Authors: Stuart Keane
TWENTY-THREE
“Is everything okay?”
Kieran posed the question to Heather over breakfast. Heather had hardly touched the food on her plate and was sitting in quiet contemplation. She was looking at her eggs with no real thoughts in her head. Kieran was dressed in a jumper and trousers for the first time. No more naked flesh on display. Thoughts of last night's dream returned. Shivering, Heather felt awkward, flushed and uncomfortable.
“Heather?”
She looked up. “Yes, what?”
“Are you okay? You’re quiet. It’s worrying me.”
“It’s nothing. I’m just thinking about things. Don’t worry about me.”
Heather went back to staring at her plate. She resumed her silent vigil. The egg yolk burst as she poked it with a fork.
Kieran grabbed her plate of food and moved it to get her attention. Heather looked up in frustration.
“
What?
”
“Heather…Look, if something is bothering you I need to know. Our plan today is to leave here, which is pretty safe. It’s probably a bad idea, but we’ll run out of food eventually, so we need to progress. Who knows what this place has in store for us once we’ve gone through those doors? I can’t trust you if there's some women issues or something like that bothering you. This isn’t the real world, you can’t bury your head in the sand here, okay?”
Heather stood up and threw her plate across the room. It shattered against the wall. Kieran looked at her, puzzled. “You want women’s issues? There you go! Don’t you dare fucking speak to me like that again! You’re a sexist prick!”
“Sit down, Heather…”
“Go fuck yourself—”
“—Fuck’s sake, Heather, stop overreacting…
sit down
.”
Heather stopped and looked at Kieran. The blue eyes just seemed jaded now. She felt no attraction to him. This morning she was ready to jump his bones, but now, there was no spark. She thought that was strange. After a moment, she sat down again.
Kieran looked at Heather. "Is everything okay?"
Heather shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose so. I didn’t get much sleep."
"I apologise, those sacks aren’t the comfiest in the world."
A faint smile turned the corners of Heather's lips. Kieran smiled too, the spark returning to his eyes. "You sure there isn’t anything else? You can tell me."
Heather shook her head. "There's a time and a place. We need to go."
Kieran nodded. "Sure? Final offer?"
Heather stood up. "Let's go, time's a wasting."
Kieran smiled. “Good. Now, I’ve packed us a bag each. We really only need one, but I thought if we have two it gives us more supplies and space to scavenge if need be. Each bag has ample food and drink, enough for a few days. There's one change of clothes each and some makeshift bedding. Nothing special, but enough for us to get by. There's the chance we may need to use our body heat if we don’t find somewhere warm. Considering your episode just now, is that okay with you?”
Heather didn’t say anything. She nodded.
“Good. Right, I suggest we use this string and nail it to the wall here.” Kieran pointed to a nook just inside the door frame. Its snug proportion to the door guaranteed security for the nail and the string itself. “We can then trail it behind us. If the shit hits the fan we can always find our way back here. It might not be as safe as it was before, but it’s somewhere we know we can survive for prolonged periods. Also, I’ve packed two knives for weapons. Just in case – we don’t want to be caught short. I think that’s everything. Any suggestions?”
Heather shook her head. “Thanks for doing this. It’s a nice gesture. Really.”
“No problem. Better safe than sorry.”
Kieran collected two rucksacks and placed them on the bench beside him. After a few checks, he looked up and smirked. “Right, that’s everything. You ready?”
Kieran stood up and placed a rucksack on his back. He handed the second, smaller rucksack to Heather, who accepted it and hitched it onto her back. With their clothes and their baggage they looked like a bizarre set of hikers lost indoors. Heather straightened her hair with her palms and took a breath.
“Ready when you are.”
Kieran smiled. The smile vanished when he approached the door. He pulled a ball of string from his pocket and unwound the end of it. Then, taking a nail from the same place, he pushed its tip into the soft timber of the doorframe. Next, he took his shoe off and bashed the nail in with several swift blows. Once it was secured, he tied the string around the nail. He tugged it a few times to test its security and then bent the nail back an inch or so. As a result, the string’s anchor was tucked between the doorframe and a wall, so that it wasn’t going anywhere. Rupert tugged the string again. Once satisfied, he turned to Heather.
“You take the ball and unravel it as we go. I will take Point – that’s means the front.”
Heather laughed. “I know what Point is, Kieran.”
“Okay then. So, I'll take Point. Just make sure you stay close, okay? And use stealth, we don’t want to alert anything or anyone to our presence, got it?”
Heather nodded. It was a sound strategy. She didn’t want to run into any of those ‘things’ any more than he did.
Kieran removed his other shoe, tied the laces of both of them together, and hung the footwear around his rucksack strap. Kieran moved forward. Ahead of them, through the open door, was the T-junction that Kieran had mentioned. He approached the corner cautiously. His feet made no sound on the tiled floor. He edged along to the wall and peeked around it. After a second he ushered Heather to join him. Heather, conscious of the ball of string, started to release it. As she moved, the door shut behind her. It closed silently, apart from a small click, which, because of the hall’s acoustics, sounded fairly loud. She paused.
And heard nothing.
She moved up behind Kieran. When she was close enough, he whispered into her ear, “There’s a clone over there.”
He pointed ahead. Heather could see a lobby with leather sofas and an empty reception desk. The room had plain décor like the rest of the place. Heather realised that no plants or life of any kind was on show here. Normally a pot plant or fish tank would break up the monotony of such an area. This was just a plain white room. Beside the desk stood a clone. He was staring off into the distance and wore a white gown that didn’t cover his buttocks. Heather looked on in fear. She hadn’t come into personal contact with one yet. Kieran was surveying the situation. He turned to Heather.
“We can either fight or wait.”
“Which do you prefer?”
