by Amy Cross
“What if,” Hanson continued, “your friend decides that in order to stop some act of great evil that he believes we might commit, he rationalizes that losing you is a price worth paying? What if he's not as emotionally attached to you as you were led to think? Perhaps, to him, you're nothing more than an irritation, something to be used for his purposes but, ultimately, to be disposed of when you pose an inconvenience.”
“That's not true,” she replied. “He's coming.”
“You can't be sure of that.”
“He's coming,” she said again, more firmly this time.
“Then shouldn't he be here by now?”
Staring at the earpiece in Doctor Leach's hand, Katie began to feel doubts creeping into her soul. Robinson had fallen quiet some time earlier, as if he no longer worried about keeping in touch, and although she wanted to believe that he'd rescue her, she couldn't deny that there were other possibilities. After all, he'd mentioned several times that he'd had a lot of apprentices over the years. Glancing at the door again, she felt her faith starting to waver.
“See the doubt in her eyes?” Hanson said after a moment, with a faint smile. “She knows he's not coming for her.”
“Still,” Doctor Leach added, “he must know that we have her here.”
“That's not a problem,” Hanson continued, turning to her. “I was thinking that we could use her to test the abominations.”
“To test them?” Doctor Leach paused, before a hint of realization showed in her eyes. “You mean...”
“They need to learn some time. They've been down there so long, they must be growing weak and docile by now, and you know full well that rotten old cadavers are no substitute for fresh, squirming meat.”
“And she would put up a struggle.”
“What are you talking about?” Katie asked, trying not to panic. “Listen, you have to let me go. I'm just a cleaner...”
“Tell us the name of the people you work for,” Hanson said firmly, “and where to find them. It's as simple as that.”
She shook her head.
“Loyal to the end?” he asked. “Your boss seems to have abandoned you, young lady. Why do you show him the loyalty he so clearly doesn't reciprocate? Tell us who sent you, and we'll let you walk out of here as if nothing happened.”
“It's not -” She paused, realizing that her throat was becoming dry. “Angels,” she said finally.
“What do you know about angels?” Hanson asked.
“I know you're making them here,” she continued, trying a new approach. “I know you're somehow trying to take D.N.A. from samples, and then you're trying to brew up some kind of hybrid. I know that one of your attempts was a guy named Martin, and I know he escaped and that you don't know what happened to him. But here's the thing, I do know what happened to him, and I know where he is too, so why don't we negotiate?”
“You want to trade your freedom in exchange for the return of one of our prototypes?”
“Doesn't that sound like a good deal?”
“Subject B is of no further use to us,” Hanson replied. “We've moved on now.”
“But he's out there somewhere,” Katie continued. “That's a risk, isn't it? Anyone could find him, and then maybe they'd realize what you're doing. I mean, my friends and I linked him to you pretty damn fast, didn't we? How do you think we did that?”
“We left no traceable elements,” Hanson said firmly.
“So how come I'm here?” Katie asked, trying desperately not to let them see that she was terrified. “I get it, you thought you had everything under control, but clearly something went wrong with your plan. Don't you want to know what? If we found you, other people might do the same later. In fact, I guarantee it.”
“You're threatening us with the police?” Hanson asked with a grin.
“You wish,” Katie said firmly. “Believe me, the police would be much easier for you to deal with. My boss, on the other hand, is your worst nightmare.”
“It would be useful to get Subject B back here,” Doctor Leach said after a moment, turning to Hanson. “There are several tests I'd like to run, just to be certain that I understand what went wrong.”
“Useful but not essential,” Hanson pointed out.
“And we should try to find out how she linked Subject B to this facility.”
“Pure luck,” Hanson said firmly.
“But we can't be certain!”
“That's right,” Katie stammered, “you can't!”
“As ever,” Doctor Leach told Hanson, “the decision is yours. I'm only giving my recommendations.” She paused, waiting for him to say something. “Recommendations,” she added finally, “that are based on several years' worth of experience.”
Hanson stared at Katie for a moment, as if he was struggling to make up his mind.
“We'll proceed with our work on Subject C for now,” he said after a few seconds, “and we'll start work on our future plans. I see no reason to waste our time going back to look at Subject B, not when we're so close to success.”
“But the -”
“We should use this girl to train test the abominations,” he continued, interrupting the doctor. “I've long had concern about certain aspects of our project. I think this would be a very good time to run a few experiments and see how the abominations react to a live victim. They've been left to grow weak for too long.”
“You mean -”
“Bring her,” he said firmly, turning and heading toward the door.
“Where?” Katie asked, as the technician made his way behind her and began to untie her from the chair. “Are you letting me go? That's the only good decision you can make right now! You're bringing a world of pain down on yourselves if you don't let me go!”
“I'm sorry,” Doctor Leach said, with a hint of regret in her eyes. “I gave him my advice, but I have no authority to overrule him.”
