Go For Stories

“What do you mean it’s gone?” asked Levi, moving in to stand beside Nigel. “Where did you leave it?”

“He was right here. Just on the other side of the window. Right here.”

“You sure he was dead?” asked Bec, filling the gap on the other side.

“Yes, I’m sure he was dead. His eyes nearly burst out of his head and blood was coming out his ears. The whole research team confirmed it. Just look at the floor, for God’s sake.” He pointed to the large pool of half-dried blood still glistening on the floor.

“Hey, I’m just checking. Because if you ask me, and I know you wouldn’t, if nobody’s been here since you quarantined it and there was nobody else in here to move the body, then the logical conclusion is that he wasn’t dead.”

“He was fucking dead, alright!”

Bec retreated, bumping her back against the door as she did. “Alright, he was dead. My condolences.”

Nigel stood, his mind reeling. What could have happened? Did Allen dissolve? No, not only was that ludicrous, but there would be … leavings. Maybe he wasn’t alone in here. Maybe someone else was trapped all along.

“Hello?” he called.

“Oh,” said Levi, “you did not just shout hello to an empty room did you? Rookie mistake, Nige.”

“Shhh!” Nigel held a hand out to Levi’s face without looking. “Is there anyone in here? Allen?”

There was no response. Nigel stepped through the strewn desks and benches, into the centre of the room. He checked under and behind everything. While he was at it, he scanned the desks for any information as to what was being done in this lab. If there was foul play, it was almost certainly due to the research. Levi went along the outside of the room, moving methodically from one hiding place to another, stepping carefully over broken equipment and fragments of furniture. Bec hung back, leaning against the wall with her arms folded in front of her chest.

Once Nigel reached the back, he swiped a finger over the stained wall. His finger came away clean. Whatever had discoloured the walls was fused to them, bonded. He doubled back alongside the glass that bordered the medical bay. While he searched this room for now, he kept his mind aware of the space behind the glass. It loomed over him with an intriguing menace. He felt himself drawn towards it, as if the evidence he needed was in there. It called to him, yet repulsed him. It drew him closer with mystery and pushed him away with questions best left unanswered.

He reached the front wall and turned to the glass. Levi had finished his sweep of the room and met Nigel where he stood. After a brief moment of hesitation, Nigel placed his palm on the front face of the glass. It glowed where his hand touched and a section of the wall receded before sliding in behind the rest.

“Cool,” said Levi. “How’d you know to do that?”

“I didn’t,” muttered Nigel before stepping into the medical suite.

Stepping over the threshold was one of the most difficult things Nigel had ever done. He couldn’t explain it, but there was so much more to the action than there appeared to be. He could have waited for Bec or Levi to enter. He could have closed the door again and walked away. Allen was gone. He knew that. Stepping into this room only confirmed it; confirmed the fact that he was out of his depth. It opened a box so deep that the bottom would never be found. Yet, with gritted teeth, he entered.

“Allen?” he asked the empty room.

He stepped further in, listening for the slightest hint of life. As if they had read his thoughts, both of his companions stayed on the other side of the glass wall, allowing him his nervous search. He could feel the oppressive soul of the room bearing down on him, crushing his chest and making his breaths ragged and heavy. Opposite the main pile of beds, a cluster of tall cylinders lay in a heap, their tops busted off. He moved to the centre of the room and hunkered down, bringing his eyes in line with the underside of the mangled beds. Beyond a mess of steel and mattress fluff, there was nothing to see. He sighed and turned to the others. They stood at the edge of the room, waiting without a hint of patience. Bec moved from foot to foot. Levi nodded as if to some unheard beat.

“Just come in already,” Nigel said. As he did, his voice broke the tension of the room.

“About time,” said Bec, practically skipping in beside him. “What do you see down there?”

“Nothing.”

“Forgive me for asking the obvious question then,” said Levi, forcing humour into his voice, “but where is Doctor Peterson?”

