Broken Mirror: Apophis 2029 (9 page)

  "Ah, what the hell is this, man?" Haiti blurted; unable to contain his curiosity as his wide eyes scanned the structure in wonder.  We strolled over and peered down into the tube, but it was far too low in height to venture within; at least comfortably.  Roy looked just as confused as I was; even Thorn was at a loss.

  "Take a look around and see what you find," Roy bade us to investigate the odd chamber.  One thing I had to mention to Thorn was that; beside the flashing beacon, I didn't see any other hard wired light source in the room.  On the far side of a curved partition, I found a handle set firmly on top of a narrow tube and called to the others.  We were all a little bewildered, since it did not appear to resemble any kind of control switch we had ever seen before. 

  "We came this far, might as well see what it does, eh?" the islander man suggested, as Thorn gave a slight shrug of approval for him to give it a try.  Haiti grunted with effort as he tried to twist the handle this way and that, but to no avail.  It wasn't until he attempted to pull on it that there was a hiss from within the pedestal and the handle itself slowly spun on its own accord.  The honey colored beacon above the tube turned a vibrant green, and its flashing grew ever more frequent as we heard a rumble from the tube below it.

  That got us nervous, but no matter how Haiti tried, the handle would not depress back into its position.  He had activated something; and it was now coming up the tunnel.  The green light blinking faster and faster, until it suddenly turned a constant solid tone as a large white steel bullet shaped cone all streaked with filth nosed its way slowly from the mouth of the tube.  The first thing that shot into my mind was utter dread, as what slowly eased into the chamber looked very much like a missile.  I could see the others were also as worried since it resembled a warhead, and were wondering what to do next.

  "Oh shit, man, what did I do?" Haiti blurted out.

  As the long cylinder slid up to the platform, we could now see that it was tapered at both ends.  It suddenly came to a halt and a panel along its length opened up to reveal what appeared to be four seats with; each pair back to back, all in single file.  It was some sort of transport, like a mini subway car.  The vehicle itself seemed extremely confined for space inside.  Just then, a broken voice from a hidden speaker blasted into the quiet room.

  "Welcome...
krrzt
is your departure station to Fallhaven.  Plea...
krrt
present your green pass to the...
krrzzt
." A pleasant female voice spoke through the static of the broken speaker.  After a long hesitation of silence, we realized it was a prerecorded audio.

  "Fallhaven...?" Thorn whispered to himself with a confused look in his eyes.

  "What now, man," Haiti asked with a dash of excitement, "we goin' for a ride?"

  Truth was, we were not entirely expecting this turn of events.  Roy was hesitant to comment, though Thorn thought it was worth investigating.  He argued that we didn't know when this subway car might be here next, or if we could ever get it to work again.  Old man Roy volunteered to stay behind so he could go back and report to the others, as Haiti, Thorn and I finally decided we would take the chance to see where this transport led too.

  "I really don't think this is a good idea," Roy cautioned as we each stepped in the vehicle and crouched into the tightly packed seats like sardines. 

  Roy went back over to the control handle that had called the car.  He stood in front of the pedestal behind the partition as Thorn gave him the thumbs up.  Thorn and I sat in the first section, while Haiti was in the other half enjoying some legroom.  The seating was so cramped I had begun to wish I had been in back instead; but before I could say anything, unseen sensors activated the panel which slid closed and sealed us in.  There was thick muck smeared over windows that we could barely see through, but Roy was still there at the console.  Just as he was about to give the handle another try, the lever depressed on its own before he touched it and the small four-person missile slid off down the tube.

  "Oh, shit..." Roy marked with a worried glance towards the tram vehicle as it swiftly shot off out of view.  Through the greasy window, none of us saw him waving his hands frantically as we disappeared into the darkness. 

  The vehicle came to a halt several yards into the tunnel and heard a thick door slide into place behind us.  This process was followed by a suction of air expelling the atmosphere from within the chute, which made our ears began to ring and the tube outside exploded into a blur as we suddenly launched.  Shooting down the tube at impossible speeds, I could hear Haiti over the whoosh of noise whooping out loud in glee.  We passed through several lit sections, but the transparent panels were so covered with filth that we couldn't make out a thing.

