The Jackson - Part Four

4

 

Corey lay in that hallway until the shaking stopped. As his snot and tears dried on his face he wondered what the hell he was going to do now. He wanted to leave, forget this building ever existed.

Screeching came from the hallway that led out into the night. The crone wasn’t gone. She couldn’t get past the solid door. She came bursting back into the room and Corey tucked into the fetal position, watching a small woman rip a door from its frame and begin tearing apart everything in sight. Her skin had gone pale blue again and her black claws shredded a set of computers that Corey hadn’t even noticed. He had been too busy worrying about the woman in the cage and getting his ass handed to him.

She screamed, speaking in a strange language, pressing buttons and ripping wires. The crone didn’t even turn her attention to Corey. Her clothes were still drenched in the maintenance man’s blood but she had wiped the worst of it away from her face.

An alarm rang out, loud and strong and Corey’s hands flew to cover his ears. The lights went off and in their place were blinking red and white lights. It was like she had set off the fire alarm. Throughout the building, Corey could hear doors slamming, open or shut he didn’t know. When the slamming stopped, the siren stopped. The main lights stayed off and when the blinking lights faded, the hall was covered in warm red flood lights.

“How do I get out of here!” she bellowed.

Corey chanced a look to see her barreling toward him. He scurried back but she was so fast. She grabbed him by the jacket and yanked him up into the air. His side burned as he raised his hands to protect his face, reminding him that his ribs were most likely broken.

“Tell me how to get out of here,” she said. Her fangs had grown so long over her dark lips that she slurred more than spoke.

Corey couldn’t find his breath. “I – I don’t know,” he whispered.

“Don’t lie to me,” she roared as she slung him up against the concrete wall.

The pain was so great that tears began to leak from his eyes. Corey didn’t know he could cry so much. “Please.”

The crone’s face softened slightly and she set him carefully onto his feet.

Corey pressed his shaking hands to his aching side. “I broke in here hoping to find jewelry or TV’s. It’s so secure, I didn’t think I would make it this far. And then I found you.”

She sighed. “I’m stuck in here with a common thief.”

“What do you mean ‘stuck’?”

“We can’t go out the back way.” Her skin began to go back to a normal color, her eyes back to a beautiful deep amber. Her full lips pouted. “I tried to rip that door out but I couldn’t do it. It’s got a big locking mechanism.”

He winced at the pain racking his body. “So we go through.”

Her head shook vehemently. “Do you know what’s up there?”

“I assumed apartments. That’s what I was told by quite a few people.”

“That’s because that’s what they want you to think,” she spat.

“Who is they?”

She ignored his question. “The rumors I’ve heard say that it’s a lab and a prison. And if we are going to get out that way we have a lot of obstacles to go through.”

“Like?” He swallowed and tried to hide the quiver in his lip.

Her look turned grim and her eyes darkened, like she was seeing something far off. “If I set off something other than the fire alarm, it’s possible that I may have opened a few doors I shouldn’t have. There are worse things than me in this building.”

Corey shuddered. “We can’t just walk out then.”

She shook her head no.

Corey’s eyes were beginning to adjust to the light. He strained to hear anything beyond the hall they were in, but it was such a large building there was no hope of hearing anything too far off.

The woman turned on her heel and began rushing down the hallway.

Corey cried out, “You’re not going to leave me?”

She froze. Turning her head over her shoulder she said, “Then you should start moving.”