Under The Cable Car

"No, no, no, NO!" Aron screamed at the short man behind him as he threw the papers down on the desk that he was crouched over. "I forbid you to run such tests on humans! Even if you are able to perform these without anyone squelling, there would be just too much evidence. Can you imagine what would happen if this was discovered? What would happen to the company? To us? It's just too risky. I cannot allow this."
"Listen Aron," the short man replied. "They are criminals. Murderers who we're running these things on. And besides, the gov will cover up for us if the worst happens. They fund us, and that's not any secret."
"That's the other thing. The public would blame them because they fund us. Then they would blame us, punish the company with who knows what, and do the same to the people in it. That's US, Mike. WE will pay for this if it's exposed." I cannot allow these tests!"
The man now known as Mike was red in the face, but tried not to show his frustration. "These are very important tests Aron. Think of their potential! I am given the authority to perform experiments as vital as these with or without your permission, Aron. I wanted to work with you on this, but I am afraid I must work alone now."
And with that, Mike left the room, breathing heavily and feeling sweat accumulate just above his forehead. It was one of those days.

Mike walked through the hallways of Biological Technologies Labs and thought madly. Yes, the tests were illeagal, risky, and potentially dangerous, but this was science! He had to do this, even if it was against the will of his coworker. It was important. It was vital to his research.
He arrived at the cable car docking station. He found all ten of his test subjects were already tied to their chairs and blindfolded, the gaurd inside looking around impatiently, waiting for Mike to arrive. He stepped on, and gave the man in the control room a nod. The car shook for a moment, then began it's trip accross the trench that seperated the South wing of the labs from the North wing. Below was nothing that Mike could see. It had been partbof the lab years ago, but it was sealed of and abandoned after a chemical accident.
Mike looked around cautiously at his test subjects. They were criminals, each one of them. One shook violently in his seat until the gaurd shoved him back. Dangerous men. No doubt the were murderers. That's what he had been told.
The experiments that he had planned for them were to see how well the could solve puzzles, perform athleticly, when they were given a virus that was being worked on in the labs. It had it's flaws, and they needed to test on more than rats.
As they neared the North docking station, Mike did not see the usual worker in the control room. As they came even closer, Mike squinted and saw that it was Aron, standing grimly in front of the controls, no clear expression shown on his face.
"I cannot risk this company Mike. You are going to endanger yourself, and all of us. There is less to explain this way." Aron announced, and, with a quickness that was almost forced, he bulled a red lever on the control panel, and the cable car, still holding all twelve passengers, descended into the dark trench below.

Mike awoke In the dark, though it was not to a point where he couldn't see what was around him. Though he almost wished he did. The guards body had broken his fall, but the gaurd was not as lucky. His watch was smashed, the dials rattling as he took it off and threw it out of a smashed window in anger. As soon as I get out of this place, I'll make sure he doesn't have to worry about the test. He'll be in prison for life when I'm done with him! He thought as he stood up and looked more closely around him.
To his horror, all of the test sublects were dead. Which would be understandable, except that there was blood on them. Now what would cause them to bleed? Mike wondered curiously. He walked up to one held sideways because of the way the car had landed. His ropes were cut at one part, but the cut was clean, as though done purposely. Blood circled the cut.
At the far end of the car, a seat that had came off shook just slightly. Nervously, Mike crawled over to investigate. He pushed the seat over and found a test subject still tied in, breathing desperately, his eyes still closed.
"Hey, buddy," Mike shook him a bit. "You awake? Come on. Wake up!"
The man's eyes slowly opened to a squint. Then, much quicker, grew wide and large. He screamed. Mike was startled and fell back. The man kept screaming and shaking violently in his chair. It grew louder and louder. He was looking behind Mike, and when he realized this, Mike turned to look in the same direction.
Standing just outside the cable car, a "man," who's body seemed decayed and old, grinned at them, his eyes unmoving, yellowed and reddish as they were. His teeth were dark with blood on his gums, half of his upper lip decayed. He held up a sergeon's hand saw.
Mike's eyes widened, and he stumbled back. The decayed man outside began moving, however stiffly As he banged his saw against the thick glass window. As it began to crack, horror filled Mike's head. He ran to the end of the car, farthest from the intruder. He began pushing one the door desperately. Eventually, its bent hinges gave way and the door fell to the ground outside with a loud clang. Mike ran, and hid behind the corner of one of the hallways in the abandoned lab. He heard the shatter of glass as the decayed man broke into the cable car. The test subject was still screaming. Still tied up in there. His screames soon became louder, filled with more pain. After ten seconds he was silent.
Mike did his best not to breath loudly. He could not hear anything. His heart beat in his ears. Sweat trickled down his forehead. Then he felt a sneeze growing in his nose. Not now! He thought. He could not stop it. He coveredhis face with his arm and-"CHOO!"
It echoed of of the walls of the hallway. He stood perfectly still. He dare not breath. Panic screamed in his head. He felt like he was going to collapse. He listened... And listened... And then he heard footsteps. Not rushed. They were walking. They were coming toward the hallway. Slowely. So anticipating. Mike heard a deep breathing. A snarl almost. Growing louder.
He ran. Down the hallway he sprinted, teeth clenched. The walls were torn, the wallpaper peeling, and moss grew where it was dirty and wet. Mike darted into a room on his right, and left the door open by only a crack so that he could peer down the hallway. He took five deep breaths. Mentally preparing himself, he slowely peeked out the door and down the hallway. The footsteps were indeed coming closer. He soon saw the black outline of the man, stiffly walking, his torn clothes limply hanging to him. Loose and ragged. The sergeon's saw, bloody now, was held up in his hand. He was talking. His voice was not high, but not very low either. Tired almost, the way he said it. As Mike listened, he could hear what the decaying man was saying.
"They trapped me here,
And left me to die.

