The Telephone

The Telephone

Chapter one The Baltic States

July 17th 1965 It had been tiring work, once the method had been worked out and they were on their way.

The equipment needed for the experiment was only composed of the most simple things, but was a nightmare putting it together. Most of the equipment was composed of everyday things that you could find in the home, or in the nearest electrical supply store, things such as radios, microphones, tape recorders and a hell of a lot of wiring.

The room used for the experiment was a simple store room, now thankfully clear of all the things strewn around. It was a rather large room that now seemed a lot smaller with the mass of equipment scattered around on tables and on the floor. The walls were painted a slightly darkened green colour, the floor and ceiling was painted a thick dark brown that reflected the light from the overhanging electric bulb.

The room was quiet, aside from the constant movements of the two researchers moving from one machine to the next, mumbling inaudible comments to each. The constant low crackling of the tape machines and the sound of empty spinning black tape filled up the rest of the silence.

The two researchers, Gerhard Stempnik and Konstantin Raudive were both specially trained for this completely new and mysterious experiment. Stempnik was a well trained and competent oboist in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and as such knew certain sounds simply by hearing them a few times. He could sometimes determine what possible instruments or equipment where being used to make the sounds.

Raudive was a very intelligent psychologist who taught at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. His mind, and that of Stempnik’s were both intelligent enough to understand the possibility of proof behind this mystery, and both of their individual skills were excellent for what they attempted to unravel here tonight. Raudive and Stempnik were both middle-aged men, but where far from weak and unable. Raudive was by far then oldest of the two. He wore a dark grey suit and patterned tie and wore a large pair of black spectacles. Stempnik wore similar attire, except for the glasses and had more hair than Raudive.

The two of them worked quietly as they prepared the equipment , delicately fine-tuning each individual recording device and triple checking each machine to ensure their was enough battery power. Raudive checked the microphone, lightly tapping his finger on the sensitive part. The result was a fairly loud sound, almost similar to the sound of a mouse ferrying around in trash for a meal. He concluded that it was working well. They tested the equipment with other small sounds, such as the sound of them clicking their fingers or speaking something near it. A small box sized machine on one of the tables with a small circular shaped glass window lay in the centre. When switched on, the screen displayed a horizontal green line running from one end to the other. When a sound was played, the line fluctuated and showed a succession of spikes, similar to a heart monitor.

After painstaking work that lasted months and spending hours carefully checking each individual machine and wire, it was finally ready and waiting. Both men stood up from their constant crouching and raised themselves to full height. They groaned and rested the weight of their backs on their hands, their backs ached as their bones and muscles worked to get

them stood up.

This was the first time that they had been able to get a good look at their makeshift laboratory since bringing it in and setting it up. The result was a thick jungle of machinery and wires set on large metal tables, chairs, the floor and any other available space. The air was thick with incessant clicks and ticking from the machines, as well as a growing heat that came from the guts of the machines. Raudive asked Stempnik to open the small window in the wall. He had opened it before he had a chance to finish his question. The claustrophobic atmosphere was lifted a little by the refreshing cool breeze coming from outside, joined by the tiny flickers of rain. Both men breathed a deep sigh as the breeze cooled them down. Everything was ready, now the experiment could begin.

Raudive activated a large tape machine on one of the tables, the large circular wheels of black tape began to spin. He checked the frequency, it was correctly in-between two frequencies. In this frequency, it was not possible for any ordinary outside broadcasts to be picked up.

Anything that would be heard would not be anything ordinary. He nodded to Stempnik that it was ready. Stempnik stood by to watch the proceedings as Raudive leaned forward to the microphone on the table. He spoke aloud to it in his native German. “This is Konstantin Raudive, you are going to hear some samples of recordings belonging to group “A”, experiment done on July 17, 1965.” Raudive finished and watched the spinning tapes to ensure it was still recording. He waited for a few moments as he contemplated what questions he was about to ask to whoever answered. He tried to put himself in the point of view of the listener, how they would answer and what answers they would give to his questions. After a few moments, he began his questions: “Who are you? Where are you? Are you well?” He felt slightly stupid asking the final question, but left it as it was. Both men checked that the transmission had been recorded and it had, sooner or later, they would probably hear something come back.

The two of them waited for a possible transmission to return by checking and carefully going over again each and every piece of equipment. It was an annoying, but reasonable thing to do, anything was better than sitting around waiting for something that may not happen. At least this way they wouldn’t get bored.

In the slowly passing, and agonising minutes, both men contemplated what they were doing here. They had gone into this field of research purely by reading up about the subject in old books, long since thrown away by a sceptical public. They had read how the phenomenon had first come to attention in the early part of the century, and how it had been studied by a small number of people. The experiment done today was the first real attempt to understand it using the most modern equipment they could find. They had received quite a number of confused and sceptical expressions and words from the people they had told about it, but in a way, he could see their point of view. No one could accept that technology, no matter how powerful could break through the walls of the spirit world and record the voices of the dead.

Technology represented science, and mixing it together with spirituality seemed an impossible, almost heretic thing to do.

After an endless eternity of deliberation and careful checking, both men turned suddenly as they heard the faintest crackle of sound on the tape machine. They almost knocked over equipment that was in the way in their frantic efforts to reach the machine. Raudive was the first to get to it. He turned up the volume to its highest but heard only faint, soundless static.

His didn’t matter. They had definitely heard something and they would work on that. Raudive switched off the recording and pressed rewind. The tape made a loud whining noise as it reached the beginning of the tape. With nervous shaking fingers, he pressed the play button.

Raudive’s recorded voice played first. “This is Konstantin Raudive, you are going to hear some samples of recordings belonging to group “A”, experiment done on July 17, 1965.”

Both men were stood mere inches away from the machine, carefully taking in every single note of sound that came into their ears. They lowered their heads and closed their eyes. The tape played only static for a few moments, for a short while they thought they had caught nothing, that its was simply their excited imagination playing tricks on them. Their heads jerked upward as they caught the faintest sound of what they knew to be a voice. Not wanting to get over excited and crush something with their feet, they contained their excitement.

Raudive was open mouthed as his arm reached out to play the recording back again and pressed play. He pushed the volume control to its limits. They two of them waited in muted excitement as they placed a set of large earphones over their ears. A thick spread of sweat had appeared on their faces, their muscles tensed with anticipation. They listened closely to the incredibly loud static in their ears.

‘Let us sleep,’ a voice said in Latvian. Raudive and Stempnik looked at each other in utter amazement. They had done it, they had broken through. They had successfully recorded the actual voice of a deceased person. They uttered a silent shout of triumph, shaking their fists in their air. They returned their concentration to the recording.

‘Vous tapez.’ the next voice said. “You beat.”

A great smile appeared on both men’s faces. They pulled the earphones tighter over their ears.

‘Here is the Land of Soul.’

The voices ceased as the final statement ended. Raudive and Stempnik smiled and removed the earphones from their ears. Raudive shut off the tape machine and walked up to Stempnik.

They immediately hugged each other and shook each others hands. They had finally done it, they had proved that these voices did actually exist. The feeling was amazing, almost like the feeling one would get if they were told the meaning of life. True, they had only recorded three separate voices, but at this stage it was enough. This was only the first step, but it was a giant leap forward. Good things could only come now and the feeling was indescribable.

“We have done it, my friend,” Raudive said excitedly. “Go and get the Champagne, we will celebrate tonight.

Stempnik rushed out of the room, his feet never touching the floor once. Raudive listened to his excited frantic footsteps down the silent corridors outside.

Stempnik returned holding a full bottle of unopened champagne and two glasses. He handed one to Raudive and poured in both glasses. In a spirit of humour, he took one third glass, filled it up and placed it in front of the tape machine. The two of them laughed. “Without him,” Stempnik said, “none of this would have happened.”

They clinked their glasses with the third and raised them into the air. “To future success and more friends on the other side,” Raudive said. The two of them drank from their glasses, contemplating what was to come in the future.

Chapter Two Somewhere in the United States

November 5th 2150 It had taken ten years and a lot of work, but the device was almost completed. The scientists waited for the moment for it to be switched on.

Ten years ago, they had proved their beliefs with only basic equipment, the same that had been used to receive scratchy recordings decades ago. They had broadcast their findings on television and shown the whole world, or rather what was left of it, that the afterlife did indeed exist. They learned later that everyone had watched it and had fled in terror and set up their homes again in the countryside, somewhere that was in the middle of nowhere and nothing at all happened, therefore a safe place from the unknown. It gave them thought that maybe humanity wasn’t meant to know the secret to something like this and it was too much for them to bear.

Despite this, they carried on with their work over the next ten years, carefully refining their experiment till it was perfect. Maybe no one else wanted to know more about that mysterious plane, but they did indeed and they were going to continue regardless.

The device had not been easy to construct, or to even find the right equipment or pieces of old machinery to put it together. But then again, how would a device used to directly contact the afterlife be as easy to make as a cake. The scientists had started to construction by merging together all the electronic and recording devices they could find, usually found on trash dumps or in many of the abandoned buildings that littered the city. Most of them had needed some kind of repair, but after that they were ready to be used.

Other parts of the device had been used from old pieces of pipe, old circuit boards, and lastly, an old basic telephone. None of the scientists really knew which pieces of machinery they would need for this, as nothing like this had ever been done before. While this thought worried them a little, it gave them a strong surge of power and importance.

They had wondered about the possible location to house the machine, as the perfect spot was necessary for absolute contact. A few of the scientists had tried to talk the others into housing it in their own homes but had always been let down severely. Housing it in a place like that would almost certainly disrupt the signal. They needed somewhere that was large and where they couldn’t make much noise. It had to be pretty old to hopefully encourage more spirits to come.

Eventually, they decided on the Town Hall. It was perfect. It had been their for decades, well over a full century ago. It had impressive gothic architecture inside and outside and plenty of secluded rooms. They could work on it and be far away from it at the same time.

It seemed cruel to think it, but it was true. The fact that the war had killed almost everyone on the planet with the germs used, it was an advantage to the work. With no one around, they wouldn’t have a lot of noise going on and people coming into see what was happening. This way, they could work without any kind of interruptions.

Although, this was probably the reason why they were contacting the afterlife in the first place. Being used to the fact that a great deal of humanity was gone didn’t erase the odd feelings of loneliness and depression. Sometimes the lust for more human contact was overwhelming and couldn’t be contained. Hopefully, when this device was finished, they could at last contact those who died and maybe get some kind of peace of mind knowing

everything was alright over there.

It had taken ten whole years to fully complete the telephone device and house in the perfect location and in the right spot, but now, aside from a few last minute checks and tuning, it was ready.

It was late evening, but the endless blackness of the night had yet to arrive. Since the war, everyone had noticed the strange changes that had happened to the weather. The sun never shone anymore in the daytime, instead all throughout the day, the sky was a perfect milky white, devoid of clouds or any other features. It was always cold and a thick mist enveloped everything around it. This was the easiest time for anyone to be alone and for depression to kick in. Most people stayed in their homes, trying their best to ignore everything that had happened. Once late afternoon and early evening arrived, the sky became a dark pink and the first signs of dark and the night began to arrive. Once it came to late evening, the night finally set in and everything was plunged into intense darkness, without the comfort of stars or the moon looking down on you. Regardless of who you were, or how brave you were, no one had the guts to stay outside once it was dark. Walking around the utterly silent and deserted streets, and looking around or even walking inside the homes of those who died was enough to terrify anyone. It was also an easy reminder for what happened to everyone. Aside from the odd emergency trek out for food or supplies, everyone completely avoided it.

William Blake was one of the many that hated walking around in the dark. He fumbled around with a small unrecognisable electronic device, carefully aligning the few strands of wires that hung lifelessly out of it. He was knelt beside the Telephone device, his right shoulder rested just to the side of it. He didn’t dare rest his shoulder on the device itself, anything could give way and have to be repaired yet again. This was the last thing he wanted, if it happened he would have to stay here and repair it while outside the dreaded empty blackness encroached further and further. The thought made him sweat, he moved his head to one side so the sweat would not drip on the device.

He noticed the large collection of dead leaves and thick blanket of dust that had gathered in the room, constantly being blown about by the strong breeze from outside. It gave the place an eerie atmosphere that he didn’t enjoy.

Looking up and noticing the leaves also made him realise that he was the only one in this immense room. He couldn’t help but look at the sheer scale of where he was. The room, though a better word would be the hall, was huge, it reminded him of the size of a cathedral, the features of the roof disappeared into the darkness above. The Telephone was positioned on one of the large walls, with the other two walls to the left and right of it. At the opposite end of the Telephone was a seemingly endless corridor that vanished into darkness. Above the corridor lay an arch with beautifully constructed architecture. It consisted of two angel-like figures facing each other, while holding a large clock in-between them. There were many arches in the building with this exact decoration, while some areas possessed different images.

Being in this place made William feel small and somehow under threat from being inside something so huge. He tried to ignore all this and concentrate on his work.

“Hey, Will!” Came a sudden booming voice from somewhere. William jumped out of his skin and almost dropped the device, the incredible voiced echoed across the room and disappeared into silence as it made its way down the corridor.

Will recovered himself once he realised who the voice belonged to.

“Hey, Will,” the voice sounded again, he was ready for it this time. “Have you got that amplifier working yet?”

William sighed an annoyed sigh before answering. “Its almost done, give me a minute or two.” He had to shout for them to hear. He heard the sound of irritated mumbling before the dull sound of static was switched off.

Can’t they wait just a little while, he thought to himself. Have some goddamn patience will you.

The voice belonged to the chief scientist, Oswald Richardson. He was sat with the other scientists behind a large thick piece of glass that separated them from the Telephone machine.

They faced the Telephone and the back of William, waiting impatiently for him to finish.

William was irritated by Oswald at times. He always expected everybody to finish their tasks in record time and had no patience for excuses, even when they were valid. Everyone hated him, but put up with him for the sake of the experiment. After ten years, however, their contempt for him had reached a level where they couldn’t be around for more than a short while before they had to leave the room, otherwise they would have to kill him.

William at last finished his work and fixed the device into the correct place. A small surge of electricity could be heard as the Telephone came on line.

The Telephone device was large and totally unlike anything seen before. The whole thing was a mesh of countless pieces of machinery from many sources. In one part of the machinery there lay a small device with a small glass window; a thin green line ran from one end of the glass to the other. In the centre sat a an old fashioned telephone, the receiver facing outward toward William, white in colour. The small sections that weren’t engulfed in the jungle of mechanical components were instead covered with white tiles. The entire device was embellished with a patterned design of squares that ran all around it. A small dirty looking clock was fixed on top of the whole thing.

He turned round to face the three cameras that were pointed at the Telephone device. They were cameras they had found while rummaging around for materials inside a large television studio. They were working fine once they tested them with a small generator, they decided it would be good to point them at the device and see if anything was recorded. They weren’t really expecting it, they guessed that most of their information would come from the receiver of the device, but there was no harm in trying.

William walked over to them and gave them one last final check. He checked that the monitors were working, the main circuits and lastly the endless series of wires that ran from the cameras to the corridor at the other end of the hall. Everything seemed like it was working fine. William smiled and gave the thumbs up to the others in the small booth.

With a smile and a muffled cheer from the other scientists, William turned round and ran through the door that led to the others in a small control room. The room was tiny and some of the scientists had to stand up due to the lack of chairs. William found a place to stand behind them, getting a half decent view of the Telephone by looking over somebody’s shoulder.

The room was packed solid with numerous pieces of equipment that hummed and bleeped in the irritating silence of waiting. Large door sized computers constantly ran out large sheets of paper with numbers and electrical readouts on them, large and small multicoloured lights

constantly blinked on and off with a high pitched sound. The three scientists that were sat down sat in front of a long table like machine that spanned from one end of the room to the other. Switches and lights were also on this machine, as well large and small levers.

The whole room hummed noisily of electrical activity as the many computers constantly worked to gather as much data as they could and feed to their creators. All the while, the creators stood resolute and ready, yet no one seemed to have the courage to continue. They had worked hard for this moment for ten long whole years, scrounging up whatever they could and fixing it together to create something unique, something that could alter human perception of everything, forever.

The scientists looked on at the buzzing computers in front of them, their hands and eyes moving only in fractions. Finally, William was the one to break the unending silence and stepped forward to the machines, lightly pushing the others aside. He flicked a small switch that was beside a small speaker, a small red light above it came on. He spoke into the speaker: “Could the test subject come in please.” He flicked off the switch and stood back to his original position.

The sound of a door opening in the main hall caught everyone’s attention as the sound of it echoed with the sound of a gunshot as it bounced across the walls. The small echo of timid footsteps came next as a large man wearing a white shirt and faded blue jeans came into view.

His hands were in his pockets, his feet appeared to step forward in every direction as though unsure of what and where he was doing.

The man had been selected by the scientists on their many excursions throughout the city to try and convince them to be a test subject to the experiment. Many chose to deny their requests up front and shut their doors in their faces, others thought of it for a few moments then decided no. Some people had been ecstatic to see the scientists and had taken them into their house, obviously they had been very lonely. After a time, however, it became apparent that they wanted them to stay with them. The scientists had narrowly avoided a frantic outburst by them when they wanted to leave. The scientists had received some surprising comments from some that the afterlife and spirits was all bullshit and what they were studying was nothing. They hadn’t believed for a moment what they had stated everywhere ten years before. They thought this strange as the belief in it would be the best way to get over what happened to the world. But, they realised that humanity probably never would believe in something that didn’t physically exist.

After much searching through the pathetic remnants of humanity, one of them had talked this man they now had into doing it. He said he wanted to do it because he was the type of guy who didn’t like to sit around and do nothing. He wanted to do something that was risky. The scientists didn’t want him to be hurt by what he was agreeing to do, but seeing as he wanted to take the risk, they felt they weren’t responsible for what happened to him.

The man walked into the immense room that he stood in, he looked round at the sheer size of it and the intricately done architecture embellished on the arch. He noticed the pane of glass where the scientists watched him, he nodded a nervous hello to them. Oswald Richardson reached for a switch and spoke aloud. “Please, step forward to the Telephone device, please.”

The man jumped as the sudden booming voice filled the whole room. It took him a moment to register what it had said. He noticed the Telephone positioned on the wall and instantly back away from it a step. He wasn’t entirely sure what its purpose was, but he knew the basic

idea. He suddenly felt that he was within touching distance of the unknown and the thought made him think twice.

“Step forward to the Telephone device, please.” Came the booming voice again. “Pick up the receiver and hold it to your ear.”

The man looked at the scientists with an agitated expression. “What’s going to happen to me?” He asked, his voice shaking uncontrollably.

“Absolutely nothing. All that will happen is that you’ll hear some strange sounds and voices coming from the receiver. Just keep the receiver to your ear and we’ll do the rest.” The scientist knew not to use the word probably in his sentence. Doing so would undoubtedly convince the man to make a run for it, and they couldn’t afford that.

The man continued to feel apprehensive around the Telephone, his mannerisms became nervous and increasingly agitated. He began to accuse the scientists of knowing something he didn’t. “Why the hell are you staying behind there, huh?” He shouted, pointing at them with his finger. “This thing not safe, or something. You’re not stupid to be behind that thing. Screw your damn experiment, I’m outta’ here.” He began to walk away and out of the room, his pace picking up as more and more. He gave the finger to the scientists.

Oswald sighed an irritated sigh. He leaned forward in his chair and activated the switch for the speaker. “Hey, listen you son of a bitch!” He shouted at the top of his voice, the man stopped in his tracks but didn’t turn around. The other scientists swore they could see a cake of dust fall to the floor as the great booming voice echoed like a bomb. The enraged scientist continued, his voice still as loud. “You told us your were going through with this, no matter what happened. You said you liked the challenge and weren’t a guy who was afraid! You can either walk back into that endless wasteland another dull day, or you participate in something that’s never been accomplished before!”

Oswald stayed stood still, his hands flat on the console. He watched the man as he deliberated within himself whether or not to do it. He looked back and forth at the Telephone and down the corridor leading out of the room, feeling the constant, empty breeze that constantly blew through everybody everything. Finally, with a determined expression, he walked toward the Telephone, the determination in his steps were apparent as they hit the cold floor with a loud echo. Oswald sat back contented in his chair, he slowly raised his hands toward his face, his fingers touched at the tips. He smiled a wide smile.

The man stepped up to the Telephone and picked up the receiver, he laughed a little to himself when he realised he was about to put money into it, realising it was pointless. He raised the receiver to his ear. Despite his determination to go through with this, he began to breathe heavily and rapidly, it could be heard by the scientists over the speaker that was connected to the Telephone.

One of the female scientists with thick long brown hair spoke into the speaker. “You’re okay, there,” she said, her voice calm and slightly appealing. “I’m going to switch on now. Don’t be alarmed if you hear the strange sounds coming through. We’ll just note them down for a few minutes and then that’ll be it.” She switched off the speaker. Herself and the others gathered their papers and clipboards.

Despite hearing the woman’s slight carnal voice and seeing the scientists a few yards to his right, the man felt utterly alone once the speaker was switched off. He ran the woman’s last statement through his mind, nodding his head as he concentrated on her words. The receiver

felt like a massive brick in his hand.

Oswald pressed a switch that was underneath a small box shaped piece of plastic, a bright red light came on above the switch. The scientists readied themselves, holding their pens just above the blank paper in their other hand. They waited impatiently for a sound any sound to come through. A terrible thought came to them. What if the device didn’t achieve what they wanted from it. What if they were wrong that a device like this would make contact with the other side. Their seemingly endless waiting and paranoid thoughts soon came to an abrupt but unsatisfying end.

An intense and incredibly sound shattering noise filled the whole immediate area. The scientists fell backwards onto the floor as the full shock of it all hit them like a battering ram, their bodies and equipment they carried fell silently to the floor, the noise blocking out everything else. The man at the Telephone fell backwards to the floor, landing on his side.

One of the scientists picked himself up from the floor and onto the console, his head spinning so much he could barely make out his surroundings. He gazed open mouthed at the swirling colours of the countless electric lights before him spin like a stirred up rainbow. He guessed through sheer memory the location of the switch for the Telephone speaker. He flicked the switch and the incredible earth shattering sound disappeared as quickly as it had arrived.

The scientists began to get their minds straight, their eyes began to focus. Oswald was the first to fully stand up, looking at the sprawling figures on the floor. “What the fuck happened!” He shouted, quickly glancing around him in every direction. He checked the controls and the main circuits in the room. Everything seemed okay, their was no sign of damage or anything at all that could have caused it. The other scientists helped each other up, everyone held their heads in their hands, groaning.

William looked up and noticed the inanimate figure of the man in the hall, lying on his side.

He raced out into the hall, almost pulling the door off its hinges. He ran to him and picked him up till he sat on his buttocks, the other scientists ran after him. “Is he okay,” everyone asked. “How is he? William lowered his head, his shoulders began to shake.

As everyone caught the cold sight of the man, they realised what had happened. After years of death in every city, every country and continent, they were left with only few survivors.

Now, another fragile life had been taken. An intense rage filled the heads of the scientists, a rage directed at everything that had happened over the past twenty years. Oswald Richardson’s bitter anger, however, was directed against something, something he didn’t tell the others. The experiment had failed because of some damn unknown error, and their lab rat had died on them. Now, they had nobody to continue the experiment. He could always use the other scientists, but their survival was vital. He needed their minds to repair the Telephone or anything else related to that.

He walked defeated to the Telephone. He rested his head on the main Telephone machine and rested his arm beside his head. He gazed intently at the Telephone device, as though forcing his mind into the world beyond, to break through it himself without any annoying barriers.

“Soon, I will know,” he whispered to himself. “Soon, I will have all the answers I want.”

Chapter Three A mild warmth gathered around the city as the night finally set in, despite being in early

November. Not a sound could be heard through the deserted roads, alleyways and buildings that stood silent, aside from the quiet breeze that blew the discarded pieces of newspaper and trash. The once bustling stone and metal constructions that served the countless needs of humanity, now merely served as immense gravestones. A reminder to what once was the endlessly grinding machine that was the human race.

The ceaselessly silent streets and sidewalks rarely enjoyed the sound of footstep, aside from the few that dared to face the crushing silence. The survivors that lived in the city chose to stay in their homes, ignoring what had happened to the world and focusing their minds on anything beside the obvious. Walking outside was merely a reminder to what had happened to everything. These people were the survivors of the dreaded war that had killed the world and left them behind to serve as ghosts. There were more people in the city, even after the scientists declared the existence of the afterlife. However, after that message, many took their own lives, fully expecting a life a whole lot better than the one they had now. This caused a lot of resentment to the scientists, enough to make them set up their experiments as far away from any populated buildings as possible.

This night, however, was different. A sound ran through the streets, merely a low sound, but enough to make those in their homes look out of the window with great interest. The sound picked up intensity until finally, it came into view of those still alive to see it. The sound was of an engine, a car engine to be exact. The car was a fifties Cadillac, bright pink and no roof.

The car belonged to Sarah Gaelock.

Unlike most others, Sarah did not fear walking or even being in the streets after dark, instead she took pleasure in it. She had always been someone who others would call odd or different.

Even before the war, she always enjoyed walking the streets at night, preferably in places where their was little to no people. She was always more at peace when she was alone and had no one to bother her. She dared herself to admit that she partly enjoyed the idea that everyone else was dead and she would never annoyed by others wanting to intrude on her.

Perhaps this was the reason why she was still in the city, rather than spend a slightly better life in the country with the others.

Sarah often saw those still alive desperately trying to make friends with others they could find, just so they didn’t have to be alone. She was surprised by what they would do to make that happen. She felt privileged that she could survive on her own and not have to stoop to ridiculous levels like them, but, the pain of being alone all the time did sometimes find its way to her.

She thought of the news that the scientists had aired to everyone ten years before, announcing excitedly that they had proved the afterlife did exist. She was surprisingly unaffected by this.

But, would anyone having been told this news be any different? Perhaps, Man can not fully conceive the idea of something beyond death until he has fully experienced it for himself.

The news made Sarah think of her father who had died in the war. He was a soldier who had gone to fight and met the first blasts of the germ carrying missiles that was launched. Many people didn’t know how to react to such a mass death happening in seconds. Huge army forces simply fell down dead as they ran to fight the encroaching enemy.

Once the military forces fell to the plague, the civilian forces knew their time would come soon. Those who still possessed a grain of hope managed to hide themselves inside underground bunkers or anywhere underground they could find. Those who had lost all hope

and lost most of their family simply remained in their homes and waited for the plague to drift over the oceans and come to them.

Despite Sarah losing her father, what family she had, she found a place inside a large bunker filled with only a small number of people. As the endless months passed as everyone waited for the plague to dissipate into the atmosphere, Sarah watched everyone in their individual mourning, burying their heads in their upraised knees, their tears endlessly streaming. Instead of mourning herself, Sarah focused her attentions on surviving. She knew she wouldn’t survive what uncertain future lay before her if she feared it. She concentrated herself on facing whatever card fate would deal her and go along with without any feeling whatsoever.

This was how she had been able to survive all this time alone. She regarded any kind of close contact with anyone else would cause her to put all her hope in people. Then, if anything happened to them, she would have nothing left to occupy her. This was the exact reason she had the car, something that wouldn’t ever let her down or disappoint her, unless she needed some kind of repair.

She liked the Cadillac, it gave the night some life back. It also served as a distraction for her whenever the loneliness grew in her so much that she couldn‘t force it back. She had found it wandering the streets one day, the loneliness was too much to handle and she could find no sanctuary anywhere. She had found herself outside a car showroom and in the blink of an eye raced inside to see them. She wasn’t a person who took any kind of interest in cars, but at the present time, it was the best thing she could imagine.

Whilst looking endlessly at the cars she spotted the Cadillac and was instantly entranced. She loved the colour and the design and also, the era that it represented. The Fifties decade seemed like an endless party to her. The music and the look of that time appealed to her greatly. This was most likely because it was the exact opposite of what was happening now.

She wasted no time in driving it out of the place and into the streets.

Driving alone now in the streets, she leaned her head back and took in the full feel of breeze on her face, her long brown hair blew eerily about as the car raced through the streets.

The car picked up a lot of dust around the wheels, as well as pieces of clothing strewn around. She forgot most of the time, but this was all that remained of those millions that died in the war. Once the germ had made its way into their systems, they instantly fell down dead, no one moved them in case they too were infected. Eventually, once the germ had done its work on the whole city, there was no one left to do anything. As a result, the corpses were left there to rot and disintegrate into large piles of ash, leaving behind the dusty and torn remains of their clothes. The ash’s were often swept away by the breeze whenever it was strong enough and blew them into the many sewer entrances at the sides of the roads.

Sarah’s pondering on this morbid subject suddenly shattered when she noticed that the back car wheels came to a dead stop, the sudden force caused her to shoot forward in her seat.

What the hell was that? She asked herself as she jumped out of the car.

Moving to the back of the car, she instantly noticed the problem. A large piece of clothing was stuck under the arch of her back left tire. She looked at it closer and noticed that it was a white dress, hauntingly attractive in the dim light. The breeze blew away dust that had collected on the garment and on her tire. She was tired of this, of constantly removing old clothes from her tires and checking that her car was okay. She often tried to veer away from the clothes in the street when she saw them, but it often did no good.

She yanked at the dress, pulling as hard a she could. She hoped that pulling it like this wouldn’t damage anything in the car, but she had no other means of removing it. Finally, the dress came free with a loud tear. It had most likely wrapped itself around something as the wheels spun it around. Despite knowing where it came from, Sarah couldn’t help but look at the dress, still possessing a strange kind of beauty despite its frailties.

The dress blew in the breeze as she held it, almost giving the impression of a ghost. While looking at it, Sarah suddenly imagined where it had come from. She immediately threw it down to the ground. The breeze picked it up and carried it along the floor and into the darkness of the narrow alleyways. Sarah’s gaze was fixed on it, watching it withy a strange feeling of grave robbing. She shook her head and shook away the bizarre feeling. She had been out to long. Being around at night for too long did sometimes make you feel a little weird. She got in her car and started the engine, deciding to cut short her drive and go straight home and into sanity.

Chapter Four The road to Sarah’s home would take her through a part of the city that was totally deserted, bereft of anything living anymore. While the survivors chose to stay separated from each other in the opposite side of the city, they still took comfort in knowing that they were in the same area as others. This didn’t make them feel as alone as they would normally.

The breeze seemed louder here, regardless of the constant droning of the Cadillac’s engine.

The endlessly blackened windows of the countless buildings always bore the appearance of all-seeing eyes, looking down at the city with dark, inhuman intentions. Sarah always looking at them whenever she drove past. This part of the city possessed the greatest examples of architecture you could find for miles. Everywhere, the skyscrapers and smaller buildings had intricate designs of effigy’s and figures decorating their darkly coloured exteriors. Angelic figures held large clocks and burning sconces in their hands, large bronze and golden coloured statues of various gods sat high on their thrones above churches, their gaze unmoving from the incessantly deserted streets.

Yet, with all this majestic beauty, no one would even think of moving into there. Perhaps its claustrophobic feeling whenever you walked down its streets and the intricately designed architecture gave it a menacing feeling. To believe in spirits of the dead and to walk around a place with this ambience would be enough to put the fear into anyone. Apart from the strange feeling of unease she got from looking up at the windows, the rest never really bothered Sarah. Her mind was too focused on staying alive. Her mind constantly reeled with worry.

Had she enough food and water, was the generator still working, did it need fuel and would her sanity survive being alone?

Being the way she was toward people was in one way a good defence at survival, but also a deadly trap. She was almost incapable of making friends or having some kind of company whenever she needed it. The few that she saw walking aimlessly in the streets, or scavenging for supplies in the supermarkets and small stores where the only thing keeping her mind from turning inside out.

Whilst driving down the narrow dark streets, Sarah became aware of something. A feeling of apprehension that swept over her silently like a perfect assassin. She began to nervously look

around her at the passenger seat and the back seat. She touched her neck as she sensed the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stand up. Her eyes began to move of their own volition, moving to the right as she noticed the looming dark building coming up to her. She forced her foot on the brake pedal, the car jerked forward slightly as the force of the sudden brake caused it to stop. She rolled down the window and looked outside.

The immense architectural structure of the Town Hall sat silent, the breeze collecting around it, the soft whistle of the breeze appeared to give its dead contours some life. Large and tough pieces of stone made up the staircase that led upward to the main doors. The doors were huge and made of extremely thick wood, embellished with large ink black door knockers held in place with large silver bolts. With its sheer size and feel and the effigy of the two angels kneeled opposite each other, holding the large great unmoving clock, collectively gave it an appearance of the entrance to heaven, or some other mysterious spiritual domain.

Sarah’s gaze never left it, her eyes glued to its huge, silent doors. She had the feeling that most would get sometimes. The feeling of staring constantly at someone, consumed with interest, knowing you had to look away before you’re spotted, but incapable of doing so. She didn’t know why she had to stare at it, apart from its obvious architectural dominance over the other buildings, it had no other purpose.

The feeling of unease and a disquieting atmosphere slowly started to build up and Sarah became aware of what she was doing. She shook of the feeling and concentrated on getting home, hardly noticing that the engine was still on and that the fuel was almost out. She drove off, the gas pedal pushed to its maximum.

Chapter Five Sarah made it back to home just as the last drops of gasoline began to be run through the engine. She parked up inside the garage and filled it back up with a small gasoline can. She carefully wiped the car over with a damp cloth to get rid of the dust that had settled over its body. She knew very well that its was no ordinary dust, but what was left of most of the corpses, but she had lived to long in this world to be bothered by it. She enjoyed the shine given off by the car when she had finished and threw the cloth into a small bucket. She walked through the door that led into the main building.

Sarah’s apartment building was situated in the outer fringes of the city, not far from the residential districts further out. She could have moved away into one of the countless empty houses there and have a house all to herself, but, she had lived in her apartment for quiet a long time before the war and that was her home and always would be. Besides, she always hated moving.

Her apartment building was old and signs of decay and rot had set in quiet considerably, especially the parts made of wood. The infection of the germs from the war had somehow corrupted every material made from organic elements and caused it to slowly break down.

The front door of the building creaked when she opened it and seemed like it would fall apart.

The main hall was small, hardly big enough for more than two people at a time. A wooden staircase was situated at the opposite end of the front door and led up to the apartments. Small metal mail boxes were attached to the wall to the left, all rusted and jammed with unopened mail. Sarah preferred not open the mail and peek inside, despite the ones they were addressed

to were long dead. She had gone to open one of them before and had felt the strong feeling of grave robbing. She had immediately put the letter back in an awkward position.

At the bottom of the staircase was the door that led to the landlady’s room. Sarah always felt a twinge of sadness when she remembered the landlady, Mrs Hopkins. She was the only one who was actually a friend to her. She always invited Sarah into her room whenever she was peckish and always offered a friendly ear or a shoulder to cry on. She always felt more like a mother to her and not just a friend, her real parents having died when she was young. Mrs Hopkins husband had died years before and the two of them took pleasure in each others company.

Sarah had tried her hardest to try and convince her to come with her into the shelter instead of sitting at home waiting to die. But, she had been adamant that that was where she’d stay. She had lived there with her husband and his pictures and personal things where still there and she wanted to die with him. Sarah could almost feel her dying the moment the wave of infected air had reached the continent.

Sarah had so wanted to take her out and bury her in the local cemetery, instead of just lying rotting in her apartment. But, she could never muster the strength to even set eyes on her. It would be like going into your parents room and finding them dead, looking into their cold lifeless eyes where you once saw happiness and life. Sarah took comfort in the knowledge that hopefully she was with her husband in the great unknown. It seemed slightly funny to her, she had forced herself not to feel anything for the death of the rest of the world, but allowing herself to be overwhelmed by one person would be like putting a pistol in her mouth.

Totally ignoring Mrs Hopkins door and turning her head away, she made her way up the creaking rotting staircase up to her apartment. Every time she walked up or down the stairs, the threat of it suddenly collapsing and her falling with it seemed ominously closer. The stairs creaked like a large tree blowing in the wind, occasionally her feet broke through some of the steps, but only making small holes. Countless occasions of that happening had taught her to react quickly whenever she lost her footing. She worried what happen one day if the one thing came crashing down and the route between the upstairs and downstairs was just an empty gap. She didn’t have the knowledge or the experience to put together another staircase, plus, the whole thing could collapse again. At this rate, she would have to throw a rope up to her window from outside and climb up. She often wondered whether fixing the stairs with metal supports would help keep in place, or maybe strong wood preserver would keep it from rotting and give it its strength back.

In a matter of seconds, she came up to the second floor and faced the hall of apartments. The hall was horizontal and didn’t veer off in any other directions. It was only wide enough for one person at a time and Sarah took full advantage of that whenever it happened. Their were seven apartments in all; three on either side and one at the opposite end of where she stood.

The last apartment on the left was hers, she took of her shoes and tiptoed down the hall, the wooden planks below the long carpet seemed to creak louder than the stairs.

Coming home to her apartment always seemed like an annoying ritual for her that had to be carried out, no matter what she did to avoid it. She had to ignore Mrs Hopkins apartment to avoid from collapsing into uncontrollable emotion, then the fear of leg breaking on the staircase and finally, the cherry on the cake and the most difficult of challenges, her only

neighbour, the annoying Ted Jessup.

Like Sarah, Ted had lived in his apartment since before the war and had gone back there after the germ had dissipated. She had tried to make friends with him when they met, but his unusual and creepy behaviour made her think twice about it. Since the war, he had tried his best to encourage her to live with him in his apartment, saying in a creepy tone how he had always like her and thought the world of her. She was his soul-mate and the death of the rest of humanity was the call fate had made to get them together.

Ever since then, she has tried her best to sneak by his door without him hearing her. True, he was annoying and creepy, but she didn’t believe he’d do anything violent. Although, she caught him once trying to look through her keyhole from the outside. She had nearly broken his arm because of this, she said he was so sorry and wanted to make it up to her with a meal in his place. She opened his door for him and pushed him with a heft kick up the ass and shut the door behind him.

Sarah made feathery footfalls as she tiptoed down the hallway, her eyes constantly wavering from the door of her apartment to Ted’s. Her heart beat was racing, she began to sweat uncontrollably, her mind raced with imagined scenario’s of Ted suddenly appearing from behind the door and then pulling her inside. She had to admit to herself, she was afraid of him. She didn’t know what he was capable of and had to expect the worst. She had seen what others did to force someone to stay with them and she didn’t want to be on the receiving end.

She was within mere inches of her apartment now, a bright smile of relief forced its way onto her face. She fully expected to be disappointed by now, but it never came. Her hand fumbled in her pocket for the key, her fingers getting confused by the loose change she carried.

Finally, her fingers recognised the sharp edges of her key. She hastily drew it out of her pocket, almost dropping it to the floor. She put the key in the lock and turned it to the right. It clicked. A wash of relief and the victory of successfully running the assault course yet again.

She opened the door and closed it tight behind her, relocking it securely.

She had been getting tired lately of doing her best to avoid that creep. Every instinct in her body told her to get over to his apartment and beat the crap out of him and throw him out.

She wouldn’t be afraid to do it, she would be too pissed off to be afraid. She felt that she had the right to do this anyway. Mrs Hopkins always considered her a daughter, so by rights, she had the final say over who stays and who leaves.

She decided to put the thought on standby for the moment and lock it away in the keepsake part of her mind. She wasn’t in the mood for thoughts of personal vendettas, she just wanted to relax and prepare for the next day.

Sarah’s apartment was pretty large, given the smaller size of the building. A large alcove lay at the opposite end of the room where her bed was, a small open window sat above the bed, the low breeze blew eerily through the white curtains. The bathroom was to the left and possessed a decent sized bath. The main living room bore a single bright grey leather settee and a large comfortable armchair of the same colour. A small coffee table with a worn rug lay in between them. Finally, to the right of the room sat a large old fashioned fireplace. Pictures of Sarah as a child and of her father sat above the fire.

Sarah heaved a great, deep sigh as she beheld the comfort of her home. Finally, she was safe and secure, away from the misery and defeat of the outside. She felt a chill in the room, the goose bumps on her stood up immediately. She covered herself with her arms in the defensive

manner. She took a box of matches from the fireplace and struck a match, the flame flickered in the surrounding cold. Before it blew itself out, she threw the match on the collection of wood on the fire. The wood burned ferociously, throwing a large flickering shadow over the floor. The intense light seemed a safe place away from the surrounding darkness. She sat with her knees bent in front of the fire, carefully warming her hands. She had thought that the cold she always felt came from the window and had shut it only to find the cold still there. There was no obvious signs as to where it would come from, but she wasn’t in a hurry to find out, either.

She wrapped her warm hands around her and stood up to switch the light on. In an instant, the room was bathed in a soft comforting light. She smiled as she began to relax.

She decided to run a bath. She walked into the bathroom, her feet felt the cold touch of the black and white tiles. She turned on the hot water and let it run. She dumped a handful of light green bath salts into the water. They had the smell of freshly cut grass; one of her favourite smells. When the hot water began to splutter, she turned it off and turned on the cold water. After a few minutes, she put her hand in the pool of water, deciding it was hot enough. She took off her dress and underwear and slipped in slowly into the hot, comforting water.

She looked up at the pale white ceiling above, her eyes never moving away from it. She felt her muscles slowly relax as the water did its work.

She always did most of her thinking whenever she took a bath, though she didn’t allow her mind to wander for too long. Too much thinking caused her to imagine bizarre things about life and what the afterlife was like. It was hard for her to return to earth whenever this happened. She allowed herself simple thoughts, about her father, mainly. Her father had been everything to her, since her mother died when she was young. She remembered how he had read riveting stories to her from his large collection of old books he kept in a large bookcase.

She would sit on his lap or on the bed and listened to them, hearing his comforting voice and watching him rock backward and forward in his rocking chair, dressed in dark brown trousers and waistcoat to match. The spectacles he wore never seemed to waver, even when he looked down directly. She still remembered the strong smell of old leather he always had, what with him being a librarian. He often brought her home rare books for her to read, reminding her continuously not to take them everywhere she went, lest they become too damaged. She was glad that her father had taught her the importance of books, allowing her to appreciate them later in life. Before and after the war, she had collected quiet an array of old books of varying genres and writers. When their wasn’t enough room to keep them in the closet anymore, she put them in the attic and a couple of the empty rooms outside. She kept the doors locked and opened them with the only copy of Mrs Hopkins skeleton key that she now had, just in case the asshole next door decided to go walkabout.

Sarah felt herself slowly slipping into unconscious, her final memory of her father before she fell asleep was of being a small child and falling asleep in his lap, the thick smell of the leather mixed with the sensual aromas of the bath salts wafted through her nasal passages.

“Night, Daddy,” she said before she finally fell asleep.

The Town Hall is quiet now, the dull humming sound of the restored electricity is now shut off. Its endless corridors and cathedral sized rooms are now plunged into darkness, the

scientists now absent from their posts. The one sound that remains is the occasional cracking of the long abandoned wood furniture, slowly rotting into dust. The constant breeze carries the smell of dead wood and the impotence of the place around the area.

The back garden of the Town hall had been really something at one time. Beautiful flowers and buzzing insects were a regular sight to behold, the heavenly perfume of the flowers was always present. The garden was separated into two parts; divided by a door shaped archway constructed from an amalgamation of roses bound together. Large blossom hung above, the eternal bathing of petals falling delicately and silently to the ground was a gorgeous sight to behold.

