MONOLITH

by Shaun Hutson

  ‘The security cameras are off,’ Hadley whispered, pointing to the dormant contraption. ‘Why the fuck would they do that?’

  Jess could only shake her head.

  ‘And if they called the fire brigade to put out the fire they’re taking their time getting here,’ she added.

  ‘Maybe they never called them,’ Hadley offered.

  ‘No fire alarms went off,’ Jess reminded him. ‘Fire doors are supposed to close automatically. Maybe there’s more unfinished than we first thought.’ She paused a moment. ‘Unless the building is trying to help us.’

  Hadley merely raised his eyebrows then moved off down the corridor towards the bank of lifts, noticing that another security camera above the lift doors was also inactive. He hit the CALL button and waited.

  Nothing happened. The button didn’t illuminate and there was no sound from inside the shaft beyond the closed doors. Hadley pressed again but still there was no response.

  ‘Looks like we’re walking up,’ he said, nodding towards the exit doors at the far end of the corridor.

  ‘Are they all out of action?’ Jess asked, scanning the closed doors and the unlit numbers above each one.

  ‘All except the private one that leads up to Voronov’s penthouse,’ Hadley told her indicating the panels before them. ‘And we’re not getting in that one.’

  Jess nudged him, pointing at the illuminated numbers above the door of the private lift. The ones at the top were flaring into life.

  ‘Someone has,’ she said, breathlessly. ‘I think someone’s coming down.’

  They both stood rooted to the spot for a moment watching the numbers lighting up in descending order as the private lift moved lower.

  ‘Let’s move,’ Hadley said and they both ran towards the far end of the corridor.

  He reached the doors first and pushed against them, slipping his fingers beneath the bar that ran across them and trying to lift it. It wouldn’t move. The doors remained shut. Jess helped him, using all her strength to try and shift the recalcitrant bar but it was no use.

  ‘We’re locked in,’ she said. ‘Someone locked it from the other side.’

  ‘Let’s try the doors at the other end where we came in,’ Hadley suggested.

  They both turned and sprinted down the corridor, glancing again in the direction of the private lift as they passed. They could see that it was still descending. It had reached the thirty-second floor by now and was still on its way down.

  Jess and Hadley ran on, finally reaching the other safety doors.

  They too were locked.

  ‘They know where we are,’ Jess said.

  Hadley nodded.

  ‘We’ve got to find somewhere to hide,’ he said, breathlessly. ‘At least give ourselves a chance.’

  They headed back up the corridor again, opening doors as they went, looking for any room that might offer sanctuary. Any room that might have a stick of furniture in it that they could conceal themselves behind. Or something that they could use as a weapon to protect themselves.

  Every room seemed to be empty.

  And the lift was still descending.

  They both knew its destination was the floor they were now on.

  ‘Call the police,’ Hadley said. ‘Do it now, Jess.’

  She reached for her phone, letting out a gasp as she looked at it.

  ‘No signal,’ she said.

  The lift was at the twenty-fifth floor now and it was still descending.

  NINETY-ONE

  Hadley knew they had no chance.

  That unassailable fact was beginning to burn its way deeper and deeper into his mind. He had been apprehensive when they’d first entered the building, doubtful of their chances of pulling off what they come here for but now as he glanced up at the illuminated numbers above the lift he was even more certain of that eventuality.

  Jess also watched the numbers, each one that lit up showing how low the lift was now going. It was on the twentieth floor now and still coming down. She estimated they had another ten or fifteen seconds or less before it arrived at the floor they were currently on.

  And then?

  She ran towards the door of another room and pushed it open not even knowing what she was looking for. Somewhere to hide? Something to fight back with? But why hide? It was only prolonging the inevitable. They might as well stand and wait for their fate, embrace it as a man who walks to the scaffold embraces the realisation and inevitability of his own demise. But something deep inside her, some faint and desperate voice told her that they could still find a way out of this seemingly impossible situation and it was that tiny spark of false hope and desperation that drove her to shove open another door a little farther up the corridor.

  The door swung open and Jess looked inside.

  There must have been workmen inside this very day she told herself because there were tools lying around. And tools, she thought, could be used as weapons. Where there were weapons there was a chance. Slim though it might be it was better than nothing.

  She snatched up a hammer, hefting it before her and motioned to Hadley who joined her inside the room, enveloped now by the gloom. Blinds had been fitted to the windows and closed and they shut out any natural light from outside. It was almost impenetrably dark inside the room and Jess felt a little safer in the blackness that wrapped itself around her and Hadley. He ducked down and picked up something bulkier that Jess recognised as a nail gun. He held it before him like an oversized pistol for a second before pressing himself against the wall just like Jess was doing.

  In the corridor outside they heard the lift finally bump to a halt.

  Hadley gripped the nail gun more tightly, his finger over the trigger, his heart hammering against his ribs. Jess held the claw hammer in both hands, trying to steady it and also trying to stop herself shaking.

  Then they heard the voices outside.

  Whispered words spoken in an accent they had come to recognise.

  Hadley looked across at her then down at the small strip of light beneath the door, creeping beneath from the blazing fluorescents in the ceiling of the corridor.

