by Palladian
The few people who’d been milling around had different reactions, some glancing at Casey suspiciously, some with confusion. A few just took off running in the direction Casey had indicated, and the rest seemed to gradually follow. Casey and Lex went the opposite way, into the building.
“Looks like the electricity shutoff caused the chaos we planned,” Lex murmured into Casey’s ear as they entered.
Casey shrugged. “That’s what they get for using all those electronic locks.”
Inside, emergency lighting provided some dim illumination, and Lex could see people moving through the half-darkness in all directions. Casey stood taller, more visible than most, and called to the people standing in confused groups in hospital gowns.
“The exit is this way. Go to the northwest corner of the property and get out through the break in the fence.”
Some started filing for the door, and others farther away began to follow them. Lex watched as people filed past them, and felt sad to note that a good number of them would likely have lots more trouble fitting in than she’d had. She took the smart phone Riss had set up out of her front pocket and called up the map of the building that her friend had loaded onto it.
“We should find a door to the stairs on the left after we go another few yards. Then we go down three flights. When we get to that floor, we need to go left and Lou’s door should be the fifth on the right.”
Casey nodded in response and started off down the hallway at a trot. “Just repeat that back to me if I start going off track.”
They made their way downstairs, stopping every now and again to give directions to people who looked lost. The bags of clothes had been Riss’ idea, and Lex had quickly realized what a good one it was. She’d wished they could give more help to everyone fleeing, but maybe just being free again would be enough. Lex ducked automatically as they reached the floor they’d been searching for, but Casey had to stoop in order to make it through the door.
When they arrived they saw a long hallway stretching to the left and a shorter one to the right. A number of people in hospital gowns stood pressed against the walls with more shoved into the far left corner. Lex’s eyes flew wide to see one person on the floor, screaming in pain due to what looked like two broken arms. Two combatants took up the majority of the space in the hall. One a tall, broad man, thick and strong-looking like Casey, the other more difficult to see in the emergency lighting. Lex blinked a few times, her eyes finally adjusting to realize that the other figure seemed to be covered in dense, dark fur. The dark shape growled to show a mouth full of sharp teeth and brandished a broken metal bar in a hand that ended in claws.
Lex thought the fighting man looked as if he had some martial arts knowledge, but the dark figure moved so quickly that he was on the worse end of the fight. He looked panicked and seconds away from his defeat.
“Hey!” Casey called, and suddenly, the dark creature’s attention turned towards them.
“Oh, crap,” Lex said, squeezing down in the straps holding her to Casey’s back until only her eyeballs showed over the blonde’s shoulder.
Casey charged the figure as the other man stepped out of the way. She managed to catch both of its wrists and took in a deep breath as it started to struggle.
“All the rest of you, get out of here!” Casey yelled in a strained voice. “Go to the northwest corner and you’ll be able to escape.”
Everyone standing in the hallway fled for the stairs, shooting terrified glances at Casey and the dark shape struggling. Finally, the hallway stood empty, and Lex started to worry as she felt Casey slip underneath her, breathing hard and trying to keep hold of the furry creature but losing ground. Lex looked into its eyes at that moment, and although she knew that this had once been a person just like her, she couldn’t see any remnant of that left. An incredible amount of anger and a desire to kill seemed to be all that remained; Lex had to look away in shame, even though she’d played no part in what had happened.
At that moment, she felt a terrible shift, and Lex clutched Casey’s back as her friend lost her hold of her opponent and fell to one knee with a muffled curse. The blonde recovered quickly and moved to put her hands over her to reconnect with her attacker, but Lex could already see that the effort would be too slow. The dark, furry creature moved so quickly that the metal bar was almost on top of Casey’s head before Lex automatically yelled, “Stop!”
Her voice felt as if it contracted within her and then released to boom out oddly in the hallway, seeming to momentarily cover the growling and thumping of the conflict and the injured person still moaning on the floor. Lex had squeezed her eyes shut, unable to do anything about the terrible event that was about to occur since she’d been so securely strapped to Casey’s back, but after a moment, Lex reopened her eyes because she registered the silence that had taken over.
Casey’s muscles seemed to vibrate underneath her as if straining to act, but Lex noted that the only movement she made was to breathe. When Lex looked up at the dark, furry figure in front of them, she could see it frozen into a statue of angry intent and snarling teeth, the bar of metal still inches from Casey’s head and below her outstretched arms. If she craned her neck, Lex could also see the injured person farther down the hall, now lying still and breathing quietly.
“What the fuck?” she mumbled to herself. Lex tried pushing on Casey’s back to get her to move, but even though she eventually worked up to a punch, the blonde remained motionless. Feeling panic rise up in her as she looked across at the furry creature that once had been a person, Lex finally whispered in Casey’s ear, begging her friend to wake up. Finally, as Lex felt she would go out of her mind with fear, she felt the odd sensation she’d had before as she mumbled into Casey’s ear, “Wake up, Casey!”
The other woman stood up then, sliding to the side to avoid the metal bar just over her head. Casey looked at the furry creature in front of them, and then farther down the hall at the injured person. She glanced back at Lex a moment later, her expression incredulous.