But, now, even in the darkest of dark, the defeat and utter misery of the place is easily noticeable. The flowers are all dead, dried up and stale, their once bright and happy petals now shrivelled to a dark brown colour, the heavenly perfume is replaced by the incessant stench of death and decay.

The buzzing insects are all long dead, their countless corpses joining the millions more of the human beings. The golden delight of the rose constructed archway is dead and defeated, choked with the strangling grip of the vines and endlessly growing undergrowth . The overhanging blossom trees that once bathed the garden in bright petals are now bent and twisted out of control, their blossom free branches now creak in the breeze. They now bath the bleak garden in a menacing shadow, almost like the image of a menacing skeletal hand.

In the endless night and silence, a new sound emerges, one that has probably not been heard anywhere for years. It is the sound of heavy dirt being shovelled to make a hole. The sound of tired, heavy breathing joins the uncomfortable sound, as well as the slow breathing of others.

William Blake is the one digging the hole in the back garden of the Town Hall, his muscles and eyes are weak and tired, the shovel feeling more and more heavier as he continues. The still body of the man that participated in the experiment lay beside him. The rest of the team of scientists stood around him, their expressions beset with worry and anxiety. Oswald Richardson wandered around, desperate for him to finish the hole.

It was decided that instead of burying the man in the local cemetery, they would bury him here under the cover of darkness. It was very doubtful that anyone would see them, but their was still that possibility. Someone could have seen them burying him and wondered what they doing. If they thought that they had killed him, what with life being so important now, they wouldn’t be able to blink before they’d be hanging from the nearest lamppost.

Oswald was really the one who had decided that they should do this, in fact he was very eager to do it as quickly as possible. To him the man was simply a test subject, a lab rat that could be replaced easily. Nothing would get in the way of the progression of the experiment, not even a human life.

The others had been shocked to his outbursts. They knew he was capable of some things, but no one would consider this. Yet, while they had been adamant and determined not to agree with him, a small part of them agreed with him, no matter how much they tried to bury it.

They were all in the same team, working on the same experiment, all had put an incredible amount of work into it. Eventually and reluctantly, they agreed with his proposal.

The scientists stood around the ever deepening makeshift grave, their intestines knotting together as their conscience ordered them to stop what was happening.

“Aren’t you fucking done yet!?” Oswald shouted, his fists and his chest tightening.

William stopped his shovelling and stuck the shovel in the ground. He rested his arms and his head on the handle, allowing his breathe to catch up before he answered. “You think I’m going to slow,” he said, stopping occasionally to harness more air in his lungs. “You wanna’ do it, be my goddamn guest.” He took the shovel from the earth and held it out to Oswald.

Oswald merely looked at it for a few moments with a troubled expression. “Just get on with it, I don’t want to be here all night.” He turned his back to the proceedings and crossed his arms. He stared at the immense concentration of overgrowth that had forced its way through the dark wooden fence.

The other scientists wanted to say something to him, if not to stop what they were doing, but at least tell him what they were feeling then the crushing feeling of guilt wouldn’t be so intense. But, they had done all of this before till their throats hurt. Everyone was caught in a cage of silence and guilt.

The incessant digging of the grave seemed to take an eternity in the crushing silence, but finally it was completed, William threw the shovel away into the undergrowth, relived to be free of it at last. He knew better than to ask some of the others to help him push the body in, the expressions on their faces was enough information for him to understand their complete reluctance. With an aggravated sigh, he took rested his foot on the back of the body and pushed it further and further until he heard it hit the bottom of the hole with a deep thud. The scientists shuddered as they heard it; as though the sound reminded them of the full scale of what they were doing.

William proceeded to fill in the hole, cursing himself when he realised he had thrown it away.

Instead, he knelt down and used his hands and feet to shovel in the earth. He took a quicker time to do this, it was done in a matter of minutes. William stayed sat beside the grave he had made, his head hanging down as though silently praying. Oswald turned round and surveyed it. “Hmn, very good,” he said in an unfeeling tone. “Now that that’s done, I’ll say goodnight.

I want you all back to work first thing tomorrow.”

William and the other scientists hastily left the scene, William flashed Oswald an expression of hatred. He walked with the others into the Town Hall, quickly brushing the dirt from his hands and underneath his fingernails. If he could decided to end this right here and now, he would. But, like the others, he knew that when choosing to serve either the scientist or the human being in them, they always regrettably served the scientist.

Chapter Six The time that is shown in Sarah Gaelock’s apartment is 1:00am, though others would not measure time in this fashion anymore. Sarah likes to see time pass simply as part of an illusion that time for the world itself never did stop and carried on. She liked to think that many of the survivors of the plague left for the country because it was a pleasant country lifestyle; which is why many go in the first place. Many others, however, prefer to not think about time passing or even existing, it just reminded them that death would one day follow.

Their knowledge of the afterlife merely gave them a new fear, the fear of not knowing what the afterlife was and what lay there in wait for them.

Sarah Gaelock awakens in the bath, her body free of tightness and tension. She senses the

lukewarm water around her and knows she has to get out.

With half opened eyes, she spots the clock on the wall and hears the constant ticking amongst the unending silence. She groans as she orders her half asleep body to get out of the bath and dry herself with the towel. She half dries her hair with the towel and finishes it off with strong blasts from the hairdryer. She wonders what she would do tomorrow. Nothing stands out of any importance. The food and water supply is fine and the generator is fully topped up with fuel and running smoothly. She decides to leave those houghts to tomorrow, preferring to get to bed as quickly as possible and return to her dreams.

She leans over the bath and sees her tired reflection in the water.

In the smallest of a moment, she thinks she sees someone else beside her. She flinches slightly when she realises it was her imagination. She unplugs the plug and allows the water to escape. She goes into the living room and feels the warming blanket of the fierce fire covering her all around. She puts on her nightdress that is laid out on the bed and switches off all the lights. She decides to extinguish the fire and activates a button on the side of the fireplace. In a few seconds, the fire is out completely, a small amount of smoke and a strong hissing sound is all that remains.

She lies in her bed waiting for sleep to prevail, her eyes gazing out at the small number of stars that fill the night sky. The breeze is still prevalent, slowly blowing through the white curtains.

She wonders what people in the afterlife are thinking of the world now, how they feel looking down on a world that is dead and almost bereft of all life. She wonders if there is a god, why did he allow this to happen to his children and what did he plan for everyone when all were dead and in his unknown kingdom. She wondered what was going on with the Town Hall, why it had that strange effect on her. She decided to go and find out what was going on in that place. Check: Town Hall (A.S.A.P.) She said, mentally putting the note in her memory box.

Her wandering mind finds its way to thoughts of men and sex. Sarah hadn’t been a slut before the plague, but she liked the occasional bed romp. Her body ached and groaned for a strong mans hands to hold her tight, his warm skin against hers creating electricity. Though she had spent a great deal of time in the past forcing it out of her mind, the thought of Ted Jessup’s hands on her reared its ugly head. Despite its ugly image, she wondered seriously about it.

Would his hands be sufficient, is his cock any less better than a handsome guy. She seriously needed a man, and their was one mere few feet away.

She found herself slowly starting to move out of the bed, knowing exactly where she was going. Her mind struggling for control, her thoughts racing wildly. No, goddammit, get back into bed now. Screw that son of a bitch. Go to sleep, now!

Eventually, much to her delight, her mind prevailed over her body. She dragged herself back to bed and pulled the covers right underneath her chin, she forced her eyes shut and shut out any other thoughts until she was asleep.

Chapter Seven

10:00am and Sarah awakens from her deep sleep. She had the fragments of dreams, but nothing that could tell her what they were about. She got out of bed with a groan and opened the curtains. Instead of the bright sunshine that accompanies most mornings, the sky is streaked with a perfectly white blank canvas, devoid of colour or features. A thick mist envelopes envelopes everything around it, the surrounding buildings and long abandoned cars hardly noticeable in the fog.

In the beginning, Sarah would have cursed and sighed with sadness at this sight every morning, but years of beholding everywhere day in, day out, it became the norm to her, sunlight and bright yellow and puffy white clouds where but a distant memory. Like someone’s first memory, it is distorted and broken like a smashed mirror.

Sarah turns from the window and takes a shower then dresses herself. The note she made of the Town Hall springs forward to the conscious part of her mind. She puts on her coat and leaves her apartment, double checking that her door is securely locked. She tiptoes again past her neighbours door and hurries on down the stairs. She averts her eyes as she passes Mrs Hopkins door and goes out into the garage to her car.

The sight of the Cadillac is always a pleasant sight, but even more pleasant in the mornings.

The car seems the only thing anywhere that still bears life, unlike the dead and tired objects that litter the city. Even the few people in the city and their own personal items and cars appear dead and lifeless. Sarah feels slightly humbled by this thought.

She checks the gas meter, despite knowing that she filled it up herself last night. It is full to the top. She presses a button on the wall and the garage doors open with a low mechanical grinding sound. Forcing the gas pedal to the floor, the car speeds out into the silent streets.

The car speeds through the silent streets, carefully avoiding the torn clothes and piles of ashes strewn everywhere. Empty houses and office buildings rush by, merely a blur in the constant speed.

Sarah didn’t know exactly what she would find in the Town Hall. Either something would be there or it wouldn’t, but either way she had to know.

She wondered if this was a little adventure to her, something new and exciting to fill in the constant empty days she faced ahead of her. Perhaps it was, but was that so wrong? She always feared becoming the same as everyone else, gloomy and miserable and forcing themselves to endure each and every second that passed by them, their pathetic existences no more than that of a ghost wandering the city for no reason but that. She prided herself on being someone who could spur on, regardless of what happened. She could find humour in herself for some things and was proud of that.

Sarah neared the location of the Town Hall. The sky seemed to get a little darker here and the cold air seemed to get a little colder. The surrounding empty buildings once white with the fog and the colour of the sky, now seemed to get darker and ominous. Up until recently, they appeared dead and lifeless and nothing behind their misted windows. Now a kind of dark sentience seemed to grow in them, their windows now becoming black and evil eyes looking down at Sarah with an evil malevolence.

Sarah knew that this was stupid and was merely her imagination, yet the fear refused to dissipate, remaining with her like an invisible spirit on her back.

The car finally pulled up right outside the Town Hall, Sarah felt slightly relieved to finally be here. The large stone staircase that led up to the large main doors lay to the right of the car,

Sarah again could feel the uncomfortable feeling that seemed to emanate from the building, a strong force that seemed to push her back. She could feel it seeping out like puss from a wound. She tried her best to ignore the feeling and stepped out of the car. The Hall seemed to posses a strange majesty over the other dark and silent buildings around it, as though it was the master of its kind. The strong breeze carried the thick fog across the stonework and architecture, as though imbuing it with some unknown power. A large sheet of newspaper drifted silently across the stone steps and was carried away into the darkness.

Sarah could feel a lump in her throat forming, her stomach tightened into a knot, her entire instincts told her with a loud voice to leave now, get away from here and don’t ever come back. She ignored this intense impulse and forced herself to continue. Something was going on here, something that wasn’t right. She had to know, it was her nature. She wasn’t someone who would simply kick back and ignore everything, she wanted to be involved in everything and didn’t hesitate when the moment came.

She spotted the giant, gothic doors at the top of the steps, they were open ajar and blowing slowly in the wind, a strong creak could be heard coming from them.

With a moment of courage and strong determination, she ran for the doors and went inside, quickly closing the heavy doors behind her.

The overpowering feeling of force and pressure was its strongest here. Sarah could feel it like hands on her chest, pushing her ribs against her heart and lungs. She struggled for breathe, drawing it into her body deeply with great strength to do so. After a few minutes, she recovered, suddenly feeling as though she had accumulated great strength to overcome whatever was pushing her away. She stood up to her full height and clenched her fists together.

Looking out into the great hallway she now stood, she saw only a thick canopy of darkness, as if someone had draped their hands over her eyes. She could smell the potent odour of ancient stone and the always present smell of rotting wood. She tried her hardest to hear something, anything, but heard only the still and deafening static of silence.

She forced her legs to submit to her will and they did, carrying her further into the endless darkness. Moving forward a few steps, she became aware of the presence of a door to the left of her. She turned her head, still seeing darkness, yet at the same time seeing the outline of the door. She lightly pushed it and it came open slowly with a creaking sound. The smell of dust and rotting wood that oozed from the room was overpowering, Sarah immediately covered her mouth to avoid any entering her lungs.

Their was light in the room that came from a poorly boarded window, the bare colourless white light drifted in shone on the pathetic contents of the room. What was probably once a large, thick wooden table with chairs to match was now a well-rotted heap of dust and dead wood, the dark varnished gloss that gave the furniture a life and a presence had now left it, leaving in its place a pale corpse-like appearance.

With a little cough, she turned from the room and continued along the ink black corridor.

After a long period of time groping around in the shadows and occasionally stumbling over other piles of rotted furniture, she spotted light ahead of her. The light still seemed like part of the darkness but at the same time, brighter. A pale light allowing her to see the basic outlines of other doorways. Dust blew slowly across the pale light, as if wanting to be seen. Thank god, I don’t wanna’ be groping around in the dark forever.

Sarah concentrated on the light in front of her, her careful walking now became a sprint as she came toward it closer and closer.

She reached the light, and in the blink of an eye, she saw only a strong bright light and nothing more. She drew in a quick lungful of air as she beheld it. Then, finally, her vision was replaced with an image. She slowly drew her head back, slowly gathering a great amount of air inside her. Her eyes widened as she gazed on the room in front of her.

The main hall was huge, reaching high into the pure white sky above with its gorgeous ceiling. The ceiling was a sphere and seemed like the inside of a dome. It was painted with a golden brass colour, flaked and faded over time, yet the astounding colour still remained as strong. A large, lavish painting on the ceiling showed a cloud-filled sky with a strong bright light forcing its way through the clouds. Angels and Cherubs in bright blue and red garments flew beautifully across the clouds and the light, all holding large golden pots with water seeping out.

The rest of the hall didn’t strike beauty or any kind of pleasant appearance as the domed ceiling. The surrounding walls were dull and grey and bore a great deal of flakes. Dust and decay had set in around the bottom of the walls and blew across the room with the large collection of dead leaves scattered around.

Sarah looked around and realised that the place was deserted. She decided that it was a waste of time being here and turned to leave. In that moment, she heard something in the slightest of a moment. A buzzing sound, similar to that of a bumblebee or some other flying insect.

This was obviously her imagination; their wasn’t a single insect still living today. Yet, despite her reaction to the dull sound, she swore she could still hear it.

She looked around the room to find the source, her eyes scanning and scrutinising ever detail in the Main Hall. The buzzing seemed to get louder, so much so that she could almost feel it buzzing inside of her.

After intently studying every single detail of the Hall, her eyes finally found the source of the bizarre sound. She was forced to narrow her eyes to make out whatever it was she was looking at. She could just barely make out a small unusual object fixed onto the wall at the opposite end of where she stood. At this distance, she could only make out a square shaped frame that surrounded the object and what was probably a small clock fixed above the object.

Sarah looked around to ensure no one else was here, she didn’t want to be caught looking at something that she wasn’t meant to be looking at, though for what reason, she had no idea really.

She started to walk across the Hall, her footsteps echoing in the empty silence which seemed to make the sound deafening. The Hall seemed ominous and spooky in its present atmosphere. The breeze blew the dust of rotted wood and long dead corpses throughout every inch of the room, the breeze gathered up the thick blanket of dead leaves that littered the floor and transformed them almost into a shape as they gathered themselves up high into the air towards the ceiling. The angelic mural on the ceiling seemed ineffective against the disquiet ambience below.

Sarah looked toward the rapidly approaching strange object in front of her, suddenly, a deep shadow feel across the object, as if someone had draped the small empty windows high above with a large black cloth. The air seemed to go suddenly colder, Sarah covered herself immediately, protecting herself with her arms against the sudden bitter cold.

What the hell is going on here, what kind of crazy shit is this?

Sarah’s footsteps became awkward as she walked, as though unwilling to any further. A strong sense of dread came over her, her forehead began to sweat. She tightly gripped her body, protecting it from whatever was attacking her. Her head fell downwards as her muscles refused to obey her will to continue. Yet, with all this, Sarah was unwilling to leave. The increasing unbearable atmosphere only seemed to spur her on even further and faster.

You’re not gonna’ run out of here like a damn headless chicken. You’re gonna’ face this head on, you stupid fucking bitch!

After an exhaustible and completely alien experience on her body, she finally came to the weird object, which was undoubtedly where the weird influence was coming from. She forced her head to look up and tried to understand what exactly she was looking at.

In front of her was amalgamation of wires and tubing and strange small boxes with lights fixed into certain positions. Wherever the snake like congregated was wasn’t present, there was instead small white tiles with faint tracks of dirt. In the absolute dead centre of the object was a small white telephone, an old fashioned one by the look of it, more or less ancient now.

The receiver however, didn’t appear to match the telephone, its features seemed like more in common with the surrounding wiring.

Sarah couldn’t understand what she saw in front of her. Other than the telephone, she didn’t have a clue what the rest of the thing was meant to be for. She couldn’t believe that this was what was giving off the overpowering influence that was tearing her body apart.

However, while she refused to believe that this was nothing more than a mess of technology and a frantic effort at it, a strange desire to pick up the receiver and hold it to her ear came over her. She tried to fight it, but her hand moved slowly toward it of its own volition. She gripped her arm and tried to pull it back.

What the hell’s going on here, give me my damn arm back!

But it was no use, the power of her arm alone seemed to surpass her every will as if it was nothing.

She picked up the receiver and held it to her ear. There was no sound, aside for a tiny hint of static. The static seemed to grow increasingly louder, at the same pace that a large looming shadow appeared on the wall in front of her cast by something standing behind her.

She quickly spun around and saw a tall menacing figure of a man, he gripped her by the shoulder tightly. Sarah screamed and dropped the receiver to the floor. Her whole body went limp as she fell into unconsciousness.

Chapter Eight Sarah awoke into an endless swirl of mist that totally enveloped her, she could feel her goosebumps rising as the chilling cold of the mist touched her skin. She rubbed her arms vigorously to get the warmth back.

She looked around for any sign of whoever came up behind her, but saw only the surrounding mist. She began to grow increasingly nervous and afraid as she realised, she couldn’t see anything at all, no buildings no structures or anything, nothing human anywhere. Beyond the mist, she could only see pure and perfect white spreading out into eternity. She looked down at the floor and saw the same empty whiteness, she stumbled as for a brief moment she

thought she would fall through whatever she was standing on.

What the hell’s going on here, where am I, what is this place!

She tried running straight ahead and hopefully find something, her footsteps gave off a strange echoing sound, none like she had heard before, as if the sound wasn’t tuned properly.

After what was probably a good ten minutes of running around, searching for an exit, she stopped and gathered her breathe. She looked up and saw only the same exact thing she had seen before she started running. She started to grunt as the terrified irritation inside her grew to bursting. She sank down onto the floor and pounded it hard with her fist. She hardly noticed the fact that what seemed like the floor didn’t really feel hard to the touch, and she could hardly feel the touch itself.

Tears ran from her face down to the white featureless floor.

Where am I, am I going to get out of this place?

Her silent thoughts stopped as she noticed a shadow suddenly appear in front of her. Slowly, she started to look up and flinched as she saw a human shaped black shadow hovering above the ground, its arms hung limply by its sides and its head fell downward over its chest.

Sarah forced herself up onto her feet and stood back a few paces. She noticed then in that moment . . .the smell, how could it be, it weren’t possible?

She refused to believe it, but it was there, as powerful as it ever was. The strong and familiar smell of leather from her father was coming off of the hovering figure in front of her.

She narrowed her eyes to see any recognisable details on the figure, but, apart from the abyss of blackness that covered it, she couldn’t see anything.

Her lips began to tremble as she began to form the words that forced their way through her throat. “Fath . . .er?” She said in a timid and quiet voice, surprised that she could still speak after so long. She shook her head, denouncing herself. How the hell could that be him? He’s dead, dead, dead, dead!

Somehow, though, she suddenly felt calm, all frantic thoughts of escaping suddenly left her like a great burden on her shoulders. As if the strong smell was there to give the exact feeling to her.

A sound began to emanate from the hovering shadow, a sound like a very low voice or whisper. It gathered in volume as it continued. ‘. . . was going up the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there.’

Sarah listened hard to the voice, it wasn’t a voice she recognised, and definitely not her father. The words it spoke struck a spark of memory in her mind. She scanned her memory, knowing she had heard those words before.

A rhyme I heard once, when I was young. ‘As I was . . .going up the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today, I wish, I wish he’d stay away.’ Yes, that’s it, it was a poem about schizophrenia. What the hell has that got to do with this shit that’s going on?

‘Search hard and listen well,’ the voice continued. ‘The scholar is beyond the chaos.’

As mysteriously as the shadowy figure emerged from the cold fog, it disappeared exactly the same way back until it vanished, the swirling fog again embraced the spot it once hovered.

‘The scholar is beyond the chaos,’ “what the hell does that fucking mean?”

Sarah’s mind began to swirl, as if a great powerful ocean wave rocketed in her mind. Her body began to sway from side to side, she began to feel light headed, her eyes started to close shut as tiredness swept over her. She fell on the floor unconscious, the mysterious fog

embraced her whole body until she finally disappeared.

Chapter Nine Sarah awoke again into the darkness of her closed eyes, she could feel a sharp but quick pain on each of her cheeks.

“Hey, wake up. Are you okay?” A voice said, still unfamiliar to her, but obviously human.

Sarah opened her eyes and saw the man in front of her wearing a long white coat, his eyes were wide open as if in a state of panic. He looked young, no sign of facial hair, his hair was tidy. She noticed his left hand holding her head up, his other hand slapped her face. He stopped when he notice that she was awake. He breathed a sigh relief and placed his slapping hand on his leg.

“Thank god, we thought you were dead,” he said. His voice was husky, yet still retained a slight hint of a boys voice. He continued: “Do you feel any pain, can I get you anything?” An obvious sign of great concern was in his voice.

Sarah pushed herself up from the floor, her mind still felt a little dizzy. She looked up and noticed that the two of them were not alone.

A small group of people wearing the same coat as the man were assembled with the two of them inside a small room, they gave brief glances to Sarah, as though not giving much care to whether she was okay or not. They carefully looked over countless pieces of equipment with flashing lights and a buzzing sound of electricity and activity. They wrote down notes on clipboards and checked figures with what was registering on the equipment. A large door shaped object in the corner gave out unending sheets of paper with numbers and unfamiliar words from inside it, the white coated people carefully checked it over, scrutinising each individual number and letter.

“Where the hell am I?” Sarah asked turning to the man beside her.

The man tried to hide his enthusiasm when he saw that she was fine. It took him a moment or two to register her question.

“You’re in the Town Hall, don’t you remember coming here? You picked up the receiver from the Telephone device outside, we found you and you collapsed. We brought you in here, I spent the last few minutes slapping your face. You were mumbling something about ‘going up the stair, meeting a man who wasn’t there.’ “Do you know what that means?”

Sarah tried to process all that he had just said to her, she worked through her mind that was still reeling from her recent unusual experience. She opened her eyes as her memory began to fall back into place.

“Yeah, I remember. I came in here, I picked up that thing and someone came behind me, I fainted, then . . .I can’t remember any more.” The last statement was a lie, she hardly wanted herself to believe what had happened to her, the last thing she wanted was for someone else to hear and force her to dish out the whole thing.

“You should have got rid of her the same as the last one.” A cold, unfeeling voice said from someone in the room.

Sarah looked round to where the voice came from and saw a tall man with his back to her looking out of a large sheet of glass. His arms were crossed. She spotted the man beside her looking at the him with a strong hatred, his eyes were narrowed. She could see his strong

white teeth appearing beneath his quivering lips. He took in a deep sigh as though swallowing his anger.

“Come on,” he said to Sarah helping her up.

Sarah stood and looked out through the sheet of glass in front of her. She immediately spotted the Telephone device outside on the wall. She instantly stepped back, a strong feeling of fear welled up inside her.

“You okay?” The man asked putting his hand on her shoulder.

Sarah turned to him and smiled, quickly taking his hand off her shoulder. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just sudden shock, I’ll be fine.”

She looked over the assembled pieces of machinery in front of her, her mind trying to decipher what they actually were.

“My names William Blake, by the way.” The man said, desperate to make acquaintances.

“Hi,” Sarah said. “What is all of this, what the hell are doing here?”

William smiled with delight. He like the idea of explaining the experiment to someone who didn’t know, especially to her.

“We’re scientists experimenting in the field of E.V.P., that’s Electronic Voice Phenomenon, by the way, in case you didn’t know.”

“I didn’t, what is this Electronic Voice Phenomenon?”

“Well, it’s the unusual phenomenon of hearing the voices of the dead on un-tuned recording equipment such as radios, televisions etc. People have been studying it for years, but this is the first time that we’ve gone into it with so much sophisticated equipment. The study of it was pioneered in the late sixties of the twentieth century by two Baltic researchers, Konstantin Raudive and Gerhard Stempnik. The person to discover it was a guy called Friedrich Jurgenson. They recorded quite a number of voices, we’ve worked on them as well as our own quite a lot.”

A dawning realisation suddenly took hold of Sarah. These people were obviously the scientists that announced the existence of the afterlife ten years ago and made all those people running terrified into the countryside.

“Do you have any of those recordings here, I’d like to listen to them.”

The tall unfeeling man at the window suddenly turned sharply toward her, his face looked as if it would explode with anger He looked at William with the same expression. William retaliated with one of his own expressions, one that seemed to show him silently disobeying him.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ve got the recordings in a room outside. Maybe you could help us out with them in some way, it helps having a fresh mind.”

William took Sarah out of the small buzzing room and into the Main Hall. Sarah expected to again feel the strong feeling pushing her back here again, but instead felt nothing at all. This made her feel even more uncomfortable in a strange way. She followed William into the dark corridor, he opened one of the old rickety doors and the two of them stepped inside. Behind the door was a long black spiral staircase leading upwards. It creaked loudly as they began to ascend it. Sarah stopped in her tracks, a Déjà vu of her own staircase suddenly came to mind.

“Don’t worry about the creaking,” William said with a little laugh. “We’ve all been up and down here lots of times and that’s the worst its ever done.”

Sarah looked at the stairs and looked to how far they ascended to. It didn’t look far, only

about six feet. She collected her breathe and carried on behind William.

The upper level held no real difference to the lower level. Its walls and floors too were well rotted, the dust was thick and made it the air stuffy. William took Sarah into one of the rooms and closed the door, instantly walking briskly over to one of the dusty cobweb covered windows and opened it. The air was cold and misty, as usual, but a welcome reprieve from the intense dust that settled on everything.

The room was obviously one that was being used occasionally by the scientists. Large and small recording equipment were stacked in various places on the floor, most of the others were stacked on top of a table, the legs looked as though they wouldn’t hold for long.

Cassette tapes and old fashioned tapes that were a circular shape with wide tape lay in great numbers on the table.

Sarah looked at the cassettes and tape recorders with a slight grin. “You study these things and yet you leave them lying around and don’t store them?”

William looked at the tapes and smiled, laughing nervously. “Yeah, well, we go through them so many times it hardly seems worth putting them anywhere.”

Sarah sat down on one of the old rickety chairs beside the table. She rested her hands on her legs and looked at William. “Well, you wanted to show me these recordings.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said, quickly sitting down.

William took hold of one of the old fashioned tape machines, the tapes themselves were already attached and ready to be played. He cleared his throat before he spoke. “Okay, what I’ll do first is play you some of the recordings that were made by Raudive and Stempnik, then that’ll give you some kind of idea as to what they are, exactly.”

He pressed the small button on the side of the machine and the tapes began to spin. At first, there was only the unchanging sound of static, but after a few seconds, a voice came over the static. The voice was foreign, probably German. It didn’t sound particularly ghostly, but Sarah presumed it must be the voice of one of the guys William mentioned. The voice stopped and the static came back.

“Astrid, fract dar!” A strange voice said loudly.

Sarah jumped back in her chair, holding her chest in the defensive manner. William quickly switched off the machine and went over to her.

“You okay,” he said concerned. “I’m sorry if the volume caught you by surprise, I just turned it up loudly so you could hear it. Are you okay?”

Sarah collected herself and breathed deeply. “Yeah, I’m fine. Guess it was too loud. What the hell were the voices saying?”

“Well, the first voice you heard was one of the researchers. He was asking questions into the recording tape so that a voice would answer. We haven’t really been able to translate what he said, as most of the German phrase books are too rotted to read. But, the second voice, the spirit itself, and the only one we’re really only interested in, that said” ‘Astrid, ask there.’

“We managed to find most of the notes and records these men made in a basement of a recording library, and that’s how we got the translation.”

Sarah looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Astrid, ask there?” She said. “Why the hell would a dead person say that?”

William held his hands on the table and interlocked his fingers. “Well,” he said. “Who knows what the hell you’d say when you’re dead.”

Sarah nodded, yet still not quite sure what he meant.

“Okay,” William said collecting his breathe. “You feel like you’re ready to carry on listening to these?”

Sarah looked into his eyes, full of concern and fear for her. She could tell how he felt about her and didn’t mind that. But, she hoped he wouldn’t go further than he already had.

She waved her hand, gesturing for him to continue.

He decreased the volume and then switched the tape back on. The same voice as before came on first as the researcher spoke aloud into the tape. A few seconds of silent static, then: ‘We have Sousabusi.’ This voice seemed much lower and choked with static than the last, but was still easy to interpret.

The tape went on as more voices flowed over the static in the background. ‘You have chocolate for the young girl you made climb the mountain.’ Sarah found herself questioning this voice, her face screwed into a clueless expression. Still, with what William said, she had to take what they said with a pinch of salt.

‘Good evening,’ the third voice said. ’I would like to drink your wine with you.’ The voices continued in unfamiliar languages. William switched off the tape machine.

“Those other voices you heard were the same as the last statement, but spoken in other languages, five to be exact. I could play you more, but those are in other languages too and we haven’t been able to translate them much. Well, I shown you a few of those, so I guess you have an idea as to what we do here. Should I play you some that we’ve made in the last few years?”

Sarah didn’t answer, her mind swam with strange thoughts concerning the tapes, as well an idea that slowly took shape. She thought of the weird dream she had while she was unconscious and about what the figure had said to her. ‘The scholar can be found amidst the chaos.’

She wasn’t much for riddles, and this one totally went by her. But, something had happened to her, something weird and obviously nothing that had happened to the scientists otherwise their heads would be permanently plugged into the machines they had downstairs. And if she told them about her dream, vision, whatever it was, she would face the same thing. No. she had to do this alone, without any interference. One way or another, she find out what the hell all of this meant.

William had again become uncomfortable as he watched her with her head in the clouds.

“Are you feeling okay,” he said. “Was it the voices, I know they’ve had a weird effect on some of us before, but-” “No,” she said, interrupting him. “I’m fine, I was just thinking.” She looked behind her through the open doorway into the dust choked corridor outside and glanced in all small corners of the room, wondering if their were bugs through which the scientists could hear them. She couldn’t see anything, but then again, she didn’t know exactly how she would have spotted them anyway.

She looked at William, at his concerned face and his moderate good looks. She guessed she could trust him, he probably wouldn’t rat her out to the others downstairs. With the way he felt about her, he would go through anything to give her what she wanted. She decided to take a chance.

“You know some of the recordings you have here,” she said, carefully making her voice

carnal. “You think you could let me borrow some of them for a while?”

William slowly turned away from her shaking his head. “No, I’m sorry. I couldn’t let these be let off of the premises, as far as we know, their the only copies there are of these. Besides, Oswald, our boss would tear me apart. He already doesn’t want me talking to you. He thinks you’ll screw up the whole experiment.”

Sarah began to carefully control her mannerisms making them more erotic and hard to ignore.

“Please,” she said slowly. “Don’t let him hurt me. I only want to help you and I’ll bring them all back again, I swear. I’ll even do something for you if you help me. Please.”

William began to fondle his collar, he started to sweat as the heat inside him rose, despite the chilly air coming from outside. He looked at Sarah, trembling, his breathing began to escalate. “Well . . .I guess you could borrow them for a while, as long as you bring them back when we ask. I’ll give you some of the notes we have so you can translate them. For the love of god, keep them out of sight when you leave. If Oswald sees you, he’ll crucify you.”

Sarah began to lightly stroke his arm, looking at him with half shut eyes and a slight smile.

“You’ll help me won’t you, keep him busy while I slip away?”

“Yeah, sure.” He said nervously.

Sarah walked carefully back down the spiral staircase with William in front of her. Her footsteps were tentative and precise, as walking was difficult carrying everything he had given her. The dust that had collected on them over a long period of time seemed worse than the dust in the whole place. She hardly noticed the creaking of the stairs, her concentration was fixed on what she carried.

They emerged into the main corridor, the large main doors to the left and the Main Hall to the right. The buzzing of electricity and machinery could still be heard clearly from here, as well as the collected mumbling of the scientists busily working.

William carefully checked inside the Hall then came to Sarah. “Okay,” he said, his voice a fraction of a whisper, charged with apprehension and fear. “There’s no one around the Main Hall, so if you hurry, you’ll make it. I’ll tell them you got bored of what I showed you and wanted to leave. Hopefully, they won’t miss what I’ve given you, their attentions on the Telephone device now, so I think we’ve left all that stuff behind. Please, make sure you bring them back shortly and take them up as quietly as you can up to the room we was just in. I don’t even want to think about what Oswald will do to me if he finds out.”

Sarah patted him on the shoulder. “It’ll be okay, he won’t even realise I was ever here when I bring them back.”

William quickly looked behind him as though he had just hear something, Sarah could hear nothing beside what she heard a few minutes ago.

“Go on, quickly,” he said, pushing her in the back up to the Main doors. “Hurry up.”

He pushed Sarah outside and closed the enormous doors behind her as quietly as he could.

Sarah was met with the same intense cold that hugged the building, she looked up and saw the dark clouds above, menacing in their appearance. The sky was returning to its early evening dark pink colour, swallowing the buildings in its wake. She didn’t realise she had been inside for so long, but she didn’t really know how long she had been dreaming.

She ran down the stone steps for her car, fearing she would at any minute drop what she was carrying and have William’s boss come outside and see her. She ignored those fears and carried on. She placed the stuff in the back seat and took a large plastic sheet out of the trunk.

She tied it over the back seat securely and tightly; she didn’t want anything to fall out while she was driving. She jumped into the driving seat and sped off.

She laughed to herself at the victory over what she had just done. She didn’t realise it would be so easy to con the guy into giving her what she wanted, in a world where sex was almost extinct, people would do anything when offered it on a plate to them.

She had no intention of returning what she had took. They wouldn’t find her, not in a city this size. Yet, with all her pleasure at manipulating William, she felt a little guilty, and also, a little attracted to him. She shuddered, the feelings she now had seemed to creep up on her like an intruder in the night. She hoped they would subside soon enough.

Her car sped down the streets to her home, the darkness surrounding her closing in more and more.

The intense pink colour in the sky had begun to set in in now, the countless buildings and structures were blurred in a distinct pink haze like the haze of a warm day. The breeze had become cool and somewhat enjoyable. The few human survivors that walked the deserted streets had now run for the safety of their homes, fearing the coming blackness of the night like the plague.

The air was quiet, broken only by the eerie silence, the gentle whooshing of the breeze and the occasional sound of discarded newspaper blowing across the streets.

The sound of Sarah’s Cadillac engine tore through the still silence like a bullet, the car kept to a steady forty miles an hour as she made her way through the empty streets. The narrow streets she passed through were dark and menacing, due to their narrow width. Stores and office buildings stood silent, devoid of customers or business. Their windows were black, like looking into a bottomless black hole. Shop sign continued to deteriorate as time slowly withered them to nothing. Dust and decay continued its relentless quest of swallowing up whole rooms as it slowly gathered. Mannequins and store dummies stood unmoved in the same poses someone had put them years before, their garments once new and expensive were now nothing more but rotted and decayed rags that hung from their fibreglass bodies.

The Cadillac passed beneath a large metallic structure, high above in the air, support structures were on either side, clinging to the earth with great strength. The structure used to be a bridge, designed for carrying large trucks and vehicles that took their deliveries to factories and supermarkets. The bridge had once been brimming with life and activity and noise as the countless vehicles, often locked in traffic jams, constantly sounded their horns, shouting obscenities to each other.

Now, the bridge stood silent, barren, empty, silent and decayed like everything else. Sarah could still see through the gaps underneath the few cars and trucks that were still on the bridge. Their engines quiet and dead, their drivers more or less the same. Dust occasionally fell from the bridge to the ground as the tires on the vehicles sometimes lacked their grip on the concrete, forcing carefully settled dust to fall silently down.

Sarah reached behind her and moved her hand underneath the plastic cover until she could feel one of the cassette tapes in her hand. She brought it to the front and checked that it was at the beginning. It was, just about. She pushed it into her tape machine and pressed the play button. Countless and indecipherable ghostly voices echoed uncomfortably through the car and into the dead and deserted streets around. It seemed rather interesting to Sarah to sound

these voices of the dead throughout the city they probably once lived. Perhaps it would awaken a few old ghosts somewhere, encourage them to again wander the streets they once walked when they were alive. She wondered if it would awaken her father from the ether, encourage him to walk the silent corridors of his library, carefully checking each book, ensuring its correct position and durability. She wondered, or more likely, hoped that it would encourage him to come to her home. To wait for her and take her in his arms so she could smell the strong smell of leather from his clothes.

She realised when she looked up that she was in Cameron street, just a few blocks from her fathers library. She took the turning that would take her their, noticing a strange kind of hope slowly rearing its head.

Chapter Ten To anyone else, the small simple looking library would be just like all other dead and deserted buildings in the city, tiny remnants of knowledge and literature of mankind slowly mouldering and rotting as time and decay slowly ate at them from within, being pettily guarded by a dead structure made of stone and brick. But, to Sarah Gaelock, it was her second home, before and after the war.

She stopped the car and switched off the engine, replacing the air around her with the unchanging and unfeeling emptiness and silence. She got out of the car and rested her back on its side, her eyes fixed on the library itself.

The library was very small, only around the size of two ordinary houses stuck together, with the roof of both cut off. Around the library was a small garden, more grass than flowers. Two small stalks that slowly grew into trees stuck out of the garden, surrounded by a tiny circular fence that protected it from being ripped apart by morons. Sarah looked at the trees with great pity. The fences seemed to choke the stalks, almost like it was preventing them from growing properly. She wanted to remove the fences and give something in this dead world some life, then she realised she didn’t have the proper tools, not even in the trunk. She made a mental note that she would return here one day and remove them.

She returned her sight to the Library, trying her best to see through the intense blackness of the windows and see inside, to see the piles of musty old books and remember her father silently walking through checking the books, his index finger stuck on his lip. Her chest ached as she thought of her father here, an extremely faint tear fell from her eye.

It was sad to see the place slowly collapsing into dust and misery with everything else, to see a big part of her memories and past disappear until she wondered whether they were ever there at all.

She breathed in a deep sigh and unhooked the plastic sheet from the back of the car. She removed the tape machine and a small selection of tapes and carried them down the narrow concrete path that led down to the main entrance. The front door opened stiffly, it creaked loudly, a sound similar to a childlike scream, as if it was crying out with happiness at receiving a living visitor.

The entrance was composed of two glass doors with a small space in-between where catalogues and tourist pamphlets were kept in small wooden boxes. The pamphlets and

catalogues were scattered around the floor, now being blown about by the breeze that came in through the door. The wooden boxes were rotted beyond description, now lying in a miserable state of dust and a few small wooden pieces.

Sarah passed through the second entrance door and into the library itself. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply as the smell of leather and memory flooded back to her like a great ocean wave. She could almost step forward and into her own childhood. She could see herself sitting on the floor in the children’s section, swamped by books, her father carefully giving his keen eye to each individual book.

Sarah looked to where she imagined her father. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll make sure I won’t damage anything.”

She looked around the room carefully. Just in front of her was the reception, still holding together firmly, a faint trail of dust had settled at its base. The rest of the room went off to the left. The children’s section was first, then autobiographies, then crime, cookery, fiction, and the rest of the various genres. She looked at the worn and decayed objects that lay unmoved for years in large plastic shelves. No longer could they be called books, the things that had registered them as books now no longer existed, much like the things they contained. Great piles of dust gathered underneath the shelves, dust that was once riveting reading. The book like objects above teetered above, slowly awaiting the eventual and total destruction of the blazing destroying fire of the dust beneath.

Sarah shivered as she beheld these pathetic examples of human literature before her, she didn’t like to think what her father would think to see this.

She walked up to the reception and placed the tape machine on top, ensuring first to wipe the dust away before she did. She realised that their was no worry about plugging it in as it was battery powered. She placed the tape inside and switched on the play button. The dead and silent air was instantly swamped with the bizarre and unusual voices of the dead, slowly making their way through this graveyard representing human knowledge.

She stood beside the machine and held her hands behind her back. She looked to the reception and toward the small back room beyond, now filled with semi-darkness. She imagined her father’s silhouette in the doorway, looking at her disappointedly. She looked back at him with a questioned expression. “What,” she said aloud. “I’m not interrupting anybody, I’m just doing a little experiment.”

She turned her head away and looked back into the main building for a few minutes then back at the machine. She felt slightly disappointed at this experiment, yet not really knowing why she was here doing this at all.

Realising that this was pointless, she switched off the machine and took hold of it in her hand. She looked back at the interior of the library. “Sorry, dad,” she said disappointedly.

“Guess I should have asked you first about this. Make sure you keep those books tidy for me.”

She walked out of the library, carefully making sure that the doors were shut securely. She saw a flittering shape suddenly in the breeze in the corner of her eye. A sudden voice sounded like church bells in her mind. Dad, you’re here! Her sudden excitement vanished as she realised that it was nothing but a torn rag of a shirt caught in one of the stalk trees. She walked over to it and ripped it hard from the stalk then let it blow down the street into the encroaching darkness. She watched it go then went to her car, she put the tape machine back

under the plastic sheet and reattached the hooks. She sat in the drivers seat, switched on the engine and sped away, her eyes not once glancing at the library as it rushed past her in a great blur.

Chapter Eleven William Blake sat alone in his apartment, gulping down great mouthfuls of whisky down his burning throat. His lab coat was wrinkled and dirty and smelled strongly of sweat. It seemed to lock the sweat on his skin where it was, adding to the slowly rising heat from his tired body. His eyes were tired, but he couldn’t sleep. His entire body ached for rest, but their was little to no chance of that.

He sat in a large armchair, great comfortable stuffing locked inside for great comfort. But, tonight, his interests were elsewhere, far away from selfish self comfort.

His mind was haunted by the memory of the man they had used as a guinea pig, how their experiment had killed him and Richardson had forced them to bury his body in the back of the Town Hall, for gods sake. And why, because the damn thing hadn’t been tested by them, yet. They had just allowed him to waltz right up their and hold his goddamn ear to the unknown. He agreed to be a lab rat to hopefully understand something far beyond what he had experienced before, now that was taken away from him by a stupid mistake.

How much he wanted to grab Oswald by the throat and choke him, take the last breathe away from his body and extinguish his inhuman mind from the earth. William hated to hear him speak like that, how a simple human life wouldn’t get in the way of the experiment, nothing else mattered but that. His clenching fingers cracked the whisky glass, the whisky inside began to seep out through the cracks.