  The wild rollercoaster ride came to an end after what seemed to have been ten or fifteen nauseating minutes later; we had no idea how far we had traveled.  Our vehicle came to a halt once again, and could hear a door sliding open just as the hum of the magnetic coils along the wall pulled us through into an open chamber; which was brightly lit with a harsh green light from a beacon mounted on the roof above us.

  The interior of the vehicle decompressed and I suddenly felt ill, like I was going to throw up my breakfast all over Thorn.  He too looked a bit queasy himself; his face going a tinge pale, and by the sounds of it, Haiti behind us was in the same amount of despaired.  The panel slid open as we shielded our eyes from the bright light as the same alluring voice of the audio recording greeted us.

  "Welcome to Fallhaven, please follow your assigned escort.  All guests are required to obey the rules.  Have a pleasant stay."

The Atrium

    A lingering stench hung within the room as we stepped out of the small transport cradle, wondering where we were; it was a musty smell I did not recognize at first.  Similar to the station we had departed, this one also had glass rooms fixed high upon the ceiling with a strange light from within seemed to be emanating from the panes themselves.  Across the room a humanoid robot sat poised in front of a counter, looking at us with its oversized lens eyes.  At closer inspection we could see it was permanently affixed into place at its post; its once pristine white plating now stained with dirty streaks of brown and black.  Its left arm had been removed by some violent force, as several frayed wires danced with errant sparks as it moved its torso in jerked motions.

  The rest of the room was in disarray, as were the floors of the glass rooms hanging above that which were littered with debris and clutter.  There was a doorway that opened up to an adjacent hall that caught our eye, which had streaks of dark stains also decorated the walls beyond its edge.  To our dismay, the panel on the transport closed after we stepped off the platform and the vehicle slid off into the dark tube; stranding us there.  Haiti ran up trying to stop it, but there were no handholds to get a grip on the skin of the vehicle.  After it penetrated the small tunnel, a metal door swiftly closed shut behind it.

  "Ah ...well, it looks like we're stuck here for a while, wherever
here
is," Haiti remarked, the gleam of his usual smile absent from his lips.  We were worried, not knowing how far we had traveled through that transport tube or what the hell this place was, except for a solitary name.  It was stamped across the top of the doorway in bold lettering; FALLHAVEN.

  "At least this place has power, maybe we should see if there is somebody here or something we could use," I suggested.  It was the logical choice; as scavengers we had survived similar unknown situations, but we were at the disadvantage of not having a means of escape should things go sour; and having an open route of extraction was always the first rule of thumb. 

  Haiti drew his machete and took the lead through the entrance.  I kept my gun ready as we all ventured into the hall.  Every so often, we would hear a faint shuffling or rattle echo down the corridor coming from unknown sources as we made our way further into the mysterious complex.

  "Ya know man, this might be the place that's been sucking up the juice from those generators up top," Haiti offered up his theory, which made a bit of sense.  It was safe to assume we had traveled several miles underground, but we currently had no idea in which direction we had been taken.  Thorn stopped to wipe off the caked gunk from a sign on the wall by another door which read 'infirmary' underneath the smear of filth.  From the decrepit looks of it, all three of us began to assume this place had been ransacked and abandoned long ago.  If there were any medical supplies in stock that hadn't expired by now, they would be of value and this was certainly the place to look. 

  There was a mixture of sentiment as we looked through the medical bay.  We found scanners and sets of laboratory beakers, but most were strewn around as if the place was intentionally vandalized.  There was also some notably expensive equipment stacked within the lab, which seemed mostly intact, but a majority of the apparatuses were smashed or broken in one form or another.  Thorn found a cabinet full of vaccines and stem injectors for inoculations, but the glass refrigerator was unplugged; which undoubtedly meant the drugs had long since gone bad or expired.

 
It didn't make much sense at all, since all these supplies were invaluable would have been packed and taken with anyone who might have originally evacuated this facility or by any number of people who would have scoured this place before us. 

