John was jostled awake as Salem flopped into bed beside him. He was tempted to get upset at the intrusion but seeing her still dressed in her work outfit and the pained look on her face softened him a little.
“Bad day?”
She looked at him, running a hand down the front of her green blouse. Her fingers drifted to the patch in the corner where the name of the two star restaurant she worked for was located and idly picked at the letters. It was something French and John had given up trying to learn how to say it. From what he knew the food smelled good and it would take about five work days to afford a table there.
“Have you ever had a strong and sudden urge to spit in someone’s food?”
John fought to keep his smile hidden, “Not lately no.”
She sighed and looked back up at the ceiling.
“This lady came in today and was an absolute…”
Her voice trailed off and John inwardly smiled imagining the words she was thinking of saying before tossing them out for being too vile. Eventually she found one she was comfortable using.
“Cesspool of a human being.”
John had to clench a fist under the blanket to keep himself from laughing.
“Before she even sat down she was complaining about something only she could smell, she was complaining that the maître d didn’t recognize her right away, complaining that the color of the décor affected her appetite, and on and on she moaned and whined about everything.”
Salem shook her head a moment before continuing.
“So of course, I’m assigned to her. Right away she complains that I’m not quick enough to refill her water, complains I’m hovering around the table, complains that I gave her bad tasting water, and on and on she goes. This was all before the amuse-bouche even came out.”
John rubbed her arm sympathetically, “Sounds rough.”
“I swear John, I’m always disgusted by my coworkers who talk about spitting in people’s food, but this time I was seriously considering it.”
“Did you?”
She frowned at him and this time John couldn’t contain his laughter. Realizing he was teasing she smacked his shoulder, but not before a smile slipped out.
“Of course not, but that was the closest I’ve ever gotten.”
“Ah well, maybe next time.”
“Yeah right,” she suddenly let out a laugh, “though if we’re being honest it helped that Amy already spat in her salad.”
John shuddered and Salem laughed.
“You know how weird it is that my husband, an exterminator, is disturbed by human spit?”
“I would take ten attics full of rat droppings any day compared to even the idea that someone might have spit in my food.”
She giggled and patted his shoulder, “it really sounds worse than it tastes.”
Growling in disgust John rolled over on top of his wife and pinned her to the bed. He was tempted to let a bit of drool hang out above her face, but even the thought of doing that grossed him out. Instead he settled for viciously scraping one of her cheeks with his stubble.
“Hey cut it out,” she giggled.
He chuckled and pulled back. They smiled at each other, enjoying the moment. John rubbed the corner of one of her green sleeves before leaning in for a kiss.
#
John eyed the green blouse on the mannequin lost in thought. He wasn’t sure why it reminded him of Salem, it wasn’t even the right kind of green. But it had been so long since he had a happy thought about her that he let himself enjoy it.
The others were arguing with Conrad with the large black man doing most of the shouting. It was probably important and something he should pay attention to, but he found himself too enraptured by the mannequin lying on the ground.
It was the color of egg shells with no discernable features on it’s face, just a rounded smooth surface like an egg. It was the kind of mannequin he saw in the malls his wife used to drag him too. Yet this one had posed as a living breathing woman a few moments ago, before Conrad shot it and unraveled the illusion.
He eyed the wound in its chest, the oily substance that had been spilling out had stopped and was now pooled on the floor along with whatever the skin was made out of. Amidst the froth and lumpy flesh he saw a single blue eye staring back at him.
Shuddering, John stood back up and decided to tune into the heated conversation going on behind him.
“What kind of a tech company has mannequin androids or whatever the hell that thing is?”
“Look man, I said I thought this was a tech company. I honestly have no idea what’s going on here.”
“You’re a security guard! Shouldn’t you know more than most people?”
Conrad dragged a hand down his face. John could tell the man was tired and barely hanging on to his sanity. Considering the thing lying on the floor, the deranged doctor lying in a pool of his own blood, and the bloody corpses surrounding them in hospital beds it was understandable.
