James closes the door to Avery’s room as an anxious nurse confronts him. “Can you share anything yet? Please?”
He looks her in the eyes with sincerity, “I’m sorry, at the moment I can’t share anything.”
The nurse loses her composure as she persists for answers with tears running down her cheeks, “My grandmother was killed last night, and I need to know why.”
He takes a step towards her, “Ma’am, I’m going to sort this out, okay? You’ll have answers soon. Now please if you would excuse me.” He turns from her and walks down the hallway towards the elevator, where a pathologist awaits him. How could he share the information he carries? If he were to be honest, he would risk losing his job and ending his career. He dwells on this as a few lights, unbeknownst to him, flicker and go out above him right before he enters the elevator. Once the elevator doors shut, the pathologist presses a button labeled with the letter “B” and the elevator begins to descend. James keeps his focus centered at the closed doors when he asks, “Anything yet, Dr. Baker?”
He casually answers, “They all have ruptured hearts.”
James slightly turns his head and with narrowed eyes, questions the doctor, “That’s it? Nothing else?”
“Medically speaking, they all died of heart attacks.”
Even though their conversation has ended, their descent isn’t a quiet one; the elevator frequently creaks and shudders. So much so that James lets out a nervous chuckle and then mentions it, “Uh, I think this elevator needs a check-up.”
Dr. Baker responds with absolute seriousness, “Why do you say that?”
“All the noises its making, don’t you hear that?”
The doctor shakes his head, “I don’t hear anything.”
James raises his eyebrows, “Seriously? You didn’t hear that just now?”
“Are you alright, detective?”
James resumes staring at the closed doors, “I… I don’t know. This case. I do have a headache that keeps getting worse.”
“Perhaps you need some rest, maybe some water?”
The elevator halts and the doors open. They exit while James continues their conversation. “So, was anything found that could’ve caused this to happen? Was it something airborne that we didn’t pick up? Was their food poisoned?”
“No, nothing was found that would lead us to believe either of those were to blame. However, extremely high levels of cortisol and adrenaline were found in the blood. Cortisol is a stress hormone that prepares our muscles to move quickly during the fight or flight response.” James nods his head and then begins to proceed down the hallway but Dr. Baker stops him, “Detective, if you want us to help you find any clues or leads, then you need to share more information with us. You’ve withheld almost the entire case from us, and from what I’ve learned, from most of your own colleagues. I understand some cases require caution and care, but we’ve never been completely in the dark on a case before.”
James looks the man in the eyes for a brief moment and says, “Where is fear experienced in the brain?”
“The amygdala. That’s also where most emotions are experienced.”
“If you could examine those in the victims for me, I would be grateful.”
Almost astonished at this request, Dr. Baker answers solemnly, “Why yes, of course.”
“Thank you.”
They both proceed down the hallway and into the morgue. Ten metal tables line the right side of the large room, each with a victim from the nursing home laying upon it. Behind each of the these tables are large doors; behind these doors is a refrigerated chamber where cadavers are stored. James keeps his focus in front of him and refuses to glance over at any of the corpses as he keeps a quick pace. They pass all the tables with cadavers, and turn into a separate room where digital autopsies are conducted.
Two specialists sit at a desk with multiple computer monitors. An advanced CT scanner lies on the other side of the room with a body placed inside. As James and Dr. Baker enter, the two other specialists are speaking with each other quietly.
James stands just inside the entrance while Dr. Baker is greeted by his colleagues and then asks them, “Could you focus on the brain of the current victim for me, more specifically, the amygdala.” James remains standing near the entrance as they do their work, mostly to keep out of their way, but also because he has an uneasy feeling about what they might discover. As James waits, his headache grows more uncomfortable, it pounds his mind without relent. After waiting for a few painful minutes, Dr. Baker speaks up, “Very interesting. Detective, have a look at this.”
James takes a single step before the power goes out. A chair rattles as one of the hospital employees jumps in their seat, letting out a brief yelp. James stops, and places a hand on the back of his head and grips tightly; the pain from the headache grows worse.