  Shadows moved across this strip.

  Whoever was out there was right beside the door.

  Jess gripped the hammer more tightly and fixed her gaze on the handle.

  There was more whispering then silence again. In that oppressive stillness Jess was sure that whoever was on the far side of the door would hear her heart beating it was hammering so hard against her ribs. She tried to swallow but her throat was as dry as chalk.

  The handle moved and the door opened a fraction.

  Hadley swung the nail gun upwards and waited.

  If he’d believed in a God he would have said a prayer. For himself, for Jess and for any other fucker in this stinking world that he cared about and hoped he’d live to see again.

  The man who stepped into the room was about five feet ten. Dressed in a dark suit that momentarily made him look like a portion of the shadow in the room had detached itself and gained some semblance of form. In that split second, Hadley could see that the man was holding a gun.

  For milliseconds they looked at one another in bewilderment but it was Hadley who reacted first.

  He pumped the trigger of the nail gun five times in quick succession.

  Five nails, each one 90mm long, exploded from the gun and hit the man who stood before him.

  The first caught him in the chin, tore easily into the bone and stuck there. The second shot past his ear, nicking the flesh on the way before burying itself in the door behind. The third hit him in the forehead, ploughing easily into bone as deep as the flattened head of the nail. The fourth nail also missed but the fifth tore into his right eye and onwards into his brain. There was surprisingly little blood. The man dropped like a stone, the gun falling from his hand as a second man now stepped into the room, his own pistol raised.

  He swung it upwards, drawing a bead on Hadley but before he could pull the trigger Jess leapt fr
om behind the door and brought the claw hammer down onto the back of his skull with as much power as she could muster. There was a sickening crack as the skull shattered, the force of the blow creating a coin sized hole just above the man’s left ear. Jess hit him again as he swayed uncertainly, his index finger spasming around the trigger of the automatic.

  The weapon went off with a thunderous blast that seemed to fill the room and reverberated inside Jess’s head as it seemed to shatter her eardrums. She struck again at the second man who was trying to turn towards her now, raising his hand to protect himself from the rain of blows but it was useless. Jess caught him across the bridge of the nose and then the temple and again the crack of shattering bone was clearly audible. Driven by a mixture of desperation and fear she struck with a power and ferocity she herself had doubted she possessed. The man had no defence against such an attack. He pitched backwards with blood pouring from his wounds, his legs twitching slightly.

  Hadley thought about putting the nail gun to more use but resisted the temptation.

  Still gripping the implement he dashed out into the corridor, Jess right behind him.

  What they saw before them stopped them in their tracks.

  The Golem stood immobile before the doors of the lift its massive arms outstretched as if it were about to embrace someone.

  Jess tried to speak but no words would come. She could only stand and stare at the clay monstrosity.

  It turned its head and looked at them.

  NINETY-TWO

  When the Golem took its first step towards them it was with a fluidity of movement that neither expected.

  Perhaps, Jess told herself, she had expected some stiff and spastic movement, as if the sheer bulk of the creature prevented anything other but when it moved it moved with ease.

  It took one long stride, the sound of its foot against the carpeted floor of the corridor a dull thud.

  For interminable seconds both Jess and Hadley stood still, rooted to the spot by what they were seeing. Because what they were witnessing was not just the stuff of nightmares it was the embodiment of a legend. Of a myth made reality. What they were witnessing should not have been, all the laws of nature were against it and yet, as they stood watching, a thing made of clay and shaped so roughly to resemble the form of a man, now moved towards them. The fact that it was expressionless made it even more terrifying because at least if there had been rage or fury etched on the dark features then they might have sparked feelings within those who saw it. But that blank, formless face was devoid of any humanity. Both in looks and intent and that lack of any human features just served to make it more terrifying. It was pure re-animated power. And it was intent on just one thing. Their destruction.

  The Golem struck out with one huge arm, the appendage slamming against the wall nearest to it with such incredible strength that paint fell away and the plaster beneath cracked.

  It was that movement that finally galvanised Jess and Hadley.

  They turned and ran towards the end of the corridor, towards the exit doors that they had come through not more than an hour earlier. Only when they reached them did they turn to see that the Golem was still pursuing them, each heavy footstep shaking the ground beneath them it seemed. It moved with a speed Jess would have thought impossible for such a creature but its gait was unhurried. It reminded her of a spider advancing on its prey. Neither hurries because neither needs to. Each of its strides brought it closer and its arms were still outstretched before it but now bent at the place where the elbows would have been.

  Hadley dropped the nail gun momentarily and took the hammer from her, swinging it madly and smashing it against the metal bar that held the exit door in place.

  He struck it again and again, the sound ringing in his ears and echoing inside the corridor.

  Jess turned and glanced back in the direction of the Golem. It was less than twenty feet away now.

  Hadley hammered at the door with even greater urgency.

  ‘Come on,’ Jess said, breathlessly. ‘Come on.’

  The Golem drew nearer.

  Hadley struck the door again, driving his foot against it too.

