Chapter 10: "Receiver."
Back at the prison, I tried each of the doors I'd seen on my way out—the one on my right was locked, but the one on the left wasn't, so I went through it.
I was now in an outer ring-shaped hall where I went down two ladders and reached another door, which lead to an incline that ended at a circular room with a water wheel. Next to the wheel, there was a rusty old sign and a key.
To turn on the lights in the 3rd floor cells, turn this waterwheel. Remember that the water must flow in the direction of the waterwheel. Of course, you also have to open the sluice gate on the roof.
I wondered how far up it would be to the roof as I took the key and noticed an "up" arrow was engraved on it.
I made my way back up to the locked door that was in the same room with the hole, and sure enough, the key unlocked it.
I opened the door, and the brightness nearly blinded me. Once my eyes focused, I realized that I was outdoors and that the brightness surrounding me wasn't sunlight, but a thick layer of fog—the feeling was accentuated with a biting chill.
I was standing on an inclining walkway that likely spiraled to the top of the cylindrical building—as I realized this, I couldn't help thinking that this building had a remarkable structure and would look quite interesting from a distance. Picture-worthy, even. But none of that mattered when I realized that there was no railing, and as I looked over the edge, I saw nothing but whiteness, as if it was somehow built in the middle of a bottomless pit, and there was nothing below, but fog.
This was, of course, impossible … but, again, I had to remember that logic didn't apply here.
I shivered—both from the cold, and from the fear of falling, possibly eternally—as I hugged the wall with my back, and waited for the feeling of vertigo to pass. Then I saw a ladder to my right, so I climbed up, being careful not to look down, as it was just to the side of the floor, and losing my footing would be fatal.
The ladder lead to an outcropping, and another short ladder which lead back onto the inclining path and a set of double-doors, which I went through.
Back inside, I was in another hallway. The first three cell doors were locked and I had come across another group of the strange fungus-like creatures. Fortunately, it only took one swing of the pipe for them to die instantly. Giant slugs—some were a foot long—scaled the walls in this area. They didn't seem to pose a threat, so I ignored them and moved on.
The next room was unlocked, and looked exactly like the others I'd seen so far, except there was a diary laying open on the table. I looked down at what was written on that page:
I've been watching the surveillance room's peephole the whole time, and sometimes he's there. I can tell 'cause I see a shadow move or hear his footsteps.
I looked up at what I had originally thought was a round window—apparently this was the peephole that was mentioned. I also remembered the shadow I'd seen earlier and how eerie it was. I tensed as my mind forced me to imagine what it might feel like to live in one of these rooms and have to put up with the looming shadow on a regular basis. I quickly left the room, not wanting to contemplate it any further.
The next room had something unusual—a cup filled with black powder. It had no smell, but I didn't know what it was, so I left it alone. The shadow passed over again.
The next two doors were locked.
The following room had a shirt and a pair of pants hanging from a clothesline that stretched across the room, and a note on the wall:
I peed my pants. I gotta wash them so no one finds out. I just saw a shadow, I think someone saw me.
The note ended there, but it didn't take me long to figure out why-I looked down at the huge bloodstain on the floor and clasped my hand over my mouth. Shaking my head, I left the room.
I had searched every cell on this floor, so I went out the double-doors to the spiral path outside, where I went up another ladder to the third floor.
The next cell door was unlocked, but there was nothing of interest inside—only books scattered on the floor that were too old to be readable. The next one had a huge round hole in the floor—it was easily big enough to fit through, but jumping down would be too dangerous. Besides, there was blood surrounding it, which didn't help to reassure me.
It was when I left the room that I saw it. In the corner of my eye—in the hall, just at the point that was within my vision, before the walls curved too far. At first, I thought it looked like a person, but then I turned to look at it and realized that I was quite mistaken.
At first, I thought it was a large man wearing a black, hooded cloak. But, when I looked at the face, I realized that it had two heads, each looking like that of an infant with chalk-white skin and eyes that were perpetually shut. The heads were grotesquely pushed together and obviously grew out of the same body. Below the cloak, it had no lower body, and instead of legs, it stood on a pair of long spindly arms ending in long thin hands—a notable contrast to the chubbiness of its faces. It was about my height, but its bulk made it look huge.
