The soft hazy glow of computer
monitors illuminated the empty laboratory. A smell of decay hung in the air
giving the room an undertone of a cemetery for future progression. The upturned
desk mere tombstones for innovative ideas never to be explored after the world
ended. Sage sat in a grimy office chair staring at her ghostly reflection slowly
twirling her brunette hair around her fingers. The convex computer screen distorted
her beautiful features into a mask of sadness. Her mossy green eyes stared at
the only human face that she had seen for weeks and the reflection staring back
showed the loneliness was wearing on her. Tears hung on the crook of her tear
ducts as the desire to see her farther one last time flooded her mind. She
never liked that he was Spades of the Bartle Four, but she understood the
importance of what he was doing. Sage rose out of the chair and walked across
the room to grab a blank holotape. She ran a thin black wire from the back of
the computer and connected it to the holotape’s adapter. A soft hum filled the
silence as the computer started transferring her research findings for an
evolved form of Oscar’s serum. She never did like the constant eerie quietness
of being isolated with nothing but buzzing machines. As she waited for the
computer to finish its task, Sage dug through the old first aid kit and pulled
out a pill bottle containing five Oxycodones. Twirling the bottle, the small
white pills jumped around inside the cylinder discharging small clouds of
granular dust. The computer made a dull beep notifying Sage that her research
data was fully uploaded. She unhooked the wire and slipped the holotape into an
unmarked envelope and sealed it shut. She slid the envelope inside her coat pocket
and headed towards the ladder that lead to a rooftop overlook. Pushing open the
hatch to the overlook, her eyes adjusted to the fading sunlight setting behind
the horizon. The sky was swirled with a soft orange glow as if the sky was set
on fire. The rolling nimbus clouds looked like long plumes of smoke outlined by
hues of pink and purple. Sage stood on top of the water treatment facility main
lab building, taking in the beauty of the sunset. “It is always comforting to
know such beauty can still exist in this nightmare.” Her voice held an empty
ring. She walked to the edge of the overlook and sat down hanging her legs over
the edge. The world was quiet besides the soft breeze that whipped strains of
hair around her picturesque smiling face. She savored every little moment
because she had decided that tomorrow she was finally going to eat her friends
inside the bottle and drift away from this nightmare.
Gabriel let out a groan of pain as he dipped his body into
the tub filled with a pea green concoction of glycolic and carbolic acid. The
syrupy liquid was nothing more than a chemical skin peel on steroids. This
weekly routine was a fruitless attempt to try and counterbalance the cellular
decay caused by the red serum pumping through his veins. The rapid rate of
cellular reproduction giving Gabriel his super human strength was also
deteriorating his biological make-up and death seemed to loom over each new day.
The once loyal research assistant of Oscar is now reduced to nothing more than
a living version of a Vacant with decaying leathery skin covering a
muscular body. “Please tell me we have an update on our little friends.”
Gabriel slid his head into the syrup until only his eyes are visible
resembling a frog wading in water. His gaze was focused on the man tinkering
with the computer across the room. “Well sir, we have been getting some negative
feedback from the bug we placed inside Clubs' mask, but it seems the Bartle Four
are making their way to an abandoned water purification facility.” The man pulled
up a digital projection of a map pinpointing Clubs' signal begun only ten miles
to the west. “This building here, sir, is where we believe Sage has been hiding.
There have been small spikes of power usage inside the facility showing that
something had been keeping a few generators running. The facility shows no
signs of an AI system so it must be human.” Gabriel's eyes filled with a hunger
of desire. “This is good news indeed. What is the latest info on Heartless? I
highly doubt he is going to be so cooperative the next time we see him.” The
man swiped a projection panel to the left and projected a new screen showing
the M.A.C. communications logs between the Bartle Four members. “There is no
mention of your encounter, sir. He blamed the separation from the group on local
thugs kidnapping him and Clubs for supplies.” Gabriel’s laugh echoed inside the
small room. “It seems my old friend is planning something then. I never knew
him to think with anything but his fist.” Gabriel took a syringe out of a small
black box and filled it with the red serum from his depleting reserves. He
tested the needle for air bubbles sending a stream of the serum into the bath.
It looked like blood mixing into the dying man’s fountain of youth. “I only have
a few more injections left. Sage’s discovery couldn’t have come at a better
time. Go fetch me my aloe lotions and compression armor. We are heading out to
get her in an hour.” Gabriel let out a howl of pain as the serum fused with his
blood and started pumping through his heart. His body was rattled with a
throbbing pain causing him to convulse in violent fits. The pain was so intense it blurred his
vision causing the room to be nothing more than streaks of grey and blinking
lights. Fighting the urge to pass out, Gabriel noticed a picture of Heartless
was still projecting onto the wall not far from him. “ I promise you old friend,
the next we meet I’m going to kill you.”
Sage could still taste the chalky
pill’s coating in the back of her mouth. It had only been fifteen minutes since
she ate the pills, but it already seemed as if the world was starting to slow
down. It felt as if she was walking through a dream and she was finally going
to wake up to a world without monsters that hunt you relentlessly. Her eyelids
began to drift as their weight steadily increased, making them harder to keep
open. Oddly enough, she felt at peace. Her tranquility was short lived as an
all to familiar sound stirred her consciousness into a moment of awareness. The
ring of a gunshot echoed thorough the abandoned facility.
