Cryptophobia (Book 1): Outbreak [Fear The Unknown]

by Henderson, G. D.

  “Fuck Lugo, his reputation means shit now, you heard him yourself, everything he and we did might as well be a hopeless cause now".

  Ria used the opportunity whilst they were distracted to flee to a corner, but driver was back at her ankles before she had a chance to get away.

  “Where are you going little one, don’t run from me now”.

  “No! No! Leave me alone!” She screamed, tears streaming down her face, “Daddy! Help me!”

  “Your daddy ain’t here. it’s just me and you, baby girl. I'm going to have my way with you, then cut you up and post it all on your social media, how's that for a status update?” The grin on his face was spine chilling and Ria had never been more scared. Suddenly she felt her shorts slip from beneath her skirt and down her legs, but she couldn’t fight it with her arms tied and this man’s strength far exceeding her own.

  “Get the fuck off of her!” Back seat passenger snapped, jumping onto the driver's back and pounding the living daylights out of him.

  The two tussled, slamming into cubicle separators, desks and walls, all the while, Jack refused to release driver.

  She didn’t want to die, she didn’t want to die like Charlotte, not like that, but she couldn't escape, not with these two. Consumed with regrets of not having made up with her father, her dismay that she’d never be able to see her stupid brother again, her mother’s voice, she hated herself for briefly making her social status a priority. Why did she have to post all that on her social? Why didn’t she just keep quiet?

  The driver put Jack through a desk with a toss over his shoulders and left Jack there reeling.

  “I see how it is motherfucker, you just lay there for a moment, I'll kill you next, you worthless piece of shit!”

  Driver returned to her.

  “No, please no”, Ria begged.

  “Shut the fuck up”. He took her hair and slammed her head against the back of the desk. Ria yelped and with teary eyes looked up into her killer’s eyes as he whipped out the pen knife and brought it to her neck.

  “Make it slow and painful. Make her fucking suffer”, front seat passenger demanded.

  As Ria’s eyes widened, her body shook like a new born puppy and she wet herself from sheer terror.

  Without warning, Jack reached around and grabbed the knife.

  “Get your motherfucking hands off me!” driver snapped, wrestling with Jack for the knife.

  They fell to the ground, Ria being released in the process and Jack, unable to pull the knife free of driver's hands, slammed his hand against the ground until he released it.

  “Go! Grab the knife and get the fuck out of here!” Jack demanded. Ria was initially too stunned to move, her emotions far too discombobulated to make sense of anything that was going on.

  “Go or they’ll fucking kill you!” Jack snapped at her.

  She didn’t have to be told another time.

  She pulled up her shorts, bent down in a way she could grab the knife and fled the cubicle, passing her pouch on the way out. She returned to it, rummaging through for her phone and fled once it was in her hands, leaving the pouch and everything else behind.

  Ria didn’t know where she was going, she still didn’t even know where she was, but she didn’t want to be here, she knew that much. These men wanted to kill her in a brutal fashion and not without tormenting her first. What kind of animal would behave that way?

  She still couldn’t get the horrific images of Charlotte’s death out of her head, it replayed over and over. She was still trembling. She came to a storage cupboard and passed it by, there had to be an exit somewhere in this office-like.

  Running aimlessly, panic consumed her with every second that went by without finding an exit, just windows and she looked pretty high up, at least five floors.

  She eventually found a doorway that led out to a corridor and followed it around, coming to some elevators. She repeatedly hammered the elevator call button, praying for it to move faster and from the ground floor it begun its slow ascension upwards, going past the ground floor, the first floor and the second, but before it could make it to the top, she could hear the running footsteps of one of the men drawing closer. She disregarded the elevator and continued on down the corridor, eventually reaching a point where it split off into two directions, providing no clear indication of where each led. She had to pick one fast because the person behind her was gaining on her, so she picked left and soon regretted it when she came to a dead end with the male and female toilets. It was too late to go back now, so she ran into the female toilets and locked herself in a cubicle.

  This was probably the stupidest decision she had ever made, of course he was going to know she was in here, she ran down the wrong way, she entered the females subconsciously instead of the males and she stupidly locked herself in a cubicle, the only locked cubicle in the toilets. Hands trembling and trying hard to think of what to do next, she began cutting away at the zip-tie around her wrists with the pen knife.

  It eventually snapped loose and fell to the floor, freeing her wrists. One less concern. She rubbed her wrists and put her phone into her pocket, before trying to steady her nerves enough to think of something. Her thoughts were cut short as there was a loud slam from what could only be the main toilet door.

  “Come out, come out wherever you are. Don’t make this difficult. I promise I’ll make it quick and painless”. It was the driver’s voice, toying with her, getting sadistic pleasure from slowly tormenting her. She sat down on the toilet lid and pushed against the door with her feet to keep it shut.

  He stopped in front of her cubicle.

  “Hey little piggy, why don't you let me in, don't make me huff and don’t make me puff, because I don't know what I'll do once I begin". He followed up his terrible rhyming with a malicious laugh.

  “Come on, don't make me stain those porcelain sinks red with your cracked skull or better yet, drown you in that toilet bowl you're hiding on”, he snapped, kicking at the door.

