Descent Into Madness

Chapter 15: Clues and Puzzles

Why did it feel different to end her than it did the other ones? Was it because I felt bad for her? Did it matter?

I sighed while rinsing off the blade. It didn't do anything to the older blood stains, but it removed the gunk, and I didn't really want brain matter in my pocket.

Turning the faucet back off, I shook the blade to get rid of the excess water clinging to it.

I leaned against the counter and crossed my arms as I eyed the two corpses.

Now what?

There were no leads. I could finish searching the level, but I had a gut feeling that I wouldn't find him here. If it was right, it meant he somehow managed to get onto another floor, which raised questions considering how much trouble I had accomplishing that task. And I believe Phineas to be smart enough not to jump into an open lift shaft.

I dug my phone out my pocket and checked the signal. Still nothing. It was too bad. If I could call him, it would really simplify things.

Tucking the phone away, I stepped over the body at my feet. Grimacing at the squish caused when my foot landed in some blood.

Oh, well, the rest of my outfit's already ruined, why not add my shoes to that list?

I walked around the other corpse in order to avoid stepping in any more blood.

The lift wasn't far. Wrapping a hand around the edge of the twisted doors, I leaned into the open space and chewed on my lip.

Is it worth taking the risk of calling out?

I pulled the torch from my pocket and shone it around the shaft. There was a smear of red near the ceiling. It still looked slightly wet.

Ceiling height is roughly three meters, there's normally twelve to fourteen inches between floors. With my height and arm reach... I would probably be able to reach it if I jump, but Phineas... I can't see him being able to make that.

But the creatures here had blood that's close to black in colour. If it's not from Phineas, what's it from?

Switching out the light for the makeshift grappling hook, I moved to the very edge of the floor before carefully turning around. I looked down. I survived that fall once, if I fall, I can probably survive it again.

I swung the lab coat rope around a few times before launching it upwards. There was no bang as it landed on the floor above, and I pulled on it. For a moment, it slid before latching onto something. Taking a deep breath, I lifted my feet off the floor and braced them on the makeshift rope. I'm not going to fall. A rip reached my ears, and my eyes shot up. Shit. I'm going to fall.

The rope gave. I tried to jump back through the doorway. It was actually more of an awkward lunge that ended with me getting the wind knocked out of me when I landed with my legs dangling off the edge.

Ow. I rolled onto my back and pulled my legs up, both to remove them from the shaft and so I could rub my thighs where they'd hit the floor. Great, two more bruises...

Once the slight pain faded, I got back to my feet and stared at the ceiling. I'd lost the rope. A sigh escaped me. Would it be too much to hope there's a stairwell on this floor I can take?

Walking back to the edge of the floor, I looked up. A small part of the rope still hung down. Not enough to be useful, and I wasn't sure I'd trust grabbing it after that anyway.

Bending my legs, I took a deep breath and jumped; fingers reaching for the lip of the next floor. I managed to get the tips of them over the edge before gravity kicked in, and I grunted as all my weight was placed on them.

With a bit of a struggle, I managed to get one arm up onto the floor and used it to help lift myself up and then crawled the rest of the way onto the floor, where I let myself collapse. My fingers felt stiff. I rolled onto my back and repeatedly bent my fingers, trying to rid myself of the sensation. Letting out a sigh, I glanced around.

This level was different. Not in an overly obvious way, but in a way that after spending so much time on the lower levels was easily noticeable.

There was carpet underneath me for one. A nice change from the cold tile floors. Though I was sure there was just as much blood and grime ground into the carpet as there was covering the hard flooring. Some photos still hung on the walls. Others lay on the floor.

Carefully, I climbed to my feet. I walked over to one of the pictures. The glass was dirty-a mix of dust and who knows what else-obscuring the image to where all that remained visible was a few pairs of legs and part of a large building in the background.

I picked up one of the fallen frames. Blood stains coated the glass. It was a type of award for some biology achievement for a something Richardson.

Mentally filing the name away, I dropped the award back to the floor. What glass was left intact shattered on impact.

I walked down the hallway. Very few of the doors here showed any damage. Most were open showing what looked like office and file rooms beyond. One wooden door in particular appeared far more torn up than the others, more closely resembling the ones below. I entered that room.

It was trashed. The only thing that wasn't was a solid desk with a mobile phone sitting undisturbed in the very center.

I blinked at it before cautiously walking up to the desk. Claw marks gouged its surface. If video games had taught me anything, it's that objects that stand out normally contain some sort of useful info or lore. But this wasn't a video game so instead it was just weird.

My hand hovered over the phone.

Oh, just pick it up!

Flinching, I grabbed the phone. The cracks in its red case dug into my hand as my thumb brushed over its screen. I barely suppressed a jump when it flared to life. The picture of a young woman appeared on the screen, a play icon in the middle.

This is way too weird. I don't feel there's much choice but to go along with it at this point. Sighing, I pressed play.

"They're dead. Oh, God," she cried out. Her eyes glinted with tears. The background changed as she rushed down the hall. Screams echoed, and she flinched, running into a room-This room-and slammed the door shut. The phone fell, screen down. Scraping. Sobbing. It was picked back up. She knelt on the floor, shoulders shaking.

"I... we're all going to die." Her voice shook. "It-I want to confess what I-we did." Her eyes flickered around the room. "I wasn't even suppose to be working today! I don't want to die here with these... these nut jobs!"

She ran a hand over her face, breath coming in gasps. "Dr. Abraham has gone off the deep end. She started experimenting on herself. Whatever the experiment was, she started acting crazy and now this-" she broke off with a cough, blood dripping from her mouth. After a moment she continued, voice growing raspier with each word, "It's all her fault. I sighed up to help advance the human population." The last words were whispered. "The next stage of human evolution. That's what I wanted to help do n-not this." Banging. The sound of someone crying out for help. Her eyes became distant. "They lied to us..."

The video ended.