Looking up at the ceiling, Loyd sighed, “Yeah, I think I'm fine. I'm just going to stick with soaking up blood, and not pick up anything else.”
“Did you get your scare now?” Mekel laughed while peeking around the corner with his notepad in hand.
Loyd stopped pacing, smiled, knelt down again, and got back to work.
Chapter 4
Their large sponges soaked up the blood, rinsing it out, drop by drop, into the buckets, but it kept coming up from the withered wood it had seeped into. Jack moved from the main pool of blood and followed one of the larger drag marks leading to the left and under the red painted door currently blocked off with sheet metal, wood, and a large cinder block. Jack looked at it puzzled.
“Hey, doesn't it look like the blood trail goes into that room?” He asked, motioning for Loyd to look at the drag marks also. “But all this stuff is right on top of the blood and none of it looks like it's been touched in years. How did the blood get under it?”
“Yeah, weird.” Loyd examined the drag marks himself.
“Here, give me a hand with this.” Jack pointed at the over sized cinder block. “We need to see what got dragged back there.”
Moving over to the other side of the block, Loyd got a firm grip around it.
“Okay Loyd, on three.” Jack knelt down, preparing to lift. “One, two...”
The lights suddenly shut off, leaving them in darkness.
“What the?” Loyd murmured.
“It must be the generator.” Jack quickly turned on the flashlight attached to his chest pocket.
The loud clanking from the metal panel on the roof echoed around them once again, like a lunatic wildly hammering an anvil. Loyd breathed heavily and blinked his eyes. He grabbed his stomach and squinted.
“I don't know if I'm going to be okay.” Loyd said. “The finger, and now the lights.”
“Okay, go ahead and go out to the van and get some fresh air. And also get a flashlight for yourself. They should be right under the front seat.”
Loyd quickly walked away, opened the doors to the howling wind, and then closed the doors behind him with a clank.
“Hey Mekel? Are you okay over there?” Jack flashed his light over to the hallway.
Mekel's hands popped out from around the corner, guiding his way out. “Yes, I was moving slowly out of here, trying not to hurt myself, but thanks for the light.”
“You should probably get a flashlight from the van too. I have plenty.”
“I'll also go check the generator to see what's going on.” Mekel said as he walked past Ren, who casually leaned against the wall. Mekel opened the doors and stepped out. The doors slammed shut behind him with a loud clank that rattled the whole wall.
“In the meantime Ren, you can come help me with this stuff.” Jack waved at Ren to come over. “I think there might be something back here that we need to get to.”
Taking his hands out of his pockets, Ren walked over to Jack.
“Here, if you hold the light, I think I can move this myself.” Jack detached the light from his chest pocket and handed it to Ren. “I'm just going to rock it a little at a time.” Jack gripped tightly around the block and pushed against it. It leaned to one side, but Ren shined the light into Jack's face.
Staring at Jack coldly, Ren spoke with a hollow and lifeless voice, “I should check the generator too.” Ren ran over to the doors, taking the light with him.
“Wait!” Jack yelled. “What are you doing?”
Ren rushed outside and the doors slammed shut behind him, leaving Jack in total darkness. The banging metal on the roof became louder, and the walls creaked from the wind pushing against them.
Clank, clank, clank, clank.
Jack reached out into the darkness in front of him, feeling around for any obstacles. He slid his feet across the floor to avoid tripping, trying to remember where everything was. His foot kicked one of the buckets halfway filled with blood, maybe tipping it over, but he couldn't tell. The sound of blood and water splashing was barely audible over the wind whistling through cracks in the loose boards all around.
Groping blindly in front of him, Jack finally felt cold metal. He sighed with relief and pushed open the doors. His left ankle brushed up against something hard and pointy like a long iron nail, which slid up to his knee as he kept moving, but it didn't feel like it punctured the work suit. Jack tried looking back to see what he ran into but he was surrounded by a thick, impenetrable darkness.
