Chapter 12: Vaccines and Demons

We only had two places left to explore, but one was impossible to get to. The stairs that lead down to the Sewer were filled with some sort of toxic fumes, and we couldn't get to the door without serious damage. The green smoke burnt my eyes and throat, forcing retreat.

The other door was unreachable, for the walkway was stuck and wouldn't lower any further. Isabelle suggested that I throw something at the chains supporting the device, and I thought I'd give it a try. I picked up a rock off the damp floor and threw it toward the chains, hoping my aim wasn't off. It struck against the metal, causing the walkway to move toward its actual position. We now had access to the last door.

We paused in front of the iron door, hesitating for a few brief seconds. Who knew what was in here? Looking at the metal plaque above the doorway, I saw that our newest area to explore was called the Morgue. Yeah, sounds like so much fun. I thought sarcastically before prying open the door.

The Morgue looked extremely different from the Cistern and the Control room. The walls looked similar to the Prison, but less cramped. There were two hallways: one leading forward and the other leading to the right. A faint stench of rotten flesh hung in the dusty air, but I pushed it aside. We were in a Morgue, so there are bound to be dead bodies.

Isabelle grabbed my hand as we went forward, but I didn't protest. We hadn't talked much since the incident in the Cistern. I was still slightly traumatized from my fall in the water, but I was trying to put that behind me. Shaking my head to dislodge the thoughts, we reached a door at the end of the dark, stone hall.

It looked like a prison door, so I was diffident to open it, especially with the stench of decay growing ever so stronger. After a few more moments of reluctance, I pushed open the heavy door. Instantly, I recoiled at the gruesome sight. Bones, blood, and rotten flesh were strewn across the messy room. The smell was horrible, and I wanted to leave, but I knew that there must be something in here.

I averted my gaze from the remains and decided to do a quick search. There wasn't much in here except a shelf, a collapsed shelf, and the bones. But there was something that caught my interest. It looked like some sort of copper tube, and I picked it up out of curiosity. Seeing how there was nothing else in the foul room, I turned toward Isabelle who was standing in the doorway.

"Let's get out of here," She breathed before leaving. I followed silently until we reached the other hallway. We walked until we reached another door, but at least it didn't look threatening. Isabelle opened the wooden entrance tentatively; peering into the room to make sure it was innocuous. When all seemed good, we entered.

A crack in the ceiling provided light in the new room, allowing us to see without difficulty. To my near right, there was a shelf filled with chemical bottles and glasses. In the far corner was a desk with what looked like a note on it. There were two more doors, but I wasn't in any haste to explore them yet.

But what intrigued me most was the dead body lying on a table against the wall. I was surprised that I didn't feel repulsed or faint as my eyes examined the corpse. Maybe we have to use it for something… I thought before I strolled over to the desk, picking up the note in one hand. When I read it though, I became appalled. The piece of paper said that we'd have to use the blood from the corpse to create a vaccine. The vaccine would allow us to travel through the Sewers and remain unaffected by the poisonous fumes emitted from fungi. Sighing with vexation, I told Isabelle.

"Well, what can we use to extract the blood?" She asked, filing through the shelves for some sort of syringe. I ambled toward the body, realizing that is couldn't be more than a day old. Who put this here? I wondered as I began searching with Isabelle.

"Wait," I interrupted the silence, "Maybe we can use the copper tube I found earlier."

"No, it's not sharp enough to pierce skin," Isabelle replied, not pausing for a moment. But it looks like it could be part of syringe… Wait a second! I still have the needle from back in the Cellar Archives. If I attach it to the copper tube, it can work. But we still need something to pierce the skin.

Putting my makeshift plan into motion, I somehow attached the needle to the copper tube and showed it to Isabelle. Her gaze revealed nothing, though.

"Wait," She said, eyes bursting with emotion, "Do you still have the drill from Storage?"

"Yeah, why?" I replied, interested in her thoughts.

"Use the drill to make a hole in the corpse's head." She stated, snatching the drill from my hand and impaling the dead body's head. I winced at her sudden belligerence, but didn't say a word as a stream of blood began to flow from the new wound. She took the crude "syringe" from my hand and filled it with the blood before handing it back to me. I stared at it for a while, anxiety slowly building up.

"Just do it already!" Isabelle snapped, impatience thick in her voice. So, I did. I winced as the "syringe" pierced my skin, the blood seeping in. After a few moments, I pulled it out and tossed it to Isabelle. She repeated the process in little time.

"Can we leave now?" I asked, staring at the exit. The woman nodded, but as we neared the door, a low, unearthly moan came from the other side. Then, something started breaking its way through the door. I grabbed Isabelle's sleeve and bolted into one of the rooms we hadn't examined, not taking a moment to see what was trying to enter the Morgue.

The room we decided to hide in was filled with more dead bodies. They were piled at the center of a water filled floor, but I didn't want to look anymore so I faced the wall. Isabelle pressed against me as we crouched in the far corner, praying that our unwelcome guest wouldn't wander in here. I strained to hear where it was, but all I could hear were metallic noises; like that of dragging a sword across the ground.

After several agonizing minutes, the noises faded, signaling that the beast had left. Isabelle let out a long sigh before standing up. I noticed that she was trembling, but I didn't say a word until we left the Morgue. We were now at the top of the stone column, gazing in the Sewer's direction.

"What was that? That sounded like a different monster!" Isabelle finally broke the pressing silence.

"I don't know, but I think that's what got me in the Refinery. Remember my shoulder?" I said, recalling the horrid memory. She didn't reply, but instead, headed for the ladder. I assumed that the woman was on her way to the Sewers: the only place left to go.

And it sounded far worse than the Morgue or the Cistern.