  Ria didn’t reply, she was far too terrified. She had to find a way out of here and the only way she could think of was over the top of the cubicle, it was stupid and it most likely wouldn’t work, but what other option did she have?

  She got to her feet, climbed up onto the toilet lid and attempted to clamber over the top, but just as she had managed to get some footing, the door to the cubicle slammed open and the driver grabbed at her ankles.

  “No! Let go of me!” She screamed.

  “Stupid bitch! I gave you a fucking chance, now you die!” He roared, punching her in the back and legs with all his might.

  As his strength overpowered her own and pain forced her to give up her attempts to fight, she realised that there was only one way out of this situation alive, the alternative was a brutal death. She turned without warning, catching him off guard for a second and stabbed him in the eye with the pen knife. He let out a room echoing scream and they tumbled down to the ground together, her falling on top of him. She scrambled to her feet and made a run for it, leaving the pen knife behind.

  “Bitch! Bitch! You fucking stabbed me in the fucking eye! Stupid fucking, piece of shit, cunt motherfucking bitch!” He screamed at the top of his lungs, holding his eye.

  Limping from the full-strength punch to the back of her leg, she scampered out of the toilets and back into the corridor. As the pain overwhelmed her, the only thought going through her mind was survival.

  This time she took the other corridor which led down to a staircase leading downstairs. Slowly she descended the stairs, tears from both terror and pain blurring her vision and making it difficult to see where she was going. She was a mess; battered, bruised and emotionally traumatised, whether she would ever recover from this was a question unto itself.

  As she made her way down, she heard a male voice coming from above. Familiar, but not that of the driver or Jack, she peered up to spot Lugo glaring back down at her. Shit! Had he come back?

  “Hey kiddo! Wanna make my life easier? Don
't really want to chase you, that's effort”.

  “No catch and kill that fucking nigger bitch! I’m gonna smash her fucking skull into the fucking ground! She’ll fucking pay for this!” She heard the driver scream with rage from somewhere behind him.

  Lugo pulled out what looked to be a gun and before Ria even had a chance to jump back, he fired, hitting her shoulder.

  Searing pain akin to an electric jolt passed right through her body, making her yelp out and grab her shoulder, before falling back. It was a pain unlike anything she had ever felt, but just a few more inches to the left and it would have been a shot to the skull, instant death.

  She wept, blood trickling down her chest

  They stormed down the stairs after her and her adrenaline kicked into gear, side-lining the pain to focus everything purely on survival.

  Touching down on the bottom floor, Ria made for the door, which led her out to the lobby of the building and there before her was an exit.

  CHAPTER 19 - RIA & TERRY: 6:48pm - 7 Hours, 3 Minutes since outbreak

  An exit though it may have been, a means of escape it most definitely was not, for there to greet any daring individuals stood several blood covered people glaring at her with a seething madness and frightening bloodlust in their eyes.

  Shit, these people were among the infected, the erratic twitch and heavy breathing a tell-tale sign.

  Her mind went blank as she slowly backed off the way she came, her heart racing uncontrollably. This was too much, out of a pot and straight into a fire. The only thing worse than being caught by those men was being torn apart and eaten alive by twitchers.

  Why weren't they moving? Why were they just standing there glaring at her?

  Just when she thought she could make it back to the door without them launching at her, her pursuers burst through the door

  Lugo spotted her first, but no sooner did he take aim at her, he noticed the twitchers.

  “Fuck!” He exclaimed and without warning, took a pot shot at them.

  Oh boy, why did he do that? What the fuck was he thinking?

  Almost making her heart burst out from her chest, the twitchers shrieked and bolted towards them.

  Ria turned and ran past the two men, threat though they were, they were the lesser of two dangers right now. She ran to another door in the lobby and entered into a corridor. Curse those heartless monsters, curse them for the agony she was forced to endure for the sake of survival.

  The two men weren't far behind her and behind them twitchers poured through the doorway into the corridor, tumbling over each other and violently smashing against walls in an attempt to reach the three.

  Ria could see few means of escape as they drew closer to the end of the corridor, there were closed doors besides her, but did she want to take a chance after what had happened upstairs?

  Running out of options as she drew closer to the end of the corridor, she stopped and tried one of the doors. Locked, dammit. She tried a different one and this time had more success, she found herself in a room filled with laundry, which for a brief moment she thought was a dead end, but there were steps at the opposite end.

  She ran over to them and ascended, just as her two pursuers dived in. Leaving them behind attempting to barricade the door with a washing machine, she came to the top of the steps and exited through a door into the stairway she was in before. She was going in circles and this was tremendously frustrating. Best to avoid going back down after what happened before, she'd go up instead.

  She climbed the steps and her heart skipped a beat when she found herself confronted with Jack, beaten black and blue.

  He started waving submissively when he noticed her backing off.

  “It's okay, I mean you no harm. I helped get you into this mess and your friend was killed because of it, I’ll help get you out. I won't let them hurt you again”.

  She didn’t trust this guy by any means, but what other choice did she have, he was her only means of safe escape for now, especially with twitchers added to the mix.

