FLOOR 21: Descent (The Tower Legacy) Read online

  I have to shake it off as I inspect the drawer, and again, there’s just lots of papers. They’re moist and on the verge of falling apart, but for some reason I decide to be gentle with them. I mean, I’m sure the next cadet will want to read them, right? I’m joking to myself to keep calm while I replace everything and close the drawer. As I’m stepping away, my hand twists to my side, sending my light gliding around the room. There’s nothing much except walls and long trails of saliva snaking down from the ceiling, but the place is caked in Creep. Waves of it are breaking through the roof and piling down along the edges of the room, clumping together into clusters that I know I have to stay away from. At least, if I want to stay alive. I make a promise to myself to keep away from the edges if I can manage to do it, because, I mean, I really just don’t want to be the cadet that gets themselves killed because they stepped into a pile of this stuff.

  My light keeps traveling until it freezes on a door. I realize I can’t take a step without sucking wind, and I have to force my legs to move, ‘cause even crossing short distances in here is terrifying. The problem isn’t the Creep so much, since I’ve had plenty of experience being around it. At least, I don’t think so. Combined with the darkness though, with not knowing where I’m going, and it’s all really just . . . okay, I’ll say it. It’s scary as hell.

  I can hear the soft sound of squelching beneath my feet as I step over the moist carpet, with each step feeling like it’s sinking into the ground. My eyelids are pinned open as I get closer to the door, and I feel my palm shaking as it flattens against the wood. At the same time that I start to push forward, all the breath leaves my body. With one big gasp, I shove my way through and practically burst into the next room.

  For a second, I’m left confused as my light shoots around while I spin, desperately scanning everything around me. Still, things aren’t too bad, even if there are no windows anywhere to give me some comfort. Even seeing the black skies from the rooftop is preferable to being in that darkness, where the Creep feels like it’s crushing down on you from everywhere. The worst part is the way it feels like it’s breathing, with its splotchy skin trembling and exhaling as the muscles underneath shiver. The walls are alive and moving with veins that pump just beneath the surface, something I notice as I light them up. I’ve . . . never seen that, ever, even when I had to fight Creepy Sally. It’s like I’m walking inside of some giant’s lung, and I can actually hear as wind breathes out of the walls.

  I’m in some sort of dining room, though. The table’s set with dishes, like people were getting ready to eat before the Creep struck. Now the chairs have tendrils of muscle wrapping up their legs, and the dishes have saliva overflowing out of them. It’s all pretty gross, but not really the depressing part of what I’m looking at. See, when I lift my light, I catch a portrait with it. It’s a big painting hanging above the opposite wall with what you’d call a standard family unit. I mean, there’s a dad, a mom, a boy and a girl. There’s even a dog in the painting to make you feel twice as bad, and it’s one of those things that reminds you this isn’t a game. People lived here a long time ago. They might have even died here. The worst part of the painting is the Creep, though. It’s formed a thick layer over the canvas that’s damaged the material, so their faces looked twisted and black from rot. My eyes are playing tricks on me because it almost looks like their faces are twisting in my direction, so I unstick my eyes and yank my head off to the right, toward a staircase I can barely see against the wall. I’m assuming Abbott wanted to hide the sensor in the most annoying place possible, so it has to be upstairs. My legs hesitate but end up dragging me along to the first step. It bends and complains under my weight and the noise echoes forever into the darkness. Then I take another step, moving upwards with my light focused at the top of the stairs.

  A knocking beats my ears, and I flip around and gaze into the room below me. I’m trapped halfway between floors, unsure if I should continue, while I listen for any more noises. The flashlight searches around, lighting up different spots in the dining room but finding nothing. So, with the pace in my chest starting to rush, I turn around to continue my climb. My eyes whirl forward and my gasp is almost a scream when I see the wall at the top bursting to life in fiery red light. At first I try to step back, but I’m stuck watching until, after what feels like forever, the light dies away. “Maybe . . . maybe it’s a light from the sensor,” I whisper as I shake my leg a little before trying to take another step up. My shoes feel like they’re filled with concrete, and every step feels like I’m about to break through the stair boards. The wall above waits for me and slowly gets closer, until finally I can see onto the second floor.

