by C. G. Mosley
The wood ape looked down at what she’d done and then his green eyes met hers. Marie knew she was looking at a mirror image of her own and if there had been any doubt before that it was indeed Kurt, it was now gone completely. She didn’t understand what had happened, of course, but she knew that if he was going to get any sort of help to overcome it, she had to get him out of that laboratory.
“Marie, get back here,” Sheriff Cochran snapped at her as he dangled from the opening in the shaft. “We’re not certain that’s even Kurt.”
She whirled around to look at him. “I’m certain that it is him,” she snapped. “And I’m not going to leave him.”
Cochran pulled back and sighed deeply. After a moment, he looked back down at her and said, “Okay, fine…we’re going to make our way back into the hallway and find someone that can open that door. You sit tight.”
She nodded and replied, “Please hurry.”
“You’re just going to leave her with that thing?” Tony asked in disbelief.
Cochran snorted and began crawling forward through the duct. “If it wanted to hurt her it would’ve done it by now,” he said. “She’s convinced it’s Kurt.”
“And what do you think?” Tony asked as he struggled to keep up.
“Kid, I don’t know what to think anymore,” the sheriff grumbled.
Sometime later they finally came upon a grated vent that revealed a hallway underneath them. Sheriff Cochran wasted no time kicking the grate free and then hanging out of the opening to investigate, his gun drawn. There were more flashing red lights, but otherwise the dim corridor was empty. The two of them dropped down onto the white tile floor and cautiously made their way forward. It took him a moment to get his bearings, but Cochran soon realized they were in the same hallway that they had entered after escaping the room full of wood apes.
“So, what do we do now?” Tony asked, panting slightly from the excitement and physical exertion.
Sheriff Cochran ignored him for a moment as his eyes darted around in all directions searching for danger. “Well we already know that the doors ain’t opening until we find a way to cut the power. There’s got to be a maintenance closet somewhere where the generators are at. We find those generators, we cut the power, then we get Marie, Kurt and ourselves the hell out of this house of horrors.”
Tony nodded but there was concern etched on his face. “What about what the guy said earlier…about letting out other test subjects?” he asked nervously.
Cochran shook his head and waved off the comment. “Once we get Marie and Kurt out of that room, we’re not going to wait around long enough to find out what else is lurking down here.”
Chapter 12
Sheriff Cochran knew that the quickest way to find out where the generators were located, was to find someone that worked in the lab that could point them in the right direction. He returned to the room where the wood apes had broken the door down and forced them, and some of the lab workers, to escape through the network of air ducts that ran above the ceiling. He remembered that John, Julie, and some of the other lab employees had gone the opposite direction from the route he, Marie, and Tony had taken. He tried to work out in his head which way the air ducts would’ve taken them, and he began to move down another hallway whilst staring at the ceiling, Tony in tow.
“Do you know where you’re going?” Tony asked.
“No clue,” the sheriff replied. “But we’ve got to figure out where the others went so we can find out where the maintenance rooms are at.”
Tony stayed close, occasionally glancing over his shoulder to see if they were being pursued. There were multiple times that he thought he could hear movement behind them and at any moment he would not have been surprised to see the wood apes bearing down on them. After a while they came upon a door with a large window that had chicken wire embedded within the panes of glass. The words COOL STORAGE was spelled across the glass in black vinyl lettering. Beyond the window there were rows of what appeared to be large refrigerators adorning stainless steel doors. They covered the entire back wall, top to bottom. In front of the refrigerators, there were two lab employees huddled together on the floor. It was John and Julie; the two Walker Laboratory associates they’d met earlier.
Cochran rapped on the glass with his knuckles, which in turn immediately startled them.
“Let us in,” he said to them, though he figured they wouldn’t be able to hear his voice.
Julie and John looked at each other and were speaking. Cochran sensed they were debating on whether to let him in. It was then that Cochran noticed something else. There was quite a bit of blood spatter on Julie’s face and even more blood on the front of her white lab coat. As the two of them continued to have a discussion, the sheriff heard movement somewhere around a far corner of the hallway. The flashing red lights produced terrifying shadows of multiple wood apes moving around, seemingly approaching Cochran’s position.
He returned his attention to the occupants of the room and again beat his knuckles on the glass. Julie looked over at him, her eyes sad and tired. With great reluctance, John stood and made his way to the door. He unlocked it and the sheriff and Tony barged in.
“Took you long enough,” Cochran grumbled as he locked the door.
“If it were entirely up to me, I wouldn’t have opened it,” John quipped as he returned to where he’d been sitting next to Julie.
Cochran glanced at Julie and she refused to look back. He again took note of the blood spatter and redness in her eyes—a suggestion that she’d been crying.
“What happened?” he asked, looking back to John.
John huffed and kept an arm around Julie. “What the hell do you think happened?” he asked angrily.
“The guys that were with you…they’re all dead?” the sheriff asked.
John nodded but said nothing. Tony shuddered and moved to a far corner as if it would somehow provide a minimal amount of protection.