“I was hired a month ago to guard one of the rear entrances of the building. I talked a few times to one of the receptionists that would go there on smoke break and she told me that even she didn’t know what the company did. Just that she was to answer phone calls and transfer them to the right places. From what she understood the company dealt with highly valuable proprietary technology, like inventions or something.”
“I don’t buy that for one-.”
“Do you know how to get out?”
The group looked at John, the large man was about to speak again, but John held up a hand to stop him.
“I want answers too, but more importantly I want to get the hell out of here.”
The man considered this for a moment before nodding in agreement.
“Honestly if I never find out what this place is I won’t lose any sleep over it.”
Everyone turned to Conrad who scratched his head a moment in thought.
“I know where the elevator is, but there’s a problem.”
“What’s that?”
Conrad met John’s gaze.
“It’s locked with a key card and I don’t have one.”
The large man was about to lose it again so John quickly spoke.
“How did you get down here?”
“I was on shift when a bunch of alarms started going off inside the building. We got a call over the radio to come inside to deal with a threat. When I got inside I was sent to an elevator where seven other guys were waiting, all security guards like me. A man was standing there and said he was the supervisor for the entrance we were guarding and we were needed in the lower departments.”
“Seven guards for one entrance? How big is the building we’re in?”
Conrad raised his eyebrows and tilted his head.
“It’s massive, like theme park, billion dollar tech company, and college campus combined massive.”
John looked around the room in disbelief. He had walked onto the grounds of Harvard campus as part of a high school trip and that place was huge. The idea that they were inside something even bigger was mindboggling.
“And that’s just the three stories or so you can see on the surface. We rode the elevator down an easy ten stories and there were more floors to go.”
“Ten stories,” said the older man who was sitting on one of the hospital beds, “that’s not possible, it goes against every safety standard.”
John glanced back at the mannequin resting in a pile of molten flesh.
“I get the feeling that’s not a concern here.”
He looked back to see everyone staring at the mannequin in thought. John glanced at the woman and realized that since being freed she hadn’t said a word. She met his gaze for a moment before her eyes drifted to a point on the wall behind him. She was probably in shock.
“So I know where the elevator is, but we can’t use it. I’ve been looking for a staircase or another elevator with less security and haven’t found one.”
“How long have you been looking?”
Conrad frowned, looking at the floor in thought.
“An hour…maybe?”
“Does your radio work?”
Conrad shook his head a strange look coming across his face.
“Where’s the rest of your squad?”
Conrad met John’s gaze.
“Dead…I think.”
“What do you mean you think?”
Sighing, Conrad sat down on the hospital bed next to the older man. John noticed the man scooted over a few inches, but no one else seemed to notice or care.
“In the elevator the supervisor told us that our job was to make a push to the armory in this quadrant. There we would meet up with other personnel and be given further instructions. The eight of us stepped off the elevator with weapons and body armor and followed the man down a hallway on the right side. After we turned a corner the lights suddenly cut out and all hell broke loose.”
He paused a moment and John could see his whole body slump into itself a little as if someone had just put a weight on his shoulders.
“Screaming, shooting, running, it was a nightmare. I was knocked to the ground by one of the other guards who tried to run away. Before I could get to my feet the lights came on and everyone was gone.”
“Like they got away?”
Conrad shook his head.
“The ceiling was soaked with blood.”
Everyone was silent for a moment trying to digest this information. The large man was the first to speak.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Conrad shrugged.
“One minute I had guys stepping over me firing their guns into the darkness and the next everyone was gone and the ceiling was soaked with blood.”
He passed a hand over his face.
“Then I found one.”
“One of the guards?”
Conrad nodded.
“A guy named Silvo, he was my trainer when I started the position. He spent a day showing me the ropes and then I never saw him again until that moment. He was standing at the end of the hallway, saw me lying on the ground and gave me a sign to be quiet and stay put. He dropped into a crouch, a finger on his lips to stay quiet, his eyes on the ceiling, and started coming towards me.”
