by Ryan Notch
“So you think it’s genetic engineering,” he asked.
“That seems to make sense, but I don’t really know...”
They stood a moment, staring at the things. Jack expected at any moment for one to move. A twitch or a pulse or something, but they remained still as if they were solid.
“Lets check the other door,” she said.
Jack flashed back on their encounter with Seth at the front door earlier. He didn’t like this idea, but couldn’t think of any way out of it.
“Ok,” he said. “But lets split up. I’ll go around right, you go around left. That way if we turn the corner and see Seth still keeping guard, he won’t be able to catch both of us.
Terra nodded and started off to the left, moving cautiously. Jack headed right, checking around the corner first. The first apartment was Pat’s, and still had the door open from when Jack had left it a few hours ago. The second apartment was Sophia’s. He thought about knocking, making sure she was all right. But it was next door to Collin’s, and he didn’t want to make a sound as he passed that apartment. Instead he kept moving, low and quiet to avoid the spy holes in the doors. He stayed in the middle of the hall, away from not only the doors but from the cracks in the plaster along the wall to his left. He knew it was from more tentacles, and judging from the size of the bulges they might even be bigger than the ones crossing the doors.
Passing Collin’s he practically tiptoed, peeking his head around the corner to see if there was any sign of danger. Instead he saw Terra already in front of the front door. He made his way over to her, able to see what she was looking at long before he got there. The front door was also sealed by the jointed tentacles.
“You don’t suppose anyone in the brownstone keeps a chainsaw in their apartment, do you,” she asked.
Jack just shook his head. It didn’t seem possible to him that they were trapped. He had the feeling there was something they were missing. No phones, no internet, both exits blocked...how long before someone came looking for them? His sense of freedom tingled like a phantom limb, something he was sure was there unless he actually looked for it.
Terra was peeking in-between the tentacles, trying to look through the glass door to the short entryway. The entryway had a wooden door as the exterior one, so there was no way to flash a signal unless someone had walked through that first one. No point in yelling for help either. True to apartment complex form, the entryway was where the mailboxes and intercom were. It looked pretty dark from what Jack could see from the thin gaps in the tentacle barrier. Terra, always the girl scout, pulled a pocket flashlight out and shined it inside. Her face was close enough to be almost touching the tentacles, something which seemed to bother Jack more than it was bothering her.
“Look at the intercom,” she said.
Jack tried to find an angle to get a look at it. He could see the front panel was off.
“Looks like it’s been disabled,” he said. “Even if someone tried to get buzzed in, they won’t be able to.”
“I’m not sure,” she said. “It looks like someone wired another device in there. It looks like a baby monitor.”
Jack looked through as best he could. She was right, it did look like someone had wired a baby monitor into the works. He thought about it a bit.
“Maybe someone wanted to listen in on all visitors,” he said. “Use it to spy on us.”
“Maybe,” she said thoughtfully. “But what if that’s the receiver?”
Jack wasn’t following, but kept his mouth shut so as not to reveal his ignorance.
“Lets go back to Pat’s apartment, I want to check on something you told me about,” she said.
They went around the long way, not wanting to sneak past Collin’s again. When they came upon Pat’s place, Terra went straight in and to the intercom. She was looking at the device that Jack had found wired into the thing. It was still emitting the humming noise from before, the one that made it hard for Jack to think and set him to mind of creatures moving in the darkness.
The device didn’t have any labels, and only had two controls. One was fairly obviously a power switch, the other a dial.
“Look at the wiring,” said Terra. “It’s got one going that’s connected to one of the wires going down this hole, and another one that goes to the speaker.”
Jack was about to suggest that the wire must be for power. But he stopped himself on taking a closer look. He was no electrician, but he knew enough from his dad to recognize that the black wire was always hot, it was for power. The one going into the device was blue with a green stripe. He reached out and turned the knob on the device. He expected it to be volume, but instead when he turned it up the pitch of the dark sound rose. Turning it more made the sound into a high pitched whine, and finally too high pitched to hear at all.
Jack tried to figure out what the point of it was, but Terra was ahead of him as usual.
“Ok,” she said as she started pacing. He couldn’t help but smile at her look of concentration, tapping the base of her pocket flashlight against her lips. “So Pat made that device to intercept the signal coming from the intercom. And if that was a baby monitor receiver, then the signal from the intercom is being broadcast from somewhere else.”
“But what is the point of making it more high pitched,” Jack asked.
“No, it’s to make it lower pitched. So he could hear it.”
Jack thought on that for a moment, trying to catch up. With a flash he got it.
“So someone was broadcasting that noise in here, and didn’t want Pat to know they were doing it,” he asked. “To what? Drive him crazy? But why single out Pat?”
He realized the answer as soon as he said it, but she replied before he could correct himself.
“Not just Pat,” she said. “It could be lots of people, maybe everyone. Pat’s just the only one with enough of a musician’s ear to notice it.”
“Ok,” he said. It would explain the various insane devices he saw around the apartment. “And that would also be why we had the same dream, it must be going through your intercom too. Maybe it is why Collin and Seth were acting crazy too.”
