This fan-fiction is based on the 2007 movie I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, which is based on the 1954 novel by Richard Matheson. All characters in this chapter are my own, with the exception of any mentions of Robert Neville and Alice Krippin. Any quoted works in this fan-fiction not cited within the body of the text are cited at the end of the chapter in which they appear.
"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by each experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do." —Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)
Horrible
A child's voice echoed in the warehouse and stopped them both cold. Jeremy's hand came away from the door knob and he rushed back into the open.
There was little Victoria, standing in the light of the open bay door and holding Rex's book open to a certain page. "Mama!" she was saying, "Can you read this to me?"
"Victoria!" Judy was on her feet in an instant and heading for the girl. "I told you to stay put, and I meant it." She caught Victoria by the arm and began leading her back to the door. "This is a very dangerous place and you've disobeyed me, Baby."
Jeremy followed as far as the doorway and stopped. He saw Judy taking the girl around behind the van. Well, at least the two of them were both safe for the time being. He turned back to the room. That door. It held endless possibilities. He had to find out what was behind it.
Creeeak, it gave way to his hand, opening to reveal another entire part of the warehouse he had not expected. It was completely black inside, possibly powered from a different feeder source than the lighted area behind him. Jeremy had to push the goggles up from his eyes in order to see again. He steadied the sword and started through.
A feeling of exhilaration swept over him as he glided into the dark chasm. Hardly believing his own courage, he caught himself actually hoping there would be some kind of action in here. The nervous energy of his body was propelling him now, making him feel like he could fly again. It was just like the night he'd escaped from the Plexiglas cell and gone exploring. This felt good.
The faint smell of water running on concrete, swirled together with a very gentle hint of vampire. He tested the air but couldn't pick out anything unique in it and decided it was probably not a fresh scent.
There was a fluttering sound of fleshy wings from somewhere above him in the rafters, followed by a short exchange of high pitched squeaks. Only bats, vying for position, he reasoned. So far, nothing dangerous. He went deeper, trying to see.
Down to his left, a short, thin crack of green light flickered in the blackness. He could see it at a distance, but it was not bright enough to illuminate anything beyond itself. He began walking toward the light, putting one foot in front of the other. For a moment it felt as though he was walking in open space, it was so dark; at any moment he might step and fall into an eternal abyss. The impression was brief, and he immediately determined by the echo of his footfalls that the flooring was secure the entire way.
He pressed onward until he had reached a point in between where the luminescence of the doorway behind him no longer reached. Here in the dark, however, he could now tell that he had come part of the way down the length of a great breezeway that had been sealed off to any outside light. Jeremy strained to see down to the end but his vision was swallowed in blackness. The only thing to do was to head for that crack of light ahead and to the right. He'd had no idea these buildings had such depth to them.
He moved forward, trying not to stare at the light. It was just a dull green flicker, but bright enough against the contrast of the blackness around it. He found it mesmerizing as he drew nearer.
The smell of damp concrete became more pronounced the further he went. He could now hear a trickle of water running somewhere. Leaks in the plumbing? Somehow this place had not lost water pressure over the years. That was strange, unless there was an underground spring, bubbling up. The only other possibility was that someone had stayed here for a time and found a way to turn the water back on to the building. He supposed that most of Queens had been gradually shut down to all utilities after the quarantine, just as in Manhattan. There was still pressure in the water mains, since the city's supply came from the mountains, but survivors would have to treat it themselves before drinking.
Finally he reached a point where he could see that the green crack was caused by a light coming from under a closed door. There was also a soft glowing square of light now visible on the door itself and Jeremy was close enough to recognize this as an unbroken pane of obscure glass. But what could be making the green light? Only one thing he knew of made a light like that. Jeremy frowned at the thought.
He crept to the edge of the doorway, being careful not to make a sound, and listened with ear to the wood. So far, he had not heard anything, but the vampire smells were getting stronger. And, remembering the last time he'd been here, he figured there could be predators lurking anywhere. Maybe even watching him in the dark, calculating his weaknesses.
