Go For Stories

Bec fell in line with Nigel without question. “Jacob, the door.”

“Huh?”

“The door, open the door.” Milly’s voice was urgent, nervous.

Jacob jabbed at his watch three times and the doors hissed. The glass parted and Bec slipped through the widening gap, followed by the others.

“Where are we going?” asked Jacob, concern evident on his features. Nigel imagined he felt as naked and vulnerable about leaving their cosy hole as everyone else.

“Opposite stairwell. Go.”

They took off. Their feet pounded on the floor as they sped along the landing, heads flashing left and right, searching for albinoids, or worse. There was no sign of them, but it wouldn’t be long before they swarmed out of every nook and squeezed through every gap. Nigel wasn’t sure if he could hear their chittering noise, or if it was his imagination. He didn’t care. They had to get to his office. Everything else could wait.

His chest hurt from his hammering heart and his lungs burned. Beside him, he could hear Bec’s laboured breaths and hear the slowing of Jacob’s feet. He looked for Milly to see she was falling behind. It had been a long day and it had taken its toll on them all.

“Nigel,” Milly’s voice was ragged. “Nigel, I can’t. I can’t run anymore.”

He slowed his pace and dropped back to fall in line with her. Keeping pace, he looked her over. Sweat shone on her brow and her eyes drooped with fatigue.

“We’re nearly there.” He forced the words out between breaths. “Just a few more steps.” Even as he said it, he felt the betrayal of his own lie. “Push through it, Mill. We can do it.”

She nodded and bore down, screaming as she powered her legs, pumping them harder. She tore away from him and he rushed to catch up. They rounded the first corner of the landing; Bec leading the pack just ahead of Jacob; Milly and Nigel taking up the rear.

Nigel felt a rumble through his feet a moment before it groaned through the air, like the sound of a jet taking off. The entire complex flashed so bright it hurt and the floor jolted, sending him to the floor on top of Milly.

He lay there, stunned. What had hit them? Was it time already? Had the building exploded and were they moments from death, about to be buried beneath the earth?

He doubted it. If so, he suspected he would be dead already.

“What happened?” Bec’s shout came to him through ringing ears.

“The reactor,” shouted Jacob. “It was a surge. Everything powered up to full for a second.”

If ever there was a reason to think the place was overengineered, that was it. Everything on full power and he couldn’t hear properly, let alone think straight.

“Come on,” Milly shouted, “we’ve got to go before-”

She stopped as a thousand angry screams tore through the compound. A thousand lost souls that only just realised their quarry had escaped. She did not need to finish her sentence. They stumbled to their feet and ran on shaky legs as the walls trembled and writhed around them.

Their only saving grace was that the albinoids seemed as rattled as they had been but, from the flashes of movement Nigel caught, they were catching their breath faster than he was. He clenched his teeth to cracking point and forged ahead, keeping an eye on Milly. She couldn’t afford to fall behind again. Bec had lost her lead and Jacob was dragging his feet, but they were nearing the stairwell.

They swept around the next corner railing, grabbing onto the edge to pull themselves around faster. The screams grew louder behind and around them.

“Come on,” Nigel willed himself and the others aloud. “COME ON.”

He caught his second wind and flew forward. Unable to control his newfound energy, he tore past the others and made it to the doors, short of breath, but relieved. Turning around, he saw why they had been pushing themselves so hard. The number of albinoids had swelled since their escape from the plaza. There was no longer a mere two hundred or so. There were now at least a thousand of the things, growing out of the cracks, like the walls were alive with giant maggots.

The sight was so overwhelming that Nigel forgot how to breathe. His chest rose and fell, but no air came in or out of his lungs. He stood, gasping like a fish in air as he watched the mass move towards them. No longer racing, there was nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide from a horde such as this.

His thoughts were bleak and he was on the verge of defeat when Milly staggered, dropping to the ground, cracking her knees against the floor as she did. A quiet whimper escaped her and she fought to get to her feet before dropping again with a sob. Forgetting the albinoids, he rushed towards her, along with Bec and Jacob. Together, they scooped her up and led her, limping, towards the stairwell doors.