“Well, we need to move forward. We can try walking around it. That seemed to work for you earlier, didn’t it?”
“Yes it did. But since then you’ve been attacked by one. Who knows what they are capable of now?”
“It might be worth the risk. Besides, there’s only one of them.”
Heather remained silent for a long moment. Going backwards wasn’t progress. They were still in the same situation as they were before. Finally, she nodded. “Let’s go. But be careful.”
Kieran smiled. Without a word, he faced the front and walked up to the clone. The thing showed no sign of recognition. Heather felt her heart in her mouth as Kieran neared their potential foe. Kieran was crouched, silently walking on his bare feet. He stopped inches behind the clone. Kieran removed his rucksack, placed it on the floor and lifted a flap on the bag to reveal a small side pocket. His hand slid in and grasped one of the kitchen knives he’d found earlier.
Heather held her breath. She cupped her mouth in surprise.
What the hell is he doing
?
Heather shook her head to signal no, but Kieran wasn’t looking at her. After a moment, he stood up. He flexed his arms, holding the knife between his teeth. He grabbed it by the handle and turned around. His chest rose and fell as he breathed deeply.
Kieran tapped the clone on the shoulder.
Nothing happened.
Then the clone spun around slowly. After ten seconds it was staring Kieran in the face.
Kieran gulped. He didn’t move. His hand gripped the knife handle firmly.
Even from her distant viewpoint, Heather could see that the clone was human. The mannerisms and anatomy were similar to most of the people she had ever seen. There were no extra limbs or fingers or toes. The thing didn’t have more eyes or less ears or animal hair. In fact, it was totally hairless.
This clone had been human…Once.
Despite not having any extra, non-human appendages the face was distinctly mutated. Veins bulged from its forehead, cheeks and jawline. There was a solid green vein protruding from its neck. The lips were the same colour as the skin. It looked bizarre. The eyes were a stark green, which contrasted with the pale skin.
Heather didn’t envy Kieran. She was glad she had stayed back.
Kieran looked the creature in the face. Its green eyes were burning a hole into his soul. He imagined this must have been what humans looked like before God cured the anomalies. It seemed more robotic than anything alive, and yet it seemed distinctly human, despite its bald head, deathly pale skin, and total absence of any head hair. The thing tilted its head to the side, its eyes still on Kieran. Was it observing him?
Kieran heard a gurgling sound. Prior to this there’d been no noise, then this faint rumbling. It was the kind of gurgle your throat makes when you have a cold: all phlegm and mucus. The noise grew, becoming louder. Gurgling turned to snorting and then the noise was much more audible.
Heather heard it from her stance in the corner of the room. She was puzzled at first until she, and Kieran, realised it was coming from the clone. The creature opened its mouth and the noise became an unbearable, screeching and gurgling keen. It filled the room. Heather felt goosebumps on her skin.
The clone lunged for Kieran.
But Kieran was ready. Gripping the handle of the knife, Kieran twisted his hand and thrust the blade upwards. The force took the blade through the clone’s jaw, shredded his tongue and stopped at the hilt. The blade was visible in the clone’s open mouth. The end of the blade must have stopped behind the clone’s eyes. The eyes rolled back and as the clone faded, its noise diminished. It became immobile and fell forward towards Kieran, crashing to the ground. Then all was still.
Kieran smirked. He stepped forward, gripped the handle of the knife and removed it. It took all of his strength to wrench it free. As the blade slid free he felt the scrape of metal on bone, it sent shivers down his spine.
Heather crept over. Placing the ball of string on the reception desk, she stood beside Kieran. She grabbed his arm and looked down at their fallen foe.
“Seems they are aggressive after all. Why didn’t either of them go for me, though?”
“Not sure, Heather. Maybe something’s changed between now and then.”
“Maybe. Urgh, I don’t know, it just gives me the fucking creeps. What
are
they? Do they have some purpose? They must have. I mean they must exist for some reason!”
“I am sure we will find out soon enough.”
Kieran looked at the blade. A thin sheen of red coated the knife. Nothing else. “That’s weird. Look at this.” Kieran lifted the blade so she could see it clearly. Heather looked at it and frowned. “That isn’t blood, is it?”
“Not to my knowledge. Wait...”
Kieran bent down and used the clone’s robe to wipe the blade. The steel was now clean. The red material on the robe looked more like jelly then blood. The moment it made contact with the robe it congealed and slid down to the floor. Kieran stood up.
“I’m not sure what to make of that. But he’s down and that’s all that matters. Check that computer, see if it has anything on it, will you?”
Kieran looked around him. The reception desk was central to the room. The only exit was a white door that stood open. A long white hall peppered with doorways lay beyond it. It finished with a solid set of windowless double doors. The wall Heather had seen before was a partition, hiding the exit.
Heather stepped behind the desk. There was no chair. The desk’s surface had nothing on it apart from a monitor and a keyboard – no mouse was present. She tapped the keyboard and the screen lit up. Heather realised this was a touch-screen computer, which didn’t require a mouse. She tapped the screen and a blank desktop screen appeared. There was one folder labelled FILES. She tapped it and a password popped up. Encrypted files.
“Shit. Needs a password. This is hopeless.”
“That’s fine, at least we checked. Now, the next plan of action is to go down that hallway and look in the rooms. Once we’ve checked them out, we’ll head through the doors at the end, got it?”
Heather walked across to Kieran. She nodded.
Kieran moved without a word. She followed.
As they entered the hallway a camera on the wall moved, following their progress.
***
Delta was enjoying himself. His decision to take it slow had paid off. He’d allowed events to take their natural course and had been presented with this gem. According to his stats, he was the first person to have a Choice kill someone. And what a way to get it. Knife through the jaw. Epic!