“Lamotelokhai!”
Nothing. He was too far from the other nine parts.
The glowing rectangle was getting closer. It was an exit sign—he could see a door beneath it. But then he saw something else, a dark shape in front of the door. In fact, there were two shapes. He could see them now, the body of one of the doctors—a woman—and a creature crouched over her, chewing on her abdomen. They were right in front of the door.
“I need help!” Bobby thought, although he knew the Lamotelokhai couldn’t hear him.
The Helmich-bat was right behind him, and he was ten yards from the door. He had no idea if he could open it, even if it weren’t blocked by another monster.
The thing chewing on the body raised its head and looked at Bobby. It was dog-like, but its back end was more like a reptile’s, and it had a bulging hump over its shoulders.
Suddenly the woman beneath it began struggling, and Bobby saw that her arms had already transformed into squirming, tentacle-like things. One of the tentacles encircled the reptile-dog’s neck, and the two creatures began snarling and struggling.
Bobby skirted around them, the Helmich bat at his heels. He put his back to the wall and held Addison’s arm in front of him to use as a shield. But the bat skidded to a stop beside the two fighting creatures. It paused there, watching the battle.
This would give Bobby a few seconds at the most. He swallowed hard and turned back to the door. The glowing rectangle above it said Salida. He saw a black key-scanning box on the wall by the door’s handle. He pressed Helmich’s key card against the box as he had seen the doctors do.
The door clicked.
Bobby turned the handle and pushed it open. There was a dimly-lit stairway leading up. He started through the door, but then something grabbed the right side of his head and neck and held tight. He dropped Addison’s arm and reached over his shoulder. His fingers found the bat’s head, its teeth tearing into his flesh.
“No!” He tried gouging one of the creature’s eyes with his thumb. The teeth only sank in deeper, and a claw dug painfully into his arm.
Bobby twisted his body and lunged through the doorway to escape the bat’s hold. The teeth ripped away from the flesh of his head and neck, causing pain so intense that flashes of light flooded his vision. He hit the floor hard. He put his hands to the back of his head, trying to stifle the pain. The implant behind his right ear was gone, torn off by the creature’s teeth.
Blinding light was all he could see, but he felt the creature crawling over his legs, coming again for his head. He tried kicking, but the thing’s weight held his feet down. He blinked, and now he could see the creature’s hulking shape. His vision was starting to come back. The bat’s head was now above his chest.
Bobby choked back a sob. There was no point in fighting now. The thing had already torn into him, contaminating his body with the same rogue Lamotelokhai particles that were killing and transforming all the others. Soon it would start in his body. In spite of his horror, for just a moment Bobby wondered what kind of creature would force its way out of his body, or if perhaps he would split into many creatures like Eunice had. Even if he could escape now, he would only be carrying the same fate to the people upstairs, including Ashley, Peter, and Robert.
He turned his head and saw Addison’s arm on the floor next to him. His mind besieged by terror, he instinctively allowed the arm to represent a glimmer of hope.
Bobby grunted and pulled his knees up to his chest. He then kicked his legs out, sending the bat sprawling back. But it quickly gathered its wings and legs beneath it and started coming for him again. Bobby threw Addison’s arm through the half-open doorway and then pushed against the floor with his feet, shoving the door the rest of the way open and scooting his own body through.
The bat lunged and caught Bobby’s shoe with its teeth. He kicked the door with his other foot. The door struck the thing’s head, tearing its teeth from his shoe. Bobby was on his feet in an instant. He pushed on the door, but it closed on the bat’s neck and wouldn’t shut. The bat let out a gurgle as he leaned into the door even harder. Its claws desperately raked the outside of the door and the wall as it tried to pull itself free.
