The Melted World - Worlds of Creators: Book One

4 - Creator

As soon as OOOO entered the computer room, Colin froze his breath. Maybe the creature used more senses than sight to find its preys, maybe it mapped the environment with its hearing, maybe it perceived heat, magnetic waves, spectral dust, so that finding a human hidden under a desk would pose no challenge to its capacity. But if it had to knock on the door to enter a place, maybe it wasn't so powerful after all. It could be a liar.

OOOO swept the room with its goggled eyes, ignoring the tables while it walked past them. It headed to Mr. Alden's room, to the closed door guarding its entrance, stopping in front to negotiate with the other side.

"I can break this too, can't I? Why are you making it last so long? Get out now," it said.

Colin seized the opportunity to leave the office, crawling to the corridor in absolute silence, taking care not to slip on the gel-like floor under his hands and knees. Once out, he heard OOOO breaking Mr. Alden's door, entering. Finding nothing, it said:

"I guess he must have melted already. Poor thing, wasn't he?"

Relieved to find an alibi to his disappearance, Colin forced the first doorknob down the corridor. It melted in his grip, rendered useless. He tried the next door, pressing it lightly, seeing OOOO's shadowy body hop out of the office when he opened it.

"Hey, you're still alive! That's not right, is it? I'll get you now!" it said.

Colin slammed the door behind him, as he entered an unknown neighboring office, making sure to lock it with the key behind its keyhole. He then raced towards the window, just by reflex, expecting to see a way out, and it took him only one second to realize his trap, seven floors up. The miserable voice haunting the world became background noise, his mind invaded by a new enemy, the need for survival, and with adrenaline the idea of suicide subsided. No jumping off the window.

He punched one of the walls, his hand entering the melting concrete like a butcher disemboweling a beast, and repeated his action until he could peep the other side. He kicked and threw his weak fists on the surface, opening enough space to pass with his whole body.

In the new environment, a repetition of every other office: computers, tables, cabinets and papers. OOOO banged the door to the previous office until it managed to get inside, at the same time that Colin ran once again to the corridor, through the new room's door, and sprinted to the elevator. Without thinking, he pressed the powerless button and heard at a distance the calm conclusion of his hunter creature:

"Now I'm sure he must have melted. Poor thing... Oh, no, there you are! Hey, don't you want to die? You should, shouldn't you?" it said, stepping outside, only to find Colin running towards the emergency stairs.

The fire door banged on the wall as Colin slammed it with an urgent push. He dove into complete darkness, the stair well lacking electricity and devoid of windows. But he knew the amount of steps of each session, so he raced down in desperation, always ready to use any wall as an aide to stop his momentum. OOOO entered the area and probed every surface around him with its dark rods.

"I hate the dark!" it screamed.

As Colin jumped the steps and descended one floor after the other, he heard above him the frantic advancement of his hunter, falling with loud noises and acute hits of its hard legs that echoed in the darkness' confinement. In one furious moment, OOOO punched the wall until it cracked and melted down. The creature opened a hole that let the faint apocalyptic glow enter the place, revealing a quick black figure going down at full speed.

OOOO's stiff legs, although great at hopping and walking, tumbled in the first gap. To regain its balance, the creature rolled down to the next plateau, stood up, and then rolled down again, its body a waterfall on wild rocks. Colin sped up with the echo of OOOO's constant falls, himself always on the verge of tripping.