Endgame (Book 3)

Chapter 12

"Well, that's just great. Now who's going to answer your questions?" Zero said.

I slapped my head. In my rage, I had avoided the whole topic I wanted to talk about. The opposite of what I'd expected happened; instead of her getting angry and screaming, it was me who had done it. On top of that, I had run off my sister, who had taken a bullet trying to protect me. What was I thinking?

"Yeah, you're pretty much a jerk." Zero was listening in on my private thoughts.

"That's something we must have in common," I grumbled.

"Hey, don't blame me. I told you not to go for it," he replied.

"Are you done saying 'I told you so?'" I asked.  "Besides, she came in here. To confess. The conversation was heading that way anyway."

"Su-"

His thought abruptly cut off there. I felt his mind violently wrench itself from mine. It felt like I was a piece of gum being torn apart in the middle.

I whimpered silently, my lip quivering. I didn't know what that was, but I never wanted to experience it again.

"Argh!" Zero's last message burst through my hurting head.

Then, all was silent.

A small laugh registered in my mind. It wasn't mine.

Even worse, I didn't hear it inside of my brain. It came from my ears.

But that meant...that meant that...

I heard a bloodcurdling scream. It sounded like the voice of the nurse that had attended to me only a few minutes ago.

I've got to get out of here, I thought desperately. If Zero went off the deep end and decided to come after me, I won't stand a chance. I'm not even at full strength, and I couldn't take him when I was!

So, painstakingly slowly, I crept around to the other side of the bed and to the door. Then, I took a quick look through to the other side.

Meanwhile, the lights overhead flickered. It was completely silent, which was impossible, considering that I was in a busy hospital.

Only one sound made its way through the hallway.

My gasp. Stupid me, this wasn't a horror movie, but I couldn't contain it. What I saw was too gruesome.

First of all, he was incredibly tall. His head was bent at the ceiling, and that was at least ten feet off the floor. Secondly, his back was turned to me. He was looking down at the body of my nurse, which was horribly disfigured on the floor.

Dark blood pooled around her fresh corpse. Her neck was twisted so that her head was facing the floor while her body was facing up. Her arm was bent at ninety degrees pointing down instead of up like her forearm. And her legs...oh, the legs. I couldn't even begin to describe them.

Her body was colored a sickly green by the glowing man towering over her. He reminded me of an animal, because his posture was just so off. He didn't even look human. His back was bare, and I could see his spine poking through his skin.

I don't think you understand. I actually saw the white bone of his spine through his skin. His flesh was torn around the base, but no blood seeped out.

His fingers were elongated beyond humanly possible, and he only had three of them, including his thumb, which was now identical to his other two. Going up, his arms were skinny, killing machines, and his elbows had disappeared as a continuation of his lower arm, sticking out like Metagor's spikes. His legs were the same- he had no kneecaps.

The most awful thing about him, though, was his hair. He had none. A few long wisps escaped his scalp and wove down in clumps around his shoulders. They looked like they were trying to escape.

As for his clothes, compared to the rest of the grotesque figure, he was normal. They were ripped, but what could you expect from such a monster? He wore only a simple black shirt and jeans that were barely hanging on at the seams.

Well, that provided me with some consolation. If his clothes were ripped, then he had probably transformed. And if he transformed into it, he could probably transform back...

I had no name for it yet, and nothing came to mind. So I called it 'It.'

For all it was worth, the thing hadn't seemed to notice me yet. It hadn't heard me or turned around and seen me.

I slowly tiptoed backwards, keeping my eyes on the creature. I was careful not to bump into anything or step on something loud. That much I learned from horror movies.

Eventually, I reached the corner and rested against the wall.

This was not good. I could barely walk.

Zero offered no help in the back of my mind. However, as I got another glimpse at It, I noticed with a sinking feeling that the green energy it was giving off looked a lot like the blue stuff Zero and I did. And, now that I noticed, he was wearing those clothes the last time I saw him.

If he had no body, could he even wear clothes? How did that work? Well, he did touch me, so...

I shook my head clear an focused on getting out. The lights had gone out completely by now, and I was working with limited vision. I could see well enough to read the bright red 'exit' sign up ahead.

For the sake of my sanity, I was going to call the monster It and Zero, Zero, on the weak assumption that I was wrong about him.

I reached the end of the hall with no incidents. My sweat was leading a trail right to me, and it covered my palms as I gently pressed my hands against the door.

You know how those exit doors work. You press on them, and they click. In an environment where you're trying to be quiet, they click loudly. I tried to figure my way around this as I put pressure on the metal opener as quietly as possible.

Then, I jumped as the hospital was filled with a earsplitting screech. Yep, that thing was a monster.

I covered my ear with my free hand and tried to to curl up on the floor. That scream was scary. It just made me want to give up and get ready to die. I froze in place.

I was no expert on monster screams, but I thought that one was in frustration. It must have found my room. I wouldn't have much time before it caught up to me.

The one good thing about It's battle cry was that it gave me an opportunity to make a break for it. I pushed open the door with all my mind and burst outside.

Where all the time had gone, I had no clue, but the sun was setting in the distance as I stepped out and looked around.

I was in the staff's parking lot behind the building. There wasn't a soul in sight, but a host of cars greeted me from across the lot.

I had the depressing thought that I had nowhere to go. Even if I could gather up the strength to use my superspeed, or figure out how to hot-wire one of these cars, I couldn't go home. I would endanger every life of my family, as well as those of my neighbors and God knew who else.

My best plan of action was to hide. I crossed my fingers and hoped It didn't have a good sense of smell, then dove under the nearest car.

And not a moment too soon. The door blew off its hinges in a cloud of green smoke. Two ghastly feet stepped out and paused in the warm afternoon air.

I closed my eyes.