  As I settle onto the next level, I’m confronted by a hallway. The door at the end is cracked open, like it’s calling for me to enter, and even if it’s not far, it feels like it’ll take eternity to cross in the dark. There are two more doors on my left, but they’re both closed. So, I decide to take my chances with the open room first. Might as well get it out of the way, right?

  It feels like I’m walking through an ocean as I struggle just to take small steps. My legs drag while my breathing comes in shallow explosions. For a second, my breath is all I can hear, until I notice the pounding sound of my heart. It’s practically slamming against my eardrum as I start to reach for the door handle. My fingers are inches from the door when they seize up at a noise, and I feel my body going cold as my breath comes to an instant stop. There’s a rumbling inside, and the door shakes as a deep moan crawls into the hall. Instantly, I yank my hand away while I try to make sense of it, realizing it sounds like wood heaving beneath a heavy weight. My feet pull me a step backward, and my eyes become saucers as the door starts to groan and swing open, revealing a dark bathroom infested with gigantic Creep growths spilling down the walls.

  My light covers every inch of the room before I step foot inside. As I rest my hand on the doorframe, I feel the material give beneath my fingertips, the wood kinda disintegrating under the pressure. I pull my hand back and stare at the frame, wondering if the whole room could collapse if I’m not careful. What’s worse is how narrow it is inside, and I end up sandwiched between a bathtub, sink and toilet. No matter where I turn, something’s right in front of my eyes, and I start to feel my breath racing again as the darkness crushes down around me. I’m trying to keep cool while I spy the inside of the tub, which is just . . . ugh. It’s a mucus infested mess that’s full of saliva and Creep growths that bubble right over the edges. Small tendrils probe through the air, and I twist to keep away. When I do, my hip bumps the sink, and I spin around, my eyes finding the mirror and, inside, my reflection. Alongside the shadow of someone else’s. I stuff down a scream as I spin again, my light doing cartwheels as I try to find the intruder.

  I can hear my breath and my heart in sync inside of my ears, both of them racing as I try to force myself to calm down. “You’ve been in this before, Jackie,” I say, bending over and holding my knees while the light stares off at the floor. “It’s just the Creep playing games with you. Nobody’s really here.”

  “Jackie.”

  I shoot straight up at the sound of my name, and my light explodes into the hallway. “Who the hell is out there?” I squeak to no answer. “Is this part of the test? Is someone in here with me?” That’s the thing. I don’t know if the Creep is supposed to know your name or not. I don’t even know if it’s supposed to be able to talk. I tell myself that when I fell down, I must have gotten more of the juice into my system than I thought, because this is almost as bad as the first time I ever decided to just grab a handful of the Creep. That almost got me put into Reinforcement, but what I’m going through at that second? That voice just makes it so much worse.

  “You’re hallucinating,” I tell myself as I inch into the hallway and light up the nearest door. “Nothing can happen to you if you stay calm. The Creep only reacts when you get too scared. It can’t do anything to you if you stay cool.” I stand in the darkness for a long min
ute while I catch my breath, then move to the door nearest the bathroom. For a second, I shut my eyes and think about anything else than where I am. Home, with mom and dad, with all their weirdness, would be preferable. Better yet, a dance party with Allison. I’d even prefer a conversation with Tommy, and that’s saying something.

  If nothing else, thinking about them helps me keep my head straight. While my pulse is relaxing, I turn the door handle and watch it give way, like it’s giving me permission to enter. It’s almost completely abandoned inside, with just a desk in the corner and an old bookshelf nearby. I explore the shelf first, scanning the covers but finding no books I recognize. Plus, they all look like they’re about to crumble into dust, so I leave them alone. After a few more minutes, I’m able to convince myself to head over to the desk, even if I’m cringing as my feet thud loud enough to echo around me. It’s not until I’m standing right over the desk that I realize all the drawers have been removed. I came over here for nothing.

