XV - Josh
Josh
was trying his best not to look scared.
Paige was holding it together by the merest margin and he feared that if
he showed how he really felt she might just fall apart. As they ran together through the corridor
towards the stairwell he had flashes of the sights he had seen in Paige's
apartment. It was far worse than that
which he had experienced in the cemetery.
There were nearly a dozen of those creatures there and more were growing
out of the walls. The noises they made,
gasping, whining, sighing and groaning.
They sent chills down his spine and it took a great effort of will to
run past them into the kitchen, rifle through the draws and grab the torch.
He
had had to kick one of them aside as it lunged towards him on the way out. Its mouth had been held wide open in a
silent scream and he could see hundreds of little teeth glinting in the glow
from the walls.
Now
as they ran he could hear those noises again.
The torchlight picked out the detail of the walls and no longer was
industrial beige the predominant colour scheme. Instead the surface was slick with juices oozing as if from burnt
skin, which was in itself an adequate description of the material behind
it. Bubbling blisters swelled and grew
along its surface and from the sights he had seen in the apartment he knew to
expect these to burst soon and give birth to more of those things. So they ran as quickly as they could and
hoped they could escape.
Josh
careened into the door to the stairwell pulling Paige behind him. Her grip on his hand was a small comfort,
but all matters of desire had left his mind for the time being as other
instincts took pride of place. They
descended the stairs rapidly, but the going soon became difficult as the same
fluids from the corridor lined each step.
Josh took one unstable step and slipped, falling hard and tumbling down
into a corner. Paige screamed, then
rushed to his side.
"Are
you alright?"
He
groaned and pulled himself upright.
Nothing seemed broken, but the pain of the bruises would last for some
time. He did his best to stand up
without looking too pained.
"I'm
fine."
As
they made their way past the doors to the second floor Josh caught a sound
which didn't seem like those made by the creatures. It was more like a child crying.
"Do
you hear that?"
Paige
stopped for a moment to listen and then replied, "Is it more of those
things?"
"I
don't think so."
"If
it’s really a child we should help."
Josh
pushed the door open and let the torch pass up and down the corridor. The walls here were as bad as upstairs and
in their midst a pale-faced little boy who couldn't have been much older than
eight or nine sat crying.
"Oh
god!" Paige was already running
down the corridor towards him.
"Are you okay honey? Where
are your parents? Are you okay?"
Josh
just watched on, unsure how to react, as Paige got the boy's attention and managed
to help him to his feet. He could hear
the child whimpering and talking to her very quietly about his daddy. Soon she had led him back to the stairwell
doors.
"This
is Charlie." She said, looking
plaintively up at Josh. He simply
nodded. "He's alone here, just
like us."
"We
still have to get out of here."
There
was a clatter of footsteps from along the corridor. Josh threw the torch light in its direction and the beam fell on
an old man carrying a series of leather folders filled with tatty-looking old
papers. "Wait for me!" The man called out, trying to avoid a
blister which was growing behind him as he ran.
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