It burned him most to know that he had been a party to this decision, as did the others.

Despite shouting the odds at Richardson, constantly reminding him that it was indecent, inhuman and he deserved a decent burial along with the many thousands already there. But, as if he had the talk of the devil, he had reminded them of who they were. Even if they refused to accept it, they were all the same as him, scientists who were the only scientists in the whole world and who shared the same drives and ambitions as he did.

But, Richardson’s go much darker and deeper than simple understanding. William thought to himself.

William and the others had a choice to listen to the two voices screaming their say in their heads. On one hand, their was the decent human side to them, constantly shouting that it was indecent and improper, that they should do what’s right and tell Richardson to go kiss his ass.

But, just as powerful and loud, was the other voice in them, the voice of the scientist in them.

That white-coated moron that devoted everything purely to science, tearing up everything else in their lives as it were trash. The voice screamed at them to listen to him, the individual loss of life was unimportant when the rest of the world was dead. Concentrate on the experiment, it said, and find out ultimately what is behind all of this confusion.

Somehow, with no clue from William, he had listened to the scientist, denouncing all humanity in him and denying his own heart. He felt trapped in his own body, what human part of him that was left now watched the scientist in him controlling his body, digging the feeble shallow grave for a real person.

We’re not human anymore, we don’t deserve to stick our noses in the afterlife. Now that we’ve rejected the human part of us, the afterlife for us doesn’t exist. It won’t open itself up for creatures without souls or hearts.

His body seemed to chew itself up from the inside out, as though some higher power was punishing him for what he had done and the part of him that was still human had to suffer it to, being dragged down into hell along with the demon in him.

He threw the whisky glass on the floor, it landed with a loud thud, the whisky spilled across the thick carpet.

He looked at his hands, the hands of a young man but scarred with the deepened lines and cracks of age, experience and wisdom. An old man’s hand. But, his eyes looked deeper than that. He still saw the dirt on his hands from digging the graves, burrowing itself into his flesh, a permanent reminder to his crime, a stamp of what he was, put there by his powerful punisher.

He looked on at the make believe dirt on his hands with saddened eyes, realising what he had become. Regardless of whether or not he fought it, it didn’t matter. He was now a slave to himself, a slave to his own mind. The scientist and fact-chaser in him pushed aside the human part and locked it away in a cage where he was forced to watch as his whole body and limbs did the work that the demon in him forced him to act upon.

He felt like his own prisoner. How much he wanted to believe that the uncaring side of was simply a spirit, a true demon from the very realm he sought to uncover that had somehow took possession of his body and that he could get rid of it with some kind of spell or charm.

But, he knew what the truth was, how he had no choice but to submit to the will of his own dark side and see it incarnated in the flesh in the form of Oswald Richardson.

Now, as if his mind wasn’t tortured enough, the memory of the woman who had sneaked into the Town Hall and lost consciousness suddenly hijacked his mind, unwilling to let go. He wondered whether giving her a taste of what they actually studied and worked on, and then giving her tapes and equipment to study herself, was total insanity. They had seen what had happened to the man before. He didn’t want the same thing to happen to her, he couldn’t bare the thought of another death on his conscience.

However, it was true that she had used her sexuality on him to twist his mind for her own purposes. That he knew wasn’t his fault, it was her decision to study the tapes for herself and that was no concern of his. He wondered whether the man in him was part of what the mysterious dark force in him was composed of. They say that lust is the work of the devil.

It was things like this that made him wish to god that his internal enemy would come out of the shadows and face him so he could finally destroy it and reclaim his own mind.

He sat back in the armchair, commanding his muscles to relax instead of being tense. He thought about the woman sitting alone in her apartment, sat in a chair next to a table and tape machines and tapes littered in front of her. He imagined her face in a state of despair, longing for help from someone she could trust. He used his imagination to move her arm up toward her hair, she brought her hand slowly through her hair, her eyes half closed, her lips parted slightly. A faint hint of expelled air was released from her mouth.

Stop, he yelled to himself. You know where the thought of women can get you. It’ll tear you apart.

Again, he looked at his hands, still seeing the dirt on them in his tortured mind. Slowly, as

tears began to pour like a great ocean from his eyes, his head leant forward into his open palms. He sobbed intently into his hands, hoping against hope that somehow the tears purified and would remove the blood from his hands.

Chapter Twelve Sarah trudged through the mass of notes and information of her memory as she hammered across the road in the pink Cadillac. She mentally moved aside notes that had either been sorted or to be put aside for later.

It was a difficult job. She wished she could walk the corridors of her mind and sort the notes herself, mentally create it as a kind of records office. She wondered how making plans for yourself only with no indication of other people would create so much confusion. She always thought that providing for yourself and other people would be the hardest, trying to remember their particular foods and likes and dislikes and having to store them in your mind. But, perhaps, it was easier that way because other peoples constant reminding wouldn’t allow you to forget what they wanted. But, when it was solely for you and no one else, you have no one to remind you and a lot of things disappear into the back of your mind until you remember them when its too late.

Got it! She thought to herself as she located the correct notes. She mentally placed the list as if holding it in front of her.

BEANS SOUP CARROTS CHECK GASOLINE COFFEE She often reminded herself that it was probably easier to actually write down lists instead of mentally storing them, but she found her old method better and more reliable.

She looked down at the gasoline meter. It was a quarter of the way to being empty. She was always surprised as to how fast it ate up fuel. She briefly considered pulling over and filling it up with the small bottle of gas in the back, then remembering that that too was empty.

Crap. Always the same, wherever you go.

She knew she was only a few streets from the gas station. She sharply turned to the right and into Main Street, a left to Hammond Street then another left to Miles Road. She immediately saw the gas station just up ahead.

It was a sad and pathetic looking gas station, somehow more worse off than the rest of the city, despite them both suffering the same fate at the same time. Perhaps it was the past employers constant attempts at making the place as spotless as possible. There was never a time when she drive past and didn’t see them strenuously wiping the signs and the main building with a wet cloth.

The sign saying GAS STATION that hung in the air looked as if it wouldn’t for long. Dirt and decay and the cruel weather had faded the sign so much that it was almost impossible to read.

At one time, it would have shone with brilliant electrical lights to any passer-by, its own little

Las Vegas.

The main station was heavily stained on one wall with gasoline that had spilled from an open tank that now lay against the wall gathering dust. The windows were black with dirt and dust, tiny hints of clear glass still remained. She couldn’t tell at the moment, but she hoped that no one else was inside gathering supplies. She would have to either find another gas station or fight for the supplies here. She really didn’t want to have to engage in a battle for the food and fight their frantic attempts at taking her with them for company.

A large newspaper stand lay flat on the concrete floor, dusty newspapers and magazines were scattered everywhere, blown around by the wind. The same ominous headline was spread across every front page: ‘GERM WARFURE HAS BEGUN!’ ‘THE END APPROACHES!’ Sarah looked at the date of one of the newspapers.

September 20th, 2135 She was only a young kid then, but she could still remember the horror of what came like a deadly cloud from the neighbouring continents. Most of the plague had spread invisible and silently through the air, breathed in by unbeknownst people. The rest had came in great warning less downpours of unusual rain from pure black clouds. People ran screaming for cover anywhere they could find it. Some forced themselves into other peoples homes and killed their owners when they shouted for them to leave. Chaos ran through the streets, turning the city and everywhere else in the country into a frantic battle for survival as everyone avoided the disease and from themselves.

Sarah had been forced from out of one hiding place after another by those desperate for a place. She was searching desperately for her father, wishing for him to be coming home to her when he saw what was happening. She knew it was a long shot that he’d still be alive after what the army had met up with abroad, but a faint grain of hope still remained. She ran from street to street, desperately searching for anywhere to escape the killer rain and the silent predator in the air. In the last moment before the rain had covered most of the city, she spotted a great of people rushing down a tunnel into an underground shelter. They didn’t seem to be fighting each other to get inside, so she knew that this was her only chance of survival.

She ran for the tunnel and had made it inside just as the last few people were scrambling inside.

They all spent and endless and deathless eternity with each other waiting for the rain to stop and the disease to dissipate. Sarah was forced to watch some of them die and be pushed aside like trash to one end of the shelter. The stench of their corpses got so bad that the others had no choice but to open the heavy metal door and push them outside. Everyone’s mourning and cries of suffering were incessant. They were her constant companion as she battled for sleep.

Sarah kept herself sane imagining that her father was out there somewhere looking for her, or that he was beside her, keeping her warm in his jacket, safe from the strangers and the dead that surrounded her.

She was overjoyed to see that some had brought a great supply of food with them. She hesitated to think what would have happened if they hadn’t.

After months of listening to the endless showers raining from above, it was finally time to leave the hell that had been their home and step forward into a new world. A world purged of all life and plunged into an unending silence. The survivors fled into the streets and searched for their lost loved ones and other signs of life, desperate to escape the obvious, that everyone else had gone.

Sarah emerged transformed into a new person, brave and determined to survive and not sink into despair like the others. She knew now that her father was no more. It was her now, no one else she had to care for. She walked from the entrance of the shelter into a new tomorrow.

Sarah looked up from the paper she held in her hands. She reinforced herself after her pondering, her fingers tightened, her lips were tight closed. She threw down the paper and walked into the gas station.

The inside of the station was littered with groceries and strewn objects. Shelves were pulled to the floor, covered almost completely with open cans and numerous other foods and drinks.

The drinks cabinet was almost empty, aside from a few dusty old bottles. Dust covered everything, despite the obvious signs of constant foraging for food and supplies. The air smelled thick of rotting and spoilt food.

Jesus, hope theirs something left in here.

Sarah knew she couldn’t go to the supermarket for the supplies, the place was almost completely free of supplies. The survivors usually kept their foraging there and seemed to ignore the smaller stores and gas stations, most of the time.

She picked up a small plastic carrier from the side of the desk and began to look round the mess at her feet. She really didn’t want to have to search through junk, but she had no choice.

Hopefully any cans that were left behind weren’t open. Most people usually take as much as they can carry and run, fearing lynching from others.

She moved a few empty cans aside as well as a half empty bag of potato chips. Underneath was a can of Tomato soup, bent at the side but still okay. She placed it in the carrier. She searched around for a can of beans, but found only empty cans and the occasional few that were partly open.

God dammit, people and their damn hurrying around. Can’t they just take their food and go without tearing everything else apart?

She decided that it was futile to search through all of this mess for anything and decided to search the back storeroom. Hopefully the survivors frantic efforts to survive didn’t give them time to search everywhere. She climbed over the desk onto the other side and immediately spotted the storeroom door. It was open ajar, the lock had been busted.

Shit, can’t they leave me anything around here?

She slowly pulled open the door, hoping that there wasn’t anybody enjoying themselves with the food inside. She listened for the sound of the chewing of food or any signs of life.

Silence, there was nothing at all to be heard. Relaxing, she pushed open the door, the faint light from outside poured into the pitch black room. Sarah quickly recoiled when she saw the heavily decomposed corpse sitting upright against a stack of boxes, its arms hung by its sides, its head tilted to the side, the jaw open wide. She guessed the body had been kept preserved

by being locked inside, until someone busted the lock and allowed the air to seep in. She could see from the amount of boxes in the room that they hadn’t stayed to claim any of it when they came, obviously they weren’t used to seeing a body that hadn’t rotted to dust.

Sarah looked at the corpse and smiled, silently thanking it for keeping the supplies protected.

She placed the carrier on the floor and turned round giving a quick look at her car. She knew that given half the chance, others would steal the car from her, she’d seen them do it before.

She guessed it would be safe enough what with the fading pink light. She turned round and began to check each of the boxes. Luckily, their names were printed in bold on the front so there was no need to waste time in opening them. She found boxes for nearly everything you could want in a kitchen. Their were boxes of all manner of foods and drinks, including a great supply of booze. Their were boxes of coffee and tea and condiments, and frozen foods.

Well, guess I’ve hit the mother load.

She knew it would be best taking everything in here with her. If she left it in here, others would surely find it and that would be another shopping area lost. True, she could leave the body in here to keep it as a deterrent, but there would always be the possibility that not everyone would be put off by it. Plus, now that the air had already begun to get to it, she had no clue as to how long it would last before it rotted into dust like all the others. No, better to shop for everything now while she had the chance. She always preferred to use the term shopping instead of foraging, it made her seem like an animal like the others that scurried around the city.

She ignored the plastic carrier on the floor and chose to carry a few boxes out each time to the car and placed them o the back seat along with the numerous tape machines. She wondered if they would bash against each other in the drive home and decided to fix the plastic cover over them tighter, making any kind of sh uffling nearly impossible.

In four trips backwards and forwards she was done. The storeroom was empty, aside from its constant guardian. She placed the boxes in every available empty space she could find. She hoped that no one would see what she carried as she drove back, but with the speed she drove, they’d be lucky if they saw even the car.

She looked at the gasoline pumps beside the car and realised she had forgotten to fill it up.

She slapped herself on the forehead.

Christ, I should have done it before I went into the station. Think you idiot, think.

Whenever she went out for any reason, she always made sure that her fuel was up, and most important that whenever she filled it up that it was done right away before anything else. She didn’t want to have a gang of survivors coming after her and she couldn’t start the car. It was also a risk to fill it up before doing anything else, as anyone could steal it with a full tank.

Sure, she could find another car anywhere, but this was hers and had been for years, now. She wasn’t about to let it fall into their hands.

She took hold of the pump and forced it into the car. The gasoline pumped into the cars engine, the currency meter on the pump body steadily rose as dollars continually increased.

After a few minutes, she took it out of the cars engine and placed it back inside the main pump body. She enjoyed watching the charge increase, but she couldn’t enjoy it and leave the pump inside the car, it would seriously screw it up.

She wondered how long the fuel in the underground tanks would last. Before the war, she’d

never heard anyone ask the question of what happened to fuel when it was left. She thought that it may lose its consistency or ability to do what it was meant to. The thought made her a little nervous. If the fuel dried up one day or was simply useless, their was no other way of keeping the car going. True, it wasn’t essential that she needed the car, but it was the best escape whenever she ran into any others in the streets that wanted either her or the car or both. It had been over twenty years now, and the fuel still did its job. Hopefully, she wouldn’t have to worry about it one day.

She gave a final check of the plastic cover on covering the back seat and climbed back into the driving seat. She started the engine, it roared with power and renewed strength.

Obviously, the gasoline had done its job. She raced out of the gas station and onto the streets on the road home.

Chapter Thirteen The countless tape machines and individual tapes littered Sarah’s living room, covering it completely with technology long since unused. The cream and white of her carpet and rug was washed away with the cold steel and metallic colours of machinery. Endless black ropelike wires and circuits stretched across the room, attached to every conceivable plug socket in the apartment. The room, once silent, broken only by the lonely murmurs of activity from Sarah had now been filled with the constant clicking and humming of machines, all busily and incessantly carrying out programmed instructions encoded into them by programmers long since dead.

Sarah Gaelock sat in the middle of all this electronic confusion on the only available space she could find. Her back was to the fire, raging behind her like a fierce entity. She watched the wafting shadow of the curtains against the mass of machinery around her, feeling the empty and eerily silent breeze from outside brush past her skin like a cold hand.

The room was in darkness, the large blocks of silhouettes around her and those she could see in other rooms where the only things she recognised as her own furniture. The occasional bright light of varying colours and the thin and horizontal green-line of the wave machine were the only other light sources in the room. The raging firelight was undoubtedly the ruler of light in this place.

She surveyed the equipment before her, ensuring that everything was in the right place. She leaned forward and raised her hand to switch on the small recording device seated in front of her and stopped in mid-motion. Do I really want to do this? She asked herself. Do I have any idea what’s going to happen once I press this switch? I’m going to be speaking straight into the unknown, here, whatever’s out there is probably gonna’ hear my voice and respond. Am I ready for something as huge as that?

Yet, while her mind reeled like a busy machine as a thousand anxious questions and fears burned away, she was determined to do this, and do it now. Nothing had happened to the scientists in the Town Hall, they hadn’t gone mad working with this stuff.

Without wasting another moment, she leaned forward a little further and switched on the tape machine. The tape inside began to run quietly, the small microphone attached to it echoed loudly with electrical rapping’s as it detected Sarah’s brief shuffling. Feel slightly agitated and a little stupid over what she was undertaking, she leaned her head in front of the

microphone and spoke aloud.

“Hello, my name is Sarah Gaelock. I’m making a recording here with this old fashioned tape machine hoping to catch the voice of the dear departed. If there is anybody out there that fits that list, please let me know. And, also, please. Father, if you’re out there, can you please come through especially. I’ve missed you and I’d like to hear from you. Thank You.” She leaned back from the microphone and returned to her original sitting position. She sat up on her knees, her legs tucked under her buttocks, her hands were lying flat in her lap.

The tape played on without even the slightest sound being recorded. Sarah watched as the tape played slowly forward, the small circular shaped holes next to each other silently rolled out the tape, recording only dead silence. The microphone yielded not a sound, the electronic tapping was gone, now it sat, motionless, pointing out into the ocean of darkness and silence beyond.

Sarah looked at the machines with a growing disappointment, wondering why she went into this thing in the first place. She looked at the silhouetted collection of silent tape machines further ahead that went off into the other rooms, considering whether to start again with another machine. But, she was convinced that their was nothing wrong with the machine she was using, it was working fine, nothing seemed to irregular. To any society of the not to distant past, this would have seemed nothing more than a pointless experiment to learn about something that doesn’t exist. But, thanks to the proven claims of the scientists that were alive today, there was no more of this. The afterlife did indeed exist, it was proven, as was this bizarre technique. Sarah understood that she couldn’t expect great results from the beginning, she would just have to keep trying.

She relaxed in her sitting position, allowing her weight to fall to the ground, preparing herself for a long wait.

Bang, bang, bang!

The seemingly thunderous sound, boomed like an enormous explosion from the tape machines speakers, the microphone jumped into life as the intense crackling filled the air around it, like the sound of a colossal fire crackling ferociously.

The resulting sound of chaos and shock knocked Sarah to the ground, hitting her head on the stone base of the fireplace.

“Jesus Christ, what the hell?!” She shouted, quickly scrabbling to stand up.

She raced over to the tape machine she was using and as quick as she could turned the dial for the volume control down to an almost silent whisper. The crackling from the microphone dissipated down to sounds similar to a feeding mouse, as did the sounds from the speakers.

She put her ear to the right hand speaker, listening carefully for what the sounds truly were.

Bang, bang, bang. The sounds came again, no longer thunderous. This time, they sounded just like knockings on the wall.

Bang, bang, bang.

In one quick movement, a streak of instinct, Sarah stood up to her full height and stared at the living room wall. The banging sounds were coming from there, echoing noisily from the stone and wood. She heard the recorded sound from the machine in her ear and mentally compared the sounds.

They’re the same, exactly the same, but what the . . .

She dropped her shoulders and allowed her head to sink backward, opening her mouth in an

aggravated way. She knew, the banging’s were coming from Ted Jessup from next door, he was banging on the wall.

She bent down and switched off the tape machine and walked hastily to the wall, joining his banging with an even louder one of her own with her fists.

“You bastard,” she shouted as loud as she could. “You’ve ruined my goddamn experiment, you son of a bitch. Why don’t you do me a great fucking favour, get the hell out of here and leave me alone!”

She joined the already raucous banging by bringing in her second fist. The banging from next door stopped suddenly, without warning, leaving her small fists banging like a child’s. It took her a moment to realise and then she stopped, listening to the silence around her. She quickly drew her ear to the wall as she caught the sound of heavy footsteps walking past the wall on the other side.

Guess the assholes finally taking my advice. She thought to herself sarcastically. But, what if he’s coming here, to me. He’s never done that before, but I wouldn’t like to think that he may do. But, if he is, he won’t get far.

She ran as quietly as she could to her front door and fixed the latch and the lock, then she backed away from the door, keeping her ears focused on the distant, yet seemingly close footsteps that were steadily approaching.

She hunched her body and nervously wiped her hands, the sweat steadily gathering on her skin. She knew she shouldn’t be afraid of him, he was just an overweight, mad piece of shit, she had told him what to do before, almost breaking his arm at times. But, this occasion seemed somehow more chilling and more helpless this time.

She heard the footsteps slowly walk along the room in the adjoining apartment until they reached Ted’s front door and stopped. Sarah listened with great tense anxiety as she heard his front door knock and bang, as if someone was forcibly trying to push it open, the chain from its lock rattled noisily as it was knocked around, knocking against the wood of the door.

Sarah reached for her ears and covered them up, but the noise only seemed to get louder.

Then, after a few moments, the noises stopped, as if someone had just switched them off with a button. Sarah’s eyes darted from left to right as she analysed the apparent calm of the familiar silence. Her hands slowly dropped from her ears to her sides. She drew in a deep breath and released it slowly.

Sucks on you, asshole, you can’t even get through your front door.

The thought didn’t register in her mind, the idea that Ted couldn’t even open his front door.

He never really kept it locked, despite the lunatics constantly running around outside, and it wasn’t rocket science to open a wooden door.

She bit her lip and hunched her shoulders then walked back to her original sitting place. She didn’t much care for the reasons why that moron couldn’t open his door, she had other things to think about. She sat down in her place and looked blankly at he machine before her.

Somehow, she wasn’t in the mood anymore to make more of these recordings, she had suddenly lost all her strength. She decided to listen instead to the tapes the scientists had made and lie back and relax. She reached in her skirt pocket and took out a small object.

She looked at a small picture of her father she held in her hand. The picture was old and frayed, the smell of decay that came off of it was similar to the thick leather smell of her father. In the picture, he looked as he always did. His hair was combed, yet still strangely

messy, his shirt collar and tie were loose, the waistcoat he wore wasn’t ironed. Faint signs of growing whiskers were underneath his dark reading glasses, the eyes behind the glass were half-closed, tired looking eyes.

I miss you father, you where the whole world to me and they took you away, tearing open great holes in body before smothering you in that damned poisonous air.

She ran her fingertip against the outline of his head. Why the hell did you have to fight, it was nothing to do with us, you were no soldier. You should have come into the bunkers with me.

The people there wouldn’t give a crap if you were afraid to fight and hidden, most of the others did that and are alive today.

A faint trickle of a tear ran from her eye. She moved the picture away from where it fell. If it hit it, there was no telling what damage it would do.

She looked up at the endless ocean of equipment she had gathered around her. A small sign of hope began to pour into her from somewhere. I’ll find you, father. I promise I’ll find you soon. Rummaging through the bag of tapes next to her, she found one of the scientists tapes, she took out her own, placed it on the floor and put the other in the tape machine.

She again switched on the play button of the tape machine nearest to her, allowing the mass entanglement of voices and static pour out from the assembled technicality of wires and circuits , smothering her in mystery and hopefully, eventual reason and understanding. She lay down flat on her stomach, pointing her feet and wiggling toes next to the fire. She looked hard at the picture of her father, praying with all her might that she would hear his lost voice in the wasteland of noise around her.

A room somewhere, nowhere Sarah had ever been before. Yet, a faint trickle of knowledge slowly fed her mind, inducing memories deep inside her. She knew this place, yet at the same time, didn’t. She struggled to see the fine details around her, her vision was blurred, almost like being half asleep.

The room was cool, a comfortable feeling to it. The walls were white and glistening, they were broken up into separate individual pieces, a shape similar to that of individual piano keys. They covered all surrounding four walls, the floor and the ceiling. Sarah could feel the coldness of them beneath her feet.

Sarah looked around her for a window or a door, anywhere she could have gotten in and hopefully get out again. She could see nothing like that, the room was sealed, completely covered in the white shining piano keys. There was no way out, yet strangely, she was not afraid.

A sound attracted her attention, her head spun around to find the source. She looked straight ahead toward the opposite side of the room, a blurry image was there, one she couldn’t make out, one that certainly wasn’t there before. She suddenly felt her whole body move, as if something had picked her up and carried her toward the bizarre disturbance. The blurry image became more clearer as she moved closer, she could make out the basic shape. She saw a piano, no not a piano, an organ, similar to one you would find in a church, only a lot smaller.

The organ was impressive, it seemed to be made of the same shiny material as the walls, its entire surface glowed fiercely in the light. The back of the organ was a set of large crests rising up from the main body of the organ, each crest was behind the other, creating multiple layers of beautifully designed crests. Their shape was reminiscent of opened oyster shells wit

their rippled effects along the side.

As Sarah got closer, she realised that she could see a figure sat at the organ, hunched over and playing the organ. She guessed it was a man, but their was no obvious signs to this. His clothes were a simple jumper and trousers, all of which were a dark grey colour.

Sarah listened to the tune he was playing. It was low, very difficult to concentrate on. Each dull note the figure played lasted for a few moments before he played a few slightly higher notes. It reminded her of a tune that would be played with a funeral procession. The sound hummed around the shining room, the walls seemed to shudder slightly as the sound wafted the room.

Finally, and without warning, the figure played two high notes quickly , so fast they almost sounded like he only played them once. After he played the notes, his hands fell from the keys in front of him and settled on his lap, his head bent downward and faced his hands.

Sarah could no see his face. The gentle humming of the last two notes still played in the ether, until after a few moments they disappeared and the whole room sank into darkness.

Chapter Fourteen Sarah opened her eyes, instantly feeling the intense warmth of the roaring fire behind her. She could feel the roughness of the carpet beneath her and the slight breeze that wafted through the open window. She could hear a regular clicking sound around her.

Her eyes felt tired, her vision was hazy and blurred. She blinked her eyes a few times before the vision returned to normal. She looked around the room she was now in, after a few minutes she realised that she was in her living room.

She remembered every second of wherever she just was, it shone in her mind like a brilliant light. Her mind scrambled into action, desperate for an explanation.

Where the hell was I, how did I get in there, there was no windows or doors. Who the hell brought me? Was it him playing the organ? Why did he bring me back?

She slowly realised that the tape machine in front of her was still switched on, the sound of empty static still played from the end of the tape. She sighed, disappointed that she hadn’t found an answer to her pondering. She leaned forward to switch it off. Her hand stopped in mid air as a sudden realisation came to her. The static sound was not coming from the tape machine, it had reached the end of the tape and stopped long ago.

She got up and checked each and every individual tape machine she had set up, carefully checking each and every play button. Yet, she knew that she hadn’t switched on any of the others, plus, none of them had any tape machines placed inside of them. A growing uncomfortable sense of fear swelled up within her, tightening her stomach up so much, she thought that she would throw up.

After making careful checks of each machine and finding nothing, she was deeply afraid.

There was nothing else in the house that would make a sound like this. She briefly wondered whether it was coming from Ted’s apartment, from some machine he had working. If that were true, she would personally make him wish that he had never moved into this building.

She stood still in the centre of the living room, carefully aligning her ears and mental senses to the source. It didn’t sound like it was coming from next door, it sounded like it was coming from . . .above her. Her breathing stopped in mid motion, her whole body went tense. She

slowly raised her head upwards until she faced the darkness covered ceiling above her.

It was certain now, thought she wanted so much to be wrong about it. But, she couldn’t ignore it, it was clear and unadulterated. The sound was coming from the attic.

Sarah had fought with herself for well over an hour before she finally decided to go up to the attic. Whatever was up there, she didn’t really want to find out, but her strong human desire to investigate took possession of her body. She had tried her best to block out the sound, holding her hands tight over her ears and closing her eyes, but the sound was still there, ramming itself into her skull and into her mind like a battering ram.

She wondered whether Ted would hear the sound coming from above and decide to investigate himself. He didn’t. Though, she never really expected him to either, he was the king of chicken when it came to it. Finally, after using her full strength to block out the sound and resisting the strong desire to discover its source, she had gone out into the hall and looked up to the ceiling.

The trap door that led up into the attic was right above her, the sound of the static seemed to grow louder by the second. Keeping her eyes on the trap door seemed to allow a disquieting feeling of not being alone gather around her. She folded her arms and looked behind her, half expecting to see Ted Jessup behind her, admitting that the static was his doing so she would come out. Contemplating that thought and weighing it up against her unknown fears, the first thought seemed the lesser of two evils. She looked all around her for any sign of Ted hiding and watching her in the shadows somewhere, but all she saw was the same drab walls around her and felt only her single presence.

She felt her body go cold as the unknown fear seemed to gather.

She turned round and headed for the door at the opposite side of the corridor. She opened the door and switched on the light. A small hanging bulb came on and lit the tiny store room into semi-darkness. She reached for the wooden steps lying against the wall and carried them out.

She dragged them across the floor and positioned it right underneath the trapdoor.

Stop now, a voice inside her said. Get out of here, you’ve got no idea what to expect up there.

She ignored it as best she could, though the mounting fear and apprehension she couldn’t ignore.

She separated the steps until they became a triangular shape and were completely balanced.

She stood at the bottom of the steps, her hands gripped the sides as total fear terror gripped her body, preventing her from going any further. Her breathing intensified, her heart picked up a more rapid pace second by second.

I have to find out what the hells happening up there, she spoke aloud in her mind. Its gonna’ carry on if I don’t and I have to know. I have to!

She gritted her teeth and focused her attention on the trapdoor looming above her, her concentration focused on the task at hand.

She drew in a deep breath and climbed up the steps, her heart rate grew stronger, her mind raced with countless horrible visions of what was to come.

She reached the top of the steps, the trapdoor almost touching her head. With trembling fingers and a nerve popping pulse rate, she pushed on the door until it came loose. She pushed it aside until it rested on the attic floor. She looked on into darkness, seeing nothing but an endless black pit of featureless darkness. A cool waft of air poured silently into the

corridor. Almost like the breathing of a waiting figure.

This is the last step, I could go back now, take the car the and go somewhere else. But, then I’d be no nearer to figuring this whole thing out. I have to continue, my father would want it, he’d want me to find it. To find him.

She climbed on into the darkness, the cool waft of air now became a rather powerful breeze.

She resisted the urge to close her eyes and not see anything that she didn’t want to. If she did, she’d never be able to open them again. She forced her eyes to stay open, fighting even the desire to blink.

Her left foot left the wooden steps as she carried her whole body into the intense and unending blackness that now encircled her. She stood up, her footsteps made rather loud wooden sounds as they hit the attic floor. She held out her arms slightly to the left and right.

This is your space, you’re comfortable and safe here. Nothing can touch you. She didn’t feel totally comfortable with those words ringing in her head like a bell. A small amount of comfort came from the fact that she could still see the light fro the corridor below pouring into the darkness like a night-light. She imagined her father holding a flashlight up into the attic for her. She smiled, suddenly feeling a lot better.

She looked all around her at the darkness and the shadows, objects and silhouettes were virtually non existent. She wished she had remembered to bring a flashlight, but she knew that she couldn’t go back for one. She would probably never be able to come back up here if she did.

She could still hear the static loud and clear, it was so loud now it seemed to drill inside her head. She could almost feel it in her hand as if it had physical form. After a few moments, her ears and eyes focused on the direction it came from. She slowly walked forward, the intense creaking of the boards under her feet were quickly drowned out by the ever increasing sound of static.

Finally, after great pondering and intense fear, she reached the source of the sound. It came from a large television set that she had brought up here years ago. She stopped in her tracks, not knowing whether to be confused by this or terrified by it. The screen was on, the image of the static looked just as powerful as the sound of it.

How the hell can it come on by itself, its not fucking plugged in. What the hell is going on?

A hint of a suggestion suddenly entered her mind, one that told her to take it downstairs.

Are you fucking crazy, this goes against everything that’s scientifically possible. A T.V. can’t just go on by itself when it isn’t plugged in.

She looked behind her at the inviting light coming from below. Her strong desire to leave began to find its way to her legs when a voice suddenly came into her head, almost as if someone was whispering into her ear.

Don’t leave, bring it downstairs now, work on it and uncover everything.

Her mouthed open wide as shock came over. Her body was frozen in position, unable to move.

It was the voice of her father, whispering to her. She knew he would help her if she wanted him to enough.

She quickly moved over to the television, she placed her hands underneath until she had a strong grip. Her face was inches from the glass of the screen, her eyes unable to move anywhere else. She hoped to god nothing would suddenly come on the screen and force her to

drop it and break it. This was a new way to understand what the voices were saying, and hopefully now, she would be able to see them for what they really were.

Chapter Fifteen She brought the television into her apartment, carefully watching her step amidst the chaotic collection of machinery spread across the floor. She looked round for a place to set it down, but there was nowhere. She thought of the kitchen table, then she realised she didn’t have a spare outlet, all she had were took up by the tape machines.

I can’t unplug any of them, I have to get as much as I can.

She remembered she had a spare outlet in the living next to the fireplace. She stumbled over the machines in her way and set the T.V. down on the settee. She took hold of the lead at the back, then she stopped. Why the hell am I plugging it in, its still working right now. I haven’t a goddamn clue why it is, but it is.

She twiddled the wire in her fingers, carefully considering what to do. Eventually, she threw it to one side. She looked hard at the screen of the T.V., silently ordering it to show her something, anything that would get her nearer to solving this thing. She sat on her knees, she held her head in her hands and stared unflinching at the screen, trying to see past the intense haze of static confusion and see whatever was out there and get a good look at it.

A whole hour passed before she decided to abandon this venture, seeing only a fixed screen of static and hearing only an unending hiss. Her head and eyes began to ache, the back of her eyes felt as though they were being stung with needles, her ears hurt from the intense volume of the hissing. She felt incredible cramp in her legs.

What the fuck is the point of this when they don’t show a goddamn thing!?

She stood up awkwardly, her legs found it difficult to move properly. She pushed the television over and felt relief in hearing it crash to the ground with a loud thud. She walked into the kitchen and prepared herself a black coffee. She felt it find its way down her oesophagus and into her stomach. She shuddered as she felt it warming her body to the bone, relaxing her inner muscles.

She looked out of the kitchen window at the endless procession of immensely tall buildings that ventured off into the horizon. The cool breeze lightly touched her skin, she felt goose pimples arise at the cold touch. Early evening had arrived once again and bathed the city in an unrelenting dark pink haze. The pink light somehow seemed to amplify the fact that all the buildings were empty and deserted.

A light came on in one of the many windows of the building across from her. Sarah hardly noticed it, knowing exactly what it was.

Once, a few years ago, someone had activated a small number of small generators and placed them inside a few of the rooms in the building. They had hooked them up only to the lights in the rooms and attached timers to the generators. The result was that the lights went on and off in random order as the individual timers came to a certain point. The point of this was that it gave the illusion that there were more people in the city and the lights was an indication of them moving around.

Sarah took a small comfort in this. While she occasionally longed for company, her nature of being a loner usually prevailed. Now the lights to her were merely a light show meant to

entertain. She quickly grew bored of it and refrained her gaze.

She looked down below her at the porch at the back of the building. The immediate area just outside the back door was constructed with concrete slabs, thin blades of dead grass poked through the cracks were they once stretched upward for the light that would give them life.

The rest of the porch was small and completely covered in grass, half of it was dead. A small dilapidated shed was tucked into the right side of the small garden, an old rotten wheelbarrow and spade were propped up against the slowly rotting shed.

A large collection of what were once flowers were spread all around the garden. Their once bright and appealing petals were now dried up husks of flowers, silently blowing in the breeze like the dead rotting hand of a corpse.

These were Mrs Hopkins flowers, she had planted them there to give the garden some life and colour and distract the eye from the unused shed and garden tools of her husbands. She would spend most of her time in the garden, sniffing up the sweet aroma as she tended to the soil. She would sit in a deck chair and smell the flowers in the summer heat. She often invited Sarah down to join her. They would spend hours staring at the sky, pondering what lay behind it. Mrs Hopkins would often say that she believed that her husband was one of the many clouds that appeared above. It was a cloud that often seemed to retain its shape, unlike the others and would stay fixed above the garden. Sarah had to admit that its was kind of strange, but nothing other than that. She would nod along and agree with what she said about it, not wanting to dash her belief.

She took another sip of her coffee. She jumped out of her skin and dropped the cup down onto the porch as she heard an incredible sound rip through her apartment and into her fragile ears.

She quickly spun round, holding her hands over her ears. The sound lasted only a few moments before being replaced by the familiar silence.

What the fuck . .?

She slowly removed her hands from her ears, her eyes darting from one direction to another as she sought out the sound. It was only brief, but she swore it sounded like a bomb going off in her very apartment She started to walk slowly through the kitchen, then she suddenly stopped when she heard it.

The faint whispering coming from somewhere. Her heart jumped almost out of her chest, her body went cold.

The whispering seemed to be that of a small collection of people, though how many she had no idea. Her mind refused to work in the sudden intense fear.

She looked round and noticed the knives lying on the worktop. Without hesitation, she quickly picked up the biggest and most lethal knife. She held it a few inches away from her, perfectly ready and able to stab anyone or anything that she saw move. She forced herself to move and she began to walk toward the other rooms, not knowing exactly where the sound was coming from.

Where the fuck are you? Come out here so I can stab you like a fucking pig!

She stopped as she again heard the sound of the raging static emanating from the television.

She could see the light it threw across the floor where it lay.

How the hell . . .I smashed it, I heard it crash to the floor.

Refusing to admit anything unusual to herself, she walked briskly into the living room toward

the television. The second she was within the distance to see the screen, an image suddenly appeared. She couldn’t help but look, her grip loosened as her body went limp, the knife fell to the floor.

The television screen was still plagued with static and confusion, but an image could still be seen clearly.

The image seemed to be of a small group of people all sat on a bed, how many she didn’t know exactly. They had their backs to the screen, their heads were lowered, the type of clothes they wore were impossible to discern, what with the intense static making the image black and white. The group seemed to be gathered around something on the floor. Through the hiss of static, Sarah caught the sound of whispering.

This was where it was coming from, right here. But, what the hell are they saying?

Beneath the whispering, she heard the sound of a baby. This must be what they’re gathered around looking at.

She shuddered suddenly as a dark thought entered her mind about what they were doing to the baby. She instantly rejected the thought.

She fell down on the floor right in front of the television. Her eyes burned into the strange image as she commanded it to explain itself. Her fists clenched and tightened, she could feel the blood running away from it and her skin turning white.

“Give me something,” she demanded. “What the hell is all this, why are you showing me these things? Where is my father!?”

She immediately took hold of her head in both hands as she felt a strong painful feeling, almost like her head was splitting open. She tightly closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, her nails dug into her skin. She cried out in pain as it intensified. The static on the television became frantic and increasingly louder and louder, the image of the family fazed in and out.

With another final scream of pain, Sarah’s lifeless and unconscious body fell to the floor. The static and hissing on the T.V. continued. A voice came through into the room.

‘Go home, intruder.’ Said the unfamiliar voice.

The television fell silent as the screen went blank.

Chapter Sixteen Sarah awoke and found herself plunged into perfect darkness, she was already standing as she awoke, she could feel the floor beneath her. The incredible pain in her head had ceased, as if it had never been there in the first place.

She looked around her in every direction for any kind of light or feature, but found only unrelenting darkness. She spread her arms and waved them around in the hope of touching something she would recognise. But, no matter how far she extended her reach, all she could feel was cold empty air. She didn’t like the idea of walking around, and chose to stay in the spot she was now. Wherever she was, she didn’t want to get lost. Yet, for some reason, she didn’t really want to move, some kind of force told her to stay where she was.

A strange, yet recognisable feeling overwhelmed her. She recognised it almost immediately.

It was the same groggy and bizarre sensation she got inside the room with the organ. Now, in this unusual environment, she could analyse the feeling more closely.

She felt as though she weren’t all here, as if only part of her was standing here and her other

half was somewhere else. She felt half asleep, as well as a feeling of hovering a little in the air, almost like being light headed. Also, again, she felt no fear of the situation she was in, merely a little concern.

Her eyes suddenly became aware of some kind of light in front of her, seemingly above her as well. Her head darted to the source of the light. As her head moved, she heard a strange and weird kind of singing, seemingly devoid of words and merely a strange sound in the form of a song, possibly how a mental patient would sing.

She saw a shimmering and ghostly image in hovering in the air, she could make out a few human-like features such as the arms and what were probably legs. The figure moved hauntingly and slowly through the air in what looked like a patterned movement. It glided from one side to the other in a sort of unearthly dance, similar to that of a trapeze artist.

Sarah slowly lowered her head back to the ground as she heard something. She listened closely, realising that it was a voice. ‘. . .strid . .sk there.’

Something was there, something she recognised. She listened closer.

‘Astrid . . .there.’

The voice, the same she heard on the tape machine in the Town Hall. It was one of the voices they had recorded years ago. She could hear it now in front of her.

She stopped her train of thought and focused her blurred vision on an image appearing through the darkness in front of her. She blinked repeatedly to get rid of the blurriness and discern the image. It was like looking at an image through frosted glass. Slowly, the image came more and more into view, certain features became noticeable. Arms, heads, torso’s.

Whatever it was, it seemed human.

The image finally came into view. Sarah stepped back a little with a gasp as she saw what was in front of her.

Two young girls dressed in black dresses were sat crossed legged beside each other on the featureless floor. Their eyes were black and ominously threatening in appearance, large black shadows could be seen under their eyes. Their skin was pale and dead looking, like the skin of a corpse. Their hair was straight and long and messy. Sarah looked at them closer, not knowing what to expect from them. She glanced constantly at the flying figure in the air.

The girls were perfect twins, no distinguishing features were apparent in either of them.

They held something tight in their hands, something they spoke their haunting and ghostly voices into. Sarah peered closer. It looked like an old fashioned microphone. Most of it was made from silver coloured metal, as well as the part that covered the microphone itself. They spoke the same words repeatedly into the microphone, continuing over and over like a broken record.

‘Astrid, as there’ . . .‘Astrid, ask there’ . . .‘Astrid, ask there.’

Rather than be afraid of what she was seeing and hearing in front of her, Sarah was unusually confused and a little sad, not knowing why at all. She looked on at the figures as one would look at something strange and surreal in a frightening film, repelled by its strangeness and at the same time fascinated.

She watched the flying figure in the air with reverence as it twirled round and round in the air in indescribable mannerisms. She looked at the seated girls, incessantly speaking their haunting words into an ancient microphone.

Slowly, the figures began to merge back into the darkness as they did when they first appeared. A mist-like blackness began to consume their figures, drawing back into the endless and unknown darkness. After a few moments, the figures were gone, leaving Sarah alone again in the permanent blackness. She looked down at whatever served as the floor and sighed, the grogginess in her began to increase before she again fell into a deep sleep.

Chapter Seventeen Sarah again awoke in her own apartment lying on the floor, the soft humming of the tape machines around incessantly buzzed with electricity. The raging fire behind her had burned itself out, leaving behind piles of smoking ambers and ashes. The warmth that the fire provided was now almost completely gone, the ever present chilling feel slowly crept up on her.

Sarah looked open mouthed around her, seeing only the familiar surroundings of her apartment. She looked at the television beside her on the floor. The screen was blank, devoid of anything. A faint stream of smoke rose in the air from the back of the television.

She quickly got up on her feet and walked briskly to the kitchen. She took out a small can of beer from the refrigerator and downed it in one.

She looked outside and realised that it was almost dawn, the inky blackness of the night was slowly being enveloped by the perfect milky whiteness of the daytime, creeping up from the endless expanse of towering skyscrapers and smaller buildings.

