Eclipse

Chapter 19

Place: The business tower. 

Time: Into the night. 

The elevator moved ever so slowly up the floors. Sixteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen. The dark mist below us creeping up as we moved slowly engulfing this section of the building. The creature moving in an out of the different business scattered about. 

Eventually we reached the next threshold. No longer were the business lined along the walkway, no longer was there a shopping center splitting the sections of the building. We could only see the elevator shaft as it moved up through each floor. We noted the doors to each floor as we passed, as did the elevator dings as we went by each one. The business must now take up more of the floors than just the edges of the building.

The elevator shaft was like any other I assumed, not having seen to many in my youth. It was, though, neat to see the inside for once, but also slightly jarring. 

Finally, we reached floor twenty seven and the doors slide open.  People were crowded around the entrance ready to enter. Panic in their eyes and shock when they saw us. Even through we had attempted to clean ourselves, we still had cuts and bruises all over, not to mention the plethora of weaponry we carried.

They backed off as we exited, as a wave a silence slide through the room as we walked by. While it was nice and relieving that these people could see us, it was also oddly creepy as well. 

These people had been going about their normal lives not but a few hours ago, while the two of us had been to hell and still were navigating that world. With the fear in their eyes, we knew that the horror had made it up here. 

"You don't want to go down" I said as we walked by.  

"Who are you, you look like kids from high school" someone asked.

"You're right, we are. We aren't sure how we got caught up in this mess. But please believe, me,  you don't want to go downstairs."

"What should we do" more panic gripped the crowd. 

"Stay alive, we're trying to hurry." I finished. 

I pushed out their thoughts in comments and leaned over to Tamara. "Do you see where we're supposed to go?" 

"If we need to keep going up, and the elevator won't take us, there must be a stairwell somewhere." She turned and looked toward someone close by.  "Ma'am, is there an emergency exit around here?" 

The older woman seemed pretty calm and was able to answer her. "Yes, on the far wall in that direction" She pointed to the corner of the office. "But we tried to get through and the door was locked. There's a key code that's on it that none of us have seen before."

A lightbulb went off in our head. Maybe this is where we can use the keyword we received. 

"Thank you" I said. "Please be safe"

This business was like the call center we walked through below us, but instead of an open office environment, all the cubes were tall, enough to isolate everyone and provide privacy.  Which to us meant that we could barely see over the top creating a slight maze for us to work through. 

Cautiously we hurried through the maze of desk and walls to the area the employee indicated finding nothing of interest along the way. No more clues, monsters, or anything out of the ordinary. For all intents and purposes, this was a real employee office with real people trying to get out. Nothing bad had made it up here yet. 

We made it to the door and found the keypad that was attached to it. Naturally the door was locked and we couldn't open it, but I had to try just in case.