Conrad shook his head with a low chuckle.
“He was halfway across when I noticed his nametag said Lance.”
When no one said anything Conrad continued.
“I got his attention and pointed to his nametag. Silvo looked down at it for a moment and got a really weird smile on his face. He then took his sidearm out, pointed it at me, and fired.”
Conrad shuddered and ran a hand down his face as if to draw the memory of the moment away.
“The light cut out just as the gun went off and I heard the round strike the wall somewhere above my head. There was a loud crash and a few seconds later the lights came back on.”
Conrad pointed to the mannequin lying on the floor.
“On the ground was one of those but wearing the security uniform with Lance’s nametag and all the skin sludged off. On the ceiling with the blood was a large circle of that brown liquid.”
He took a moment to stare at the mannequin before continuing his story.
“I stayed low and quiet and got out of that hallway. When I reached the elevator I found out that it doesn’t work without a keycard and none of my electronic equipment worked. The radio, flashlight, smartphone, nothing. After a bit I started wandering down the left hallway and eventually found my way here.”
Everyone was silent for a few seconds as they digested the information. Nearly everyone had their eyes on the mannequin, except for the woman who was staring at the man who had been lying next to her before his throat was slit by the doctor. It was eerie the way she studied him and John felt a little unnerved by the woman, even if she was in shock.
John stood up to break the silence, keeping the scalpel he’d grabbed from the doctor hidden in his palm.
“I’d like to see the elevator.”
“No point,” said Conrad dully, “the doors will open but none of the buttons work and there’s no panel that you can open to get access to the shaft.”
“I’d like to see it too,” said the big man, “unless you have a better idea of where we can go to get out?”
Conrad smirked and stood up from the bed but remained silent.
John turned to walk away and heard the large man clear his throat.
“You didn’t happen to come across any pants while you were out there did you?”
Gritting his teeth John refused to turn around and kept making his way to the doors. Extremely aware of how exposed he was in the back.
“No, sorry.”
#
It was a much shorter trip than John would have imagined based on the guard’s story. After stepping out into the hallway they found that the hall was lined with rooms identical to theirs, though completely void of people. Rounding the corner they entered a small lobby area with the elevator standing across from a lone desk with a nonfunctioning computer.
Conrad held his sidearm up as they approached the elevator. Quickly pressing the button, he jumped back a few feet and waited for the doors to slide open. When nothing bad happened, he lowered his gun slightly and motioned to the group.
“Check it out if you want.”
The large man stepped forward and entered the elevator. Though he wasn’t overweight by any means his tall stature and wide frame caused the elevator to dip slightly when he stepped in. The man looked around the space and pushed a few of the buttons at random. After a moment of this he reached up and smacked a fist against a few spots on the ceiling.
“What about the floor,” suggested the old man,” sometimes the manufacture will put a hatch down there,”
The large man dropped to his knees and smacked around a few spots before shaking his head.
“Nah, the man’s right there’s nothing.”
He stepped out of the elevator shaking his head.
“Where did the group disappear?”
Conrad frowned, “Why?”
“Maybe they left something behind when they…disappeared.”
“There was nothing. Trust me if there was anything, I’d have it on me.”
“Still, a lot going down maybe you missed something in the heat of the moment.”
Conrad searched the man’s gaze for a moment.
“There was nothing. Go check if you want to, but don’t be surprised when something happens to you.”
The large man stared back for a moment before holding out a hand.
“Let me take the gun and I’ll go check it out.”
The mood visibly shifted in the room and the hairs on John’s neck started prickling. Conrad was on edge almost immediately and started squinting at the man suspiciously.
“No I think I’ll hang onto it.”
“You don’t want me to be safe while I go check it out?”
“I don’t want to lose the gun when you disappear too.”
The man rolled his eyes and bounced the outheld hand a little as he spoke.
“You can have it right back I just want to know my ass is covered when I go take a look at the hallway of death you were talking about.”
“I said no.”
