Ghosts of War
Page 4
strong, he began choking Ryan. The more Ryan kicked and punched, the tighter he squeezed, he could no longer breathe, his head began to spin - the pressure was so intense that his eyes began to bulge out of their sockets and just before he passed out, the creepy man bit into his face, like a ferocious wolf feasting on a dear, except he wasn't eating anything, he ripped out chunks of his face and spat it out. Almost instantly, his neck snapped and looked like it was being hung by a thin layer of skin. He continued until the horrible sound of his cheek bones crackling emerged, he then turned to Barnes, who was in the middle of battling with the new and unfriendly version of Lance. But when he crept closer, Lance slapped him in his cracked face with the back of his hand, he screamed and stepped back, blending back into the darkness.
Barnes ran towards Lance and leaping into the air, he kicked him with all his might, hitting him in the chest. A gush of saliva and blood sprayed out of his mouth as he took flight to the other side of the corridor and hit the wall. Barnes rushed towards Ryan, or what was left of Ryan, laying in a pool of his own blood. Barnes clenched his jaw and his fists in anger as he heard the deep breathing of Lance behind him; he turned and punched Lance in the face with so much force that it was a surprise that his head didn't rip off his neck. Lance fell and tumbled across the ground, but within seconds, he was back on his feet. Barnes ran towards him like a raging bull and struck his shoulders into Lance's stomach like a spear and took him to the ground. Barnes crawled on top of him and began punching over and over and as hard as he could. Blood was spattering all over both of their faces, until you could no longer see their natural skin colour. Barnes removed his knife and stabbed it into Lance's eye, he could feel the knife cutting through and hitting the floor beneath him. 'Why don't you just die!' Barnes shouted while stabbing him continuously in the face and the neck until his head looked like it was ready to roll off. Barnes finally stopped when he saw Lance's body shake for a few seconds and then stop moving completely. He stood up with blood dripping off his face and sighed when saw the small army of blood dribbling freaks. He knew he should be thinking long and deep about his next move, but he had no idea how to handle this.
By now, Nicole had managed to get to the ground floor, tears rolled down her cheeks - she knew she was all alone. She unrolled the map of the place and lit a match, 'ok... according to this, the exit should be right here,' she muttered to herself. She kicked the vent as hard as she could but it wouldn't budge. She sat and tried to catch her breath, but there was another sound, a sound of someone else breathing. She dared not look back, pushing and punching the vent repetitively, until it finally gave way. But before she could move forward, she could feel something grabbing her leg. She screamed and kicked back but no matter how much she wiggled, she couldn't move.
Nicole screamed even louder when she saw the young girl that they found in the wall unit of the room upstairs. She was standing outside of the vent. She reached in and grabbed Nicole's hand and pulled her as hard as she could. After a short struggle, the girl managed to pull her out. Nicole fell to the ground and the girl slammed the vent back on. When Nicole looked around, expecting to be outside of the building, she almost had a heart attack when she found herself staring at the room that they first found the girl.
'But that's impossible, I can't be here... I went all the way down!'
'I told you already... no one leaves this place... no one.' The girl spoke in a light voice.
'Why are they not killing us?' Nicole said, still trying to catch her breath.
Females do not get infected. But I'm sure they'll have a use for us soon.'
'Who? Damn it! Who?'
'The ghosts that live in the walls.'
'What the hell is this place?' Nicole screamed at the top of her voice.
'It's not a place, it's a process... a selection process.' The girl crouched down in the corner of the room.
Barnes knew that it was over, he was ridiculously outnumbered - he didn't have a chance. But he wasn't going out without a fight. He shrugged his shoulders, stretched his back and twisted his neck from side to side. As he walked forward, with his knife held out in front of him, he noticed that the crowd began to move. They slowly cleared a narrow path for him to walk through. At first he thought it was some kind of ambush, but as he walked through, they did not take a step towards him. The narrow path led to a door and as he got closer, he read the door number, 'V12,' he couldn't believe it, finally, he made it, a few more steps and he would be there. The thought that this was all set up and he would be killed played on his mind all the way up until his hands were clenching the door handle. He turned the handle and crept in. The room was small and well-lit. As he got further in, the door slammed shut behind him, making him jump. He looked around for the explosives but there was nothing, the room was empty. He tried to open the door but it was locked. He kicked and punched it but it was solid steel. He began feeling light headed and his legs became weak. The lights in the room became dim and lights behind the four wall of glass lit up, exposing a man and a woman with lab coats staring into the room and writing on their clipboards. There were also two men in black suits who shook hands with each other. Barnes ran up to the glass and began kicking and punching, but he wasn't making a scratch. The woman wearing the lab coat, talked into a microphone on the desk close by, and the speaker cracked as her voice emerged inside the room, 'please remain calm... don't fight it.' She spoke in a strong British accent.
Barnes was clueless about what was going on, he looked around at the people behind the glass. One of the men wearing the black suit looked at his watch and then walked over to the microphone, 'it's ok, just try to remain still... it'll be over in a few minutes.' The man said in an American accent.
'What the hell!' Barnes shouted as he began feeling like someone poured gasoline down his windpipe and then lit a match. His chest tightened and it was almost impossible to breathe. Everything became blurry and the room began to spin - he ran towards the window and tried to punch it but he felt as though all his energy was being ripped out of him. He had the sudden urge to close his eyes but forced them to stay open and after a few seconds, he fell to the ground. He reached into his pocket and removed the picture of his family and stared at it, smiling as he drifted off into the abyss.