She had been unconscious for the whole night, yet her experience only lasted for a few minutes. It was almost like being in a dream, experiencing only fractions of images and sounds in the space of a whole night. Despite knowing that the evidence pointed to the idea of her dreaming all of this time, she was far from accepting it. People didn’t usually have the feeling of their brains exploding before they fell asleep. Something else was happening that she didn’t understand.

Something’s going on here. I’m passing out all the friggin’ time and seeing these weird things. This all started when I picked up that damn receiver on the telephone thing in the Town Hall. The people there told me it was Electronic Voice Phenomenon, communication with the dead. That must be it, I must be seeing and hearing the same things they listen to, only it seems more powerful. I have to find out what’s happening to me, I can’t do this alone.

She threw the empty can of beer into the waste-bin. She knew she had to go back to the Town Hall and tell them what happened to her. She knew full well that they’d turn her into a laboratory rat in a second. But, there was nothing else she could do, she couldn’t understand something she had no knowledge of and at the same time sink into the quicksand more and more. Maybe their testing would highlight some things, bring her closer to understanding.

Bring her closer to her father.

Hopefully, she’d meet the guy she met there, William Blake. He looked out for. Maybe he’d help her and be able to decide what kind of tests to do.

She walked out of the kitchen and into the bathroom. After what she’d been through so far, she needed a shower.

She took off her clothes and stepped underneath the cool and refreshing water. She placed her head underneath the water and closed her eyes, allowing the water to run over her face and

her eyelids. She imagined the water purging her of what she had seen and felt tonight, carrying it into the drain below her.

Sarah knew in her heart and mind that she wasn’t a timid person or easily rattled. While other survivors in the city sought cover and fled in fear as the night came, she walked or drove out into it in full force, her head high, enjoying getting out into the open air. She took pride in knowing that while everyone wallowed in self pity and depression over what had happened to the world, she carried on her life more or less as it was before. She knew it took great courage and determination to get over and survive something like that. She didn’t want to sound arrogant to herself, but she couldn’t help but feel pleased and congratulate herself.

She felt pleased and a little reassured of reminding herself of the type of person she was and how strong she was. But, since the encounter with the Telephone device and the visions and strange occurrences, she wondered just how strong she really was.

Come on, shape up. You survived all this time in this world because you had to, otherwise you’d have gone under just like the others on the streets. You can’t expect to face and get over something like this. This is the afterlife you’re dealing with, here. You can’t know how to defend yourself against something so unlike you’ve faced before.

She hoped this pondering would somehow reassure her, convince herself that she wasn’t to blame and betray her own convictions at the same time. But, her thoughts merely allowed the fears she had to overwhelm her even more as she realised how small she seemed when compared against the endless immensity of what was in front of her.

She sighed at the sudden knowledge she had gained of herself. She tried to ignore it and continued with showering.

‘My room.’

Sarah sharply turned and looked behind her as she heard a voice. She saw nothing but her white bathroom. Her heart rate began to increase, drowning out the sound of the rushing water.

Oh Christ, not again.

Her arms instinctively covered her chest as she looked on at the empty air behind her. Her legs clutched tightly to each other, her body began to shudder with nervous apprehension.

‘My room,’ the voice said again. Sarah could tell that it sounded like a female voice. It sounded as though someone was shouting from a distance.

She returned her sight back to face the wall in front of her, trying to keep her concentration solely on the water. But it was useless. The strong and slowly growing feeling of someone stood behind her and watching her was too intense. She closed her eyes, her breathing grew more and more rapid and uncontrollable. She could take it no more, the incredible sensation grew stronger by the moment. She was terrified to say anything, but she had to, she had to shout something. She regained the strength of her muscles all over her body and opened her mouth.

“What the fuck do you want!?” She screamed at the top of her voice.

She could feel the intense anxiety and fear leave her body along with the water that washed over her. Her body shuddered for a few moments with shock. She didn’t know that she had the strength to do that. She leaned on the wall to her left as she pulled herself together.

She listened for any kind of response to her screaming question, but there was none. Just the incessant sound of the water and her own agitated breathing. The feeling of a presence and

being watched had left her. She hoped that her strengthened response to its presence had caused it to leave in a hurry.

Not wanting to spend any longer in the shower, she pulled a small silver lever on the side of the pipe that led up to the shower. The rushing water stopped and she got out of the shower.

She picked up her clothes and carried them into the kitchen, preferring to get dressed in a room where so far, no weird things had happened.

She fumbled with her clothes as she dressed, unable to tear her gaze away from the rooms in front of her. She felt as though simply getting dressed and obscuring her vision briefly as she put her blouse back would distract her from keeping a close eye on everything.

She had the overwhelming feeling of being attacked by her own apartment. As though something she brought with her from the Town Hall had infected it and was slowly poisoning everything she knew so well. The living room was its prime place, it seemed, where most of what had occurred had happened. It had spread to the bathroom now, possibly growing in power.

She wanted to be away from here and get to the Town Hall and the scientists before anything else happened to her. She laughed slightly as she realised something. She was seeking refuge from the very place that had done this to her and fleeing her home, the very place she had lived for so many years. Yet, while finding it funny, she also realised how bad it was. This was no ordinary thing that was happening to her, this was the supernatural. It was taking her from her home and forcing her to go somewhere that was the last place she wanted to be.

While the scientists were the ones she was angry at over what there weird device had done to her, she had to consider them allies, the only ones that could get her out of this alive and sane.

She finished getting dressed and hurriedly left her apartment, wondering whether she would ever see it again.

Chapter Eighteen Sarah’s Cadillac ripped through the empty and deserted streets as she made her way toward the Town Hall. The slowly encroaching dawn covered the dissipating canopy of blackness that had shrouded the city in intense blackness. The large and ancient trees that had served as pedestals for bright and chirpy singing birds, celebrating the arrival of a new day were now disappointedly absent of such things. Their endlessly growing branches of claws and talons slowly reached into the air with an alien malevolence.

Sarah’s mind reeled with many thoughts and fears over what she should do. She wondered whether going to the scientists would actually help her, they might just use her as part of their experiment and to hell with anything else. This thing she had might tear her apart, even if they helped her. She could guess this wasn’t something they were familiar with. A large overwhelming and particularly appealing thought came to her. She could smash the Telephone device that gave her this hell, take a sledgehammer to the thing and smash it into the junk it was before. Even if it didn’t help, it would make her feel better. But, with all of this going on, she couldn’t ignore the fact that this allowed to find her father. The first vision she had, she could smell him as strongly as she could when he was alive. True, there was no indication that he was actually there, but she had to try.

What the hell did he say? ‘The scholar is beyond the darkness.’ Wait!

Sarah’s eyes flashed open as a sudden realisation popped in her head. She forced her foot on the brake pedal and the car came to a screeching halt, almost grinding up the road as it did.

That’s gotta’ be it, of course. ‘The scholar is beyond the darkness.’ The smell of the leather, the presence. He’s beyond all of this, he’s there right beyond all of this crap that’s going on.

She clenched her fists together tightly, congratulating herself. Yet, immediately after, she sank down into her seat, cringing in fear.

If her father really was somewhere in this hell that she had to search through, she would still have to go through hell to get there. She would have to endure god knows what that the world beyond had on offer, attacking her mind constantly while she had no defence against it.

She could ignore all of this that was circling around her, say goodbye to it all and go back home, back to the life she had, the same she had lived for so long. But, it would always be with her, no matter how much she tried to ignore it, no matter how hard she would try to block it out while she slept, it would always be there right with her, burrowing down into her flesh like a disease or foreign organism.

She suddenly felt so small and insignificant. Like a small child lost in a busy street, alone and terrified with an infinity of the unknown surrounding it.

Even if it was extremely dangerous, what else would she do. She had nothing but an empty and unchanging life with no chance of freedom. Her father was the only thing she ever cared about, the only thing that mattered to her, and even if there was just a fraction of a chance that she would see his face for one moment, she had to try. She didn’t care if the path that led to it was dangerous, she would find her father no matter what. And the scientists in the Town Hall would help her, maybe.

She contained herself and sat upright in her seat, her head high, ready to face anything that came her way. She gritted her teeth together and put her foot on the accelerator. The car sped on up the road again at a safe and reasonable speed.

The milky whiteness of the dawn had almost arrived when she pulled up outside the immense front doors of the Town Hall. The mist had started to surround all in a thick cold blanket. She wrapped herself in her arms as she felt the cold, it seemed to penetrate her clothes and her skin and go right to the bones and her nerves. The feeling was very similar to when someone walked over your grave. She shuddered at the dark irony of it.

She walked slowly and tentatively up the echoey stone steps to the front doors. They were locked as always, and no sound or anything hinted at the scientists being in there, but she had to try. She could see how important this thing was to all of them, and they wouldn’t let a silly thing like sleep stop them from working.

She placed her hands lightly and open palmed on the doors, instantly drawing them back as she felt a freezing and uncomfortable cold emanating from the doors. Like the entrance to a tomb. She shuddered with fear and anxiety, refusing to go any further.

Come on, you bitch, she demanded in her mind. Get in there. You want to see this through to the end? Get in there instead of hovering out here.

Drawing in a large breath of courage, she pushed open the door, trying her best to ignore the intense cold coming from them.

The cold breeze from outside wafted in to the long corridor inside, the dust that had long settled in great piles, along with the corpses of furniture and old clothes blew around silently and hauntingly. Sarah ignored all of this and pushed forward to the main hall, the dust and

torn clothing brushed past her bare legs as she walked, like a cold hand touching her. She kept her gaze fixed firmly on the end of the corridor.

As she approached closer, she heard the sound of footsteps up ahead. She listened hard to them. They sounded as though they were coming from one of the rooms next to the corridor.

Her head jerked around as the footsteps entered the corridor. Out of instinct, she dove for cover inside of the empty rooms near her. She did her best to camouflage her steps and peeked into the corridor. A door further down the corridor opened wide with a loud creak.

From out of the room stepped the scientists holding clipboards and taking down notes. Sarah quickly studied each of their faces as she looked for William, but saw only the unfazed expressions of the others.

Ahead of the scientists, she spotted the one who she guessed was the head of their experiment. He had lost a lot of his grey hair, his whole body was thin, his fingers seemed like those of a spider. His expression was one of anger and resentment, almost like hatred.

His lips were held tight together, his eyes narrowed. She recognised him as the man who she had seen before, he was talking to William about something and William had looked at him as though he wanted to kill him.

Sarah’s eyes widened as she spotted William walking behind the others. His walking seemed a pathetic shuffling, his head was lowered. He looked as though he was saddened about something.

The grey haired man at the front suddenly stopped, holding his rigid fists by his sides. He faced the other end of the corridor, his back to Sarah and the other scientists.

“Go on,” he said in a quietly irritated voice. “Go on ahead, I wish to talk to Mr Blake.”

William looked unfazed by this, his head never moving, his feet stopping only when he saw that the others in front of him had stopped. The other scientists looked at each for a quick moment, their mouths were partly open. They continued writing down their notes and carried on down the corridor. William stayed in his defeated posture. The grey haired man clenched his fists tighter and slowly began to turn around.

His breathing was intense, his face contorted into an expression of disgust and hatred. Sarah guessed what he would do next. She wanted to help William, but she couldn’t compromise herself by running out into the corridor. In a hurried pace, he went up to William and struck him hard on the face, knocking him to the ground. William grunted with pain and held the striking point with his hand. The grey haired man looked down at him with intense disgust.

“You should know better than to betray me, like that, small man.” His voice was low, yet had the feel of a sharpened knife. “How dare you take our equipment and give it to some animal from outside. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice that half our records were gone?”

Sarah knew what this was about. William had given the tapes and tape machines to her hoping that he wouldn’t be found out. She felt guilty. She had so proud of herself before of tricking him, but now seeing the result of what she had done in front of her, it made her stomach grind up with pain.

The grey haired man continued with his intense display of contempt over William. “How dare you betray me and give our records to that bitch. Get out of here, out of this experiment and this building. And if I see you or that bitch here again, I swear that you’ll be the next subjects for the experiment.”

He kicked William hard in the head, he crashed down hard to the floor with a loud thud. The

grey haired man turned round and headed further up the corridor to the Main Hall.

Sarah was not often afraid of people, but this one made her feel terrified. While she couldn’t believe it, she could almost feel his anger and the danger of being around him. She almost felt more afraid of him than the things she had seen and experienced. Her body shuddered as she shook off the feeling.

She hurried over to William and held his head in her arms. “Hey, William, wake up.” She said, gently shaking him. She hoped that he wouldn’t take this as a benevolent act. Sure, she didn’t hate him or have any disregard for him, but he was the only one of the scientists that she could trust to help her.

After a few attempts of waking him, he slowly began to open his eyes. He opened them wide and immediately sat bolt upright, he grunted in pain and reached for his face again. He realised that Sarah was beside him. He quickly took hold of her arms, obviously forgetting about his pain.

“What the hell are you doing here?” He asked in a quiet whisper. “You can’t be in here, if he finds us, he’ll kill us. Get out of here, now” Sarah had no room for doubt over that. From what she saw of what he said to him, it was frighteningly clear.

“I need your help,” she said, following the suit of whispering. “Since I used that weird Telephone thing, I’ve been seeing things, scary and crazy things. My apartment doesn’t feel safe anymore, it feels as though its being invaded by something.”

William tried his best to listen to her while constantly looking behind him, his face contorted into panic, his body shook. He looked at Sarah with a terrified face.

“Please, get out of here, now. I don’t care what he does to me, but I don’t want him to kill you. I’ll listen to what you have to say, but not here. Go, wait for me outside, I’ll meet you there.”

The two of them quickly stood up, William’s body was still shaking. Sarah wanted quickly to tell him what had happened, but she could see that he was in no state to help her at the moment. She knew she had to listen to him.

“Okay,” she said, in a voice to calm him. “I’ll wait just outside, make sure you come, I need your help.”

William calmed down, a wash of relief filled his face. He managed a weak smile. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, his smile dissipated as he saw Sarah’s face change into silent panic.

Her eyes were opened wide and staring behind him. William quickly turned round and for a brief moment saw the large piece of wood hit him hard on the head before he fell unconscious.

Chapter Nineteen William Blake awoke with a splitting headache some time later lying across a dusty old wooden floor. He held his head in his hand as he slowly sat upright. His head throbbed with pain, he could feel a stinging sensation in the back of his eyes. It took him a moment to figure out what happened, and most importantly, where the girl was.

Jesus, what hit me? Where is she, god I hope she’s okay. Wait, I remember, someone hit me on the head with something. Oswald, it must be him, that asshole, piece of shit.

The memory of what the girl had told him slowly began to pour back into his mind.

She told me she was seeing things in her apartment, she wanted my help. They must have heard her . . .shit, they must be doing something to her.

He quickly rose to his feet and looked all around him. He deduced that he was in some kind of store room, one of the many abandoned rooms in the Town Hall that they never used. He could see old wooden chairs with dusty white sheets draped across them. Great white drapes covered most of the tiny walls surrounding him. Old wooden cupboards were stacked in a corner along with dusty candlesticks and cutlery. He looked around from top to bottom but could see no sign of a door.

There must be a goddamn door around here, somewhere. They brought me in here through something.

He looked at the white drapes that covered the walls when a thought came to him. Most of the doors in the building had locking mechanisms, but none of the scientists could ever lock them as no keys for any of them were ever found. Clearly, they didn’t want him to get out of here and wanted him to think that he couldn’t leave by blocking the door with something.

He turned around and noticed the tall white sheet draped across the wall, held in place by two rusty nails. He pulled back the sheet and found the wooden panelled door behind it. He tore the sheet from the wall and threw it to the floor. He opened the door and went outside, quietly closing it behind himself. His instinct told him to slam the door the door, but he knew that they’d probably hear him.

He looked around his present location and saw that he stood in one of the many seemingly endless corridors in the Town Hall. He didn’t recognise this section, but he knew that he was lucky with them leaving him in a room in the same building as them and not in a room on the other side of the city. Obviously, they had wanted to get the girl in the main hall as quickly as possible and had to compromise where they left him. They could even have killed him and dumped his body somewhere. He felt his body shake a little as the realisation dawned He looked at the opposite ends of the corridor, seeing only an endless blackness that intensified as far as the eye could see. Countless doors that led to other rooms were on either side of the corridor. Where the hell do I start, I have to get to the ground floor. With no clear indication of either direction, he decided to take a gamble and chose the left and started to walk. Hopefully, whichever direction he chose, it would lead to a stairway to the ground floor.

A burning feeling of hate against Oswald and an apprehension to kill him roared inside him.

If he had done anything to the girl, he would regret it.

He gave thought to the other scientists and where they were in his feelings. They were nowhere near as cold and unfeeling as Oswald, but they were rapidly coming nearer to it. He could often see signs of the lack of feeling in their faces, just the same cold drive of the scientist in them, pushing further and further to their ultimate goal. He didn’t particularly have any negative feelings toward them, but he knew they had and were now helping Oswald with his selfish experiment and were willingly going along with whatever they were doing to the girl they had.

He clenched his fists tight. They had disowned their humanity. This experiment had once been for everyone that was left to have some piece of mind or something ever greater. Now, it had simply become a drive, something to strive toward with no feelings of what it would give

them at all. They were just hollow husks of what had once been human beings.

He looked at his hands, imagining the blood that clung to his skin. It was a symbol, marking him as one of the others that went along with abandoning their morals and humanity. It made him feel like them., But, at the same time, he knew he was different. He felt a strange kind of gratitude towards the symbol and the guilt inside him. That was the one thing that had rescued him from the inevitable path that the others had already walked. It brought his humanity and morals back from the edge of the pit, and for that he was thankful.

He carried on down the blackened corridor.

He felt a little light headed as he walked, his footsteps stumbled as they struggled to walk in a straight line, his vision was uneven, like the look of being dizzy. He decided to stop before he fell down and supported himself on the wall with his hand. He held his stomach in his other hand as he felt a sickness inside him.

Jesus, what the hell did they hit me with, I can hardly walk. He wondered whether he would get to the girl in time or even at all. He wasn’t sure he could make it, but he knew he had to.

He would have to bite his lip and force his will to carry him.

He recovered himself as best as he could and started again down the corridor. His mind flooded with pleasing thoughts of revenge against the scientists, that helped him a little in forcing himself to continue.

After a long half hour of stumbling down corridors and feeding what he saw with his memory of the place, he finally found himself on the ground floor. He remembered the spiral staircase that led down to the ground floor. It had been hell when he couldn’t find another way down and had to force himself to remember a way. It had been even worse trying to make it down without falling over and over and breaking his neck. The realisation made him realise that their was only this one staircase that still existed, the others had rotted to dust.

He reached the bottom of the staircase and in his vague vision saw that he faced the main corridor in the building that led to the Main Hall. He could almost hear the voices of the scientists echoing down the silent hallway. He could also hear the sound of Oswald Richardson’s voice, instantly recognisable with its cold and unfeeling sound. He couldn’t tell what he was saying, but he knew it was him. He felt afraid of going there with what he had already said to him, and also a little excited. Whatever things he was doin to the girl would finally give him an excuse to punch him in the face, very hard.

He shook himself to try and shake off the drowsiness and sickness that consumed him. He had to have a clear head for getting in easily, hopefully without them knowing. While it made him feel slightly disappointed at not being able to get his revenge, he knew it was the best solution, not just for him, but for the girl, too.

He walked slowly up toward the doorway and nestled his body as close as he could get to it without being seen. He very slowly and timidly moved his hand out of the doorway to the other side. Quickly drawing a breath and keeping it locked inside his throat, he began to peer around in the corridor, keeping one whole side of his face in the room he stood. He could see the Main Hall from here, the dead leaves still incessantly being blown around by the wind.

He could see the Telephone device, very small from where he stood, but it was instantly recognisable. Before now, he had merely regarded the Telephone as a machine, a very powerful and special machine, but nothing more than that. But now, with what the girl had

told him, burning like a well kept fire in his mind, he regarded now as something a whole lot more than a machine. This thing seemed alive somehow, buzzing with spiritual energy, beckoning for ignorant people to lift the receiver.

He focused his attention on the task at hand, listening harder for the voices. They seemed muffled now and he couldn’t tell what they were saying. He knew they couldn’t be in the observation area as he wouldn’t be able to hear them at all. He guessed that they were still in the Main Hall, probably on the other side of the room near to the observation area.

While he fought the idea to prevent from getting his hopes up, he wondered if they had only just put him in the store room and were preparing to test the girl right now. Hopefully, if that were true, she wouldn’t have to face whatever they were going to do to her.

He moved silently into the main corridor, trying his best to mask his approach as his feet moved amongst the sea of rotted furniture. He hugged the wall with his back and shuffled along, his face turned to the right as he came closer.

At the end of the corridor now, he could still hear the voices muffled and totally nonunderstandable. His eyes glanced at the Telephone and became glued to it. Its great entanglement of wiring and plastic tubes and recording devices stuck into it made it look like a monster. A creature that wasn’t human, its sentient “mind” made from the endless collection of deceased souls that constantly came through. It seemed like Frankenstein’s monster, an inhuman thing made from various body parts.

It began to make him feel a little afraid of it. Then, a sudden disquieting thought overwhelmed him. What if the voices he was hearing were coming from this thing, the voices of the dead being fed through the device to him. The other scientists might have done the testing long ago and the girl might be dead. But, then, he could hear Oswald’s voice, he was sure. It couldn’t be his voice from the grave, that didn’t work, plus it seemed to good to be true.

His eyes moved across the room in one quick sharp movement as he heard something, his body quickly shuffled a few inches back down the corridor. He ran the sound through his mind again, registering that it was a door closing. Gathering his nerves again, he moved back towards the Main Hall and forced himself to peek round. He could see the observation area from here, its large glass windows reflecting the cold whiteness of the sky outside. He looked closer as he saw movement inside. Relief washed over him as he saw the scientists busily moving around inside the little room, carefully studying their notes and pressing switch after switch. It was certain then that the voices were from them, not from the beyond.

From here, he could also see Oswald, his typical angered face seemed to stand out from the others around him. William fought the desire to go over there and beat the crap out of him, knowing it was suicide.

He watched the scientists for a moment engaging in their constant work of the E.V.P. messages they constantly worked over, looking for an answer to it all. Their faces were cold unfeeling, no joy over what they were looking for in this entanglement of data around them, spurred on by the same shared and single drive; to find out the truth to it all. Seeing it here in front of him, it made him feel very lucky to be himself, to still retain his humanity and feelings and not have it burned out by the fact gatherer inside him. He felt his heart beating in his chest, glad at what it represented in his mind.

He watched the scientists intently as a few of them began to move through a door into

another room and close it behind them. Oswald went with them, leaving only two in the observation area.

William knew they were moving into the next hall. A hall that was empty and a lot smaller than this one, he and others had used it in the early part of the experiment by playing the collection of tapes they recovered in the hall in total darkness, hoping that it would encourage spiritual activity. While they recorded a few voices on their own machines, nothing else happened.

William kept his gaze fixed on the door they passed through. They couldn’t still be using that hall for the experiment, they had decided long ago that it was pointless to continue after receiving poor results.

They’ve gotta’ be keeping her in there, its big enough to keep her somewhere inside and to keep their . . .testing equipment.

He looked at where the door was, where the two scientists were sitting and his current position. It was obvious that he couldn’t just walk into the observation area, say hy and go into the Hall. He couldn’t possibly go in and hit them until they fell unconscious. He was a scientist, not a goddamn mercenary. He suddenly remembered that there was a door in the wall to his right that led into the second Hall. But, there was no way he could get in there unseen, however, that his best and safest route.

He gave a passing thought as to what he would do once he got into the Hall. The rest of the scientists would be there and would certainly put up a good fight, as well as Oswald with something special in mind. He decided to think of that later and focus on what he was doing now.

His mouth opened suddenly and his eyes opened wide as a bright spark of memory entered his mind. He remembered that they had all run wires through certain rooms in the building that were connected to generators. They provided the power to the whole place, the lights, the computer equipment and the Telephone. If he could get to these wires and generators, he could knock out the power to the whole place and force them out into the abandoned rooms looking for the cause. He could walk quietly into the Hall and get the girl out of here without them knowing anything. Perfect. Hopefully, once this was all over, she would tell him her name.

Where the hell are the wires and generators? Wait, that’s it. The wires are in the rooms, the generators are in the cellar. I’ll start there.

As quietly as he could manage it, he raced down the corridor toward the cellar entrance.

The entrance to the cellar was located inside a small back room in the main corridor, just a few feet away from the main doors. Except for the occasional repair done on a faulty generator, no one ever came in here. The door was close to being completely rotted away and would be hanging off the hinges if they weren’t made of metal. The door creaked very loudly as William opened it, gradually becoming louder as he pushed it further and further. The air inside was extremely cold, a lot colder than anywhere else in the building. William held his chest tight in his arms as he felt the cold race through his bloodstream.

He looked around the room, his body shaking. The room was empty, apart from two empty shelving units and a small unused iron radiator. Pieces of card and paper were scattered across the floor. A large dark brown pipe was fixed to the wall and ran through the floor and into the cellar. William’s eyes scanned the floor as he looked for the entrance. Using his feet,

he dragged away the card and paper. He preferred not to use his hands, he continually blew hot breath into them as he struggled to stay warm.

After a few moments of digging, he found what he was looking for. The cellar entrance was a large wooden shutter with a small metal handle. He could smell the wood preserver that the scientists constantly spread across it to prevent it from sharing the same fate as every other wooden object. They always preferred to do this rather than leave it to rot. They all knew about the half-crazy survivors that incessantly walked the streets, and they didn’t want them sniffing around the Town Hall and screwing things up. William had always agreed with this idea in the past, but now, he regarded it as the ramblings of morons.

He knelt down on the floor slowly, allowing the cold to slowly attack the rest of his body and ensure that he would be used to it quicker, rather than meet the cold head on. He lay his hands open palmed over the cellar entrance, goose pimples quickly appeared on his skin as the death-like cold shot through his hands. He shuddered at the incredible unnatural feeling, quickly exhaling a breath as the sudden cold shock reached his brain.

He shook himself again, forcing the coldness to leave his body, or at least dissipate enough to allow him to continue. He tried his best to ignore the cold coming from underneath the shutter and quickly took hold of the handle and lifted the shutter, before the intense cold from the metal caused him to scream.

Beneath the shutter was a metal ladder descending into darkness. The powerful cold air from the cellar was now at its height, no longer being suppressed by the shutter and now coming through into the room above with great power. He could hear the escaping air rush out from its prison, as though it had been trapped there for years. To William, it felt like the patient slow breathing of some powerful and hideous creature, waiting below for him to come down.

Come on, you asshole, get it together. There’s nothing down there. The girl is your main concern, you have to help her.

Tightening his body to give him inner strength and to combat the cold, he started his descent down the ladder. He took hold of his lab coat in his hands before touching the bare metal. He had already touched the handle of the shutter and it felt as though he had just put his hand in liquid Nitrogen. He sure as hell didn’t want to do it again.

The rungs of the ladder echoed with a loud metallic clang as his feet touched them. He hoped the scientists wouldn’t hear him, there was nowhere to hide anywhere here and they wouldn’t give up searching until they found something.

The steadily growing colder air beneath him rushed past him as he descended, rushing underneath his lab and brushing past the bare skin on his face causing him to wince. While he tried to ignore it, the cold felt like a presence, an invisible entity rushing by him. The whole present experience felt like descending into a tomb.

After what seemed like a gruelling long amount of time forcing back the cold and fighting his growing irrational fears, William had finally reached the bottom of the ladder into the cellar.

The air felt damp down here and somehow escalated the cold. William could hear dripping water, he hoped it hadn’t dripped onto the generators, he didn’t want everything to plunge into blackness. He suddenly realised that he didn’t actually need to disable the lights all over the building, he would just need to disable the ones in the Main Hall. Hopefully, that would knock out the Telephone device itself and have them scrambling around looking for the cause and give him enough light to still see what he was doing.

He paid attention to the sounds around him and immediately heard the incessant droning of the generators as they continually fed electricity to the building. He was surprised that he didn’t hear it sooner, then realised that his fears of what his mind imagined was down here blocked out the sound of the generators.

He felt around the wall to his right and found the light switch. He switched it on, the large overhanging lights fizzled as they struggled to brighten up. Finally, only one half of the twin set of lights came on fully, the other half barely shone.

William looked round the cellar. Here too were large shelving units positioned against the walls, holding only small empty boxes and old worn vases. The generators took up most of the floor, the entanglement of wires and circuits running from them and in-between them ran to large circuit boxes on the walls that ran to the rest of the building.

William knelt down on the floor and studied each of the generators. They were only very simple things, each holding a small wind up core that droned loudly with activity. Each generator had a small piece of white paper attached to them, each with a specific name written on them. He saw that the first was labelled: SECOND FLOOR WEST SIDE. He moved to the next one. It read: TTHIRD FLOOR WEST AND EAST SIDE. Moving to the third, the paper read: GROUND FLOOR WEST SIDE AND MAIN HALL. That’s it, this is the one.

He thought better about simply tearing the wires from the generator and risk electrocution and decided to shut off the main switch. It was hard to make out is smaller details what with the poor lighting and had to feel around for anything he recognised. After a few moments, he felt a small metal switch pointing at an angle. He pressed down on the switch until it dropped downward in one movement with a click, the sound from the generator slowly began to grind down to a halt, a slight squeaking sound was heard as it did.

William had no way of knowing if it had worked, but he was sure that it would have done the trick. He got up to his feet and stood right underneath the ladder, listening as hard as he could for the frantic and desperate voices from above. He could hear nothing but the constant grinding of the other generators around him. He slowly started to ascend the ladder, his concentration focused on the sounds he was looking for. He emerged again into the small room on the ground floor and immediately noticed the blanket of darkness that covered everything, and from a distance, he could just hear the nervous voices of the scientists running around as they sought out the problem.

Yes, I did it. Hopefully, they’ll be running round like headless chickens to much to notice me.

I hope the girl’s okay.

The perfect white light that streamed in through the open windows in the Main Hall allowed him to see where exactly the Hall was from where he stood. He slowly started to walk back up the main corridor, keeping his eyes fixed on any movement that could dart across. He didn’t want to meet them in the dark.

He wondered whether they thought that the electricity failure might have been caused by him and if they were going to check up on him where they left him. He hoped that their desperate efforts of restoring power before they lost any important data made them forget that and focus their attention on restoring power and continuing the experiment.

He could feel the great draft of air around him as he neared the Main Hall, surrounding him like an ominous presence. He took cover by standing against the wall as he heard the erratic

voices of the scientists, they were arguing with each other of how best to repair the problem quickly, as well as blaming each other for the loss of power. William could also hear Oswald’s voice, its same low yet fearful sound echoing across the Hall. The rest of the scientists remained silent and listened as his voice broke through theirs, all of them knowing the consequences if they didn’t.

William turned his head and looked into the Hall. He could see them in the grainy whiteness coming from outside stood at the Telephone, their heads darting from one direction to another at the machine as they looked for a possible cause. They looked almost like spirits in the dim light, their frantic movements like ethereal movements.

Oswald’s figure was the easiest to see amongst the others. He was tall and loomed over the others. His mere presence by their sides was enough for him to give his orders without question. After shouting his feelings of their incompetence of letting this happen, he told one of them to check the circuits in the observation room and then check the generators.

William’s body immediately froze.

Jesus, their gonna’ come down here. They’ll find me. What the hell do I do?

Frozen by sudden shock and fear, his body and mind refused to operate. He pushed his brain to figure out an answer, even a simple one, but his concentration was focused on the hurried movements of the scientists.

Oh, God, come on, think of something!

The scientist was in the observation room, carefully checking each individual switch and circuit. They checked the recording and wave machines for a possible system surge. It gave William some time to think as they struggled to find the cause using knocked out machines.

Realising it was pointless to check here, the scientist walked out and headed towards the corridor to the generators. William was still frozen to the spot, his mind was chaotic as it swam with imagined scenario’s of when they discovered the cause and found him, shaking with fear in the corridor, as well as what they would do with the girl.

Nervously shifting slowly back down the corridor, his arm fell sharply backwards, almost knocking him to the ground. He immediately turned and saw that he had fallen through an open door. He quickly looked back to ensure he wasn’t seen, then his mind worked the idea through his brain.

The door, that’s it, yes. I’ll hide in here!

He quickly moved inside the empty room and quietly closed the door, leaving an inch open for him to look through.

The scientist approached, their hurried footsteps increased in volume as they echoed along the tiled floor and added to the growing fear of William, each footstep sounded like the seconds dwindling away to a horrible situation. William quickly closed his eyes as the footsteps were mere feet away from his hiding place. He was terrified to close them, but he so wanted to. He held tightly to the brass door handle, hoping to god that it wouldn’t rattle as his body began to shake. His mind was attacked by his own condemning accusations at himself.

You shouldn’t have done this, you asshole. You should have let them have her, do what they want with her. You don’t know each other, you haven’t needed anybody, you’ve done fine on your own. But, you had to have the girl didn’t you, you had to have this one, the one they’re all testing and experimenting on.

As the footsteps passed outside the door, his body tensed incredibly as he waited for the

inevitable ordeal. After a few moments, he began to relax as the footsteps carried on by without pausing toward the cellar. He opened his eyes fully and released a great exhale of trapped air, his muscles relaxed to a comfortable point.

Its okay, they’ve gone now. They’ll be a while checking it, hopefully they’ll think its wound itself down, or something. I hope the others won’t see me.

He slowly opened the door and checked in both directions to make sure no one was there. He slowly started to make his way into the Main Hall, constantly watching the other scientist stood at the Telephone, deliberating over what could have happened.

His attention was mainly focused on Oswald. He was the last person he wanted that could see him. His ominous words still rang in his head like bells of what he would do to him if he found him, and he believed them, he had no reason not to knowing the type of person he was.

His minds eye ceaselessly fed him the image of Oswald seeing him in the dimly lit corners of the Hall, shouting his presence to the others, staring at him with eyes filled with hate and malice.

He half expected, and really wanted him to check the systems himself rather than letting someone else do it. He usually did final checks himself, claiming his personal eye was better than the morons working for him doing it.

William kept careful glances at the door he steadily approached, walking sideways to keep constant glances at that and the people at the other end of the Hall. Finally, after gruelling time and effort and terror filled moments, he finally reached the door, resting his whole body against it and lowering his head, as though embracing the door with the pleasure of arriving there.

He looked once more at the scientists assembled at the Telephone device and pushed open the door and stepped inside the room, quickly closing the door behind him.

He closed his eyes and reassured himself.

Its okay, you here now. You made it past the son of a bitch and got in here.

He opened his eyes again and took a look at the Hall he now stood in. The room was in perfect darkness, not a single object nor shape could be seen. This room was very small compared to the one outside, but the ever present chill around William made it feel just as big and empty as the last one. He tried to imagine it at its true size so as not to scare himself any more.

He hoped that the girl would be lit up like a Christmas tree, then he could get her and himself out of here, hopefully through the door at the opposite end if it wasn’t locked like so many others.

Don’t worry, they were in here, so she must be too. You’ve just got to look around for her.

He felt around the wall beside him for a light switch and found nothing.

Shit, how am I supposed to find her in this?

Realising he had no choice, he slowly started to moved further into the darkness, his steps were slow and timid as he moved, fearful that he would walk into something and knock it over and it would make a loud crash. He quickly tossed that thought into the darkness it came from. He put his hands in front of him and stretched out his arms as far as he could, his fingers twiddled hurriedly.

How the hell do I find her in this, this is insane, I can’t do this.

He fell over suddenly as his legs struck an object, his body bent forwards and he landed

heavily on the ground. He controlled his whole brain to force himself not to shout out loud.

He rolled over onto his back and took hold of his injured leg to nurse it with his hands.

What the hell was that? He thought to himself, feeling a little concerned.

He got up onto his knees and nervously extended his hands into the thick blackness. He didn’t know what the hell this was, but he hoped it was the girl. He fought his tortured imagination as it reeled to feed him unnatural images of what he would find.

He reached out and found nothing but empty cold air. He breathed in deeply and reached out further. For an instant, his fingertips caught the feel of something, an object. His body shuddered with a cold inner feeling, he exhaled the contained breath. He forced his hands to reach out further still and he again felt the object. His fingers began to reach further and feel more of what he had.

As his hands explored more of what was in front of him, he began to relax, with each passing second with nothing happening, he slowly took control of himself. After a few minutes of literally groping in the dark, he had felt along the object. With the information processed from his fingers and palms, he concluded to himself that this was a human figure.

The girl? God, I hope to god it is. But, how the hell do it know, theirs no lights. They have to have them somewhere, they can’t work in the dark.

He felt along the figure and across from it back into the darkness. He immediately felt something cold and thin which he thought could only be a large electric light. He ran his hands up the cold metal pole until he found a small metal switch. Breathing in slowly before committing himself, he then turned on the light.

William looked down in shock at the seated figure of the girl, her hands were on her lap, her eyes were closed. Wires and tubes hung out of her skin and ran along the floor, a large metallic cap was placed on top of her head running wires out and into large recording machines placed behind her.

Holy Christ, what have they done to her?

William leaned in closer to her face. She appeared to be asleep, totally unaware of what was happening to her. William shook her arm, desperately trying to wake her up. “Come on,” he said in a whispered tone. “Wake up, we have to get out of here, now.”

She wouldn’t wake up, he tried to shake her harder, almost knocking her out of the chair, but still no result.

“Jesus Christ, we haven’t got time for this, they’ll find us.”

Whatever he tried, it didn’t succeed. Her permanently seated figure remained in that posture, unmoving and unfazed.

William knew this wasn’t going to work. There was no way he could wake her up. She was definitely alive judging from the machines behind her that registered her heartbeat and brain functions, but she was comatose. He knew that repeated attempts at waking her would just waste precious time until the scientists came in here and found him. He began to panic, sweat perspired down his forehead, his breathing began to escalate. He looked around the area in front of him for the way out. There was definitely a door in here, he’d seen in hundreds of times, but the darkness and the growing fear clouded his judgement.

Realising it was pointless, he grabbed the large electric lamp and started to pull it away with him. He reached only a few inches before he saw that the long wire connecting it to the machines was too short to take it any further. Still plagued by terror of what could happen if

he did it, he violently pulled the lead, pulling the small machine it was connected to with it.

The machine made a low scraping sound as he pulled it further. He grunted as he pulled more and more, shining the lamp on the walls as he neared them, scanning every inch for any door like detail. He saw only white bare walls with the occasional cracks and small shelves harbouring small old mechanical equipment.

Oh shit, I’m wrong, there was never a fucking door. How the hell could I be wrong?

When he had almost reached the point when he would throw the lamp on the floor and accept defeat, he shined the lamp on another wall and shuddered with repressed excitement as he saw the crystal clear image of a small grey door.

I knew it, I knew I was right.

He briefly wondered whether fate would play another cruel joke on him and the door would be locked. But, he didn’t really care about that. He was prepared to smash the lock in with the lamp to get it open. Even if they heard him, he would be well away for them to do anything.

Just in case, he pulled the lamp as close as he could get it to the door then left it and walked over to the door. He tried the doorknob and the door opened ajar, the pure uncoloured white light of the sky poured in through the crack, allowing a breath of cold air to wash in and smother him. He had always hated the weather of the day, but right now, it was the best feeling he ever had. He stood still for a moment, forgetting everything that was presently happening and closed his eyes, feeling the perfect coldness of the air embrace him.

Hey, don’t waste any time, you have to get you and her out of here.

He ran for the girl and forcibly extracted the wires and tubes from her body, leaving tiny blood marked holes in her flesh. He knew what her response to seeing them would be when she finally woke up, but he didn’t have the luxury of sitting down and removing them carefully. He took her up in his arms and carried her quietly out through the open door. He placed her arms flat on her stomach and tucked her head snugly in his right arm. He didn’t want her arms and head to bang into anything while he carried her, plus if she did, it would make a loud noise. He didn’t want to take any chances.

When he was almost out of the doorway and into the empty stillness of the outside, he heard the inner door open and the voices of the scientists as they walked into the room, perfect white light busted through the doorway into the small room.

Shit, they must have found the generator. I have to move fast.

He closed the door quietly behind him as he stepped outside into the silent and empty air. Just outside the back door was a small concrete path that ran all along the building. Right in front of William was the back garden of the Town Hall, the hideous trees and overgrown undergrowth possessed no charm or appeal in the harsh light from above.

He knew that being quiet now was pointless, they would obviously see the lamp switched on and the girl missing. He was proved right after he walked a few steps and heard the frantic shouting of the scientists again as they realised what was happening. He heard Oswald’s screams and shouts at those around him to get a move on and get the bastard back here.

Not wasting a moment, William darted as fast as he could along the green grass, through the tightly knitted undergrowth, through a small hole in the fence and into the dead city beyond.

Chapter Twenty

Sarah awoke finally from her long and forced sleep and found herself in unfamiliar surroundings. Her vision was blurred and her surroundings slightly disjointed. She felt very groggy. She reached for her head as she felt it throbbing. Whoever the hell knocked her on the head would pay.

She looked around to see where she was, but saw only grey and blackness. There was no detail, no indication that the drab colours were part of a wall. It seemed as though she was frozen in a bottomless pit, unmoving and fixed into place. She saw that she was lying in an angle she couldn’t figure out, she felt as though she was lying down on a surface that she couldn’t see or feel with her hands. She tried her best to roll over and check behind her or above her, but realised that she couldn’t move.

What the fuck is going on, here. Where am I. I can’t move!

She started to panic, trying her hardest to move with no avail. She felt liked she was drugged and tied up with no chance of escape.

Where’s the guy I was talking to, where is he?

Suddenly, a great peace and tranquillity came over like a blanket, covering her completely.

She started to relax again, ignoring her present worries. She snuggled up her body into a ball the same as a child does and closed her eyes. She hardly reacted at all as she felt a warm comforting hand brush her hair. She became aware of an odour under nose. She breathed it in and realised that it was the strong smell of leather.

Father?

She tried to turn around and face whoever was beside her and was surprised to see that she could move freely. She opened her eyes and saw only intense blackness. She reached out her hands and felt the soft touch of a blanket covering her. She could sense that her arms and legs didn’t feel like hers, they felt smaller, like a child’s extremities.

She pulled back the blanket covering her and saw that she was lying on a bed and for some reason, she was a child again and was wearing her old night gown with pink flowers on the front. She recognised her bed and the blanket covering it as hers. The image of large beautiful grey horses jumping across a stream was printed on it. She looked round the room she was in and instantly recognised it as hers when she was a child. The small pine cupboard to the right of her bed had her hair brush lying on it. The wallpaper was of horses leaping into the air, she looked through the small window to her left and saw the city as it was before, teeming with people and activity, the sky a perfect blackness, but lit up by the tiny flickers of countless stars.

She knew she was home again, in her own room. While she couldn’t understand why she was a child again and why she was here, she didn’t particularly care to think about it much. She wanted to enjoy this, feel its warm and familiar embrace around and hope she could stay here, at least for a while if not indefinitely.

She could still smell the strong smell of book leather in the room and looked round, desperate to finally see her father after so long. But, she could see nothing of other people, just her room and the familiar objects.

Father, where are you, father?

She sat up on the bed and kneeled down on the soft mattress. She felt a fuzzy sensation brush up against her left leg and looked down and saw ‘Migsy,” the doll she had all through her

childhood and was her best friend then. It was made completely of cotton with small plastic buttons on the front. Its eyes were large and black, yet still appealing and friendly looking.