He lets out a small groan that catches the attention of Dr. Baker, “Detective? Are you alright?”
“Its this headache, it’s really getting to me.”
“If you can just wait a minute, the back up generators should start up soon, and then we’ll see what we can do about that headache of yours.”
“Alright.” Beads of sweat accumulate on James’ forehead as worry, stress, and pain assault his mind in absolute darkness.
One of the specialists speaks up, “Shouldn’t the generator have restored power by now?”
The doctor responds, “It should have.”
An idea comes to James, “I should have my flashlight on me.” He attempts to locate his small flashlight in his pants pocket, but the increasing amount of pain and anxiety prove worthy adversaries in the dark. After he checks both his pockets he remembers where he put it. He reaches underneath his suit and finds it in his shirt pocket, he fumbles it around in his hands to locate the button. Once he finds it, he presses down, nothing. Again and again he pushes the button, cursing out of frustration as it refuses to react to his actions. He then resorts to using his phone’s built in flashlight, but when he attempts to turn on the screen, one of the other specialists in the room says, “Anyone else’s phone not working?” Upon hearing this, he desperately tries to access his phone, but it remains as unresponsive as his flashlight. A thought begins to creep into James’ mind, a thought he knows that’s been there since he stepped foot into the elevator. As the four of them patiently wait for the power to return, this thought draws ever closer to the forefront of his mind.
“Maybe we should find our way to the stairs.” Suggests one of the specialist in the room.
Dr. Baker agrees, “Let’s do that, something must not be right, it shouldn’t be taking this long. So, I know us three know this place fairly well so Detective, just keep your hand on my shoulder, and we’ll lead you back towards the stairs, okay?”
“Let’s go then.” James listens as they begin to stand and walk towards him, since he’s standing just inside the entrance.
A familiar scent reaches his nostrils as he feels a hand rest on his shoulder then hears Dr. Baker speak to him, “Alright James, put your hand on my shoulder and then we can be on our way.” James does as he says and follows Dr. Baker’s arm up to his shoulder where he rests his own hand. They each place a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of them to form a line, a hand comes to rest on James’ shoulder before they begin filing out of the room.
“This way.” The Doctor says as they walk through the darkness. All he can hear are their footsteps, nothing more. Each step echoes throughout the morgue, seemingly endlessly. As these sounds mingle and multiply, one in particular catches his attention. The footsteps from the person behind him, they sound different from the rest. They’re softer, and almost resemble a sort of slapping noise. He thinks to himself, are they barefoot? Without giving it much thought, he feels the hand upon his own shoulder, its unusually cold.
“Are your hands always that cold?” James asks.
“Who’s hands?” Dr. Baker questions.
“Whoever’s behind me.”
One of the specialists from the front of the line speaks up, “No one should be behind you.”
These words usher a fear so intense into James’ mind, that it leaves himself vulnerable to the one thought that’s been stalking his mind since he entered the elevator. The darkness keeps his wild expression hidden as another hand falls on his other shoulder and pulls him back with enough force to throw him on the ground. The back of his head impacts the floor, sending him into a brief daze. He feels himself slip in and out of consciousness as he feels for the wall to his right, and frantically tries to stand to his feet; repeatedly falling to the floor after every attempt.
To his own bewilderment, no words of concern are spoken from those he was following. He hears and sees nothing. As he slowly recovers from his fall, he hastily resumes walking in the direction he was being led while keeping a hand on the wall to his right as a guide. He continues to aimlessly make his way through the darkness when he runs into something. He stumbles backwards and puts a hand out in front of him to feel what it was. The tips of his fingers come into contact with some fabric. He runs his hand upwards and then realizes he’s touching another person and promptly retracts his hand.
He doesn’t hesitate to make his frustration known, “Hey! What’s wrong with you? Didn’t you hear me fall back there? Someone threw me on the ground, we have to leave now!” He awaits their reply, but absolute silence reigns in this dark place.
