Sarah7

Ch 18

Sarah...

Sarah, where are you?

Sarah...

Why did you leave me?

Sarah, come back!

SARAH!

Sarah7 sat bolt upright in her bed. She was covered in sweat even though a chill breeze blew into her room. She shivered violently for a moment and glanced around the darkened room.

It was very late, probably the middle of the night, and very still. The stillness was not of peace or rest, but like a tightly wound coil. The room was filled with tension, even though Sarah could see nothing moving and there was hardly a sound, even from the outside open window.

“Sarah!”

She started violently and turned to the source of the sound. Her earpiece was blinking an angry red on the table next to her. She could hear Max’s tinny voice even though the earpiece was a distance away.

Convulsively, Sarah slid off her bed and shoved the device over her ear.

“Max! What’s going on?” She whispered fiercely.

“Sarah! I am detecting the presence of an alien entity approaching your area. You must leave that building and proceed south, immediately. I cannot reach you in time to defend you without an excessive amount of damage and casualties”

Sarah gasped. “No! No casualties!”

Her mind was racing, her heart pounding in her chest. Her senses were heightening as she took in deep breaths. Something was tickling at the edge of her awareness and without thinking she ran to the window.

The street was dimly lit by a few guttering torches, and completely empty of even late traveling villagers. The sky was clear and full of twinkling stars, giving a stark contrast to the darkened buildings of the village.

Sarah heard her own heart pounding in her ears. Her enhanced perceptions were screaming that something was wrong, terribly wrong.

At the far end of the street she spotted a sickly grey form making its way down the street, progressing toward her window. It was tall, narrow and moved stiffly.

Sarah bit her lip, her instincts or conditioning or whatever they had instilled in her screaming for her to flee. But she was unable to move as the horror slowly made its way toward her.

“A Vixen!”

Her thoughts cried out. She had to run, now. She could hear Max calling her through the earpiece, but was as if she were watching this happen to another person. Her eyes remained fixed on the grey creature as it closed the distance to her first floor window.

The Vixen was grey in the darkness, it’s body long and angular like an insect. Sarah had a vision of a preying mantis, only two meters tall and with angry glowing eyes.

Sarah’s breaths came in short gasps. She could now hear the clicking of the creature’s claws on the pavement, and another sound, like the angry buzzing of a hornet crawled up the base of her spine and rattled her teeth. With an evening breeze came a horrible smell, like burning tar. The Vixen turned its insect-like gaze on Sarah.

A distant part of her thought “is this how I am to die?”

It stared into her eyes, and Sarah felt herself slipping away as terror gripped her very soul. But then a moment later, the Vixen turned and continued down the street. It passed her window and the stench of burning tar nearly gagged her.

A hand rested on her shoulder and she responded, whiplike. She grabbed the hand, spun around and shoved the person to the floor hard.

She heard a grunt and realized who it was to her immense chagrin.

“Uh, Sharuh, wash are you dooing up ash thish late houah” said Amil, as his face pressed uncomfortably on the floor.

Sarah jumped back and disengaged as she put her hand to her mouth. “Oh Amil, I’m so sorry.” All her emotion and fear rose up and she fell to her knees, her face in her hands. Her shoulders began shaking with sobs.

“It’s ok Sarah. It’s not the first time I’ve had a close encounter with the floor. Why are you up? Nightmares? I thought I heard Max”

Max! He was probably ready to tear down a building to get to her.

“Sarah!” She tapped her earpiece, still sobbing. “I- I’m ok Max. I’m coming.”

“Coming? Where are you going, Sarah?” Amil asked, his voice very concerned .

Sarah sucked in her breath and rose to place both hands on Amil’s shoulders. Her eyes were wide and glistened in the darkness.

“Amil, I’ve got to get out of here. Outside- there was a Vixen outside in the street, it was looking for me, I can feel it! Somehow it overlooked me just now but I know it will be back. I have to go before anyone here gets hurt!”

Amil pulled himself up straighter and grabbed her hand. “Come with me, I know a back way out of this building.”

On a whim, Sarah gave him a tight hug.

“Thank you, Amil ”

“Don’t thank me yet, you’re not going to like this.” He tugged at her urgently and they bolted from the room.

Outside, the buzzing sound increased in pitch dramatically. It had heard them!

The next few moments flew by in a blur as Amil dashed down the long darkened corridor, pulling Sarah quickly behind.

He stopped abruptly and opened a door. They entered a room filled with medical equipment and supplies of all kinds.

“What?” Sarah managed, breathlessly.

“This is your lucky day Sarah. If I weren’t blind we’d both be hopelessly lost” He smiled grimly as he passed his hands over the items on the table. His frantic search ended with a whispered “ah hah” and Sarah felt something bulky pressed to her chest.

“Take this” he hissed “it’s a survival pack we have ready for disasters. And I think this counts as a disaster.”

Before she could word a reply he yanked her out of the room and ran further down the hallway.

Behind them there was a massive crash that shook the foundations of the building. The Vixen had discovered them!

Amil practically threw Sarah down the hallway and they tumbled slightly at a hard right turn. Amil grabbed her hand again and and pulled her onward. A moment later they were in another dark room, this one Sarah thought was filled with uniforms, piles of clothing and the smell of antiseptic was strong.

Deftly, Amil guided them around a long series of tables and stopped short at a large square opening at the end of the room.

“This is it, your ticket out of here.” Amil whispered.

“What is this?” Sarah hissed.

“This is a laundry chute. It goes all the way down to the river. Follow it down and tell Max to meet you there. It should be far enough from this building that the Vixen won’t follow. The chemicals they use in here should mask your scent. Go!”

Sarah shuddered. How could she repay him? Not only was he helping her escape, he’d found her supplies and was risking his own life.

“What about you?” She whispered urgently. The floor shook again from another crash down the hallway.

Amil smirked. “Don’t worry about me, I’m good at hiding. This isn’t our first visit by those rotten bugs. Now go! ”

Hugging him again , one more time (the last time? Her thoughts raced) she pulled the backpack over her shoulder and jumped head first down the chute.

The sounds of crashing, people yelling, and a horrible screeching receded as she tumbled down, down, and down the hard, cold metal shaft.

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