Nillium Neems

sheets of paper, each one filled with names, patient numbers, and a date next to each patient. The dates went back fifty-one years, whatever significance that might hold.

  I recognized a few of the patient names near the end of the list, the ones dated most recently. None of them I had known very well, but as I thought about it, I also hadn’t seen any of them in a while. Starting around the time of the date listed near each name. Mousy must have arrived at the same conclusion as me, for he looked up at me with a deep, soulful gaze, full of sorrow.

  "This is a death list of some kind isn’t it?"

  He didn’t even have to rustle. We both knew it was. I read the last few entries aloud. The most recent one was for a Jeremy Steiner. That made me angry. Jeremy was a helpless little guy, but gentle. He didn’t deserve to be killed or whatever it was they had done to these patients.

  Folding up the Black List, I grabbed some tape from Dr. Higgins desk, and stuck the little paper on the inside of my Snoopy Cap. Someone was going to answer for it. I also grabbed a lighter that was sitting on his desk, taping it to on the inside of my Cap as well. Surely it would come in handy sooner or later.

  Rising from the chair to leave, something told me I hadn’t delved to the depths of the corruption quite yet. I sat back down and continued riffling through paperwork.

  I found several folders regarding something called Atrium Pharmaceutical’s. They used a lot of technical terms, but from what I could make out it was a new drug company. A company closely connected with Atrium Psychiatric Ward. But I couldn’t think on that one too long. I had to get moving. Already we had stayed far too long.

  "Siegfried said the Director was in Office 33A on the third floor," I said to Mousy, as I picked him up and put him on my shoulder, preparing to leave. "Well that doesn’t help us much. We’re on the first floor right now and I have no idea where anything is. We need a map."

  I closed the door, Higgins nameplate catching the light from the fluorescent bulbs overhead. Mousy rustled and I followed his gaze to the nameplate. I smiled. It was not a pleasant sort of smile.

  "You’re right, Mousy. We don’t need a map. We need a guide..."

  Assuming he hadn’t been killed, Dr. Higgins was still about somewhere, having refused to transform into one of the Director’s Tormentors. There was little chance that I could get what I needed from any of the horrors that haunted Atrium, but Higgins was another story.

  "I think we’re going to have to backtrack to where we last saw him," I said with a sigh, looking down at Mousy. His half-hearted reply echoed my own feelings. The two of us set off at as fast a pace as possible while remaining silent. I didn’t much fear the Monsters, who seemed easy enough to outrun. Now that my injuries had been mysteriously healed, I could run circles around those bozos. It was the Tormentors I was wary of. For I had no idea how many stalked the halls of Atrium.

  The Killer, the Shambler, the Twisted Puppet, the Green Ooze, the Scarecrow, and Dr. Skeleton. Rather simple names, for all too strange entities. I feared them, but not as much as I did before my fight with the Hooded Man. For there was courage beating in my little heart now, accompanied by a righteous fury at these things.

  I let Mousy lead the way, hopping down from my shoulder and scampering along the hallway. He seemed to have a better understanding of the way back to where we’d last seen Higgins than I did. Even then, we twice hit dead ends.

  We saw few signs of life on our journey. Presumably the Director’s minions had figured I had either fled Atrium or made my way upwards to threaten the Director himself. I had spent at least a few hours asleep in the air vents afterall.

  Rounding a corner in the hall, we nearly collided with the Twisted Puppet. He was standing there, statue still as if frozen in place. I have no idea why. Stepping backwards on silent feet, I withdrew from him and out of sight, leaning my back against the wall when I’d rounded the corner. I waited until my heart stopped thudding and then peered warily out at him, to see if he still stood.

  There were two of them now. The Twisted Puppet, still unmoving, and a tall creature dressed in a doctor’s coat, a vultures head sticking out from the top. As far as I could tell, he had neither hands nor feet, for I saw neither poking from his sleeves or from the bottom of his coat.

  "Is it possible for her to leave?" The Ethereal Vulture asked in a mellifluous voice like some grand poet.

  The Twisted Puppet shook his head.

  "She is ground here. She doesn’t have the substance to leave." His voice was slow, like the warm trickle of sap through tree roots. Though there was an anger behind it that marked him in my mind as one of the more dangerous Tormentors.

