Chapter 21: "Under Lock and Key" Geoff forced himself to stand back up and carry on. He made his way around the truck to see if he had gotten rid of the last of the stalkers or if it was just the beginning of a long afternoon. He didn’t see any more so he continued searching the area. There had to be a reason that everything seemed to start up here at the cabin. The first time he encountered any of this was up here. Michelle and Dani both went missing from up here. Somehow, he had no idea how, but he wound up back up here. And now, he was finding more stalkers in this area which made no sense since the people were still in the areas around what used to be the city. What was it that was so special about this area? There had to be a connection. Geoff headed back towards the cabin. He was very cautious with where he was walking because at this point, it’s been giants, bunnies, bears, stalkers, he had no idea what could possible attack him next. He walked with his blaster in hand and turned on. No more waiting and trying to be quiet about it. He got to the clearing right in front of the cabin and started to look in every direction. He was hearing noises everywhere he wasn’t looking which made his head snap around to try and find the source. After a few minutes of coming up empty, he had to start asking himself if it was possible that he was just hearing things now. His imagination, being exhausted, being on edge. It was all playing games with his mind. Feeling this was what was going on, it still didn’t stop him from getting white knuckled against the trigger of the blaster. He continued forward and reached the stairs to the deck in front of the cabin. He turned and started to move backwards towards the door reaching behind himself with his free hand until he found the door handle. He gave a long last look in every direction before finally going inside. The side windows were busted out, debris and blast marks left this side of the cabin in almost shambles. Geoff made his way across the room to a door in the far corner. The door was locked with two dead bolts and two padlocks for good measure. Geoff walked to the door and gave a tug on the padlocks but they weren’t budging. He pulled the key ring out of his pocket that had all the keys for all the cabin locks on it. He started to try all the keys but none of them seemed to work on any of the locks. He tried each one of them a few different times to try and figure it out, yet none of them were of any use. Geoff walked over to the desk, the various cabinets, he pulled every drawer open and searched through all of them. No keys anywhere. This just added to Geoff’s need to get into that door. Geoff continued to check around the rest of the cabin and frustration grew in him more and more with every drawer he slammed shut with no luck. Finally he had enough. He walked over to the door and with blaster in hand shot the deadbolts right off. When all that was left were the two deadbolts, Geoff proved to himself that a well-placed boot followed by a nice solid shoulder strike in the doors center mass would be just what the doctor ordered to make that door decide to no longer be a barrier keeping him out of whatever was behind it. The door almost splintered from the force of Geoff’s strike. Geoff reached around on the wall inside the door and couldn’t find a light switch or a pull chain to turn on any kind of light in the area beyond the door. Turning out of the room, he made his way into the kitchen and in the utility drawer found his father’s old hunting mag light flashlight. Figuring there was no way the batteries were still good in this thing, Geoff was amazed when thumbing the button in the center of the handle was all he had to do for this thing to shine brightly. He made his way back to the secret room and started to look around. A little further in on the wall, Geoff finally located a wall sconce with a draw string on it. Pulling it lit up the immediate area which was little bigger than an empty large closet. Geoff looked all around at the ceiling, the walls, but nothing about this room looked like it was worth the trouble of all the locks. That is until he glanced down at the far wall and noticed what looked like a few small pieces of leaves or dead grass. At first glance, even that would be no big deal. But these few scraps of the outdoors weren’t just on the ground. They actually seemed to move like they were being shifted around by some sort of wind. In a closet this size, there was no ventilation, no windows. Geoff walked over to the far wall. He placed his ear up against it to try and listen for any kind of sounds coming from behind it, but there was nothing. Finally Geoff made the decision and he placed both hands up against the wall. He felt around the corner area to see if there was a click in place styled lock keeping this thing closed, but again his search turned up nothing. Feeling his way down the wall, he eventually came across the chair rail decoration in the lower center of the wall. Geoff placed his fingers on the top of the chair rail and pulled at it. The chair rail turned down as if on a hinge revealing a slide latch that was holding the wall closed because once he moved the latch, the wall became a door and started to swing open slowly. Once Geoff let go of the chair rail, it snapped back into place as if it had never been moved. Geoff took a step back and pulled out the blaster and powered it up. He very cautiously stepped forward and placed his hand against the wall and pushed it forward opening it more. Behind this door was a stair cased passageway down. Small lights were hanging on the walls to either side of the stairs. This helped with some light, but not enough to really make out where you were, or more importantly where you were going. Why did his father have this secret staircase? In Geoff’s mind there was really only one way he was going to get those answers so he stepped through the opening and started to head down the staircase. He turned around and closed the door and from this end, slid the latch closed to once again lock