Christopher felt his way along the wall, carefully measuring his steps. Travelling five paces at a time, he tapped the wall every so often to tell Braden and Marshall it was safe to move up. In the pitch-black darkness, it was easy to get lost or trapped, and after all the three of them had been through, it seemed unfair to fail now. They had been travelling through the factory for what seemed like a day. Of course, they had no way to tell, but they were going on rough estimates. When the companies left, they didn’t leave maps of the area, which made it difficult to navigate. The constant cold did not aid in their search, either.
The three of them trudged on, Christopher ahead and the others close behind. The area was littered with broken glass and debris, and the going was slow. They had moved through the factory in concentric circles, starting by travelling around the perimeter and moving in closer and closer to the center. They had to stop to rest once already. The place was giant. While Christopher and Braden were natives to the town, Marshall was visiting relatives. They had come across him hiding in a warehouse, along with a few other residents. He never did get to see his relatives, either due to the darkness or... other reasons.
In any case, the three of them were safer in here than outside. In the polar night, and this far north, and in the current situation, anywhere inside was safer. Christopher continued forward, and when the floor appeared to drop, he stopped.
“Hold up.” He said, his voice raspy from the cold. Breathing heavily, he felt his way down the stairs.
“What’s going on?” Asked Marshall, shaking. “What’s happening?” Braden remained silent.
“Stairs.” Christopher rasped. He felt around his jacket for his scarf, and wrapped it around himself once more. He hadn’t seen anything in the past six days. He had become quite adept at feeling. Reaching the bottom of the staircase, he paced forward with his hands outstretched.
“Christopher?” Yelped Marshall. “Where are you going?” His voice grew thinner and thinner as Christopher proceeded.
After having walked down the corridor for a fair distance, Christopher stopped. Reaching down into his pocket, he pulled out a flashlight. Unsure of how much longer it would work, he aimed it straight ahead – And saw a door not ten steps ahead. It flickered off a second later. Those were their last batteries. The flashlight was useless.
“Come on down.” He yelled, moving back towards the stairs. “Watch your step.”
He waited, listening to the sound of creaking metal as the two negotiated their way down the steps. After the sound stopped, he waited a while longer.
“Hey.” Came Braden’s voice, surprising Christopher by it’s proximity. “Are we moving out?”
Christopher jumped. Braden must have been standing a foot in front of him. He took a few steps back.
“Yeah” He said. “Let’s go ; the path is clear up ahead.”
Arriving at the door, Christopher felt the engraved letters on the sign. He turned to his comrades and whispered;
“Generator room.”
Although he did not see it, he could imagine Braden and Marshall recoiling in surprise. However, the surprise was quickly replaced by fear as a loud clanging noise emanated throughout the facility. Reflexes took over and prompted the three to look around, trying to find the source of the noise, a futile exercise in the darkness. The noise was quickly followed by the sound of thudding footsteps somewhere in the factory.
“Oh god.” Marshall trembled. “Oh God, please, not now. Please.”
“Marshall?” Braden asked turning in the direction of Marshall’s voice. He put his hand on Marshalls’ jacket.
“He’s shaking, Christopher.” The footsteps grew louder.
Frantically, Christopher tried the doorknob. It opened, revealing another room of pitch-darkness.
“Marshall!” Rasped Christopher, “Marshall, get up!”
“Please, not now...” Marshall whined, over the sound of the footsteps. “Please God, please.”
Christopher heard the sound of Braden tugging on Marshall, who then collapsed on the floor. All that he could hear then was the sound of his and Braden’s breath and Marshall’s pleading. As well as the footsteps. Christopher looked in Braden’s general direction.
“We have to go, Braden.” He heard shuffling, and could imagine Braden looking over at where Marshall’s trembling figure would be, hunched over on the ground.
“Alright.” Braden mumbled. “Let’s go.”
The two of them entered the next room and closed the door behind them. Back in the hallway, Marshall continued to plead.
“No... no.... Why now? Why now!?”
The footsteps stopped. Something made a loud screeching noise, like a heavy bolted door opening. The footsteps continued. Christopher ran towards the center of the room where he ran into a railing, knocking the air out him.
“Here!” He yelled back to Braden, who cautiously stood in place. “Here’s the generator!”
Braden ran over to Christopher, taking measured steps. He came to the railing.
“Where?”
“This is the safety rail, the one that goes around the core! Like in the schematics we saw, do you remember?”
Braden stayed silent in thought. “Yeah.” He said, “I remember.”
Christopher, shutting out Marshall’s cries, which had elevated to yells now, felt his way across the railing.
“The switch... it should be somewhere here... give me a moment, stay where you are.”
Braden did as he was told, looking back over in the direction he came. The footsteps, ever continuing, were now directly overhead. He shivered in fear. Whoever was up there did not mean them well.
“PLEASE!” Screamed Marshall, banging on the door. “Please, let me in! Please!”
He began to cry.
“Are you planning on coming in?” Braden asked.
“Yes! Yes, just let me in!” Marshall yelled, as the sound of thudding feet was again interrupted with that of a door opening.
“Let him in, Braden.” Came Christopher’s voice, from the other side of the room. “Hurry!”
As Braden hurried back over to the door, a violent shaking overtook the generator room. Braden stumbled, falling onto the cold metal that surrounded the core.