  "Don’t underestimate Siegfried," the Ethereal Vulture warned. "He is craftier than you give him credit for. He is no fool."

  The Twisted Puppet scoffed.

  "He is useless. As are his creations. She hides somewhere in terror, cowering from us. We will find her and kill her."

  I was tempted to step out and make a fool of the Puppet’s words, show him just how ‘terrified’ I was. But that probably wouldn’t be wise and I resisted the notion.

  "If you believe she hides, Puppet," and he said the name with a sneer, "then I suggest you continue your search for her."

  The Twisted Puppet snorted at him and stomped off, thankfully in the opposite direction from which I hid. It was nice to know that my enemies weren’t all on the same page.

  "He is gone," the Ethereal Vulture said mildly once the Twisted Puppet was out of sight. "You may come out of hiding, Nillium Neems."

  Well, that made my blood run cold. Mousy made a startled rustling sound. I thought of turning and running, but I had no idea how fast this guy was. And besides, he didn’t seem to want to kill me immediately. Maybe I’d just learn something useful. I stepped around the corner and faced him.

  "How did you know I was back there?" I asked him, using my most casual tone of voice. His eyes gleamed with mirth.

  "I smelled the stench of rebellion. You are causing us trouble, Neems, and we don’t like it."

  I shrugged.

  "It’s like a hobby. I can’t help it. Sometimes I get bored easy."

  He stared at me for a moment with his black, bird eyes, colorless as death.

  "I could destroy you as you stand."

  "You could. I’ll grant you that. But if that’s what you wanted, then you would have revealed my presence to the Puppet. So what do you want, Mr. Vulture?"

  As much as he could with his long, sharp beak, he smiled.

  "How much do you know about us, Nillium Neems?"

  "Oh, bundles. I know pretty much all there is to know. Stopping you people will be all too easy. Why don’t you tell me where the Director is so I can put an end to all this? I’m sure you’re getting as bored as I am of running about through endless hallways."

  His eyes glittered. I couldn’t tell if that was a good sign or not.

  "I am tired, Nillium Neems. Of dealing with the annoyance of Siegfried and his followers. But even more, I am tired of being... less."

  "Less what?" I asked, cocking my head sideways in question.

  "Less than the Director."

  I grinned. I couldn’t help it, for I saw where this conversation was going.

  "Is this an I help you and you help me sort of thing?" I asked.

  His eyes glittered again. They reminded me of blinking Christmas lights. One moment dead, the next bright and shining. But only for a second.

  "Bring Siegfried and all of his followers to the Director’s office. Kill him, and I will ensure you leave Atrium unharmed."

  My grin faltered.

  "Is this more of a ‘let’s be buddies while I lead you into a trap’ sort of thing?"

  Once again that creepy glitter. Like the sparkle off pirate’s coins. Pirate’s coins soaked in the blood of dead men.

  "Just bring him there. I will distract the Director. Thanks to my efforts, he bel
ieves you are hiding on the second floor right now. All of his efforts are concentrated there. I cannot promise you will remain completely unmolested, but your journey to his office should be relatively free from encounter. Good luck, little Neems."

  He turned to leave, seeming to float instead of walk away from me. Stopping a moment, he turned his head back to glance at me one last time.

  "What is it you want, Nillium Neems?"

  I thought about it for a moment. What did I want? Peace, I guess. Hope. Happiness. An ending to all of this. Yes, that was it. I nodded to myself.

  "An end."

  The Ethereal Vulture stared at me for a moment. He gave me that creepy, sharpened smile again.

  "I think I can give you that, Nillium Neems." and he floated away, down the hall and out of sight.

  I felt Mousy shivering up on my shoulder. I must admit, I felt like doing the same myself.

  "Come on, Mousy. Let’s get moving."

  Less than a minute later we reached the room where I’d last seen Higgins. I opened the door and darted in, anxious not to be caught. Once I was in however, I felt hesitant to proceed. People had died for me in here.

  I saw the squashed remains of the Mushrooms. I knelt down beside them and ran a hand through the remnants. Tears welled up behind my eyes and I let them flow without shame. The little guys had helped me a lot and only been squished for their efforts. A few teardrops dripped off my chin. Glancing up, my eyes met the dead gaze of Hammy. He too had counted on me, and I felt like I’d let him down.

  I think I would have