  The door shuts behind me.

  Nothing stops me from screaming at that point.

  This has to be a setup. One of Abbott’s men has to be in here, or at least my hallucinations have to be super out of control. What I know is that I’m frozen in the middle of the room, but that doesn’t look like it’s keeping the walls from closing in. They’re trembling and jittering, and it’s not because of the Creep. There’s something darker than the darkness there, and somehow I force myself to switch off my flashlight so I can get a better look. Stupid me. Everything plunges to black, and suddenly I’m watching silhouettes I shouldn’t be able to see as they start lining the walls. They all watch as my breathing stops and my muscles lock up. The beat of my heart is so intense that my ears feel like they’re about explode from the pressure, and I can feel my pulse hammering out of control. When the Demons raise their hands at me, their faces light up with strings of red eyes, and my chest crunches like it wants to collapse. All at once, they lean out toward me then begin to push against the wall, like they’re ready to pry themselves free. My heart can’t take it anymore, and somehow I force myself to dash for the exit, grabbing its handle and throwing the door open. I’m barely outside when my feet give out and I fall into the hallway, spinning around and flashing my light into the empty room behind me.

  Nothing is moving.

  Nothing is there.

  And then something does move and I’m slamming back against the wall. In the doorway is a dark figure, and even though it’s impossible to make it out clearly, it looks like her outline. The long black hair. The torn up sundress. I swear it looks like a shadow of Sally, but I can’t make it out. Thing is, I hear her when she says:

  “We’re not alone anymore. He’s here with us.”

  And then she vanishes, and I’m left with my heart pounding so hard I think it’s going to explode through my chest. All I can do is sit there for a minute as I fight to take a breathe. The way my pulse is going, it’s almost impossible. Still, after a second, I realize I’ve been staring into the room and nothing’s happening. Sally’s not there. There’s no dark shadow men in there. So why am I having such a freak-out? I know what this is, right? Hallucinations happen all the time in the Deep Creep. That’s most of the reason why we’re doing this training in the first place. I keep reminding myself about this until finally I feel my heart calming down. The sad halo from my flashlight explores the hall, and everything looks normal, or at least, you know, as normal as a Creep infested hallway full of paranoia induced hallucinations should look like. I’m trying to be funny, but I’m not laughing. My forehead is marinating as sweat comes down in waves and I can feel drops anchoring on the tip of my nose. The only noise in the hall is my breath as it pounds its way out of my lips, but I’m still frozen. There’s a long minute before I flash my light at the one door that’s still closed. I still need the sensor, and that’s the only place left to look.

  God.

  It takes a second before I’m able to control my body again, and another minute before I can get myself worked up enough to approach the last door. It’s not like there’s anything different about it, but it feels like there’s something behind it, like something dark is seeping out from the cracks. It creates a tingling in my skin that explodes as the noise of each step I take reaches my ears. All of this is making my breath race, but I snap to reality when I find myself in front of the door. My hands are drenched with sweat and can barely turn the handle, but the door groans as it curves away.

  I’m standing in a bedroom. The bed is just soaked with saliva and all the sheets are a wet mess. The nightstand is practically a small pillar of Creep, and the walls are just piles of clusters growing on top of each other. I can hear the room wheezing as orifices breath out gusts of humid air that glue to my skin. My feet stick to the floor as juices grab at my shoes and stick to me with every step, a sick squelch coming with each move I make. There’s something else too. My light was a pale yellow when I came in, but now it looks like it’s filtered through a red haze. It’s one of the most common signs that you’re in a deep part of the Creep and it happens on the lower floors. Still, it feels ten times as terrible while I’m there in the bedroom, surrounded by the worst infestation I’ve ever seen. Even the ceiling looks like it’s about to give out from all of the clusters I can see sagging from above.

