Final chapter: The will to live
The silence after the horrific firefight was so complete it was deafening. It took a few minutes before Lucas could comprehend that it was over. He kicked Anubis' corpse aside and knelt by his brother's. After a brief attempt to pull his brother with him on the small hope he could be cured and revived, Lucas was forced to accept he could not carry his brother let alone save him. This was the end for him. Suddenly a shrieking sound filled the air as sirens and colored lights began flashing madly. "You fools" gasped Anubis still alive. "I am the master of this laboratory, when my heart stops, this base will self destruct. You cannot escape the lord's wrath sinner". "Haven't you done enough damage," said Lucas surprised by the anger in his voice. "You have taken everything from me, I've done nothing, no one I knew did anything, why do you insist we are sinners". "God damn you" muttered Anubis, his voice dripping with venom as he finally slipped into unconsciousness and then death. With his passing, an emotionless computerized female voice began to drone over the sirens. "The self-destruct sequence has been initiated, all employees report to the evacuation area". "What am I going to do?" asked Lucas in a panic hoping someone, anyone would answer. Before everything that had happened tonight, the ruination of his city, the death of his brother and his own hopeless fate, he thought he was brave. That he could take on anything and survive. But now he felt as if he were falling apart completely, the endless droning of the self-destruct mechanism blocking all attempt at coherent thought.
"Calm down, think rationally" Lucas said to himself trying to force his heart to stop beating so fast. "There has to be a way out, there just has to be". He suddenly remembered what the soldiers who tried to kidnap him from the mansion were talking about. They were discussing Anubis' escape rout. He had some secret tunnel built into his wife's bedroom. All he had to do was find it and he would be safe. Lucas ran as fast as he could, out of the inner sanctum and through the twisting halls of the laboratory straining to remember the directions to Anubis' wife's bedroom in the mansion. He kicked the ornate doors to the bedroom nearly off their hinges as he burst into the room. For the first time he realized how sad the whole situation was. As much as he hated Anubis for what he did to his family and city, he could no longer fully hate the man himself. The bedroom was left exactly as she had left it the night she was hospitalized for terminal cancer. He no longer knew who to hate, Anubis and his insanity, the city and its ambivalence to the horrors going on in the mansion, the companies and their lust for money, no matter what the cost. Instead of the direct hatred he used to keep him going all night, he felt nothing but an overwhelming sense of emptiness. He shook his head to clear himself before succumbing to such a hopeless train of thought. He still had to hope, he still had to live. His parents were out there somewhere, along with all his friends from school. They were all waiting for him if he could just get out of this mansion. Lucas tore the oil canvas portrait of Anubis' wife from the wall and pulled the secret door open to reveal a long featureless corridor that no doubt lead to the private escape rout for Anubis himself. But something was wrong; at the end of the hall was not a door, but nothing, an empty stone wall, a dead end. Lucas collapsed, knowing that death was only a minute away. In what he thoughts were his last moments he contemplated what dying in an explosion must feel like. It wouldn't hurt, he was sure of that; the brain couldn't process the damage from a blast that big before it had completely destroyed the body, so he wasn't as afraid as he could have been. Suddenly another sound erupted over the sirens and the computerized voice, an inhuman scream of animal rage. Phillip was still alive. Within moments, the wall burst in and Phillip charged into the room, his brush with death only making him stronger. He had mutated once more, Lucas could no longer see his face or even his head, which apparently had sunken deep inside the cavernous body for protection, and Phillip had a new weapon, several tentacles swung madly from his back each ending in a dangerously sharp claw no doubt dripping with the virus. Without thinking Lucas dove between the creatures legs as he charged in his direction. The monster hit the wall with enough force to shatter it completely revealing an elevator shaft on the other side; no doubt the escape rout the computerized voice even now insisted all survivors reach. Putting all his energy in to one last desperate move, Lucas charged the monster, leapt into him sending both toppling over the edge onto the elevator platform below. The monster made a sickening cracking sound as it's back impaled itself on the exposed machinery of the elevator. Lucas rolled off the monster and could only watch in fascinated horror as the acidic blood of the beast corroded not only the machinery but the elevator floor as well. Within seconds the floor collapsed and Phillip fell into the darkness of the elevator shaft disappearing from sight. "Come on work" yelled Lucas in frustration at the ruined elevator. "There is now twenty seconds till the self destruct sequence commences," reminded the machine, "it is advised that all employees report to the nearest evacuation point". "No shit" said Lucas almost laughing at the irony of the situation. Aloud noise caught his attention, the blast door sealing the elevator shaft began to close shutting out the first rays of morning light from outside. The only way out was a small ladder that ran up the interior of the elevator shaft. "Your wrong Anubis" said Lucas more determined than ever, " I am not a mindless creature, I will survive, IT IS MY RIGHT!!!" With the last of his strength Lucas leapt the gap to the ladder and climbed faster then he believed he ever could. As he reached halfway the computerized voice began the countdown from fifteen seconds. "14, 13, 12, 10" Lucas reached the opening to the shaft and began to pull himself out as the computer counted down to zero. The blast doors shut underneath him and a deafening eruption flung him off the doors and unconscious onto the dirty ground below.
