Oil [Full Story]

Chapter 6: Plague

Jess slammed the door shut behind them and all three of them sprinted down the hallway they now found themselves in. The hall was dark, not quite as dark as the waiting room, but black enough that they had to squint to see. The walls had smatterings of ebony on them and goopy strings of it swung from the ceiling. Large accumulations of oil sat in runny puddles and they had to watch where they stepped and duck underneath the strings. Daisy slipped in it, sliding several feet ahead on slippery shoes.They skidded to a stop when they came to a fork in the hallway, peering behind them in the hopes that the thing wasn't following them. Cal couldn't see past the gloom. She turned to her best friend and Daisy, and their eyes were blown wide in shock and Cal could tell that something was wrong with them but she couldn't quite tell just what was wrong, call it a gut instinct. She could only hope that it was just because they were scared and had just been running for their lives, and probably will continue to run for their lives. "See! I told you this was a horrible idea!" She hissed quietly to the other two. Daisy nodded and tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. Jess shrugged a shoulder hesitantly. "Yeah... If we get out of this, I'll make you some fuckin' chocolate chip cookies." Cal shot her a look and asked, "Which way do we go?"

The hallway split in two, with a path going right and a path going left. There were some signs hanging down from the ceiling indicating the destination of each path, but before Cal could look at them Daisy piped up, "Left!" she said. Cal frowned. "We don't know which way leads where!" Daisy shook her head. "When in doubt, just go left! Have you never heard that saying?" She asked. Cal sighed and said "Fine! But I am not leading this time!" She shoved the flashlight into Daisy's hands and fell in step with Jess. Daisy smiled nervously but took the lead down the left hallway. The place was silent now, save for the constant dripping of the oil from the ceiling. It was unnatural. The place itself felt like a hospital and Cal realized with a shocking clarity that hey, holy shit, this is probably the place where they did all that testing and shit. She wanted to tell the other two, but she couldn't bring herself to open her mouth and say the words that would break the eerie silence.

The doors they passed all had numbers with the letter B following behind them. Some were swung open, but most were shut tight and no matter how hard Jess tugged they didn't budge. Glass crunched under their shoes as they passed under a shattered light. The hallway was dimly lit, by what Cal wasn't sure, but she could peer through the darkness and make out dim shapes ahead. She almost rammed into Daisy when the girl suddenly stopped and turned to face a door on their left. Cal wasn't sure what room it was, for the label was smeared with the oil. "Daisy?" She asked. Daisy didn't reply. She stood there, staring at the door for a minute or so, and beside her Cal could feel Jess starting to get restless. "Daisy we need to keep moving." As if the sound of her voice had snapped her out of whatever reverie she was in, Daisy jumped and said, sheepishly, "Oh, yeah! Sorry. We should try this room first, though."

Cal frowned and Jess stepped up to the door, turning the handle and nudging it open. It swung open with an ear shattering squeal of hinges and Cal winced because wow, if that didn't alert the thing to their presence, she didn't know what would. Daisy and Jess stepped into the room and Cal followed behind, a seed of apprehension growing in her stomach. Her stomach dropped upon entering the room. The walls were nearly invisible they were so coated in oil, and large masses of the viscous stuff pulsed in the corners of the room and climbed up the walls. More goopy strings swung from the ceiling and large and small stalagmites of hardened oil sprung up from the ground. The room was grotesque, and otherwise empty save for a glass box on a pedestal in the middle. One of its sides was shattered and shards of glass glinted in the flashlight's light. A viscous mound of ebony oil sat within the container, beating steadily. Cal found herself frozen in fear at the sight. This was the room...

Beside her, Daisy and Jess were also frozen. And then, as in some sort of trance, Jess stepped forward and pulled off her backpack. She took a small vacuum sealed package out, slit it open with her nail, and tossed it into the mass within the glass case. Cal stared, wide eyed, and at first nothing happened. But then the mass began to convulse for a few seconds and then it exploded, smattering everything with the inky oil it was made from.. Jess was now painted with the stuff, and she turned around and stood next to Cal. "W-What the hell was that?!" Cal sputtered. Jess didn't answer. Daisy stepped up to the case next, pulled off her own backpack and took out her own case of what Cal could now only assume was pure caesium. She slit hers open and tossed it into the growing mass. This time it didn't explode, but it continued to grow.