“Run. Fast. We gotta.”
She did and I followed her. We came around the receptionist’s desk at speed and she stood up, alarmed. Before she could say anything I skidded to a stop, grabbing a handful of cheap pens from the cup at the edge of her desk. I pulled my arm back and whipped the pens into her face. She screamed like a gall stone had just shot out of her urethra and I kept running. Behind I could hear her still screaming, except now she was screaming a name. Larry. The guard, probably. That helped. Maybe he hadn’t seen the cells.
We’d made it just to the edge of the doorless path to the elevator when half the LED strips that lined the top and bottom of the hall pulsed red. A siren kicked in half a second later. A real lame bwoop sound, but it told the story. We got to the elevators, which I now realized was a bank of six, half a second later and smashed the up button. It was the only one. To my amazement it lit. I watched the numbers on the banks around us. All of them were moving down, one slightly closer than the others. Security would have come from higher floors, so I held out hope that we had a one-in-six shot of making it onto one.
“Hey!”
The shout from Larry rang out as our elevator dinged and opened, bestowing upon us the luck of the gods. It was empty. We climbed on and realized that the elevator could move laterally. I heard dings from outside the doors and instinctively pushed the button for the main floor, with the little star beside it. The doors shut as the ones across opened. I caught a half glimpse of men in hazmat suits, not the SWAT guys from earlier. And they were definitely holding weapons, but they were bulbous toward the end, like there was a tank attached.
The elevator whirred and I realized that it could probably be stopped by just about anyone who pressed the up button. Worse than that, I realized we only really knew the route to a single exit to the building and it was technically on the second floor, since their parking garage went up a level. I nervously pressed the button with a two on it and then pressed the ground floor button again, holding it in and wincing as I let it go. I unclenched all my holes as the light on the button turned off. We were rapidly ascending past the basement levels and there was a long stretch before the first floor for some reason. The question was whether they would panic the main floor over us. A question that was answered as the number one came and went on the display and the elevator slowed as a two took its place. I stepped in front of Marine.
“If they shoot me to death, please carry my corpse out on your back.” I forced myself to laugh, but I don’t feel like Marine was buying it. Would have done wonders for my preparedness level if she had just gone along with the whole thing. You know? It’s a morale thing. If I act like it’s not a big deal, it won’t be a big deal. It’s fine. There would be time to talk about it later. She’d probably appreciate me explaining the finer points of situational awareness and the importance of staying positive.
The doors opened and the entire floor was empty. I looked out, peeking as best I could around the corner. Nothing. Not a peep. Empty open-plan office for assholes.
“It’s empty. Trap?”
“Maybe.”
“Oh well. Only one thing for it.”
I bolted and Marine followed. Elevators dinged just after ours, opening to more men in hazmat suits. Where the fuck were the SWAT ones? This wasn’t good. Something was very, very odd about this whole thing.
Behind me I heard electrical charging, so I cut left, pulling Marine as she came in behind and pushing her in front of me.
“Keep going!”
A half second later, I heard a “vworp” sound and a sickly slap as some weird shit hit against the monitor just behind us. It splattered, landing on the desks around and making an immediate hissing sound as it did. I glanced back as the whir of electrics turned into a wave of horrible noise. There were a dozen charging now. I tackled Marine as they shot. The ooze balls hit everything where we’d been standing and the hissing was insane. Smoke was rising from the wood of the desks, but only the wood. No metal, no plastic.
I stood, adrenaline driving me, and pulled Marine to her feet. Another round was charging. I saw motion at the far end of the office. Another wave of hazmat suits. We were only a few dozen yards from the exit now. Marine moved first and I followed her as close as I could. We whipped around the corner as another wave of the clearly dangerous goo came by. I heard orders shouted from behind as Marine ran into the door at the end of the mantrap. She slapped against the bar, but it wouldn’t move. It was stuck. I pushed her out of the way and started kicking the bar frantically. It took four to budge the door, which seemed to be held closed by a motor. Our luck had gotten us close enough and the motor wasn’t all that strong. I heard footsteps behind and the electric whine. I grabbed Marine and shoved her through the partially opened door. The whine came to a crescendo and I could see it was aimed at her, not me. I threw my hand up and a hot black bolt