The silence after the horrific firefight was so complete it was deafening. It took a few minutes before Lucas could comprehend that it was over. He kicked Anubis' corpse aside and knelt by his brother's. After a brief attempt to pull his brother with him on the small hope he could be cured and revived, Lucas was forced to accept he could not carry his brother let alone save him. This was the end for him. Suddenly a shrieking sound filled the air as sirens and colored lights began flashing madly. "You fools" gasped Anubis still alive. "I am the master of this laboratory, when my heart stops, this base will self destruct. You cannot escape the lord's wrath sinner". "Haven't you done enough damage," said Lucas surprised by the anger in his voice. "You have taken everything from me, I've done nothing, no one I knew did anything, why do you insist we are sinners". "God damn you" muttered Anubis, his voice dripping with venom as he finally slipped into unconsciousness and then death. With his passing, an emotionless computerized female voice began to drone over the sirens. "The self-destruct sequence has been initiated, all employees report to the evacuation area". "What am I going to do?" asked Lucas in a panic hoping someone, anyone would answer. Before everything that had happened tonight, the ruination of his city, the death of his brother and his own hopeless fate, he thought he was brave. That he could take on anything and survive. But now he felt as if he were falling apart completely, the endless droning of the self-destruct mechanism blocking all attempt at coherent thought.
"Calm down, think rationally" Lucas said to himself trying to force his heart to stop beating so fast. "There has to be a way out, there just has to be". He suddenly remembered what the soldiers who tried to kidnap him from the mansion were talking about. They were discussing Anubis' escape rout. He had some secret tunnel built into his wife's bedroom. All he had to do was find it and he would be safe. Lucas ran as fast as he could, out of the inner sanctum and through the twisting halls of the laboratory straining to remember the directions to Anubis' wife's bedroom in the mansion. He kicked the ornate doors to the bedroom nearly off their hinges as he burst into the room. For the first time he realized how sad the whole situation was. As much as he hated Anubis for what he did to his family and city, he could no longer fully hate the man himself. The bedroom was left exactly as she had left it the night she was hospitalized for terminal cancer. He no longer knew who to hate, Anubis and his insanity, the city and its ambivalence to the horrors going on in the mansion, the companies and their lust for money, no matter what the cost. Instead of the direct hatred he used to keep him going all night, he felt nothing but an overwhelming sense of emptiness. He shook his head to clear himself before succumbing to such a hopeless train of thought. He still had to hope, he still had to live. His parents were out there somewhere, along with all his friends from school. They were all waiting for him if he could just get out of this mansion. Lucas tore the oil canvas portrait of Anubis' wife from the wall and pulled the secret door open to reveal a long featureless corridor that no doubt lead to the private escape rout for Anubis himself. But something was wrong; at the end of the hall was not a door, but nothing, an empty stone wall, a dead end. Lucas collapsed, knowing that death was only a minute away. In what he thoughts were his last moments he contemplated what dying in an explosion must feel like. It wouldn't hurt, he was sure of that; the brain couldn't process the damage from a blast that big before it had completely destroyed the body, so he wasn't as afraid as he could have been. Suddenly another sound erupted over the sirens and the computerized voice, an inhuman scream of animal rage. Phillip was still alive. Within moments, the wall burst in and Phillip charged into the room, his brush with death only making him stronger. He had mutated once more, Lucas could no longer see his face or even his head, which apparently had sunken deep inside the cavernous body for protection, and Phillip had a new weapon, several tentacles swung madly from his back each ending in a dangerously sharp claw no doubt dripping with the virus. Without thinking Lucas dove between the creatures legs as he charged in his direction. The monster hit the wall with enough force to shatter it completely revealing an elevator shaft on the other side; no doubt the escape rout the computerized voice even now insisted all survivors reach. Putting all his energy in to one last desperate move, Lucas charged the monster, leapt into him sending both toppling over the edge onto the elevator platform below. The monster made a sickening cracking sound as it's back impaled itself on the exposed machinery of the elevator. Lucas rolled off the monster and could only watch in fascinated horror as the acidic blood of the beast corroded not only the machinery but the elevator floor as well. Within seconds the floor collapsed and Phillip fell into the darkness of the elevator shaft disappearing from sight. "Come on work" yelled Lucas in frustration at the ruined elevator. "There is now twenty seconds till the self destruct sequence commences," reminded the machine, "it is advised that all employees report to the nearest evacuation point". "No shit" said Lucas almost laughing at the irony of the situation. Aloud noise caught his attention, the blast door sealing the elevator shaft began to close shutting out the first rays of morning light from outside. The only way out was a small ladder that ran up the interior of the elevator shaft. "Your wrong Anubis" said Lucas more determined than ever, " I am not a mindless creature, I will survive, IT IS MY RIGHT!!!" With the last of his strength Lucas leapt the gap to the ladder and climbed faster then he believed he ever could. As he reached halfway the computerized voice began the countdown from fifteen seconds. "14, 13, 12, 10" Lucas reached the opening to the shaft and began to pull himself out as the computer counted down to zero. The blast doors shut underneath him and a deafening eruption flung him off the doors and unconscious onto the dirty ground below.