Her heart drummed so loudly she wondered if it would wake the coma patients on the next floor above.
She kept a grip on his arm, as he started walking forward.
As silent as panthers stalking in the night they edged closer to the end of the corridor. One slow painstaking step at a time. She focused on sounds. The occasional sound of her shoe against the tile, the electrical hum inside the walls, a thin whistle of air passing through the ducts. Each breath seemed loud enough to break the sound barrier. The blood in her veins felt like freezing water, yet her hands were sweating.
A bunch of metal objects crashed together down the hall. Then there were footsteps. They sounded like they were coming from all directions. Edging closer to her but she could not see them, her breath quickened.
Jake suddenly froze and she walked into his outstretched arm. She shut her eyes and let out a long exhale. Took a deep inhale. The air smelled of sulfur and rotten eggs. A door near her creaked open. Another clattering of metal. She looked around frantically but could not tell where the sound had come from.
Her heart beat faster.
There was an exchange of whispers in a language she couldn't understand.
"Hey! Whoever is doing this, stop now!" Jake yelled. There was a pause.
Footfalls came up behind her, and her instincts screamed for her to bolt.
She broke away from Jake and pushed herself into a wall. Used it as a guide as she tore off running. Running in the dark was a task all on its own. The footfalls grew heavier. Louder. Closer. Her right foot caught against her left ankle and sent her crashing to the floor with her arms splayed out desperately.
She grasped at the cold tile and fanned one hand up to find the wall. A hard weight fell beside her. Smacked against the ground with a sharp thunk. Her palm grazed the cool wall and she started to stand up.
A strong hand fell on her shoulder and she screamed out. Tried to stumble away. The hand gripped her elbow.
"Olivia it's me! Relax!" Jake reassured her as he helped her to her feet.
"C-can you not sneak up on me like that?" Her chest fluttered. "I nearly had a heart attack!"
"Sorry. I dropped some guy right before he got to you. I had to be silent."
"Thanks."
He let go of her elbow and then grabbed her hand. I'm not breaking off again!
Jake led her down another hall. She allowed him to decide where they went.
Forever passed, she thought she could feel the space around her open up. The particles in the air felt thinner and were moving more freely. The new place smelled like hand sanitizer and the sweat of panic. One of the waiting rooms she guessed. A frantic woman's voice called out.
"Who's there?!" She screeched. "Don't come any closer!"
Olivia took a deep breath.
"Don't worry. We won't hurt you!" Olivia asked. "Is anyone else here?"
A few stray voices called out from the edges of the room. Maybe five. Two men and three women. Could have been a child mixed in somewhere. A sense of relief swept over her as the door behind them closed. She heard a manual lock clicking into place. Jake let go of her wrist and took a few steps back.
Her whole body reverberated as someone rammed her in the centre of her spine. A pair of hands clutched her shoulders and threw her to the ground on her back. The wind was knocked out of her lungs and she gasped for air.
YOU ARE READING
Dusk Harbor 1999
Science FictionYou've been out superheroing all night, and you just got your behind handed to you by a fellow hero who can't keep to his own territory. You come home to see that your beloved cat has brought in a business card, it's an invite to a secret meeting of...
