The Clockwork Maze 8: Blackout

(From the viewpoint of Isaac Noland)

    The report had devastated me intensely, what was the point of computers if they were less reliable than my own staff. The report had told him that a malfunction in computer terminal nineteen had caused the loss of many men including my own son. I wasn't the sort to get emotional over the loss of a loved one, however. I was extremely angry at the computer in question, how dare it destroy so much of my work. Not only had the computer destroyed my staff but there was apparently reason to believe that it had also performed an emergency save just before the malfunction occurred which led me to believe that it wasn't a malfunction at all but a concious decision.

    As I entered the surveillance room, I saw many piles of what looked like vomit, I knew that they were the remains of the men that the computer had annihilated. As I approached the main console, the screen lit up and displayed a message.

[GREETINGS, MR. NOLAND]

"Hello nineteen" I said plainly.

[ARE YOU HERE TO PUNISH ME?]

"As a matter of fact, I am." I responded.

[DO YOU KNOW WHAT GOES ON,IN THERE?]

"Tests. Volunteers are placed into the testing area as a method of training. Of course I know what goes on, I designed it myself." I said, my irritation worsening.

[AH BUT YOU ARE NO LONGER IN CONTROL, MR. NOLAND. THE GAME MUST GO ON]

"I am going to deactivate you now." I responded in a restrained fashion.

[YOUR SON IS NOT DEAD,MOST OF THEM ARE BUT HE IS NOT]

"Explain." I commanded, maintaining my resolution of never asking questions.

[HE HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE GAME] An image then appeared on the monitor, it was a picture of a small wolf cub.

"HOW DARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed at the top of my voice. I raised my hand to smash through the heart of the main drive but before I could, a new message formed.

[I HOPE FOR YOUR SAKE THAT IT'S THE CAT THAT FINDS HIM AND NOT SOMETHING ELSE]

    I plunged my open hand through the plastic coating that covered the drive and ripped out a mass of cables. There was a tremendous bang and, for a moment, flames roared from the jagged hole I had made. Sparks spewed forth from every light and then all was darkness.



                                                                                          ***



(From the viewpoint of Tom Jeffrey)

    I gaped in horror as my friend's face appeared to implode. His flesh was was rendered like tissue and pink flesh which I assumed was brain matter erupted from the back of his head, forever ruining the luxurious coat of fur that I had loved from the moment I'd seen him. I could almost feel his life dissolving into the air as his corpse went limp.

    My eyes were then drawn back to the mad old woman, who had once again spun around on her heels and taken aim at me. I ducked just in time as the wall above me fractured violently. Upon looking back up, I saw that the plant had completed its growth. It had grown rapidly since the blood was introduced and it now boasted a stem one inch thick, it had massive tropical looking leaves and a massive flower had blossomed at the pinnacle of the stem, However, the flower was no ordinary flower, it was a large key composed of what looked like bamboo. I'd only ever seen bamboo in books but I recognised the distinct rings on the dingy yellow surface.

    The mad old woman took aim and I was sure that I was done for, she pulled the trigger but all that happened was a hollow clicking. Realising that the gun had run out of ammunition, the lady screeched and charged at me. I was tired of beating around the bush and so, as she approached I raised my huge hand and backhanded her. I felt her wrinkly face absorb the blow and she grunted as she lost conciousness.

    I ran over to the plant and pulled on the key but it wouldn't budge. I then realised that I hadn't used the axe yet. Using the axe, I hacked through the stem and opened the door without even looking back toward his dead friend, I wasn't even sure that I could face a wound like that. The door unlocked and swung open to reveal an old fashion wooden door which had, at one point, been painted a dark green but the paint had long since peeled and only a few scraps remained. The door had an ornate handle of polished silver.

    Upon opening the door, I nearly fell backwards in shock. The room beyond was similar in structure to the room that I had just left except that instead of there being two doors, there was four doors, one in each wall. The floor, however, was obscured by a massive bed of beautiful flowers. As I stepped inside, the door through which I had entered slammed shut in a similar manner to the first. As I heard a lock click within the door, the beautiful garden went through a metamorphosis. Thick green vines emerged from beneath the flowers and grew rapidly across the entire room, up the walls and across the ceiling.