“Hey!” His voice echoes for a moment then fades. He remains silent for a moment longer when out of that silence a loud popping noise from the individual before him, echoes into the depths of the morgue. A subtle groan, or perhaps moan, then trickles from the same person James has come into contact with.
“Are, are you okay?” He takes a step forward when a single light turns on directly above him. What James sees before him sends him back on the ground out of pure terror. With wide eyes, Dr. Baker stands perfectly motionless; his jaw has extended far enough to come into contact with his chest. Blood trickles down from the corners of his mouth, where his flesh has torn, and onto his white coat, creating a red river amongst a sea of white. James lays upon the ground slowly backing away from the doctor, completely unaware of what to do next.
“Dr. Baker!” The Doctor’s body briefly quivers then falls backwards onto the ground. James stands and carefully approaches the doctor, but is interrupted by the smacking of bare feet upon the floor behind him. James turns towards the strange sound, and sees something just beyond the radius of light surrounding him. A foot steps into the light and then as the other advances further into the luminous radius, something can be seen dragging on the floor between the feet. As this mysterious figure comes into the light, James makes out the intestines that hang from the seemingly walking corpse. The abdomen has been surgically cut open, allowing their entrails to trail on the floor behind them. The skin of this walking phenomenon is pale, wrinkled, and covered with dark blemishes. The skin on either side of the mouth has completely torn, allowing the jaw to hang open at a grossly disproportionate length. The lifeless, unblinking, widened eyes stray not from James’. This shell of a human continues to take slow methodical steps as it advances closer to James and the body of Dr. Baker. Like a deer in the headlights, James freezes at the sight of such a thing. That is, until the jaw of this creature loudly pops, and similar to a hypnotist’s snap; it brings James back into reality and sends him running.
He leaps over the doctor’s body and runs through the darkness. Lights begin to turn on, one by one, with each step he takes. As a light turns on a short distance in front of him, he sees one of the specialists standing still, facing him. He stops some feet before her, and then cautiously approaches her, “Are you alright? We need to get out of here! Now!”
“Take out your phone.” She says in a monotonous voice.
“Excuse me?”
“Your phone, take it out.”
“What? Why? We need to leave right now.” He’s about to make his way past her when she violently screams, her jaw extends and pops almost instantly, and then she collapses to the ground. James reacts by sprinting past her body until another light switches on revealing the second specialist, who also stands ominously before him.
This time James decides to keep on running past, but the specialist tackles him to the ground while screaming, “Take out your phone!” James punches the man in the face but it seems to have no effect other than inflicting pain onto himself. The man on top of him searches his pockets for his phone. Once the phone is in the specialist’s hand, he stands with the phone in his hands. Furious, James stands and prepares to continue running for the stairs, but something else holds him in place, something unseen. The man standing before him presses the phone into James’ hand, then repeats the actions of his colleague. He screams as loud as his lungs will allow, his jaw extends and pops and then he collapses in silence.
James feels the restraints fade, and looks at his phone’s screen. A text message has been formulated, but not sent. It reads, “The elimination of the elderly populace must begin immediately. They make no contributions towards society, and only consume our many valuable resources such as time, money, and food. To rid ourselves of their parasitic existence would be considered an act of kindness to all. Why spend so many resources on keeping an old useless individual alive when they themselves can basically no longer live their lives? What kind of life is that? To live and yet not to live, to be able to do nothing more than observe your surroundings and admire them is not to live at all, it is to suffer. If we do not begin this process ourselves, a public servant shall continue to carry out this task, just as he did evening last. Except his methods are to be considered much less humane than what we could offer. These are his demands and his consequences if we should decide to either abide by or reject his agenda.”
The recipient of this message is the mayor of the city of Layton. All he has to do is press, “Send.”
Voting ends on Sunday evening March 3rd. Once the voting period has ended we will write the next chapter based upon the winning choice.
Chapter 5 releases on March 11th