The 11th Floor: Awakening

by Charles Culver

  “Well, that’s a little convenient, don’t you think?”

  “Never mind that now. Any second now, that door is going to bust apart and that thing out there is going to come in here. You need to be somewhere else. Go hide in the bathroom back there. No point in both of us being in harm’s way. Besides, I have the gun, you don’t.”

  “Okay! Good luck!” she yelled, as she ran into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

  The banging and cracking sounds at the door continued and Luke could almost see the hallway through the broken door. He grabbed the desk, threw it down on the floor, and turned it top-side toward the door to use as a shield. Luke crouched down behind the desk and leaned his forearm on the edge to help steady the gun and provide better aiming. He squatted there for a few seconds with the hammer cocked, aiming at the door, watching it further splinter apart with each hit. Everything seemed to slow down around him as he waited and watched, until eventually the door completely blew apart from the repeated pummeling.

  With nothing standing in its way, the creature came running in. Once in the room, it jumped into the air as if it was trying to hurdle the table Luke had thrown down to use as cover. Maybe it was adrenaline helping, but Luke was able to react quickly and aim at the now airborne creature. He pulled the trigger and the gun kicked like a mule.

  Chapter 13

  “Jesus H. Christ, what is all the noise,” asked Walter. “I’m trying to get some damn sleep here.”

  He reached over and switched on the lamp next to the bed. He picked up his glasses from the desk and put them on. He was an older retired man in his mid-70s and had bad cataracts. Without his glasses, there was no way he would be able to see the phone to dial the front desk, which is exactly what he intended to do.

  “The amount of money I’m paying to this hotel,” he complained as he dialed the phone, “I shouldn’t have to put up with this crap.”

  “Hello. Front Desk. Lou speaking. How can I help you?”

  “Hi Lou. This is Walter, upstairs in room 415. Some inconsiderate jerks are making a ton of noise up here. All kinds of banging noises and yelling going on up here.”

  “I apologize, Sir. Why don’t you come down to the front desk and we’ll get you set up with a new room?”

  “Damn right you will. I’ll be right down,” said Walter, as he slammed down the phone.

  Walter put on his slippers and then opened the door to his room. Once the door was open, the banging noise ceased. Out in the hallway, he looked both directions but was unable to find the source of the noise. This angered him even more because he was really looking into giving that rude noisemaker a piece of his mind.

  He turned and began walking down the hallway toward the elevator, when he heard a loud bang from up ahead. This was a different noise than before, and having spent a considerable number of years in the military, he recognized it immediately as a large caliber handgun. When he looked up to the location of the sound, he saw a large black dog-like animal scurry out of a room up ahead. The animal then stumbled across the hallway and knocked up against the wall. It shook its head and then staggered off down the hall and around a corner, out of sight.

  From the door that the animal had exited, a younger man holding a gun appeared, probably trying to determine where the animal had gone.

  The young man turned his head toward Walter and yelled, “Hey you!”

  That young man with the gun must have been the one making all the racket earlier, so Walter suddenly decided that he would not be giving anyone a piece of his mind after all. He didn’t know why he was shooting at the dog, or if he intended to shoot at someone or something else next. Scared, Walter turned and ran back down the hallway away from the man with the gun, heading toward the stairwell instead of the elevator.

  Bursting through the stairwell doors, Walter hurried down the stairs as fast as his elderly legs could take him. After descending two of the four flights of stairs, he encountered a huge pool of blood near the door for the second floor. Carefully avoiding the mess, he navigated around the blood and continued down the stairs. Once at the bottom, he noticed the walls were covered in blood with bloody handprints all over the place, like some kind of demented child’s finger-painting project.

  Walter hurried across the lobby and up to the front desk where a man stood, consulting a computer screen.

  When he approached, the man looked up and asked, “Can I help you?”

  “Upstairs,” Walter said, trying to compose himself. “Upstairs. Banging. Gun fire,” he continued, trying to catch his breath. “You need to call the police.”

  “Oh my,” said the man behind the counter, very calmly. “Come around here and into the office. We’ll call the police from in there. It’s safer in there.”

  Walter walked around to the end of the counter where the man now stood, holding the door open for him. As soon as Walter crossed the threshold into the office area, he stopped and looked around.

  “Hey, what the hell is—”

  Before he could finish, he was struck in the back of the head and knocked to the ground. Woozy, but not unconscious, he looked up at his assailant as he was being dragged into the office. He couldn’t get a good look at his face, but he clearly saw a nametag with the name “Lou” printed on it.

  As the door closed, a scream came from inside the office, then silence.

  Chapter 14

  He was definitely no Dirty Harry and the amount of power the gun provided was more than he expected. Luckily one shot was enough because Luke lost his balance and fell back onto his rear-end. He may not have been able to recover quickly enough to make a second shot.

  When the shot connected with the creature, it was knocked down mid-leap. It fell to the floor with a dull thud and whimper and then bolted from the room —blood dripping from the bullet wound.