  "Uh oh," Haiti whispered aloud, just audible enough for us to hear, who was standing in a corner of the room at the edge of a gurney.  Thorn and I wandered over to peer over his shoulder to see what he was looking at lying on the floor.  There, crumpled up in the corner was the decimated human cadaver, its skin dried and pale.  It seemed like it had been there for several years.  What was left of a torn white lab coat was twisted beneath the corpse.  There was a smudged nametag on the jacket, but nobody dared to touch it.

  "I think its time we find our way out of here," Thorn admitted, as we began to get a grasp on the situation.  Turning around, I nearly jumped out of my skin as a shadow passed across the bay door followed by the thumping of heavy footsteps as they faded down the hall. 

  "What the hell was that?" I blurted out in dismay.  Regardless of the question, we needed to find out what or whom we were dealing with, and of course, find our way back to the surface in the process.  Haiti shook the long blade of his machete while clenching his grip on the worn handle anxiously.

  "I'm not rightly sure we really want to find out," Haiti whispered nervously.

  "We have to take a look; it could be someone who could help us..." Thorn suggested, though there was a fair measure of doubt rather than conviction in his tone.  Warily, we made our way back into the hall and followed in the direction were we had seen the shadow pass.  Many of the ceiling lights along the hallways were broken or cracked, but it was enough to see by.

  Every so often, we could make out hand prints on the corners of doorways made from the same filthy grime that marred the hallway floor and splattered across the walls.  If it were dried blood or feces, I would imagine it would have smelt worse than it did.  Still that stale odor reminded me of the dens of the diseased I had crossed before: the strange scent lurking in my nostrils gave me a bad vibe I couldn't shake. Eventually we came across a set of wide double doors which had been propped open with a few metal rods that opened.  Stepping through we could see it led into a gallery beyond.  Haiti motioned for us to crouch down as we crossed into view of the spectacle before us.

  In all respects, it appeared to be an indoor amusement park, or, what was left of one.  A huge domed arena with a blue sky and wisps of clouds painted above it.  Lining the area were rows of seats and what appeared to have been shops and a ringed section of food courts, now in complete disarray.  It took a moment for our eyes to adjust to the change in lighting, where we began to see hunched figures moving among the broken structures in the park.   Some of them looked human; a few others, well, not so much.

  "Weeper's!" Haiti whispered to us over his shoulder as we hugged the entrance wall.  The smell of them was more pungent here in a central zone where they had herded together.  I spied two of the infected attempting to ascertain the function of a broken swing, as if in dismay why it would not work.  Another sat on the edge of a slide, as if contemplating the danger of such folly.  There was one; however, placed in the center was the most disturbing of all. There squatted a large grotesque beast with mottled skin, horribly deformed.  None of us had ever seen anything like it.

  "What the fuck is that?" Thorn breathed through tight lips, wondering if we should retreat.  We could not quite get a clear outline of the creature whose features were hidden within its own shadow.  It looked like a man, but so warped and misshapen that I doubted myself.  We conferred for a moment, since we knew the way we just arrived from left no alternative avenues for retreat.

  "I say fuck this, and try to see if we can get that jet-tube ride working again," Haiti spouted, "ain't no way I'm stay'in here with that
thing
, man!"

  "The control rod or handle, or whatever you call it, on this end was broken," I advised him, as I had specifically examined the apparatus at the same time he inspected the busted robot that sat in front of the console.

  "Hell, man, we can look again, hardwire dat' shit up..." Haiti began to blabber aloud until Thorn motioned him to hush his excited voice.  The truth was, without Felix around we were as all as dumb as rocks when it came to splicing electronics.

  Looking out across the room for options, Thorn spotted a brightly lit hallway with a blinking 'Atrium' sign hanging halfway off its hinges across the mall.  Looking around for alternatives, it seemed our only option at the moment.  Doing a visual head count, I tallied only a half dozen Weepers, including that grotesque blob of flesh sitting in the center of the arena.  We had enough ammo to take them out if we needed, but I suggested that we use stealth and make our way along the darkened section of the storefront on the upper platform.  It seemed plausible, since the recreation area where the infected were grouped a good twenty yards away from our position, and they appeared thoroughly occupied in their own little world for the moment.

