A/N - The cat ran away with the crapper again. sob I'm so sorry!
I sagged to the ground, collapsing to sit at the edge of the hole. Whatever balcony rail things shoulda been there to keep folks from falling to a broke neck seemed to have been broken themselves, and a hollow metal spike stuck outta the floor next to me. I could hear the fountain bubbling beneath me, feel the draught you always get in a big place like that, and felt like I just had to get the hell outta there right away, the whole place was nuts and I wanted nothing to do with it. Still, though, I couldn't get down by the stairway I'd come up, those footprints... Hell, no. Not that way. Anyway, the shutter that way was sealed up, so there was no way I could get through way even if the... whatever it had been, wasn't there. I got my map back out and started looking for another way down. An elevator or a moving walkway, maybe? I figured they had to get all those clothes and stuff up to the second floor somehow, maybe a cargo elevator? There was another hallway across the chasm, maybe the map had something on that...
I found a stairwell marked on the map, in the hallways I hadn't yet gotten to, so got up for that direction, carefully avoiding the rail. That thing could mess you up real good if you weren't careful. Every step to the hallway, though, was a nightmare to make. All those dead, empty store windows and cold shutter doors. The monsters I had seen on the screen were real enough, their bodies lay near the fountain as proof of that, and any one could come grabbing through the glass for me. If they were mad enough to go for the man in the coat, who was obviously evil enough to be one of them, they'd definitely go after me.
Remembering him reminded me of the woods, reminded me of Katie, reminded me of how my hand got stomped on for following her. I'd gotten so used to the dull ache that I barely noticed it anymore, but looking at my hand (my left one, the one I woulda worn a ring on if I'd been cissy enough to) in the flashlight's glare really shocked me. The fingers and wrist looked ok, but the main hand was going a nasty dark purple, and the skin itself was cracking slightly, sore and raw underneath. The fucking thing was dying on me, and the damage looked to be spreading up my fingers and wrist, I realised as I brought it closer to my face. Hell with this, I thought, I've gotta do something. What about that...that health drink? Grabbing the bottle outta my jacket with my spare, injured, hand woulda been a joke, so, clipping the flashlight to my jacket chest pocket, I reached for it with my right, opened it with some difficulty, and gulped the whole lot down in one try. If you're gonna do something, you may as well go the whole hog, know what I'm sayin?
The shock and sudden pain from my injured hand drove me to my knees. It was...well, think what it's like when your foot falls asleep and you walk on it, all pins and needles. Then times that by about twenty. Yeah, you can imagine how much that shocked me. The pain, though, why would a health drink hurt so damn bad? Every raw crack on my hand felt like it'd been run over with stinging nettles and set on fire. I braced myself against the ground with my whole hand, kept myself from falling, and cradled my injured hand against me, except...it wasn't injured anymore. The pain and buzz faded almost as soon as I fell, and as my head cleared again, I held out my left hand in front of me, in the lamplight, and saw it was as good as new. Just very faint lines, like old scars, where the skin had cracked, and I could deal with that. Maybe Katie wasn't so bad after all, I decided. When I next saw her I'd be much nicer, I told myself, I'd even call her Kate rather than Katie since it obviously meant so much to the poor unbalanced kid. Feeling much better about myself, I headed for the opposite hallway.
I can't tell ya how relieved I was when I got to the first floor again without running up against any devil dogs. I did see a shuffling thing at the end of the hallway, though, only enough to get a glimpse of a dark blue uniform, though. The radio I'd snagged from the dead mall cop went berserk, and the noise really got the thing's attention. It mighta been human shaped once, but it was massively deformed now, its face melted into itself, eyelids and all melted shut, and a short stick with some kinda spike in its hand. I had my hand on the stairwell door by then, though, and was able to just duck through and shut it behind me before the thing got more than two steps. I can still remember, even now, how relieved I was, even with my back hard up against the door to keep the thing from opening it again. I remember how it thumped against the door a couple times, and then shuffled off. The door handle didn't twitch once, though, the monsters were apparently big and strong, but still morons, kinda like some of the boys in the compulsory geography classes I teach back at Ashfield High. Or...taught, anyway. I don't even know what day it is now, or even what month, time goes in all kindsa weird ways here, they've probably fired me in my absence or something. Hell with it, back to the story, it'll be time soon.
