by L. S. O'Dea
“We are not jumping.” He slapped his hand against the wall. “We’ll figure this out.” He sat on the stairs, his mind spinning scenarios. They could attack whoever opened the door. It’d work, if they picked the correct door to wait by and if there wasn’t a group of Guards. Of course, they’d still have to get out of the building. His nose twitched. He stood and moved closer to the door.
“What is it?” Prin followed him.
“Someone’s coming.” He sniffed. “Not Guard.” He sniffed again. “Servant. Fear and”—he wrinkled his nose—“something else. What is that?”
“I’ve never smelled anything like it.” Prin covered her mouth with her hand and moved away from the door.
“I don’t know.” Lee’s eyes were wide. “And I don’t want to find out.” His nose twitched. “It smells kind of like earth or moss but big and...meaty.”
“Yeah.” It was an odd way to describe it but the smell was fleshy and yet mossy. It made the hair on his body tingle and he had a lot more hair than he used to.
“What if it comes in here?” asked Lee.
“Then we attack.”
Lee nodded, pinching his nose as he leaned against the wall by the door.
He stayed where he was, waiting for the footsteps and smell to come closer. He turned his face, putting his ear against the door. His nose twitched. There was another odor. Faint. Guard and Almighty. He shoved Lee out of the way.
“Hey.” Lee stumbled backward along the wall.
“The keypad.” He sniffed and grinned. “I can tell which buttons they pushed.”
“Can you tell the order?” asked Lee.
“No, but there are only four that are used.”
Lee and Prin moved to his side, sticking their faces by the keypad and sniffing.
“The four smells more...dirty.” She sniffed again and turned her head away. “Ass. Gross. Don’t you males ever wash your hands.”
“Sometimes.” He gave her a slight nudge. “The eight is the next smelliest one.”
“That means it’s four and then eight.” She smiled. “We can do this.”
“Let’s go back to the first floor.” This was it. They were going to get out of there.
They hurried down the stairs and stopped in unison.
“Someone’s coming,” said Prin. “A lot of someones.”
“Second floor,” said Lee. “And they’re coming upstairs.”
“Back to the top.” He ushered his siblings upward in front of him.
Lee stopped at the door, sniffing the keypad again. “Four then eight but after that is it five and six or six and five?”
He leaned closer, inhaling deeply. “Not sure. They smell the same.”
Prin moved her face so close her nose almost touched the keypad. “Four, eight, six and five.”
“You sure?” asked Lee.
“Yeah. I think.” She shrugged. “We have to choose. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“The worst? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe, an alarm sounds. They feed us to some monster,” said Lee.
“Well, the Guards are coming now, so it’s not like—”
“Stop arguing.” He pushed in front of them, his hand trembling. “Here goes.” He pressed the keys, his heart hammering in his chest as footsteps and voices drifted upward from the Guards below. The latch clicked and his knees almost buckled as he turned the handle and opened the door.
“Back on Level Five.” Lee followed Prin out of the stairwell.
“Home, rotten, creepy home.” Prin grinned at her twin, all arguments forgotten.
“This way.” He sniffed, following the rank smell.
“Why are we going this way?” asked Lee.
“That smell. It’s something different.”
“I thought we didn’t want to find out what it was.” Lee followed him.
“There’s a Servant with it and I’m pretty sure it’s the Servant who escaped.”
“Why do you think that?” asked Prin.
“Don’t you recognize his scent?”
The twins inhaled deeply.
“It’s familiar but...” Prin sniffed again. “We only met him that once and it was fast. He was in the room and then gone. Plus, there’d been so much fear.”
“Still fear and a lot of it.” He started to jog. “It’s him. I know it.”
“Again, why are we following him. The Guards are looking for that Servant.”
“Exactly, and they haven’t found him yet.” He hurried around a corner and skidded to a halt. “Scent’s gone.” He tipped his head, sniffing.
Lee wandered back the way they’d come and stopped at a utility closet. “In here.”
He and Prin hurried to their brother.
He sniffed along the door—bleach, chemicals, that earthy smell, Servant, lots of different Servants but the one they were following was here too. “This is weird.”
“So, you’re suggesting that we all hide in this closet?” Lee was not amused.
“There’s no way that Servant has been hiding in here all this time. They would’ve found him right away. Our sense of smell is better than before but even then, it wasn’t bad enough to miss a terrified Servant in a closet. There has to be more to this.” He opened the door.
The room was empty except for a couple of cleaning carts and shelves of supplies.
“Where did they go?” Lee peered into the small room, his nose working overtime.
Rufus stepped inside, ignoring the dark and following the scent. “Back here.” There was another door. “Prin, come on. Get out of the hallway before someone sees you.”
She moved into the room, closing the door behind her and shutting out all the light except a line under the door no bigger than a thread.
“This way.” He didn’t need to see. He had his nose. He opened the other door and faint odors—rich and earthy, stinking of sewage wafted over him.
“Eww. That stinks,” said Prin.
He inhaled deeply. “No. That’s freedom.” He stepped through the doorway into another stairwell. “Prin, after me. Lee after her.”