  “You're bleeding, those bastards shot you?”

  Ria didn't reply.

  “We should get out of here fast", he said, approaching her.

  “No…” Ria replied, “can't go that way, twitchers... and those two others".

  “Okay, err, let's find a different route, quick, follow me”. He turned and made his way up a single flight of steps, before taking a doorway on the next floor leading to another corridor.

  They ran across that office floor, filled with more cubicles, passed through a storage room and came to a double doored exit towards the back, their pursuers hot on their tail once again.

  They descended a set of steps right the way to the ground floor, passed through yet another corridor and double doors to find themselves in a loading bay, behind which was an unrelated construction yard for what looked to be the beginnings of what would soon become another complex.

  “Quick, over that fence”, Jack instructed, hoisting her up, “Be careful, there are tunnels and uneven surfaces, it’s dangerous”.

  She clambered over, glancing back at him once, before dropping down onto the other side.

  “Run, hide, do whatever you must. I can hear the other two coming, I’ll try to find another exit. Be safe”, he said through a gap in the fence and with that, he took off.

  Was he doing this because he genuinely cared or was it simply to clear his consciousness? It honestly felt a little like both. In the pursuit of self-preservation, a person could make a selfish cause look like valiant selflessness.

  No sooner did she start running towards the scaffolds of an incomplete construction, she heard the other two men shouting after her. Lugo climbed up the fence and took a shot at her, narrowly missing her, but making her stumble and fall in her panic. Covered in construction yard mud and grazing her knees, she scrambled back to her feet and ducked inside the walls of the building through an open door, as another bullet ricocheted right by her face.

  Out of breath, she ran up the stairs and clambered up onto another level without any stairs, ascending the dangerous structure.

  She peered down and spotted Lugo coming up after her alone. If she didn't do something, she'd have nowhere left to flee too, there were only so many floors finished and she was halfway up already. She came to a floor with the steps still being constructed and nowhere left to go besides a temporary elevator. Naturally she didn't need to think it over, she jumped in, jabbing at the button to ascend the two remaining floors, stepped out and slammed on the emergency stop button. That would suffice for now, neither he nor she would be able to restart it without the key.

  She could hear him thumping on the metal elevator doors and shouting obscenities with threats up at her, but she was at least safe for a while. Unless he had some hidden gymnastic abilities, there was no way he was making it up here.

  In agony, exhausted, shaken and weeping, she inspected her bullet wound, before reaching into her pocket and pulling out her mobile. Shit, only ten percent battery life left. Without those batteries she had left behind, she would have to use what she had very sparingly.

  She went through her contacts and attempted to call her father, but her heart sank, tears welled up and panic set in for every unsuccessful attempt. It would ring endlessly, serving only to kick her imagination into overdrive. What if he was dead? What if he and her brother had been ripped apart by twitchers when she had been so nonchalantly updating her fucking status? What if they hadn't managed to reach her mum and now she too was dead?

  “Please…” She whimpered, and with trembling, blood covered hands, tried one more time, before she would attempt her mother and as a last-ditch effort, Daniel.

  It rang twice without an answer and she screamed at her phone.

  “Please!”

  Three more unanswered rings and her hopes began to dwindle.

  “Please, daddy! Pick up! Please pick up!”

  Just as the answering machine came on again, it stopped midway, then cam
e a click and finally the most wonderful voice she could ever hear in the world, so wonderful that she choked up, her words stuck in her throat.

  “Hello? Ria?”

  “Daddy? Help me! Please come and help me quickly!” Ria replied, blubbering like a baby over the phone, with snot running down her face and choking on her own words as she tried to explain everything that had happened to her to him in a single sentence.

  “... They killed Charlotte, daddy... they cut her neck and there was blood and they tried... they tried to…me... they…”

  “Ria, slow down, where are you?”

  “I... I don’t know, I climbed to the top of... an unfinished building and... and... daddy, help me”, she burst into tears, everything that had happened overwhelming her.

  “I need to know where you are, princess, find something you recognise and give me a clue”.

  “I... I don’t know... wait... I can send my location on babbadoo, do you have that?”

  “I believe so. Okay, try that and call me back”, he replied, so reluctantly - for fear she wouldn't be able to hear his voice again - she hung up, sent him through her location and called him again, with her battery power dropping to eight percent.

  “I’ve got it, you’re some distance from me, princess, but I’ll be there, I promise. I won’t let you down”.

  “Come quickly, daddy”.

  “I will not let you down! Wait for me!”

  “Okay…” Before he could put down the phone, she stopped him. “Daddy…”

  “Yes, princess”.

  “I love you”.

  “I love you too. Stay there if you can. If not run, I will find you”.

  She hung up. She hated hanging up on him, she wanted to remain on the phone, to hear his reassuring voice at a time when she felt as though the world were closing in around her.

  Her hands still trembling, she used the remainder of her battery life posting her ordeal to her social and a parting message, just in case she didn’t survive. She didn’t even wait to see the answers before putting her phone down, clutching it tightly in her hands as she huddled into a ball against an iron beam, holding her gunshot wound.