“Has anything like this ever happened before?” Cochran asked.
John shrugged, still saying nothing.
“We’ve had subjects escape from their cells before,” Julie said suddenly, her voice a bit raspy. “But never this many at one time. It’s too many and we’re going to be picked off one by one unless someone does something—and fast.”
Sheriff Cochran drew near her and knelt on one knee. “So, help me do something about it,” he muttered.
She looked over at him, her eyes filled with hopelessness. “How?” she asked.
Cochran took a deep breath and rubbed at the back of his neck. “For starters, tell me what the hell has happened to Kurt Bledsoe?”
Julie looked to John and he responded by shaking his head.
“We can’t talk about it,” he said to her.
Cochran’s brow furrowed, and he resisted the urge to punch John. He instead reached down and took Julie by the hand, squeezing slightly.
“Listen,” he said softly. “I can get us out of here, but I’m not leaving without what I came here for—and that is Kurt. I need to know what’s happened to him.”
Julie shifted uneasily, and John kept his eyes locked onto hers. After a long moment, she pulled away from him and stood. She walked over to a mirrored supply cabinet mounted on the opposite wall and looked into it.
“We were aware of the substance that leaked from the meteor—it’s something we’ve encountered before,” she said, still staring at herself.
John suddenly stood. “Julie, keep quiet,” he growled. “You’re not at liberty—”
“Oh, shut the hell up John,” she snapped at him, exasperation in her tone. “If you haven’t noticed, we’re probably all going to die down here so who gives a shit at this point if we tell them the truth.”
John opened his mouth to speak again, but Sheriff Cochran marched toward him. “You keep quiet,” he grumbled, pointing at him.
John opened his mouth again.
“I mean it,” Cochran said. “Keep your mouth shut or I’ll shut
it for you.”
John sighed and then put his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. He kept quiet.
“Go on,” Cochran said. “Tell me everything.”
She turned to look at him, her expression made it seem as if her train of thought suddenly took her a different direction. She leaned against the wall beside the mirrored cabinet and said, “Sheriff, this county is inhabited by Bigfoot…are you aware of that?”
Cochran nodded. “Yes, I’ve known of their presence for quite some time.”
Tony suddenly spoke up. “Wait…what?” he asked, surprised. “You’ve known these things live around here?”
“Yes,” he replied. “But that’s not important right now…go on, Julie.”
“I thought you may know about them,” Julie replied. “With your role in law enforcement…how could you not know about them?”
Cochran placed his hands in the pockets of his jacket and paced for a minute. “I know there is a tribe of them out there,” he said. “And although there are other residents in this county that have seen them too, the general perception has hovered around them being a mythical presence and nothing more.”
Julie smiled slightly and cocked her head. “I’m sure there are a lot of people in this county that would disagree with that sentiment,” she said.
He looked at her, his eyes widening. “Well, it’s what I’d like to believe anyway,” he conceded.
She reached up and removed her glasses, seemingly noticing for the first time that there was blood spatter on the right lens. She cleaned it with the tail of her shirt. “Are you aware of some of the other strange occurrences that go on in this county?” she asked, still focused on the glasses.
The sheriff took a deep breath and released it slowly. “I’ve heard lots of things,” he said. “But I don’t believe what I don’t see with my own eyes.”
Julie put her glasses back on and then crossed her arms. “Well I’m here to tell you that whatever you’ve heard…it’s probably true.”
She stared at him intently for a moment and he stared right back.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that Baker County Mississippi has been a hotbed for supernatural activity for quite some time. No one knows why exactly but given that fact the United States government has taken a great interest in the area as you can imagine,” she explained. “It’s why this laboratory was put here.”
“So, we’re talking about aliens now?” Cochran asked, arching an eyebrow.
Julie’s mouth remained a straight line. It was as if she’d finally decided she’d said enough.
“Oh, you’re done now?” Cochran asked, annoyed. “Okay, fine…but I still want an explanation for what has happened to Kurt.”
Julie looked over at John. “Tell him what you know,” she said.
John was sweating and appeared clearly uncomfortable with the conversation that was taking place. His body language seemed to suggest more than anything he could’ve said that he wanted the topic of discussion to go another direction. At first, he kept his mouth shut and looked away. Julie cleared her throat and shot him an icy glare that apparently changed his mind.
“The substance that leaked from the meteor…it’s biological,” he said, his voice trembling a bit. “It’s a living thing—like a parasite.”
Sheriff Cochran shifted his feet and scratched his head. “So, you’re saying this stuff transformed him?”
John shook his head. “Not exactly,” he answered. “The Gallium—that’s what we call it—is notorious for taking more than one host at the same time. It has a way of merging two organisms together into one being—or three, I suppose if you count the Gallium.”
Tony stepped out of the corner, his curiosity getting the better of him. “Kurt’s body has merged with a Bigfoot?” he asked.
John nodded. “That’s correct.”
“For what purpose?” Cochran asked. “I mean, why the hell would this Gallium stuff you’re talking about want to merge two species together?”