the door into wall position for lack of a better term. He shined the light around the small area behind the door, and saw that it was a stairwell that was dug into the ground, which meant that the small hill like area by the back end of the cabin just before the big cliff that overlooks the lake was more than likely a man-made hill to accommodate this secret entryway to somewhere. Knowing he was safe to move on, Geoff headed down into the dimly lit shaft. The smell in the air was stale, old dirt. The lighting barely made anything more than 3 feet in front of him visible. He decided it would be best to go by the stair lights just until he knew for a fact that there was nothing at the end of this case that might be attracted to the shining of his bright flashlight. He kept the blaster behind him, but still on. The one thing he knew for sure was that there would be nothing behind him. That staircase only went up to the door, there was a solid dirt wall behind it. For once, he felt the relief of only having to look one way. He kept going downward and did his best not to make any noises. He started to notice that the closer he got to the end of this staircase, the less lights there were, and eventually they just ended altogether which forced Geoff to use his hands and basically feel his way around. Once he got to what he assumed was the bottom, he was able to make out a little more light in the distance. He went to take a step forward and wound up going head first into a large wooden beam. The impact of slamming his head caused a nice sized gash on his hairline and caused Geoff to fall backwards onto the stairs. Geoff shook the cobwebs away and started to slowly refocus on his surroundings. The area in front of him was blocked by several of these large wooden pillars. He tried his best to look around and listen and he didn’t hear even the slightest of sounds. Figuring he had no choice and it seemed safe enough, he clicked on his flashlight and tried to figure out where he would be going from here. Finding a small gap in the beams, Geoff managed to get through and brush the dirt off of his clothes. The flashlight started to flicker a bit and then actually turned itself off for a few seconds. Banging the flashlight head on his palm seemed to be able to get the light flashing once and. Not sure which was to go, he reached down and grabbed a handful of the debris on the ground and held it up in his hand with the palm flattened. Watching his hand he saw the bits of wood and dried leaves start to move just a bit. Enough to let Geoff know which way a slight breeze was coming. This is how he determined which way the nearest opening must be. It had been many years since his boy scouts training, but he was willing to chance it. After all, what were the alternatives? Go back up that stairwell and deal with those things up there? Or move through the underground caverns hoping that the end might result in some sort of salvation? Either way, he had made a choice and he was going to see it through. Slowly he turned to the left and started down the unlit path with only the stream of light from his flashlight to lead him. His head was starting to pound again, and the big gash that steadily bled down his face in a single trickle mixed with the sweat to really sting his eyes as it came down. Geoff stopped for a minute and ripped part of the sleeve off his shirt. He used that to wipe his eyes to clear his vision as best he could. He then took the long piece of cloth and tied it around his head over the wound hoping to keep as much sweat and blood out of it as he could. After all, medical care and supplies weren’t exactly something you could walk to the corner drug store to pick up any more. With the make shift bandage securely in place he continued along the way. Keeping one shoulder near the wall, the blaster in one hand and the light in the other, he carefully moved forward. The tunnel was so dark that there was no way for him to tell how far he had gone or how far this passageway actually went, but he knew it had been few minutes. Ahead he heard a noise but he wasn’t sure what it was or how far ahead of him it would turn out to be. It almost sounded like dripping water. Geoff picked up the pace just a bit thinking he might have just found his way to an exit of some sort. He felt something move against his leg which scared the hell out of him and made him jump for a second. Shinning the light directly at the ground, he watched a couple of rats make their way in the opposite direction of where he was headed. Geoff: Bad omen. He knew enough about rats from what he had learned in the scouts and watched in bad suspense movies on TV to know that rats normally run quickly away from danger. Here he was, once regarded as an extremely bright and gifted mind and he was walking towards whatever the rats were smart enough to run away from. He chuckled briefly and softly at that thought but continued on his way. Another minute or so later, he heard the noise again but this time it seemed a lot closer and it was a lot louder, but he could determine that his original thought of water seemed to be accurate. He continued to shine the light in front of him until he saw something he really wasn’t expecting to see. A very large iron door, somewhat tilted and very rusted was what lay directly in front of him. He got closer and continued to shine the light on the door. Once he reached it, he swiped at it with his hand and managed to make out the words AUTHORIZED ENTRY ONLY. He kind of figured at this point there wasn’t gonna be some guard that was going to come through and arrest him for trespassing so he intended to keep moving forward, but first he had to get that door open. The door looked like it had been damaged and with the wood beams lying all around and the narrow portions of the passageway giving him even indication there was some kind of explosion or something explained the doors condition. He grabbed at the handle but it was rusted throughout and wasn’t moving. He saw that it really didn’t much matter as the door was open, just jammed