Go For Stories

It cannoned into Bec, sending her sprawling. With alarming and unstoppable speed, it shifted its focus to Nigel, knocking him with a tooth-rattling blow to the jaw. As he fell, he twisted in time to see Milly go down with a groan behind him. The shadow leaped back over the top of Nigel and he delivered a kick to its legs. It fell, rolled, and threw itself to the side. A door opened and closed and the shadow was gone.

The trio lay on the floor for a moment, reeling with the sudden onslaught. Nigel rubbed his jaw and cracked his neck side-to-side before standing on uneasy legs. He helped Milly to her feet as Bec stood and he held a finger to his lips; hoping they could even see the gesture in the dark, shaking hall. He moved to the door through which the shadow had passed and paused for only a moment before pushing it open once more. It swung in shuddering jumps as the room vibrated around it. Halfway to open, the hinges gave out, tearing the screws from the jamb. The door fell to the floor in a heavy thud and Nigel staggered backwards, knocking into Bec who in turn fell into Milly. They paused, holding their breath and listening for another of those shrieks that accompanied the last attack.

Nothing, not even a breath or a shuffle, could be heard over the sound of the trembling building. Nigel grit his teeth and stepped through the doorway and over the fallen door. Plaster crumbled from the ceiling, filling the air with a thick, gritty cloud. He choked back a cough and strained his eyes. A window was set into the end of the room with an automatic blind that had been drawn, allowing only the barest light to get through. Through the rows of desks and past the cabinets lining the walls, there was a stirring in the corner.

He knew he’d already been seen, so hiding would do no good. Regardless, he dropped his shoulders and knees and walked low to the ground, focussing only on that movement. His fists bunched, ready for a fight as he crept towards the shadow in the corner. One thing that stood out was how still it had become. This was no albinoid, with their constant shimmering twitches. No, this was something else. Something new. Something borne on the winds of chaos. He squinted as he closed in on his attacker, trying to see what it was.

He didn’t get the chance as without any warning it pushed itself out of the corner and fled past Nigel, slamming into his chest on the way. He had prepared for another such attack and remained on his feet but still found himself surprised at the force behind something that moved as quick as it did. It bounced away from Nigel and rushed to another door leading to the hall. It sped past the desks and shelves with thin, shallow breaths before slamming into the door, which collapsed in on itself, sending splinters of wood flying. The shadow crossed in front of the ladies in the hall and disappeared once more.

By the time Milly and Bec could react, the thing was gone and Nigel stood before them, heart hammering in his chest. He rubbed the spot where it had slammed into him and tried to ascertain whether his heart hurt from the day’s activities, the tension, or if it had done something to him. Was he having a heart attack? Probably not, he thought, but it wasn’t far from it.

“What is happening?” Milly whispered, looking back over her shoulders and keeping her eyes active. “What is it?”

“I don’t know. It looks human, but it doesn’t move like one.” He rubbed his chest with the heel of his hand, feeling pain not only from the impact but from everything else that had happened. His back tore with every movement from where the albinoid had sunk its claws into him. His head pounded from his first run-in with Julia and now his chest hurt from both impact and pure exhaustion. He took a deep breath. “We have to catch it.”

“Why?” asked Bec, her voice straining with the effort to keep quiet. “Can’t we just go?” The building shuddered and a fresh batch of ceiling fell in the space between them. “I think it’s time to go, Astley.”

Nigel shrugged. He wasn’t entirely sure why it was important to him, but it was.

“I’ll explain later,” he said, hoping he could come up with an explanation in the meantime, or that he even survived long enough to pass it on.

He moved to head through the door leading to the main Security room but froze when a sound came to him. It drifted up through the stairwell and into his ears with all the menace it could muster. The sound sent chills down his spine and out to every extremity.

Chittering. The chittering of a hundred, possibly a thousand, searching albinoids. They were close again and this time there was nowhere to run. No hidden doors or secret labs to hide in. He pointed at Bec who, having heard it too, stood at attention. “Go shut the door.” Bec ran to do as instructed. “Wait,” he whispered. She stopped and turned to him. “Do it quietly.”

He turned to Milly, who had squared off towards the sound also, fists at the ready. No matter what was coming, or how many, she would go down fighting. Nigel regretted that he likely didn’t have any time left to spend with Milly. He had enjoyed every moment that she was around. Apart from Levi, she had been his best friend in this place.

“Milly. I need you to guard this door. Stop anything that tries to get out. If the albinoids come, get in here and shut the door. There are locks, big locks. They should slow them down. Look,” he pulled her close to him and enjoyed what could be one of the last moments of human contact he would ever have, “no matter what happens, we are near the end. I don’t know if we’ll get out or die, but it will be over soon.” He released her and held her at arm’s length, looking into her eyes. “You’ve got this, Mill.”

Milly nodded and stood as straight as she could. Nigel took a moment to appreciate her determined courage before he stepped through the door.

In an instant, everything changed. The shadow blurred past him again as the building let go a violent quake that sent him reeling into the wall. A large chunk of plaster fell and landed at his feet, followed by a large chunk of concrete that left a deep gouge in the floor. Another shock ran through the wall and he fell over the top of the concrete, hitting his head and releasing another stream of warm blood to run down his face. The shadow leapt onto his back, slamming his face into the concrete block, sending sparks through his vision.

His mind swam and he held back a surge of hot vomit. Keeping his wits about him just enough to roll away, he avoided what would surely have been the fatal third blow into the concrete. He landed on his back, facing up at the shadow, whose murderous hands stretched towards his throat. He grabbed the dark wrists and twisted them. The repeated blows to the head meant he was unable to muster the strength to break anything, but he was at least able to throw whatever it was off him and onto the floor in the middle of the room. It let out a winded ‘Oomph’ as it landed.

Nigel dragged what little reserves of energy he could out from whatever dark pit he kept them and threw himself at the dark figure, collecting the side of its bony head with his fist.

“Ow!” it said, rolling away.

Nigel shook the pain from his knuckles and pulled back his arm preparing for-

“Ow?!” he said. “Did you just say, ‘Ow?’”

He narrowed his eyes and strained them in an attempt to see his attacker more clearly in the dark. There was something about the size and shape of it, not to mention the tone of its voice, that rang bells in his memory. He let out a loud bark of laughter.

“Levi?” he asked. “Levi? Is that you?”