  As I step inside, I check the door behind me because, I mean, of course. I don’t need it closing on me again. Well, if it ever really did close on me in the other room. I’m slowly walking the edge of the walls until I can slide my hand over the dresser. Nothing’s there except more pictures of the husband and wife, sometimes with their kids, but they’re all decaying, like I’m staring at the corpses of this family. Their smiles are staring at me from behind black rotted masks. It’s grim, but it just gets worse when my search of the drawers comes up empty. I’m not sure how long I’ve been inside, but I know I want to get out. I just . . . I have to get this done. When I look over at the bed, I realize if the sensor’s anywhere in this room, it’s either somewhere in the nightstand or buried in the mattress. Not wanting to risk the nightstand first, I shuffle the pillows and covers around. It’s obvious they’ve already been searched, since the covers are a mess, so I’m not the first Scavenger with this idea. Of course, I find nothing.

  Giving up on the bed, I look at the nightstand. More than half of it is buried in Creep and tendrils are wrapping their way up the edges. I mean, I can still see the drawer at the top, but as I reach my hand out, I pause when my fingers start shaking. I can remember seeing people grabbed like this when they were close to the Creep, and I don’t have any weapons on me. I know the Security team’s outside, but . . . that’s a long run up the stairs. At least, it feels like it.

  The force I use to swallow is enough to make me gag for a second. I turn away, heaving as I struggle to breathe in the thick air. I manage to take as big a gulp of it as I can, turn, and force myself to yank open the drawer. My heart’s drumming in my chest as I look over the edge and stare inside.

  And there it is.

  More nothing.

  I’m about to scream in frustration when my wrist jerks downward, and instead I scream in pain as a pulpy tendril of skin and muscle wraps its way up my arm. It’s so powerful, and I can’t keep it from dragging me down to a knee. With my free hand I grab at the top of the dresser, squeezing the edges as I try to keep myself from collapsing onto the ground. Splinters dig through my gloves and my fingernails cut into the wood while the Creep pulls at me so hard that I can feel my shoulder getting ready to jerk out of its socket.

  “Help!” I’m about to scream when my mouth is covered shut. My eyes shoot open as what feels like fingers stretch across my lips and along my chin. Suddenly, the hot breath of the Creep is passing over my ear while another hand walks its way down my arm. I struggle, but I’m caught in the grip of the tendrils and this person’s arms, and no matter how hard I try to pull free, every move just makes it seem like my muscles are about to sever from my body.
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  “You interest me, Jackie,” he says, holding my head back to him, his chest rising and falling as he inhales. “I hear word you would like to know what Angels are. I hope we might find out together.”

  A kick of air blasts across my face and suddenly I’m free, my body flying backward as I pull myself from the Creep. I collapse onto my side with my body drenched in the moist juices of the room. At the same time, I feel something in my hand, metallic and round. Like a Pocket Space Generator. It forces another scream from me that’s both terrified and relieved, and I slam the top of the device. A red light bursts from it and its starts to howl while I’m yanking myself off the disgusting floor, my fingers shoving into pulpy muscle as I force myself out of the room. It only takes seconds for me to explode out of the door, only to find the hallway stretching out to my right. It feels like it’s pulling away from me and no matter how many steps I run, I can never reach the end. But somehow, I’m suddenly I’m flying down the stairs, and there’s a doorway that’s burning so bright that I feel like I’m running into the sun. I hit the exit with enough speed to rocket out into the light before slamming hard to the ground, sliding to a halt while the entire team jumps around me.

  Abbott’s voice calls them off as he tears his way to the front of the crowd. “Everyone back!” he orders, his gloved hand grabbing me by the arm and hauling me to my feet. “She’s covered in Creep! Security!”

  Two of the guards are all over me in an instant, their blankets swiping down along my body and squeezing the excess juices off my face and neck. I can feel as they rip the sweatshirt and pants off of me, but I’m not exactly in the right mind to care about modesty. The next thing I know, I’m being led away in my delicates with double blankets draped around me.

  That was when the blackout hit.

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