Warily, he touched the back of his hand to the metal knob. It felt cool. This was more out of habit than anything else. Jonathon had taught him to always touch metal with the back of his hand first. It might have been electrified as a vampire deterrent in the past, and now that he'd turned the power back on, one hasty grab spell death for him. That would stink. Or more likely, I would stink, he thought. He sniffed at the door. There was a general kind of vampire odor on the wooden door itself, but the scent was the kind that lingered, so it could be old.
There was something more, maybe a hint of the familiar…But the smell wasn't fresh. He shrugged, finally pulling the sleeve of his coat down over his palm and placing it around the knob. If no one else around here is stupid enough to leave their own signature-scent on things, why should I? The knob turned more easily than he expected and the door began to creak open.
"Jeremy!"
His head snapped back from the doorway at the sound of his own name being hissed from somewhere in the dark. He looked back and across to the other side. Judy was standing back there, a tiny silhouette in the rectangle of lighted doorway, trying to see out. She kicked the stops loose from the second door and let it swing wide to let more light shine out.
"Are you out there, Jeremy? Where did you go?"
The sound of her voice was an affront to his sense of secrecy. He hunched down and came padding the entire way back toward her through the darkness. She caught sight of the movement, heard him coming, and immediately swung the Uzi into position. He pulled up short.
"Don't shhhoot," he said. "It's me."
"Jeremy! Don't scare me like that! You nearly got a mouthful of lead, you know it?"
He walked up to her, still feeling the giddiness of the danger. "Small caliber lead," he said, grinning. "I cheww that stuff up and gargle it beforre breakfast."
"What in the name of Insanity are you doing in the dark? You about scared the living dead out of me!" She was whispering in high pitched squeals and caught herself to get the next question out in a lower tone. "Can't you turn the lights on out here?"
"Nno. I don't know where the panels are for this area. But there's a rooom across the way with electricity. I was just…"
"Forget it, we need to get going. This place gives me the creeps." Judy started to turn around. "I've got as much scrapings from the floor as I'll ever get and Victoria is getting antsy out there by herself."
"Wait," said Jeremy, catching her by the arm. "I waant to explore that room over there. Something's going on here, and I don't like the smell of it."
"We don't have time."
"Then youu go without me. I can make it home by myself. Meeet me at my place." He started to turn away.
"Jeremy!"
The tables had now turned. She couldn't see his eyes behind the goggles which he had already pulled down over them, but if she could have, they'd have been wild with dangerlust. She must have been sensed his energy, though. It was game theory all over again, and this time he was finally the one in control.
"Please, Jeremy," she sighed, "You know I won't leave you here."
"I just want to loook inside that room. Maybe I can find some liight switches from over there. Go back to Victoria."
"She's fine. She won't get out of the van again."
He looked back at her. "Are you surre?"
She nodded. "Believe me…I'm coming with you."
They waded back through the darkness to the door with the green crack of light. It felt more nerve wracking this time, having Judy with him. Suddenly the danger was no longer his friend. He took a little more time smelling the door knob when they got to it. That familiar scent was still there, but it was so well masked that he couldn't get it. Finally, they went through.
"Lights coming on," said Judy. She had been waiting impatiently behind him while he was inspecting the doorknob.
He barely got the goggles down in time. Flourescent lighting buzzed overhead in the small office. She had found the switches behind him next to the door.
"I wiish you wouldn't doo that. We should check thhe place out first."
"Sorry. Well, I figure—and this is just a guess—but if there's anyone in here, our cover was blown a long time ago."
Yeah, our cover. Jeremy scowled and moved into the room past the desk. There was another doorway off to the right where the green light was coming from. The smells in there! He wanted to see what was…
"Hey, look at this!" Judy was pointing to a filing cabinet in the corner. A drawer had been left open and there were twenty dollar bills billowing from a manilla folder inside. Some of the bills were lying on the floor. She bent down, picked one up and examined it.