As they hurried down the stairs, the air became thicker and more pungent.
“I told you guys we’d find a way,” said Lee, suddenly exuberant.
“You were ready to chuck yourself over the railing,” teased Prin.
“Shut up. I only said it because Rufus works better under pressure.”
“Great. Glad you know how to motivate me.” He was too happy to be pissed at his brother. He rounded a corner and stopped.
At the bottom of the stairs, blocking the path to another door was the Servant with the broken leg. It was in a splint now and he was using two mops as crutches but it was him and he was with...something. A Guard? It might’ve been a Guard at one point, but it was something different now. It looked soft and wet with pink skin and four thin finger-like appendages protruding from its head. It was round and fat, almost as wide as it was tall, but there was something about the fat, a promise of strength and muscle, that told him it was far from helpless or weak.
CHAPTER 17: RUFUS
Prin slammed into Rufus’ back.
“Why’d you stop?” She peered around his shoulder. “What is that?”
“I have no idea,” he whispered.
“Don’t come any closer.” The creature held out its hands, but its arms were tiny, only several inches long, and its hands were missing fingers. Some still stuck out from its thick, fleshy wrist, but most had been consumed by the limbs as the arms had been devoured by the body.
“We don’t want any trouble.” Rufus didn’t want to go anywhere near that thing, but it blocked their only exit.
“Go back the way you came,” said the creature.
“Bob, we can’t let them leave.” The Servant, who was standing behind the creature, almost vibrated with nerves. “They’ll bring back more Guards.”
Bob smiled and it was a sight to behold as his fleshy face gaped open, displaying a yawning, dark, toothless cavern. “Oh, th
ey won’t do that. Look closely at them, Fuzz.” His milky eyes traveled up and down Rufus. “What are you?”
“What do you mean, what am I?”
“I mean, what are they turning you into?” Bob moved closer, more sliding than walking.
“Stay where you are.” It took every ounce of courage he had not to turn and run up those stairs, but returning to Level Five would mean certain death. Whereas staying down here, it was only a possibility.
“I’ve seen a lot of Guards and Servants in partial transformation,” said Bob.
“Too many,” mumbled Fuzz.
“But I’ve never seen your kind.” The finger-like appendages on Bob’s head waved back and forth as they stretched toward Rufus.
“Wh-what do you mean partial transformation.” Sweat was running down his back and Prin clutched his shoulder so tightly that his arm was going numb.
“I mean, partway between what you were—Guards, like me—and what you’re becoming.” Bob glanced at Fuzz. “There are three types of...positions...for Guards and Servants on Level Five.” He lifted his hand, trying to hold out one finger, but it looked more like a throbbing lump inside the round ball that had once been a hand. “First, there are those who work here. They do whatever the Almightys say.”
“That’s the way everywhere,” muttered Lee.
Bob ignored him. “The second type is like Fuzz. Dinner for the third kind of Guard and Servant. The ones they turn—”
Prin’s nails dug into his skin.
“I don’t think this is the best time to talk. We should move before the Guards come,” he said.
“He’s right,” said Fuzz. “We need to go.”
Bob nodded, his mushy head, bobbing as his body undulated. “And that leads us back to the problem of what to do with you.”
“We’re going too.” This was not negotiable. “We don’t have to travel together. Actually, I’d prefer we didn’t, but we are going through that door into the sewer.”
“Swear that for this journey we are not enemies.” Bob smiled slightly, causing the skin on his face to ripple. “Not friends precisely, but none of us will attack the other.”
“Agreed.” That was easy.
“Your companions?”
“Of course, we won’t attack you,” said Prin.
“Nope. Won’t even get near you,” said Lee.
Rufus elbowed his brother in the gut. This was not the time to insult the creature.
Bob laughed. “That’s good because the last one who tried died.”
“We’ll stay far enough behind you, not to make you nervous,” he said.
“Let’s go.” Fuzz opened the door and began a slow hop down the stairs with his makeshift crutches.
Bob hesitated. “All my flesh is toxic, so attacking me from behind isn’t a good idea either.”
“We won’t. I swear.” The thought of touching that thing made his skin crawl.
Bob gazed at them for a long moment before turning and heading into the tunnel.
Rufus glanced at his brother and sister. He didn’t like the idea of following a giant, poisonous slug-like creature into the sewers but it was their only chance. “Ready?”
“Sure. What can go wrong?” Lee grinned.
“Stop tempting fate.” Prin slapped her twin.
Araldo, he loved those two. He pulled them both into a quick hug. “We’ll get out of this...”
“Together,” they all said at the same time.
CHAPTER 18: RUFUS
“He’s moving too slow,” whispered Lee from behind Rufus.
Fuzz was taking forever to go down the stairs. It wouldn’t be long before the Guards decided to check out this passage.
“Hey, how about we help you?” he asked.
Bob and Fuzz stopped, turning toward them.
“What do you mean, help?” asked Bob.
“I mean, your friend is slow.” None of them had time for niceties.
“I’m doing the best I can,” said Fuzz.
“I understand that, but if the Guards come, we’re all dead.”