The smile it had was wide and coloured red. It had no hands or feet, only stumps.

She immediately took it up in her arms and held it tight to her chest. She placed her mouth right next to its imaginary ear and said with a whisper.

“Do you know where father is, Migsy?”

She turned her head slowly to face the other side of the room as she heard the sound of a rocking chair creaking. She looked up and saw the silhouette of a rocking chair slowly rock backwards and forwards with someone sat in it, not moving at all. She held Migsy close to her like a shield and timidly began to crawl off the bed onto the floor and walk toward the strange sight.

She reached the silhouette and looked up at it with the worried eyes of a child. The rocking chair stopped in rocking motion and sat silently, the figure seated in it didn’t move or react at all.

“Father?” She said aloud, resting her hand on the arm of the figure.

The figure quickly took a tight hold of her hand and spun its head around to look at her. Its face was like that of a disfigured long dead corpse, its skin was heavily wrinkled, its eyes bulging out. Its mouth was open and a great torrent of maggots emptied out from its throat and onto Sarah’s hand.

Sarah screamed a child’s scream as she beheld the horrible sight.

Sarah opened her eyes again and immediately sat up from her lying position, still screaming and franticly wiping her hand of the maggots. After a few moments, she saw that there was nothing there, plus, she was back in her adult body.

What the hell happened?

She looked round her present location and saw that she was in an unfamiliar apartment filled with shelves and books and recording equipment. A large red blanket covered her completely and a white pillow was behind her. She saw that she was lying on the floor. Her head still felt sore, she touched it lightly with her finger.

Her head spun suddenly as she heard the sound of clinking glass in the corner. She turned to see a medium sized young man in a long dirty white coat standing beside a drinks cabinet pouring scotch into a glass. Earphones covered his ears and was obviously oblivious to her screaming.

The man sensed that he was being watched and quickly turned his head and looked at her. He smiled and quickly put the glasses back down on the cabinet and hurried over to her and sat down beside her.

Sarah quickly flinched and backed away a little. She was unsure of who this was and what he was doing, but she knew him somehow.

“Are you okay?” He said, his voice thick with worry. “Are you hurt, do you need anything?”

He looked at her response to him being here and shuffled away from her a few paces. “I’m William, William Blake, remember? You came to me for help in the Town Hall. We got knocked unconscious and I took you out of there, they were doing weird tests on you.”

Sarah’s head hurt as she tried to process all of this information being fired at her. The throbbing in her head slowed her remembering, but it finally came to her.

“Yeah, I remember, you.” She said in a quiet voice. You where there, I wanted to talk to you.

And yes, you can get me something. Get me a scotch.”

William obeyed and hurried over to the drinks cabinet. He decided to give her a double whisky, thinking that she would probably need it. He brought it over to her and she downed it in one and put the glass on the floor.

William smiled as he saw that she was fine and nothing was wrong with her. He decided against shuffling back towards, though he really wanted to.

Sarah again touched her head as it throbbed. She grunted in pain.

“Hold on,” William said. “I’ll get you some bandages for that.”

He stood up and walked over to a small first-aid box on the wall and took out a roll of bandages and a bottle of anti-antiseptic. He walked back to Sarah and started to attend to the wound. “Don’t move while I sort this out.” He said. Sarah obeyed and allowed him to treat the wound.

“What the hell hit me?” She asked.

“I’m guessing some piece of wood struck you on the head, I’m finding a few tiny shards of wood in the wound, here. You’ll be okay, though.

This felt strange to Sarah, someone else helping her with something. She had spent years alone taking care of any problem that came her way, whether it be the car, the apartment or the gathering of food and supplies. Plus, the awkwardness of attending to any scrapes or bruises she accumulated, and treating to them herself with no help from anyone. It was refreshing and warm to have someone else do something for her.

A flash of memory appeared in her mind, the memory of the person that had struck William and herself on the head, but his face was hazy.

“Who the hell hit me, and why?” She asked him, ready to take revenge on whoever it was.

William sighed before answering, his eyebrows narrowed as hate and anger flooded him.

“I’m guessing it was the head scientists in charge of the experiment at the Town Hall, Oswald Richardson.”

Sarah laughed a little. “Oswald, what kind of stupid name is that. How could someone with a stupid name like that take me down. He sounds like a damn nerd, to me.”

William smiled a little and shivered. It was funny to hear her say that, but it was strange to hear someone else speak about Oswald like that instead of him. He suddenly felt as if a great weight lifted itself from his shoulders.

“Don’t underestimate him,” He said to her. “Oswald sounds like the kind of name you’d find with someone whose got more teeth than guts, but this guy will definitely kill you if you go against him. Id didn’t believed he could do that at first, I knew what he was capable of, but I didn’t think He go that far.”

Sarah looked at him with a puzzled expression. “But he hasn’t actually killed anyone yet, has he?”

“No, but I wouldn’t want to be around when he thinks about it. Anyway, I’m guessing you were around when he threatened me in the main corridor, so you must have heard him.

Couldn’t you tell from his voice that he meant what he said?”

Sarah didn’t answer. She ran the image of Oswald through her mind. It was frightening even thinking about someone in the world like this. She had grown used to seeing those in the streets running like scared rabbits as the night approached and being scared of the slightest

thing. She had often felt like the strongest person left in the world amongst petrified survivors. It made her question herself and her own courage to think of Oswald and how powerful he looked. She would have to make herself a hell of a lot stronger, it seemed to survive further into the future.

William watched her in her pondering and decided to continue with what happened. “He must have still been around and heard you talking about what you were seeing in your apartment.

He must have wanted you as part of the experiment, I found you in the . . .”

He stopped as he was about to tell her where he found her and what they were doing to her.

He didn’t want to frighten, obviously she was scared enough about the things she was seeing anyway. He could tell from talking to her that she was a tough-minded person, but he didn’t know if she was prepared to hear what he was going to tell her.

Sarah looked at him questioningly. “What, you found me in the what?”

William knew he had to tell, no matter how much it would scare her. He saw that he was finished with the bandaging and relaxed his arms on his legs and sighed. He looked her straight in the eye and told her. “I found you in a room next to the Main Hall sitting in a chair, you were out cold. They were conducting tests on you and I found wires and tubes running out of your goddamn face and into machines. That’s how you’ve got the scars on your face, I didn’t have the time to extract them carefully. Don’t ask me what they were doing to you in there, because I’ve no idea.”

Sarah looked at him with a slightly shocked unwavering expression. She timidly reached for the scars on her face with the ends of her fingers. She didn’t appear to shocked to William, he guessed she was a hell of a lot stronger than she looked. But, after a few minutes of the same fixed expression, he knew something had reached her.

“Are you okay, I’m sorry, but I had to tell you, you wanted me to.”

Sarah’s body shuddered as she regained control of it. She exhaled a brief breath of air, her eyes were half open. “No, I’m fine,” she said in a nervous voice. “I guessed that was what they’d do to me if they got me. To be honest, I was partly hoping that they’d test me. I want to know what the hell is happening to me. I came to you first because I hoped you’d help me the most.”

William was confused when he didn’t feel proud of himself that she came to him out of all the others. He felt a little guilty at himself as it was his fault that she got struck on the head and tested on like an animal. He knew that their was no way he could have protected her, but he still felt sure he should have done something.

“Are you hungry, at all?” He asked her, changing the subject. “I’ve got plenty to eat.” He wanted to ask her about what he she was trying to tell him, but he felt it was a little to soon for that. He wanted to get her back on her feet as soon as possible.

Sarah smiled at him. “Thanks, yeah, I am a little hungry. But, I think I think I’ll have a bath first. I could seriously use one.”

William didn’t feel surprised to hear her wanting a bath without being asked. He guessed she was that kind of person, the type who’d take what she wanted when she could. He was surprised to find himself enjoying the way she expected everything on a plate. He wondered if he was a little perverted.

“Yeah, sure,” he said readily. “Go take a bath, I’ll make something. The bathroom’s in the corner over there.” He pointed to it with his head.

“Thanks,” she said to him. She felt the bandage on her wound and smiled. “Thanks for this, too.” She walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, she started the water running and began to undress.

William briefly wondered why she hadn’t bothered to lock it. Then he realised that after spending years alone, she had no need to lock it. He took it as a compliment that she didn’t lock it because he was there, hopefully, she trusted him enough. He smiled a little and walked into the kitchen to prepare her meal.

Chapter Twenty-One Sarah rested in the hot and relaxing hot water covering her in the bathtub. Her eyes were closed. They flinched occasionally as the hot water washed over the tiny wounds on her face.

She felt her muscles relax more and more as the bath salts gently caressed her. Her legs were raised out of the water as there was no room in the bath for them, her feet lay flat against the cold yellow tiles on the wall.

It was strange to be in someone else’s bath other than her own. The water somehow felt different, as did the bath itself and the tiles on her feet. She felt that she must have spent too much in her own apartment and not enough time outside. She felt glad to be away from Ted Jessup, the constant worry at the back of her mind that he would somehow find a way into her apartment and do god knows what to her. Here she felt safe, in the company of someone who she was almost certain wouldn’t try anything like that.

She thought of William and his kind personality, how he had gone through all that at the Town Hall to rescue her. He had risked his own life to get her out of there. She felt great appreciation to him, but also a little irritated at what he’d done. She had no irritation of how he was forced to forcibly remove the wires and tubes from her face, from what he had said about the other scientists and what she heard herself, he wouldn’t have had any time at all to do things carefully. She guessed that the scientists would test her when she told them what was happening to her, but she hoped that was what would tell her the explanation to what she was seeing all around her. But, in the end, they probably wouldn’t have let her survive. From what she had seen of them and what William had told her, their only concerns was with themselves and the information they would have gathered from testing her would have been for them, not her.

She knew that eventually, she would have to tell William about what was happening to her, and the things that she was seeing and hearing. Despite wanting an answer to them as soon as possible, she still felt that it was spilling personal things to a stranger. She felt that it would be like telling strange and personal things to a psychiatrist, things she had spent a great deal of effort in keeping to herself, and she always hated psychiatrist’s. But, regardless of this, he was the one and only person she could open up to. He had the knowledge and the means and the equipment to hopefully give her the answers she sought and hopefully, she would get them.

She felt that the bath was getting cold and decided to get out, she could already smell food cooking outside and her stomach was growling. She pulled out the plug in the bath and the water ran into the drain. She dried her body with the towel and her hair till it was almost dry, and put on the long white bath robe hanging from the hook on the door. She left her clothes in

a neat pile on the floor and walked out the room into the living room.

William was standing in the kitchen area, carefully checking the contents of a steaming pot on the stove with a wooden spoon. He smelled in the aroma as it wafted from the pot into the air. The dining table was ready cleaned and had two empty whites plates at opposite ends.

Cutlery and small red and white napkins were placed neatly beside the plates.

William turned round and saw Sarah stood beside the dining table. It was strange for him to see someone else wearing his bath robe, and a whole lot stranger seeing a woman in his apartment. He watched her carefully surveying the dining table and the cutlery, the arousing movements of her arms and the beauty in her face and her long damp dark hair.

He ceased staring at her when he realised that the pot in his hand was close to slipping out and falling to the floor. He quickly returned it to the gas stove and placed the wooden ladle in his pocket. Sarah looked up and smiled at him. “I’m guessing you don’t usually eat as extravagant as this?” She said to him. William had trouble listening to her words, his concentration was permanently fixed on her looks.

“Not usually,” he said, nervously, quickly heeding her words. “Sometimes I don’t even sit at the table, I mostly eat at the armchair or go out to dinner.”

Sarah nodded her head as she silently agreed with him. “I used to eat out myself, but not anymore. The kitchen’s were usually pillaged of everything there was, and I was constantly hassled by people when all I wanted was to sit down quietly and eat.” Sarah pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. She rested her hands on top of the table, as if patiently waiting for the food to arrive. William recognised the posture and took hold of the steaming pot. He carried it over to the table and poured a suitable amount in each plate. Sarah barely wasted a second before starting to eat.

William took his place and watched her eat, appalled and at the same time, fascinated.

“I don’t know,” he said, carrying on the conversation. “I rarely ever saw any of the other survivors in or around the restaurants. To be honest, I would have preferred it if I did and they came in and took the food. At least I would have had some company.”

Sarah held back from pointing out the fact that the other scientists were his company. She could see that he would probably rather be completely alone than be with them, if he had the choice.

“This is great,” she said with a mouthful. “What is it?”

William smiled, it was strange to hear someone other than himself compliment the cooking.

“Its just simply a basic broth made out of a lot of ingredients.” He said, enjoying hearing each word. “I used carrots, tomatoes, herbs and spices, peas and a few pieces of meat.”

He saw that she was close to finishing and quickly began to eat himself, trying to match her pace.

“By the way,” he said. “You didn’t tell me your name.”

Sarah looked up from her empty plate at William for a moment then wiped her mouth with the napkin. “Its Sarah,” she said. “Sarah Gaelock.”

William nodded. “It’s a great name.”

The two of them sat silently for a few minutes, each feeling a great awkwardness in the room.

It didn’t cross Sarah’s mind to thank him for the meal, the bath and the other things he had given her. After eating alone for years and giving strength to her solitary personality, the statement was simply beyond her nature. William knew he had to ask her about what she

came to him for in the first place. He wasn’t sure if it was the right moment or not, but with all other portals of conversation run dry, he had no choice. At least, he would have full knowledge about it and keep conversation going for a while.

“Do you feel like your ready to tell me about what you were going to tell me.” He tried to keep his voice calm and quiet, feeling it would make it easier for her to talk.

Sarah sighed and relaxed her shoulders. She slowly placed the empty soon she was holding in front of her on the table. She ran her fingers through her hair to check that it was dry enough.

“Okay,” she said finally. “I tell you everything. But first, I think I’ll get dressed then you can put some music on.”

William sat back a little shocked for a moment. He wasn’t sure what she was implying here, but he was almost certain that it wasn’t what he thought. He calmed himself down after a few moments when he realised that it was just wishful thinking.

Sarah didn’t wait for an answer from him. She stood up from the chair and walked back into the bathroom. William hurried over to the large cupboard in the living room and rifled through each of the records he had stacked. He decided on Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela. A restful tune would calm her down then he could get all the facts out of her. He placed it carefully on the record player and dropped the tiny needle onto it. He sat on the sofa behind him and waited patiently for her.

About ten minutes later, Sarah emerged from the bathroom. Her hair was dried and tied back into a ponytail. She smiled an awkward smile at William, as if trying to cheer herself up over what she was about to tell him, but to no avail.

She sat down on the couch and looked at her clasped hands on her lap, she hardly noticed the music wafting its way around the room. She looked up at William and then sighed. “First of all,” she said in an unconfident voice, “I want you to know that I’m not crazy, and I’m not making this up for attention or some insane reason. What I’ve seen and heard and experienced is real, they actually happened, I swear they did.”

“Hey, you don’t need to tell me,” William said. “Trust me, I’ve looked at that Telephone device too, and I felt something strange from it. I can tell you that I’m open to everything you’ve got to say.”

Sarah nodded and cleared her throat. “It all started when I first drove past the Town Hall, and . . .wait, hang on a second.” She said suddenly, nearly jumping out of her seat. “My car, the pink Cadillac, I left it at the Town Hall. Those bastards will be all over it. I can’t let them get it, that’s all I have.”

William extended his hands out to her to calm her down. “Its okay, its okay, I don’t think they’ll be after the car, they’ll more likely be spending their time analysing the information they’ve got, or looking for us. But its okay, they won’t find us, not a for a while anyway.

Please, tell me what you were going to say, I’m all ears.”

Sarah sat back comfortably on the couch and began again.

“Yeah as I said, it all started when I came past the Town Hall a few days ago, I stopped the car and I could feel this weird power coming from it, as the place was breathing, or something. I wanted to go in, but I was too afraid.” She winced at her last statement, ashamed to mention it to herself. “The next morning, I decided that I was gonna’ find out what was causing the weird phenomenon and forced myself to go back to the Town Hall. I tell you, it was hell climbing those stairs, it felt like whatever it was that was there was getting inside my

mind, screaming at me to leave. Well, anyway, I didn’t, I made it inside and I found the Telephone device in the Main Hall. I could still feel the strange power in here, it seemed like it was coming from the machine itself. I forced every nerve in my body to keep from getting close to it and pick up the receiver. But, I swear, my arm just moved on its own and picked it up. I tried to fight it, but it just wouldn’t stop.”

A hint of a tear suddenly appeared from underneath her eye. She quickly wiped it away, hoping William wouldn’t notice. “All I could hear from the receiver was static, it started to get louder. Then I noticed that son of a bitch Oswald behind me and then I passed out.”

She looked at William with reddened eyes, hoping for some kind of an answer from him.

William simply sat in his position stunned, oblivious to any kind of answer or reason. He didn’t want to tell Sarah his thoughts and shake her up, but there was no other way.

“I don’t know what to tell you about that. In all the years we’ve been studying E.V.P, nothing like this has ever happened. All we’ve had is the messages that you’ve heard for yourself. Tell me about the things you’ve been seeing, maybe that’ll shed light on a few things. If you feel you can go on?”

Sarah looked at him scowling. “Of course I can, for gods sake. I’m not a goddamn coward.”

She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it. “Yeah, I um, I did some of my own experiments with this E.V.P using the tape machines I got from you. I put them all over the house, in every room, each one of them switched on. I spoke aloud into some of them and replayed the tape back. I couldn’t get any results back at first, but after a while, I got something. I’ve no idea what they’re saying, but I’m sure that they’re there.” She shuddered before mentioning her next statement. “Anyway, that night, I must have fell asleep. I had one really weird dream about being inside a room, somewhere. It was small and there was no doors or windows. The walls were covered completely in bright piano keys, shining in the light. I saw a guy in front of me playing a large shiny organ, he was playing a low tune that I couldn’t hear so well. He played for a few minutes and then his head sank down when he stopped.”

William looked at her puzzled. This didn’t sound like any of the tapes he had heard before, there didn’t seem to be a voice in her vision at all. He wondered whether it was just a nightmare she had after listening to the tapes, he knew he had had some himself when he first heard them.

“There’s another one I had,” Sarah continued. “I was in this perfect black room and there was a girl high above me that looked liker a ghost on a swing, high in the air. In front of me were these two weird twins with black hair, both of them speaking something into an oldfashioned microphone.”

William unconsciously leaned in closer to her. “Do you know what they were saying?” He asked, his voice barely an audible whisper.

Sarah turned to him, already aware of his reaction. “They, said, ‘Astrid, ask there.’”

The memory of the tape he had played to her suddenly appeared in Williams mind, as clear as if he was still there with her. He was uncertain of how to react, shocked and fear had gripped him. He shook his head a little, swallowed and cleared his throat. “Do you, um . . . Have you got anything else you wanna’ tell me?”

Sarah was slightly annoyed when she could see that he still couldn’t provide an answer, but decided to carry on anyway. “After one of those dreams, I heard static coming from the attic

and when I went up there, it was coming from the T.V I put in there after the plague had come. I brought it down to the living room and I saw what looked like a family sitting on a bed on the screen. I couldn’t see there faces. After that, I felt what I can only explain as a bullet passing through my goddamn skull. I screamed in pain and the I fell unconscious, that’s when I had the second dream.”

William looked at her feeling a little excited. “You mean, you found another method of experimenting with?” He said eagerly.

Sarah shook her head. “No, I was freaked out and I pushed the T.V on the floor, it smashed.”

William resigned back into his original position and sighed. He knew he wasn’t angry with her over breaking it, he knew he would probably do the same. “Is there any more?” He asked.

Sarah looked at him for a few moments, considering her response. The memories of the other things she experienced flashed in her mind. She decided ultimately not to tell him any more, as much as she hated to admit it, she was afraid of reliving them to him and chose to keep them to herself. What she had already told him would have to be enough.

William realised that she was done and moved forward in his seat, slowly rubbing his hands together and sighing. Sarah didn’t expect a long or short intricate explanation to what she told him and that would be that, but she did hope that he would attach some sanity to it all. She refused to think of what would happen if he said that he had no clue at all. She knew not to tempt fate by staring at his face and forcing an answer out of him. She sat back in her seat and listened to the orchestrated piece playing in the background. She closed her eyes and allowed the music to drift over her. The music was slow at first, but gradually built up to a powerful feeling, invoking imagined visions of betrayal, romance and power. It allowed Sarah to momentarily forget her troubles and let them sink into the vast abyss of the musical orchestration around her. She sighed at the intense feeling of it all.

She opened her eyes sharply as she sensed that William sat back upright. All her concentration was now focused on him, the music disappeared into the background and out of her mind. She looked at him with hopeful eyes.

“I honestly don’t know what to think, Sarah.” He said sighing. Despite being prepared for it, Sarah was surprised and a little afraid. William continued. “Like I said, the other scientists and me have never encountered anything like this before, and its way over my head.”

William could see that Sarah was growing increasingly agitated, folding her arms tighter and bringing her knees close to her body. William took a tight hold of her hand. “But, that doesn’t me, that we can’t figure it all out.” He said reassuringly. “We’re going to find out what the hell is happening to you and get rid of it, okay?”

Sarah didn’t respond, and merely squeezed his hand back and smiled. William smiled back.

“Okay,” Sarah said suddenly standing. “What’s first on the agenda?”

William lightly slapped his knees and stood up himself. “Well, the first thing I guess is for us both to change. I’ve been wearing this damn lab coat for too long, and I guess your clothes are pretty dirty by now. I’ll have a wash and a shave. The most important thing we’ve gotta’ do is get the hell out of here before the others find us. They know by know that something’s in your head, something they want that’ll be vital to this experiment and they’ll do whatever it takes to get it. They know where I live, so it won’t be long before they come banging on the door. We could try your place to hide out, hopefully they won’t have found out where you live, yet. I suggest leaving your car where it is for a while, they‘ll no doubt be expecting us to

come for it, where they‘ll be waiting for us” Sarah watched him and listened carefully as he explained the whole thing to her. She took in every piece of information her threw at her, processing it in her mind to join the mass of information she had already stored. She was glad to see how he thought and how he handled a situation, even in the middle of the insane and unearthly scenario they were in now. She wondered if he was up to her own level of thinking and self-control.

William began to walk to the bathroom. “You can play some other music, if you want, its right there.” He said, nodding to the record collection. “Could you get me some clothes out of the cupboard over there, please, and put them on the sofa.”

Sarah watched him go into the bathroom and close the door behind him. She was about to say to him how she wasn’t a maid to him, then thought better about it. She had spent years taking her own clothes and putting them on, it would make a change getting clothes for someone else. She always hated the idea of being the sweet and compliant house wife, even to a great guy, but this was nowhere near that, merely getting clothes for someone that she could consider a friend.

She walked over to the cupboard that he motioned to and opened it. Inside was a large collection of assorted clothes of differing colours. Trousers and shirts and jumpers and socks were each piled on top of each other.

Jesus, doesn’t this guy believe in separate cupboards?

Rifling through the clothes, she found a clean white shirt, black trousers and socks and piled them on top of the sofa. She had a brief look for underwear and found none. She didn’t really want to have to find any and was relieved when she didn’t.

The guy must have some sense if he keeps them in a drawer, somewhere.

The unpleasant yet frighteningly appealing thought of looking for underwear and finding them suddenly appeared in her mind, blocking out all else. She imagined showing them to William and offering to show him hers.

Jesus, for god sakes, stop it, get that crap out of your mind!

While she hated to continually face these scenarios in her mind, she was slightly pleased to concentrate on something besides the weird goings on for a change, or to have these thoughts concentrating on Ted Jessup. For once, she could focus these erotic imaginings onto William, a reasonably good looking guy who for once, unlike so many others, genuinely wanted to help her.

She turned and walked over to the collection of records he had stacked on a shelf and began to look through them. The last piece he played had long since ended, the needle ceaselessly scraping against the flat plastic.

She looked at each name of the individual records. They were nearly all Classical or Opera, aside from one or two that were crappy pop records made a few years before the war started.

Music had never reached the level it had in the late twentieth century or early twenty first. It had become merely rambled, rookie made electronic tracks with crappy singers with more nicotine and dope in their blood than laboratory test mice. Many people had retreated to the old fashioned music of the past, the great Classical and Opera, or the pop and Jazz greats such as ABBA and Dusty Springfield.

She looked through the records and found one that she knew she liked. Beethoven: Romance in F major.

She took it out of the sleeve and placed it on the record player and pulled down the needle She put the last one in its appropriate sleeve.

The music started, she leaned her full weight on the cupboard with the record player on top.

She noticed the bottle of whisky beside her and poured double amount into a glass and downed it in two successions. She knew that it wasn’t wise at the moment to get drunk, not with having to race against the insane scientists that would be on their tail soon, but she had to forget that had happened to her, she couldn’t stand the weird dreams remaining in her head any more and had to extinguish them. She constantly filled her glass and rank until the bottle was empty. She threw the bottle and glass onto the couch, already starting to feel light headed, her body swaying a little from side to side.

William came out of the bathroom, washed and shaved and wearing a spare bath robe. He spotted Sarah swaying and quickly ran over to her and took hold of her, not wanting to waste a second before she fell flat on her face.

“Jeez, Sarah, what the hell are you doing. You can’t do this to yourself, now. We have to get out of here, soon.”

She looked up at him and smiled, a drunks smile, her eyes only half open.

“You know what?” She said, her voice slow and slightly rambled. “I think you’re a really great guy, you’re so damn good looking, you know?” I put your clothes on the couch, just as you told me, master. You know I’ll do anything you tell me, big guy.”

William would be lying to himself and everything he knew about himself if he had thought that this wasn’t interesting him in any way. But, he still had the brains to know that this was potentially dangerous. He didn’t have time to snap her back to being sober and plying her with coffee until her mind started working.

He knew the only thing was to force her out of her state. He knew her reaction to him shouting, but their was nothing else he could do. He grabbed hold of her arms and looked right in her eyes.

“Look Sarah. I know your scared right now, I am too! But, if you make yourself like this, you’re gonna’ put us both in danger of something that isn’t human!”

Sarah suddenly wrenched herself out of his grasp and walked away from him a few steps.

William was surprised at how easily she broke away from him. She turned to him, her face blackened with drunken anger.

“You son of a bitch. Don’t keep going on about these fucking ghosts, alright? This is the only thing that keeps em’ out, and I’m sticking to that. So don’t you try and stop me from enjoying myself!”

With growing irritation and without a moments apprehension, he walked over to her and punched her in the face. She quickly fell to the floor unconscious and William picked her up and set her down on the couch, her head tilted to one side. He crossed his arms and looked at her.

“I sure hope you’ll forgive me for that. Thanks for the clothes you set out for me, by the way.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Oswald Richardson stood at the large window in the small room, arms at his sides, staring out at the ceaseless and featureless milky whiteness of the sky, the cold fog that drifted over the empty streets and the deserted buildings. He saw a man wander alone down the street, his whole body wrapped up inside his countless layers of clothes, his breath plainly obvious in the unforgiving cold. Oswald narrowed his eyes at him and spat at the window, wishing it would have hit him. A great anger seethed inside him, ready to burst out in full fury. The other scientists sat behind him around a large dusty wooden table, nervously fumbling their fingers about, waiting for the inevitable insane response from Oswald.

A distinct chill could be felt by everyone around the room, seeping in from every tiny crack in the dusty walls. The scientists rubbed their hands together, blowing hot air in them, trying their best to tighten their lab coats around them. Oswald was the only one unfettered by the cold as it surrounded his pale skin.

He had always felt the cold, the same as everyone else, but he liked it. The weather before the war had always irritated him more than now, the hot sweltering summers and the mass concentration of people in every corner. He always prayed long and hard for the winter to arrive, the bitterly cold nights, the quietness everywhere around him, everywhere devoid of people, traffic and activity. He would walk the streets late at night in the winter, embracing the cold and the stillness.

The first he had heard of E.V.P, he was instantly entranced by the notion of this kind of scientific study. In the beginning, he had worked on it completely alone, but this didn’t bother him in the least, better to be away from the pathetic human race that he couldn’t trust or sympathise with.

Even from an early age, he had felt different from the rest of his species, detached and lonely.

Over the years as he grew, he began to detest everyone else, believing that he was better than the rest of them. He purged his mind of affection and feelings at early manhood, retreating into his twisted world, surrounding himself in the obscure and the unusual.

After learning more of E.V.P, he went to graveyards and reputed haunted locations and ran experiments with simple recording devices and notes, speaking aloud and allowing the spirits to record what they wanted to say. He had received numerous recordings of threatening voices and terrified ones, screaming and telling him to leave immediately, that they didn’t want someone like him doing this, someone who was less human in his heart than they were.

Realising he had no choice, he advertised for others to join his relentless study, those exactly opposite to him, those fixed into feelings of compassion and emotions.

After a while, he had decent results, voices wishing only to speak to those he was with, giving information of the afterlife, of past experimenters and the secrets to life itself. A few of his early colleagues had left him and his work, refusing to work with someone like him. But, after the war, it was a lot simpler. Many wanted to work in his field, desperate for the voices of their deceased relatives to come through and put their mind at rest. After continuous work and relentless questioning, they finally had the proof of the existence of the afterlife. They didn’t much care that there wasn’t many people left to spread the news, they had done the work, and the knowledge was for them only, no one was to know what they knew.

The war and the near extinction of mankind gave them a great advantage, the ability to record anywhere they wished and record any number of voices. Oswald was in ecstasy over the whole thing, finally finding a world for himself to picture himself living in, away from the

feeble pursuits of the human race. For once, he was truly, and maniacally happy.

“You stupid, pathetic idiots.” He said, still staring out the window. “”You let that damn vile creature live, stuck him in that room so he could get the girl. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you all, I should have done it myself, puncture a hole in that bastards heart and watch him bleed.”

He turned round to face the others, his face twisted into an expression of pure hatred and disgust at them all.

“We had her right here, we had the chance to finally unlock whatever was inside her head.

The key to discovering the secrets we’ve looked for so long was right there, and you bastards let it go. You allowed years of study and experimentation recorded on tape and ancient tape recorders just slip out of our hands like goddamn water!”

He placed his hands on the top of the chair in front of him, gripping it tightly, his body shuddering with rage. “You’re useless,” he said shrieking, “your nothing but fodder to me, and you let the bitch get out of here with that piece of shit!”

The scientists were startled, but not shocked. They had known Oswald too long to be shocked by his insane outbursts.

Oswald grunted in disgust at them and released his grip on the chair and began to pace around the room, his arms swinging from side to side. The others half expected him to hit them, punch them in the face. They hardened their bodies to cushion the inevitable blow.

The image of the girl’s Cadillac flashed in Oswald’s mind, sitting out in the cold in front of the Town Hall. They had ransacked it looking for anything that might have been left with her address, then they could find her. But, there was nothing, no documents or papers that even hinted that anyone had used the car in months, much as the same as the cars littering the city.

“We need something here,” Oswald said, lowering his voice and making it easier for the others to talk to him. “We need something that tells us where she lives.”

One of the female scientists with long red hair, Professor Green, struck up the courage to say something, much to the surprise of the rest. She timidly raised her index finger in the air, Oswald looked up at her with wide eyes.

“Yes, well,” he said, “I’m listening.”

Professor Green cleared her throat before answering. “Well, um, I suppose we could try the records office in this building and look it up on the public register, she might have lived here a long time, so we could find it and . . .” She stopped, the courage to continue was lost to her.

Oswald looked at her for a long moment, eyes wide open staring at her. “There you are,” he said finally. “We finally have a result, a place to look for her. And while were at it, we’ll make a stop at that treacherous bastard, William. If he’s still there, I’ll crush his bones in my hands. We’ll start right away. I suppose our friends on the line can wait for us for a while.”

The others said nothing as they slowly stood up from their seats and quietly pushed them underneath.

Oswald looked at them wide narrowed eyes of demonic happiness, his mouth extended into a wide full teethed grin. “We can take the car outside, ride around in style.”

Oswald led the scientists out into the corridor, clutching the car keys tight in his hand.

Chapter Twenty-Three

William carried Sarah out of his apartment, holding her with both hands, her head bobbed up and down as he walked briskly. He carried her out of his apartment, down the steps and out onto the deserted sidewalk out on Liddell Street. He looked round each direction he stood to ensure the scientists weren’t anywhere around then breathed a sigh of relief.

At least they haven’t started looking here yet, but I have to hurry.

Though knowing it anyway, he remembered that he didn’t have a damn car, and Sarah’s Cadillac was at the Town Hall.

Shit, the hard way then.

There was plenty of abandoned cars wasting away in the road, and William could certainly hotwire any of them, but he always hated having to do it. And the present situation didn’t give him any confidence. He would have to hurry. He had always meant to get a car, but his past obsession with the experiment always put it on hold. He made a mental note that whatever he chose to take right now, providing it ran and the gas tank was full, this would most certainly be his.

He scanned the line of cars along the road, cars that at one point in time would have been all the range, the most modern, or old wrecks that were rusted and beyond repair before the war.

Now, all simply sat here, the owners long dead, wasting away to the dust and decay that was everywhere. It was hard to make out fine details from here with the fog drifting continuously across the street, he narrowed his eyes and looked more closely.

His eyes stopped at one car just a few yards to the left. He hurried over to it and gave it a quick inspection. The car was small, its body thick with dust, as well as a large group of dead leaves that had fallen from the overhanging trees. He tried the back door of the car, not knowing whether it would be locked or not. He pulled on it and it opened with a high squeaking. He opened it fully and lay Sarah on the back seat, she made a small whimpering sound as her head touched the cold dusty leather bound seat. He closed the door and opened the hood and checked the engine. He had limited knowledge of car engines, and the present situation forced him to hurry. He constantly looked up at the street and the road, the same as a feeding bird continually looks up to check for predators.

The engine bore the appearance of an ancient range stove, blackened and rusted over a long period of time. He couldn’t recognise a single section and had no way of telling if the whole thing worked or not.

He ran over to the side of the car and opened the door. The door was hard to open as the inside mechanism to open it was rusted, he leaned his arm on the inside and forced it open, a great cake of dust fell to the ground as it was disturbed. He leaned inside the car and rested his side on the leather seats. He noticed the fuel gage beside him, it was difficult to see with the dried dust covering it, but he could tell that it registered a quarter full tank. He would have to find a gas station if he got the car started.

He saw that the wires from inside the dashboard of the car were already hanging out, obviously, someone at one time had tried this same technique, but to no avail. He prayed that history wouldn’t repeat itself and took hold of the wires. He forced the knowledge to do this to the front of his conscious mind, remembering which wires he had to use.

That’s it, got it.

He took hold of the correct wires and exposed the bare metallic strips inside and prepared to connect them together. It didn’t seem possible that the car would still have electricity inside it

after so long, but until he tried their was no way to know for sure. He held his breath and connected the wires. The electrical sound of a key being turned could be heard, then the engine revved noisily, spluttering into life amongst its deceased comrades.

William’s body shook in surprise at the shock of hearing it start up. Not wasting a moment, he closed his door and sat himself down in the drivers seat. He gave a quick check to Sarah, her hands lay flat on her waist and her head was facing the back end of the car. He looked back and gave one more final check to ensure no one was around, the forced his foot on the gas pedal and released the handbrake, the engine revved with aggression and power as it sped away into the milky whiteness of the fog.

William took a complete note of which direction he was going, making sure he was going in the right direction for the nearest gas station. He looked in the rear view mirror at Sarah, at her seemingly comatose body making simple murmurs and faint breathing sounds.

There was no real need for her to wake up right now, he had the matter at hand, but he hoped she’d wake up soon. They was now on the run and he couldn’t afford to carry her around every hiding place they ran to next with the scientists permanently on their trail. Sooner or later, she’d have to wake up and be sober, and not continually harass him for hitting her. She seemed to be a person who was a lot stronger than him, and he counted on that. He would need her to help him to help her, he didn’t like the idea of each of them going alone, especially her. They were now in the same situation, both being pursued by the same people and they each had to help each other to survive to whatever end they came to at the opposite side of this situation.

William relaxed his shoulders as he saw the gas station at the other end of the road he was on.

He would fill the car up as much as it allowed the get the hell out of the city, away from the madness that constantly hounded them.

Chapter Twenty- Four The scientists reached Liddell Street in Sarah’s Cadillac, the exhaust spewed out hot thick smoke as Oswald forced the gas pedal to its limits, the engine roared, telling him in its own unique way to cease his abuse, but he didn’t listen, he revelled in the pain and damage that he wrought upon the car, taking a perverse kind of pleasure in it. He pressed down on the clutch pedal and changed into fifth gear, the car spluttered as if pushed itself to go further. He grinned as he felt the power of the car, creating a supreme feel of power within himself. The other scientists held on for dear life to whatever they could hold on too that was within reach, far from the confidence of asking him to slow down while treasuring the powerful instincts of self-well being.

Oswald suddenly brought the car to an abrupt stop and pulled over to the side of the road, the others leaned forwards in their seats from the sudden force. All of them looked to their right at the apartment building of William’s. Oswald looked at the building with gritted teeth, pure hate and revenge boiled greatly inside him.

Oswald had known for a long time the address of each of the other scientists. In the early days, before they had found the Town Hall as their greatest location, they had used each others homes and apartments to conduct certain experiments, William’s was one they had used often.

Oswald and the others got out of the car and walked towards the front door of the building.

They stopped for a moment as they noticed that the door was open and swinging in the breeze.

I want this bastard to be here. Oswald thought to himself.

They carried on through the door, up the stairs to the third floor and stopped at apartment 717. The door was open ajar.

Oswald threw the door open till it slammed into the wall behind it, he stood firmly in the doorway with his hand still on the door, carefully scanning each section of the room. The smell of scotch and recently prepared food still hung in the air. Apart from that, the apartment was like any other in the city, dead.

Oswald refused to submit, his nails gouged out small fragments of wood from the door as he clenched his fingers. “I want this room thoroughly searched,” he said to the others holding back in the hallway. “If he’s still around here, bring the bastard to me.”

Without wasting a second, the scientists ran into the room and began their search. They looked in each room, under the bed, behind couches and armchairs, the wardrobe, anywhere that a person or persons could conceal themselves. Oswald stayed by the door, watching their every step, his arms tightly folded.

After only ten minutes, the scientists were done searching the apartment, the bed clothes hung lifelessly from the bed, drawers and cupboards remained open with contents strewn across the floor, towels clothes and underwear gathered like the remnants of a storm across the floor.

But, behind all of this constructed chaos, William and Sarah were nowhere to be found. The scientists stood around the living room, their arms hanging by their sides. They watched Oswald in is repressed anger, waiting for him to crack.

Oswald looked a the mess around him, his nails digging into his flesh when he saw he had come all the way here and was empty handed.

Where the fuck have you gone? You’ve taken the bitch with you, I see.

He looked to the right side of him and noticed a small table lamp sitting on top of a small wooden table. He took hold of the lamp tightly in his hands and threw it across the room, narrowly missing one or two of the others in the process. The lamp smashed against the wall, leaving behind a small gash in the wallpaper.

After breathed in deeply for a few moments, forcing the anger in himself to settle, to wait until he had William and Sarah back where he wanted them. He calmed himself and stood upright, facing the scientists, worry and anxiety was etched across their faces.

“Where done here,” he said quietly. “This place yields nothing for us, now. We will go back to the Town Hall and find this bitches address, if theirs nothing there, we will look and search until we have them.”

The scientists let the weight of their arms hang, their heads hanging low and nodding.

Tiredness was prevalent in them, their minds screamed for sleep and rest. It would be dark soon, the dark pink colour of the evening had already started to draw in. The fear of staying outside once the night came still shook them. But, the knowledge of knowing what Oswald would do to them if they went against him kept them going against all other things.

One of the male scientists, Professor David Smith, was the only one among the others to think twice about what he said. For too long he had followed his every demand, terrified of his response to not fulfilling that order. Now, he was tired of it, realising suddenly that

someone with a lousy temper and great height wasn’t enough for him to give orders. He looked at the others around him in their saddened expressions then turned to Oswald.

“Why the fuck do we have to do anything you say, you son of a bitch!”

The scientists froze in absolute shock, their minds not fully accepting this sudden change in reality. They looked at David open mouthed, eyes completely wide open. Oswald looked at him with a mix of a shocked and betrayed expression.

David felt the surge of electricity and energy rush through his body, giving him the courage to carry on. He felt strong and powerful, strong enough to do anything. “We’ve followed your every god damn order every fucking day. We started this experiment because we thought it would lead us to something new, something better. But you, you don’t give a fuck about any of that, you just want some petty little revenge against these people, because they went against your plans. Well, boo, hoo. You think I give a flying fu-” He stopped suddenly and fell backwards to the floor as a loud crack broke through the air.

The other scientists hunched down into a ball, covering their heads. A small hole was embedded in the centre of David’s head. Blood trickled from his open mouth, his dead lifeless eyes stared on into nothingness.

The scientists timidly looked up to Oswald. His right arm stayed in a horizontal position in their air, a smoking revolver was in his hand. A creepy grin was stretched across his face.

“Anyone else have any questions about my orders, here?”

The scientists didn’t speak, their faces were fixed into sudden shock, their bodies shook with fright.

“Come on, get up!” Oswald shouted to them, waving the gun in the air. They immediately followed his order and walked slowly out of the apartment with Oswald still pointing the gun at them. He smiled, feeling the almost superhuman strength he now had, revelling in the thoughts of what he would to William and Sarah once he found them.

Chapter Twenty- Five Sarah awoke to the sound of rainfall, she hardly believed it at first, as rain hardly ever fell anymore, but the sound of it splashing against the ground was proof enough.

She sensed that she was lying down on a hard surface, she could feel hard gravel and tiny stones on her legs and hands, as well as a chilling breeze that seemed to gather around her, as if it was coming from everywhere in all directions.

Where the hell am I? God I feel terrible.

A horrible thought came to mind. She had thought she had awoken before, only to find herself in a weird place and then have something terrify before actually waking up in the real world. She held her breath to await the inevitable nightmare in front of her.

She stopped for a moment as she took in the feelings around her. It wasn’t the same as before, often when this happened she felt the unmistakeable feelings of being in a dream; disorientation, broken images, moving toward something as if something was pushing her.

But, there was nothing like that here, just the usual sensations of the real world. The incessant chill, the stillness in the air, the complete or near perfect silence. It seemed strange to think of a dead and lonely world and be glad to be part of it. But, when faced with the unknown and meeting strange people that could be real, anything seemed better than that.

She blinked her eyes and steadily opened them. She saw that she was lying on some kind of concrete floor, thick with tiny loose stones and small pieces of newspaper. All around her were large thick concrete pillars that connected the level she was on and the upper level above her. Large gouges were embedded in the pillars, as if they had been struck with something heavy, strong looking steel poles were pulled out to the open air.

She looked closer at the details around her, it was difficult to see what with the shadows around her and suffering a hangover. She saw that she was surrounded by four concrete walls painted with a cool blue colour, a thin yellow line stretched all across the walls. Sarah saw two windows from where she was, they were covered with a thick dust, but she could tell that it was now night-time. She realised that she was inside a building in a construction sight. She spotted discarded tools like a cement mixer, drills and shovels. Why the hell would William bring me somewhere like this? Wouldn’t it be better if he broke into one of the countless houses in the city, or something?