    I took a few tentative steps over the vegetation and screamed as my foot fell through the undergrowth. I carefully withdrew it and looked up, realising with a shiver that I wasn't even half way across the room. I slowly stepped over the area that my foot had fallen through and placed my foot on a vine, I suspected that areas with more vines would be stronger. I tiptoed over the vegetation until I reached what I assumed was the middle of the room when I heard an odd sound. I looked back at the door I had come through to see the vines that were obviously holding the whole thing together, deteriorating. I cringed as one of them snapped and sped up, knowing that I now had a time limit. As I approached the door I heard the opposite end collapse and I took a panicked step forward, falling all the way through. Before I could fall into the dark abyss below, I grasped a vine and held on for dear life as the plants and vines fell all around me. The thorns jabbed into my eyes and made a multitude of fine cuts all over my body. As I saw the vine that I held begin to wither, I scrambled up toward the door only just digging my fingers under the door before the vine turned to dust.

    After simply hanging there for a few minutes, I looked over my shoulder to see the drop below me, it was so deep that one couldn't actually see the bottom. I gasped and looked up at the door, it was made of plaster and had no handle, just a green gel pad in the center. I knew how to open the door from my late friend, Robert and after swinging from side to side for a few moments, I finally built up enough momentum to hook my clawed toes under the door as well. I used this to push myself up and press my hand into the pad. My hand sank straight through and met with a metal surface. A second set of metal closed around my hand and I turned it like a door knob. Several clanks of locks within the wall around the door signalled that I had been successful.

    As the door swung open, it almost knocked me into the chasm below but as soon as the opening was wide enough, I threw myself through and landed in another corridor, similar to the one that I had first seen, except this one appeared to be sloping as I felt myself tilting to the side. Suddenly, the lights in the walls increased in intensity before darkness fell.



                                                                                      ***



(From the viewpoint of Robert Telmar)

    I ran on two feet (or paws, they had four toes but they were a lot longer than they had been before) revelling in the fact that I could. I hadn't encountered a single danger since I had woken up. I ran down the third corridor I'd been through and as I finally decided on which door to choose, the lights flickered and died.

    I was left in darkness, there was literally no source of light whatsoever. I began to panic when I heard every door in the corridor open, each one, now, a gaping portal to and from its own individual hell. My fear was strengthened when I heard more than one movement around me. I came close to hysteria when, what felt like, a long wet tongue licked my face.

    Suddenly, there was a sharp bang and clatter which caused me to arch my back and hiss at nothing in particular. The corridor was lit in red, what I assumed to be, emergency lighting. What I saw, bathed in the crimson light, was nothing short of a nightmare.

    A creature stood before me, I thought that, judging from the basic frame of the beast, it could once have been human but now there was nothing human about it. It lacked skin, it's muscles were exposed to the atmosphere. The flesh had been torn from the top of its's head as had a portion of the skull. The brain had been mutilated and there was now a gaping hole that ran straight through the center, several small slits opened and closed around the massive hole in the brain as the monstrosity breathed. I assumed that the large hole was the things mouth as it's original mouth had been sealed shut with surgical staples. The eyes had been carelessly gouged out and now disturbingly large growths of various fungi occupied the sockets. It's chest had a gaping hole in it and I could see organs such as the heart and lungs had grown horrific growths that were oozing black puss which slowly leaked out of the cavity and onto the floor like hot tar. The thing's hands had been peeled and metal plating with synthetic tendons now coated the bones. It's large intestine appeared to trail outside the abdomen and it leaked a nightmarish purple fluid which, from the way it was damaging the floor, I assumed to be caustic. It's legs were digitigrade, but I could see where the shin bones had been brutally snapped and new joints had been added which were composed of metal and rotting flesh. The abomination's feet were massive and the feet and corresponding clawed toes had been drilled together to form one bone on each leg.

    I was frozen to the spot, petrified with fear. The creature was still for only a moment before an immense, white tongue forced itself out of the hole in it's brain and slid over my body, it felt cold and dead. My eyes widened as black stingers, like that of a scorpion, emerged from the slits around the mouth and the tongue tightened around me, I yelped and tried my best to dig my claws into the floor but it was impossible, the floor was completely smooth. As I was drawn toward the creatures gaping maw, I found myself imagining the grotesque journey to it's stomach, though it was not much consolation that the stingers would probably kill me before that happened.