  Luke watched as it ran out of the room, stumbled, and fell up against the wall that was opposite the doorway. It shook its head, and scurried off down the hall. He paused for a moment to make sure it wasn’t going to attempt a second assault. When it didn’t immediately return for round two, Luke climbed over the desk and ran to the doorway. He popped his head out to find out where the creature had gone or if it was dead. To the left were drips of blood all down the carpeting. To the right, an old man stared at him, obviously scared from what he had just witnessed.

  “Hey you!” Luke shouted at the old man.

  The old man was the only other person he had seen since waking up in the bathtub earlier, aside from Amanda. When he shouted at the old man to get his attention, the old man then turned and ran down the hallway, into the stairwell.

  “Wait!” Luke shouted at him again, but it was too late.

  He wanted to run after the man, but that would have required him to abandon Amanda, who was barricaded in the bathroom.

  Luke headed back inside and knocked on the bathroom door, “Amanda, the coast is clear.”

  The bathroom door opened and Amanda looked around the room.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, I got it. It ran off bleeding. I don’t think I killed it, though. We should get out of here in case it comes back,” said Luke, tucking the gun into the waistband of his jeans behind his back.

  “Where do we go?” she asked.

  “I saw another guy here. The gunshots scared him off. I think we need to head down to the front desk area. There should be the management office there.”

  “So what if there is?”

  “Well, there is you, and now another person. I’m going to guess there are more people here. They’ll probably be heading down to the see the manager for some reason or another. That’s what always seems to happen. Everyone goes to the person in charge. In the building, it was the CEO’s office. On the boat, it was the captain’s quarters.”

  “And why is that bad?”

  Luke sighed, “Because the person in charge wants you dead. They want you to let your guard down because you think they are there to help, but really they kill
you and take your soul to the devil. I know it sounds crazy, but like I told you earlier, I have been through this before.”

  “On any other day, I would call you a nutbag, but I’ve seen too much weird stuff already today. I’m just going to go with you on this. It seems to me that the safest place in this hotel is next to you. If you say go to the front desk, we go to the front desk.”

  “Thanks for your confidence,” said Luke. “Now, I saw the old man run into the stairwell. I’m a little hesitant to follow him in case it’s a trick, so we take the elevator.”

  “After you,” she replied.

  The two departed for the elevator. The hallway was clear, aside from the blood left behind from the creature. They approached the elevator and pressed the Down button. The doors opened immediately and provided a nice empty car. Once inside, Luke pressed the button for the lobby. The doors closed without issue and the elevator began heading up instead of down.

  “Well, this can’t be good,” said Luke.

  He pulled the gun from his waistband, but kept it hidden behind his back in case the person waiting on the other side was someone else needing his help. He didn’t want to scare them off like the old man downstairs.

  The elevator made its ding noise and the doors opened. Standing on the other side was Dr. Walsh, holding an ice bucket. The doctor walked into the elevator and pressed the lobby button without even looking up to see who else was in the car, but the doors didn’t close and the elevator didn’t move an inch.

  “Umm, Doctor?” Luke asked.

  The doctor looked up and turned to the people standing behind him.

  “Mr. Williams? What are you doing here?”

  “What do you mean, what am I doing here? You’re the one that’s dead.”

  “Is that supposed to be some kind of joke? I’m obviously not dead. See?” the doctor asked, as he reached out and pushed on Luke’s chest. “I’m on vacation. I’m just going to get ice downstairs since the machine on our floor is broken.”

  Luke placed the gun back in the waistband behind his back.

  “No, no. I called your office and the police said you were involved in a tragic accident the afternoon after I left your office. They told me you were fatally injured. That’s how they worded it.”

  The doctor looked at him and didn’t say a word. His stare was solid, without a blink. If they had been having a staring contest, the doctor was surely the grand champion of the entire world.

  “Doctor? I need to ask you a question and I need you to answer me honestly.”

  The doctor just nodded slightly with no verbal response. Behind him, the doors finally closed but the elevator remained motionless.

  “I’m fairly certain this is a dream, seeing as how I’m having a conversation with a dead person.”

  “That is not a question, Luke,” replied the doctor with a slight grin.

  “My question … if this is a dream, what do I do? How do I save these people?”

  “Did you take my advice and read up on lucid dreaming?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well then, you already know what to do. You don’t need my help,” said the doctor bluntly.

  The doctor looked back down at his ice bucket and lifted off the lid. The inside of the bucket was completely full of ice.

  “I have to go now. My wife’s back in the room waiting for this ice. Pleasure seeing you again, Luke. Amanda, take care. Watch your back.”

  The elevator made a ding sound and the doors opened again. Instead of a hallway as they were expecting, the open doors revealed a bright light. The doctor walked out of the elevator and into the light. Luke squinted and held a hand over his eyes. He could make out the silhouette of the doctor walking away toward what appeared to be a large fence or gate. Before he could get a better look, the doors closed and the elevator began its final descent to the lobby.

  “Did you see that?” asked Amanda.

  “I saw something … unbelievable,” he replied.

  “And I never met him before. How did he know my name?” asked Amanda. “I think I believe you now.”

  Chapter 15

  With a ding, the elevator came to a halt and the doors opened, providing a view of a completely empty lobby.