Jeremy's interest was piqued. In spite of better instincts he hovered in the doorway, looking back at her. "Anythiiing written on it, by chance?" Even as he said it, a chill passed through him and he felt the hair rising on the back of his neck again. He began to turn, as if in slow motion, back toward the darkened doorway. Judy's voice sounded dream-like and slow:
"That's what I'm looking for. I got to thinking about what you…"
A vicious growling gurgle erupted just in front of Jeremy, cutting Judy's sentence off. He heard the woman inhale sharply behind him, and then something bulky and dark was springing upward at him from the floor. It was on a collision course with his jugular.
He spun, instinctively raising the sword, but the monster was already past his guard. It crashed into his chest, and Jeremy went backward and to the ground with the creature following through the doorway and landing on top of him. There was a flurry of beating limbs and gnashing teeth, and just as the commotion got underway, someone's foot coincidentally struck a light switch.
The room went dark. Jeremy's goggled shades were still covering his eyes and he couldn't get to them. He was left wrestling with a snarling, thrashing beast that he could not see.
"Jeremy!"
"Juudy, get out of here!"
He heard her breathing, moving obediently toward the door. The sound of her hand skidded along the wall for the knob. Somehow he would have to swing his sword down on the vampire from this odd angle. He reached with his free hand until he was gripping the throat of the other, and then pushed up with all his might, trying to get a good angle with the sword.
The creature suddenly stopped struggling and released him. It sprang up as Judy began pulling the door of the office open. Jeremy came immediately to his feet. He heard Judy gasp again and then there was the sound of a body crashing against the filing cabinet. The Uzi barked several rounds of fire into the darkness as the door slammed. Jeremy flung himself to the floor again.
"Judyyy!"
"Okay! Okay, I'm done shooting."
Jeremy leapt to his feet, fumbling to get the goggles from his eyes. He could see again, what a relief!
He could see Judy. Reaching for the light switch!
"Noooooo!"
Light flooded into his dilated pupils and he was blinded for the second time. This time it hurt, bad. He wrenched the goggles back down and looked around. The two of them were alone in the room.
"Wherrre did it go?"
Judy looked dazed. She gestured dumbly with her submachine gun, pointing to the closed door. "Out."
He snatched the Uzi out of her hands and burst from the room, twirling the knob on the goggles to clear with his free hand. There the creature went! He could hear bare feet pattering swiftly across the concrete breezeway in the darkness.
He ran toward the sound, bringing the gun up into position. The Uzi bucked in his hands, spitting flames into the dark after the fleeing vampire, and Jeremy charged forward continuing to fire until the magazine was spent.
He stopped and listened, couldn't hear a thing but the ringing of his own ears for a second or two. Then, somewhere in the dark, the muffled sound of another door thudded closed. The beast was gone. Escaped!
He kicked at the door on his way back into the office. Judy was sitting behind the desk in a swivel chair, her fingers shaking, clutching his sword in one hand. She was staring at a twenty dollar bill in the other hand, holding it up to the light.
"You were right," she said, oblivious to his irritation. Her voice sounded mystified, lost in shock. She tossed the bill down and picked up another one. "These all have the scribbles on them. You were right."
Jeremy let the Uzi clatter onto the desk in front of her. "Yourrr clip is empty." He rushed into the side room and stopped. There was a panel of twelve security monitors in there, the source of the green light.
He walked up to the screens and glared at them. The entire facility was on display here. Each screen changed systematically from one of its cameras to the next. There was the electrical panels and the generator. There were the giant shelves with pallets of windows on them, and the rows of machines. At one point he even saw their van sitting outside at the curb.
He froze.
"Victoria!" Judy screamed her daughter's name from the doorway.
He turned and saw her gawking at the monitors over his shoulder. She pointed at them. "The van," she said. He nodded.
They both ran for the door.
Behind them in the inner office the monitors continued to flick from one scene to the next. The camera view with the van came up again. It showed the driver's side door plainly sitting open. There was no sign of movement within or around the vehicle. On the sidewalk nearby lay a large book, opened to a page with the drawing of a man's face.
The man's face smiled up into the sun.