She looked around for William and saw nothing of anybody. She wasn’t really afraid. She knew he wouldn’t just abandon her, he liked her, it was obvious. Besides, just in case he ever did, she was strong enough to face whatever came to her alone. Her head slowly moved to the right until she faced the blackened windows staring at her.

She started to feel a little afraid that it was night-time. She realised that all this time of staring it in the face while others hid was only due to her car, her beloved pink Cadillac. There, she was inside a large powerful machine, relatively safe from the lunatics that wandered the streets. Without her car around her, she was no different from the rest of the animals in the city.

She suddenly felt very dirty, and not from the dust and gravel that had hooked itself to her.

Her head hurt, she reached to her forehead with her hand. It wasn’t the same type of pain she had last time, not the same skull splitting inner pain that groped around like talons in her head, this was undoubtedly from the outside. It took her a moment to get her head round to thinking again, but she recognised the pain as one hell of a hangover. She also felt the dulling pain on the side of her face, it felt warm to the touch. Then, her last memory came to her. The memory of saying something to William, then falling backwards when he walked up to her.

The fragment of a memory appeared in her mind of William’s fist striking her hard.

That son of a bitch. If I want to drink I’m gonna’ god damn drink when I want to. How the hell can he understand what this is like for me. So what if the asshole scientists are after us, it’ll be a release for me, anyway from all this shit.

She stood up, still feeling the pain of her hangover, but at least now it was beginning to settle.

She walked a few paces forward, not really expecting to find anything, merely studying the immediate area. She found a small assortment of plastic chairs with steel legs. Dirt and gravel had long since started its destructive path of absorbing the legs as they slowly made their way up them. Great patches of dust and dirt had gathered on the seats, covering them almost completely. There were other tools here, as well as large steel platforms with large planks of wood, wood that had almost been ravaged by the destructive power of the plague.

It would have been strange to someone not from the world to see a construction site in this state, abandoned, the tools and objects used to build it simply being left here to rot. But, to Sarah and the survivors, this was how it should be always. Serving only as a home to those unwilling to live inside one of the many, many houses and apartments the city had to offer. It

was comforting in a strange way to drive by one of these places every day and see nothing of human activity. It was yet another monument to what once was, another graveyard in the cold.

Sarah walked on a few paces and spotted three large metal drums with scraps of wood, paper and other assorted trash inside. Obviously, at one time or another, this would have served as the heat source to anyone living here. But, she could that the contents were not burned or singed in any way, except for one of them. The other two looked as if they were waiting for a flame to be introduced by them.

Sarah folded her arms and tensed her body, she looked round where she stood, not feeling completely confident about moving. She had the fear that someone could be here, someone other than William. After all, she had no idea what had happened to her since he hit in the jaw. He could have been taking her somewhere and one of the freaks roaming the city could have overpowered him and dragged her here. The question still remained about why William would bring her somewhere like this, and not hide from the scientists in one of the houses.

Someone could have brought her here, he could have done anything to her while she was unconscious.

She looked underneath her and checked that her underwear was still in place and not ripped off. There was no obvious signs, her skirt was fine and not torn, her underwear was still where it should be. It looked as if nothing had happened to her, not yet, anyway.

She flinched and looked forward as she heard the sound of footsteps on gravel, footsteps coming towards her. She dove for cover behind the nearest concrete pillar and peered around.

Just at the other side of the room, she could see a small flame emanating from whoever was there, the powerful little light shone on the wall, lighting it up brilliantly. The flame came closer, as did the footsteps. Sarah looked round for something to use as a weapon to hit the son of a bitch, she spotted a shovel just a few inches from her. She quickly took hold of it and took it behind the pillar with her, holding its handle tightly in her hands.

The footsteps came closer until she could see a silhouette, a medium sized figure with a long coat. The figure walked up to one of the un-torched drums and threw the small matchstick flame to the waiting trash. In matter of moments, the contents of the drum were burning wildly, flickering in the cold unforgiving air, revealing the features of the silhouetted figure as they held their hands up to the warm fire. Whoever it was didn’t seem to realise that Sarah was missing from where they’d left her.

Sarah raised the shovel up in the air, ready to strike whoever it was. She started to walk forward then stopped, her eyes focusing on the features of the figures face that were slowly brightening up. She released an imprisoned breath of air and relaxed, allowing the shovel to fall quietly to the floor as the unmistakeable features of William’s young pleasant face came into view.

Sarah breathed a sigh of relief, closing her eyes as the apprehension and anxiety ebbed away.

William heard her as her feet scraped across the floor and suddenly flinched, instinctively covering his torso with his arms. He exhaled a sigh of relief when he saw her, his eyes open wide and staring at her. “I wish you’d tell me you were there instead of creeping up on me,” he said almost frantic. “What the hell are you hiding behind there for, anyway, its only me.”

Sarah closed her eyes for a second and smiled, she walked over to William and embraced him for a moment. William hadn’t the time to reciprocate and only managed a slight touch of her

back on his palms before she broke away. Sarah looked at him for a few moments, taking in the delight of it being him and not some weird lunatic.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “But I just woke up in here alone and I couldn’t see you or anyone else here. I’ve seen so many of those freaks and lunatics roaming the streets outside, more than once they’ve tried to kidnap me or take my car.” The thought of her car being in the hands of psychos caused a quick feeling of emotion welling up inside her. She quickly suppressed it. “I had no memory of coming here, except for the bruise you gave me, and I logically assumed that one of those crazies had brought me here, after all, why would you bring me somewhere like this? There’s plenty of goddamn houses apartments in the place.”

William stood looking at her, the expression on his face one of pure confusion and completely lost for words. The awkward silence was broken only by the crackling of the fire as it burned away the rotted refuse.

William found the words he wanted and turned to look at the fire. “First of all, I’m sorry I hit you. But, you were pretty pissed, and I wanted to get the hell out of my apartment before the scientists got there and found us. You were stumbling about with a bottle in your hand, shouting at me, saying that you had the right to drink and I hadn’t the right to hit you. So, I had no choice but to hit you. I had to carry you out of the apartment, down the stairs and then find a car in the street to put you in the back seat.”

Sarah looked downward to the floor a little and lightly touched the spot where he hit her. She smiled a little. “Its okay,” she said. “I don’t blame you for hitting me, I would have done the same thing.”

William took hold of Sarah’s hands and pointed them flat next to the raging fire. Sarah shuddered as she felt the electric feeling of the heat pass through her body.

“Secondly,” William continued. “I brought you to this place, not because I preferred it to the houses, but because it was the first thing I saw as I drove. I was in a hurry to fill the gas tank, I wanted to get you somewhere before you woke up, and I didn’t want to be driving out onto the streets and suddenly run into that piece of shit, Oswald. I panicked, so, I saw this place and brought you here. I didn’t like to leave you alone, but I had to go back to the car and find a lighter, or something.

Sarah rubbed her hands together and looked down into the fire, seeing the eerie patterns and figures that appeared, dancing before her eyes like dancing spirits. It made her feel a little anxious to think of it like that, but she stared relentlessly, refusing to crawl away and hide from it like a coward. That wasn’t her way, face your fear and somehow subdue it, that was her philosophy.

She realised that William had finished talking and hastily responded. “Yeah, fine, don’t worry about it. I know it wasn’t your fault. To be honest, if these people are as relentless as you say they are, then I can’t really give of anywhere in the city that wouldn’t cast a light, shadow, or anything.”

William nodded and rubbed his warmed hands quickly across his body. “Well, hopefully,” he said. “We can hold out here for a short while, let us get our heads together and figure out what we have to do next. We’re on a high level, here, the highest floor I could find that didn’t have garbage or huge pieces of concrete everywhere. Hopefully, while we’re up here, no one can see the fire, and the stragglers on the streets will give us a good diversion for the time being. As for our future plans on how we’re gonna’ understand what’s happening to you, I

have no idea. In that regard, we’re just groping around in the dark for an answer.”

Sarah felt afraid at his opinion on her condition, but at the same time relieved. She was glad that he didn’t try to sugar-coat it for her by adding lies, or lying completely that he had full confidence that he knew what was happening to her and not to worry. It was better to learn the truth now and not find out when its too late.

William watched the intricate patterns flickering in the fire, his eyes burning with greater intensity as he stared further and further, as though looking into the unknown and complex world of the fire as he groped around for the answers he sought. Sarah looked to her left toward the large window, obscured with dust and grit making it impossible to see through.

The tiny space on the bottom of the window bore a couple of old polystyrene cups, a pencil and the shattered remnants of an old vodka bottle. It was somehow comforting to not be able to see through the window, allowing her to see the endless blanket of darkness that covered the city. This was she could imagine that it was daytime, the blanket of mist that gathered up everything in its path and the ceaseless grip of the cold, lastly looking up and seeing the perfect whiteness of the sky above.

A thought suddenly came to her as she thought of the night. She turned to William. “Hey, if its night time now, and no one has the guts to go out when its night, do you think the scientists will keep looking for us, or wait till the next day.”

William sighed deeply and hunched his shoulders. A hint of a smile was on his face, as though he wanted to believe her but was forced back by what he knew already.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think so. Oswald is the one who’s leading them. He’s insane, make no mistake about that. He wants us on a plate in front of him, and he’ll lead those other poor bastards to hell if he decides that that’s the place to go looking for us. Oh, sure, they’ll be terrified of roaming the city looking for us, by now. But, they know what’ll happen to them if they go against him. I did, look at me, I’m lucky he only decided to lock me up in that store room. He must have been in a hurry.”

“But, what about the other scientists, they don’t seem as bad as he is, and the way you’re talking, they don’t really want to help Oswald in this. Can’t we somehow get one of them alone and ask them to stop. If they all drop out, it’ll just be Oswald against the rest of us.”

“I wish we could, but they’re too far gone. They’re slaves to their own instincts of being scientists, they wanna’ find the answers that Oswald’s looking for, only just not as crazy as he is.”

Sarah’s mind went blank, losing anything else that she could ask him about. With what he told her, it seemed like a hopeless situation. They had to combat the unknown, the mystery of mystery’s, and they had a gang of ruthless answer obsessed lunatics pursuing them. Yet, with all this gathering like a growing storm all around them both, Sarah knew the answer to it all, or hopefully, some answers that would put them on the right path.

Sarah looked at William for a long moment, scanning the features of his face, broken into worry and anxiety for himself and her, long chiselled its way into his face making stark lines of age. She wanted to tell him that he can go, leave her alone to face the music and he could get out. But, she knew that he’d never do that, not in a million years. He’d die for her before doing that. It was good to have someone do this for a change, to meet someone who had true feelings and hadn’t lost them to insanity or absolute fear.

She ceased warming her hands by the fire and allowed them to drop to her sides, her head

was held up high, her expression one that screamed determination and inevitable victory. She cleared her throat and began to speak.

“We have to make further studies on E.V.P, we have to make more recordings of our own and somehow find out what the hell they’re talking about.”

William stared at Sarah, his eyes were open fully, the roar of the fire glowed brilliantly in the wetness of his iris, his mouth was open a little. “Are you insane,” he said quite calmly. “Don’t you know what the hell that Telephone thing did to you, plus all of the recordings and tape machines you took from me to experiment yourself. You’re waling right into the unknown here, its suicide.”

Sarah stood stock still, unfettered by what he had to say. “I have to,” she said. “After all, what is their left that we can do, just keep running forever, hoping they don’t find us? Because they won’t give up looking for us, not if they want me so bad. I know there’s something in those voices that are trying to tell me something, I don’t know what, but I just know there trying.”

William shook his head, confused as to why she didn’t see things his way. He grabbed her by the arms a little tightly. “I’ll tell you what I think we should do next. We should raid some of the houses and take whatever we find, clothes, canned food, anything and get the hell out of here. Escape into the country with the other small groups of survivors, find some country pad that hasn’t been occupied and just stay there. Those voices are of the dead, you hear me, the dead! They mean nothing to us now, we don’t know that they have information that we don’t, that’s a whole other world to us. This is the world of the living, what we are part of, and in this world, we try and survive as long as we can.”

Sarah watched in his frantic burst of words, tiny tears began to fall from her face, she did nothing to wipe them away or pretend they weren’t there. She’d be lying to herself if she didn’t think that his ideas sounded great. She would have moved to the countryside like the few others if she hadn’t been so determine to survive in the city. A great part of her wanted to abandon her own ideas and go with William, set up home somewhere else, the two of them and somehow find the food to survive. But, a small part of her with a loud voice told her to keep going, don’t run like the others, stay and face it, listen to her true nature.

Sarah looked at William with bloodshot eyes, her cheeks damp with tears. “My father is over there,” she told him in a whisper. “I know he’s there, I’ve heard him, I’ve felt him. He’s over there and he’s trying to help me. I have to find out what he’s trying to say to me. The only way I can is to ask him myself.”

She broke away from his grasp and walked toward the centre of the empty floor. She crossed her arms and stared at the crumbling empty wall in front of her. William continued to watch in repressed shock and disbelief.

“You don’t have to help me,” she said in a newly reinforced tone. “If you don’t want to help me in this, I won’t blame you. I won’t stop you if you want to go to the country and carry on there. Bu, I’m staying here. I’m going to find this whole thing out, I’ll go into the heart of all of this and uncover the truth to it all.

William paced the floor and shook his head, his mind swam with a thousand different thoughts of what to do. He didn’t want to go into this at all, he had left it all behind. He had escaped the insane conditioning that had befallen the rest of the scientists, and he wanted nothing more to do with that now, just to live as simple a life as anyone could in this world.

But, despite every nerve and cell in his body screaming for him to run now, get out, he

couldn’t and wouldn’t leave Sarah all alone to face this. He couldn’t throw her to the dogs and not join her there. But, then again, he was pretty strong, maybe not as strong as Sarah, but good enough. He could knock her out again, take the car and drive off into the country, find a spot of earth that hadn’t been contaminated by the plague and grow crops, worry about what Sarah would do to him later.

Yet, with all his sane ideas of escape and freedom, and no matter how much he tried to fight it and suppress it, the scientist, the fact searcher in him rose up to the surface, overwhelming his senses, telling him to search for the truth and uncover the hidden meaning.

No, I will not be like the rest of those assholes, I won’t ignore my feelings.

But, would it be such a bad idea to listen to the scientist in him, just this time. He had the knowledge and experience to help her in her crusade. He could help her with the technical side of it all, while she said what she had to say. He didn’t have to be like Oswald and the rest. They cared about nothing but the experiment, everything else meant nothing to them anymore. But, he did care about some things. He cared about himself, about his own life, but more importantly, he cared about Sarah and he would stick with her with this thing to the end.

William stood his ground and clenched his fists, the adrenaline and determination flooding through his system like a raging ocean. He turned round and looked at Sarah, She was still staring at the wall, sniffing back the mucus in her nose as she cried. He walked up to her and held her hands in his. He looked deep into her eyes and said: “Alright, I’ll do this with you.

We’ll find your father, find out what he’s trying to say and stop these worthless bastards that are chasing us.”

Sarah smiled and wiped the tears from her face. She drew herself to her full height and tenuously gripped William’s hands. “Okay, then, lets get started.”

Chapter Twenty-Six The small rusty car that William had claimed sat silently outside Sarah’s apartment building, the dust that had long since settled on it had now been wiped away, revealing a heavily rusted body, overrun with scrapes and scratches.

Inside Sarah’s apartment, Sarah frantically pulls out every individual drawer in her cupboards and rifling through every clothing garment she can find, shirts, blouses, skirts, busily throwing them on the floor. She has changed her clothes and put the old ones in the washing basket. The clothes she wears now are loose fitting due to her hurried pace of putting them on. She picks up big handfuls of clothes in her arms and forces them into a large brown faded suitcase on the bed, discarded socks and shirts lie in a crumpled state on the bed.

It was hurtful for Sarah to be doing this. She had taken a sworn oath at the beginning of this odd lifestyle to stick to it, to never back out and never surrender her home to anyone and keep breathing till her time came to die. Now, she was being forced out of her home by ghosts and a group of maniacal scientists that were after their blood. She was being forced out of her home by the very same kind of people she had always tried her best to avoid, the mentally crippled and the totally insane.

She stopped for a moment in her hurried packing, still holding a white t-shirt in her hands.

She clenched her fingers and gripped the t-shirt tightly as she could, feeling the roughness of the material in between her fingers and palms, imagining the throats and necks of the

scientists and all those she had so hated and despised over so many years being in her tightening grip as she slowly forced the life out of them. Dreams of sweet revenge shot like bullets through her thoughts.

She began her packing again, piling in more and more clothes, the suitcase bulging more and more.

William is in the kitchen, quickly taking as much canned food as he can find and carry in is arms. He opens the drawers, cupboards and takes whatever is on offer and dumps them in a medium sized brown shoulder bag. Tins of food pile on top of each other in the bag, tins of processed vegetables, peas, carrots, fruit, tinned steak and mince, as well as sealed bottles and cans of fizzy drinks neatly packed into the side pocket of the bag.

It surprised William a little to find so much food in her kitchen, he only had a suitable amount to keep him alive until he had to search for more. As a result, his drawers were only half filled most of the time. He guessed it was Sarah’s fear of leaving food out for the so called “freaks and lunatics” that ferreted through the city like animals. She had told him herself that she always took as much food as she could carry. William decided to remember that for himself in the future, if they ever got out of this.

He looks round the apartment from where he is stood, surveying the intricate woodwork of the cupboards and shelves and the great calmness and pleasant look of the place.

He had never seen a place as clean and pleasant as this, not even is own apartment, that had become like all the rest, faded, the life worn out of it till it eventually died, all because of his early passion for the E.V.P experiments. He like the idea of staying here for a while with Sarah, lay low and study the E.V.P messages here, but the nagging truth in his mind refused to go away.

They both knew they couldn’t stay here in this apartment, they wouldn’t be safe. Sure, the scientists didn’t have a clue where she lived, and it would take them days to find the right paper in the records department with her name and address, but it wouldn’t take them forever.

William knew only too well that Oswald wouldn’t let a silly thing like a lot of searching through papers wouldn’t stop him getting to the relevant conclusion he so wanted. He would no doubt spill blood to get what he wanted, no matter who he had to hurt.

William couldn’t help but notice the tangled mass of machinery and wires of the countless tape machines and small tapes that littered the floor of the living room and half the dining room. He could tell how serious Sarah had took this, refusing to give up on it, despite the chaos she must have so often heard. He admired her spirit to learn more, despite himself wanting to turn his back on it.

It felt a little strange, eerie almost to be near these things again. It almost felt like being around an old friend after being separated for years and then to have a sudden unprecedented reunion. It was true, the tapes themselves had a presence to them. The lights that were switched still felt like eyes, watching him as he struggled to carry more food, giggling at him at his futile effort of escape from it all.

Enough, he shouted in his mind, throwing down a small collection of tins he was holding, they clattered on the kitchen worktop and bounced a couple of times as they hit the solid tiled floor. William placed his hands on the worktop and lowered his head, tightly closing his eyes.

“Are you okay in there?” Came Sarah’s voice from the bedroom. Silence for a few moments before William answered. “Yeah, I’m okay, just dropped a couple of the tins.” He bent down

and picked them up and placed them in the brown shoulder bag.

He looked at the bag now, bulging with tins, poking out through the open zip. William was satisfied that he had enough, for the moment anyway. If they needed more, they could just raid one of the many grocery stores or malls that hadn’t already been pillaged. He hoped that they wouldn’t need as much as he thought, hopefully they could get this all over with somehow pretty soon and only have to use up a quarter of the supplies.

He picked it up with the shoulder harness, almost falling to the floor with the weight. He placed it over his right shoulder, feeling the incredible weight that pulled him down. But, it wasn’t important that he had trouble carrying it, he couldn’t afford to poke faults with that, the important thing was that they had food now. He took in a great amount of air and slowly exhaled it.

He heard Sarah come from the bedroom into the kitchen, the large suitcase she carried constantly banged noisily against the walls. She came into the kitchen and spotted William, giving him a feeble smile. William looked down and saw that she was carrying the suitcase with both hands, she was steadily grunting from the weight of it.

“Here,” he said, holding out his hand. “Let me carry that, it looks like you can’t.”

Sarah moved it from her side to behind her, resting its great weight on her small back.

“Thanks,” she said almost breathless, “but I can handle it. They’re my clothes and I can take them. Besides, it looks like you’ve got enough weight to handle yourself.”

William glanced at the bag on his shoulder and smiled a little.

Sarah rested the suitcase on the kitchen floor beside the oven and walked into the living room. She placed her hands on her waist and looked over the tape machines lying around her.

“How do you think we should do this?” She said. “I don’t think I have any more bags in this place to carry all of these. We could carry them a few at a time down the stairs and put them in the trunk of the car then go back for more. What do you think?”

William shook his head in the negative and put his bag down on the worktop, his shoulder was starting to ache with shooting pain and he couldn’t carry it any longer. He walked into the living room.

“I don’t think we need that many, to be honest. We’re only make simple transmissions, simple messages and we’ll only need one or two tape machines, but we’ll need a lot of empty tapes.

If we run out, we can find an electrical store. I suppose we can take the wave machine, too, and we’ll need the wires and extensions you’ve got here.”

Sarah nodded. “But, what do we do about the power, we need a small mobile generator. Can’t we use the car’s battery?”

William again shook his head, more prominent this time. “No, we can’t use the cars battery, that things our lifeline and we need it in case we’re found or they get to close. I say we find a large electrical store and look for a generator there. It’ll have to be a large store, smaller ones wouldn’t sell something that big, okay.”

“Yeah, I suppose. Anyway, we’ll have to get all the right stuff and put them in the trunk.

The two of them knelt down to get to work, William followed the long wires until he came to an outlet in the dining room wall and unplugged them then started to wind them up. He hated to disconnect everything and re-set it all up somewhere else. Everything was perfect here, they had power from a reliable generator, they had enough food and water and they could stay here for along time without being found and not scan the city looking for a place to hide.

But, despite his opinion and his feeling that they were right, they had to leave, find somewhere else, somewhere no one would think of looking for them.

He wound up the wires until he was back in the living room, Sarah had already disconnected the relevant machines.

Bang, bang, bang, bang.

The banging from the walls came again from next door, William instantly jerked up his body to his full height and dropped the wires on the floor. He looked at Sarah, she was apparently shocked as much as him but was quickly relaxing. He could tell that she knew what this was.

“What the hell was that?!” She shouted to her as the banging continued and increased.

Sarah’s face twisted into anger, long repressed hate and annoyance welled up in her body as though she was about to burst. Her eyes were fixed on the wall were the noise came from, as though visualising what she would do next. “Its my next door neighbour,” she said with a loud and irritated voice. “He did this before to me. He’s a freak, a pervert, he keeps trying to get in here and get to me. Fuck it, I’m tired of this shit, I’m gonna’ kill him.”

She started to walk to the front door, quickly stepping over the mass of tape machines on the floor. William raised his hand suddenly in front of her and stopped her. Sarah looked at him with a confused and angry expression.

“Don’t worry,” William told her. “I’ve got it. Ever since I started running from those goddamn scientists, I wanted to cause them great pain. With this guy, I can release some of that on him.” He lowered his arm and started to walk to the door, the banging still continued.

“Wait!” Sarah shouted to him, he stopped and looked at her.

“I’ve been wanting to beat the shit out of this guy for years, I’ve had to live next to him. I think I deserve a little of what you want, too.”

“No!” William said outright. “I don’t want you getting hurt in there. Don’t worry, I’ll give him one for you, too.”

He turned around and cracked his knuckles then headed out the door. He stopped in the hallway as the banging noises suddenly stopped, keeping his eyes firmly on the door, the doorknob still in his hands. Sarah decided to stay in the apartment. Something told her this wasn’t right, there was something wrong here, but she didn’t have a clue what it was. William remained stood in the hallway, looking from left to right. He looked at Sarah, forcing a determined and strong look on his face. He nodded to Sarah and walked slowly to Ted Jessup’s door, carefully masking his footsteps, and being betrayed by the constant squeaking of the wooden boards.

He reached the door and slowly put his hand on the doorknob, sweat perspiring down his forehead, heat slowly rising inside his body. He knew he was afraid, but he had no idea why.

At the moment, he was so angry and annoyed he felt he could take on anything, especially this creep who was no more than some weird lunatic like the rest of the insane survivors. He tried to shake off the fear, bury it and allow his anger to increase. But, I only seemed to grow in strength as he willed himself more and more to turn the handle.

Eventually, it became too much and he had a straight choice: Open the door or go back to Sarah.

No, screw all of this being afraid bullshit, I’ve had enough of being afraid. I’m going in.

He turned the doorknob in his sweating and shaking hand and pushed the door open, fully expecting to see this guy still standing by the wall and looking at him with a scared animal

look.

He opened the door as wide as he could till he heard it bang against the wall. He looked in the apartment and saw nothing but darkness, silhouetted shapes and the smell of thick dust that made his throat tickle. He coughed to get rid of it. He looked as hard as he could through the darkness to see even the slightest figure of a man, but still could see nothing but the apparent shapes of boxes and empty shelves. He reached the wall next to him for a light switch. He found one and flicked it up and down. Nothing happened.

“Are you okay in there?” Came Sarah’s agitated voice shouting from her apartment.

“Yeah, I’m okay.” William answered, confusion still running through his mind. “Come on in here, I can’t see anything.”

Sarah couldn’t understand what he was saying. She knew that Ted Jessup should be in his apartment, he hardly ever went anywhere else than to get supplies. Most of the time he squinted through her peephole or hanged around outside her apartment.

She walked out into the corridor and closed her door behind her. Years of locking it whenever she went out still stuck with her like a bad habit. She saw William stood in Ted’s doorway and walked up to him quite briskly. She looked into Ted’s apartment and realised what William had meant.

William turned to her, still keeping his eye on the darkness, just in case the freak suddenly out of the darkness and ran at them. “This guy hasn’t got a faulty generator, or something has he?”

Sarah shook her head. “No, the whole place is only connected to one generator, it powers the whole building. As far as I know, this guy should have light and power.”

William pondered her answer, but could think of no reasons at all why he should live like this.

“So, what, did this guy just forget to clean and forget to buy another light bulb, or what?”

The two of them laughed a little at the weak joke.

“You got a flashlight, or something we can use?” William asked. Sarah looked at him with an expression of slight shock. “You mean, you’re gonna’ go inside and look around. The guy could be in there, hiding.”

William raised his hands in the air, as though weighing invisible objects. “What do you suggest, just wait out here? Something’s not right here, I can feel it. I don’t give a damn about this guy any more than you do, I just wanna’ find out what’s happening here. Call it curiosity, so have you got a flashlight, or not?”

Sarah sighed and shook her head. “No, but I’ve got an old candle in the cupboard and a few matches. Hang on.”

In under a minute, Sarah had brought him the candle. It was thick with dust, the candle itself was set inside a small holder. William struck a match and lit the wick, a flame appeared vividly lighting the dark interiors of the apartment. William took tentative steps inside, closely followed by Sarah behind him.

He checked every corner of the room, pointing the candle at every corner. Apart from the dust, and the obvious signs of the lack of a resident, everything else seemed ordinary and nothing out of place. Large comfortable armchairs sat facing a small dusty television, a small coffee table sat inn the centre of the living, with one cup left with coffee granules inside.

Large book shelves with dusty glass doors lay undisturbed, a small black telephone sat

unused on a small cupboard beside a dusty old lamp.

Sarah and William remained still for a moment, listening to the dead silence around them, there ears listening hard for the slightest knock or sign of a presence. The small candle light flickered silently, casting sharp and distorted shadows across the walls.

“What the hell is going on here?” William whispered, not knowing exactly why he was whispering.

Sarah looked around nervously. “Who the hell cares what’s happening,” she said in an equal whisper. “There’s no one here, it must have been some other kind of banging. Let’s just get the hell out of here, take the stuff we’ve got and get the hell out of here.”

“No!” William said in as loud a whisper as he could manage. “I wanna’ know what’s going on here. No way could that kind banging be something ordinary. I can’t see anything here that would do something like that. I have to find out. Anyway, you don’t have to come with me into the other rooms, you can go back to your apartment if you want.”

Sarah shook her head and gritted her teeth. “No, I want to come with you, I don’t wanna’ be on my own.” She hated to say that, and hated it more to admit it to herself, but it was true, she was afraid, very afraid. But, she supposed that there was nothing wrong with admitting it now, not when she was in this weird situation.

“Lets try the bedroom.” William whispered and walked slowly to the door he guessed was the bedroom. Sarah remained for a moment when a strange fact came to her. All of these years she had avoided Ted Jessup’s bedroom like the plague, and for years he had tried to take her and put her in his bedroom. Now, after all of these years avoiding this, she was walking into it by her won free will. She didn’t think the idea was funny, just ironic. She bit her lip and followed William into the bedroom.

The bedroom was equally as dusty and dark as the living room, the interiors were the same as one would expect to find in a typical bedroom. A large bed, apparently slept in but not for a long time. A small bedside cabinet lay to the right of the bed with a small table lamp. A large closet sat to the left of the room, closed tightly. For a moment, William expected to see the guy suddenly burst from inside, the realised that there was no one here anymore, judging by the look of the place. Yet, this thought only made him more nervous.

He began to walk into the bedroom when he felt something small brush past his face. He instinctively wipes his face and pointed the candle up to the ceiling. His and Sarah’s mouth fell in astonishment and frozen shock as they beheld the sight before them.

There, hanging from the dusty ceiling from long pieces of string, hung hundreds of separate photographs of Sarah Gaelock, each depicting ever conceivable act, no matter how mundane they were. The rage inside of Sarah boiled angrily, threatening to burst out at any moment and viscously attack anything nearby. But, her strong feelings of resentment and incredible hatred were mixed with uncomfortable feelings of fear and apprehension. She had know for a long time that Ted Jessup had an unhealthy interest in her, but she had no idea he would go this far.

“Give it to me!” She yelled at William, tearing the candle from his hand. He hardly noticed it and his hand fell limp.

Sarah raised the candle up to the photographs, part of her screaming at her to cease and leave immediately. There were photographs of her stood outside in the hall, preparing to leave or to enter her apartment. There were photos of her in her car pulling up outside the building,

pictures of her collecting food outside, speeding away from street lunatics, filling up her gas tank in the garage. There were even pictures of her inside her apartment, apparently took through a small hole that saw inside. She could see herself eating meals, washing up, reading, taking a bath.

Her rapidly anxious and terrified pace of breathing slowly rose higher and higher as she surveyed these personal and private scenes that had been violated by a sick freak. The candle in her hand began to shake as her hand trembled more and more.

The candle light flickered as her hand trembled, the eerie orangey-yellow glow shone against the clean plastic of the photographs, her frantic eyes darted from one scene to another, until they stopped as she came to one photograph and her hand stopped trembling, out of pure shock rather than self-control.

The photograph she stopped at was of her, lying in bed fast asleep. But, this one wasn’t took through the secret hole in the wall, this one was took whilst the photographer was stood right beside her bedside, right in her home.

The candle fell to the floor with a loud thud as her hand went completely numb, she covered her mouth with her hands as a sound shattering scream fought its way through her throat. She abruptly turned around and ran from the room and out of the apartment into her own, tears and short screams mixed with total shock started to burst through her defences. The screams roused William from his frozen shock, bringing him back to reality. He looked around for Sarah before realising where she was. He felt a strong heat emanating near his feet and looked down, seeing the flame on the candle slowly begin to gather in strength as it fed from the dusty carpet. He quickly extinguished it with his foot and uttered a low sigh.

It took him a moment to register what exactly was happening. From hearing Sarah’s sobs, he could tell that she was in her apartment, then realised why she had suddenly took off. He surveyed the hanging photographs and found the one she had been looking at. The ends of his fingers took an increasing tight hold of the thin plastic, his expression descending into total hatred.

That sick bastard, how the fuck did he get inside her goddamn apartment?

He ripped the photo from its tenuous hold and crushed it in his hand before throwing it against the wall. Where the fuck is the bastard? I’m gonna’ tear off his goddamn arms and legs.

Despite the growing animal like rage burning within him, and the desire to go to Sarah and comfort her, the strongly suppressed and ever curious scientist within him slowly rose to the surface, enthralling him to scan the pictures, look for more information.

He looked at each of the pictures, intently scanning ever single acute detail, then after a few moments, he noticed the dates that had been written at the bottom of each with a thick black pen.

Many of the dates were pretty close to one another, just a few days in-between each. From the years noted down, it appeared that they had been taken in the space of around eight years. He checked the dates of the most recent. They were all dated at the approach of the end of the eighth year, and absolutely nothing was here over the last two years.

Screw this, he thought to himself as he came to his senses. I’m going to get that bastard. I know he’s around here somewhere, I heard him pounding on the goddamn walls.

He ran from the bedroom and out into the living room, his eyes darting from one possible hiding

place to another, his fists clenching till he heard his bones crack and felt the sweat gathering. He wasted no time in searching for him, immediately tearing at anything in sight. “Where the hell are you?!” He yelled as he began his rampage of destruction. He pulled the cushions from the couch and flung them into the air before jerking the whole bulky object into the air a d pushing it onto its side He pulled the television away from the wall and t ore out all of the wires.

He pulled the curtains from their supports and destroyed every picture hanging on the walls.

“Come on, you son of a bitch. I know you’re here. Come out like a man instead of fucking hiding?!”

His body suddenly spun a complete 90oC as the terrible thunderous like banging from the walls suddenly started again. This time, he wasn’t afraid, he was too damn full of rage and hate to care about his fear. He registered Sarah’s sudden cries of shock as she heard the noises, she immediately ran from her living room to William.

“Where are you?!” William screamed into the ether. “I’m gonna’ fucking find you if I have to tear this place apart.!”

William ran into the main corridor of the apartment as he followed the banging’s, Sarah emerged into the living room as he disappeared into the dust choked darkness, immediately screaming his name.

“William, William, where the fuck are you. Get out of here, now?!”

Her screams barely registered through his rage, his ears attuned to the repeated banging’s coming from the walls of the corridor. Then, as he came halfway down the corridor, the banging’s stopped, leaving him in mute anticipated rage. Before he had time to even consider his next move, he heard the banging’s again, this time echoing from the attic. He looked up towards the sound and noticed a small hatchway leading into it.

“Alright, you sad pathetic piece of shit.” he said calmly with a twisted smile. “I know you’re up there, come down here now so I can pull you apart.”

As if silently obeying his command, the hatchway suddenly came open till it hung from the ceiling, revealing a bizarre sight above. Then, as if in slow motion, a large bulky object descended from the hatchway into the darkened corridor below. The object stopped its freefall as it became snagged on something. William had to blink continuously to understand what was in front of him, his senses blinded by absolute hatred. Finally, his sight was unveiled and he saw the full horror what lay in front of him.

There, hanging from a torn piece of rope was the large bulky, and heavily rotted corpse of Ted Jessup, swaying from side to side. His clothes were faded and stained heavily with food stains, his skin was almost pure white, his bones poked through the ever weakening skin. His face was contorted into an expression of great pain and anguish.

William instantly forced his hands over his nose and mouth, the stench of death almost made him faint. He forced his legs to move and run away, but was betrayed when they refused to submit to his will. He sank to the floor, still holding his hands to his mouth to prevent him from vomiting. At the corner of his eye, he saw Sarah at the other end of the corridor behind him, her screams of total shock pierced the air around them both, till for a moment they could hear nothing but a high pitched wine.

Sarah ran from the apartment almost hysterical, closely followed by William.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sarah ran for her life out of the apartment and into her own, running to getaway from the chaos all around her, away from spirits and ghosts and the unknown and return to the normal real world. She could hear William running after her, shouting for her to stop, but she was too terrified to listen to him, her mind was flooded with one single thought that screamed control in her head. The thought of escape.

She suddenly fell forward as her foot tripped over something and she fell to the ground with a hard thud. Her head landed on the floor with a smack, the result knocked her head slightly and blurred her vision. She groaned and felt around for something to help pick her up and was confused to feel the cold touch of what felt like hard floor tiles, she could them underneath her head as well.

She ignored her confused fears for a moment while she waited for William to catch up to her and pick her up. Long minutes of silence passed by with nothing. She no longer heard his hurried footsteps or his loud voice shouting for her to come back.

What the hells happening, here? Where the hell am I? She picked herself up from the tiled floor and stood upright, holding her head for a moment as the pain of it hitting the floor still throbbed, she felt dizzy, almost like she wasn’t really stood up, like the feeling of being drugged.

She opened her eyes and held back her breathing, her arm slowly fell to her side.

She saw that she was inside some kind of large palace, or a big white building. The floor, the walls and the ceiling were all perfectly white, devoid of any marks or stains or even litter, as well as furniture or simple looking objects, nothing but a huge empty white room. The ceiling was a huge dome, similar to the one in the ceiling of the Town Hall. But this one was devoid of any fantastic artwork, and was merely painted a dark brown colour with a tiny circular hole in the centre where what looked like sunlight shone through. She squinted her eyes to see more detail, but saw only the same fuzzy images in front of her, like looking at a bad picture on a television, or being inside a dream.

Where the hell am I, now. I was running in my apartment building, and now I’m here. What the fuck is happening?

She walked forward a little, slowly and quietly so as not to disturb anything that might be around here. The echoes of her shoes on the tiled floor sounded dull, muffled, not at all as loud as they ought to have been. The air around her that she could feel and smell seemed thick with something, something that made the back of her throat tickle. She thought she could recognise it as cigarette smoke, and it smelled like it had been wafting around here for years, constantly being replenished by more and more people.

As she approached closer, she heard the distant sound of static coming from the other side of the room. She had learned to be wary of static since first hearing of E.V.P and kept her distance, stepping forward only in slow footsteps when she felt it was safe enough.

The static grew louder as she approached, almost too loud to quickly. Eventually, it became so intense that it felt as though she was stood right beside whatever it was coming from. She hesitated to go further and wanted to turn back and somehow find her way back to the real world. But, the harder she tried to turn around and walk back, the stronger an invisible force pushed her further on, the same force she had felt in the other bizarre places she had seen while being asleep.

Please, don’t, she said aloud, speaking aloud to whatever was constantly pushing her. I don’t want to go further. For gods sake, let me go!

She kicked her legs and waved her arms violently, anything to stop herself continuing. But, it was worthless, the invisible power pushing her on seemed to almost pick her up and hold her in mid-air while she constantly battled feebly against it.

Let me go, you son of a bitch, let me out of here!

Unfettered, the strong force carried her over the tiled floor and further toward the ever closing static. After a few moments, Sarah could make out vague details appearing as she came closer. At first the images were blurred and distorted and couldn’t be identified, the finally, then came into view, still relatively blurred, but easy to make out.

The images were a set of large empty armchairs, four to be exact. They were placed in relevant positions to see the small television set on top of a small wooden box. The television had a small slightly mangled aerial on top, the armchairs had stuffing poking out of a few small holes.

What the hell is this, why am I being shown this?

Sarah could still hear the static loud and clear, so loud that her ears were hurting. It took her a moment to work through the groggy feeling and find out where the static was coming from.

She realised it was coming from the television.

Suddenly, without warning, the unknown power keeping her leaving slackened its grip on her and allowed her to fall slowly into mid- air and then eerily float in the air just above the ground, her arms and legs waving around slowly. The experience was slightly enjoyable to her, almost like swimming in the ocean, though she wished it wasn’t.

She stared at the television as it roared constantly with static and white noise. As she stared, she could make out vague images in the static, appearing and then quickly vanishing before she had chance to fully make them out. At a glance, they appeared to be quick images of the silhouettes of figures constantly moving on the screen, waving their arms and shaking their heads. They looked like they were in distress, calling out for help.

I don’t give a damn about you people, she shouted in her mind. You’re all fucking dead, I can’t help, even if I wanted to. Now, get me the hell out of here, now!

Then, through the roaring static of the television came another sound, a sound similar to the static, but of a more acute sound wave. It came closer and Sarah had to cover her ears when the collective noise around her grew to powerful to bear. The new sound came closer, and sounded almost like that of an alarm on the wall of a building, but seemingly distorted, somehow.

Suddenly, the hairs on Sarah’s skin stood on end as an intense cold overcame her, causing her to shiver and rub her arms vigorously to keep warm. From the direction that the alarm like sound was coming from, came also the powerful feeling of a presence nearby, something that knew she was there, its eyes burning deep into her soul.

Go away, get the fuck away from me, please. She tried to turn away from approaching presence, but her entire body refused to listen to her screaming orders. She suddenly felt paralysed, unable to move except for only a few little movements. She closed her eyes tightly and moved her head away from the direction of the ever looming presence. If she couldn’t run from whatever was coming to her, she could at least block her view of it and pretend it wasn’t there.

The hairs on her skin stuck up as far as they could go as the presence came a mere few feet from her and remained there, apparently not moving any further. Its presence there seemed to affect the static on the television, causing it to flicker and alternate to something else.

Oh, god, what the hell am I gonna’ do. I have to get out of here, right now.

She slowly opened her eyes, despite every instinct in her body telling her to keep them closed and ignore what was there. But, she had to know what it was, she had to see it and understand it. She was getting tired of being afraid.

She opened her eyes fully and turned her shaking head slowly to the left. She stopped breathing for a few moments as sudden shock overwhelmed her.

Hovering behind one of the armchairs was the creepy looking figure of a man dressed in ordinary clothes, his feet hovering just above the floor. His arms were dangling downward toward the floor, as was his head. There was no expression on his face, his mouth was closed and his lifeless eyes stared on toward the flickering television. He seemed to notice Sarah and carried on as if she wasn’t there. He looked like a corpse that had been propped up by someone to appear standing.

A strange feel came from him, a dull feel of a resonating power that Sarah couldn’t understand. One thing was clear now, though. The strange alarm like sound was coming directly from the figure, radiating from it like some strange kind of power.

Sarah’s body flinched suddenly as she saw the vivid figures slowly appearing in the armchairs, the same way that ghosts appeared in front of someone. Sarah couldn’t tell whether they were male or female, but then again, she didn’t give a damn about what gender they were and wanted to just leave and be out of here. But, the same body paralysis forced her to remain.

The figures were seated just like an ordinary person would sit, slouched, their heads being held by their hands, a tired and bored expression on their faces as they watched the flickering screen of static. They were wearing ordinary clothes, but they had no colour, almost like seeing them in a black and white photograph.

“How long will this take?” Came the whispered and fast paced voice from one of the figures.

“We have done wrong,” another said. “The crimes in life, we pay for them now.”

Silence for a moment, then: “I’m bored, the reception is bad. I hate you people. My gravestone is close to falling.”

“I miss my home,“ another said suddenly at the top of its voice. “Munich is most beautiful, now!”

“Where is god?” One of them said. “He needs to see his souls, he needs to see we have changed before his sight. We pray to him night and day and hear nothing but the screams of the others. Were is the Land of the Soul?”

“You’re insane,” another deeper voice said. The screaming ones are his favourites. They have the Land of Soul all to themselves, we have the bad picture.”

The static on the television slowly began to change and filter out until a faint image could be made out. The image was of what looked like the face of a dead man, his mouth open, his eyes rolled over at the back of his head, his skin heavily rotted and flaked.