“Holy shit, man. You blew that poor
bastard's head clean off. One day you’re going to have to tell me where you got
those Rugers.” Clubs watched the Vacant’s weight slowly flip it over the catwalk
railing and tumble into an empty water storage tank below. Diamonds shifted his
gaze from one dark corner to the next. “Next time why don’t you just ring a
fucking dinner bell?” The two-day walk had worn the men down and fatigue was
prompting impatience actions. The food truck they hot-wired at the grocery
store only got them a little over half way to their destination before the
radiator overheated. Spades studied the innermost building of the facility
looking for any signs of life when he noticed the red spade. It was painted on
the research laboratory’s fifth floor window. “Up there. She marked the window
so she must be in the near vicinity. Let's make our way down this catwalk and
work our way up that building. Keep a sharp eye, I’m sure that is not the last
Vacant we are going to run into tonight. Heartless looked cautiously around the
facilities’ surrounding terrain for any signs of Gabriel.
Sage shambled down a hallway using
the wall to support her weakening legs. Her breathing was becoming ragged and
shallow. The pills were beginning to shut down her body functions, as her blood
was flooded with the metabolized noroxycodone. “Just hold on a little longer,
girl. At least find out where the gun shot came from and see if it is…” She
froze when she noticed a shadowed figure walking down the hallway. Sage’s
fading mind panicked with the idea of the Grim Reaper coming to take her away. Seeing
the shadowy apparition only a few feet away stirred a hunger for life in Sage.
Her legs failed to hold up her weight any longer and she collapsed against the
wall. The pills had begun to shut down her body piece by piece. She only had a
few more minutes when the shadow fell upon her, engulfing her into darkness. “Are…are
you…Death?” she sputtered out between shallow breaths. “Close enough,” the man
whispered back.
Splinters, screws, and paint chips
scattered through the air when Spades kicked the laboratory entrance door open.
Two Vacants that looked like gawky scientist reached out to grab the intruder.
Clubs was close on Spade’s flank and placed two hollow points through the brow
of each Vacant. Brain matter sprayed out the exit wounds as their lifeless
bodies slumped to the floor. Diamonds and Heartless followed closely behind the
other two, glancing at the carnage they left behind in their wake. “There is an
elevator across the room. Let's see if it still has power. Clubs, eyes low. Don’t
let a fucking crawler grab one of us this close to the finish line.” The Bartle
Four moved through the abandon office space like the legends they were. A well-oiled
machine designed to survive. “Holy shit, it must be our lucky day. The elevator
still has juice.” Spades pushed the button to go up and the elevator doors
opened with a ding. A Vacant hung suspended from a noose inside the small
compartment. The sight of Spades made the thing kick and dance through the air causing
the it to slowly spin like a puppet. “I don’t have time for this shit.” Spades slid out
his combat knife and cut the rope wrapped around the Vacant’s neck. It landed
on the elevator floor with a loud thud. Spades looked at the creature with disgust before stomping his foot down onto its head. The force caused the
thin coronal structure to crumble and the Vacant’s brain oozed out onto the floor.
Diamonds dragged the body out of the elevator and they all loaded into the tiny
space. Pressing the button for the fifth floor, Spades’ hand began to tremble.
Heartless reached out and grabbed Spades by the wrist. “Don’t worry. She is
here and we will find her. We came too far.” Ding…. Ding….. Ding….. Ding….. The
elevator doors slid open to reveal Sage’s body dangling by her neck from Gabriel’s massive
hand. “Hello boys. Welcome to the party.” Petrified by the sight, Spades stood
frozen at the entrance keeping the others trapped inside the elevator. “Well if
it isn’t the legendary heroes of this fucked world ‘The Bartle Four’! I’m
guessing from your surprised reactions that your friend Heartless didn’t tell
you about our little encounter.” The members of the Bartle Four stepped slowly
into the small elevator lounge toying cautiously with their guns. Spades’ hands
were shaking in anger. “What did you do to her? You have five seconds to tell me
what the FUCK you did to her?” Gabriel slowly started backing down the dark hallway behind him. “So hostile. Believe it or not I found this girl knocking on
death’s door. I had no hand in this girl’s undoing for you see, I want her alive
as bad as you do. I believe she has created a cure for this little poison that
is pumping through my veins and I’m in desperate need. So why don’t we put our
guns down and work together here, boys?” Heartless slowly followed the
retreating Gabriel. “He can’t be trusted, Spades. I know this man. He only cares
for himself and nothing else matters.” Gabriel laughed. “How ironic for you of
all people to say that about me. Oh well, you forced my hand then, old friend.
Consider this an insurance plan.” Gabriel took a syringe filled with the red
serum. He jammed it deep into Sage’s right breast piercing her heart. Her eyes
fluttered behind close lids as the plunger injected the serum.
Spades took a shot that sailed inches away from Gabriel’s right ear. The bullet
tore threw a glass panel that separated the elevator lounge from the office
space shrouded in darkness. Vacant started to crawl out of every nook and
cranny in the office space letting out a haunting moan. Gabriel smiled at the
scene. "Let the games begin.”
-Chris
Awesome, man! Nice cliffhanger before the finale.
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