“Nowhere. He must be nowhere. Nobody’s been in here and nobody has left. There is literally only one way in or out and that has been monitored by sensors this entire time. The only real explanation is that something disintegrated the poor doctor and he is hopefully enjoying a good rest in whatever afterlife he believed in.”

“I think he was an atheist.”

“Thank you, Reynolds, helpful as ever.”

Bec crossed to a bank of small doors built into the wall on the side furthest from the lab. She leaned on one and it clicked before swinging open in her hand. She stuck her head in the cavity it revealed.

“There is one other way out,” she said, her voice muffled.

“What?”

“She said-”

“I know what she said Levi. What do you mean? What is it?”

He crossed to the door and tried to see into the blackness obscured by her back and head.

“It’s an incinerator.” She pulled her head out of the dark. “This room was designed for anyone who might need medical attention in the case of quarantine. Of course, given what was going on in here, they didn’t have high hopes for anyone in that event. The incinerator is the best way to keep any … affliction from spreading.”

“But how does that equate to another way out?” asked Levi.

“Well, it’s more of a metaphysical way out, I guess you’d say. If Allen had managed to drag his dying carcass into here, he may well have saved us all a lot of heartache. He might have been a bit of a loner, but he was an okay guy, I guess.”

“Is there any way to know if it’s been fired up?” asked Nigel, ignoring the disrespect she showed for a man she had worked with for years.

“Well, yeah.” Bec curled her lip and looked at Nigel as if he were an idiot. “You stick your head in and see if it’s warm. By the way, it is.”

“Shit,” Nigel said under his breath. He was sure that Allen had died in front of him. With the amount of blood he had lost, it would be impossible for him to make his own way to the incinerator. Not to mention that there was no blood trail leading from the body. However, it was the only real explanation. He cursed the lack of cameras in here. No matter how secret a secret is, it should never get in the way of security. “Well,” he looked at the other two, “we’re done looking for Allen. Thank you, Reynolds, you have been very helpful. You can make your own way out.”

“What?!” Her eyes lit up with rage. “You’re kicking me out?”

“Yes. You were here to perform an examination on the patient. Given the patient is now dust in the air-recyc filters, I’d say you are finished. Thank you again.”

Reynolds stood glaring for a second before kicking the cupboard beside her and storming out. Nigel watched her head through the lab and out of the door.
Nigel turned to see Levi staring at him.

“What is your problem with her?” he asked. “I know she can be a pain, but you really do treat her like shit sometimes.”

“I don’t trust her. I feel like she’s hiding something.”

“Yeah? Well, maybe don’t be so obvious about it.”

Nigel put his hand on Levi’s shoulder.

“You’re right.”

“I know.”

“I’ll be nicer next time. Come on, let’s find where the explosion came from.”

Levi looked around with a puzzled expression. “You know, I forgot about that. Got distracted by the search for the doctor.”

Nigel nodded and scanned the room. There was no obvious ignition point. The cupboards were all intact and there were no singe marks to indicate an incendiary blast of any sort. The research team that had been present at the time were so shaken that they couldn’t agree on where it had come from. But it had to have been here somewhere; the percussive sensors registered a huge shock and the room was filled with smoke. That weird, brown smoke that drove out clarity and left hopelessness in its stead. Nigel shuddered.

“Can you see a blast point?” he asked Levi.

Levi wrinkled his forehead. “No. I mean, I would guess the opposite end to that,” he pointed to the pile of beds, “but everything there is mostly intact.”

Nigel scratched his chin and paced around the space. “Maybe, we’re looking at this wrong. There has to be a different angle. The beds were scattered when those cylinders let go, but the initial explosion is what caused that. It can’t be anywhere here, we’d see evidence.” He turned to Levi. “We’ve got to check the cameras.”

“But there aren’t any.”

“Not in here. Out there.” He pointed to the exit. “If we can see who came and went in the lead up to this, we can see if there was any suspicious activity. Maybe it was sabotage. Maybe Allen was murdered.”

“That doesn’t explain his missing body, Nige.”

“No, no it doesn’t. But I won’t let it go. I will search every avenue until I find out what happened here. Allen won’t have died for nothing.”