My eyes shot open as I heard the screams from behind me. They were distant but close enough to cause me to worry. I was exhausted. I hadn't gotten any sleep but if I wanted to last the night, I needed to keep running. I heard the screams again, as if they were really screams. The long screeching tones that flooded the air were not natural. I knew what they were. I knew where they came from. And I knew that I didn't want to source of those terrible tones to encroach on me. Peering around as I ran, I could see no means of escape. This place was deserted but there was no place that could not be breached. No stronghold that could offer any shelter. I had wandered and wandered throughout the day previous looking for some semblance of shelter from that creatures that haunted the night.
There was no solace for me and I grew weary from all the running just to stay alive. All at once, I caught sight of a place that could offer shelter. It was a school. But at the same time it wasn't. The windows were all covered in steel bars and boarded up behind them. It wasn't this that I found incredibly strange. It was the front of the building. It was like there was a cage built around the front door like there was a pre-emptive entry that you had to pass through before you could even access the school itself. It seemed to be the only protection that I could get so I headed to try and enter the front gate. It was latched but I wiggled it out and ran into the feigned safety of the cage. The creatures that I so desperately tried to avoid were there.
I just sealed the latch when they reached the entrance. These were an abomination. They were mutated from the same virus that infected the people. They were enormous spider-like creatures but from the torso up, they were humanoid in stature. The screeches were painful. Struck with fear, I ran to the front door. It was just my luck that the doors had no handles. It appeared that they could only be opened from the inside. I banged on the door. I cried and banged on the doors until my knuckles were bloody and bruised. The door creaked a little and I heard a voice tell me that they couldn't let me in until they were sure that I was not infected. A little window slid back to allow whoever was inside to see me. They were relieved but saw the things behind me and I heard him shout to others.
All of a sudden, the doors opened and a bunch of armed men shot out and began firing at the beasts. I was horror struck to my spot. The group was shooting through the grate at the horrid spider mutations and I could not move. All at once, I saw that the gate was giving way and they would be inside soon. My paralyzing fear gave way and I shouted to them, telling them that the things were almost in. The leader, or what I assumed was the leader, shouted for a full retreat. They all ran past me as I tried to enter as well. At this moment, the gate gave and they flooded the area. I was yanked inside the doors as the last one shut, two legs of a spider creature shot in and tried to pry the door open. I grabbed the door and screeched for help as others joined me. The beasts were strong and they had a good hold on the door.
One of the solders ran up and pushed the barrel of his gun in the crack. He fired and released a torrent of flames through the opening. I could hear the pained wails of the black spider as it backed off. We closed that door with a slam and barricaded it with steel bars. Finally, I could let a sigh of relief escape me. As I slid down the door, tears escaped my eyes. They began to flood as I was so happy now that I got away. I had been running for so long and it finally ended. I felt an arm wrap around my shoulders in a comforting gesture. I looked up and saw a middle aged woman with sympathetic eyes peering at me now. She rubbed my back while whispering softly to calm me down. She finally asked if I was alright and I nodded and rubbed my eyes to try and look braver than I felt. She stood and then pulled me to my feet.
She told me that they had a little safe haven here and that I could stay for as long as I needed. I nodded again and thanked her. All of a sudden, we heard an echoing yell down the hall followed by a thump or a booming noise. It was hard to tell. She looked stricken and told me to run. I ran with her and she led me to the school's trophy case. Curious, but not willing to cause her any more grief, I waited for her to do something.
I was a little confused at first when she sort of just knocked on the glass a little. It really wasn't a knock more of a pattern. She looked impatient now. All of a sudden, it was as if the wall moved out of the way, revealing a secret room. It looked kind of like a janitor's closet. I didn't have enough time to inspect it because she grabbed my arm and yanked me inside. The wall closed behind me and it was dark for a time. She put her pointer finger up to her lips and shushed me. Or at least I thought she did. I really couldn't see.
