Chapter Eighteen: Diverging Paths
Rain barely thought about the creature. In her memory, Lisa Trevor was a featureless silhouette-a dark stain on the otherwise vivid recollection. She remembered hearing something along the lines of "peoples' minds block out what they can't handle." Whatever the shrinks had to say about the state of her mental health could wait.
J.D. grunted, half-conscious, as she nearly dragged him down the passage toward the laboratory. The sound of gunfire and the inhuman shrieks of the creature chased them further into the dark. Rain fumbled for the light on her belt. She clicked it on to illuminate the narrow hallway. At the end was the rusted grate door of an elevator.
"Where?" J.D. asked groggily. Rain ignored him, focusing on the door before her. Come on, just a few more stops. Any moment, she expected to hear the creature's hurried footsteps behind them or feel the beam of her former captor's flashlights. Either way, this was going to be her-no, their-only chance to escape.
Rain reached the elevator doors and after a moment of repositioning J.D., she pressed the button for the door to open. Once the two were inside, J.D. stumbled off to the far corner, his hand brushing the side of his neck. Rain pressed the button labeled B2 and the doors closed. The two stood in the darkness for half a moment. The only thing Rain could hear was the rhythm of their breathing. Then, with a flicker, a single bulb in the center of the elevator lit up.
"Feel like I was hit by a truck," J.D. muttered clutching his head, A trickle of blood snuck out from beneath his fingertips.
"Not too far off," Rain replied, walking toward him. J.D. jumped back, reflexively moving a hand to his neck. Rain held up her hands. "It's just me. Just wanted to take a look at your head."
"It's fine," J.D. said.
Rain tilted her head, her brown eyes settling into a scowl.
"Move your damn hand so I can take a look," she said, striding forward and yanking the hand from his head. "I don't need you passing out from blood loss."
"I forgot how stubborn you were," he replied, a smile crawling on his face.
"And I forgot how much of a pussy you could be," Rain said, her tone light. Blood flowed from the wound, but the cut wasn't deep. The blood's going to be problematic, she thought. Just had to get hit where you bleed the most. She lifted her tactical fest and ripped the hem of the black t-shirt underneath. "Here," Rain said, wrapping the piece of fabric around her hand and handing it to J.D. "Press this against your head. Hopefully, we'll find some medical supplies down there."
"Can't reanimate the dead without some gauze, can they?" J.D. said, his face breaking into a tired grin. Rain rolled her eyes, chortling.
"Shut up and tell me how many fingers I'm holding up." She held up two fingers and J.D, correctly answered. Once Rain was done with her questioning, J.D. slumped against the wall. "Just don't go to sleep on me. I don't know where I'd be without your dumb ass."
J.D.'s brow knitted, his mouth opening and closing as though he were fighting to get something out.
"Rain…" he said softly, holding the side of his neck. "There's something I have to tell you...before it's too late…"
"Wha-?"
The elevator suddenly shook so violently that it threw Rain against the wall. The light flickered and the cables lowering the lift quivering with an unsettling woobwoob. Rain clutched at the wall, her fingers barely finding purchase within the contours of the metal. J.D. collapsed on the floor, his hand still firmly clamped around his neck. Rain's neck ached from the tension. Any moment, she expected to hear the cable keeping them aloft to snap, sending them plummeting to the bottom.
After a few seconds, the shaking of the cables lessened and the light within the elevator stabilized, though a deep rumbling came from above for several seconds more. Rain cast a worried glance toward J.D. and J.D. looked at her with wide, frantic eyes.
"One," he said. "Do you think he's…"
"I don't know," Rain replied, but her gut told her he was gone. She had no concrete proof of the fact, only the experience of that night's horrors and her intuition. If there was one thing that night had taught her, it was to trust that at least. From the heavy expression on J.D.'s face, he must have understood what she was thinking.
"Shit," J.D. replied. "Then it's up to us…"
"Up to us to do what?" Rain asked, her brow furrowing. J.D. clutched at the wall as he stood. Was it Rain's imagination or did he seem much paler than usual?
"If we want to get the Hell out of here tonight," J.D. replied. "There's something in the lab we're going to have to get."