“What did you do?” the blonde asked in a wondering tone of voice.
“I don’t know,” Lex said in a low tone, still looking nervously at the other two figures in the hallway. “Let’s get Lou and get the hell out of here.”
Casey nodded and went to Lou’s door, turning sideways to move past the immobilized furry figure in front of them. Like all the other doors in the facility, Lou’s had an electronic lock, now disabled, and so it sat slightly open. Once they saw inside, it became clear why Lou hadn’t been out in the hallway. Someone had put him in restraints so that he was held tightly to the bed by metal shackles. Fortunately, they had a latch but no locks, so Casey removed them quickly. Lou didn’t move once released however, and Lex sighed.
“I guess it carried all the way in here,” she said, feeling confused and now afraid.
It took her a few tries in order to make her voice work again the way it had earlier, but once Lou moved again, he smiled.
“Somehow, I knew you’d be coming,” he said, sitting up and rubbing at his limbs to try to get his circulation going again.
Casey kissed him fiercely then. Lex looked away in embarrassment as the kiss lingered, but she had a big smile on her face.
“I wasn’t going to leave you behind,” Casey replied once she and Lou broke their kiss as she helped him up off the bed. They stopped for a moment once they got out into the hall and Lex winced as she saw both Lou and Casey surveying the two still figures there. The furry creature remained motionless, but the person with the broken arms had begun to stir, moaning quietly. Lex sighed.
“Lou, Casey, can you both hold your ears and hum for a moment? I want to try something,” Lex said.
“All right,” Casey agreed, “but hurry. Weren’t you the one who told me we couldn’t help people out here?”
Lex shook her head as they both did as requested, and then said “sleep” several times before she felt the odd contraction and expansion that she had before. When she
looked down next, Lex noted that the injured person now appeared to be resting. She heard a noise behind her as she nudged Casey to let her know everything was OK, and when they all turned around to leave, Lex saw that the dark-furred figure had slid to the floor, snoring slightly.
When they made it into the stairwell, Lou looked over at Casey and Lex and asked, “How did you arrange all this?”
The two of them looked at each other before Lex started to speak. “Riss took care of most of it. We figured some chaos would be good in order to be able to get you out of here, and we felt bad just leaving everyone else trapped, so Riss figured out a way to make the main power go out, and then she took out all of the computers in the facility as that happened. So when the emergency generators went on, none of the computers came back up, and Riss had sprung all the electronic locks. After that, all we really had to do was come in here and get you.”
Lou nodded, and they all fell silent as they turned the corner on the stairs to reach another landing. Lou trailed Casey, still moving slowly but now on his own. He looked across at Lex to meet her eyes.
“So what was that thing that you did with your voice?” he asked. “Casey never mentioned you could do anything like that.”
Lex turned her face into Casey’s shoulder in embarrassment, trying to look down.
“I was curious about that, too,” Casey added, craning her head to look sideways at her friend.
“Well,” Lex said, clearing her throat, “that’s a good question. It’s never happened before.”
Lou and Casey both seemed surprised, and then Lex felt a rumble underneath her as Casey laughed.
“Too bad we’re not going to see Lily again,” Casey said. “You could definitely write this down in your symptom journal.”
Lex sighed. “At least it came in handy,” she replied.
Casey laughed again. “Oh, you’re right about that,” she agreed, opening the door back onto the floor they’d started out on.
She pulled back a moment later and closed the door again as Lex heard a whining, whizzing sound and something hit the door frame.
“Crap. They’re shooting now. Lily did say something about security guards. Lou, do you know if you’re bulletproof?” Casey asked.
Lou shrugged. “Not sure, really. Fortunately, whenever someone’s pointed a gun at me, I’ve been able to talk my way out of it.”
“Well, since your body seems to be as tough as mine, you probably are. I’m going to edge out of the door first, and you come behind me. I’ll slide down the wall to the door that’s maybe 20 yards down the hall, the one that leads out onto the loading dock. You stay behind me and shield Lex. Lex, keep your head down under my shoulder.”
“OK,” Lex said, suddenly feeling very small as she ducked down behind Casey’s shoulder and looked back to see Lou hovering nearby.
By the dim emergency lighting in the hallway, Lex could occasionally see a shadowy figure run by at an intersection ahead of where they needed to go, usually dressed in uniforms much like she’d seen the people in the sewer wearing. The distinctive sounds of a pitched battle reached her ears as they emerged onto the loading dock, but she gauged it to be some distance away, so none of the small group got hit. Lex chanced a glance, darting her forehead over Casey’s shoulder for a moment. She gasped involuntarily as Casey stepped carefully over two mangled bodies, dark helmets still intact on their heads even though one of them now sat about a foot away from its body.
“Don’t look down,” Casey muttered as Lex ducked so that she could barely see over Casey’s shoulder but not so far that she didn’t spot the figure in the hospital gown. At first glance, she simply seemed to be sitting on the ground, but the second look clearly revealed the gush of blood all down her chest.
As they stepped outside moments later, Lex noted that the grounds looked peaceful; the only thing that seemed out of place was the sight of two people in hospital gowns running for the break in the fence.
