The Jackson - Part Six

6

“You were right,” said Corey. “We freed something that is definitely worse than you.”

The few fluorescent lights that hadn’t been shattered buzzed overhead. There wasn’t much in the dim lobby but a security desk and a few ferns but something had torn through and destroyed anything it could get its hands on. Half of the desk was shredded. Wires and screens hung limply from it and they sparked and twitched as if crying out for help. The trash cans had been strewn over the polished floor and the marble that encased the room had been ripped up and hunks of it thrown against the windows. They were still in one piece and Corey had a guess as to why.

He and Victoria picked their way through the rubble trying their best to keep quiet. The large front windows were foggy, painted that way to keep passersby from peeking in. There were long scrapes and scratches over the surface and whoever, or whatever, had tried to escape, had lobbed marble and chairs and everything not tied down in the lobby at it.

“They’re bullet proof – or something even better,” he mumbled.

Victoria had gone to search the door. “If the windows can’t be broken, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that we can’t pick these locks either, can we?”

It was the one thing that Corey should have been able to do – the one thing he was good at. But when he bent down to inspect the large, silver bolts that ran into the marble floor, and the huge locking mechanism that sat over the knob, he knew it would be pointless to try.

“It is wood,” Victoria added, a hint of hope in her thick voice.

Corey shook his head. “If these windows aren’t glass do you really think they’d be stupid enough to make this real wood? Odds are its steel with wood casing.”

He looked to Victoria who was trying to stop herself from shaking. He didn’t know if it was from fear or anger but he prayed she wouldn’t turn on him. Corey had considered whether her claws could rend the door in two, but tearing flesh and tearing metal were two completely different things.

“Then how the fuck do we get out of here?” she hissed. Her question bounced around the deserted lobby, trying to find another ear to hit.

Corey suddenly became terrified that they would be found, standing there with their thumbs up their asses. They needed to find a purpose and move. He looked again at the locks and there were round holes that looked like they could be for an oddly shaped key. He blurted out, “We need to find a security guard. The one who sits at the desk. They should have keys to this, right?”

Victoria nodded. Her eyes kept darting left and right and it was almost like she could hear things that Corey couldn’t. He shuddered. He didn’t want to know what else was in this building but he needed that key.

“They can’t be dead,” she said. “Otherwise, we’d see pieces of them all over.”

“Maybe when the alarm system went off, they locked up and…”

“And what?” snapped Victoria.

Corey shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know why they would leave but they were smart to,” he said as he kicked a chunk of pink marble across the floor. “Well, I’m not getting back in that elevator and there are two stairways. Do you want to choose?”

Victoria’s eyes went full dark as she tiptoed to each of the stairways, pausing at each and sniffing the air. Her body froze and something akin to panic flitted over her delicate features. And then Corey saw the cause.

“What do we have here? Another security guard?” The low voice coming from the thin figure grumbled and snapped its way out.

From the darkness at the top of the stairs strolled a man. His body was thin and he hadn’t showered in weeks from the smell. Greasy hair hung over his gaunt cheeks and a ripped and bloodied security uniform hung like a blanket over his wiry frame.

Corey found himself unable to tell this intimidating and blood-covered person that he was not a guard. He got as far as his mouth falling open but the words died well before they reached his lips.

As he reached the bottom step, the man’s hand flew out to the side and long claws dug furrows in the marble wall. “I assume you’re hoping to get to your friends upstairs. They’re a little busy,” he chuckled. “Keeping us caged up in here and poking and prodding at us wasn’t the best idea.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Corey choked out. He could feel Victoria at his side. She was like a bundle of nerves ready to snap and Corey didn’t have to look at her to know that she was changing. He could see it in the man’s eyes, the way he looked at her.

“They starved us,” he said as his gaze tore into Victoria. “And now they’ve locked us in here for good. Any guard that hasn’t been eaten will be strung up, something for us to play with to pass the time until we eventually legitimately starve to death.”

“We are getting out of here.” Victoria spoke quietly. She slipped her body in front of Corey’s and tossed her hair back as she bowed up to the beast. “If you help us, I’ll let you live.”

The man’s booming laugh raced across the room striking Corey straight in the heart. Corey needed to think of something fast. There was no way he was going to be able to fight this man – fighting the old maintenance man had ended in bruised ribs and lowered self-esteem. And he worried that Victoria wasn’t strong enough to take this thing on.

“There’s a key,” he said. Corey almost had to shout it to get his voice heard over the thunderous laugh of the man, and when his words hit home, the man quieted.

The man sneered as he slid his feet ever closer. “There’s more than a key. You think I didn’t already try to escape? There’s a hand print key pad –”

         

        “A biometric lock, you mean?”

         

        The look Corey got for interrupting was enough to make him want to melt into the background.

“Whatever it’s called doesn’t matter.”

“He’s right,” said Victoria. She turned to Corey, keeping the man within sight. “We don’t know which guard sat up here or who would be able to open the doors. What do you suggest we do? Take one more step and I’ll rip your fucking head off,” she growled.

Corey hadn’t even noticed the man circling them, he was so quiet. He looked like a hunter spotting prey. His big eyes were dilated and wide with excitement.

Corey looked at him, taking in the blood smeared lips and the sunken chest. This man had been starved and who knew what else, and Corey sure as hell didn’t want to have this man take out his pain on him. “How many guards have you killed?”

A small smile curved his lips and he shrugged. “A few.”

“Do they still have their hands?”

“They should.”

Corey sighed and shook his head. He never thought he’d ever say what he was about to say. “Then as we gather keys, we take hands too. Right and left because we don’t know which hand we’ll need.”

Victoria’s look soured but the man seemed interested. “Are you saying that I get to rip their hands from their bodies?”

Corey nodded.

“And they don’t have to be dead.”

Corey wanted to assume it was a question but he knew that this man was probably planning on leaving every guard he found alive. Handless, but alive only to be finished off by another creature.

Corey swallowed hard. “They don’t have to be dead. We need their hands and their key chains.”

“And what stops me from killing you the moment you miraculously open these doors? Something you could probably do now.” The growl following those words sent Corey shaking.

“He’s not a guard,” said Victoria. “He’s a thief and the only reason I’m not locked up. And if you want him, Aswang, you will have to go through me.”

His smile grew, giving Corey a better look at his long, yellowed fangs. “I might just be looking forward to that, Crone. Since your human is so nervous, you won’t mind if I lead our little party, will you? Besides, I am quite familiar with the layout of the labs.”

As he made for the stairs, Corey whispered, “You know his name?”

Victoria shook her head. “Only what he is.”

“And what is he exactly?”

“Someone that will be good to have on our side. Just keep your distance from him. I don’t trust him. Whatever they did here has messed with his head.”

They gave the Aswang a wide berth as they followed. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Keep your wits about you,” he called back to them. His head turned as he crept farther into the swallowing darkness and his eyes glowed with an eerie yellow light. “It’s about to get pretty nasty.”