  Sneaking along the edge of the shadows where the lights had been torn out of the ceilings, we carefully chose our footing among the filth and debris; wary not to touch anything with our bare hands since this area was thoroughly contaminated.    Smashed and broken toys, trash and other paraphernalia littered the floor around us, all brushed towards the walls by the various pathways made by well worn foot paths through the jumbled refuse.  Clearly, this place could have easily accommodated several hundred people back in its heyday, as some sort of entertainment mall for the visiting occupants.  What exactly had happened here was anyone's guess, but it was evident that whatever transpired over the years had come to a very sour end. 

  I did start to wonder though, since that body in the medical bay was still intact, it meant the infected here had not yet resorted to cannibalism to survive; which logically meant there was still an abundant food supply in stock somewhere in this complex.  Getting out of here in one piece was the first priority, but it would also be nice to have something to show for it.  This place was a curiosity, and I could not help but wonder more about its past as my mind began to wander in thought. 

  I was shaken back into present reality when a scraggily head popped from the shadows of a storefront doorway we were attempting to creep past.  His deformed head was bloated with large blisters; and lurched in sharp jerks when he walked as he gave a hoarse gasp through many broken and shattered teeth. 

  We were all startled, and I almost wet myself.  Fear built up as we all three turned towards the park area to see dozens more infected stand up from the shadows where they had been previously hidden from view.  One after another they stood, and still a dozen more rose from the floor and remnants of broken tables; their numbers multiplying by the second.  I stared at the horde who dully peered back with their ghostly eyes, and I began to feel a sinking nauseating pit in my stomach.  Haiti was the first to react.

  "Fuck, man, RUN!" he spat, and took off like black lightning towards the Atrium door, his beaded dreadlocks slapping across his back.  It took me but a few milliseconds to follow in kind, though it felt like the world was in slow motion.  The diseased all stood there gaping at us for a few seconds in surprise.  Together in unison, as if one body, from their mangled throats issued a low howling moan.  It was a truly terrifying sound, and I could feel my own piss warming my crotch as we ran for the lit doorway that seemed like a million miles away.

  'This was a real stupid move,' I thought to myself with a gazillion diseased mutants at our backs, and we had no idea where the fuck we were or where we were going.  It was at times of flight like these that I zoned out, my subconscious taking over.  Fleeting moments turned to dragging minutes, as if I was watching myself from a distance.

  I jumped over a shattered counter with one leap as Thorn followed my lead behind Haiti, whom was making a beeline for the open Atrium door.  Out of nowhere, a Weeper lurking behind a counter window grasped out for my face.  An uppercut with the butt of my rifle split its jaw as it flew backwards.  Ahead of me, Haiti yelled something incoherent as he whipped out his machete and took a curved swing at a mutant that jumped up from the lower platform as it reached out to grasp his leg.  The creatures severed fingers bounced from his blade and tumbled in the air past my face.  Thorn caught one of the creatures climbing out from underneath a shelf and used its head as a stepping stool to launch himself up over the counter I had crossed, its deformed face crunching into the floor beneath his boot.  Their haunting and horrifying moans pounded like a dull drumbeat as we flew towards the light as if it was our divine salvation from this unthinkable hell.

  Thorn caught himself as he stumbled through the entry and I turned to see a ladder leaning into the corner of the door.  Slinging my rifle, I grabbed it with both hands and rammed the ladders edge into the exposed handle, cleaving it into the mate on the latch.  The door slid nearly shut, with the head of the ladder blocking the jam.  Almost instantly, clawed arms reached through the gap as desperate howls and gnashing teeth followed in their wake.

  "That won't hold them for long," Thorn announced the frightful obvious; each of us hoping there wasn't another similar mob like this waiting for us in the chamber beyond this foyer.

  Hastily making our way through the short hall, we found the source of the illumination.  Light beamed out from an enormous greenhouse that had gone wild over time.  The ceiling and walls here were adorned with photo-luminescent arrays, most of which were in perfect working order.  Here the air was wet and moisture beaded upon the walls to condense and rain down upon the plant life.  Several pots and tubs were overturned, but the aggressive plants roots were unhindered.  Deep greens of ever shade towered far above us; the scenery was so astounding that when I was so distracted looking up that I nearly tripped upon the vines scattered at my feet.