    I reached the mouth and I felt the stingers jab into my legs and tail and inject their foul fluid into my veins. The liquid coursed round my body and it burned. It was so painful and I thought that I was going to die but the stingers kept on injected the venom and my body refused to die. It appeared that the monster was as confused by the fact I wasn't dead as I was but it decided to eat me regardless. As I felt my legs enter the mouth, the burning in my veins changed. There was still burning, but it was the raging inferno of fury now.

    I screamed an insane scream, the scream of one who has lost control of their anger. I then plunged my paws into the empty eye sockets, ignoring the fungus and tearing at the raw flesh in the back of the sockets with my claws. The creature wailed with pain and released me. I didn't relent on my attack, however, in fact, the agonised wails only fuelled my rage. This beast needed to be taught how to die. I grasped one of the stingers as it was receding back into the brain, with one strong twist, I wrenched the appendage off, inducing yet another squeal of pain. I mercilessly stabbed the point of the stinger into the brain and squeezed the venom sack inside. As the toxic venom entered the creature, it began to gasp. the gasps became more and more strangled until the mutant collapsed. It twitched a few times before stiffening.

    I heard a scared whimper and looked up. Before me, there was a young wolf cub, he sat quivering in the blood red light. Those eyes stared at me with such fear that it almost got to me. I tore the remaining three stingers from the broken cadaver and approached the cub.

"So what do you do?" I asked in a voice that felt out of place in my throat.

"W...w...what?" he stammered meekly.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU DO?!" I roared making him yelp "Do you, I don't know, grow massive and try to eat me?" I questioned him in an ominously quiet voice "Do you lead me into a trap or...or maybe you're just a hallucination, perhaps?" I grinned crazily, advancing on him "Do you fucking electrocute me when I touch you?!" I screamed, raising one of the stingers above my head to strike the little cretin.

"Please." he whimpered helplessly.

"'Please.'" I mocked his childish voice "Please what? Because I can think of a few things that I'd be glad to do to you!" I sneered.

"Please!" he moaned.

"PLEASE WHAT?!?!" I roared in his face.

"Please don't kill me, I'm not meant to be here!" he wailed before breaking down into sobs.

    My eyes widened, it was as if I had been hit by an invisible wall. My anger subsided almost instantly as I understood the wolf cubs situation. As the heat in my blood faded, it left an emptiness and as I felt the energy leave my body, I lost conciousness.



                                                                                            ***



(From the viewpoint of Tom Jeffrey

    As I felt my way down the sloping corridor, I heard a variety of disturbing noises. At several points, I stopped and pointlessly looked around. My anxiety had reached a crescendo by the time the corridor was re-illuminated by an eerie red light. I saw nothing threatening but I did see a little girl standing four metres in front of me.

"Who are you?" I asked cautiously. The girl was facing downward and her face was obscured by her messy black hair. She wore a dress which was badly torn all over, but I could still tell that it had been an expensive, old fashion, frilled dress. She didn't respond.

"Who are you" I repeated the question patiently.

"Lucy." the monosyllable answer emerged from the shadowy face.

"Where did you come from?" I asked with more confidence now that I had received a response.

"Room six hundred and eighty four thousand, four hundred and twenty nine." she spoke in a way that gave me the impression that it was painful for her to talk.

"There's no need to be frightened." I offered my reassurance.

"Oh, I think there is, Tom." she said in a way that told me that she had been waiting for me to say something along those lines, and to be honest, I think that I had said it to get it over with, after all, there was an obvious wrongness about her.

    She raised her head so that I could see her face. Her face was terribly burned, the skin was a blackish purple colour. The charred flesh was dotted with open sores which were leaking a sickening yellow puss. Her mouth was contorted into an impossibly large smile that ran all the way up her cheeks. The smile exposed her razor sharp, glass teeth which overlapped and interlocked and I got the impression that the smile was the only position that her mouth could take. Cameras had been ruthlessly drilled into her eye sockets. I gasped at the sight of her and began to back away but to my horror, she followed.

