MELT: A Psychological Thriller (4 page)

‘That’s not possible,’ countered Megan. ‘If they—’

He cut her off. ‘Don’t touch the guy in the pajamas.’

He meant Glen.

‘Why not?’

‘He’s sick, and we’ll have to pair up for warmth. I’ll pair up with you. You or Chrissie. If you touch him, you’re on your own.’

Megan shook her head in disbelief.
What kind of a nut job is this guy?

She strode back to the others.

‘Where’s the door?’

‘Hidden,’ answered Carl. ‘I think Ericsson’s looking for it.’

Megan realized Ericsson must be the soldier’s name. ‘He just told me there isn’t one. He’s a weirdo.’

‘
Told you so,’ Alex said to the others. ‘We need to keep the hell away from him.’

Megan quelled her rising panic.
No doors. No windows. No way in and no way out. Nonsense!

‘What if he’s right?’ asked Glen. ‘What if there’s no way out?’

'Then how did we get in here?' Megan asked, sounding angrier than she'd expected.

'Exactly!' agreed Chrissie. ‘There
must
be a door. It's hidden. We need to find it before this bomb falls. We're wasting time!'

Megan realized they’d skipped the most important question.

‘Why are we even in here?'

 

Chapter Three

 

Shuffling for warmth in a circle, everyone looked at everyone else.

‘Is your family rich?’ asked Carl.

'You must be kidding,' scoffed Megan. ‘I still live at home. My Dad’s a teacher.’

Glen nodded at Chrissie. ‘You’ve got money.’

Megan agreed it certainly looked that way. All Chrissie’s clothes were designer labels, as were her shoes and jewelry. She wore a huge solitaire engagement ring and a gold Cartier bracelet. Megan doubted she could afford with six months wages even half the clothes that Chrissie wore right now.

Chrissie nodded. ‘I’ve got money. And just as much debt in legal fees.’

She pulled a thick gold chain out from under her collar. ‘This is from Tiffany’s. It’s solid twenty-four carat gold. Why didn’t they take it if they wanted money? This isn’t about money.’

Megan shook her head. ‘I think I'm here by mistake.'

'We all think that,' said Carl, pointing at the UPS logo on his uniform. ‘Who abducts a delivery driver?’

A shiver ran up Megan’s back.

She turned to find Ericsson watching her.

'Oh, finally,' said Chrissie, waving at Ericsson. 'Someone actually doing something. What did you find?'

Ericsson hooked both thumbs into his thick black belt.

'Listen up!' he said with authority. 'Everyone's awake now, and our pool of intelligence amounts to just about zero. Agreed?'

Everyone nodded. Megan joined in.

'I'm sorry to report that there is no exit.’

Megan blurted, 'Then how did we
get
in here?'

Ericsson made a loop with his index finger. 'They built this place around us.’

'Bullshit!' said Alex.

Ericsson glowered at him. ‘What did you just say to me, boy?’

Alex lowered his hood. ‘I said that’s bullshit. This place wasn’t just built around us. The oxidation on these walls is years old. You know what oxidization is, don’t you?’

Ericsson took two menacing steps toward Alex. His cheeks looked so hollow and his forehead so wide that his head seemed little more than a skull with skin stretched over it.

He stared at Alex with calculated malice.

Alex didn’t even blink at the aggressive display from the huge man.

Instead, he said, ‘Oxidization means the walls aren’t nice and shiny anymore. They’re not new.’

 

‘You’ll watch your mouth around me, boy. You understand?’

Alex touched the wall. ‘These are pot rivets.’

‘So?’ said Ericsson. ‘I checked them. They’re solid.’

Alex raised an eyebrow. ‘But these walls are all riveted from the
inside
. I don’t see any skeletons on the floor holding rivet guns.’

Alex left that hanging.

Megan looked from Alex to the little metal bumps on the walls that held the place together.

Everyone did.

Ericsson looked as baffled as Megan felt.

Alex waved at the wall. ‘If they sealed all these walls from the inside, then how did they get out? Obviously they had an exit.’

‘Then where is it?’ Ericsson growled.

‘No idea,’ admitted Alex, popping up his hood. ‘But there is one.’

Ericsson looked like he wanted to crush Alex’s head like a walnut.

Chrissie raised her voice and pointed past the soldier. ‘What about that bomb! If it falls, we're all dead. You’re military. Can’t you defuse it or something?’

‘He’s not military,’ said Alex.

Everyone was quiet for a moment.

‘What?’ asked Chrissie, glancing between Ericsson and Alex. ‘Why not?’

‘Because the military has standards.’

Ericsson stood completely still. Only a single muscle in his face twitched.

He said to Alex, ‘You think being a kid will save you, boy?’

‘Save me from what? You?’

‘But you’re wearing military clothes,’ Chrissie cut in. ‘Look at you. Of course you’re military.’

Ericsson made an ugly sneer. ‘I’m the last person they’d let in the army. Listen to the smart-mouthed little brat. He seems to know it all.’

‘Then why are you wearing army fatigues?’ asked Carl.

