
“And if we can’t get a bed at the shelter,” Rainbow continued, “then we’re stuck outside no matter how cold it gets.”
“I’m sorry,” Xander said. “I didn’t realize.”
“Not many people do,” Quest said. “Out of sight, out of mind.”
“What’s that mean?” Xander asked.
Rainbow explained. “People like you, well, they deliberately ignore us. Go out of their way to pretend we don’t even exist.”
Sage added, “Then when they do see us, they think we’re going to do something bad.”
“Well, you did kidnap our friend,” Priya pointed out.
Rainbow glared at Quest and Sage. “I told you that was going too far.”
Quest apologized. “We wanted to put a scare in the kid so you all wouldn’t come back. I swear we weren’t going to hurt him.”
“This place is that important to you?” Xander asked.
Sage nodded. “It’s our home.”
“Here we can just be ourselves,” Rainbow explained. “We don’t have to be ignored or judged or harassed. Never mind. You wouldn’t understand.”
Priya grabbed Rainbow’s hand. “No, I think I know what you’re talking about.”
Quest scratched his head of scraggly hair. “You’ve been on the streets?”
“No, but I know what it’s like to get looks from people who see you just one way. It’s horrible. You want to yell at people to stop with the pity stares.”
Sage frowned. “I hate the look the fuzz give us, man. Like they automatically assume we’ve stolen something.”
A woman with braids and an oversize tie-dyed shirt added, “Or what about those old ladies who’d rather pet a stray cat than give us spare change? They look at us like we’re filthy rats.”
Xander looked more closely at the group. Their strange outfits made them look like time travelers from the 1960s. He wondered if they had found their clothes from a bin at the back of a thrift store. If they had to root through dumpsters for food. Beg for money outside office buildings. He felt ashamed, realizing he was one of those people who would have prejudged them.
“People don’t see you for who you really are,” Priya said. “They see you as a thing.”
Xander raised an eyebrow. “Wait a minute. Priya, how do you know how they feel?”
She sighed. “Xander, you know how you’ve been wondering how I knew the hospital so well? A few years ago I spent a lot of time here. I was a patient. And for the record, they weren’t experimenting on anyone. That’s just a stupid creepypasta some jerk made up and put on the internet.”
“I didn’t know you’d been sick,” Xander said.
“I had leukemia when I was in third grade. I had to come here for treatments all the time.”
“Bummer, man,” said Sage.
“Yeah, that’s harsh,” said Rainbow.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Xander asked.
“Because it’s a part of my life that I’d rather forget. I lost all my hair from the chemo. Do you know what it’s like to be eight years old and totally bald? The kids at school would stare. Some would ask hurtful questions like, ‘Are you going to die soon?’ or ‘Are you still contagious?’ Then they’d make fun of me like I was some kind of freak.”
