Sixteen Minutes to Midnight

Chapter 12

"3 1 1 2 5 2" I repeated to myself, "3 1 1 5 2....god, what does that even mean?"

"It's a code, obviously!" screamed Sandra, "what else could it be?"

"Don't panic," said Dmitri collectedly, "you're only going to make it worse for yourself." We were all crouched next to the door, fiddling away at the lock as we desperately sought to find the combination. "Maybe 3 1 1 2 5 2 is a cryptogram, so each number stands for a particular letter...the most common letter in the alphabet is E, so since both the number 1 and 2 show up twice, we are most likely to assume that one of those must stand for E."

"So something E E something something something or something something something E something E, how does that even help?" yelled Sandra.

"I just told you not to yell," growled Dmitri, glaring coldly at her. She slowly backed away and crossed her arms exasperatedly.

"The next common letter is A so the other number is A...something E E A something A, or something A A E something E....I've got nothing," added Gilbert.

"Try something else," I remarked, "how bout transposing all the numbers into letters? Like taking them straight out of alphabetical order...A for 1, B for 2...that sort of thing."

"That would give us...C A A B E B. What is that?" asked Dmitri.

"Could be musical notes," uttered Sandra, "you know, on a score."

"There's no relevance to that," scowled Gilbert, "even if it was musical there's no order to the notes. There's gotta be some-AH."

"Ah?" I inquired.

"Well, not necesssarily everything has to be individual numbers," he said, "that 1 2 in the middle for instance might not be two numbers, but rather, one. Just 12."

"And what is the twelvth letter?" asked Darren.

"Why, L, of course," said Gilbert, "and that makes CALEB."

"My god," cried Sandra, "you're right!"

Nine minutes had passed since we entered, and judging from how much time had passed, we didn't have long left. The first step into decoding the puzzle had been answered, and now we had to use that clue - CALEB - to decrypt the lock we were currently facing.

"CALEB...CALEB...CALEB" muttered Darren to himself, "How does that help?"

"Well, if the first lock was CALEB, the second lock is most likely a name as well."

"But it's only six digits," said Darren, "not many names are six letters long. Well, mine is. But the digits have to correspond to the numbers, and I'm not sure if that would fit."

Dmitri hammered his head. "Think," he said to himself, "come on!"

We pondered in silence as minutes lapsed away, and by then we were nearing the deadline. Sixteen minutes had passed, and still we had no idea of what the answer could be.

"Wait!" I suddenly yelled out. "The notes!"

Darren began profusely coughing, and his eyes started to water. After a while, he calmed down and quizzed "The notes?"

"Yes, the notes that the murderer left behind! There was the first one that said 16 minutes to midnight. The second was about....ah yes, who was left alive. You know, the '16 people are alive' list? The third one was about Alonzo dying, where he said 'some 1 enjoyed it so much', and then there was the final one with Glen and Donna which said 'there's always room for 2.'"

"Your point?" asked Dmitri, his nose watery.

"They're numbers!" I screamed, "Numbers! 16, 16, 1, 2! That makes six digits. That HAS to be the combination."

"Then what was the relevance of CALEB?" screamed Darren.

"It's gotta be a red herring. A false clue. Nothing! It meant nothing! The killer tried to throw us off our game, and he damn well nearly did."

Just as I did that, Gilbert collapsed, and his body began convulsing. Darren screamed in horror. "NO! DAD! Stick with us, come on! Come on!" he yelled, as blood began to drip down his nose.

Sandra shrieked, and rushed to the door to input the numbers. Her finger trembled and her body shook violently, but she steadied herself and keyed in the digits one by one. 1. 6. 1. 6. Behind her, she heard the sound of sniffling and Darren crying. He was rocking back and forth on the floor, and his head oscillated rapidly. 1. 2.

There was a hiss and the door began to open. Dmitri laughed. "Ha...haha! YES! We need to get out..." he spat out blood, "and pronto! I reckon if we stay here a minute longer...well...."

He hauled himself out on his arms, and coughed. He breathed in air, then retched. "Euuuurgh," he moaned. I shuffled out, my arm around Sandra's shoulders, and we stumbled through the door. "Darren!" I beckoned, calling out to him, "come over here!"

But he wouldn't budge. He knelt over the body of his fallen father, and weeped silently. The door was beginning to shut. "Darren!" I screamed, and ran over to him and grabbed him by the cuff, "you need to get out! Your father didn't want you to die like this!"

He pushed me away. The door was making that grinding noise again, and I knew it would auto-lock soon enough. It would take a while to open again, and we didn't have the luxury of having that much time. I looked at Darren and edged towards the door. "You don't want to do this, Darren! You have to get out!"

Sandra tugged me, and then in one swift motion, she hoisted me back into the room. I looked through the faint glass panel as the door hissed and began to seal, looked at Darren as he lay quivering in the room, and then he looked back at me and smiled.

Then he closed his eyes, and for the first time in days, he finally rested.