“It feeds on them and will eventually kill them both,” Julie answered. “That’s why our work with Kurt is so important. We’re trying to find a way to remove the Gallium before it’s too late.”
“So, if you get it out of him, will he return to normal?” Tony asked.
John shook his head. “I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way,” he answered. “If we’re able to get the Gallium out of his system, the merging of his body with the Bigfoot is irreversible. He’ll have to share that body from now on if he survives.”
Sheriff Cochran cursed under his breath and chewed his lip as he digested the troubling news he’d just heard. “That’s ludicrous,” he murmured finally. “You’re telling me there’s nothing you can do to get him back to normal?”
John shrugged. “As of right now…no.”
“And what about the wood ape he’s sharing a body with?” Cochran asked. “Is it controlling things, or is Kurt? How does all that work?”
“Oh, the Bigfoot is very much aware of what is going on just as Kurt is,” Julie said. “And you must understand that there is still a lot that we are learning, but there are obvious behavioral and personality shifts that have occurred frequently since Kurt was brought here. It’s very obvious to us that he is not always the one in control.”
“So, what happens when the wood ape is in control?” Cochran asked, though he was worried about what the answer would be.
John stepped toward him, his hands on his hips. “Very primal,” he answered. “A lot of thrashing, and gnashing of teeth. It looks at us with a hatred I’ve never seen before and I have no doubt that when it gets that way, if it wasn’t restrained it would no doubt rip whatever human is in front of it limb from limb.”
Sheriff Cochran’s heart rate suddenly increased, and he looked over at Tony as they both immediately became overwhelmed with the same concern.
Marie.
Chapter 13
“I’m so sorry this happened to you,” Marie said again.
It had been at least the fifth time she’d said it, but there was nothing else fitting of the situation she could think of to say. The creature that she knew was her brother stared at her, his green eyes sad and confused. They were seated on the tile floor, their backs against the wall. Marie had placed her hand into his now large, callused and weathered palm.
“Don’t worry,” she said soothingly. “The sheriff and Tony are gonna get this door open and we’re gonna get you out of here. We’ll find someone that can help you and get you fixed right up.”
Kurt kept his eyes on her and his expression suggested he was unconvinced. He breathed deeply, his large lungs causing his chest to noticeably rise and fall with every breath. Marie attempted to get up to stretch as her legs were aching fiercely. Kurt pulled on her arm to keep her down beside him. She could see the fear in his face, although it was a strange sight considering the size and power he now possessed in his new frame.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “Just need to stretch my legs.”
With obvious reluctance, Kurt let her go. He watched her stretch and then pace the room a few times. It was then that he felt it. The sensation was subtle at first, but he was beginning to become quite accustomed to it and he certainly now knew what it meant.
The beast is coming, he thought.
***
“Do you want to live or not?” Cochran asked, his tone a bit scathing.
“Yes,” Julie responded. “But I want you to understand what is going to happen if you go through with this.”
“How can I understand it when you won’t tell me what I need to know?” he snapped back. “Whatever it is you’re hiding down here can’t possibly be any worse than what’s already loose.”
“That’s where you’re dead wrong, Sheriff,” John said. He then marched over to Julie and grabbed her by the forearm. She looked at where he’d clutched her arm and then her eyes met his. “You tell them how to cut that power off, we’re dead and you know
it.”
She wrenched her arm free. “As we’ve already discussed,” she replied angrily, “I think we’re dead either way so what damn difference does it make?”
“It makes a difference because if we can hold out a bit longer, the cavalry will be here—you know Franklin has called them.”
Julie lowered her head a bit and then looked over at the sheriff. “He’s right about that,” she said. “Help is on the way.”
Cochran shook his head and placed his hands on his hips, pushing the bottom sides of his unzipped jacket back slightly. “How do you know that?” he asked. “I mean really…how do you know that for certain? How do you know Franklin hasn’t already tucked tail and left this place?”
Julie’s eyes narrowed, and he could see that she was mulling the possibility over.
“He’s not doing that,” John said, seemingly reading her thoughts.
“John, the best I can tell, everyone else down here is already dead,” she replied. “We’re all that’s left. The doors that will grant us freedom will not open unless someone up there opens them, or we figure out a way to open them ourselves.”
“There is no reason to open the doors right now,” he replied, almost pleadingly.
Sheriff Cochran had finally had enough. Without hesitation, he pulled his gun and pointed it at John. “I’m a little tired of you constantly standing between me and my way out of here. Now Kurt is currently with his sister and they’re locked in a cell together. From what you’ve told me, he is essentially a ticking time bomb and can switch over to Bigfoot mode at any time. I don’t have time to listen to your excuses any longer. Tell me where the maintenance closet is so that I can cut the power.”
John clenched his teeth and glanced over at Julie. She nodded at him, urging him to give the sheriff the information he’d requested.
He sighed and muttered a curse word under his breath. “Alright,” he said, sounding defeated. “You’ve got to go down another level. There’s a red line painted on the floor of the hallways. Follow that line and it’ll take you to the maintenance area you’re looking for.”