  Jess saw the Golem bump against the wall to its right, scraping one arm against the paintwork there and leaving a gouge in the plaster. It straightened itself up and continued towards them with the same unstoppable intent. Never increasing its pace, its sightless eyes fixed ahead and pinned on them Jess imagined.

  Hadley struck the door again and it creaked, the bar loosening. He hit it again and again, beads of perspiration forming on his forehead such was the effort he was expending.

  He struck it again, the doors opening a crack.

  ‘Come on,’ he roared, driving his foot against the doors, gasping triumphantly as they swung open.

  He turned to see that the Golem was only ten or so feet from them now and he almost pushed Jess through the open doors and out into the stairwell beyond. She turned to head downwards but Hadley shouted to her.

  ‘No,’ he roared. ‘Go up.’

  She hesitated for a moment then did as he instructed, taking the stairs two at a time in her haste, stumbling more than once as he bolted up behind her.

  And below them, moving at the same unearthly speed and with the same unstoppable purpose, the Golem followed.

  It negotiated the steps without difficulty considering the stiffness and inflexibility of its form. Each impact of its heavy feet caused the stairwell to shake and the sound gathered until it seemed to be deafening. Occasionally it collided with the metal balustrade that ran alongside the stairs and the loud clang rang out like a tuneless bell. Jess looked back to see it climbing higher.

  ‘It’s still coming,’ she said.

  Hadley didn’t answer her.

  ‘Where the fuck are we going?’ she demanded breathlessly.

  ‘We’ve got to get up high,’ Hadley told her. ‘Get that thing to follow us to where we can destroy it.’

  ‘We can’t destroy it,’ she hissed, almost stumbling again as they clambered up the stairs but Hadley grabbed her arm and pulled her along with him.

  ‘If we can get close enough we can,’ he said, defiantly. ‘If we can destroy the scroll that gives it life. We’ve got to get that scroll.’

  ‘We’ll never get close enough to it,’ Jess gasped.

  ‘If we get to the roof we can,’ Hadley said.

  They continued to climb.

  Below them, the Golem followed.

  ***

  ‘I know where they’re going,’ Andrei Voronov said calmly, not even looking at the man with the goatee beard who looked distinctly agitated.

  ‘Two security men have already been killed,’ the man protested.

  ‘I told you to keep them clear,’ Voronov snapped. ‘Just make sure no one else tries to stop them. Let them get to the roof.’

  The bearded man opened his mouth to say something but Voronov raised his hand to silence him. He took another sip from the glass he was holding.

  ‘We’ll be waiting for them,’ he murmured.

  NINETY-THREE

  Jess thought her lungs were going to burst.

  She was sucking in air as best she could and was amazed at how Hadley kept going without a complaint but she was having difficulty breathing as they reached the next floor. She glanced to one side and saw that they had got as far as the thirtieth. And all the time, behind them, moving inexorably and unhurriedly, the Golem followed. On the odd occasions when Jess had dared to stand still for split seconds to get her breath she had heard its lumbering progress beneath them.

  Despite the chill in the stairwell beads of perspiration had formed on Hadley’s forehead and top lip and he wiped them away periodically, taking deep breaths of his own and sometimes pulling Jess along with him when it seemed she could go no further.

  They clambered up another five flights, each step now causing pain in their calves and thighs too. But the thought of what was behind them drove them on. The knowledge that if they stopped t
hey would have no chance.

  ‘How much further?’ Jess gasped.

  ‘Not far,’ Hadley panted, still struggling on. ‘Come on.’

  Jess gripped the handrail tightly for a moment then looked back, peering down through the gaps in the stairs towards where the Golem was.

  She could see it’s dark bulk moving ever higher and she thought, for one terrifying moment that it had increased its speed. But how was that possible she asked herself. It could only move at that same stiff legged, unbroken, robotic pace.

  Couldn’t it?

  She stumbled and fell to her knees but she hauled herself upright again and despite her desperate need for breath and the growing pain in her legs she forced herself onwards.

  Another five floors climbed.

  It seemed to her that Hadley too had increased his pace, desperate to reach the roof as he had told her. But exactly why that destination was so vital she had no idea. In her current state she could do nothing other than gasp for breath and run on with little more than terror and instinct driving her. She knew she couldn’t go back down so she went up. What awaited her on the roof she did not dare contemplate.

  And behind, the Golem still came on.

  As they reached the fortieth floor Jess felt fresh energy flowing through her. A second wind of sorts but still her legs felt as if they were burning and she feared that the pain was cramp. A vice like muscular pain that seemed to be growing more intense now with every tortured step.

  ‘Come on,’ Hadley gasped.

  She tried to answer him but could not find the breath for the words.

  Instead she concentrated on forcing herself higher, her aching feet and straining muscles barely able to support her now. Each step was an effort but she knew that effort must be made. There was no other way. The alternative was too terrible to consider. But there was a part of her that just wanted to collapse onto the cold stone and lay there helplessly allowing the pain and the breathlessness to subside. Just remain still even thought the Golem was close. Part of her would have been content to accept that fate and whatever the creature would do when it reached her but something deep within her that she could only assume was the basic human desire for preservation somehow enabled her to continue.