“You were right, Lex. It seems they aren’t willing to risk the exposure of shooting outside. Let’s go,” Casey said as she picked up her pace, running for the van they’d arrived in.
Lex had the straps released once they made it back to the van, and she slid down Casey’s back as the taller woman stopped to open the driver’s door. Walking over to Lou, Lex tugged on his arm.
“Let’s get you in the back,” she said, taking him around to the rear doors, something Casey had suggested earlier due to the need for weight distribution when transporting the two of them.
Lex and Lou got in and he shut the doors behind them as Casey made the engine roar to life. Lex pushed a stack of clothes over to Lou with a smile, then went to the front of the van. She looked over at Riss as she passed by. Her friend’s eyes were shut and she had a serious expression on her face, lit by the screens of the few laptops she’d purchased during the time Lex had been out of commission. Sliding into the front seat, Lex fastened her seat belt as Casey quickly backed out of the loading dock and pointed the van towards the rear exit of the facility.
She and Lex exchanged a glance as they both noticed that the gate arm on the road leading out of the facility was down. As Casey started to say something, most likely to warn everyone to brace themselves, the gate arm rose and they drove safely out of the facility, turning left into the surrounding residential streets and leaving the cursed building behind them. Lex threw Riss a glance, suspecting she’d made something happen, but the other woman’s position and expression didn’t change.
Sometime later they pulled into a big rental car lot across the city. Riss had opened her eyes and shut down most of the computers she’d been using, except for the laptop Lex had given her. She nodded and pointed as they drove down the rows of vehicles to a sky blue van with tinted windows.
“That should be it,” she said.
They left the white van they’d been driving in the drop-off area, and exchanged their old keys for new ones at the check-in counter. As Casey and Lex had changed their clothes in the back of the old van, Lex had patched up the cuts on Casey’s shin that she’d received during her fight with the dark-furred creature that had driven her to one knee, and a circular dent bleeding on her forearm.
“I’ve never seen you hurt before,” Lex had said, then bit her lip.
Casey had just shrugged. “I could tell when I was grappling with that thing with the fur that it was dense like me. I don’t think it was as dense as I am, though, because it really didn’t scratch me that deep. As for the other one, I guess there were some sharp edges on that bullet or something.”
Lex had sighed and finished the job, putting everything they’d worn, including Lou’s hospital gown, into a plastic bag.
The four of them moved to the new van then, got it going, and drove away with no trouble. They made a stop at a convenience store a mile or two from the car rental lot, and as they went in, threw the bag with the clothes in the trash bin in front. As they drove further onto the busy streets of the city, Lex found herself laughing.
“Good job, ladies,” she said, looking over at Casey and back over her shoulder at Riss.
Casey laughed in return, slapping the steering wheel as she drove. “I can’t believe it worked so well. You’re a certified computer genius, Riss.”
Lex looked out of the corner of her eye as Riss smiled and turned to look out the window.
“It was a bit of a job to make sure that none of the cameras started recording or the locks re-engaged while you were inside. I kept the cameras feeding what they saw to me, but it won’t be available to anyone else.”
“Were a lot of people able to get out?” Lex asked curiously.
Riss tilted her head in consideration. “A number of people were successfully trapped by the guards, but a good number managed to escape. It seemed like people lucky enough to be housed near the loading dock got away in greater numbers.”
“Oh, by the way,” Riss said as she leaned back over the seat to hand something to Lou, “here’s your new driver
’s license and a credit card, Robert Louis Stevens. Wait at least a few hours to try it, and let me know if it gives you any trouble. Don’t forget to sign the back.”
After a pause, Riss added, “In case you hadn’t heard, I’m now Priscilla Claire Smith, Martha Acacia Robbins is driving, and Jane Alexis Mansfield is sitting shotgun.”
Lou gave Riss a smile as she finished, then looked at the new cards before he opened his wallet to take the old ones out, snapping them into bits and putting the pieces in his front pocket.
“Thanks,” he said, nodding at Riss. “They look perfect. You did a great job.”
Riss just looked away then, but Lex spotted a little smile on her face. Lex smiled herself as she settled back to facing front in the passenger’s seat, but noticed Casey looking at her out of the corner of her eye.
“So, do you want to talk about it?” she asked Lex, one eyebrow quirked upwards.
“Talk about what?” Lex mumbled, shrinking in her seat.
“You know what I’m asking about,” Casey said in a slightly amused tone.
“Not really,” Lex replied, trying to answer even more quietly.
“What are you two going on about up there?” Riss asked after their exchange.
“Lex manifested a new symptom today, as Lily would say,” Casey answered her, looking at the other woman in the rearview mirror.
“What happened?” Riss asked, her face concerned.
Lex shrank in her seat even more as she listened to Casey’s explanation of what had happened in the facility.
As Lex turned in her chair, she saw Riss staring at her with interest now, both of her eyebrows raised. “Really?”
Lex sighed, her shoulders dropping. “It was sort of like that, just less dramatic.”
“You should have seen her. It was amazing.”
Sighing again, Lex continued. “I don’t really know what I did. Maybe it just happened because I was scared. It might be something I can’t ever do again.”