Sarah turned her head suddenly to the right when she heard the approach of small footsteps approaching. Then, from out of the surrounding static like mist came the vivid image of a small girl with long golden flowing hair, she was wearing an old fashioned night dress made

of cotton that ran down to the floor. Her arms were hanging by her sides. Her expression was that of sorrow.

She walked slowly to the armchairs, the figures seated hardly noticed her. She raised her right arm to her face and wiped away the tears streaming down her face. She looked up at the seated figures, her face looked as if it would suddenly break out in emotion.

“I miss my mommy,” she said in a blubbery voice.

The figure nearest to her turned their head and looked at her for a moment. They then leaned forward and took her in their arms and set her down on their lap, allowing her head to be cushioned by their chest. “Watch this with us,” the figure said to her. “The programme is good.”

The image in front of Sarah began to fade out suddenly, almost like a black and white film that was slowly coming to an end. Long, straight black lines quickly appeared and disappeared before her eyes, the grainy and vivid image slowly began to blur out until the obvious shapes and images were non recognisable anymore. The grogginess in Sarah’s head quickly began to grow, it was hard to keep her eyes open and stay awake, until finally sleep prevailed and the image was lost from her completely.

Chapter Twenty- Eight It took almost an hour for William to calm Sarah down. She refused to listen to him at first, merely shrieking and shouting, constantly pushing him out of the way. Eventually, he calmed her down, forcing her to look at his face and see that it was him, that he was there with her.

He rested her on the side of her bed and held her hand, even long after she calmed herself down he kept hold of it, keeping her in that room and not to descend into the abyss of hysteria. William slowly massaged her hand with is fingers, gently calming her to silence. He kneeled down in front of her, simply staring into her own seemingly lifeless staring eyes that stared on into nothingness.

It shook William’s heart to see her like this. To see her without any reaction or signs of life made her look like a doll, a corpse even. Despite only knowing her for a short time, he had become used to her great strength, the ability to carry on with what she had to do, regardless of the state of her present situation. He wished he was like her, he couldn’t imagine facing the future alone. He thought of the inevitable future to come, of what they would do if they got out of this. Would they both carry on with separate lives and never see each other again, or would they find a place in the countryside to settle together? William was determined to leave the city and head for the country, while Sarah was determined to stay at home in the city and face the constant threat of whatever came her way.

He wanted to tell her she was crazy and that she should listen to him, but he knew at the back of his mind that she would never listen to him. She would tell him to do what he wanted and she’d do the same. These thoughts made his head spin, they weren’t going to’ solve anything until they sorted out what was happening to Sarah. That was what took priority.

William looked at Sarah’s mannequin like face again, gently coaxing her to return to the real world.

Her eyes alone were the only part of her with any obvious hints of the presence of a living

being, the occasional blinking to lubricate the eyes and the shrinking of the iris whenever he shone a light into her face. It was like looking at someone who was in a kind of waking coma.

Finally, after a seemingly endless time of watching and waiting, Sarah awoke from her shock, rapidly blinking her eyes and uttering slight breaths of air.

“Sarah, Sarah,” William whispered. “Are you okay, speak to me?”

Sarah’s finished blinking her eyes and looked around her bedroom. For a moment, it seemed that she had no clue where she was, there were no obvious signs of calm or recognition of her surroundings in her eyes, only a confused look of being lost. She realised that William was holding her hand and looked down at it. William made no effort to release her hand. She uttered what sounded like broken parts of words that she couldn’t form and constantly glanced around the room, as though trying to remember what was lost from her mind.

“What, what is it,” William asked her delicately. “Do you know where you are? You’re at home, in your apartment. Do you remember your name, who I am? Please, you must remember.”

Sarah leaned forward towards him, William responded the same way, guessing that she wanted to say something to him, or maybe whisper it in his ear.

They leaned toward each together, William took hold of both her hands. Sarah leaned further toward him and gently kissed him on the lips for a brief moment then returned to her original position. William’s mind swam with confused and excited thoughts, wondering why exactly she had done that.

Sarah shook her hands a little to signify for him to let them go. He responded quickly by doing what she asked. She stood up from the bed and walked slowly toward the curtain pulled across the entrance to the living room. She looked at it quietly for a moment and uttered a deep sigh. She pulled the curtain across and stepped into the living room, her arms crossed over her chest. The whole apartment suddenly seemed so cold, as if someone had just built huge blocks of ice into the walls. William tightened his jacket around him and kept his arms crossed to keep in the heat. He was shocked to notice that he could see his breath in front of him, he looked at his hands and recoiled when he saw the goose pimples covering his skin. He looked toward Sarah who was stood in the centre of the living room, seemingly in deep thought. He noticed that she didn’t appear to be bothered by the cold, she didn’t even seem to notice it at all.

What the hell’s going on around here? He asked himself. This place is giving me the creeps.

William stood up from the side of the bed and walked towards Sarah, quickly placing a hand on her shoulder. “We have to get out of here,” he said. “I don’t know what’s happening in this place, but we have to move. We’ll take the tape machines and put them in the car. I think it’d be best if we kept the car round the back of the building inside one of the garages, just in case anybody sees us. You can stay in the car and keep the engine running, I’ll bring the tapes down to you. We should be done in . . .”

He stopped when he noticed that she didn’t appear to be listening, merely looking off into space and occasionally brushing aside her hair.

“Hey, he asked a little nervous of why she was like this. “You okay, is there something wrong?”

Sarah turned her head and looked at him and smiled in what looked like a forced smile. It quickly faded. “No, no, I’m fine,” she said. “I guess its just repressed shock, or something.

Sorry, yeah, I was listening to you, I think you’re right about this place. I’ll go down and get the car and take it round back, you bring the things we need, okay?”

She walked away and out of the apartment into the corridor, her arms hanging limply by her sides, her head lowered a little. William watched her intently. He could tell something was wrong, but he couldn’t think what. He’d seen many people before suffering from shock or delayed shock, but he had never seen it like this. She seemed almost distant, only half of her here, her mind on something else entirely. He wondered whether she had had one of her visions, the type she talked about to him before, maybe she’d seen something that upset her or bothered her. He wanted to ask, but he didn’t want to upset her even more. Perhaps, she wanted to keep it to herself, though he couldn’t think why.

It didn’t seem likely, but perhaps she felt sympathy for the guy that lived here and whose corpse they found. But, should she feel sympathy for his death? He did it to himself, it was his decision, and in any case, he had taken all of those sick and personal pictures of her without her knowing, even coming into her room, standing by her bedside and taking a picture. The guy was a pervert, a sick freak, he didn’t deserve sympathy nor any kind of emotion over his death. If he had still been alive, William would most certainly had made him like this himself. He almost felt robbed out of doing so.

He turned around and glanced at the darkened corridor behind him, visualising the hanging corpse as it dangled in mid-air. For a brief moment, he considered burying him outside in the back garden, but simply shrugged his shoulders and rejected the idea and turned back to face the open door that led to the hallway.

He suddenly realised that he had to take the tape machines, there was no time to waste if the scientists were on their trail. Though he didn’t like it, he decided to leave asking her about what bothered her for the moment. While it seemed a little cruel to her, their were bigger things to worry about and he hoped her strength could handle it.

Chapter Twenty- Nine The dead of night still choked the deserted and scarred city beneath it, tightening its ungodly grip with a fierce cold carried along by the swirling mist. The lights in Sarah’s apartment building blinked off individually until they joined the other endless silent and darkened buildings around the city. After a few moments of silence, a tiny portion of darkness was pierced by the ghostly headlights of a car as it droned mysteriously into life.

Sarah felt the cold even from inside the car, touching her skin with an unpleasant dampness to it. She tightened the jumper around her with her right arm pressed against it, keeping her left hand on the wheel.

Sarah did as she was instructed by William and drove the battered old car round the back of the building, then drove slowly into one of the many unused lock-up garages and stopped. All the while, she kept a small amount of pressure on the gas pedal, the result being a small sound of acceleration from the engine so as not to cause too much noise.

She thought that William was being a little paranoid when he told her that they had to keep quiet just in case the scientists heard them, but she could see his point a little. She supposed that William had been made this way, to always be looking over his shoulder and to always be a little anxious. From the way Oswald Richardson was with him and the others, it would

cause anyone to become permanently paranoid and a nervous wreck. But, despite all that, he was right, they did indeed need to keep quiet. In a world as silent and deserted as this, the slightest sound can arouse suspicion, though very few have the guts to go and look for that cause. For a moment, she wished the scientists were as cowardly as that.

Sarah waited in the car for William to bring the tape machines, her eyes watching the gas-like mist slowly and silently caress the car and the inside of the garage, swirling and tumbling in the air, the fading edges of the mist becoming like clawed talons, caressing the car in a darker more savage undertone.

There was not a sound anywhere in the air or the immediate area, except for the anxious breathing of Sarah and the rustling of her clothes against the soft leather of the driving seat.

She tucked her cold hands deep into her trouser pockets, doing her best to cut off any hint of cold air to them. She looked around the small square portion of darkness behind her as she sought out the image of William coming toward her and saw nothing.

Come on, William, where the hell are you? You don’t have to carry everything I have, just get the most important things then we‘ll get out of here.

She turned the key in the ignition until the engine roared momentarily then dropped down to a slight rumbling, deciding to keep the engine running and keep it warm, just in case it happened to go too cold and they had to take time to warm it again. She chose to switch it back on for that reason, rather than do it for the real reason, which was that she didn’t like to sit here in the cold all alone in the dead silence.

Her ears jerked round like radar as she caught the distant sound of hurried footsteps behind her, rapidly coming closer, as well as the sound of bulky objects being carried uneasily. Sarah sighed and relaxed her body, somehow now feeling not as cold as she was.

“What the hell too you so long?” She said into the clammy air. “You were the one who told me to hurry and you’re taking your time.”

She turned round and lay her arms across the top of her seat until her fingers met, her eyes caught sight of the vivid figure of William running towards her through the thick fog and the inky blackness, expelling air noisily and tiredly as he struggled to keep up the massive weight he held, bags carrying the tape machines hanging from his tired hands, swinging dangerously in the air as he ran toward her.

He came to a slow stop once he reach the car, finishing with a few footsteps before his body forced him to stop. He lay the bags on the floor beside him and put his hands on his hips, lowering his body to the floor as if he was about to throw up. He expelled and inhaled air as if they were his first taste of oxygen, noisily gulping in air and breathing it out through his enormous mouth as he frantically caught his breath. Sarah watched him for a few moments, amused at his inability to run a few yards before being exhausted. She smiled and almost broke into laughter, making no attempt to hide it from him. He turned his head and looked at her, his eyes altering to a confused and almost hurt expression.

After a few minutes, he collected his breath and returned to normal breathing. He continued looking at Sarah with an almost comical expression of being embarrassed. Sarah continued to snigger.

“What?” He said. “You think I can’t run so far before I give up and have to sit down?”

Sarah sniggered again. “Yeah, course I do, just put the bags in the trunk when your ready.”

William did as she said and started to pick up the bags. He stopped in mid-motion when he

saw Sarah extend her open hand to him, a serious look on her face. “Hey,” she told him.

“Don’t strain yourself, ya’ hear?”

William grinned the usual way someone would to sarcasm and picked up the bags, heaving them up in the air and lowering them into the open trunk. After only a couple of minutes, he had finished placing the bags carefully and closed the trunk. He got into the car and closed the door. Sarah lightly pressed her foot on the gas pedal as little as she could and moved the gear-stick into reverse. She twisted her upper body a little and watched as she reversed the car out of the garage until they faced the open street. She moved the gear-stick into first and moved forward onto the road and followed it into the city.

The eternal blackness of the night raced by without form or features. The guiding light of the stars and the moon that once hung like caring entities in the sky were now non-existent, purged long ago by the evil machinations of the human race. The ever present and ever silent fog retained its icy grip of the city, its almost god-like presence was shattered only by the constant racing of Sarah and William’s car.

Streets and shops moved swiftly along like blurred images in a mirror, phantom-like buildings whizzing by without names as the two of them raced down, not stopping for a moment to check where they were. The recording equipment in the trunk bounced around only mildly, softly banging against the sides of their tight space. William leaned back in his seat, lazily watching the darkened windows of the buildings race by. Sarah kept a tight hold of the steering wheel, as though feeling slightly untrustworthy toward the car, keeping a welltrained eye on the hazy and almost obscure road ahead.

It felt strange to be driving another car besides her Cadillac, that had always been with her, right at the start of the end of the world, it had been with her like a constant companion. She knew every inch of that car, every little scrape where the pink paint had been scraped off, its own individual little quirks. The car almost had personality. Though it sounded strange and a little bizarre to admit it to herself, it was still true. It almost seemed like a friend to her, the only thing in this world that she had trusted when she was all alone in a world populated only by a few insane stragglers on the streets.

It made her cold to think of her pride and joy in the hands of a bunch of lunatics, hell-bent on finding them. It almost felt like the car was a hostage to the scientists, forced into helping them find her and William against its will.

What the hell are you thinking off? She thought to herself. This kind of thinking is way out there. I know you’ve lost your car to a bunch of psycho’s, but there’s no need to worry about it. You’ll get it back from them, and then you’ll make them pay for all that they’ve done to you.

“So,” William said suddenly, sitting up in his seat. “Where do we start with this EVP studying? You’ve got a whole city to use, hundreds upon hundreds of shops and houses.”

Sarah shrugged her shoulders and shook her head a little. “You got me, I don’t have a damn idea where to start from. All’s I know is, we’ve got to study those voices, quickly and find out what the hell they mean, and what they’ve got to do with us. We don’t really have to start off with making our own recording samples, we can use some of those we’ve already got. The tapes you and the others made, the few that I made.”

William nodded. “I guess so, but that still leaves where we set up the equipment. I ‘d say we could set it up in the car so that we’re always with it, just in case we have to move

quickly. But, we’ll never get all of that stuff inside this thing.”

Sarah kept her eyes on the road, as well as on the blurry buildings racing by, her ear trained on what William was telling her. She released the pressure on the gas pedal a little and the car slowed to a steady twenty-five miles an hour. The constant blurriness of the buildings was now clear images of deserted properties, obscured only partly by the fog, the strong headlights of the car reflecting against the liquid blackness of the windows.

Sarah carefully looked at the buildings on either side of the road as they crept along, studying every detail, and every possible advantage it had for them.

We need somewhere that’s pretty big, but not huge, two stories I guess. It has to have somewhere inside that’ll let us light a torch, or something and we won’t be seen.

Dozens of potential hiding places passed by with no sudden decision to use them: The butchers, the hairdressers, the candy shop, the tanning place, the computer store. All were pretty suitable places, but none seemed to be the perfect place.

“Are you gonna’ decide, already?” William asked impatiently. “We can’t be out in the open for too long, we have to find somewhere pretty quick.”

“Yeah, I know,” Sarah snapped. “Just give me a break okay, I’m trying to think.”

After a few gruelling minutes of studying each property, they came out empty handed at the other end of the street, sticking out in the open like a sore thumb.

Sarah stopped the car and left the engine running. She put her hands above the wheel and rested her head against it. She breathed in a deep sigh, hoping it would re-energise her muscles and encourage her to keep going. She casually glanced up at the direction she was facing, her eyes instantly widening in relief. Just above the row of stores straight in front of her were a row of small houses, each one separated from its neighbour.

Its perfect. She thought, her hand hurrying to move the gear stick into first.

“What is it,” William asked as he watched her. “Have you seen something?”

Sarah nodded as she got the car moving again, driving across both lanes of the road ahead and turning left into Munson Street, the endless row of creepy, deserted houses lay right in front of them.

“We’ll use one of these houses.” She said. “They’ll be the best to use. It’ll have everything we need there, there’s plenty of space inside, and with the planks of wood across the windows, I don’t think much light we’d use would pierce through and give us away.”

“I guess.” William responded, looking at the houses. Hopefully, if the scientists come through here and spot any kind of light, they might put it down to one of the street stragglers still inside their own house.”

Sarah nodded and proceeded down the street slowly, careful not to make much noise.

The sight of this residential area now become deserted and devoid of anything human being inside it for years somehow seemed a lot more chilling than many other areas. The silent and unmoving shadowy figures of the trees stretched all along both ends of the street, the rotted wood of the houses, the abandoned bikes and children’s toys, the individual front doors and abandoned cars ceaselessly parked in front of the houses.

This was very creepy to the both of them. These places had character, a soul of their own. Not like the other countless stores, shops and office buildings and skyscrapers. They were all part of the human desire for profit. Soul-less, featureless properties for nothing other than that.

These places had been the homes of many people who had lived lives just like them at one

time. They had played with their children in the front garden, pushing them on swings or giving them their first bike lessons. Fathers and mothers had said goodbye to their children as they left for work, they had kissed them goodbye and hugged them tightly when they had left to fight in the war, not certain whether they would come back or even see them again.

The car crept along the dead street, the tires crushing the thick field of dead leaves underneath. They came to the middle of the street and decided on the house on the immediate left. At the front of the house swung a large wooden chair hanging from old rusty chains the wood was heavily rotted and a lot of it already rotted away to nothing. The chair swung from side to side in the breeze. They stopped the car and opened the trunk. Both of them carried the large bags of equipment toward the front door and rested them just outside. They looked at the door, considering how to get inside.

“We could kick it down.” Sarah said matter of factly, as though she had done it before.

William shook his head in response. “No, we can’t do that. If we do, we could break the lock and then we couldn’t close it at all. It wouldn’t be much good at hiding our presence if we had it open.”

Sarah raised her index finger to him and smiled. She fumbled around in her hair until she took out a hair-pin. She bent it and altered its shape until it had the crude appearance of a lock-pick. She placed it inside the faded keyhole and bent down on her knees, her eyes aligned up to the keyhole as she fumbled inside, sounds of tinkering and scraping metal were heard from inside for a few moments. William watched her fascinated.

“You done that many times?” He asked.

Sarah uttered a breath of laughter and smiled. “Yeah, usually when I’m shopping around for things and I find some great little place with plenty of food inside and the damn things locked. Sometimes, I break the door down, but, if I plan on using it more in the future and I have to leave some things behind, I use this then I can lock it again when I’m finished.”

William shook his head in mild surprise. “You think of everything, don’t you?”

“I try.” She said simply.

Finally, with a rather loud click, the door came unlocked and slowly creaked open, revealing the darkened features inside. William walked inside first, Sarah stood up and placed the hairpin back where she got it, smiling as she became proud of herself.

William walked cautiously into the house, his eyes scanning every inch of the immediate area, his ears alert for any sound, his tentative footsteps creaked as he walked across the rotted wood beneath the carpet.

Despite their not being any obvious activity or signs of anyone living in the house for several years, their was still the possibility that someone was living here, squatting maybe in an upstairs bedroom. William didn’t know what he’d do if he did find anyone here, or find evidence of someone being here. Somehow, he felt that he didn’t have the right to kick them out of the house and take it over himself. Sure, they didn’t have any right to be here any more than he or Sarah did, but this was important, a hell of a lot more important than simply looking for somewhere to live.

Sarah remained outside the front door for a moment watching William, not sure whether or not it was safe.

To hell with this, if theirs someone here, I’ll beat the crap out of them until they leave. She stepped inside and took a quick look at the interiors.

The living room was to the left of the main corridor, the dining room was to the right and the main staircase to the upper level was at the other end of the corridor, the door to the kitchen lay just underneath the staircase. The staircase and everything within sight that was made of wood was close to being completely rotted, it all looked brittle, covered in dampness and moisture, the odd creak could be heard coming from it all as it came ever closer to complete collapse.

The furniture, though one time relatively new and expensive, was nothing more than breeding ground for dust and microscopic organisms to flourish. Photographs and painting in frames were coated in thick dust, the once proud and happy faces of the nameless people in them were now blurred by years of dust collection. Sarah coughed as she felt it find its way to her throat.

A pot of once fresh flowers in a dusty white vase was now completely withered and dead, the bright colours of green and yellow and red were now gone, leaving only black and shrivelled petals behind. Sarah took a tenuous hold of one of the petals, within seconds, the shrivelled dead object disintegrated in fingers, crumbling into countless tiny pieces. She looked at the pieces around her feet for a moment before she turned round to William behind her.

“So, any signs of life?” She asked him.

William shook his head. “I can’t see anything that looks like someone’s in here, it looks like no ones lived here since the original owners of the house.” He nodded towards the staircase.

“Of course, because of the state of the staircase, it doesn’t look safe enough to climb up and check upstairs.”

Sarah turned and looked at the staircase, checking every inch of it. “Maybe I could get up.”

She said, much to William’s surprise. “I had a staircase like that in my apartment building, I had to go up and down it every day, and nothing ever happened to me. I’ll go and check it myself.”

William stopped her by holding to her right shoulder. “I don’t that’s a good idea, you might know your own staircase more than the back of your hand, but this thing hasn’t been used for years. It could all fall apart from under you. I can’t let you take that risk.”

He let go of her shoulder. “ Besides, if their was anyone living here, they’ve have come out and shouted the odds at us, screaming for us to leave. So, I guess were on our own.”

Sarah sighed and nodded her head.

“Come on.” He said. “Lets get the bags and bring them in.”

They walked out of the front door and took the large heavy bags into the house “We‘ll use that room, its big enough to store all this stuff.” He said, walking into the dining room. They took the bags into the room and lay them down on the floor. William started to take all of the stuff out while Sarah looked around the room.

A long thick wooden table covered the length of the whole room with equally thick chairs positioned underneath. A long white cotton tablecloth was stretched across the whole table, surprisingly without any wrinkles or creases anywhere. In the centre of the table were two white candles in gold coloured holders. The whole once proud image was now covered entirely with a great dusty cobweb stretching from the chairs to the candles, the eight-legged inhabitant long dead.

“Come on.” William said suddenly, snapping her out of her quiet contemplation. “Help me

get this stuff off of here then we can set the equipment on top of it, then we‘ll board up those windows and turn on the lantern” Without pausing, Sarah did as he asked and took the away the candles, instantly disturbing a thick amount of settled dust. She dropped the candles on the floor. The two of them grabbed opposite ends of the cobweb and tore it apart, tearing every individual tiny follicle that hung onto the table and the chairs. Sarah looked at the table and the mass of equipment they had in the bags. She looked William. “You think this table will stand up to the weight of all this stuff on top of it?”

William looked at her and at the table for a moment, silently considering her thoughts. “Well, I can’t think of anywhere else we could use. The kitchen doesn’t have any near the amount of space we need, and we can’t use the floor, I don’t wanna’ have to kneel down ever time we make a new tape recording. We don’t have to use the whole equipment we’ve got here, we can just use one or two tape machines, the wave machine won’t make much of a weight.”

Silently agreeing with each other, they began to take the relevant equipment out of the bags and place them on the dusty surface. In only a few minutes, they were done and ready to go.

They left the tape machine for the moment and proceeded to board up the window in the room with the rotted wood lying on the floor. Sarah held the pieces in place as William nailed them to the wall with the hammer and nails from the bags. After they were done, William brought out the small lantern and lit it with a match then placed it on the table, a strange eerie glow threw itself across the surrounding walls.

William placed a fresh tape inside the tape machine and switched on the button for the radio, the surrounding silence was broken by the sudden crackle of static flowing through the air.

The two of them sat down on two of the chairs from under the table. Sarah took hold of the microphone and took in a deep sigh.

“You sure you’re ready to do this?” William asked her, looking into her eyes.

Sarah looked back into his, a serious look on her face. “I’m ready.” She said without any obvious emotion. She flicked the switch on the microphone and spoke aloud.

“This is Sarah Gaelock, I’m here in this house with my friend William Blake, is there anyone on the air?”

Nothing but the same stone dead silence mixed in with faded static came through. Sarah sighed and allowed her head to drop down, tenuously holding the microphone in her hand.

William knew and wanted to tell her that you couldn’t always expect instant responses to these types of experiments, but he knew she wasn’t interested in hearing pointless and insignificant facts. “Come on,” he said putting his arms around her. “We can try later on, you don’t have to-” “Listen, you sons of bitches!” She viciously shrieked suddenly into the microphone, her head jumping up like a sudden violent surge of power. William almost fell back to the floor as his chair tilted back, Sarah seemed to forget he was even there. “I want some goddamn answers from you dead freaks. And I don’t want any fucking vague answers from you, I want facts about what the hell is going on with me. Why the hell am I having these visions, what the hell do they mean, why the fuck am I having them!?”

William had seen the other scientists react in similar ways to the voice phenomenon in the past when they got lousy results, but he had never seen anyone be so powerful as this before.

Sure, he could understand that she wouldn’t be patient with them after what she’d been

through, but her frantic response to the instant silence somehow made her like an animal. It scared him a little.

“I saw daddy!” A voice said, instantly coming through, loud and high pitched, quite obviously a child’s voice.

William paused in his seat, his mouth partly open, his eyes staring at the tape machine that now carried on its relentless static filled silence. He looked at Sarah. She was sat rigid on her chair, her hair slightly out of place, her eyes wild with repressed rage, rapidly breathing quiet breaths, her fingers gripped the microphone.

“Did you hear that?” William asked her, knowing it was a stupid question.

Sarah’s rigid body twitched for a second as she released a deep breath of air, slowly closing her eyes, as though suddenly being released from a great burden. She still grippe the microphone in her hand. “Yeah, I heard it,” she said finally. “Not really the answer I was looking for, but its something anyway. What the hell do you think it means?”

“Well, it seems pretty obvious. This was once someone’s house where a family lived. This must be the voice of the girl who lived here, talking about her dad, maybe she sees him in the house.”

Sarah nodded slightly, not the least bit saddened to be picking up the spirit of a dead little girl. She had lived in a dead world for over ten years, and the knowledge of the death of all children was something she had gotten used to.

She sat comfortably again and spoke aloud into the microphone. “Can you tell me your name, little girl? Who’s your daddy?” Despite ready and waiting to tear the world apart for the answers she wanted, all of that seemed forgotten, or at least, put aside to the back of her mind. The high, yet innocent sound of the little girls voice mellowed her a little. And, at least this was a way in for information for her.

“Amy, my name. Hard to breath.” The voice again came in a matter of seconds. Then, the frequency on the radio suddenly fazed out, replaced by even louder static. William’s hands stretched out immediately, almost through instinct as he hurried to turn the dials to the correct station.

Sarah sat confused, looking out into nothing as she pondered the message. ‘Hard to breath,’ what would that mean. I’m guessing you don’t breath when your dead.

After a minute, or so, William had reset the frequency on the radio, once again returning to quiet static. “You’re ready to go again.” He said to her, and relaxed back in his chair.

“What do you mean by ‘hard to breath.’ “ She asked the bodiless voice.

Nothing but the same dead silence, devoid of any sound. She dropped the microphone and began blindly turning the dials hurriedly as she sought the reason for the lack of voices. “You sure you set this thing right?” She said to William, almost snapping at him.

“Of course I did,” he responded. “I know how these damn things work, it was on the correct station, you were all set. Maybe, she just doesn’t want to talk to you anymore.”

Sarah’s head instantly to face him, her face scowling, as though blind with rage directed against him. He had absolutely no idea. She felt connected to not just this voice, but all the others she had heard before. They all somehow felt like hearing from a long dead friend after a long time. He couldn’t understand what that meant.

“Do not fight, makes trouble. Daddy like the dummy more than me. The scary dummy, the one with the devil’s grin. The closet upstairs, daddy.” The voice of the child again cam

through clearly on the microphone, instantly found by Sarah and William’s ears.

The two of them quickly dropped to their knees as they scrambled to find the hanging microphone and grasp it in their shaking fingers. Sarah found it and grabbed it as though it contained the answer to the universe. She brought it back to the level of the table. “Hello, hello,” she spoke into it again. “ Is there anyone there, please, Amy, are you there, what do you mean?”

The cruel sound of the static forced back her frantic cry for more like a smack in the face.

The two of them looked at the tape machine as it switched itself off with a loud click of the power button. Sarah allowed the microphone to drop again to the floor as she lost all strength in her arms. “Why did she leave us,” she asked William, immediately turning to him, a look of despair and apprehension in her face. “Why didn’t she tell us more, it was something important.”

William leaned back slightly, her sudden response seemed like the Spanish inquisition. He looked quickly from left to right, as though looking desperately for an answer that would please her. “I don’t know,” he told her. “Like I said, maybe she said she had to say, maybe she didn’t like us. I can’t give you the answers, this is all Greek to me.”

Sarah’s eyes moved slightly to the left into a dark corner of the room, silently going over something in her mind. “Amy, she said something about a dummy with a devil’s grin in a closet, her daddy liking it more than her. Its gotta’ be a ventriloquist dummy, those things have ultra creepy grins. Maybe her dad had one and spent more time with it.” She went silent as she considered something for a moment. “I’m going upstairs to look in any closets if they’re here, I don’t care if the stairs have gone, you can help me if you want.”

She jumped from her seat and ran into the corridor toward the dilapidated and heavily rotted wooden staircase and stopped and looked at it, considering how she would climb it. William closely followed behind her. “What the hell do you think you’re talking about? You can’t go up there, its too dangerous, you’ll fall and break your goddamn neck. And why should we check something out told to us by someone who’s been dead for ten years.”

Without warning, Sarah suddenly clutched tightly to her forehead screaming, she dropped to the floor as William desperately tried in vain to help her. “Sarah, what is it, is it a vision, what’s wrong with you?”

Chapter Thirty Sarah awoke from her agonised headache gagging for breath, something hard and tough was pressing down on her throat, it felt like hands choking her. She could feel a presence just above her, the presence of a man. At the back of her mind, she could sense that she was lying down on some kind of soft surface, but that wasn’t important right now, someone was trying to kill her. She reached for the grappling hands tightened on her neck and tried to prise the fingers off of her. She couldn’t, it was as though they were stuck to her neck with glue, she couldn’t take the hands off of her, or even move them aside.

What the fuck is happening? Get the hell off me!

She tried to scream, speak or even exhale, but it was useless, the pressure on her throat was too powerful, she could feel the air being cut off from her, she started to feel a little light headed.

Who the fuck are you?

She tried to open her eyes and see her attacker, but it was increasingly difficult. She used her every will to simply open her eyelids, but it felt as though some power or force was keeping them closed, no matter how much she tried, they wouldn’t open. She gritted her teeth and forced every part of her will to fight this attacker, summoning every bit of strength inside her to fight back.

You will not kill me, get the fuck off me and get the hell out of here!

She gripped the hands around her throat and used her every strength to pull them off, she used her nails, digging them deep into the skin and the flesh, she could feel the blood run by her own hands. Whoever it was didn’t scream or yell out loud at the pain, but it didn’t matter, her own attack seemed to release his grip.

That’s it, feel the goddman pain, you son of a bitch. How the fuck does that feel!?

She began to feel dizzy as the last of the air started to leave her body, she was getting weaker, but she couldn’t stop, she had to keep going. She dug her sharp fingernails deeper and deeper into the attackers flesh, so much that she could almost feel the bones of the hands scraping against her nails.

Eventually, the attacker released his choking grip on her throat, she instantly reached for her neck to protect it, gasping for air, the taste of it felt like a cold lemonade on a hot day. She could sense that he was backing off from her, through the intense dizziness, she could hear him stumbling around wherever this was.

How do you like that, you fucking . . .

Her silent curses stopped as the dizziness in her prevailed, coming on quickly as though someone had suddenly increased its power with the press of a button. Her head fell backwards and she again fell unconscious.

She again awoke, feeling a hard surface underneath her, possibly tiles. The dizziness returned to a low level until it buzzed around quietly in her head. She lightly rubbed her throat, still feeling the fading pain.

What the fuck is happening here, where the hell am I? She used the leverage of hands and what felt like a wall beside her to pull herself up, her shoes echoed against the hard tiled floor. She blinked her eyes, realising that she could now open them. She opened her eyes and looked around her.

She saw that she was in a small darkened hallway in what seemed like an ordinary house, there was an open door just to the right of her, a small doorknob was fixed onto it. There was a room in front of her, brilliantly white and glowing, she could see a few dark patches dotted around the room, and what looked like the outline of a shower curtain. She tried to look closer, but the whole image of what she could see was shrouded in a thick blanket of static, like watching grainy images on a television screen.

She suddenly turned her head around to face the glowing room as she became aware of something inside. She peered closer and could see a small human like figure silhouetted against the perfect whiteness. It seemed to be half the size of the room, its arms looked like they were simply stuck on the body, the same with the legs and the featureless, hairless head.

It looked like that whatever it was was violently hitting something, something that was cowering underneath it, also a silhouetted figure, but a lot smaller, its physical proportions looked unusual and out of place.

Sarah took a tight hold of the doorknob beside her, pushing her whole body against the door and hiding in the shadowy corridor, hoping to avoid whatever the hell this was.

I can’t stand this, get me away from here. William, where the hell are you?

The unusual violent scene slowly broke away as the few dark patches gathered more and more until they covered her entire field of vision, like an old projector film coming to an end.

After a few moments of muted darkness, the wool over her eyes was once again torn away, instantly showing her the image of a hideous ventriloquist dummy lying on a bed. She tried to cover her mouth in shock when she realised that both her hands were around the dummies neck choking it, it writhed on the bed as it struggled to escape, its wooden mouth opening and closing, uttering a strange high pitched shrill screech.

Sarah tried to move her hands, move her feet, but some invisible power was keeping her glued to this spot, forcing her to choke the life out of this wooden doll.

Don’t do this to me, please let me go!

She tightly closed her eyes, unwilling to see anymore of this bizarre and terrifying sight.

She opened her eyes again, sensing that she now no longer held the dummy, she jerked her body around, instinctively forcing herself to run. Something was holding her down with strong arms, preventing her from running. She wriggled around like a cat as she struggled to escape. She turned round and saw William holding her, shouting something in her face. She glanced around and saw that she was back in the abandoned house. Slowly, her senses came back to her, Williams shouts burrowed through to her ears.

“Sarah, stop, stop it, you’re back now, you had one of your visions. Are you okay, now?”

Sarah stopped her frantic efforts of escape and began to cry, burying her head in William’s chest, gripping the edges of his jacket tightly. William held her tightly, softly placing his hands on her head. He sat comforting her for a short while until she stopped crying and looked up at his face.

“I saw them,” she said quietly. “I saw the things the little girl on the tape was saying. I understand what she was trying to tell us.”

William looked at her in mute patience to what she would tell him. He didn’t really want to know what she had to say, but a part of him longed for the answers.

“The little girls father, he beat her.” She told him, her voice thick with emotion. “He had a ventriloquist dummy and the bastard loved it more than his own daughter, his own flesh and blood.” She cleared her throat to shake away the emotion inside her to say more. “Whenever she wanted her daddy, the bastard would beat the hell out of her, I saw him beat her in the bathroom like she was some fucking rag doll!”

She immediately tore herself away from William’s comforting grasp and drew herself up to her full height and shouted: “Where the hell are you, you son of a bitch!?” She constantly turned her body to face everything around her, raising her head up above her, as if speaking to some invisible figure that constantly moved around her. William couldn‘t believe her outburst, wondering why he hadn‘t got used to them by now. “I don’t care who the fuck you thought you were when you were alive, what the hell kind of super-being you thought you were to that poor little girl. But, to me, you’re nothing but some sick freak, a damn pathetic human being like the rest of us. I can’t fight you, but I hope to god that you’re friggin’ burning right now!”

As a final burst of energy, Sarah tightened her arms and fists as tight as she could and

suddenly spun her entire body around to face the wall, violently driving a stone hard fist into the crumbling weak wall. The wood, brick and plaster barely made a sound as it all broke into pieces on the floor, like broken pieces from a fake wall in a television studio.

Sarah gradually began to relax herself again, her fists slowly retracting to open hands, her frustrated breaths coming out like grunts as she forced back the incredible hatred and anger.

Her whole body shook at her own surprise of how angry she really was. William approached her cautiously, not knowing what she would do if he got to close. He approached her slowly and gently rested his hands over her own quivering hands. He was taken aback to how angry she really was.

Without warning, Sarah suddenly jerked away from William causing him to quickly retract his hands in surprise. She started to run toward the staircase, grunting with each exhale of air, her arms shaking all around her like a rag dolls. It took a moment for William to realise where she was going and what she had in mind. He started to run quickly after her shouting when he saw her trying to climb up the rickety staircase, the fragile wood of the whole staircase wobbled and creaked as she made her way up further and further, unfettered by the constant warning noises coming from the stairs.

“Hey, stop right there!” William shouted at her from the bottom of the staircase, his hands holding hard to the banisters to stop them shaking. Sarah stopped in her tracks, her heart beating ferociously fast, consumed with rage and hate for the little girls father. Her eyes were alive with fiery brightness, sparks and lights gathered like a raging storm in her pupils.

William took a few careful steps toward Sarah and held out his hand to her, careful not to encourage her to keep going, as well as being careful not to break his leg. “Now, come down,” he said with a shaking voice. “Come right down here, to me, you’re not safe on this thing. If you keep going, it’ll all crumble underneath you and that might kill you. So, please, come down and take my hand.”

Sarah hesitated for a moment before taking one step back down the staircase, William extended his hand out a little more, hoping to take hold of her and not have to catch her. His breathing stopped momentarily as he heard the steps make a loud creaking noise. He kept his eyes firmly on Sarah.

“I’m sorry, William,” Sarah said in a calm flat voice. “Please don’t follow me.” She immediately sprinted up the staircase to the upper floor, the pressure and strength of her steps caused the staircase to buckle and shake, creaking enormously. The moment Sarah reached the upper floor and jumped off of the stairs, the whole construct came crashing down, falling into rotted and crumbling pieces as it fell, bringing the whole staircase down in front of William like pieces of trash. William coughed hard as he struggled to fight off the thick mist of sawdust that gathered around him, his eyes partly closed as another method of protection.

Jesus Christ, Sarah, what the hell are you doing?

Despite knowing it was a total waste of time and probably dangerous to try, William knew he wouldn’t leave Sarah alone to face whatever was in this house that the little girl warned them about and decided to join her, hoping he could somehow coax her back down, if there was still a way back down.

He looked at the mess of decayed wood at his feet and wondered how the hell he’d get up.

Then he remembered, the rope he had put in the trunk, he could use that.

But, wait, what the hell do I tie it onto, the stairs have gone?

He looked back as far as his viewpoint would allow at the top of the stairs at the upper level and noticed that there was a small square plastic part of the banister remaining, just to the right of where the stairs had been.

Maybe, that could work, I don’t think plastic rots like wood. I think I could tie one end of the rope into a knot and throw it on there. I mean, I’m no cowboy, but what the hell.

He turned round and headed outside to the car.

On the upper level of the house, Sarah was running quickly from room to room, her eyes open wide, programmed to search for the dummy that was here somewhere. She pulled the rooms apart in her frantic search, pulling the dusty cobweb ridden blankets from beds, pulling open drawers and cupboards and throwing the contents all across the room.

Where the fuck are you, where are you hiding?

Then her memory suddenly flashed her an imagined image, joined by the little girls words.

She said he kept it in the closet.

She ran into what like the master bedroom and opened the closet beside. Apart from the dusty and ragged pieces of clothing, there was nothing like a doll or a dummy inside.

He would have kept it in his own room, surely? Oh, Christ.

She realised suddenly a disturbing and disgusting thought. He must have kept the damn dummy in Amy’s closet. That son of a bitch made her sleep in the same room with it, even though she hated and was terrified of it.

She ran from the master bedroom into Amy’s bedroom and immediately caught sight of the closet. It had long ago fell from the wall and dropped forwards onto the bed.

Jesus. Sarah thought covering her forehead with her hand.

She walked up to the closet and pushed it back against the wall. It wasn’t as heavy as she thought, probably due to the strength washed away from it by the onslaught of the plague.

The moment the closet hit the wall behind it, she hears something thud inside. She relaxed herself for a moment and took hold of the small handles on the closet doors. She thrust them open wide with a loud creak, the joints were heavily rotted and immediately came away in her hands and fell to the floor. Sarah looked inside the closet, her arms falling by her sides.

There, sitting like a disjointed deformed hideous child, sitting on top of the little girls small dusty clothes, was the moth-eaten ventriloquist dummy, its dead white lifeless eyes coated with dust, its reddened mouth open wide into a harsh twisted grin, as though constantly laughing at its power of Amy, just like its owner once did. The small plastic teeth inside were the host to a large cobweb that covered its whole head.

Sarah’s mouth and eyes quivered in sorrow for Amy and what she had to go through, as well as in hate and disgust for her father, forcing her to be around this thing against her will.

“Amy might have been afraid of you, but there’s no fucking way that I am.”

She grabbed hold of the dummy’s arm and dragged it across the floor out into the corridor, its wooden head thudding with each step. Pulling it up to her face, she sta ed into its dead eyes, her face consumed with rage and hate, she spat into its face, then threw it across the corridor against the wall. It landed with a thud on the floor, its right arm and leg came loose from its body.

Sarah approached it and stopped just a few inches from it, looking down at it with a heart consumed with rage. She reached inside her jacket and pulled out a small lighter. She pressed

the small metal switch down until the small flickering light appeared. She looked down at the dummy’s eyes, wishing she could see Amy’s father in them, to see him fearful for the first time, terrified of what she would do. She smiled a little and threw the lighter down onto the dummy, it exploded immediately into a ball of flame and light, turning it within minutes into a pile of smoking ash. Sarah crossed her arms and watched it burn, not bothering to wipe away the tears from her eyes.

God, I hope this is all you need to rest, Amy. I really do.

Sarah was so engrossed into the sight before her that she barely noticed William appearing where the staircase had been, trying his hardest to climb the piece of rope he was using. She turned round eventually and looked at him, smiling when she saw him lying on the floor of the corridor, drawing in great mouthfuls of air. He turned his head and looked at Sarah, noticing she looked a little saddened. “Are you okay?” He said, slowly standing up in front of her. Sarah nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine, now. I’ve done what Amy wanted me to do.” She looked back down at the heap of ash in front of her, William followed her gaze, squinting his eyes tom understand what he was seeing. “What is it?” He asked.

“Just a painful memory that’s now gone.” She responded, sighing.

William looked at her , seeing the great pain inside her. He decided against inquiring about it with her. Better to let the ghosts rest. He thought.

“Come on,” he told her. “We’d better leave now, I think we’ve done all we can.

Sarah nodded and walked with her head down toward the piece of rope hanging down and began to climb down it. William followed till they were both downstairs and headed towards the dining room to collect the equipment. He jerked his head around suddenly when he heard Sarah crying. The whole upper part of her body was bent downward to the floor, her hands covering her face.

“What’s the matter?” William asked walking towards her, instantly recoiling when she shrieked out at him, waving her hands in the air. She sank down to the floor on her knees, her voice fiercely alive with emotion. William knew better than to interfere with what was clearly some kind of grief for the little girl she did this for. He wanted to tell her that there was no time for that, that they had to hurry and avoid detection, but he could tell she didn’t give a damn about that at the moment.

After a few minutes, Sarah’s crying was now little more than a sob and a few grunts of air, she began to wipe her face with her hands. William decided to attempt to calm her down again, not knowing exactly whether it was the right moment or not. He stepped toward her a little and looked down at her.

“You okay, now?” He said as quietly as he could, not wanting to cause her to shriek out again. Her grunts slowly became quiet breaths of air as she clamed down, her fingers slowly winding themselves around William’s’. She slowly looked up at him with tear stained eyes beneath ragged untidy hair.