Conrad raised the gun slightly to illustrate he was serious. The large man continued staring at him for a moment before lowering his hand and sighing heavily.
“Ok fine, do you have anything else I can use to defend myself? Pepper spray, taser, hell even a baton? Something happens to you I’d feel a lot better knowing I have options.”
Conrad studied him a moment before nodding slowly.
“I hear you, let me give you the taser, that’ll work up to fifteen feet or so.”
“Sounds good.”
Keeping one hand on the gun Conrad used his free hand to retrieve the taser from his holster on his left side. He snapped it out of the holster and threw it to the large man who caught it easily.
“Thanks,” he said looking at the taser curiously, “how do I use it?”
“The safety levers are on both sides with the trigger underneath like a regular gun. Trigger the safety and then pull the trigger to fire the prongs. You’ll want to be about ten feet or so from whatever you’re shooting at and make sure to hit the center of the body so all of the prongs connect properly or it won’t deliver a shock.”
The man nodded, studying the weapon.
“What’s your name?”
He looked up at Conrad.
“James, why?”
“James I want you to know it’s not that I don’t trust you. I just know I’m properly trained and we only have the one weapon.”
James nodded, holding the taser in his right hand and letting it hang at his side.
“But you got to understand we don’t know who you are and some crazy shit is going down. Having all the weapons on one guy doesn’t seem like a good idea, even if you are a good guy.”
Conrad looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before using his free hand to grab a large cannister on his belt near where the taser was. Looking at the woman he approached her slowly and held it out, John noticed he was making a point not to holster his weapon yet.
“This is pepper spray, if anything comes within five feet of you spray it in their eyes.”
She tore her eyes from the elevator and glanced at the cannister a moment before shaking her head slowly.
“It won’t permanently damage them or anything,” he said slowly, “just hurt like hell for a while and give you a chance to run away. I’d feel a lot better if you had it.”
Her eyes drifted to his for a few seconds. Her glassy eyes seemed to focus a little and she nodded before taking the cannister.
“Good,” said Conrad obviously unnerved by the strange woman.
Looking at John, Conrad tilted his head a little.
“I have a baton or a pocket knife if you want one.”
John wondered briefly if he should reveal he had the scalpel but decided against it. He wasn’t sure why he was being so secretive about its presence, but something was telling him it was a good idea to have something on him the others didn’t know about. He resisted the urge to fiddle with it in his hand.
“I’m ok. I think between you and James we’ll be alright.”
Conrad had a funny look on his face but he nodded. John had the feeling the man had tried to send him some kind of message and he hadn’t received it. He ran a thumb across the flat part of the scalpel blade uncomfortably.
Conrad gave a look at the old man who quickly shook his head.
“Alright then,” he said looking over at James, “I’ll show you where the squad disappeared, but I’m not going into that hallway. You want to put your life on the line to satisfy your curiosity be my guest.”
“Sounds good man, lead the way.”
Conrad stiffened a little and glanced at John. Again, John had the feeling he was trying to tell him something, but the message wasn’t getting across. Hesitantly Conrad turned and began walking down the right hallway. James followed Conrad, his eyes on the man as they walked. The older man raised an eyebrow in John’s direction before following with the woman trailing behind him.
John gave a long glance at the elevator, wondering if maybe there was something about it both James and Conrad had missed. For some reason he felt nervous to go with the others. It might have had something to do with James obviously thinking about doing something stupid and Conrad ready to respond in kind.
He pulled out the scalpel and looked at the red-tinged implement for a moment. It made him feel better when he grabbed it, but now it felt silly when one man was armed with a gun and the other had a taser.
Still the idea of going without seemed even more absurd so he palmed it again and followed the others down the hallway.
James and Conrad were walking ahead with Conrad glancing over his shoulder every now and then meeting James’ gaze who was openly staring at him. Trying to lower the tension John fell in line with the old man.
“So what’s your name?”
“Armand,” he said slowly, his eyes on the two men ahead of them.
“What brings you here?”
“None of your damn business.”