It stood, staring at me—despite it having no eyes, I had no doubt that it could see me, or at least sense my presence. Suddenly, it raised one hand off the floor, shifting its weight to the other hand—the effect was startlingly bird-like. It pointed directly at me, and in a deep voice, it whispered a single word: "Receiver."
I gasped in terror, my blood frozen in my veins. With a trembling hand, I slowly reached behind my back for my gun, being careful not to make any sudden movements. It was like being in a stand-off—it continued to point, unmoving, as I brought out the gun and pointed back with it.
Suddenly, something hit my shoulder—I stumbled a little and let out a yell before I realized it was just one of the giant slugs falling from the ceiling and plopping against my shoulder on its way to the ground. Unfortunately, this was enough to alert the creature and it suddenly let out a battle-cry that sounded like someone had recorded a baby's scream and played it back at a slower speed so it was a lower pitch, and charged at me, its massive form causing a stomping sound as its hands pounded the concrete floor.
I screamed, myself, but in terror, as I pumped the trigger as fast as I could. After four shots, I heard only clicks as the ammo ran out, but my finger continued convulsing as the creature advanced on me. I was so consumed with fear, I couldn't will myself to do anything else.
Suddenly, it stood right in front of me, only inches away … and collapsed. Apparently four bullets were enough to stop it.
I stood, trembling, and continued to aim the gun at it in case it wasn't dead (as if it'd do me any good with no ammo), but thankfully it stayed down. I took a deep breath and wiped sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand.
Once my wits had returned, I took the spare gun clip out of my pocket and loaded the gun—if there were more of these things running around, I'd definitely need it.
The next cell also had a hole in the floor, with blood surrounding it, but this one also had a blood stain on the bed that was in the general shape of a human. I backed out of the room quickly.
The next cell had clothes laid out on the bed with a note on the table: Now it will look like I'm sleeping. Were those footsteps? I wonder if he saw me. I took that to mean that this particular kid had a way to sneak out of the room and laid out his clothes on the bed as a diversion for the watcher. Only a kid would think this was a good idea, and that made me uneasy. I had been hoping to see something that would convince me that—if nothing else—at least I was wrong about the prisoners being children. Instead, I found more and more evidence that convinced me that I was right after all.
When I left the room, I saw another two-faced monster, again pointing at me from across the hall—and damn me if I didn't nearly freeze up again. But I managed to shake it off and pull out the gun quickly and pumped the trigger until the thing fell down before it even had a chance to make any accusations. Disturbing as they were to look at (and listen to), at least they were slow to react if I didn't make any sudden movements.
The next room had wall monsters in it, like the ones I'd seen in the subway along the escalator, and a gun clip on the stool. Unfortunately, the stool was within reach of one of the monsters. On a whim, I aimed my gun at the monster that was close to the ammo, and fired once. It suddenly recoiled, then slumped down, and dangled from the part of the wall where it was attached, apparently unconscious. I was able to take the ammo, but just as I was in the process of walking away, it woke up and took a swing at me, sending me flying across the room to a hard and painful landing on the concrete floor.
"Idiot!" I muttered to myself as I stood, with some difficulty—it was a wonder that I didn't have any broken bones yet.
The monsters roared as I left the room.
"Yeah, whatever," I retorted, indignantly, as I slammed the door behind me.
The next room was another one that had a hole in the floor. The following one had a diary on the table, which I read:
We had beef stew yesterday. In the cafeteria, I heard there's a death chamber behind the kitchen, and they take meat straight from the dead people and cook it. That really scared me.
Probably only a rumor, but still unsettling. There was another one on the bed:
I'm in trouble. I stood in front of the surveillance room and yelled as loud as I could, but nobody came out.
Interesting. Up until now, all of the journals I had read involved the kids trying to hide or escape. I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to this one that he actually wanted the attention of the guards. I shrugged and left the room.
The last room was empty, save for some clothes on the floor, so I went out the double-doors again.
The ladder lead up to the top, so I entered the final set of double doors.
Thank god, no more cells, I thought, realizing I was on the roof. In front of me was a set of steps that lead to a door—another door with the same design as the design around the infamous holes—but it wouldn't open. I had seen one in the forest area as well, but it wouldn't open either.
I backed up and realized that it was on the side of a water tower, which reminded me that there was a sluice gate up here I was supposed to open. I went around to the other side of the tower, and found another set of steps that lead to a valve. I rotated the valve—it creaked, but was movable. After rotating it several times, I heard the sound of rushing water, as the gate opened.