“Come on, Mill. You’ve got to hurry. I know it hurts, but we’re running out of time.”

Despite his better judgement, he chanced a look behind and regretted it immediately. The albinoids – no longer screaming at least – were surging over each other in their rush to kill. In anticipation of creating new husks for their buddies to inhabit.

“We’ll never make the stairs,” Nigel said.

“Lift’s closer,” said Jacob, casting a nervous glance at the horde on their heels.

“Oh, fuck no.” Nigel changed direction and kicked open a door beside them. He bundled Milly through and dragged Bec in after. Jacob was right behind them. He slammed the door shut. Nigel lowered Milly to the floor and grabbed a nearby table. He dragged the heavy oak desk in front of the door and pushed it tight against the handle.

His lungs burned as they fought to control his breath and he leaned on the table. There was a small glass panel cut into the door and through this he could see the albinoids slam into the wall outside. The door bucked under the weight of them, creaking and protesting.

“We’re in a library.” A small, almost undetectable, smile played over Jacob’s face as he turned away from the monsters. “I haven’t been in a library for years. It’s got real books, made from paper. How quaint.”

Nigel grunted. “I’m glad you like it.”

“It’s even got the little ladders on rollers.” He looked childlike in his aspect. At peace.

If it weren’t for what happened next, Nigel could have forgotten what was going on around them. This moment of tranquillity in a sea of chaos was enough to keep him going. As it was, things happened so fast that he hardly understood what had happened.

One moment Jacob stood before him, filled with a calming sense of nostalgia, next, he was gone. Three white, slender hands had reached out from under the table and wrapped around Jacob’s legs. Then he was dragged into the shadow under the desk. The throng of albinoids dropped back as one and Nigel jumped to the window, pressing his face against the glass.

Jacob lay on the landing surrounded by the creatures, his clothing torn and a look of stupid confusion on his face. He stared at Nigel with a questioning look that asked, ‘how did I get here?’

“JACOB!” Nigel shouted with impotent rage, hammering on the door. “JACOOOB!”

Jacob reached over his head with one arm as the albinoids descended on him. A deep line of red opened up on the arm exposed through the tattered sleeve. The cut splayed out and the muscle could be seen flexing through the blood. Another line of red slashed across his face, his cheek peeling off and flapping down to his jaw. His eyes widened and he screamed in pain and sorrow.

“Nooooo. Noooooo.”

His body floated upwards as more and more of the albinoids dragged him up and into the throng, scratching and tearing, each vying for their own pound of flesh. Jacob’s screams merged with the excited screams of the albinoids as his skin peeled away, bit by bit. His clothes were torn, exposing him to Nigel’s eyes and the grasp of furious fingers. Within moments what had, seconds before, been a curious and happy man, became a silent mess of flesh and organs. His blood glowing like fire on the skin of the albinoids.

Nigel pummelled the door, over and over. He hadn’t grasped, couldn’t grasp, what had happened. Jacob could still be saved. If only Nigel could get out there. He thumped the wooden door before dropping off the table and grasping the end with both hands. The legs scraped against the floor as he pulled on the desk.

Bec grabbed him by the shoulders and he swatted her away.

“Get off me. I have to save him.” He heaved the table away from the door.

“You can’t save him.” She grabbed him again. “He’s dead.”

“No, he can’t be. He was just here. He was …”

Milly limped over to him and wrapped her hands around his chest, pulling him back from the table. Bec shoved it back into place behind the door. Nigel fought Milly’s grip, but she held firm.

“We can’t save him,” Milly said in his ear. “If we go out there, we die too.” A tear ran down her cheek and onto his.

“Nooo,” he moaned. It didn’t make sense. It was too much. “No. He was right here. He was right here.”

“He’s gone Nigel.” She wiped her own tear from his face. “He’s gone.”