or wedged somehow. He leaned into the door and squeezed his way through. As he got halfway through he realized how much more difficult this was going to be. His belt buckle was caught, as was the rod still in his belt behind him. He tried to turn one way and then the other to loosen himself, but the more he tried to move the more he realized at this point he was completely stuck. He tried to pull himself back the way he had just come, but that proved to be futile as well. Here he was, after all he had been through, and it was going to be a narrow door opening that was going to prove to be what might finally defeat him. He had one arm and one half of his body on either side of the big steel door and he didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Geoff tried everything he could think of to get himself free and was thus far having no luck. About 20 minutes went past and still Geoff, who now was looking even more exhausted than ever was still struggling to get himself free. He just leaned his head back in the midst of the bent door and tried to regain some strength. He thought his mind was starting to play more games with him because for just a minute he could have sworn he heard the crying, or maybe it was a weird laughing and of all things it sounded like it was of a young girl. It was coming from the side that he was trying to get into. He tried his best and somehow managed to slightly reposition himself to get his head through a little bit more to try and see where the sound might be coming from. He could still hear the sounds of water running somewhere, but the sound of the little girl was even closer than that. But down here? How could a little girl not only get down here, but even remotely survive in these conditions? Managing to get his hand into his pocket, he forced the flashlight out. He slid it up with the help of balancing it against the door and eventually got it into his hand. With his thumb, he pushed the button and started to shine the light all around the area. What he saw was what looked like some old hospital ward, or medical facility. He could make out a few glass walled rooms with beds and dusty equipment in them. He wasn’t able to determine how big they were or how many rooms were in there, but they were a mess. Beds tipped over, some kind of goop on the glass walls making it hard to see through them. The laughing sound or whatever it was just seemed to gradually either be getting closer or louder, he wasn’t sure which. He got a little more frantic with the flashlight shining it anywhere and everywhere he could reach. After pretty much shining it all around the immediate area he was about to give up and just assume that the sounds were all in his over-tired and over-active imagination at this point. It was all in his head. He brought the light in close to himself with the intentions of it going back into his pocket. A click of the power button with his thumb and the light was out leaving that side of the door back in the blackness. He struggled to get it securely into his pocket being careful not to drop it on the ground. As he stood there trying to figure out his next move, he felt something that ever so slightly brushed up against his leg in that darkness. He was careful not to react. He paused for a moment but then felt that pressure of being bumped into again, and this time the impact was a lot harder. Geoff very slowly raised his hand up and grabbed the neck of the flashlight from his pocket. Trying his best not to make a noise, he pulled it out and slid it into position so that his could turn it back on with his thumb. Once in position, he took a deep breath, he swallowed hard, and then clicked the power button. “Ahhhh!!!” Geoff exclaimed. Standing right in front of him was a female stalker less than 2 feet away. The light in her face revealed her to be very much disfigured, the rotting flesh barely hanging off. The stalker let out what can only be described as some sort of gargled screech and she snapped he teeth while lunging at Geoff. He only had one weapon, and one second to put it to good use. As she was about to make impact with him, Geoff slid the flashlight in his hand for full extension and then slammed it right against the side of the stalkers head dropping her to the side. She didn’t stay down long, getting right back to her feet. She came at him again and again she was greeted with the swinging flashlight, but this time the direct blow came with a sickening almost hollow thud as well as the added weight now attached to the end of the light as it was lodged in the skull of the stalker. Geoff yanked a few times on the light which found itself turned back on illuminating through the skull of the stalker leaving a very eerie illustration etched into Geoff’s already spinning mind. On final yank and the body was released and collapsed to the ground. The yank also somehow managed to break Geoff free from being stuck and he was able to pull himself out of the frame and collapsed door. Realizing that if there were any other “visitors” down here, that struggle had to have been loud enough to attract them, he had to get moving. He knew there was no going back the way he came because the answers lie forward. Geoff stepped back and pulled out the rod. Flipping its switch lit up the glowing end. Geoff used the rod near the hinged areas of the collapsing door and managed to use it to cut the door just enough for gravity to take over and the door to complete drop on its own. Geoff powered down the rod and replaced it in his belt. He then pulled the blaster back out and flipped that switch. Like images seen in various detective and cop movies, Geoff held the flashlight in his bottom hand, crossing the top arm over aiming the blaster straight ahead. He maneuvered himself through the remains of the door and into the unknown room ahead. As he crossed in, the bright white light took over the scene, and eventually the sound faded into silence.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Sep 2013 15:44:21 +0000
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