Where art goes to die

Motionless. Compared to the constant lurching and bouncing of the bus outside this room stays motionless. It was barely explained to us but I caught most of it. Separate specialized spaces for each of us. I never bothered checking other people's rooms as I passed by. Probably no point in prying that much anyways. A room’s a room to rest and pass the time for the next day. Something that someone I knew once said to me back then.

We were in the same boat, given extra responsibilities neither of us really wanted. We managed to bond over just wanting to do the bare minimum and moving on to the next day. We butt heads a few times but it was never over anything serious. Most of our interactions were I’d complain about some of the new hires and they’d complain about whatever the manager dragged in this time around. One interaction always stuck out to me though. 

One day after work was done they invited me over to their room for drinks. First time I had been in anyone’s room to just relax. Any time I did go into someone’s room it was because the manager told me to pull someone away because they were having problems. Everyone always had some memento from where they were from; family photos, posters, whatever memorabilia from whatever district they idolize. But they’re room was empty, just a bed, drawers for clothes, their desk and a chair to go with. Nothing on the walls and no sort of decorations. I brought this up with them and they said that same thing to me. 

“A room’s a room to rest and pass the time for the next day.” 

“But what do you do if you get bored?”

“I don’t. I come in here, finish writing up my reports, then go to sleep.”

“What about when we get time off?”

“You think I get time off? You all need info and as captain I don’t get breaks.”

“You never ask the manager for some time to see family or friends?”

“If people out there wanted to see me I wouldn’t be here. You’re the closest thing I have to a friend.”

The rest of that night dragged on, we complained about our usual things and I went to my room barely buzzed. Sometimes I wish that day could just play on repeat. A lukewarm dream with the last good memory I had of them, not this damned nightmare stuck on loop.

That day I finally got a break of my own. Apparently the main branch had sent word to stop hiring new people and I had finally finished training the last batch of fresh meat. I did my usual patrols between the halls but I spent the rest of the day just relaxing in my room. That was until things went bad, without any warning the power went down and things were just dark. Dark and silent. The type of silence that turned seconds to a slow dreadful crawl. The type of silence that choked out any sound at all. The type of silence that came before complete and total disaster. The first sound to shatter through the silence was the backup power coming on, hallways were dimly lit as if the shadows themselves were trying to crawl back and reclaim what was just taken from them. The next was the slowly rising wave of panic that washed over every department of the facility. 

Every thing that we kept locked up, poked and prodded like rats to produce as much power as we could for this district was suddenly given free reign of the facility. I should have just followed my thoughts and escaped, but that damned twisting feeling in my gut told me to find them. Try and get the only semblance of a friend I had made here out of this place. I grabbed what weapons I could find from dead employees and ran. I kept running, past the carnage. Bashing and clawing my way past the mayhem that kept endlessly unfolding. My mind kept fighting me, telling me anything to try and get me to turn around and make my way to the exit. 

“It’s pointless.”

“He won’t stand a chance.”

“He’ll be gone.”

“Turn around and run.”

I wish I listened to these thoughts. In a hallway drenched in blood and carnage every containment door was open except for one. One was barricaded shut, every manner of furniture and object pushed in front of it. From it I could hear the desperate struggle I wish I never heard. 

There was a gap in the barricade large enough for me to see through, I could see them fighting desperately to try and keep that thing contained here. All I could do was stand there. It was the first time working in this hellhole that I felt fear and it wasn’t even for myself. I’ve never worried or feared for any of the people I trained so why was this the one time I did. I could feel the seconds stretch on until finally I did the only thing I could think of doing at the time. My fist slammed into the barricade and I shouted.

“What the hell are you doing in there! Get the hell out of there!”

Silence. Silence that was only shattered by the occasional sounds of metal scraping against metal and flesh being sliced.

“That’s what I should be telling you! Get out of here, I can’t keep this thing here forever!”

“I can help you and we can get out of here together!”