They said it was accident,
You beleive them. THEY LIE.

For look at me now.
At what I've become.

I was no accident.
Their emotions are numb.

You are right to hide now.
You are smart to run.

Revenge will be mine.
The games have begun."

Mike was listening too carefully to realize how close he was. Quickly, but as smoothley as he could, he closed the door and locked it with a "click"
Too loudly. The footsteps stopped. Then they continued, but faster. Mike panicked. He looked around the room and only found a large wooden cabnet. He opened it with a loud squeek fom the rusty hinges, and climbed inside. The doors left a small slit from which he could see the door on the other side of the room from. He took a deep breath and from then on tried to breath as low as possible.
The footsteps stopped as the man's black outline appeared in front of the door. He ran his Binet hand down the white screen that made the door window. Without warning, an arm smashed through the screen, knife in hand. The knife hacked at the screen until it was mostly gone. He reached his other arm over, and unlocked the door. He opened it, and stepped into the room. Looking around the room, he showed no sign of worry. He looked at the cabinet. Mike closed his eyes. There was nowhere to go now. So he waited. A clang of metal. A scratching sound. The wobbling of thin metal echoed around the room and in the hallway. Then nothing. Mike stood in the cabinet unmoving for five minutes. He slowely emerged, pushing only one cabinet door back. He looked around the room, expecting to see the decayed man hiding, ready to pounce. But the dark room was empty except for a vent that lay on the floor.
Mike looked up to see that the vent had been removed from the air duct that hung from the ceiling. Mike ran out of the room and into the dark hallway. Other vents lay on the tile floor. A large grey air duct ran down the hallway too. Mike heard a scratching sound. It was frantic and grew louder. Mike ran down the hallway. He wasn't sure which side the scratching was coming from, but he ran. The air ducts shook as the scratching grew louder. Mike rounded a corner at the end of the hall. He heard a crash of metal as a vent hit the floor. Then a feint thump as the man hit the tile floor. He could here him snarling.
Mike slowely backed away from the corner. He walked backwards, keeping his eyes fixed on the decaying mans shadow. He could hear his footsteps now, and then Mike had an idea. He ducked into a room, and using an old desk, climbed up into through a vent and into the air duct. He crapt along it, wide as it was, he used his hands to feel his way around. He could still heard footsteps below, acompanied by a viciouse snarling. He found a section of the duct that led upward. Mike climbed it up. There was no actual source of light, and he couldn't see far behind or infront of him. He stopped to rest. As he breathed, his eyes adjusted to the light slightly more. Now, ahead he could see that a feint light was cast on the floor of the duct. He stopped resting and hurried over to the light. He looked up, and there was indeed the bright, clean hallways of Biological Technologies Labs. But it was still five stories up, and in the way was a fan. The floor vents in the North wing were often scary to Mike because he could never see all of the way down them. Now, he was in one.
He put a hand and I foot on one side of the duct, and the same on the other side. He used his arms to pull himself up, and his legs to hold him there. It was very noisy in the metalic duct, but it was working. He did this until he reached the fan. It wasn't a huge fan, and it couldn't be too powerful. He squinted his eyes, and quickly shoved his arms into the fan. They jammed there with a sickening crunch. Mike whinsed, but tried only to think about being out of this place. What would Aron think when he saw him alive? Mike used his elbows to get himself up, using the fan blades as a ledge. When he got himself up to where only his legs blocked the fan, he heard a scratching. At first, he thought that it was the fan being pushed to the side of the duct, but it was not. A snarl echoed up the duct.
Fear began to build up in his head. He hoisted one leg up, and was about to pull the other up when suddenly a hand grabbed it. Mike screamed as he tried to shake his leg free. The decaying man shrieked in delight. Mike pulled, but the boney fingers began to dig into his flesh.
He brought his other foot into kicking range of his own foot, and then thought; if I don't do this hard enough, he'll grab both legs for sure. But he was already too slow. The decaying man grabbed his other foot and pulled down on it. Mike yelled in pain. But there was only one hand holding each foot now. He pulled his feet up with all of the strength left in him, and the decaying mans arms followed. But there was nothing to stop the fan now. It whired once again to life and with a loud "THUNK" chopped the decaying mans arms off. He howeled in pain as he descended down the duct, and into the blackness below.
Mike's heart was pounding in his head, he was gasping for breath. But he did not hesitate to climb the rest of the way up to the lab that he knew.

Aron stood at the North cable car docking station, waiting for his ride to the South labs. He thought to himself; it's unfortunate what I had to do to Mike. But then, it IS better than what would happen to ALL of us had he continued. That would include him anyway. The cable car has been replaced, the "accident" filed as a technical issue, and those on board it have only been reported as missing. In a few months, this will all be forgotten.
He grinned slightly.
"Waiting for your ride Aron?" Mike slowely stepped up behind him. He had been waiting for this.
Aron turned around and was unable to speak. His eyes were fixed on him. He did not blink.
"No hard feelings Aron." Mike said with a grin. "After all, it was for the good of the company." And with that, he pushed Aron over the edge of the dock, and into the trench below.