John raised an eyebrow and the old man never looked over at him. Neither James nor Conrad seemed interested in the man’s response.
“What about you,” said John looking at the woman who had the pepper spray cannister cradled in both hands, “What’s your name?”
She looked over at him and John regretted getting her attention. The way her flat blue eyes seemed to look at him one moment and then through him the next was disturbing.
“Sarah.”
“Nice to meet you Sarah, why are you here?”
“I get you’re trying to be all buddy, buddy here,” said the old man gruffly, “But how about we save the chitchat for when we’re not going to go see where his guard buddies bit the big one alright?”
John felt like offering a retort but decided against it. He had no interest in getting to know Armand better and he was perfectly fine never looking Sarah in the eyes again.
For a brief moment John imagined lunging at the old man with his scalpel and plunging it into the side of his neck. It was such a vivid and intense thought it left his body shivering in terrified anticipation, as if his very muscles were expecting to carry out the act at any moment.
He had to close his eyes for a few moments to let the sudden urge he was feeling bleed out of him. When he opened his eyes again, he was much calmer and his body had settled, but that lingering desire to cause the man harm remained.
He’d had those moments as long as he could remember, strong and sudden urges to become violent. He’d only ever acted on those thoughts once and had regretted it ever since. It was largely the reason why he was on death row and now in this hellhole, sort of.
A strange thought crossed his mind that maybe they were in hell. Looking around it didn’t match any depiction he’d ever heard about hell though he wasn’t entirely sure how much of that you could trust. Each religion had their own vision of the place after all.
He wondered if there would be any way to test the theory. How does one determine if they’re in hell?
These thoughts were derailed when the group turned a corner and both Conrad and James stopped short.
“What the hell?”
John rounded the corner after Conrad spoke and saw what he was referring to. The hallway was sealed off by a large set of black security doors with tinted windows. James reached out and tested the handle of one but it wouldn’t budge.
“Look,” said Armand pointing a withered finger, “it needs a keycard.”
Looking to where he was pointing John saw that there was a small slit where a card would be swiped, likely unlocking the doors and granting access.
“What the hell is this,” said James looking at Conrad, “I thought you said it was an empty hallway?”
Conrad was ignoring him and staring at the doors. He reached out to touch one of the windows and seemed surprised when his hand met glass.
“What’s going on man?”
Conrad looked at James with disbelief written across his face.
“This wasn’t here before.”
“Don’t lie to me man,” shouted James, “what the hell is going on!?”
Conrad suddenly backed up and raised the gun to chest height. James quickly backed against the wall and John backed up with the others behind Conrad.
“What are-.”
John wasn’t able to finish before Conrad fired the weapon. The bullet struck the glass with a loud crack and John was nearly deafened by the gun going off in the closed hallway. Blinking away the ringing in his ears he looked up to see the glass hadn’t shattered. Conrad fired another round, but it too was stopped by the glass.
Before he could fire another one James raised the taser and aimed it at Conrad.
“Knock it off!”
Conrad didn’t look at him but slowly lowered the weapon, his eyes on the glass.
“Look I don’t know what game you’re trying to pull and I don’t really care. Give me the gun.”
Without looking Conrad responded.
“Or what?”
“Or I taze your ass.”
“Go ahead.”
There was a slight pause before James pulled the trigger on the taser. John was expecting the prongs to fly out and send volts of electricity through Conrad, but the device clicked uselessly in his hands.
“What the hell?”
Conrad turned and started walking down the hallway.
“Hey,” cried out James, following after him, still trying to fire the taser.
In the hallway James caught up with Conrad, dropped the taser on the ground, and spun him against the wall. Conrad raised the gun and aimed it at the man’s torso, causing him to back off.
“Don’t touch me.”
“What the hell’s going on man,” shouted James, his eyes on the gun, “you feed us this line about coming down here with your squad of guards and all this bullshit, but there’s a door you can’t get past?”
“I told you that door wasn’t there before.”