Standing there, listening to it shuffle away, my radio no longer blaring static like it had done, I realised two things. One, that the radio noise and monsters were somehow linked, and two, that that monster was wearing a security guard uniform. Could that have been the guy in the locker? No, no, it couldn't have been. This place was hella weird, but the dead stayed dead, at least. I'd lugged his own bloody and maggot-ridden corpse back into his seat, I'd seen the bodies of the monsters (two of them security guard monsters, I now realised) laying lifeless on the ground. The dead stayed dead. I have to believe that, even now I have to believe that or I'll lose my mind. The thought of them picking themselves up and wandering around like zombies...no, no, I can't let myself even think that, especially with that bastard's corpse in Annie's Bar, so close to this burger bar by the bridge. The dead stay dead, remember that, Nate. Stay cool, you'll be ok. So... yeah... the monsters and the corpses are different, maybe whatever creates the monsters just takes... inspiration from what's going on? They don't start off life as real, sure, just figments in some demon's mind, but once they're created they're real and their own things. Their own individual lives. And deaths, mustn't forget that, monster deaths are very important. I'll get back to the story now so's you can understand why.
The stairwell was quiet. Too quiet. Even if I'd wanted to go up to the third floor, more packing crates blocked the way (where the hell do all these things come from?) so the only way was down. I checked my flashlight, (still strong) checked the load of the handgun, (fully loaded, a ten round clip) and headed down to the first floor. Still no devil dogs. I closed the door behind me as quiet as I could, no sense in letting anything know I was there. I headed for the main plaza and noticed as I walked that I could hear voices up ahead. Angry voices, too, what the hell? I turned off my flashlight and crept up to the pizza parlor the voices were coming from. Opening the door silently took all my concentration, so the first thing I heard when I slipped in was a girl's voice in plaintive mid-sentence
"...alone? Just.. please! I don't want to see this place anymore, I just wanna... Just let me go, let me be"
Was someone holding her prisoner? It wasn't Katie's voice, this one was older, richer. I edged around a corner and saw into the parlor. The place looked like a bomb had gone off, tables smashed across the room, the mirror behind the serving bar was cracked in so many places it barely showed anything back to you, and the wine bottles made into candle holders were more destroyed than standing. On a few tables, though, they stood lit, as though someone had decided that the apocalypse was just the right time for a romantic dinner for two. I, the gatecrasher, stood staring like some slack-jawed idiot at the two people sat at a rounded table in the centre of the parlor, within the circle of candlelight. The speaker was a young woman, about 19 or so, with dark hair and a light polo-neck sweater. The person she was berating, and my fists twitched at the sight of him, sitting there smoking without a care in the world, holding this poor young thing against her will, was the man in the coat. Before I could move, she spoke again.
"Please? I... I know you say you wanna help me and I want to believe you. I just... no! No, you don't want to help me, nobody does! You men, you're all the same, you only want one thing. Go ahead, say it!" she jeered at him, hands waving wildly, "say you want to help me. Say you'll take care of me, look after me like nobody else would. Tell me you think you can save me? Will you love me? Take care of me? Heal all my pain?" The man on the other side of the table buried his face in his hands. "I thought so," she sneered, "you don't want to save my life, you couldn't even if you did. You only want me for that" The man in the coat raised his head slowly.
"What have I ever done," he asked real soft "to make you think that? When did I even lay a hand on you? Or even enter your room? I'm not like him. You know that. Or, you should by now, anyway." Damn, this guy was good. For a second even I thought he didn't want to get in on a piece of that. I guess I haven't been describing her too well, but this girl... this girl was really somethin else. You wouldn't see it unless it was just the right light, but the way her face went, the tits hidden under that sweater... Man, and I bet she had killer legs.
"You left me alone there" she answered "all alone in that terrible place. I know what's out there, I put my head out the door sometimes and I can see them. They haven't come for me yet, but they will. I know it, and when they do, you'll let them, won't you! I know you will. Everyone thinks I deserve it, everyone knows what I'm like! They'll come and they'll... they'll do that to me, and you'll let them! Please, just let me go! Leave me alone and let me go!" He shook his head no, and took a pull at a cigarette. They sat there in the light, looking for all the world like an angel and a devil arguing over the bill in the restaurant at the end of the earth. She seemed to come to a decision, and spoke again her tone suddenly different, sultry and seductive. She leant across the table to him, back arched, licking her lips, and put a hand on his arm.