Bobby was vaguely aware he could have opened the door slightly and the creature would have pulled its head out, but he didn’t care. Instead, he slammed his shoulder against the door with all his strength. The creature gurgled again. Bobby put both hands against the door and leaned into it. He braced his feet against the bottom step and was able to push even harder. He heard himself sobbing, so he pushed with everything he had in a desperate, demented attempt to make the sobbing stop. Finally it did stop, and then he realized the bat’s claws had stopped scratching the door. The creature was silent.
Bobby wasn’t finished. He stepped back and then kicked the door. The creature’s head slid down to the floor and didn’t move. He kicked the door again, and he kept kicking until it latched shut, severing the creature’s head in the process.
He sat down on the bottom step, wiping tears from his face and trying to catch his breath. The bat’s head lay at his feet, mouth open and tongue hanging out. Blood had been smeared on the floor around it by the bottoms of Bobby’s shoes. He held up his hands and stared at them. How long before they transformed into claws, or wings, or tentacles? He had to at least try to stop it. He hoisted Addison’s arm into his lap. It still looked exactly like it had before, a human arm attached to part of a shoulder, still partially covered by the torn and grimy remains of a t-shirt. There was no blood where the arm had separated from the body, just jagged pink tissue. He placed both his hands on the arm.
“I don’t know if you can understand me or not, but I really need help. I need to stop the stuff that got into me from turning me into a monster.” He didn’t know how else to say it. It would either work or it wouldn’t. It might even make things worse. But what did he have to lose?
He tore some of the pink tissue from the ragged end of the arm. It was squishy, changing shape as he pressed it between his fingers. He rubbed some of it onto his arm where the bat’s claw had punctured his skin. This hurt, because the wound was deep, but then the pain quickly faded away. That had to be a good sign. He worked the rest into the bites on the back of his head and neck. He winced as he touched the raw scalp where the implant had been torn off, but again the pain faded quickly.
A movement in front of him caught his attention. The bat’s eyes were now open. They rolled back and forth like they were searching for something. The thing’s tongue started moving. In fact, it was growing larger, actually crawling out of the bat’s mouth like a huge slug.
It was time to go.
Bobby scooped up Addison’s arm and bounded up the stairs. He turned a corner and climbed a second flight, ending at another door with a key card reader. He pressed Helmich’s card to the reader, the door clicked, and he pulled it open. He stepped into a hallway, squinting against the harsh LED lighting.
A body slammed into him from the side, knocked him over, and fell on top of him.
“Oh god, I’m sorry!” It was a woman, the same woman who had taken Bobby to the meeting with Helmich earlier that day. She pushed herself off of him, her eyes wide. “It’s you! How did you get here?” She grabbed his shirt by the shoulder.
Bobby sat up and pulled Addison’s arm closer to his belly. The woman took a look at it then let go of his shirt. She got to her feet and backed away.
“Is that what I think it is? Why do you have that?”
Bobby got up. “We have to get out of here. Where are my friends?”
She stared at him like she was trying to comprehend. “Where’s Dr. Helmich?”
“He’s dead—they’re all dead!”
Her eyes got wider. But then she turned her head. “What is that?” She was looking at the bottom of the door to the stairway.
Something was trying to crawl out through the narrow slit under the door. Three spider-like legs, each at least a foot long, grappled with the floor,
trying to get enough traction to pull something larger through. Failing at this, they simply detached and began crawling away on their own. Seconds later more of them followed.
Bobby and the woman backed away from the door.
“Don’t let them touch you,” Bobby said. “We have to go! Where are my friends?”
The woman continued staring at the crawling things, either ignoring Bobby or too terrified to answer. The thin creatures were coming under the door five or six at a time now. They were spreading out across the floor. Some of them remained in the same shape, while others stopped, curled up, and began transforming. One of them became something between a scorpion and a spider the size of Bobby’s hand. It took off running down the hall with unnatural speed. Another creature ran the other direction before Bobby could see what it was. Several others were forming insect-like wings.
“Where’s Ashley!” Bobby shouted. “After what you’ve done to us, you can at least tell me where she is.”