“What does that mean?” Katie asked, unable to hide her panic any longer as she was shoved toward the door. “You need to let me go right now, or you're making a big mistake!”
“If it's any consolation,” the doctor called after her, as she was led from the room, “your death will provide us with some fascinating data.”
“No!” Katie shouted, struggling to get free before the technician put an arm around her neck and began dragging her along the corridor. She tried to get free, but his grip was firm and there was nothing she could do as she was pulled along to a heavily-secured metal door.
“The abominations were the results of our first experiments,” Hanson said as he swiped his security pass against the sensor. “They were failures, obviously, and in most cases we aborted them before they could get very far. Some of them, however, were allowed to continue growing, so we could learn where we'd gone wrong. Of those, only three survived.” He pressed a button, causing the metal door to slide open, and finally he turned to her. “I know three doesn't sound like a lot, but believe me, it's something of a miracle. If you really have encountered Subject B, you'll know that he's deeply flawed, but what you might not realize is that he was a marked improvement over our previous attempts. He showed real promise after the failures that led to the abominations.”
“You have to let me go,” Katie said firmly, staring ahead into the dark room. “What's in there?”
“Failed angels,” Hanson replied. “Terrible, nightmarish failures that resulted from our earliest work. So many of them died in the vat, but a few persisted and are still with us today. Doctor Leach and I have long wanted to test them out and see whether they have the killer instinct, and now we have the perfect chance.”
“No,” Katie told him, “you can't do this, Robinson will -”
“Robinson?” Hanson replied, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “Really? Well, I must admit, you managed to persuade me earlier that my initial assumption was wrong. Now, however, it's clear that I should have trusted my instincts. Robinson seemed like such an idiot, but perhaps that was all an act. I must make sure to deal with him
at the first available opportunity.”
“No!” Katie shouted as she was shoved through the door, with her hands still tied behind her back.
“Enjoy the abominations,” Hanson told her, pressing a button next to the door. “We'll be monitoring your death with great interest.”
Lunging toward him, Katie slammed instead into the door as it slid shut.
“Let me out!” she screamed. “Robinson, help me!”
She grabbed the edge, trying to pull it open, before realizing that she could already hear footsteps heading away on the other side.
“He will help me,” she whispered, “I know he will, there's no way he'd just abandon me. Robinson, if you can hear me right now, I'm in a -” Pausing, she remembered that the earpiece was gone, but she still felt as if in some way he might be able to hear her speaking to him. “Robinson, please...”
She tugged on the metal cuffs around her wrists, but no matter what she tried, she couldn't get free.
With barely enough light in the darkened room, she fumbled with the door for a moment longer, before hearing a brief creaking sound over her shoulder. Turning, she saw that there was a small window high up on the adjacent wall, with figures standing on the other side. After a moment, she realized she could just about make out Hanson and Doctor Leach, as if they were waiting up there to observe her. There was something clinical about their approach, as if they saw the entire situation as nothing more than a scientific experiment.
“What do you want?” she shouted, taking a step forward into the dark room. “Why are you -”
Stopping suddenly, she realized she was losing her balance on the edge of a small platform. Struggling to stay upright, she finally managed to pull back, at which point she saw that she was on a raised section that was only a couple of meters across in each direction. Looking up at the window, she could see the figures still standing impassively, watching her every move, and when she looked back down at the edge of the platform she realized that she was a few meters above some kind of pit. The whole place seemed dirty, which was a strange contrast to the pristine surface in the laboratory: she could see dark stains on the walls, and there was a distinctive stench of rotting meat and sewage.
From down below, beyond the edge of the platform, a faint gasping sound could be heard.
“Hello?” Katie called out, her voice filled with fear.
She waited, listening to the sound of something edging closer. She winced as she realized the smell was getting stronger: it was as if something was rotting down in the darkness.
“Who are you?” she continued. “Whatever you want, I can -”
Suddenly the platform shuddered, as something seemed to bump into it from below. Katie froze, fully aware that she could now make out several distinct gasps coming from the darkness.
“It's just the pipes expanding,” she told herself, trying not to panic. “It's the building settling and -”
The platform shook again, with more force this time.
“Abominations,” she whispered, thinking back to everything Hanson and Doctor Leach had said a few minutes earlier. “Results of the first experiments...”
Backing toward the door, she watched the edge of the platform as she realized that the gasping sound from below was edging closer, almost as if something was climbing up. Turning, she heard the same sound coming from a different direction, and she soon became aware of at least three separate sounds. Spotting a hint of movement out of the corner of her eye, she turned just in time to see a twisted, malformed hand reaching up from beneath the platform and taking hold of the edge, as if something from below was preparing to haul itself up.
***
“Is it wrong of me to want to watch?” Hanson asked, standing at the window and watching as the abominations climbed up to the platform where Katie was cowering.
“Not at all,” Doctor Leach replied, with a faint smile on her lips. “It's natural for us to enjoy such things. She's weaker than us. Strong creatures always enjoy watching the suffering of those who are beneath them.”