My fists kept slamming into the barricade until they were bloodied and bruised. The metal of the furniture bending with each punch. I think they were trying to tell me something, trying to give me whatever reason to just get the hell out of this damned place. I think something in me that day finally snapped. Fear and hopelessness were gone and instead was something new, something that I never felt while I worked here. Resolve… resolve to take down this barricade. Resolve to get them out of there. Resolve to get us both out of this nightmare. Resolve, and anger. I couldn’t tell you if they were even shouting at me anymore, every sound around me had been drowned out. I could barely hear the sounds of fighting on the other end and that’s all I needed to hear.

I must have looked no different from the monsters we kept here. Ripping through the barricade, pulling each piece off like it was trash to be discarded. All I could remember was that intense look of hatred as I pulled away the last piece of the barricade standing in the way. I can remember the intense pain as claws dug into me while I grabbed them. One hand tightly held around their arm while the other tightly gripped onto that weapon I can remember dragging them through the departments. Any sound that tried to cut through that fog I was lost in never seemed to make it to me. Anything that got in the way never seemed to stand a chance, smacked away leaving whatever or whoever it was scattered and bleeding on the floor. All I could hear was the sound of both of our footsteps and all I could see was the path before me. Everything else didn’t matter to me.

Finally, at the end of it all there was the way out. The elevator with a crowd of employees around it. Some I recognized from my own department, another department captain was there, and the rest were all people I didn’t know. The captain approached me. She tried to say something but I cut her off.

“Where is the elevator?”

“It…. someone…. Took it…. You…. rest…. While…. Wait….”

Her voice could only barely cut through that fog.

“Wait?”

I clearly remember the look of fear in her eyes as I asked this.

“Yes…. can’t take…. Need to…. Bypass….”

Maybe she finished talking but I just remember walking to the elevator. The console was locked down probably because of whatever was going on. Then something finally managed to push me out of that fog I was in. A familiar hand on my shoulder.

“Grettir, just slow down. I can bypass the elevator lockdown for us. We can get out of this together. I just need you to slow down.”

It was like everything finally came crashing down on me. Exhaustion caught up to me and everything else was just blurred moments flashing by me. I remember seeing my friend tapping away at the console. I remember them exchanging some words with the other captain. I remember watching them get their wounds treated with whatever we had on hand. And then I remember the emergency lights beginning to flicker. From my spot slumped against the wall I could hear it coming this way. That damned beast coming to finish the job.

It took all the strength I had to pull myself up, dragging that shield with me. Steadying myself I stood in front of everyone, holding my weapon tightly.

“Grettir what are you doing, you should-”

The other captain didn’t get a chance to finish her statement. The sound of claws scraping against the metal floor finally reaching everyone’s ears. For a brief moment the emergency lights flickered off. From behind me I could hear the faint sounds of shuffling as some employees tried to figure out what was happening. The sound of scraping grew louder and louder until it eventually stopped. The intercoms crackled to life.

“The power will fix itself momentarily. For your safety please remain in your rooms. Any issues will swiftly be dealt with by the appointed individuals.”

An automated message I had to become familiar with hearing. If I had heard that I remember being told by the disciplinary team captain that message usually meant one of two things. Someone was trying to be funny or I was about to have one hell of a day. Eventually the dim red emergency lights flashed back on and there it was, standing face to face with me.

It towered over me, this lanky malnourished creature. It’s stony skin covered in the blood of other employees that it hunted down. I stood ready waiting for the inevitable to happen. I stared daggers at it but I knew its gaze would never land on me, it was here to finish its hunt. Eventually the ding of the elevator broke the silence.

“Grettir get in.”

“No, you all need to get in first.”

“Grettir, if we get in first you won’t even make it.”

“I don’t care. I don’t have anything waiting for me up there, you all have families or friends.”

“Grettir. I’m sorry.”

My hope was that after that they would all file into that small elevator. I knew that if that happened I would be next for this thing, I would be the next thing it hunted. I was ready for its piercing gaze to land on me but instead I was pulled back. Dragged and tossed into the elevator by my friend. I didn’t even have the strength to try and fight them. As the elevator doors closed on me I shouted just about every thought that came across my mind at them. But all they did was smile at me. The lights went out and carnage engulfed the room and as the elevator doors completely closed my heart sank. Those piercing white eyes shone through the dark, staring right at me. Branding themselves into my memory.