She pulled her gaze from the spreading creatures and looked at him. Her cheeks were quivering. “Follow me.” She took off down the hall.
Bobby ran after her, eager to distance himself from the skittering Helmich-spawn.
They made a left turn and ran down a long hallway, apparently toward the center of the complex. They came to a T and turned left again. Ahead of them a group of doctors were gathered outside an open door. They all turned and stared.
“What’s he doing here, Hannah?” one of the men said. They were all looking at Bobby and what he was carrying.
The woman with Bobby—Hannah, apparently—said, “We’ve got to leave now!”
“Like hell,” another man said. “The 4:44 is at crisis level. Helmich isn’t letting anyone out.”
“Dr. Helmich is gone!” Hannah cried.
They all fell silent.
Hannah said, “Look, I believed in this project. We all did. But—”
A flying creature the size of a pigeon crashed into the back of her head. Her body lurched forward and the creature, still clinging to her hair, flopped over her head and onto her face. The next few seconds were strangely silent. Hannah reached up to her face in slow motion. She made only the slightest whimper as she grabbed the thing, pulled it away, and dropped it to the floor.
Bobby’s gut tightened when he saw what it was. It had the wings and head of a wasp, but the abdomen more closely resembled a huge centipede, with numerous curved, sharp-tipped legs on either side. It twisted itself over and onto its feet, seemingly unharmed.
“Hannah, you’re bleeding,” said one of the woman crowded around the scene.
Bobby looked up from the creature to Hannah. Blood and clear fluid were running down her face from one of her eyes.
She put her hand to her eye. “Oh no,” she said softly.
The creature spread its wings and flew up off the floor. At the same time, another creature buzzed right by Bobby’s head and hit one of the men just below the chin, latching on tightly. He coughed and staggered back.
The doctors suddenly seemed to realize they were in danger. Some of them ran down the hall away from the source of the flying creatures. A few of them dashed into the nearest room, but the centipede-wasp flew through the door before they could close it. They poured back out, shrieking, and followed the others down the hall. Two women stayed behind, trying to help the man pull the other flying creature from his neck. Hannah stood where she was, probing her eye socket with her finger as if she couldn’t quite believe what had happened. Bobby looked in the direction from which he and Hannah had come. Several rat-sized creatures were running toward them.
He stepped in front of her. “Where are my friends?”
She looked at him with her good eye. “This whole thing was a mistake, wasn’t it?”
The creatures were approaching fast.
“Please,” Bobby said firmly.
“This way.” She turned and began shuffling down the hall. Bobby urged her to hurry and her shuffle turned into an ungraceful jog.
After making several turns and running far enough for Bobby to get winded, they entered a hallway with numerous unmarked doors. Hannah stopped in front of one of them.
“Your friend Ashley should be in here.” Still holding one hand to her eye, she fumbled for her key card.
“I’ve got it,” Bobby said. He pressed Helmich’s card to the reader, and the door clicked. Bobby went in. Hannah followed, but she stayed by the door.
Ashley lay in her bed, apparently asleep.
Bobby set Addison’s arm on the bed and started unbuckling her restraints. This woke her up.
“What?” she said. Her eyes met his. “Bobby?”
“We have to get out of here,” he said. He finished freeing her wrists and then saw her ankles were already free.
She sat up. “Shit!” She was staring at Addison’s arm on the bed beside her.
Suddenly he had an idea. He pulled another chunk free from the jagged end of the arm and held it out to her. “This might save your life.”
She took it. “What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s from the Lamotelokhai. Just eat it, or rub it on your skin or something. Please, we have to go.”
She hesitated only a second and then rubbed the stuff on her arm. She got up from the bed. “What’s wrong with her?” She was looking over Bobby’s shoulder.
Bobby turned. Hannah was still by the door. She was looking down and rubbing her face with her hands. Bobby gathered up Addison’s arm and then cautiously walked over to her.