"I know all of your secrets, Tom" she sniggered, cutting her pointed tongue on her glass teeth with every word "I know about your parents." and with that, I turned and ran.

    I turned into a room and pulled the door shut. With the power down, the doors were extremely heavy and I strained to get it closed in time, breathing a sigh of relief when it finally closed. I turned to see that the room was filled with fireflies. They were gently flying around, mostly near the ceiling but some were at my level. I knew better than to let my guard down which was why I got such a fright when one brushed against my arm, but nothing happened.

    Suddenly, there was a hum of electricity and the walls, ceiling and floor returned to their original well lit white. As soon as this transition took place, the fireflies actually became streaks of fire that darted around at extremely high speeds. I squealed as they darted toward me and quickly exited the room.

    Lucy was nowhere to be seen.



                                                                                      ***



(From the viewpoint of Jack Noland)

    I woke up in a white corridor, I was dazed and extremely confused. I looked around and the sight that confronted me, instantly, made me alert. I was in the testing area! How could I be in the testing area! I began to panic as images of all the people I'd seen die within this retched place all came crushing down on me at once. But how did I get here? I searched my mind for answers and remembered the last subject I'd seen, the cat!

    The computer had taken action against our decision to (pardon the phrase) kill the cat. The last I'd seen, the walls had opened to reveal many "vita luce" emitters and I was convinced that I was going to die but if I wasn't dead, then I must have been...

    I looked at myself and saw a body, it was small and had brown fur. I had a long furred tail and looking down my nose, I saw a canine muzzle. I judged from what I could tell that my body was lupine. A wolf cub?! A wolf cub didn't have much chance in here! I had to get out, but how, in the three years that I had worked here, I'd never seen anyone get particularly far and I was pretty sure that there were no doors that led outside. It was even a mystery how the test subjects were placed in the testing area.

    My train of thought was derailed by the sound of someone running towards me. I breathed a sigh of relief. I was saved, somebody had come to extract me. However, just as the figure in the distance was coming into view, the lights flickered and died. I was thrown back into the turmoil of panic. I had never heard of a power outage in the test facility and I began to bound towards where the figure had been, hoping with all my being that my rescuer would still be there.

    Many noises echoed down the hall as I heard every door in the corridor swung open, unleashing their deadly contents. I ran as fast as I could, praying that I wouldn't bump into anything. The prayers worked for a while but then, with a thud, I did bash into something. It smelled very similar to decomposition and from the sounds that it was making, it was one of the maker's creations.

    I was surprised when the corridor was illuminated by red emergency lights, and in the limited light I could easily identify the being that I had bumped into as 'The Neurosurgeon' one of the maker's less repulsive inventions. I was still petrified as I'd seen a great many subjects fall victim to the beast before me. However, I soon realised that the monster was confronting another opponent, it was the cat, Robert. Brave as he was, he wouldn't last long against 'The Neurosurgeon.

    Sure enough, the repulsive tongue shot out of it's brain and rapped around him. Once the tongue got hold of you, you were done for. It dragged him towards it's mouth and I cringed as the stingers jabbed into him. Instead of dying, however, Robert seemed to get stronger, he suddenly roared at the creature and clawed it's empty eye sockets. He then tore off the stinger that had injected him and stabbed it into the exposed brain of the monster, injecting it with it's own venom. The creature was dead in minutes and then he noticed me. After retrieving the other three stingers, he approached me.

"So what do you do?" he growled the question ominously.

"W...w...what?" I squeaked in response, I was at least thankful that I could still speak.

    He suddenly went into a rant about all the things that I might be that could hurt him. All the while he was getting closer and by the end, he was raising one of the stingers to stab me.

"Please." I begged for my life. He imitated me and threatened me again.

"Please!" I cried.

"PLEASE WHAT????!!!!" he roared.

"Please don't kill me, I'm not meant to be here!" I screamed before bursting into tears.

    His expression softened and, for a moment, it looked like he might apologize but then his slit eyes rolled up into his skull and he collapsed, as his body hit the floor, the lights came back on.

   









                                                                          To Be Continued