Chapter 5
The moon's light, along with the stars, had vanished, blocked by the black storm clouds now directly overhead, which couldn't be seen but they could be heard as a murmur of rumbling thunder.
All was blackness except in the distance where a flashlight shook back and forth, being carried by Ren who was running away. The wind picked up and blew blades of grass and dust into Jack's face, but the safety goggles protected his eyes. He moved cautiously to avoid tripping over any small bump on the ground. The wind gusted again and something swiped against his left arm.
Must have been some large stick, blown by the wind, Jack thought. His breath was heavy and his heart pounded.
Jack yelled out to Ren but the wind drowned out his voice and the light kept moving away, staying at a distance. The wind gusted again like some unseen giant breathing out a heavy sigh. Jack felt a thud land across his back that knocked him forward. He turned to look, but the darkness was so thick it was as if Jack's eyes had been plucked from their sockets.
Up ahead, the light had stopped moving and Jack approached it. The shack appeared in view and Ren stood outside the entrance with the light.
“What the hell?” Jack said approaching Ren.
“What?” Ren looked back at Jack with furrowed brows, appearing confused.
“You just ran off with my only light.” Jack's face was red with anger and he ripped the flash light away from Ren's hand.
“Oh, I'm sorry, I just heard that loud bang and thought I should check on Doug out here. I could'a sworn you had another light in there. Didn't you have a flashlight in your hand?”
“No I didn't. Didn't you hear me yelling at you? I yelled as loud as I could.”
“No, I swear. I'm sorry. The wind must've drowned you out.”
Jack rubbed his eyes and calmed himself down. “You said there was a loud bang? I didn't hear anything, you just looked at me and then took off.”
“Really? It was as loud as a gun shot, that's why I left so quickly. But it looks like Doug is just fine. It must have been the generator.” Ren motioned to the inside of the shack.
Jack leaned forward and peered inside. Pointing at the ceiling and lighting up the shack was a large heavy duty mag-lite that lied on the floor. Doug leaned over the generator and scratched his chin. His hands were dirty with grease and his hat sat on top the battery casing. On the other side, Mekel knelt on the floor and had one hand reaching into the generator.
“What's wrong with it?” Jack asked, pulling the goggles off his eyes.
“Not sure. But it's just not working.” Mekel lifted his hands up and wiped the grease onto his light yellow jump suit.
“I guess you guys will have to come back again some other time. Can't get this done in the dark.” Doug said, picking up his hat and straightening himself up.
“Nah,” Jack shook his head, “I have enough lights. We should be fine.”
“It's up to you.” Doug put on his hat, but took a few moments of adjusting to get it right.
“Are you sure there's no wild animals here?” Jack asked. “I could have sworn it felt like something swiped at me just now in the dark.”
“Yes, I'm sure.” Doug bent over and picked up his mag lite. “It was probably the wind tossing something at you.”
“Yeah, probably.” Jack sighed, now feeling calmed down. He rubbed his forehead and then looked down at the flashlight he held. “Loyd and me should get this job done, it should only be a couple hours anyway, three
hours at most. We just have to get some junk out of the way.” Jack looked up at Mekel. “Besides, where is Loyd?”
“Wasn't he back at the Van?” Mekel said. “That's where I saw him last.”
“No, he wasn't.” Jack rushed out of the shack with his flash light in hand. “We have to find him now!”
Running back to the van, the ground was mostly flat and the leaves from the surrounding trees were noisy in the wind. No sign of Loyd.
“Loyd!” Jack yelled, shining the light into the nearby woods, but the harsh wind drowned out his voice. Jack quickly opened the van and grabbed an LED work lantern along with some more flashlights.
“We should split up and find him.” Mekel said while grabbing a flashlight from Jack. “I'll look around in the woods.”
“And I'll check the other side.” Doug held up his own heavy duty mag-lite.
“I can check around the building.” Ren took a light and walked away into the thick dark air.
