The Erruilion Plague: Book 1, From Roots of Evil

Chapter 7 - From the Ashen Grey

          The stairwell went along for quite aways up, and as we traveled upward I was left with nothing but my thoughts. That, was a prospect more terrifying than another encounter with the it from earlier. All the horrors that must have occurred here, the horrors that still were roaming around here, the terrors the little one must have gone through... It preyed upon me, even in my most confident of moments. My only solace was having Tracy right by my side, holding my hand.

          I looked over to the silohette riding on Tracy's shoulders, scared out of it's wits that every iota of the darkness held horrors that would make Lovecraft blush. What had happened to her parents? What if... No, I choose to believe that it could have been fully human, ever. What if that quack of a virologist was her dad? I supposed that might make sense, it wouldn't be the first time in history a father had been twisted enough to lay hand on their own, and she would have been a convenient test subject if he held no love for her... I shivered as images burst forth unbidden from my imagination of the cretin committing every act of it, bringing a mixed tide of fury and disgust. There was a special place in hell for people of that nature, and I was more than happy with the prospects of expediting his journey there.

          We finally came to the top of the stairs after what must have been at least ten stories further above than before, to an open doorway into a hall that at least had a modest amount of light that was more than enough for us to see by. The materials shifted from solid poured  concrete to a more livable, less rough on the paw pads, marble tiles and grey walls. Looking around, there were doors at regular intervals, all labeled with a letter and a number. I noted disheartenedly that the nearest one was room z150, and if we were going to find a way to escape, it would probably be somewhere around the A hallway that they'd place the exit. Behind each door was a room about the size of a classroom, filled with either nothing, what looked like testing apparatus, or piles of boxes and such that one shoves into storage and forgets about for years.

          I could also see the others now, and was deeply disturbed. Ariana was missing quite a few tufts of fur, and had recently dried blood all over her back. A scar stretched from her cheek to her forehead, barely dodging both of her eyes. Tracy looked a bit worse for wear but otherwise fine. A few spots of fur thinned where she was bound.

          I sighed internally, wondering: why us? All we had been was innocent people, living our lives, doing what we could to keep blazing along until this happened. A fire hose to the cozy fire we had sat by, now we were just scrambling to find a single glowing ember in this wet mess of ashes. We had a choice ahead, search and destroy or save our own hides, and I didn't know what to do about it. Maybe... Maybe I could get Tracy and Ariana out and lock myself in. That way it'd be just me going down with this ship... Yeah. That's what I'll do. I couldn't bring myself to endanger those two, but I had to sew the seeds of chaos here if the entire world wasn't going to be a victim of bioterrorism. A newfound resolve set within me, and I set my plans in stone. Get them out, keep them out, and cause as much damage as I could before they take me out.

          Tracy was looking at me with a look of concern on her face as we stalked down the hall with caution. It'll kill me when I have to separate off from her. I smiled reassuringly at her, and she returned the gesture, seemingly satisfied that nothing was wrong. By now we had almost reached a junction in the halls, the rooms on the one perpendicular to our path labeled as "az-0". We were nearly precisely  at the opposite side of the damn place as we were going to. It was at this moment, I noticed the sound of a cart being pushed. The doors here were all key card locked. I silently signalled Tracy to get behind me as I prepared to pounce on whatever unfortunate soul came around the corner. My heart began to thunder and the storm of adrenaline that had barely worn off took hold again. A custodian wheeled a cleaning cart around the corner, and was out cold before he could even react. I stole the ID card off of him, and I knew now: We were in, and they were on their way out.