Ericsson’s unsettling gaze stopped on Megan.

‘I was hunting.’

He’s lying
, thought Megan.
He’s not even trying to hide it.

Chrissie turned her back on Ericsson as though he’d never existed.

'Then we have two options,’ she said. ‘We either find that exit or we make sure the bomb never hits the floor.'

Chrissie spoke like a woman used to making decisions and being obeyed.

‘Wait,’ said Glen. ‘I read that in survival situations the first priority is calling for help.'

‘I already tried my phone,’ said Megan.

‘Me too,’ said Carl. ‘The steel’s too thick.’

‘Who has the best phone?’ asked Chrissie. ‘Give it to me.’

‘What about Morse code?’ suggested Victoria.

Ericsson’s voice roared over them all.

‘SHUT-THE-FUCK-UP!’

Everyone froze.

Ericsson’s face glowed red. ‘You people are absolutely useless!’

Megan backed away. The others copied.

Ericsson pointed upward. ‘I can get a signal out, but you brain dead idiots need to shut up and listen. Understand?’

‘We’re listening,’ said Chrissie cautiously.

Ericsson pointed at Glen. ‘First, what the hell is wrong with you? Have you got AIDS or something?’

Megan couldn’t believe her ears.
This guy’s as subtle as a hand grenade in a china shop.

Glen stopped blowing into his hands. ‘What?’

Ericsson’s eyes scanned Glen like a medical device. ‘Tell us what’s wrong with you. Why are you sick? Is it AIDS?’

‘No!’ shouted Glen. ‘It’s not AIDS. I’m not even sick! I just have pale skin, for fuck’s sake!’

Ericsson waved at Glen’s clothes. ‘Then why the pajamas and hospital robe?’

Glen looked down. ‘This isn’t a hospital robe. It’s my bathrobe. And they abducted me in my pajamas.’

Ericsson said to the others. ‘If he’s sick, they might be trying to infect us all.’

‘I’m not sick!’ insisted Glen. ‘Are you deaf?’

Ericsson pointed his finger at Glen. He looked like he’d rather be pointing a flamethrower. ‘You keep away from me, you understand?’

‘Likewise,’ said Glen.

‘What about the bomb!’ cried Chrissie.

Ericsson waved at the bomb. ‘That weapon
won't drop in the next hour. That’s long enough for—’

CRrrr-aaaACK

Someone rammed knitting needles in Megan's ears. Long, fat knitting needles.

Oh, my God!

She covered her ears, but too late. The noise had already stabbed her brain.

'What the
hell
was that?' cried Chrissie, looking around for where the lightning had struck.

Glen clicked his fingers to check his hearing. 'It sounded like someone cracking a whip in my head.'

'It's the ice,' yelled Carl, keeping his ears covered. 'Glaciers crack when they melt. Keep your ears covered!'

Megan slapped her hands back barely in time as—

CRrrr-aaaACK

The second assault made Megan’s ribs vibrate.

What if this doesn't stop? I’ll go deaf!

 Megan counted to twenty.

Still protecting his ears, Ericsson yelled to Carl, 'Is it finished?'

'Wait,' yelled Carl. 'Two more minutes.'

Megan closed her eyes and counted. She hadn't even reached one hundred when Carl touched her arm.

'I think it's okay for now,' he said.

'For now?'

Carl shrugged. 'No way to tell.'

Victoria rubbed her temples. 'You mean that will happen again? At any time?'

Carl nodded.

'How could ice be so noisy?' asked Megan. 'That's the loudest sound I've ever heard in my life.'

'The steel walls reflected the vibrations back onto us,' explained Carl.

Megan lifted her hand for quiet. ‘
Can anyone else hear that?'

...crackle-crack-crackle....

Megan heard a sound like a dozen people twisting their freezer icetrays simultaneously.

'It's another one!' cried Victoria.

Everyone clapped hands over ears, but instead of the atomic thunderclap, a cloudy stream of ice crystals began lightly pattering down around Ericsson.

Ericsson stepped back, lifting his hand against the soft hail, seeking a better angle to peer up the ice.

He found the worst possible angle.

Megan spotted what Ericsson couldn't.

A huge stone disk was sliding down the ice toward him.

And it moved fast, invisible to Ericsson who was stepping back into its path....

'LOOK OUT!' yelled Megan. Everyone erupted with their own shrieks of warning, surprise or horror.

Too late.

The stone disk slid straight off the ice. Straight through the air. And straight into Ericsson's head.

After half-decapitating Ericsson, the disk
slammed
into the floor.

Its leading edge disintegrated.

Stone flakes exploded from the point of impact, slicing through the air like a thousand Stone Age razor blades.

After Ericsson, Megan stood closest.

The first piece of flying stone slammed low into Megan’s stomach. It felt like someone striking her full-swing with a golf club. As she folded from the impact, an angry stone hornet buzzed toward her face. The razor shard sliced straight through her ear, carving away skin and cartilage.

Stone flakes pounded her like an unforgiving bully. A bully wearing sharp rings. Hitting the floor, Megan curled tightly into a ball.

But the barrage had stopped.