“Look at the abominations,” Hanson continued, as the three broken angels continued to reach over the edge of the platform, struggling to drag themselves up. “Even in their abject state, they are creatures of great beauty.”
“They're more beautiful now that they're hunting,” Doctor Leach replied. “Then again, that's true of any animal.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“You've got to be kidding,” Katie whispered, staring in wide-eyed horror as – just a couple of meters away – the twisted hand took hold of the edge of the platform.
Backing over to the door, she looked around, trying to find something she could use for defense, but there was nothing. Hearing a faint rasping sound, she turned to see that the hand was now an arm reaching up onto the platform, with twisted muscles that looked to be entwined with one another; a moment later, the creature pulled itself up further, bringing its shoulder into view, and finally a face appeared, with a pair of small, blackened eyes that stared straight at her. The smell of rotten flesh was intense now, almost strong enough to make her gag, but Katie was focused on trying to get her wrists free behind her back.
Spotting more movement nearby, she turned and saw that another of the creatures was trying to climb up on another edge of the platform.
“Let me out of here!” she shouted, looking up at the high window where Hanson and Doctor Leach stood impassively, as if they were watching the results of an experiment. “What are these things?”
As one of the creatures pulled itself fully onto the platform, it kept its eyes fixed firmly on Katie.
Above, a tinny loudspeaker started crackling to life.
“They're deformities,” Doctor Leach's voice explained coolly. “Failed experiments, mistakes, abortions. Even the greatest minds have to take a few tries before they get it right. These are our cast-offs.”
Katie watched as the closest creature tried to get to its feet, although its legs seemed horribly twisted and the bones refused to support its weight; instead, the creature remained crouched, watching Katie with a blank, expressionless face that seemed vaguely human but with melted, discolored skin.
“Even the angels we're creating now aren't perfect,” Doctor Leach added, “but they're a lot better than the specimens we began with. As you can see for yourself, the abominations are not fast and they're not strong, but they should still be able to hunt when their prey has been incapacitated. That's the theory, anyway. I do hope you won't prove us wrong.” With that, the loudspeaker clicked off.
“What do you want from me?” Katie asked, maintaining eye contact with the creature as it continued to stare at her. “Please, you have to listen to me, I don't want to hurt you...”
Slowly, the creature opened its mouth, revealing bloodied, bare gums with just a handful of teeth remaining. At the same time, it tilted its head a little, as if it was trying to understand what it was seeing. Despite its hideous appearance, there was a hint of intelligence in the creature's eyes.
“Okay,” Katie continued, her voice trembling with fear as the second creature reached the platform, “let's try to talk about this. If you started out as human, maybe you can still understand me. Is that right?” She paused, waiting for a response. “If you understand what I'm saying, give me some kind of sign.”
The first creature continued to stare.
Turning to the other creature, Katie saw that it, too, was giving no indication that her words were getting through.
“Katie,” she said, still trying to figure out a way to get them to talk to her. “My name's Katie, do you... Do you want me to help you, is that what it is?”
“Help?” the first creature asked, its voice sounding frayed and damaged.
“Help,” she continued, forcing a smile, “yeah, I can help. Maybe. I mean, I can try, but first you have to agree to not rip me to pieces or whatever the hell else you want to do. That's definitely something that's very important to me.” Again she waited, but ag
ain there was no response. “What are your names? You had names, didn't you? Back before... Before all of this, I mean. You were people once, so you must have had names.”
“Deformities,” the first creature whispered.
“Abominations,” the second added. “Mistakes.”
“Think!” she shouted.
“Failures,” the first creature added. “We are... nothing.”
“No, you had names,” she continued, turning as she realized a third creature was climbing up to join them. She felt a jolt of panic in her chest, but she knew that she had to stay calm. “Come on, try to think. Don't you remember what your lives were like before you came here? You must have had actual lives, with actual people who cared about you.”
“Before we came here,” the first creature replied slowly, “we were... down there. In the pit.”
“But before that,” she continued, trying to stay calm, “you must have been somewhere else.” She glanced up at the window and saw that Hanson and Doctor Leach and Hanson were still watching. “Before you were in this room and this place, where were you? Come on, there was a time before those monsters got to you and turned you into these things!”
“Before the pit,” the second creature whispered, “we were in the water.”
“But before that,” Katie continued, trying not coax them along, “where were you? What were your names?”
“Before that,” the first creature replied, pausing for a moment as if it was struggling to remember. “Before that, there was nothing but darkness. There was no light, only darkness, and we were yet to be born into this world.” Reaching out with a damaged arm, it tried to grab Katie's foot, but she pulled back just in time.
“You don't want to hurt me,” she said firmly. “What's in it for you? All you'll be doing is keeping those sick bastards entertained.”
“Food,” the second creature explained, inching closer. “We need food.”
