The Trail

Chapter 12 | Closed doors

Drenched in cold sweat, I woke to the sound of crunching footsteps. When I sat up, I saw the bald, broad nosed man with his square-jaw stride across the ground.

Only, he was not alone. A woman, whose face was covered by her long, dark hair as her head hung low, was dragged by the elbow. It seemed that she was unable to support herself as her legs gave up under her. Instead, the man pulled her with him as if she was a limp doll. Her skin, that shone of sweat, was very pale. It almost looked luminescent in the dark.

The man dragged her all the way to the one cage that was empty, threw her inside and shut and locked the door. The woman did not make an attempt to get up, she just lied still. Too still, I thought.

As the sun was setting, the light had turnt dim which made it difficult to make out anything but shapes. To my left, I could see the young man still sitting with his back against the cage door and with his head dropped. It looked as if he was asleep.

The large man didn't look twice on any of us as he made his way back towards the only building in sight. In one of the windows, a dirty, yellow light broke through the glass. It seemed as if they had managed to get electricity.

As the man passed, I made out that he was wearing a disposable suit, the ones that you would see in laboratoriums, together with thick, rubber gloves.
As soon as the man was gone, the one to my left looked up and watched the woman in the cage next to him. He had only been pretending to be asleep.

"She won't make it", he said quietly before he turned his head to look at me. He spoke with effort as his voice was hoarse.

Hesitantly, I decided to make conversation with him. If I was going to get out of here, I needed information.

"What did they do to her?", I whispered and grasped a rusty bar with my left hand.

"It's not that", he said and moved closer. I noticed that his legs were stiff, which made it difficult for him to move. Instead, he used his palms to drag himself across the ground before he continued. "Well, I guess it is. She's sick, has been for a while now."

"The virus?", I asked and swallowed.

"Yeah", he said and moved his hand across his shaved head.

"But what would they want with her if she's infected?", I wasn't sure if I actually spoke the question aloud, or if it was a thought that crossed through my mind.

"She wasn't at first", he said while studying me attentively.

I couldn't help but to feel uncomfortable by his piercing gaze.

"She caught it here? That's impossible", I said, referring to the fact that the kidnappers most likely would have caught the virus as well.

"Unless someone gave it to her on purpose", I couldn't make out the tone in his voice as he said it, I just got the feeling that he wasn't speculating.

"You mean... They're experimenting on people?", I gasped, even though I was hardly surprised.

"Experimenting, torturing... It all depends on what you would like to call it. My guess? They're trying to find someone who's resistant", he said and leaned back slightly.

"They're looking for a cure?", I asked.

"Perhaps", he replied.

In the break of dusk, as the moon had begun its journey towards the top of the skies, I could make out his thin features. If it weren't for his large, ragged clothes, bones would most likely try to escape his skin. It reminded me of a certain dream that I had dreamt last night, sending cold chills down my spine.

"So, how long have you been here?", I said after a moment of silence.

"Too long", he said with a cold voice.

"And you've never tried to escape?"

"Escape? Why on earth would I want to do that? This place is lovely!", he said with, what I could only make out as, a sadistic grin.

Before I had the time to reply, footsteps could, once again, be heard against the crunching grit. I saw him quickly drop his head, pretending that he was asleep. Perhaps I should have done the same, but it was too late. A pair of heavy boots stopped in front of my cage. I looked up, and met a pair of dark eyes that belonged to the british man. He held the set of keys in his right hand which he used to unlock the door.

By an instinct of opportunity, I sprang up from the ground and threw myself against the door in an attempt to knock him back. I managed to slip through the gap, and started to sprint across the ground with stiff, clumsy movements. I might have succeeded in my attempt to escape, if the man in question hadn't been the size of an elephant. Instead of keeping him at bay, all my throwing up the door charade did, was to piss him off. Before I knew it, I had been tackled to the ground. He pulled me up by the arm, just as he had done with the sick woman, and forced me to look him in the eyes.

"You try that shit again, and I'll shoot you on the spot. Got it?"

This time, there was no hint of a smile on his lips.

I didn't reply, only did my best to keep up with his gigantic footsteps as he half-dragged, half-led me across the ground. We walked towards the building and, as we rounded the corner, I could see the red pick up parked on the other side of the street.

At first, I thought that he was going to lead me inside the house with the yellow light coming from its windows. Instead, he proceeded across the road, towards the house where the truck stood parked.

It was a shabby looking house with an overgrown front yard. It had probably never been well tended to from the beginning, but now, dry thorn bushes had spread everywhere, climbing the rusty fence that surrounded the house. The front of it looked grey, or perhaps a dirty blue, in the light of the moon. As moist had found its way in under the facade of the house, it had green stains of mold by the corners and above the cement foundation. As the man dragged me closer, I saw a cheap, plastic table with three stained garden chairs that stood below a tin roof supported by two rotten wooden pillars. Next, there was the front door that had a broken glass window in the middle. It looked as if someone had smashed through it in order to break in.

He pulled me up a short set of stairs before he opened the door. Inside, there was no light, other than that of the moon, that shone through the cracked windows. I could not make out much of the inside of the house in the dim light. The wallpaper had, in some places, been ripped off the walls and what furniture there was held stains of multiple unidentified origins. The house reeked of mold and what little air there was stood completely still.

I thought that I would rather spend the rest of my life in the cage before being trapped in this house more than necessary.

As we reached the end of the house, I tried to pull my arm to my side, something that resulted in unforgiving pain as the man's fingernails dug deep into my flesh.

"What did I tell you?", he wheezed and jerked my arm.

Then, he stopped in front of a closed door. He raised his large fist and gave it a knock.

It didn't take long before the door opened. As it stood ajar, my eyes were met by a blinding, bright light. It seemed as if the walls themselves glowed, however, I later realized that so was not the case.

Behind the door, emerging from the light, stood a figure dressed in another disposable polypropylene suit. His, or hers, face was covered by a mask that made it difficult to make out the person's features.

"Just in time", the person said with a distorted voice due to the mask.

Before I could create myself an understanding of the situation, I had been brought inside the bright, glowing room and the door had been shut and locked behind me.