“I'll look around too, but first I'll check where we were inside the shop.” Jack said. “Maybe I passed him and just didn't see him. It's really dark tonight.”
“It's pitch black.” Doug pointed his light towards the woods. “Storm clouds are right on top of us. Hopefully the boy didn't stray too far. I can barely see past my own nose.”
Wading into the darkness surrounding them, the group split up in different directions and fought against the fierce, suppressing wind.
Chapter 6
Holding the large LED work lamp, Jack stepped into the building and the metal doors closed with that familiar clank, like a jail door slamming shut. The wind whistled through the loose old wood boards nailed to the window frames and the walls creaked with every little gust.
“Loyd?” Jack's voice barely penetrated the hissing wind. He placed the work lamp onto the warped counter.
From the office, some papers rustled and a cabinet door shut. Jack hurried past the counter and opened the office door.
Inside was an old desk, pushed into the corner, with stacks of paperwork resting on it. The file cabinets, lined up along the walls, were rust-ridden and damaged. A thick layer of dust had settled over everything.
Stepping further in, Jack sensed something familiar about this room. He walked over to the desk and pointed his light down onto a stack of old paperwork.
“Jack?” A woman said in a familiar voice just behind Jack.
Jack spun around and saw her standing across a long dining table with a glass vase set in the middle of it. No longer in the office, Jack was somewhere else.
The woman wore a baby blue robe with white pajamas underneath. Her long black hair curled into her face, down her neck, and around her shoulders. Sobbing with brown eyes, tears flowed down her cheeks. Sadness consumed Jack.
“Jack,” She continued, “Why did it have to be her?”
“That's the price to pay.” Jack said, surprising himself, the words leaping off his tongue. “A sacrifice must be made.”
“I almost can't believe it. Can we ever be forgiven?”
“I...” Jack said with tears forming in his eyes. “I don't want it to be true either, but...”
She wept into her hands filled with tissues.
“I put everything into this to secure our future.” He placed his shaking fingertips on the table. “We can start again...” His throat tightened and his voice trailed off.
“I have to leave. I want be with her one last time.” She turned away.
The woman vanished into the darkness along with the kitchen table, and Jack was back in the old dusty office holding his flashlight. He stood there in a confused trance and then glanced around the office for any signs of life, but finding none.
Who was that woman? Jack wondered.
The metal doors opened in the entrance and footsteps thudded on the wood floor.
“Hello?” Loyd's voice echoed into the office.
Jack blinked and shook his head, clearing the vision from his mind. He walked out of the office and into the entrance. Loyd stood there with a flashlight in hand and Ren right behind.
“There you are.” Jack said. “We've been looking for you. Where'd you go?”
“I was around the building looking for a place to take a piss.” Loyd said, while Ren nodded his head just behind him. “All this wind, I needed to find a place that my pee wouldn't be pushed back onto me.” Loyd used his hands to illustrate the splashing of his urine.
“We just got worried because it's extremely dark out.”
“It is super dark, but I grabbed one of your flashlights in the van.” Loyd held the flashlight up.
“Well, can you go out and get the others and tell them you're fine.” Jack pointed at the metal doors.
“Sure.” Loyd turned to leave. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean to have anyone worried. I was only gone for a minute.”
“Don't worry about it. Just go tell the others, they should be outside in the woods nearby.”
Loyd walked out and Ren pointed at the LED lantern that now lit up the room.
“Oh, that's great!” Ren smiled. “Now that's definitely brighter than the regular lights.”
“What I've learned in this business is that you can't have enough lights.” Jack motioned for Ren to walk with him to the red door that's blocked off. “Tell me, since you seem to know about this place. What's in the room behind that door?”
“Um, I think it's just a supply closet. Nothing special. I guess that's why they put a bunch of junk in the way of it, because they probably never use it.”
“Yeah, the problem is the blood goes under this junk and into the room.” Jack pointed at the blood trail.