“Yeah maybe,” she said doubtfully. “Though I had kind of assumed that was from drinking tainted water from the pipes. I mean, otherwise why wouldn’t it affect us?”
“I don’t know,” he said. He felt like he was missing some clues. It was hard to think in here. He really did feel as if that noise was still drilling into him, though too high pitched to hear.
“Plus, I still feel like Collin is part of this somehow. I don’t know why, call it women’s intuition.”
Jack had to agree on that. The more he thought about it, the more it seemed like Collin had always been the kind of guy Jack’s dad would have described as “looking for an excuse, not a reason.”
“Yeah well besides that,” he said. “I don’t think a shadowy government agency would use a baby monitor as their transmission device.”
“No I guess not,” she said with a smile. “Plus, they have a pretty short range. We could just break in Collin’s apartment and take a look for the other one.”
“Yeah, hopefully Seth isn’t over for cards,” said Jack wryly. “Besides, I think that ship has sailed. Even if we did stop the transmission, everything here is fucked already. I don’t think that creature we saw upstairs is just going to go back to normal just because we turn off the noise.”
“I guess the real question isn’t where that sound is coming from, but where the tentacles are coming from.”
Jack was chilled at this. He hadn’t really thought about it, just sort of assuming they were growing from inside the walls.
“Well I’m sure you’re right, they do have to start from somewhere,” he said. “But I don’t think I care that much to find out. I think the real question is where we’re going to be able to find enough food and water to survive long enough for someone to come looking for us.”
“Ok then,” she said. “A scavenger hunt it is. Let’
s check the apartments of our friends first. I’m worried about Jeanie and little Beanie.”
“Agreed.”
Chapter 32
********************
Jack and Terra took the back stairs up to the top floor of the Brownstone. They were losing some of their caution at the apparent emptiness of the hallways, something Jack tried to remind himself was deceptive. His bad leg was getting tired, and he would have preferred to rest it, but agreed with Terra that it would be good to check on a few friends first.
Jeanie lived right by the stairway, two floors above Pat. Unfortunately she lived down the same hallway as Seth. Jack had a feeling that Seth wasn’t in his apartment, that he was down with Collin. Still, he wished he could think of some other way to check on them.
Terra walked out of the stairway to the right, Jack limping behind her in his best effort at renewing stealth mode. He pulled the knife out of his waistband, keeping an eye on Seth’s door two apartments down the hall as best he could. Terra knocked very very lightly on the door. So lightly that Jack wondered if she would hear it, home or not.
“Jeanie,” she whispered close to the door. “Jeanie, it’s Terra. Are you home?”
After a few moments of soundlessness from within, Terra glanced at Jack then tried the knob. It was unlocked.
She opened the door slowly, once more whispering through the crack. Jack got a bad feeling about her going in first, but couldn’t think of a way to shoulder his way in front or telling her to stand back without making unnecessary noise. As the door opened wider he found himself trying to both look inside the apartment and continue to keep watch on Seth’s door at the same time. A war of the known and unknown dangers.
The apartment seemed empty, at least at first glance, even though the lights were on. Terra slipped in and Jack slipped in after her, closing the door behind them. He felt more than a tinge of English guilt at the rudeness of the whole situation, but didn’t see much of a choice.
The place was visually jarring to Jack, as a place with a child often can be. Brightly colored toys scattered across the floor, red and green refrigerator magnet letters, stuffed animals and baby books on the coffee table. Jack had never been over before, and didn’t know if the mess was normal or not. He didn’t see anything immediately odd about the place, except for the ubiquitous bulges in the walls.
“Jeanie,” called Terra at a more normal voice. “Jeanie are you here? Beanie? It’s Terra.”
Jack began to search the apartment, starting with a quick glance at the kitchen. Dismayed, he noticed that the refrigerator door was already open. He touched the shelf inside and found it to be room temperature. He didn’t hold out much hope for the contents of the carton of milk inside, but decided to check the rest of the apartment before he found out for sure.
Terra had her knife out and followed him. She checked the bedroom as he checked the bathroom. Jack didn’t like looking in other people’s bathrooms as a general rule. Far from wanting to snoop, he always found they seemed to be dirtier than his, even when they weren’t. This one was about what he’d expected. Hair gel next to the Big Bird toothbrush. Terrycloth bath towel next to the Elmo bath towel with hood. Green tea shampoo next to the No More Tears shampoo. Bits of hair in the bathtub.
With bits of something attached to it.
He looked closer, almost involuntarily. The old bulbs in the old bathroom fixtures all of the sudden didn’t seem to cast enough light, and so he shone his flashlight on the tub. The hair wasn’t stuck in the drain, but in clumps. He couldn’t be sure, but the bits attached to them could very definitely be dried bits of scalp torn off with the hair. Curiosity forced him close, much closer than he wanted to be. Even right up to them though, he couldn’t be sure. He just didn’t have anything to compare to.
He pulled away and took a last glance around, noticing also that the small access hatch to the crawlspace above the apartment was pushed slightly off to the side, as if it had been used recently.
Going out or going in, he wondered.
He stepped out of the bathroom and met Terra in the hall.