“It just popped out of nowhere then?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to just believe that,” gestured James broadly, “you come out of nowhere in some security uniform spouting nonsense and we’re just supposed to believe everything you say? After you shoot at people with no shadows and give me a useless taser to defend myself?”
James scoffed, his eyes now on Conrad.
“How about you man? Are you real?”
Looking at James John could see the man was clearly becoming unhinged. The problem was that he didn’t seem to be realizing that Conrad was similarly becoming unhinged and unlike the taser his weapon actually worked.
Sarah suddenly started screaming and there was a loud hissing sound. John looked over to see a spray of chemicals fly across the hallway hitting James squarely in the face. He started screaming as Sarah turned the cannister on Conrad. He managed to duck away and it hit his shoulder and back.
Before anyone could react Sarah ran screaming between the two men. John watched as she vanished down the hallway and into the lobby beyond, her screams echoing back to them.
James growled out a string of curses and Conrad watched him carefully, his gun at the ready but no longer aimed at the man’s torso.
“That’s it,” shrieked James, “I’m getting the hell out of here!”
Armand suddenly pushed past John and approached the big guy who was trying to wipe his face clean with his gown. The orange liquid had hit him square in the eyes and was now trailing down his face as his tears carried it.
“Don’t touch it with your skin, we need to get water for it.”
He gently guided James down the hallway who allowed himself to be led by the older man.
“There’s some water in-.”
Conrad quickly ducked as James threw a punch at him. The man was blinded by the pepper spray so the swing went wide but John felt it would have hurt had it connected.
“Stay the hell away from me. You follow me and I’ll kill you!”
Conrad backed up a few feet towards John, his gun squarely aimed at the James’ torso.
“Suit yourself.”
James muttered a string of curses as Armand ushered him down the hallway. John watched them go for a moment before noticing Conrad staring at him.
“You going with them?”
John thought it over a moment before shaking his head.
“I’d rather stick with you if it’s all the same.”
Conrad stared at him for a bit longer before nodding and turning to watch them go. When Armand and James stepped out of view into the far lobby Conrad suddenly slumped against the wall and sank to a sitting position.
“Hey you ok?”
Conrad’s hands were shaking as he placed the barrel of the pistol in his mouth.
Giving a shout John dropped the scalpel and darted his hand forward, grabbing the pistol. He managed to flick the safety on just as Conrad’s finger pulled the trigger with a sharp click. Quickly yanking it out of Conrad’s hands John backed up a few steps as Conrad started sobbing on the floor, his head hanging low.
“Just let me do it.”
“Look,” said John as he bent down to snag the scalpel in case Conrad had any ideas, “you’re not killing yourself.”
“Why not? You have any ideas for how to get the elevator working? Or why the hallway suddenly changed? Or why the employees down here are going insane? Or why the hell mannequins are-.”
Further down the hall came the echoes of screams. The shrieking lasted for a few seconds before cutting off with two small pops, like someone was squishing tomatoes.
Conrad rose to his feet and pulled the baton from his belt. John switched the safety off the gun and held it awkwardly with his other hand gripping the scalpel. He’d only shot a gun at the range a few times and never once hit what he was aiming at. He doubted he could hit anything one handed, but he didn’t want John to have it back in the state he was in and somehow its presence in his hand made him feel better.
Conrad started making his way down the hallway with the baton raised and John followed him. They stepped into the lobby and both men stared at the center of the large room in disbelief. The gun started shaking in John’s hand and Conrad’s baton slowly lowered.
“What the hell?”
James and Armand were both lying on the floor, eyes open in horror and jaws wide in silent screams. Their chests appeared to have exploded outward with blood spatters across the floor and up the desk with the broken computer.
Everything in front of the bodies was coated with blood except for one small circle directly in front of the two men. In the middle of that clean, perfect circle was a small blue fidget spinner slowly twirling on the floor.
Author’s Note:
I hope you’re enjoying Darkshield: John’s Arc 1. A new chapter comes out free every week and next week’s chapter will be available on September 7th 2020.
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