“It’s… other people, Guy! Maybe they got lost in the fog…” Michael’s voice trailed off. Guy knew he felt it too.
The wrongness.
The figures definitely appeared to be human; men and women who approached in a silent, unperturbed manner. Their clothes were drab and dark, saturated with water.
The raven gave a harsh caw and soared upward in an explosion of feathers. Michael did not appear to notice as he took a wary step backward.
“I don’t think…”
It was their movement that convinced Guy. They did not walk; they simply… glided, as though they were sails of flesh pushed along by an uneven breeze, or puppets hoisted carelessly with their feet dragged across the ground. And their faces… their faces were indistinct, shaded by wide-brimmed hats that they did not wear.
“Get back in the mill, Mike.”
The spoken words broke the spell; their legs were resurrected to action. As they moved, he became aware of the Others increasing their pace. They skated forward with an undisguised eagerness that felt like… hunger.
“Door’s locked!” Michael’s voice cracked under the strain of top-heavy panic.
“It’s always locked — put in your code!”
Michael’s fingers were dysfunctional sausages, pounding the numerical buttons in dazed stupefaction. The Others flew toward them, hands outstretched; Guy could hear their silent panting crawl like caterpillars in his ears.
He shoved Michael aside and punched in his code.
As soon as the door cracked open, they slipped in and slammed it shut it again. The Others rammed against it in their unchecked flight, vibrating the hinges. They pressed in with numbers so thick that for a moment he could not see anything but their shuffling bodies.
It was the peering faces that made bile rise in his throat.
There was nothing there. Every head was devoid of its face, replaced by skin as pale and smooth as a boiled egg. Yet he knew they saw with eagle vision, staring at he and Michael through the narrow window ravenously. Howls from their missing mouths reverberated in his skull until he wanted to cover his head to escape.
Michael knelt on the floor, clutching his temples. “Shit! What the hell are those things?”
Guy backed away from the door, where the Others still pressed inward as though willing it to collapse. The silence was almost as eerie as their appearance. Their frantic movements were without sound, yet he could feel their every movement crawl on his skin like cockroaches.
He backed away and picked up the duffel bag, slinging it over his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.” His voice was alien to his ears, a monotone that belonged to a saner man.
“Where to, Guy? They could be all around the building…”
“We’re joining up with the others. We’re gonna need everyone if we’re going to do this.”
“Do what?”
“Survive.”
The silent shrieks pursued them as they fled to the brightly lit hallway.
Differentiating Conceptions
Fran exhaled her relief when Michael and Guy returned, both dripping wet. The uncomfortable silence had thickened to near solidity after they left. Rob and Drake weren’t exactly the type to inspire confidence in harrowing times.
Rob actually yelped when the door opened. “It’s about time you, uh… got back. We uh, thought that maybe you had… — hey are those guns?”
Michael’s flawless face had hijacked her attention so thoroughly that she didn’t even notice the sawed-off shotgun resting on Guy’s shoulder. A couple more pistols were holstered at his waist.
“Hope that’s a rhetorical question,” he said. “Right now we have more to worry about.”
“That’s about the biggest violation of company policy I’ve ever…”
“Shut up!”
They all stopped and stared as though they had forgotten she was there. “Someone killed Greg. Drake’s a mess. We’re all stuck in here, and you’re worried about stupid company policies? The main thing is — can we get out of here?”
“It’s not going to be that easy,” Michael said. She and the others listened in growing horror at his tale of faceless beings that surrounded the building. None of it seemed possible, but even though Guy could easily be dismissed as crazy, there was no way Michael would repeat the story unless it were true…
“Jesus. No faces?”
Rob scratched his head. “Are you sure? It’s hard to see anything in that rain. Maybe you saw…”
Guy rounded on him. “Do we look like idiots to you, Rob? You think that storm is natural? Wherever it came from… it brought something with it. We’d be fools to go back out there.”
“Why didn’t you just shoot the bastards?” Drake asked suddenly. The manifestation of firearms seemed to have enhanced his courage. “Those guns do shoot, don’t they?
Guy glared. “They’re not exactly human, you helpless ass. I didn’t want to risk creating a volatile situation.”
“Volatile situation?” Drake sputtered in disbelief.
Fran shook her head. “Wait. How… how is any of this possible?”
“If this isn’t a volatile situation, what the hell is?”
Fran felt her nails dig painfully into the palms of her hands. “What’s happening to us?
“An Aberration.” Guy’s stare was slightly glazed, his voice barely audible.
“Wha… what?”
Everyone looked at Guy. He continued to stare into space as though seeing something they couldn’t.
Michael raised his hands. “Look, Guy’s a little… confused right now. It’s ok.”
Guy looked at him. The strange thing was that he appeared completely lucid. His gaze was sharp, more focused than she’d ever seen him.
“Don’t patronize me, Mike. I know what I’m talking about. In fact, it’s getting clearer by the minute.”
Drake’s face was the picture of confusion. “What’s he talking about?”
Guy sighed. “An Aberration. Best I can explain is that it’s… dark energy that manifests… physically.”
There was a pause while they stared at him. Mike cleared his throat and shrugged apologetically. “I told you guys. Look… there’s got to be a rational explanation for this. Maybe this place was built on a burial ground, you know? Those things could vengeful ghosts or something, trying to scare us off.”
If that’s the case, it’s working. Her legs felt quivery as Jell-O, and the others appeared to be at various stages of near panic. The exception was Guy, who was probably too giddy with the excitement of simmering in his own insanity.
Rob’s mouth twisted. “That’s your rational explanation? You sound as crazy as uh, Guy.” He eyed Guy, who stared without comment. “No offense.”
“Maybe we’re all dead.” Drake cringed when they looked at him. Well, we could be, right? Maybe there was an explosion at the mill. Maybe this is, you know… purgatory, or something. Maybe we’re stuck here until God calls us.”
Guy barked a laugh. “What, now you want to be religious?”
Drake glared. “You’re goddamned right I’m religious. What the hell does that have to do with anything?”
There was something in Guy’s eyes that spoke of wry amusement. “Just something I’ve noticed about people over the ages.”
Drake leaped to his feet. “Oh, and you’ve got all the answers?”
Fran rubbed her temples. “Stop it. Just stop. You guys are all idiots.”