“I see.” Ren nodded his head. “Well, there is a vent shaft above here, it wraps around the whole building, connecting the air conditioning.” Ren looked up at the wall.
Surprising Jack, to the upper left of the door there was a vent opening.
“Huh?” Jack grunted and then furrowed his brow. “I hadn't noticed that before. I don't suppose you can fit in there?”
“There's one way to find out!” Ren pulled out some leather gloves from his back pocket and put them on.
The vent grid easily pulled off and Ren placed it on the floor, leaning it up against the wall. Grabbing hold of the opening with both hands, he hoisted himself up into it and squeezed his skinny body through.
“Well,” He said as his feet stuck out a little, “I see there's a vent opening into the room, but I can't see. I'll have to go further in.”
His feet pushed all the way in until they vanished.
“Do you see anything?” Jack asked.
The wind gusts picked up outside, rattling some loose boards.
“Nope.” Ren's voice echoed back through the vent. “I can't see anything. But it looks like the only way into this room is through this crawl space.”
Suddenly the metal doors swung open. Loyd and Mekel stepped inside.
“At least you're safe.” Mekel said to Loyd. “That's all that matters.”
Mekel noticed the open office door.
“The office is open?” He asked while moving towards it. “I thought it would be locked up. Was there any blood in there?”
“Not that I saw.” Jack said.
“You don't mind if I double check?”
“Sure, knock yourself out.”
As Mekel went into the office, Ren crawled his way back out of the vent and jumped to the floor.
“Back to work!” Jack clapped his hands together. “Loyd, you can go ahead and take the hallway that Mekel was at, and finish it up. The sooner we're done, the sooner we can leave. This place is creeping me out.”
“Tell me about it.” Loyd said. “I'm starting to feel like something is watching me.”
“Just keep your light nearby, that'll scare away any ghosts.” Jack laughed.
“Sure thing boss!” Loyd laughed along and waved his hand in the air dismissively. Loyd walked to the hallway and disappea
red around the corner, except for his shadow, cast against the wall from his flashlight. He knelt to the floor and began scrubbing out the blood stains.
Chapter 7
Noticing that the majority of the blood had been blotted up and what remained lied under the junk near the red painted door, Jack turned to Ren.
“You don't mind helping me move some of this stuff? At least just this one thing.”
“Sure, no problem.” Ren said.
“I definitely need help with this large cinder block. I'm not sure what it's doing here in the first place, but if you get on the other side I think we can rock it back and forth and get it out of the way. And this time, don't run off on me.”
“Right, sorry about that.” Ren said. He went to the other side and wrapped his hands around it along with Jack.
The LED lantern resting on the counter sparked bright for a moment and suddenly shut off, leaving them in darkness. Loyd's light still bounced off the walls of the hallway, but it was dim and across the room.
“What now!” Jack grunted. In the darkness, he reached for his flashlight that dangled from his chest pocket and felt for the on button. Something shifted and moved forward, a thin and tall shadow with blurry and undefined edges, but had large black eyes darker than the night surrounding them.
Clicking his flashlight on, Jack pointed it at the creature, but found nothing there. Breathing heavy, he waved his light around the room.
“What's the matter?” Ren asked.
“What?” Sweat formed around Jack's brow. “Did you see that?”
“See what?” Ren looked at where Jack pointed the light.
“I don't know.” Jack said. “I'm not sure, I think my eyes are playing tricks on me.”
“Are you okay?” Ren smirked. “You aren't afraid of the dark are you?”
Jack laughed. “No, I'm not. I just thought I saw something.”
In the hallway, Loyd let out a yell that was suddenly cut short. Loyd's light flickered off and the hallway became dark.
“Loyd!” Jack rushed over.
Mekel popped out of the office and looked around. “What was that? Is someone hurt?”
“It's Loyd.” Jack said as he ran past Mekel. “Loyd! Are you there?”
Turning the corner, Jack looked down at the broken flashlight. Further down the hall, the tall metal door at the end slammed shut.