Leaches

Chapter 2 - The Nixon

The lights on the carriage were dim, casting a gloomy and haunted look on its aesthetic. The interior was spread out in the same way that steam engines used to be, more for space than for transporting large numbers of people with tables in the middle of the seats so that people could face each other on the journey. There didn’t need to be many seats because not many people went down these tunnels. He could hear the sound of the wheels as they sped along and screeched against the tracks. Every now and then the sound became so high pitched that it almost burst James’s eardrums. The ceiling on the carriage was low with only a few lights dotted down its centre, they kept flickering off at various points of the journey and it made James wonder why they even bothered putting them in there.

James wasn’t the only person on the carriage, there were three of them assigned to this particular assignment and both men sat on the carriage with him. One was Luke Cartwright; he appeared to be a much older man. His eyes were set deep into his skull from where age had drawn in his features. He appeared to have once had dark brown hair, though now it was mostly grey with only a few flecks of its original colour peeking through. He was a tall, slim man with a stern look upon his face that never seemed to leave. It was known that Luke had been down these tunnels three times already. He sat alone at the front of the carriage. He had his head bent over and seemed to be frantically scribbling notes into his pad, only lifting his head to look out of the carriage window. He never kept his head up for any longer than about 10 seconds before he would then hunch back over and continue his note taking. He never made eye contact with the other two men and appeared to be a very nervous character; this did nothing for the growing nerves that were already appearing in James’s stomach.

The other man was called Malik, he had the appearance and attitude of some gothic fiction mad scientist, even though he was just another technician. He was a very scatty man with big, wiry, frizzy blonde hair. He too was slim but not because he kept in shape. He looked malnourished and scrawny, like nerves and paranoia had prevented him from eating for the last few weeks. He had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep but despite that he was quite a tanned man. His skin seemed almost golden, and it was also extremely clear: almost as if the pollution that had been surrounding them for the past half a century had not touched him. Like James, this too was Malik’s first time down the tunnel. Where Luke’s nerves still seemed somewhat contained, Malik’s seemed to bounce off of him like he was the repellent side of a magnet and they just wouldn’t stick to him no matter what.

About 10 minutes into the journey, after the silence had stretched itself out like a rope around their necks, Malik could no longer hold his voice in anymore. He remained staring out in front of him, avoiding eye contact with the other two men as if there was a fourth person with them that they just couldn’t see and began to talk. His blue eyes bright and frantic looking, as if he was staring terror in the face and just couldn’t bring himself to look away.

“I’ve heard some of the rumours you know, about what goes on down the end of the tunnel. They say it’s like a torture chamber used to test the mental strength of the employees, along with the strength of their will. Once you go down there, a part of you never comes back. It’s like you are replaced by a completely different person to the one you were before the journey.”

James decided to speak up at this “We're just taking down some raw materials, we won’t even be there that long. We just have to take the file and resources to the head office and then we leave.” The atmosphere on the carriage was beginning to make James feel increasingly unsettled.

“That’s what they tell you, but do you think those people are really inclined to tell you the truth? The laboratories and corridors down there are just like a maze, a big complicated maze. They give you some straight forward enough instructions on where you need to go, then they send you on your way and before you know it, you realise to late that the directions are false, that the way you are going is completely wrong and the next thing you know someone has grabbed hold of you and stuck a sedative in your arm. Then when you finally wake up and are ready to leave, it’s like half your mind goes missing! As quick as a flash it’s just gone!” James was struggling to believe that Malik could have even half his mind left; if they took that away he would be dead. He knew better than to say that though.

“I highly doubt –“James began but he was cut off by a deep voice in the corner of the carriage.

“It’s worse than you think,” for a moment both men had forgotten that Simon was there, he had become as still as stone as he spoke and his withdrawn eyes looked dark and dull as he dived into the deep corners of his memory, to the things that were probably best left forgotten. “The things you see down there make the rumours seem like shadows in comparison. Once you step into that office, you will step into a world you will wish you had never entered, one you would hope could never exist."

“What do you mean?” James asked even though he was sure he didn’t want to know the answer, “What’s down there?”

Luke's eyes met their's for the first time since the journey began, casting his gaze between James and Malik. The nerves bouncing off Malik were so strong they were almost static. The carriage seemed to grow cold and the atmosphere heaved more and more with each word that was spoken.

James had gone numb listening to this, knowing the carriage was getting closer and closer to the unknown. He could feel his own breathing slowing whilst Malik’s had become almost frantic.

“The people that you see down there, that work in those laboratories are not people at all. The work they conduct is inhuman. They are monsters in masks and lab coats and if you stare at the truth, you can never erase it from your mind. It will stick there, embedded and frozen.”

“I knew it,” Malik was almost hysterical now, “we're going to die down there aren’t we?” His voice had gone shrill and breathy as if all the air was escaping his lungs as he spoke. James looked back at Simon, trying to draw some sense out of the man’s words. What truth was he talking about?

“What they do there is worse than death, the tests they conduct and the way they are conducted. That isn’t even the worst part. If you want to leave unscathed you must put up a wall and steer clear of anywhere that is not the office. Stay away from the lad rooms and the prisoners inside them.”

 James clocked onto this last bit, “prisoners?” he asked?

“Yes,” said Simon, “The tests were conducted on people. They use human lab rats because they believe it will give more reliable and accurate results.”

“Is that what we are then?” asked Malik “the next step of experiments?" He no longer looked frantic though he had gone as pale as death.

“Maybe not this time, but witnessing what they do and hearing those screams is just as bad if not worse.”

“Screams?” the questions were flowing out of James's mouth now and he couldn’t stop himself asking them even though he was sure he didn’t want to know the answer.

“Of course, the subjects are awake through most of the experiments, anaesthetic and sedatives are almost never used. They need the subjects as aware as possible.

“So what do we do?” asked James “how do we go about avoiding these labs? Is that even a possibility?”

“It’s possible, you simply just have to follow me, go to the office, drop off the file, block your ears and get out. Don’t get lost or go wandering around the labs, don’t look at things you’re not supposed to and most importantly,” Simon said looking James directly in the eye, “do not go through the unmarked door.” As those words were spoken, and before James could ask any further questions, the carriage came to a halt.

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Hopefully I can continue to update this story more frequently, I want to get into the story line quicker and this chapter is one of the key elements of the book. Thanks again for reading and please do not hesitate to leave comments below :) thanks again Xx