“Where’s Peter? And Robert?”
Hannah didn’t look up. She muttered something that wasn’t really words and didn’t sound like her voice.
Bobby glanced at Ashley. “Don’t touch her,” he said. He grabbed Ashley’s arm and led her out of the room. He pulled the door shut just as Hannah collapsed to her knees.
“What the hell was that?” Ashley said.
Shouting echoed from somewhere down the hall. There wasn’t time to explain, but Ashley had planted her feet, and Bobby knew she wasn’t going to budge until she got answers.
“They took the Lamotelokhai apart to figure out how it works. Something didn’t go right and one of them transformed into these… I don’t know, these creatures. It’s like the dinosaurs that time at the hospital. They’re attacking people and turning them into creatures too. So we need to get out of here.”
She was staring at his face and neck. “Did one of them bite you?”
He sighed. “Yeah, but I think this stuff helped me.” He nodded down toward Addison’s arm. “That’s why I gave you some. Please, Ashley! Where’s Peter?”
“How should I know? I’ve been tied to—”
She stopped talking, and Bobby turned in the direction of her gaze. A mass of creatures—at least twenty—was moving toward them. Some were no bigger than rats, others were larger. One of them was the size of a cat. It crawled awkwardly on folded wings like a smaller version of the Helmich-bat. Another looked like a skinny tree kangaroo with bulging eyes and no tail.
Ashley started backing away from them. “Those are the creatures?”
“Don’t let them touch you,” he said. He went to the next door in the hall. He opened it with the key card. The room was empty.
The creatures were getting closer. He ran to another door. That room was empty too. The scratching and skittering of the creatures grew louder. There were more doors in the hall but no time to check them.
Ashley shouted, “Peter! Robert!”
No answer.
They had no choice but to run. They came to a T at the end of the hall and stopped.
“The place is a big circle,” Bobby said. “There must be exits on the outer wall.” The problem was, the halls were straight instead of curved, making it hard to tell which direction was out or in.
As Bobby was looking to the right, he glimpsed two people in green clothes running from left to right at the next T. If any of these people were as smart as t
hey thought they were, they’d be trying to get out right now. From the way the others had talked, it sounded like at least some of them weren’t crazy enough to actually carry out the 4:44 protocol. Unless they planned to do it as soon as they got clear of the facility.
“They’re catching up!” Ashley said.
Some of the faster creatures were only seconds behind them.
“This way,” Bobby muttered, and he took off following the doctors he’d seen.
He and Ashley turned right at the T and ran straight all the way to the outer wall. Next to a door with another sign above it that said Salida were six green-clad men and women. They were shouting at each other and didn’t see Bobby and Ashley until they were only a few yards away. The doctors stopped shouting and stared.
Bobby spoke first. “Do you guys know where our friends are? Peter Wooley and Robert?”
For a moment none of them spoke.
“He’s got part of it,” a woman said. She was holding a tablet with her finger hovering above the screen. “We should initiate now!”
“Don’t!” said one of the men. “I’m not willing to die here. Neither are you, Sofia, and you know it. Just open the door and we can leave.”
It appeared that Sofia was the only one of them with a key card.
Bobby heard tapping and scuttling behind him just before the doctors saw what was coming.
“Sweet Jesus,” one of the men said. “Open the goddamn door, Sofia!”
Sofia was shaking, her finger still hovering over the tablet.
Without warning, the man drew back and punched her. The tablet clattered to the floor, and she crumpled into a heap and began moaning.
The man ripped the key card from her neck. He went for the door.
“Hurry!” someone said.
The creatures were twenty yards away, and there was nowhere to go but through the door.
The door opened, and blinding sunlight poured in. The doctors ran out except for Sofia and another woman who had knelt down to help her up. But Sofia could barely even sit up. The other woman looked up at Bobby and Ashley.
“Please. Help me!”
Diffusion Box Set Page 62