“Oh, they won’t kill you three or me. Our fate is worse than death.” Bob’s milky eyes lost their small spark. “Even getting out of the lab won’t free us forever, but at least we’ll see the sun again and the sky before we transform.”
“What is he talking about?” asked Lee.
He ignored his brother. “Let us help you down the stairs. We’re strong. We can carry you between us, or I can carry you by myself for a bit.”
“I’m not a....” Fuzz hesitated. “I guess, I am a cripple.”
“But you’re not dinner for an Aranea or turning into something else,” said Bob. “I’d take being a cripple any day.”
“I swear, we won’t hurt you. All we want is to get out of here,” he said.
Fuzz looked at them and then Bob.
“You know, I’d help you if I could, but you’d die if I touched you.” Bob shrugged and his whole body shook.
“I know.” Fuzz’s voice cracked. “You’ve helped me so much already.”
“Only if we find freedom. Otherwise, I’ve only postponed the inevitable.”
“If you hurt me, he’ll kill you,” said Fuzz.
Bob laughed. “I doubt that I could kill them all. I’m not fast like I bet they are.” He looked at them again. “There’s a sleekness to your bodies that I’ve never seen in Guards, even hunting Guards. Whatever you’re turning into, you’ll be fast.”
“Please stop talking about that. We aren’t turning into anything.” Prin stepped out from behind her brothers.
“I’m sorry. I’m so very sorry.” Bob’s eyes were on her extended stomach.
Prin nodded as she clutched her abdomen.
“Carry him. We need to get moving. She needs to be free more than any of us.” Bob pushed himself into a corner, making room for them to get to Fuzz.
“Lee and I are going to lift you under your arms.” He touched the crutches. “Prin, will carry these. Okay?”
Fuzz nodded. “What’s your name?”
“Rufus.”
“Thank you, Rufus.”
“Hold the thanks until we’re out of here.” He handed the crutches to Prin and then he and Lee picked up the Servant.
As they made their way downward, the stairwell got darker and danker. Even though they could barely see, neither he nor his brother lost their footing. They didn’t need their eyes, they had their ears and noses to guide them.
They stopped on the last step—dirt, muck and concrete waited in front of them.
“The sewer.” Lee’s voice was almost reverent.
“We made it.” He wanted to shout his relief.
“Don’t celebrate yet,” whispered Bob.
He spun around, expecting an attack but Bob was several stairs behind them, gazing into the darkness.
“We’re not the first to use this route to leave Level Five. The sewers are filled with our dead and some”—Bob smirked—”who only pretended to be dead.”
“What do you mean by that?” He really didn’t like Bob.
“Now’s not the time for chatter,” said Bob. “Let’s continue and maybe later I’ll tell you everything I know about this vile place.”
CHAPTER 19: RUFUS
Rufus and Lee carried Fuzz as they made their way through the sewer tunnels. No one spoke, the only sounds their footsteps and shallow breathing. The air was foul with rot but not even Lee complained. They all just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. The thought of things like Bob or worse lurking in the darkness made his senses hum. Every splash and echo caused him to jump, his head turning in the direction and his nose twitching for scent. So far there’d been nothing to see. He prayed it stayed that way.
He glanced at Lee who met his eyes and tipped his head. He understood the signal. They could move a lot faster if they ditched these two. Lee tipped his head again but he shook his. Bob knew things that might help them. Plus, he felt bad for them. They wanted to escape as mu
ch as he did. However, if things went bad, Bob and Fuzz were on their own.
“So, what did you mean by things pretending to be dead? The Guards and Almightys can’t be stupid enough to let something escape because it held its breath for a few minutes.” He needed to glean as much information as he could before they separated.
Bob laughed. “Hold its breath? No. That’s not at all how it works, but Almighty arrogance could be perceived as stupidity. They’re creating things they don’t understand. Things that have never existed on this earth and yet, they expect them to act like everything else.”
“I don’t understand,” said Prin. “They can’t make living things. Only Araldo does that.”
“You’re wrong. Conguise and his minions are dallying where they shouldn’t. They are dancing on Araldo’s turf and he won’t be happy about that.”
“I don’t believe you.” Prin moved closer to Lee. “What you’re saying is impossible.”
“You may hide behind your fears but that won’t protect you. They are creating new creatures. Look at yourself.”
“What do you mean? I’m not different.” Her voice was growing shrill.
“We’re Guards. Normal Guards.” He took his sister’s hand and gave it a squeeze. The words were easy to say, but they all knew it was a lie.
“You were typical Guards but that changed with the first shot, like it did for me.”
“You were given shots too?” His eyes darted to Fuzz and then back to Bob. He didn’t want to become like Bob.
“Not me,” said Fuzz. “I was supposed to be dinner for one of you things. Remember?”
“You were serious about that? The Almightys were going to eat you?” Prin sounded appalled. “I’d heard that the flesh of House Servants is sold on the black market but I thought that was a lie to scare the little ones.”
“I’m not talking about the black market or Almightys eating me. I was supposed to be fed to this...” Fuzz’s face paled so much it almost glowed in the darkness of the sewer.