"If you promised you'd let me go, I could be...good for you. Hmm? Come on, you know it's what you're really wanting." She tilted her head to the side coyly, exposing her throat, pushing out her chest, showing off all she had. "And then you'd get what you want, and you could just...toss me away..." a light, dismissive flick of the wrist with her free hand, as though flicking away a used up piece of trash. "We'd both be happy," she went on, "don't you want me to be happy?" He kept his gaze on the table in front of him, not even looking at her face, at her chest, and spoke at the oak wood.
"More than you know. I want you to be happy. But what you're trying to persuade me of... no..." she slid her hand upwards from his arm, trailing her fingertips over his chest and raising his head by his jaw, forcing him to look her at her.
"Aww, come on now," she told him, "come on, I don't look that bad, do I? Nobody else ever said I was too ugly for it." He swallowed hard, and reaching out, touched her face all gentle-like. She took the hand on her face into her own, held it against her cheek and nestled into it.
"No, you're not... you're not ugly, you know that. But I..." he broke off, looked away. I was about ready to give him an Emmy for this performance, I can tell ya. She wasn't convinced he wasn't interested, though, and started gently suckling on a finger. She musta been good, his eyes drooped closed and he bent his head to the table again.
"Aww, come on and look at me, then," she said teasingly, "Now, how are you gonna look out for me and take care of me if you've got your eyes closed, huh?" Then he did something real odd. He yanked his hand back to himself and stood up so fast his chair fell over and the table rattled.
"No! I won't let this happen!" Loud and clear, his voice rang out through the deserted room. She shrank back, terrified and whimpering. His face fell at the sight and when he stepped forward to speak again, she got up herself and backed off, her purple pants almost a blood-red in the candle-light.
"I... I'm sorry.." she babbled "I'm sorry. I've been bad, I didn't mean to be bad, oh please don't hurt me, please!" He raised a hand, palm outwards, was about to speak to calm her, but I couldn't let him. Whatever this girl wanted, this bastard had hurt me, tried to keep me from Katie, and now he was scaring her. I squeezed the trigger twice and two puffs of blood flew up from his shoulder. The girl screamed and almost fell over herself backing away so fast. They both turned to me, and I came out of the shadows. His eyes, those damn dark eyes, widened in shock and surprise.
"You? You're here?" I nodded, grinning quietly, and offered the girl my best smile. She wasn't in any fit state to appreciate it, though, gibbering like a scared little kid in a haunted house. He reached for his shoulder, felt the wound, his hand coming away bloody. I squeezed the trigger again, and again, his chest puffed red twice and he staggered back against the counter, slumped down onto the ground. The girl was crying now, the shots had been pretty damn loud and she didn't seem like the most together kid to start with. He fingered the wounds, stared bemused at the blood, and saw me approaching the girl, to comfort her, give her a kiss and a cuddle. Cute little figure like that, maybe even a bit more, I thought.
"Run!" a hoarse whisper from the floor. "Get out of here, now! Don't let him get close to you. He'll..." he broke off, coughing, "he'll only want...one thing..." That got her attention. She stared right at me, seemed to see me properly for the first time, then turned and ran for her life, bare feet flapping against the metal tiles, still sobbing as she went. I chased after her, but lost her before I got to the window she'd climbed out of, and stood staring at her disappear into the darkness.
"You bastard!" I roared at the roof. "You mother-loving sonovawhore! You scared her away!" I spun round, and raised the gun again "This time I'm aiming for the head, you little shit!" Except I couldn't, he'd gone. A bloody trail lead from where he'd been sitting to the door to the kitchen, a hand print on the doorframe where he'd pulled himself through, and then... an empty kitchen. I turned my flashlight back on, full beam, and searched the kitchen from top to bottom, even inside all the cupboards and ovens. Nothing. And the doors to the freezers were locked. Going back to the door, I felt my shoes stick to the floor, and trained my flashlight down. Some kinda symbol was drawn on the tiled floor in blood, a six-sided square with one of them Jew stars inside, and another Jew star inside that. On each corner of the six-sided square was a circle, and, even though it was a quick smear of blood with just a few lines, the image seemed to pulse and writhe as though there were far too many lines within the stars. Just looking at it gave me a headache. Cursing the man in the coat and all Jew-loving sonsawhores, I left the pizza parlor and headed for the plaza with the dark fountain.