I crashed through the open doorway. I was going too fast to stop and close the door. I just saw my hand fly past the door handle, reaching but failing to grip the doorknob. It was like falling from the building again, letting time itself slow down, watching my hand miss where it was meant to hold. Back outside the screams were so loud they reverberated in the small room. The monsters were only a short distance behind, and all I could do was cover my head and wish it would be over quick. I hoped I wouldn’t feel much.
But no attack came.
Daring a look through the opening between my arms, I saw a mass waiting outside. Screams still howled through the crowd, but they refused to enter the room. Befuddled, I gathered myself and walked cautiously toward the entrance. I watched the hundreds of demons call from a few feet away. It was as if the light above the doorway kept them at bay. This light was my savior. Yet, it had to be more than that.
“What the…?” I asked aloud.
“It’s called the five thousand effect,” a voice answered from behind.
I jumped and hit the doorframe, startled out of my skin. The creatures outside screamed in unison at the sudden sound.
“Whoa, whoa, sorry, Jackson, didn’t mean to scare the bejesus out of you,” a figure said as he approached from the back of the room. It wasn’t someone I knew, or remembered seeing even in a dream. This person was a stranger, but one who knew me.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Still got the forgetfulness huh? Thought that would have worn off my now,” the man answered. He talked with a thick accent, one I couldn’t place. “No matter. We’ll get you back. Shut that door so we don’t have to hear them for the moment, will ya?”
I simply nodded and shut the door, the creatures howling in protest.
“I’m Vincent Hills,” the man answered my question before I asked it. He reached up and pulled a drawstring, turning on a single light bulb that illuminated the dark environment.
“Wait a second,” I said with a gasp.
“I know, I know. It’s the hair, isn’t it?” He laughed as he brushed what few strands remained on his balding head.
“No. You’re so, so, so much older.” I felt myself searching my brain, trying to figure out what I was seeing. The man who stood in front of me, this Vincent, had to be in his forties, maybe even older. No one in this city was over the age of twenty-six. Everyone else had walked into the darkness, never to be seen again.
“Fifty-one, that’s right.” Vincent smiled again. “It’s truly good to see you again, my friend. It’s been too long. Guess we estimated a little too short for your memory to kick back around huh?” Vincent sighed. “Here, sit down. We have, at least, a little time to get you caught back up.”
I followed the order, taking a seat near a control console. It was alive with lights, sounds, and monitors that seemed to capture video all over the center of the city. No video feed linked back to the living part of town though.
“So…” I started.
“We need to break your chain,” Vincent cut me off.
“I don’t follow.” I leaned back in my chair while Vincent took a seat opposite.
“Of course not. Not yet, but you will. Let me start at the beginning, with the Alaco Cure. It should have been the miracle cure-all, but, well…” Vincent trailed off. “It infected the populous slowly at first. It gained a foothold after it touched the water supply. The first outbreaks came shortly after that…”
“Whoa, slow down.” I sighed. “What the hell is the Alaco Cure?”
Vincent paused and frowned, sliding his hand onto my shoulder.
“It was a drug breakthrough. Developed and tested to cure cancer. It worked amazingly in the trials,” Vincent explained.
“Doesn’t sound so bad,” I said. But I knew even saying the words felt wrong.
“It wasn’t. Not… initially.” Vincent withdrew his attention to stare at a monitor. He keyed in a few commands and a few of the screens reset to a different period in time. The video showed a time when the city wasn’t dark, and a bright sun burned over the buildings. There were people on the monitor running about. Some were looting, others were running with guns in hand, while more just simply laid down on the ground, not moving.
“It was a mutation. We didn’t find it until the first subjects showed signs of digression,” Vincent explained and paused the video. I refocused my attention on the person laying in the street, apparently dead from this mutated cure-all.
“What happened then?” I asked.
“It spread. Rather quickly too. The first few waves destroyed the east coast. Europe was wiped out in a blink. Communications went dark soon after.” Vincent keyed in a code and the monitors fell to black.
“The Alaco Virus…” I whispered.
“You know it’s been over two years seen we last spoke?” Vincent asked, driving the conversation in a different direction.
“Really?” I asked.
“Truly. Can’t say I’ve really enjoyed my stint in the darkness, but hey, if this helps then so be it.” Vincent leaned back in his chair, wrapping his hands behind his head.
“Why are you here then?”
“Well…” Vincent stopped short. “Because you asked me to.
I looked into Vincent’s sunken eyes. Along with his balding head, he wore a pair of thick-framed glasses. A pair of earplugs sat on his shoulders that I was sure he used to keep the creatures’ screams out.
“It’s all part of the five thousand effect,” Vincent explained. “It kicked in two years ago, activating when it was deemed necessary for humanity’s continued existence. It was our best shot.” Vincent rose to his feet and strolled to the center of the floor. “This particular installation was built long before the outbreak, meant for some sort of military base, or something like that. We retrofitted it with the needed matter to activate the effect. And wouldn’t you guess it? It worked.” Vincent smiled. “Look at your sphere. I’m sure you have it.”
Vincent looked me up and over. The device sat in my hand, and no longer pulsated with its blue glow. Strangely, it remained dead.
“I’m not following at all,” I said.
“You’re not meant to. You said our best shot for you to regain your memories was to overload your subconscious. How is it working?”
“Definitely overloaded,” I said and managed a smile.
“Good. Because, to be frank, we need you back now.”
“You’re telling me,” I sighed, thinking of the timer.
Vincent shook a finger in my direction, as if suddenly realizing something all at once.
“Exactly!” Vincent exclaimed. “More precisely, you’re running out of time. And if that timer of ours is still up and running…” Vincent moved to a monitor and keyed in a few strokes. The timer set on top of that building flashed on the screen. “There isn’t much time left. Is there?” The clock read only an hour remaining.
“What the fuck?” I shouted.
“You placed it before the five thousand effect, that timer. Said it might jump-start your memory when you came to. But I couldn’t get it to work until a month ago.”
“What the hell is the five thousand effect?” I asked.
Vincent paced back to his chair and plopped down heavily. He didn’t appear to be stressed or flustered, just tired. Tired from all the time he’d spent in this room.
“It draws them in. Keeps them out,” Vincent explained.
“Them?” I asked, looking back. I stared at the door like it would suddenly burst inward and the screaming creatures would flow over us.
“Correct. Only you know how it works. Couldn’t tell you how it draws them in and holds them like a net. But it does.”