“Help me!” Marshall shrieked from outside, slamming something against the door. “Let me inside!”
Another crash followed as Braden was getting to his feet. Before he knew it, a searing pain overtook his right foot. Braden cried out, dropping to the ground, as the fallen metal plating that had slashed his foot slid away with another crash. Outside, Marshall was thrown to the floor, and his shouts for help degenerated into meaningless babble. Lying on the ground, Braden could hear four sets of breath – his own, that of Christopher searching for the all important switch, that of Marshall babbling in the hall, and that of the fourth entity, the one that had followed them since the beginning, breathing deep and raspy breaths somewhere above them.
“Christopher!” He moaned, crawling over broken glass and debris back over to the railing.
“Christopher! Where’s the switch!”
“I’m looking, damn it!” Christopher yelled from the other side of the room. Get over here!”
A loud groaning then came from above them, as whoever was up there began to move objects around. Marshall renewed his banging on the door. Biting his tongue, Braden painfully made his way to his feet, and limped towards the railing.
“Here!” Whispered Christopher, his voice hoarse. The temperature in the room seemed to have dropped considerably in the past five minutes. “I found it! I found the switch!”
“Do it!” Braden said. “Do it, Christopher!”
Suddenly, a deathly cold came into the generator room. The grate of one of the ceiling vents had been ripped open, letting in the blizzard air. Snow dropped on Christopher’s face as he attempted to flip the switch.
“I think it’s jammed, Braden!”
Another vent ripped away as the sound of wind grew louder in the room. The fourth entity began to shuffle around upstairs, the floor creaking and groaning as he moved. Marshall began to scream, bloodcurdlingly loud, as if he were being ripped apart.
Struggling, Braden limped over, one hand on the railing until he bumped into Christopher.
“Grab it!” Christopher yelled, taking Marshall’s hand and putting it on the switch. “Push it upwards!”
The two pushed the switch over the howling wind as Marshall, perhaps driven insane by the fourth entity’s presence, continued his screaming while pounding on the door.
“HELP ME!” He yelled, “Get him away! Get him away from me!”
The fourth entity’s footsteps were no longer coming from above them, but rather from behind them – Christopher could once again hear the sound of groaning stairs as the fourth entity moved down them. Marshall did not let up in his screaming. Christopher and Braden did not let up in their pushing.
“NO!” Came Marshall’s voice, on the door side of the door. “Stay away from me!”
He began to slam his head against the door.
“Let me in! Let me in! Let me in!”
The footsteps were right outside no.
“STAY AWAY FROM ME!”
Christopher and Braden flipped the switch.
At that instant, there was a bright light. The bright light came from the core. The light was so bright, that was all Christopher saw. The brightest light he had ever seen in his entire life. Then, there was the terrible mechanical sound as the core, and the generator, sprung to life, chugging and whirring and screaming as its antiquated parts moved up, down, and around each other in their desperate drive to produce electricity. But all this, Christopher heard. All he saw was the light.
He stumbled backwards as a result of the brightness. As his head hit the cold metal floor, he, for a brief moment, saw the fourth entity. The figure, clad entirely in a hooded parka, had no face, only a cold blackness that extended seemingly forever. Somehow, surrounded by the light, the fourth entity made itself seen to Christopher, moving towards him in that white plane. Christopher was immobilized, trapped on the floor. He could not see Braden. He could not see the core. He only saw the fourth entity, drawing closer and closer to him. He could have been, like Marshall, driven to madness by his presence as his footsteps grew louder and louder. As he drew closer and closer, he outstretched his gloved hand towards Christopher. Finally, he saw him. The fourth entity. Not an arm’s length away from Christopher, who lay there on the floor, he stood in the bright light, clad in his winter parka, with no face, with a black hole where his face should have been peeking out of that hood. Christopher stared into the fourth entity’s face. As he stared, it seemed to grow a mouth out of the black hole. The mouth opened. It took a breath.
And then it was gone. The light burst forward from the core and the fourth entity was gone, vanquished perhaps by the sudden onslaught of white. Christopher lay where he was. He did not know how long he lay there, but he did know that when he got up, the light did no go.
“Christopher.” Braden whispered, somewhere beside him. “Christopher, are you okay?”
“I....” Christopher struggled to his feet. “Braden, I... I can’t see.”
“The core, Christopher. It’s the core. The power’s on, can’t you see? We’re not used to the light, we haven’t seen it for so long! The power’s on, Christopher! We’ve done it!”
Christopher smiled, dimly.
“What about Marshall?” He asked, only to have his question answered as he heard the door bound open, and more footsteps walk in.
“Hey, are you guys okay in here?” Came Marshall’s voice as he made his way into the room.
“I think you guys did it!” He exclaimed. “In the hall, I could see the lights! They were on! But... why is it so dim in here?”
“...Dim?” Christopher asked.
“Yeah.” Marshall shrugged. “The core, it’s so dim, it’s barely glowing. I kind of expected it to be brighter.”
Concerned, Christopher reached out towards Braden, who was still laying on the ground.
“...Braden?” He asked. “How’re you doing?”
“It’s bright down here, Chris.” Braden replied. “I can’t see anything.”
Christopher turned towards where Marshall’s voice had come from.
“Marshall?” He said, “I think you’d better lead us out of here. I’m pretty sure the townspeople will want to see us.”
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