There was a deep resonating tone that I could hear from outside of the room. It seemed to pass by us and then it was gone. We sat in darkness for the longest time. Then, there was a click and a light illuminated the hiding place and I could finally look around. The room did resemble a janitor's closet, with all the shelves lining the walls. There was a vent above us that provided some air flow. Blankets littered the floor as well as a few pillows. Apparently, some of the people in this facility slept here. I hadn't noticed it at the time but ever since we had entered this room, the woman who brought me here had not taken her eyes off of me. It was making me weary of her but I suppose that she had no reason to trust me. I could just as easily be one of them but not in an advance stage of the disease yet.
When I finished looking around I met and held her gaze. If she was searching for some indication in my eyes then I saw no reason to disallow her that. She seemed to nod and then sighed a little. I guess that meant that I was safe for now.
She looked at me again but this time she asked, "Did you hear that noise when we got in here?"
Her voice was very even, as if she had no reservations about discussing whatever we were running from. I nodded. How could I not have heard it? She continued when she saw my nod. "That noise was from a creature named Boom Box. He was outside here for the longest time, but somehow he figured a way to get in."
It was a little hard to understand what she was saying. How did this thing do that? When she saw that I was confused, she continued. "I guess I should just show you instead."
That statement confused me even more. Show me? Show me how? She reached up on a shelf that was above my head and pulled out a manila folder. And handed it to me. I looked a little wary at the folder, but she gave me a nod to go ahead and I opened it.
The contents of the folder held what looked like medical records. "He was an experiment of the government," she told me. I nodded more and continued to browse the new information. Our government had used him as an experiment in the early days of the disease. They wanted to use him as a weapon. They manipulated his vocal cords and genetic structure so that he had control over the decibels of sound that he released. So that noise I heard was him.
As caught up as I was in this, I still could not believe that even with the horrendous epidemic sweeping the land, the government still concentrated on developing new weaponry. I was shocked to find that they had the audacity to experiment on people. I couldn't look at the folder any longer so I returned it to the shelf that she retrieved it from. She then motioned to the floor indicating that we would sleep here. I laid down and tried to get some sleep.
My eyes flew open when an explosion burst the wall open. I could barely see through the dust that was clearing that there was a man standing there. He was very handsome but there was something off with his eyes. He seemed a little too aware of his surroundings. He saw the woman and me in the room and opened his mouth just a little. Then a wave of sound reverberated through my body and the floor and I felt like my skull was splitting open. I closed my eyes and then I could hear nothing. I blacked out.
When I opened my eyes again, I knew it had to be late in the day. The boards from the blocked up windows let little streams of light flood through the narrow cracks. I shivered and tried to rub away the pain in my head when I felt some wetness on my hand. I pulled it back to reveal that my ears were bleeding. I could hear now, but my head had a splitting pain in it. It was then that I noticed the man from before standing in front of me. I knew now that he was Boom Box that the woman warned me about. He crouched and leaned in closer. I could feel his breath on my face.
"So you're still alive even after that huh?" He seemed to be surprised by this fact alone. I rushed backward to try and back away but the only thing I accomplished was backing against the wall. He smirked and moved forward. "As it turns out I'm glad that it didn't kill you. I haven't gotten the chance to show you my baby yet." He reached out and touch the lobe of my ear when he began speaking. "What you heard affected you here. But my baby will get you here." He moved his hands to my chest, indicating my lungs. "Let's get started shall we?"
He opened his mouth slightly and the pain wracked my skull once more from the sounds that pierced my ears. I stuck my fingers in my ears to create a seal that stopped the flow of sound. It worked for a little while, but he kept opening his mouth wider and wider. Each time the decibel rose even higher. I could feel the pressure build in my ears as the sound kept getting louder. By this time I was screeching in pain but I doubt he could hear it over the sounds he was making.
He suddenly stopped. When he did I could feel my eardrum stretching and bending out toward my fingers. He looked at me curiously, then said, "This, is my baby." I covered my ears just as before but I couldn't stop what happened after. He opened his mouth as wide as it could go and I felt the wave hit me and I felt my lungs explode out of my chest. The last thing I saw was him wipe his mouth and smirk at me. Then the whole world went black. I was dead.