  After looking around to make sure they wouldn’t be surprised upon stepping out, Luke said to Amanda, “Whatever you do, don’t let them get close to you. Do you hear me? Stay behind me and keep your eyes and ears open.”

  Amanda nodded and responded with a whispered, “Okay.”

  The two of them slowly snuck across the lobby toward the front desk. If someone was waiting for his arrival, he didn’t want to give him advance notice of his approach.

  About halfway through the lobby, he noticed that the door to the manager’s office was slightly ajar. Through the crack, he could see movement inside the office. Studying the door, he could discern only one person inside the office.

  He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to visualize the best approach for this situation. In his mind, he pictured jumping over the counter and busting through the door, taking those inside by surprise. In the back of his mind, he heard the doctor’s voice, telling him he knew what he could do. The voice was so real, almost like the doctor was standing beside him talking directly into his ear.

  At that moment, he opened his eyes and said to himself, “Let’s see what I can do.”

  Luke ran toward the front desk and leaped into the air like Superman. He soared through the air, over the front desk, and slammed into the office door. He hit the door with so much force that it broke off the hinges, and fell to the floor.

  Amanda didn’t even attempt the maneuvers that Luke had just pulled off. She ran around the front desk and now stood behind the counter and at his side.

  “How did you do that? I’ve never seen anyone do anything like that. Not even Michael Jordan could have pulled off that kind of jump.”

  “I imagined I could. Like I said, dream world, remember?”

  Luke looked into the office. Lying on the floor near the opposite wall was the old man he saw from upstairs, but his head was gone, just like the office building incident.

  “Crap, I was hoping to prevent that.”

  “Prevent what?” Amanda asked, moving around Luke to see into the office.

  She screamed, “What happened to his head?”

  “Luke here knows what happened. Don’t you, Luke?” asked a voice from inside.

  The voice sounded familiar. Goosebumps formed on his arms. He moved into the doorway and looked to the right. In the corner of the room was a plain wooden desk. Sitting behind the desk was Nate, with a snow globe in front of him.

  “You’re right on time, Luke,” said Nate. “And I see you helped deliver the girl to us.”

  Alarmed, Luke looked back to grab Amanda. Before Luke could reach her, Lou appeared from behind and grabbed her around the chest with one arm and pulled her close to him. As she was about to scream, he cupped her mouth with his other hand.

  “You bastards, let her go!” screamed Luke.

  “I have a proposal for you, Luke,” said Nate. “Listen carefully.”

  Luke looked back and forth from Nate to Amanda.

  “I will kill this girl right in front of you and you will watch her suffer. After she’s dead, I will kill you,” Nate said with a grin. “Unless you join us.”

  “Fuck you!” yelled Luke.

  “Now, now. Let me finish,” replied Nate. “In case you haven’t noticed, Luke, you’re special. You’re the only one of your race to be able to move in and out of our world. In fact, the only one we’ve seen able to do this in well over 300 years. It’s a rare talent. This is your destiny and we could use a man of your talents.”

  “So if I join you, you’ll let her go?”

  “Sadly, that’s not part of the offer. In order to join us, you have to kill her yourself, to prove you’re worthy.”

  Luke looked back at Amanda. She struggled to break free of Lou’s grasp, but he was way too stro
ng for her. She let out a muffled scream and kicked, but was unable to accomplish anything.

  “Think of it, Luke,” said Nate. “Unlimited power. Immortality. You can have virtually anything you want. All you have to do is kill this one complete stranger. Ms. Higgins here is on the list, so she’s going to die either way.”

  “I can’t,” replied Luke.

  “It’s a lot simpler than you’re making it,” said Nate. “Either you kill her and save your own life, or we will kill you both. Lou here is hoping you choose the latter. He’s wanted to kill you for quite some time now.”

  “I’ll only give you one minute to decide,” Nate continued, “then you both die.”

  From his jacket pocket, Nate pulled a small hourglass. He tipped it over and slammed it down on the table.

  Luke stared Nate in the eyes, then looked back at Amanda. She was now crying. It was obvious to her that no matter what Luke’s decision, she was going to die. The tears flowed down her cheeks in a fairly steady stream. Lou pulled her closer, leaned in, and licked the tears off one of her cheeks with his disgusting black tongue.

  “Tick, tock,” said Nate, with no response from Luke. “Okay, Lou, I think we have our decision. Mr. Williams’ silence here has sealed their fate. Do it.”

  “Wait!” Luke shouted. “Wait. Okay. I’ll do it.”

  Chapter 16

  Nate pulled a large blade from his jacket pocket, just like the last time.

  “You need to use this,” Nate said, holding the blade out for Luke.

  “First, I have some questions I need answered,” demanded Luke.

  “I will allow two questions. Then you finish the job.”

  Luke paused for a moment. He wanted to make sure he asked the right questions.

  “Why do I wake up next to dead bodies?” he asked.

  “As I told you when we first met months ago in that office building, we like to mess with people—torture them a bit as part of our game. The dead bodies? They don’t exist. We make you see them. They aren’t actually there. The same goes for the birds that fell from the sky. Remember how they just disappeared?”