Black Box: Book Three

55 ~ Infected Town (Part Nine)

Heather and I took your advice. We went outside, trying to find some sunlight. She was especially enthusiastic about it, saying how smart you all were to suggest this. In my opinion, though, it didn't help. It was overcast but the light burned my eyes nonetheless, and afterwards I just felt exhausted. Heather said she felt rejuvenated though, so maybe there is something to it. We've made a point to go outside for a couple hours every day. At least every day we're lucid.

Time lost for both of us, in increasingly longer chunks. It's hard to type, too. My fingers don't feel as nimble as they used to be. So if there are any spelling errors, I apologize.

Blake is back from the hospital, floating on painkillers and antibiotics. We've made him as comfortable as we can in the motel room. We've also made sure no one comes into our room to clean or anything. Not that those services have been offered. It's a rundown, no-star motel with no business besides us. But the fact is I haven't seen the receptionist since we checked in. No one is ever behind the desk in the lobby. Is service that bad or did something happen? I'm not sure if that's something else to be guilty about.

As for why Blake was in the hospital, I'll get to it. Chronological, remember? For now, let's go back to that secret room in the school's sub-basement.

I didn't get a chance to read any of the Hadwell Bible when we were down in that chamber. Almost as soon as I grabbed it, Blake and I heard shuffling in the tunnel behind us, like someone walking with a pronounced limp. It pierced through the darkness, and for a long, silent moment Blake and I peered intently into the tunnel, unable to see jack shit. Then the door to the chamber slammed shut, sealing us inside.

I jumped away from the door so quickly that I knocked into the podium and sent it clattering to the ground, extinguishing the candles. Blake fumbled for his flashlight while I clutched the leather book tightly, not wanting to lose what turned out to be such an important document. I'd known it was significant as soon as I'd set eyes on it.

Blake was pushing at the door, pounding his fists into it so hard I'm surprised the wood didn't splinter. But it was solid, and locked firmly from the outside. I peered through the dense darkness around me, panicking, sure that I was currently standing inside my tomb.

With a furious curse, Blake spun around and grabbed me, bringing me close. Huddled together, we felt safer. Something was scratching at the wood of the door. I heard a muffled snickering, almost like hissing. The thing was laughing at us.

I'm not sure how long we huddled in the darkness, listening to the thing behind the door scratch and giggle. We sat near the fallen podium, Blake swinging his light around at every noise. Scratching and shuffling seemed to come from every direction, like we were being approached on all sides, but we saw nothing. At one point I closed my eyes and put my head between my legs when I felt the urge to vomit. Blake and his flashlight moved away for a while, and I drifted into scattered thoughts, oscillating between resigned calm in the face of my demise and flashes of panic. Hours seemed to pass.

Then Blake's hand was on my shoulder and he was dragging me to my feet saying he'd found a way out. He led me to the center tapestry behind the toppled podium and ripped it from the wall, his light revealing a hole in the stone there, just large enough for us to crawl through. I sobbed in relief and quickly followed him into the tunnel beyond. Neither of us cared where it would take us. We just wanted to get out of that fucking room.

The tunnel we entered was earthen and sloped upward at an increasing angle. We crawled as fast as we could, but before we were out of earshot of that room we heard the heavy wooden door slam open again. Blake pushed me ahead of him, desperately whispering "Go, go, go!" and I felt hysteria mounting as I heard the creature's dragging, skittering footprints echo through the chamber. It was following us.