The Shadow Creature

Chapter 9 - Computer Virus

"What have you done?", Ivan asked, his voice echoing throughout the room. A tone of seriousness was heard in his voice as he took a step closer to William's dad. The father's bright green eyes captivated Ivan's attention as a smirk appeared on his face. "You act as if I've just committed a crime", William's dad said, raising one of his eyebrows. "Does making people disappear in a supernatural fog count as a crime?", Ivan snapped, turning his hand into a fist. The smirk on the father's face disappeared as he looked at Ivan with a blank look.

"You seem... Upset", William's dad said with a confused expression. Ivan returned his confusion. "What? You expect me to be happy about all of this? Innocent people have vanished because of something that you did", Ivan said aggressively, pointing a finger at him. "Because of something WE did", the father exclaimed with his distorted voice returning. His voice caused the lights in the room to start flickering. Ivan looked around the room as William's dad eyes turned white.

"Don't act like you're the innocent one here", the father said, getting rid of his white eyes before Ivan could see. Ivan snapped his head back to William's dad as the lights went out again. "Our deal was about me finding a cure for you so that you can leave my friends alone, not for you to turn this place into a ghost town", Ivan explained. "And I helped with the cure", the father said. Ivan's confused face returned. "This may come as a shock to you, but the only way for us to find a cure is if you get some chemicals from the fog", the father explained.

"There's something in the fog that can help with the cure?", Ivan asked with a surprised tone in his voice. "The fog is the cure, that's why I caused it in the first place", the father told Ivan. "Then, why have people been disappearing?", Ivan asked. "It wasn't my intent, but it's a side effect from the fog", William's dad said. "Do the people in the fog die?", Ivan asked in a panicked tone. "Most of them go somewhere beyond death", William's dad said. "What does that mean?", Ivan asked.

At that moment, William's dad heard footsteps from a distance. He snapped his head in the direction of the noise and revealed his sharp, distorted teeth. Ivan looked in the direction that William's dad was facing and heard William's voice fill his ears. "Find the cure", William's dad said with both of their heads facing each other simultaneously. The doorknob then started to turn. "Before it's too late", he added with the lights flickering.

The door opened and William appeared on the other side. The lights were on and Ivan was standing in the middle of the room by himself. "Oh hey, there you are", William said with a small smile. Ivan looked at William and returned his smile. "You do know that this isn't the restroom, right?", William asked, entering the room. "No really?", Ivan asked sarcastically. "Then, what are you doing here?", William asked, leaning against the wall. 

"Well, since I couldn't find the restroom, I went to the nearest room and-", Ivan started to say. "Please stop there", William said with his widened eyes. Ivan scoffed and looked around the room. "No, I'm fucking around with you, I just went to a random room and that weird headache went away", Ivan explained. William nodded and noticed the small window on the wall. "Did you by any chance notice that window over there?", William asked, pointing at the window.

Ivan looked at the window and remained quiet. "So, that's how the outside world looks like now", William said to himself. "Do you think that it's possible to go out there again?", Ivan asked. "I mean we barely made it out the last time, I don't think it's a good idea to take chances", William told Ivan. Ivan looked back at William and nodded in agreement. "Are we gonna stay in this sketchy room all day or can we go bug Cindy on how she just asked a random stranger to fix her phone?", William offered.

"But, isn't that what everyone does when their phone doesn't work anymore?", Ivan pointed out. "True, but this stranger just so happened to have kidnapped us so...", William said. "What kind of a employees are they?", Ivan joked, walking over to him. William scoffed while walking out of the room and down the hall. Ivan grabbed the doorknob and looked back at the window. A smiley face then appeared on the window. Ivan made a serious face as he closed the door. After the door shut, someone on the other side of the window wiped the smiley face off the window.