Disintegrating Lucidity
Rob was whip-thin, nervous-natured, and had a bad habit of not making eye contact. So Fran was not surprised that he talked to the wall when he entered the lab.
“Uh, Fran? Do you have the moisture numbers for, uh…that last run? I was planning on uh, going over them before I left.”
She hated his tendency to stammer. It made her façade of respect hard to maintain when looking him in the face.
“Right there, Rob.” It was past time for her to be gone. She should have left as soon as the police cleared them. Reese’s death was hard enough to deal with, and she had other things to do. Her forlorn apartment awaited her arrival where she would follow her normal routine of watching reruns of Friends and drowning her self-contempt in a half-gallon of double chocolate chunk.
Rob picked the papers up, pushed his glasses up on his nose and scanned through them. “Little late for you, isn’t it? You uh, OK?”
“Yeah. I was just about to leave. Can’t believe how dark it’s gotten. Looks like rain. Figures.”
Guy’s voice crackled over the radio. Even over the static and machine racket his voice seemed uncharacteristically on the edge of… panic.
“Anyone have a copy? Michael? Rob? Someone call an ambulance right now!”
Rob’s eyes widened. “What the…?”
Michael’s voice fizzled in on the radio. “What‘s going on, Guy?” Even over the line, his voice made her heart rate do somersaults.
“Call an ambulance is what’s going on!”
Rob picked up the lab radio. “Uh, Guy? Is something uh… wrong?” She wondered if Rob’s grasp of the obvious was what qualified him for plant supervisor. Her amusement faded quickly with the sound of Guy’s frantic voice. Even through the static he seemed to be breathing heavily, and in the background almost drowned out by the machines, was that… weeping?
“There’s… blood all over the place. I have Drake… with me. He found it. Call an ambulance. Get the… police too. Think it’s… too late, though…”
Michael’s voice returned on the line. “Dammit. You won’t believe this. The phones aren’t working.”
Rob leaped for the lab phone. When his face crumpled she knew that he got the same result. Her throat tightened. What the hell is going on?
Guy’s voice crackled. “Use your cell phone!”
She groped in her purse until she found it. Her heart pounded. “There’s no signal.”
Rob ran his fingers through his stereotypical corporate cut. “Hard to uh, get a signal in the building sometimes. I’ll uh… get my phone and step outside.”
They both jumped when the side door banged open. Guy rushed in, supporting Drake, who looked like one of those war refugees she’d seen on TV: tear-streaked face with eyes wide and staring at nothing. Blood covered his fingers and was smeared on his face and shirt. Rob helped Guy ease him into a chair. He huddled with his arms around himself, trembling visibly.
“What’s going on, Guy? You uh, said something about blood? It’s only his fingers…”
“It’s everywhere, Rob. The walls, the ceiling… has anyone called the police yet?”
“The phone is out. What the hell happened?”
Michael dashed through the other door, making her jump again. Her heart sank at the look on his face. For some reason he was dripping wet. Water pooled on the floor at his feet from his saturated clothes. “You guys won’t believe this. Look outside.”
Through the narrow window nothing was visible except thick, unnatural rain. A streaming curtain that obscured everything, it cascaded silently against the window.
Fran stared. “That’s impossible. Just an hour ago I saw the sun setting. Clear as day.”
Rob’s voice rose shrilly. “Where the… hell did that come from?” Fran half expected him to start wringing his hands.
Michael eyed Rob worriedly. “I don’t know, but it’s thick as soup. I couldn’t even get a signal outside.”
“Did you go up the stairwell?” Guy asked. “Sometimes you have to go up higher…”
“Are you listening? I couldn’t even see the stairwell two feet ahead. That stuff is thick. Never seen anything like it. Plus it feels… weird out there.” Michael’s eyes look challenging, as though he expected an accusation of cowardice. “Thought I’d check in and see if anyone else had a signal first.” He gave a start as he noticed Drake for the first time. “What happened to him?”
“He saw it first.”
Rob’s eyes quivered behind his glasses. “Uh… what did you see, Guy? We’re all here, uh… right? Where did the blood come from?”
“I think it was Greg.” Guy’s voice was flat. He seemed more interested in peering at the deluge outside.
“Greg? Uh… I thought he was gone. Maintenance leaves with first shift.”
“Yeah, but Greg always rides the clock for a few more hours. Doing his last inspection before he leaves.”
“You saying he uh, had an accident? Is he hurt? You saying that? Is that what you’re saying?”
Michael gave Rob a withering glance. “Jeez, Rob. Get a hold of yourself. Let the man get it out.”
Guy hesitated. It was that pause that alarmed her, that moment when she knew it was going to be much worse than any of them expected.
“He’s dead. It was no accident. There’s nothing on the stairwell that could do that to him.”
“Do… what?”
Guy’s eyes stared. For a moment he looked as lost as Drake, who still sat whimpering. Guy’s voice was barely above a whisper when he finally spoke.
“He’s all over the place. Something completely tore him to pieces.”
Accoutrements of Carnage
Michael felt the spider legs of apprehension crawl across the room. They all looked at Drake, who shivered silently in his chair, eyes glazed. They looked back at Guy, who met their gaze unblinkingly. If Drake was in that kind of state of shock, Guy had to be right. But…
“What do you mean something? I mean, it’s got to be someone, right? Who… would do something like that?” He looked at Drake. “Snap out of it, man. Did you actually see anyone else up there?”
Drake’s wildly staring eyes finally focused. “No… I didn’t see anyone… else.” He shivered, almost a convulsion. “But Guy’s right — nobody could do that to someone! There’s… there’s something in this mill. You didn’t see the body. It looked… like a dead animal after lions… ripped it apart.” His eyes squeezed shut. “It was… just sick! God… oh God…”
Michael barely noticed when Fran gasped and grabbed hold of his arm. He expected someone to say something, but Rob just sat down hard in a chair. His mouth worked wordlessly. “Uh… uh…”
Michael looked at Guy, who seemed to stand apart even with everyone crowded together. Concentration melded his face into an iron mask, almost a caricature of steely resolve. His voice was completely calm when he spoke.
“All right. Mike, come with me.”
Rob practically leaped out of his chair, blinking rapidly. “Uh… where are you going? It’s hardly safe…”
“Shut up, Rob. We can’t just sit here and think everything is going to be ok. I need to go to the locker room for something. Then me and Mike are gonna have a look around.”