“The bedrooms are empty,” she said. “Anything in the bathroom?”
“No,” he lied.
“Maybe that’s good,” she said. She was nodding to herself, thinking. Then looked at him with hope. “Maybe they were away when all this went down.”
“Yeah. Yeah, probably.”
Jack went back to the kitchen, trying not to let Terra see his face for fear it would betray him. He didn’t like the idea of what would have happened to little Beanie if that creature from Terra’s apartment had gotten it. Maybe those bits in the bathtub weren’t what they looked like, or maybe...
He tried not to think about it, concentrating on searching the kitchen. The milk was more than bad. There was some apple juice, also spoiled. No other liquids besides a vodka in the freezer and melted ice cubes. He thought about drinking them, but had no way of telling if they predated the pipes contamination. Just looking at them made him notice anew how dry and ragged his throat was. He thought about forcing himself to drink the apple juice anyway, but figured if it made him ill it would only dehydrate him more. There was some food, but Jack didn’t know if there was any point in taking it. It seemed practical, but somehow wrong to steal jars of baby food. After some debate they decided to leave it.
“After all,” said Terra. “Running out of food won’t really be our problem.”
“Ok. Alex and Noel’s next. Alex would be a good man in a fight.”
The light at the stairwell one floor down was flickering, a foretelling of the unpleasant surprise they got when they turned the corner to the right. The florescent lights were blotted out by something inside their covers. They’d been reduced to dim glows. And though the bulb from the stairwell cast some reflected light, it fell off fast around the corner and down the hallway.
Surprisingly fast.
Jack and Terra both shined their lights down the hallway. Though not that long, the beams didn’t quiet make it to the other side. It definitely left the impression that something could be hiding over there without them knowing it. Jack was fully prepared to discuss the situation with Terra, with a definite aim of talking her out of heading that way. But before he got a chance she started heading down towards Alex and Noel’s. They passed Felix’s door on the way. Jack thought about stopping and knocking, but didn’t know the man that well and, right now, his instincts told him to stick to more sure allies.
The next door was the one they wanted. From that position in the middle of the hall Jack’s flashlight let him see all the way to both ends, but not at the same time. His ears strained to hear anything from one side or the other. Terra knocked on the door, loud this time.
“Noel? Alex? It’s Terra, are you home?”
No answer, but Jack noticed a blotting out of the light coming from the peephole. Something that would have been imperceptible if the hallway had been brighter.
“We know you’re in there,” said Jack. “Listen it’s all right. It’s just Terra and Jack. See?”
He shined the light up at his own face, briefly.
“Are you guys all right,” they heard Noel ask quietly through the door.
“Yeah,” replied Terra. “So far. Can you let us in, Noel? It’s kind of creepy out here...”
A pause, no answer. Terra glanced at Jack, the tried again.
“Noel?”
“Some other people came,” said Noel, almost too low for them to hear. “But they weren’t themselves...”
“I know,” said Terra. “But we’re ok. We’re not like the others. It’s ok Noel.”
Silence.
“Where’s Alex,” asked Jack after a few moments.
“I don’t know,” said Noel. “He went to get some help. He left a while ago, Collin said he would look for him. Collin said not to let anyone in until he got back.”
“Oh Jesus fucking Christ,” Jack mumbled to himself.
“Noel I don’t think you can t
rust him,” said Terra.
They went back and forth, Jack not bothering to say anything for fear of starting to shout at her. As they talked he looked at the florescent above. The patchwork quality of the light leaking through the cover made it clear they hadn’t just burnt out. His first impression had been black spray paint, or maybe dirt. But no, up close it was pretty clear from the shapes of the cracks. Curvy and knobby. The lights were blotted out by tentacles growing down from the ceiling, just lying there like dead dusty moths.
“I don’t think she’s going to let us in,” Terra said.
Jack’s flippant reply was stopped by an odd sound down the hall. The both of them quickly pointed their flashlights down that way, but didn’t immediately see anything. Then Jack saw a flicker of movement and pointed his light lower.
It froze in the light, sneaking around the corner towards them. It was small, walking on all fours. Its skin was grayish and glistening, like the creature in Terra’s apartment had been. It had eyes large like a squids, but black. Its flat wet noise sniffed at the air slowly. Its head was very large for its body, which looked somewhat anemic by comparison. Being only a foot or so high it looked almost harmless, except for the sharp black talons growing from its paws. It stared at them expectantly.
Jack and Terra stared back, frozen as if meeting a rabid animal that had begun growling but not chasing yet.
“Coo...coo,” went the creature. It was a soothing sound, almost birdlike.
Terra tugged at Jack’s arm, pulling him back the way they had come. Jack followed, walking backward slowly without taking his eyes or flashlight beam off the thing.
“Coo...cooooo,” it made the noise again. It seemed almost friendly, and edged towards them slowly.
Jack felt that whatever primitive attempt at communication that noise was, it was entirely a lie. He readied the cricket bat, cocking it back with his free hand. The creature seemed to get the message, stopping its advance and backing off. It didn’t turn around, keeping its eyes locked with theirs until it was around the corner.