“Oh god, William,” she said quietly. “What if that sick freak is still with Amy, what if he’s holding her here against her will?”

William sighed and lowered his head to face the dusty floor beneath him, hoping she wouldn’t see the confusion in his eyes as he sought for a good answer. Finally, after a few moments of silence, he looked up at her, reinforcing his face with mute confidence. “Lets just trust in god that she’s safe and well and pray that she’ll be okay in the future.” Sarah looked

at him in silence for a moment before nodding.

“Hey, listen,” he said. “Do you really wanna’ carry on with this? I know you really want to do this to find your father, but its it really worth it, I mean look at yourself, this stuff is screwing with your mind, you’re finding yourself in places full of dead people. Why can’t you just throw in the towel and come with me to the countryside.”

Sarah sighed, her slightly annoyed eyes piercing right through to his mind. “I’ve already told you, you can go to the countryside if really want to, and I’ll carry on with this. Even if I ran away from all this, its in my head all the time, and it’ll follow me wherever I go. I’ve nothing else in life to worry about, now, except for the smallest chance that my Father is out there somewhere, just like they told me. I believe he’s waiting for me and I’m gonna’ find him whatever it takes and those goddamn scientists can just go to hell for all I care, because I’m not afraid of them.”

William was stuck for something to say to her, something to snap her out of this insanity that was telling her to push on, but the empty horizon of his mind left in silence. He thought she was brave not to be afraid of the insane scientists that were constantly up their assess, as well as thinking that she was stupid not to be afraid. But, in the end, he knew he couldn’t argue with her, doing so would just waste time and energy and decided to listen to her, while still retaining a little doubt and disagreement with her.

Quickly bringing his mind to the task at hand, he quickly brought her hands together and briefly rubbed them before turning away.

“Okay,” he said with a quick intake of air. “I don’t know about you, but I think we’ve done all we can here. We’ve made contact, and that’s what’s important. We’ll put this stuff back in the trunk and get the hell out of here. Its still dark, so we shouldn’t have too much trouble finding somewhere else.” He turned round and looked at Sarah behind him, standing pathetically in the same position she was, her clothes heavily creased, her hair like that of a homeless person. “Why don’t you let me drive.” He said to her. “You’ve been through a whole damn lot. Take a nap in the back seat and I’ll find us another place, okay?”

Sarah looked at him and smiled a little. She nodded and tidied up her hair with her hands as best as she could, quickly smoothing away the creases in her clothes. She cleared her throat and walked towards the tape machines on the table and helped carry them and the other equipment out in the bags and back to the car, trying her best to hide the growing fear in her face and the same frightening question that buzzed like electricity in her mind. Father, will I ever find you through all of this, or are you not there at all?

Chapter Thirty- One Sarah groggily awoke to the feel of a hand lightly shaking her side. She sensed that her head was hanging over the edge of the window, slightly and quickly pulled it back. She could tell that the car wasn’t moving and they had stopped in a street somewhere. She yawned, cracked her knuckles and looked around to her right and saw William gently rousing her back to consciences. He smiled when he saw that she was awake then turned his attention back to the building they were parked by.

Sarah hunched herself up and looked over at the building they were parked beside. It was a small café, the glass-made sign on the wall was heavily encrusted with dirt and dust, the red

and white chequered curtains were scrunched up, small holes poking through them everywhere.

Sarah turned back to William, attempting to give him a questionable look with her tired and half closed eyes.

“I used to come here all the time, before the war.” He told her, in a voice that seemed like he was uncertain to her expression.

“I knew this place like the back of my hand, I even helped out here on weekends in the kitchen, I think it’s a good place to do what we’re doing. I anybody comes by, we can just hide in the back, plus, hopefully, there’ll be a lot of canned goods in the back.”

He looked at his watch and up at the sky, slightly surprised to see the time, despite driving for hours. “Besides,” he said. “I think we should find somewhere before the morning comes and we’re sitting ducks.”

Sarah looked at his face through tired eyes, her sight was blurry as they became accustomed to being awake, but the features on William’s face were unambiguous.

William’s face was once that of a young man, somewhere around his early or late twenties.

An adolescent crop of stubble had long ago gathered around his chin, his eyes still once bore the features of innocence and ignorance, despite everything they had undoubtedly seen over the last ten years, or so. His skin was once so smooth like a babies.

Looking at his face now, however, his youthful looking appearance was all but gone, battered and pulverised into the typical features of an old-man. His smooth skin was now starting to bear the tiniest wrinkles, sagging skin hung from his face, awash with tiny hairs sprouting all around his mouth. His bright eyes now looked tired, full of the appearance of wisdom and great knowledge.

The last few days had changed him a lot, pushing him to the limits of survival, and trying to understand the strange EVP messages he had heard. Sarah felt a little guilty seeing him like this. She’d been the one who barged into his life and his work and put this great unearthly burden on his shoulders, making him drag it around for her.

She knew, though, not to blame herself entirely for him being here with her. She’d told him often enough that he was scared or didn’t want to carry on, he could leave, she could survive on her own, just like she had done all these years and he could enjoy his life in the country with the few survivors that were already there. But, as always, he had been determined, and slightly idiotic to stay with her and face these things with her. Though, he never said anything, it was obvious he had a thing for her and that was the main thing that was making him stay with her. That really was something she could blame him for.

“Well, we’re here, aren’t you gonna make yourself useful?” William told her as she slowly pulled herself up and looked around. She immediately wrapped herself tightly with her arms as she felt the bitter cold around her bite at her skin.

They were parked on the side of what once was a major road route through the city. Sarah looked at the dusty old sign close by, it read: Lynch Street. The road was wide, allowing for four separate lanes. Tall and decaying traffic lights remained fixed in the cold air, the once bright flickering colours of red, yellow and green were now covered with encrusted dust, their electrical power long extinguished. Large and expensive looking skyscrapers were on either side of the road, stretching high into the air. A strong gust of wind and the silent fog carried along the rotting trash and the ownerless and abandoned clothes across the street, the

faint specks of ashes of what was left of the people were carried along with them.

Sarah looked up at the sky and saw that the endless inky blackness was slowly starting to ebb away, replacing itself with the perfect, featureless whiteness of the morning. She quickly rubbed her eyes and looked at her watch, the time read: 5:30 am.

God, I must have slept through the whole night.

William opened the door beside and almost jumped out of the car, seemingly excited about going into the café, somehow. Sarah slowly followed him, her muscles gradually becoming accustomed to moving again. The way her body was right now, it seemed like she hadn’t slept in weeks, but before her full nights sleep, it certainly felt that way.

William walked up to the front door of the café, stopped and looked inside through the glass inside the door. The glass was frosted and he couldn’t see anything, aside from the faint shapes and colours of the objects inside. He gave a little knock on the glass with his knuckles.

Just like the house, if their was anybody living inside, the slightest noise indicating that someone was trespassing would get them out of their hiding place, running toward them and screaming for them to leave.

William waited a second after knocking, his face and open left hand pressed against the glass as he sought out any kind of movement. Nothing, not even the dust shook out of place when he knocked.

He leaned back from the door and gently pushed it, the door slowly creaked open, the strong light from outside gradually gathered inside the café, revealing every detail.

The room inside was quite small, room enough for only three separate tables and chairs on the right alongside the windows, each separated by a small green coloured piece of glass. On the left was the wooden counter, dusty and empty glasses and plates rested silently all along it. Hanging from the ceiling was an unmoving dust covered fan, the tiny cobwebs hanging from it blew briefly as the breeze from outside came in.

Resting on each of the rotted tables were a collection of long-dead corpses, slumped over the dusty and rotted tables. Their human like features were barely obvious from the amount that had rotted away, their eyeholes now large gaping holes, most of their teeth missing. The faded remnants of their clothes hung in tatters from their torsos. Large dusty cobwebs were stretched from point to another all across them.

William held back at the sight before him and bit his lip, feeling an uncomfortable sensation rush through him.

He’d known this place so well when he used to come here. The people that had worked here were some of the friendliest people he could ever hope to meet. Mr and Mrs Carbuncle, the middle aged owners of this place, they were always laughing at everything, no matter how bad a situation, they laughed it off and sorted it out. Though middle-aged with most of their looks gone, they still touched each other up and kissed each other continuously, unfazed whenever he walked into the kitchen and found them together.

The place had been a great place to work, the people had always been friendly, and now the scene was like everything else in the city, just one big colossal graveyard, the corpses of friends and family now nothing more than decaying matter in the wind.

“I think its safe.” He said turning to Sarah, standing behind him with her arms crossed, feeling intently cold after waking up in the open air.

“Hey, are we going in here, or aren’t we?” Sarah shouted suddenly, causing William to jump

in surprise.

How the hell can I bring her into this place? He asked himself. I doubt she’s gonna’ wanna’ set up the equipment around these corpses, god knows, I don’t want to.

“Sarah,” he said without turning round. “You think we should find another place, besides this? I mean, there’s corpses in here, and the place has memories for me. I don’t know if . . .

You could go in their with them lying across the tables.”

William closed his eyes, expecting to hear a sympathetic response from her. But, their was nothing but silence from her, it almost seemed like she wasn’t stood behind him anymore. A few awkward moments passed before Sarah finally answered.

“I know how you feel about this place, and I understand, but we can’t go looking for somewhere else to hold up. The lights coming quickly, and we have to get inside somewhere we can hide well. You said yourself, you know this place like the back of your hand, so you’ll know all the best possible hiding places. And, so what about the corpses? We’ve both lived among them for ten years, we both know they’re nothing to us, now, unless they’re the bodies of your old colleagues?”

“No, they’re not.” William said, trying to contain the sudden anger of her words inside.

“Well, that’s okay, then, they’re nobody. We can just dump them outside, put a sheet over them, or something.”

“Couldn’t we just find somewhere else to hold up that’s on this street, we only have to walk a little way and drive the car a few yards.”

“No, I told you,” Sarah shouted. “We don’t have the time. You know this place, that’s our advantage over the scientists.”

William couldn’t believe the words she was spouting out easily. She almost sounded like Oswald Richardson talking about the poor guy they buried in the back of the Town Hall, so damn unsympathetic and uncaring to him, even as he watched William and the others bury him in an unmarked grave. The son of a bitch wasn‘t human. But, he could still see her point, they were just the corpses of nobody, people who were long dead, it wouldn’t matter to them what they did with their bodies.

“You’re right,” he said finally. “We’ll just cover them up with something. There should be extra tablecloths in the back, somewhere, I’ll go get them and drape them over them.”

“No,” Sarah said flatly. “I’ll do it, I’ll be able to do it without thinking about it. You go get the stuff from the trunk of the car, I’ll find the tablecloths myself.”

William finally turned round, a look of shame on his face. He nodded a little to Sarah, silently thanking her for taking care of the bodies for him.

“Here,” William said taking off his coat. “Put this on, you look cold.”

It wasn’t Sarah’s nature for her to accept charity after living alone for so long, but she didn’t hesitate this time in taking his coat and draping it around her.

“Here, go inside and find those tablecloths for me. I’ll bring the equipment in, it’ll only take a few minutes.”

Sarah walked into the doorway of the café, William walked down to the car and lifted the trunk. He rested his head against it for a few moments and closed his eyes, trying with a little resistance to control his pace of breathing. Sarah looked at him, guilt overwhelming her.

She guessed she had been a little hard on him, forcing him to use this place and not some other in the street, her fear of standing around in the open air made her shout orders at him.

While she knew that this was a hard decision for him, she couldn’t tell him to choose somewhere else, there’s no way he would like that.

She could imagine what he was feeling right now about going in here, that it was like stepping inside an old family home where many bad things happened, and having someone forcing you inside, not listening to your excuses to leave. She knew that she had to go easy on him, now, at least until they left here, whenever that was.

She turned and walked inside, heading for the door behind the counter.

The back kitchen was in the same sorry state as the main café area. Large silver coloured ovens with knobs and dials were fixed in numerous places along the surrounding walls, great amounts of decay and rust had long ago began to devour it, like plaque in untreated teeth.

Large and small silver coloured pots and pans were placed accurately on top of the now defunct gas burners, rotten, dusty and cobweb covered food was still inside some of them.

Cupboards and shelves were stacked neatly with dusty white plates. The fridge and freezer doors hung open ajar, the intense cold and strong electric lights were now nothing more than a nostalgic memory.

A small collection of small tin food tubs were scattered across the floor, their contents long empty from pillaging. Sarah hoped that whoever had took the food hadn’t found the main larder, though she knew at the back of her mind that the two of them would be phenomenally lucky if they found it undamaged and unaided. She looked around but couldn’t see the larder from where she was. She crossed her fingers and hoped that wherever it was, it was still intact.

Sarah looked on at the skeleton like remnants of what was once a kitchen, not a single shred of emotion or apathy passed through her mind. But, that’s exactly what bothered her.

This place obviously meant so much to William, even now, despite it being just another shabby construction once used by the extinct species known as the human race. He looked at it not as a graveyard, but as a happy place, a monument to a greater and happier time when one was affected by only few troubles or worries. She wished she could feel what William was feeling, even just a little of it, just so he wouldn’t have to be alone with his feelings and she could somehow comfort him.

She felt strangely lucky to not have strong sentimental feelings of a certain place or building in the city, a place she might have spent her weekends, a former friends house, a place she worked, a place she ran to as a kid. To not have places like that that remain in your memory, Sarah felt liberated of anything remotely nostalgic, anything that might deter her from continuing to survive against the impossible set before her.

Yet, with all of this to remind her of her strength and power of adversity, she also felt strongly jealous of William and his memories, even the sad memories he had. It made her realise that he once had a life, a happy one filled with people, loved ones, and the image of a perfect imagined future for himself. He remembered the life he once had, something that made him feel truly alive.

Sarah on the other hand had nothing but faded childhood memories of her father and the numerous unnamed toys she once played with. She suddenly realised that her selfdetermination to succeed in a dead world, to live on completely alone without any pondering over the past, had all somehow wiped her entire memories from her mind, aside from the small few of her father she most cherished, and the hideous time she spent in the shelters with

the sick and the dying.

Those few memories I have, they’re all I have to remind myself that I’m here on this planet.

I ‘m alive, not dead and buried like those speaking from the tape machines. If someone has absolutely no memory of their small life, if they can’t recall anything that ever happened to them, are they truly alive, or are they just the same as a corpse that imagines itself to be alive?

“You okay in there?” William shouted to her from the front of the café. “Have you found any blankets in there?” Sarah nearly jumped out of her skin from his sudden shout. She composed herself before answering.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she responded. That was partly a lie, the sudden shock of hearing him shout caught her off guard, she was shivering all over, faint feelings of mixed emotions lay just underneath her level-headed exterior.

What the hell does he need blankets for anyway? She thought to herself, shaking off the uncomfortable feeling inside her, clenching her fists and walking up and down the kitchen.

They’re just damned corpses for gods sake, who cares if he probably knew them once.

They’re dead, they’re nothing but dried up husks.

She sighed and closed her eyes, suddenly remembering her promise to herself that she wouldn’t be like this with him.

Okay, calm down. Unlike you, he actually had friends, he had people that he cared about. You can’t get angry and jealous at him just because of that, so come on, calm down and get the blankets, if they’re around here, that is.

She looked all around her for any indication of a blanket, sheet, anything that could be draped over a corpse. But, she saw nothing but the same drab and dusty kitchen utensils, long abandoned to the unforgiving wind.

I can’t see anything in here, perhapsShe stopped when she caught sight of a thin width door to the right hand side of the kitchen.

She almost missed it due to the amount of dust and lack of most of the paint that had over time peeled away from it, making it look like the rest of the room. She looked closer and saw that it was open a crack then walked toward it.

If they’re not in here, then William will just have to find them, he knows the place, for gods sakes.

She slowly opened the old rickety door, it creaked noisily and uncomfortably, Sarah clenched her teeth and her fists as the unforgiving sound ran through her nervous system. She opened it wide enough to allow the small amount of light from outside pour into the small, cramped room.

The inside bore the typical characteristics of a utility room. Propped against the wall was an old dusty broom, the straw-like thistles poking out the top, a cobweb not unlike thick cotton was stretched from the wall and all across the broom head. Attached to the wall were two twin dusty wooden shelves with heavily rotted and dusty cleaning equipment, the contents long since extinguished. Sarah began to sigh when she realised that the room was a dead herring as well, she then turned her head to the right and saw a collection of tablecloths propped against the wall, rolled up neatly into a large tube shape.

Sarah smiled a little and carried them out into the café.

William had already set up most of the equipment on one of the tables opposite the ones with

the decaying bodies. He worked busily and with great concentration on the wires of the machines, the tape machine hummed slightly as the small amount of electricity flowed to it.

The thin green line on the wave machine stretched into a perfect line from one end of the small screen to the other, waiting patiently for any kind of sound or voice to come through.

The look of determination and a thin bead of sweat on his forehead showed his determination not to turn around and see the bodies of those he might have know once upon a time.

William hardly noticed at first when Sarah came in, clutching the sheets in her arms. She walked past him and quickly tore a sheet from the rolled up mass and immediately covered the corpses with it, the tangled mass of cobwebs shuddered in the sudden draught caused by the whooshing of the sheet.

William turned and looked at Sarah stood behind him, standing rigid, her arms folded behind her back. His whole body moved rigidly as he turned, as if fighting some unseen power over him that forced him to keep staring and concentrating on the mechanics of the machines in front of him. Sarah said nothing as he looked at her, merely tightened her lips, her eyes focused on his. William simply smiled a little then turned and carried on with his work.

“You finally getting there?” Sarah asked him as she walked slowly to his right side.

“Yeah, I think I’m almost done, here.” He responded, the distinct sound of emotion in his voice that he tried like hell to force back. “I thought about using the cars engine to power all of this, seeing as how its only a few feet away from here, but then I realised, the noise and activity would attract too much unwanted attention, so I decided to use the mobile generator.”

“Well, wouldn’t that make noise just as much? Sarah asked, puzzled.

“Its okay, I’ll put in the back, in the kitchen, then I’ll cover it with the rest of those blankets you found and hopefully that’ll muffle the noise.”

“Hopefully?” Sarah said sarcastically, folding her arms.

William sighed. “I know it doesn’t leave much room for use to relax, but this is the best I can do. If you’ve any more suggestions, I’m quite happy to hear them.”

Sarah uncrossed her arms and looked downward to the floor. That last remark bothered her, but she could see his reasoning.

“I’m sorry,” he said, stopping his work and lowering his own head. “Its just being in this place again after all these years and finding it like this. Corpses everywhere, everybody dead, its getting on top of me.”

Sarah sighed then slowly and timidly placed her left hand on his shoulder. He paused for a few moments before taking her hand in his, he then turned round to face her and took her hand in both of his, gently massaging them with his fingers.

“Its funny,” he said, laughing a little. “Even after all that’s happened everywhere, to go around with the knowledge that everyone else but us is dead, to know that everybody I knew and felt something for in this place are all dead, it never hits home until you look at it in the face and realise. It all makes it seem like it was only yesterday.”

Sarah nodded, enjoying the slight tingling sensation running through her body as he caressed her hand.

She wanted to say something to him, something that would make him feel a little better, but absolutely nothing came to mind. She wasn’t the sort of person anyone would go to for advice or comfort for something that bothered them, nor was she even the type of person that would give a suffering soul a hug and give them kind words. Besides, to offer someone

comfort over them realising that they had lost a vital moment of their life in the rotting and decaying presence of those they had lost wasn’t the best scenario to face.

“Come on,” William said, forcing back a few tears and putting Sarah’s hands together. “Lets forget the past and all those things and concentrate on this, I should have it ready in a minute or two. If you’re hungry or thirsty, there’s plenty of things in the trunk.”

“Yeah, I am a little thirsty, now that you mention it. I might have a little bite to eat, too. You want me to get something for you, too?”

“Yeah, if you could, thanks.” William answered as he tinkered with the thick concentration of wires at the back of the large tape machine.

Around fifteen minutes later, they were ready. The two of them sat around a small table beside the counter, the tangled mess of machinery and flashing and beeping equipment lay inbetween them in the centre of the table. Sarah was near finishing off a large tin of baked beans and a can of diet cola, William made his voracious animal like way through a tin of small steak pieces, a quarter full bottle of water sat beside him.

“You ready, now?” William asked as he came to the end of his empty tin, watching Sarah wolf the beans down her throat. She responded by holding her opened palmed hand to him, silently telling him to wait a minute. William took the empty cassette tape in his hand and impatiently tapped his leg with the edge of the tape. Finally, Sarah placed the empty can on the table beside her, her cheeks were blown out of proportion like a hamsters as she forced back the thick concentration of beans into her throat. Eventually, she succeeded, a strong belch proceeded. “Okay, I’m ready now.” She said as she wiped her hands on a white tissue.

William flashed her a slightly amused glance and settled into his seat. He placed the empty cassette tape in the machine then switched on the play and record buttons, the same unfaltering dense ocean of static immediately followed. He checked that the microphone was plugged in and working properly, tapping the sphere shape at the top with his fingertips.

“Okay,” he said, softly placing the microphone in front of Sarah. “I all looks set and ready to.

Go ahead.”

Sarah leaned in closer to the microphone and swallowed deeply, not for the reason of swallowing a remainder of food, but out of fear of what might come next.

“Um, hi, its me again.” She said speaking aloud. “I Doubt you have any new information or anything to give me, but I could sure do with something from you. I need to know if my fathers there, or not. If all of you are just stringing me along by the nose, the stop it. I need to know what’s happening to me. Why am I seeing these insane things, why can you hear me so easily. Please, father, please come through, I need you with me, please.”

The high sound of activity in the static withdrew back to the same annoying silence as Sarah’s voice ceased, returning to its familiar state when it didn’t recognise any sound around it. The two of them sat in silence as they waited for a breakthrough, staring deeply at the machine, past the flat silver metallic covering, through the jungle like concentration of wires and circuits, straight to the source of the voices, silently demanding them to come through and speak.

Suddenly, without warning, a strange foreign sounding management of speech broke through the crackling silence. Its sudden appearance on the tape and the level of noise drowned out any kind of lower sounds. William jumped back in surprise, his left arm knocking over the bottle of water to the floor. “Shit!” He said, reaching down for it and putting it back on the

table.

“What the hell was that!?” Sarah asked, breathing rapidly. “Did you tape it?”

“Oh, yeah, I got it on tape.”

He switched off the play and record buttons and ejected the tape. He turned it around, placed it back in the machine and played it again. As usual, the pained voice of Sarah’s statement came through first, then the static silence, then the strange bizarre speech came through.

William put his ear close to the speakers and listened hard, continually stopping it rewinding it and playing it back, but no matter how much he tried to understand it, the speech was too obviously foreign and unrecognisable. After numerous attempts at trying to understand it, even just a little tiny part of it, he was clueless. He stopped his attempts to rewind the tape and play it back and simply sat and stared at the machine with an annoyed expression, tapping his fingers on the table in an annoying rhythm.

“There’s only a couple of things I can get from this recording.” He told her. “One: In the background I can clearly hear someone moaning or groaning, almost like they’re in pain.

Two: The voice that can be clearly heard, it sounds as though they’re talking to someone who isn’t either the two of us, its someone who’s there with them.”

Sarah looked at the machine with an almost hateful expression. This unusual speech content of someone from another continent speaking to them that quite obviously wasn’t answering her questions, it all made her feel robbed of a good enough response, robbed out of understanding why this happening to her and why it wouldn’t go away.

“Give the damn thing to me.” She said taking the microphone back, almost tearing it out of its connection with the tape machine. William wasted no time in pressing the play and record buttons on the tape.

“Listen to me, you assholes,” she shouted into the microphone. “I’m through playing games, here! I want a goddamn answer from you people, I want to talk to my father, and I want to know precisely what’s going on with me!”

‘Dead machines.’

The harsh, female sounding robotic voice came through almost immediately. It was nowhere near the type of response Sarah wanted from her irritated question, more rather an insignificant phrase to avoid answering her. She allowed the microphone to fall to the table with a loud thud, supporting her head with her right arm, her elbow supporting the weight.

She didn’t have the patience anymore to constantly search and dig for an answer through all the unusual, disjointed, garbled and hazy responses to her questions and her statements. All of this was getting her nowhere near her Father, not even the slightest indication that he was even over there. She didn’t know her Father all that well, but she knew for certain that if she wanted to ask him something, something important that couldn’t wait, he’d put everything on hold and listened to what she had to say. No way would he keep her waiting like these voices did, leaving her to keep asking constantly without any decent sign of a reply.

She remained now in her unflinching and unresponsive posture, staring off into space, her eyes onto the silent mist and fog that constantly drifted outside, occasionally dragging along the odd discarded piece of clothing and the few particles of ash and dust that were once living people. Not a single thought passed through her head as she watched this slightly macabre scene, everything around her seemed to fall away as she sank even further into her own empty. The presence of William beside her fell away and disappeared, her elbow barely felt

the table, the corpses covered with the sheet were non-existent to her anymore.

William too was lost in his own private blind and deaf world as he stared relentlessly opened mouthed at the tape machine as it continued into crackling silence, Sarah and everything around had been drowned out by his own screaming thoughts. The strange feminine sounding words, ‘Dead Machines,’ sounded off like sirens in his head, blasting the words in his ears.

He knew these words, he knew he’d heard them before, somewhere, sometime.

What the hell was it, where have I heard those words. Wait, someone I knew once had said it, said it a few times about something Then the words seemed to rattle the memory part of his mind, awaking dormant memories long since forgotten. His eyes widened as the memory flooded into his mind like a raging ocean, looking upwards as though the formless memories were drowning him from above.

Sally Fields, its her, oh, Jesus Christ, its her. Oh, my god.

He was in instant shock as he remembered that the voice belonged to the middle aged woman who he used to work in this very café years ago, before she’d had her heart attack and died.

Whenever she would complain that the stoves and ovens weren’t working, she would say they were ‘dead machines.’ Whenever she spoke, her voice was always dry and extremely deep, due to the amount of cigarettes she would smoke in a day. His whole body went cold and numb as he realised the full implication of who was speaking to him. Even after all these years of speaking to the dead, asking them questions and getting answers from them of who they were. The shock of the whole thing had never hit because he had never know the people he was speaking to, but this was someone he knew himself, someone he had spoke to and knew well, someone he had visited in hospital shortly before they died.

The whole mammoth knowledge and shock he now felt seemed to mix in with the memories of speaking to the dead over all those years in the past.

‘They’re dead machines, all of them dead machines. Problem . . .’

William flinched suddenly as more voice samples from Sally came through, his nails briefly digging into the rotted wood of the table as he jerked his hand away in surprise.

William was too engrossed into what he was doing to even realise that Sarah was sat with him. She herself was too lost in her silent gazing to register even the loudest sound or the strongest presence.

“Yes, Sally, keep going I can hear you. What are you trying to say?” William leaned closer into the tape machine, his right ear touching the cold metal of the speaker.

‘Probleem . . .probleem, distant . . .’

“Please, keep going, please, what is the problem you have?” He leaned in even closer and closed his eyes, so close that he almost forgot that the sound was coming from the machine and seemed to come from inside his own head.

‘Problem . .prob . . .’

The voice began to dissipate as it lowered in volume, coming to an almost whispered tone.

William rose rather urgently from the machine and began to play around with the dials and buttons, desperate to raise the volume.

“Come on, please, no, don’t do this to me. Please come in, I’m calking you, are you there?”

‘Problems, distant cut up.’

He ceased his efforts to retain the voice in the machine for a moment when his mind registered the last statement the voice made. He thought he was being a little crazy, but he

could have sworn that the voice didn’t come from the machine, but from somewhere in the room.

Oh, come on, how the hell can that be? The only way to hear these voices is through a tape machine.

‘Problems, distant cut up.’ The voice said again, this time too sounding as though it came from somewhere other than the tape.

What the hell is this, what’s going on here?

Another sound entered his hearing, one that he realised had been running for a few minutes and he hadn’t noticed it before, until now. The tape on the circular wheels were running silently, the end of the black tape flapping in the air as the wheels spun round and round with no indication of sound on them. The tape in the other machine had come to the end, a dull electronic tone signalled this. Now he knew for certain, he wasn’t cracking up at all. The voices he was hearing weren’t coming from the tape, they were coming from the closed room behind the counter.

All intelligent thought suddenly left him as it was replaced by fear, the fear that something unknown and long since dead was calling for him from an empty room. The room around him was plunged instantly into unsettling silence, the fog outside continued its silent drifting past the front door, the sheet covering the corpses at the other side of the room shook slightly in the draft from outside. Sarah remained in her unregistered, seemingly dead shape, her blank unregistering eyes stared further and further into the dead and empty sight outside the front of the café.

William quickly turned to Sarah and began to shake her arm that held up her head, the intense fear and panic screaming for him to seek out another person to register this tense moment with him. After a few moments of agonised waiting from William for her to awaken from her waking coma, she finally came round, taking a moment to register and understand just where she was. She turned her head from side to side, acknowledging every inch of the room and the situation as she knew it. She turned to William to finally acknowledge him, taken aback a little when she saw him in a state of repressed fear and growing terror, his body shook as if he was intensely cold, his wild and petrified eyes constantly looking to the closed door behind the counter.

It took Sarah a moment or two for hearing to tune into the bizarre sounds behind her, and when it did, her face ran pale, her skin cold to the touch, the hairs at the back of her neck stood rigidly on end. Her eyes were the only part of her able to move as they darted across to William’s terrified eyes, her entire body was frozen into suspended animation.

“What in the holy hell is that?” Sarah asked through gritted teeth, her lips barely open wide enough for her words to come out.

“We have to get the hell out of here.” William responded, speaking also through gritted teeth and lips like those of a ventriloquist.

Sarah tried her hardest to release herself from her forced-upon paralysis, taking advantage of every last piece of free will inside her, just to move her fingers that gripped tightly to the table with the strength of a vice. The strange mechanical, bodiless voices continued emanating from the closed off room behind them both, constantly replaying themselves like a broken gramophone record.

Come on, you stupid bitch, let go, get the fuck out of here! The words screamed and echoed

inside her head as she commanded herself to fight her own body, to rip it from the moorings that held it to this place.

William watched with frigid and petrified eyes, unable to tear his sight away from her as she struggled to break free of herself, her muscles and fingers twitching continuously in vain. The adrenaline rushing scene around him tore its way through his mind, through his conscious thoughts as it screamed and barked orders to him through a megaphone, beckoning him to break free himself and help Sarah to flee from here. But despite clearly recognising the rushing impulses pulsing through his veins and his pumping heart, as well as hearing the ghostly calls from his long dead superior, nothing would register in his mind of what was being ordered from him, like a sergeant major screaming commands down deaf ears.

Get her out of here, you idiot! William’s own voice screamed into his deepest thoughts, as though they were just waking up in the middle of a war zone and were ordering slow troops to advance.

His eyelids began to blink as he felt his own will rush to every part of his body, his fingers, hands and feet began to twitch and shake as he struggled to gain some footing and grip to release himself. Slowly, his body roused itself from its waking coma and he felt the tingling in all his muscles indicating that he had full control over his body again.

That’s it, you’ve done it, you’ve fucking done, you son of a bitch!

He jerked his head upwards and saw Sarah still struggling to free herself, tears of anguish and utter terror ran from her eyes. William wasted not a single fragment of a moment to jump up and pull Sarah away from her seat, knocking it to the floor.

“Come on, help me, we have to leave, now!” But, William’s frantic orders were lost to Sarah’s body, her feet were the only part of her that offered just a little free will as they struggled in vain to summon enough strength to rest her whole weight on the floor and run.

“Listen, you bitch,” William roared into Sarah’s face as he brought it within touching distance of his own, his sweating and shaking hands desperately trying to keep a good grip on the sides of her head. “You have to listen to me, you have to fight it, fight it so you can run, fight it, fucking fight it, now!”

Tragically, despite Williams best efforts to release her from her waking death-like state, the worst possible thing happened. Her arms tore through the air and towards her head, gripping them tightly as an sound piercing scream filled the air as it raced its way through from her lungs and up through her oesophagus, the tips of her fingernails digging into the soft tissue beneath her skin, her eyelids closed tightly shut with the strength of a tight seal. She sank to the floor as she fell unconscious, William’s trembling arms still holding tightly to her, the incessant callings from the closed off room continued in William’s ears like a siren.

“No, please,” William shouted as he watched her once again descend back into the unknown.

“For fucks sake, not now, please!”

Four hours before at an unknown location. A rather large dining table is set out within a pitch black room, a dirty and dusty white tablecloth completely covers the table. In the absolute centre of the table are seated two identical candles of the exact same length stuck inside dusty and chipped imitation gold holders, the light from both casts an eerie shadow over the table, revealing the bony and dark bronze coloured skin lying motionless behind each plate, the hints of the ends of each of their sleeves are thick with evidence of age. White porcelain

plates lie empty and unused at various places around the length of the table, each beside individual sets cutlery and a tall dusty wine glass with dark smears of fading red wine on the insides, each bearing a tiny glint of light from the candles. An inch thick amount of dust settles at the bottoms of all plates and glasses. All other interiors and features of the surrounding room are absolutely invisible, as if a great black canopy covered the whole lonely scene.

The unnerving silence is shattered suddenly as a hand at one end of the table moves forward and picks up the wine glass in front of it, full to the top with sparkling red wine from a clean glass. The shadowed figure takes a sip of the wine and registers it with a satisfied exhale of breath, then places it back in its original place. Beside the glass is a clean porcelain plate bustling with fresh food. A sirloin steak, fresh peas, chopped carrots and gravy are sat appealingly on the plate, but the seated figure ignores them all and instead sits back in his chair, his hands joined on his lap.

“You enjoying that wine of yours?” A voice said sarcastically from the figure sitting to the right of the wine drinker.

The wine drinker laughed a little and gently caressed the outside of his glass with the end of his finger. “You said before that you didn’t want any wine, you said that ‘I hate the taste.’”

Oswald Richardson’s voice was clear, dry and unsympathetic as it sounded from the intense darkness covering just the upper part of his body. The figure he answered showed no obvious physical sign of its distaste of his remark, making only an annoyed grunt.

“You want some of this wine,” Oswald said, holding the glass in the air, the way a bully would hold the schoolbag of a smaller boy in the air. “Huh, do ya, you want some?”

“I knew I shouldn’t have had this meal with you, here, or with any other of these damned people sitting around here. I don’t know what I’m even doing here now.“ Again the figure made no physical response in his fingers or the movement of his arms.

“Where are they, now?” Came the low, pitiless voice from the figure sat opposite to Oswald.

“I don’t know as of yet,” Oswald answered. “But, my instincts tell me that they’ll head somewhere that they think is quiet and out of the way, a perfect place to study the EVP tracks in great detail. I know William, I know where he’ll go. He’ll run somewhere that he knew in his life, use it as cover for safety. Like a pathetic little child, running scared from a monster into the comforting arms of his mummy and daddy.”

“They are the answers we’ve been looking for.” Another figure said sitting to the right of Oswald in a rather distressed cultured English voice. “We need them back safe and unharmed, their knowledge of the world beyond can help us to get closer to it, to understand it more, become more a part of it, and-” “Oh, will you shut the fuck up!” Oswald shouted up, spitting the wine in their face. “You and all of us know better than that. This isn’t to get us nearer to that world in a bid to understand it better. If we handle this correctly, we could become like them, ascend higher from this pathetic world, this pathetic existence and become something better.”

Oswald sat in a comfortable position in his chair, his back straight and his hands lying open palmed on the top of the table. “You will all help me with this, you all possess a quality that we all need for this to happen. I had hoped that those stupid little scientists would help me with this, but I can see that won’t happen with their pointless little human thoughts. They’re all lost in insignificant ideas and desires that tie them to the earth. But, the earth is dead,

gone, there’s nothing left for us here. I’ll use them for the time being to find and capture William and that girl, but after that, you can do with them what you wish. We are all separate, but at the same time, a whole, none of us can exist without the other. If any one of us decides not to go through with it, we will all have lost, and the one who decides to betray will lose something even more than that.”

The figure sitting beside him made no response to this foreboding statement, the fingers on its bronzed hands didn’t even move a fraction of an inch.

Oswald returned his concentration to the meal set in front of him and began to eat, horsing down the food in great mouthfuls, an obvious attempt to irritate the others. A figure to the left side of the table drew in breath before speaking: “But, we don’t have the time,” he said. “The window of opportunity is drawing near, and we have to have those two in our possession quickly, otherwise the window will be lost, our hopes will be lost, all of them.”

Oswald waited a few minutes before answering, slowly chewing his way through a large piece of meat. “We have the time, don’t worry, we have all the time we need. The voices do not have schedules or time-tables, they will give us all the time we require. They alone have set the wheels in motion when they first emerged, offering us the chance to be part of them.

They will tell us what to do, at the right time.”

Chapter Thirty - Two Sarah could hear music, playing somewhere nearby, a strange scratchy kind of music that she hadn’t heard in a long time. She slowly opened her eyes, but could see nothing except for the endless expanse of perfect blackness, surrounding her field of vision like an immense black sheet. She tried to move her arms and legs, but nothing came of either attempt, and merely remained suspended in the air, and from what Sarah could deduce with just her senses, somewhere high in the air.

Where the hell am I now, I can’t see a goddamn thing. William where the hell are you!? She used every fibre in her body that didn’t feel disabled and every ounce of her mental will to scream out into the inky black horizon, desperate for someone to hear, but nothing at all happened, like being in a nightmare and being unable to scream. The eerie and unusual music continued in her ear like a whisper, but she was too distracted to even register it was still around.

Get me the hell out of here, now, I want to move, I want to fucking wake up!!

The present situation shook Sarah up even more so than her other past visions she had faced, being suspended in absolute darkness, unable to move, except for a few inches and unable to see or hear anything. Exactly the ingredients anyone could expect to suffer when suffering from sleep paralysis: Trapped inside a pitch black dream and unable to wake up from it, no matter how hard you try. Sarah had suffered these many times in her youth, but never once in her adulthood. The experience to her always seemed like being buried in a coffin, unable to move around, your screams unheard, your breathing limited. The alarms of attack and childhood fear rang and rang inside her head.

Help me, please, for fucks sake, get me the hell out of here, please. Sarah struggled and shook her body as much as whatever had brought her here would allow, but her efforts were futile, just in the same way as an insect on the end of a fishing line struggles to escape.

Then, just as she could take no more of this mental torture, the whole canopy of blackness dissolved away as holes began to appear in numerous places around her, very quickly increasing in size and joining to others. Sarah could see light appearing behind the canopy, very strong and powerful white light, with tinges of bright yellow. After a few moments, the light immeasurably powerful and bright, so much that she had to turn her head away to the side and close her eyes. She didn’t care though, what the light would do to her once it engulfed every part of the blackness surrounding her. It could burn her eyes out, show her something horrible and disgusting that she couldn’t take. Whatever it wanted, it could do to her, as long as she was free of this horrid personal fear, she didn’t give a damn.

The light was now screaming from all around her, the endless blackened canopy was now nothing more than a few dissipating black spots. Sarah could feel herself being lifted from her hanging place and drawing closer and closer towards the light, further and further into incredible brightness. She closed her eyes as tight as they would allow and covered them as much as she could with her hands, all the while saying a prayer in her mind as the rest of her thoughts wandered ceaselessly and unstructured around her.

Please, god, or whoever’s out there. Please, let this all stop, and stop now. Allow me to be free of this burden that’s on me. Stop those insane scientists from capturing me and William, let us both be free of all of this and leave us alone. And please, for gods sake, let me see my father.

Sarah was now plunged completely into the light, drifting and slowly tumbling over and over.

She couldn’t sense anything that seemed like solid ground or something to fall easily on, but she didn’t care, her senses were to drunk on the overwhelming feeling of well-being and complete safety, all previous feelings of apprehension and mistrust were gone, as if they were never there. The light warmed her comfortably, invoking a strange kind of memory of being in the womb or being held by your mother, safe and warm in their hands, not a single thing that meant you harm could rob you of that simple pleasure.

At the edge of her field of hearing she could just about hear a sound approaching steadily from somewhere and coming increasingly quickly. With the part of her mind that was still half awake, she could tell that it was a soft humming noise, like the humming of machinery.

What is it, what’s coming? She thought, asking herself the question.

The humming got louder and louder, until it was ringing like a soft alarm in her ears. She sat up and looked around with half-closed eyes, only half of her even registering the strange sound. Gradually, she began to notice that the pleasant, summer afternoon like light was also starting to ebb away, slowly being replaced by a fuzzy image that slowly attempted to tune itself in. The pleasant and protected feeling that surrounded her also began to slowly disappear.

No, wait, come back. Sarah muttered through sleepy lips, her arm tentatively held out to the fading light, eager for it to remain and comfort her.

She again began to feel movement of her body as she felt herself being taken downwards into the fuzzy image of what now appeared to be the inside of a building. Her arms were stretched out at her sides, her feet seemingly tied together as she descended into the image, like jumping into a pool of water in slow motion. She felt a soft fuzzy feeling beneath her feet as she landed on what she deduced was the floor, her arms slowly coming to rest beside her.

The image surrounding her now was still pretty fuzzy and indistinguishable, like being inside

a fuzzy image on a television. Hazy and sharpened edges covered the whole picture, strange floating objects of varying colours passed by her extremely slowly, she drew backwards a couple of steps, unsure as to what they were. She stared with scrunched up eyes at everything around her, despite the fuzziness gradually fading away, the image was still indiscernible.

Where the hell am I? Wait, I know this place, god it must be . . .

Her pondering left her suddenly as she realised what she was seeing as the fuzziness was all but gone.

The cafĂŠ, this was the cafĂŠ where she now stood. Guaranteed, it was very different to what she knew it as, but it was instantly obvious. But, one there was one detail here that caught her attention, one she thought she would never see again.

Their were people here, adults and children and a few animals, more alive than any she had seen in a long time, all enjoying what seemed like a party. The small tables and chairs lining the far wall were jam packed with people dressed in bright clothes and bright dresses, serving from punch bowls and drinking from clear cups, each quickly downing large pieces of birthday cake, all of them singing to the cheerful part tune that radiated powerfully through the air like a siren, blowing around the countless balloons that filled the air and covered the ceiling, carried along and pushed upwards by the people sitting and enjoying themselves.

Sarah smiled more than she had done in over ten years, the muscles around her mouth hurt with the sudden strain put on them. Her eyes were alive with the pleasure of seeing this wonderful sight. She clapped her hands together and thudded her feet against the hard tiled floor, overrun with the remnants of party poppers and toy whistles. She could sense that she couldn’t move and join in this scene, nor could anybody see her or registered that she was there, but none of it mattered to her. The most important thing was that she was seeing this after so much loneliness and misery.

She blew a kiss to the assembled crowd, blessing the typical sight of what it truly meant to be human.

Then, suddenly, just as she blew the third kiss to the people, the image changed in the space of a camera flash, instantly changing from the party scene to the exact same place a few years later, the party music now merely the quickly fading sound of a distant siren descending back into silence. The happy crowd all enjoying themselves were now slumped over the tables were they sat, reduced to mere skeletons and faded pieces of clothing that hung in tatters from them. The food set out in front of them was now rotted beyond description, covered in dust and cobwebs. The balloons that once flew around effortlessly in the air were now deflated and colourless on the floor, the life slowly drained out of them. The windows that once shone with bright sunshine through the bright red and white chequered curtains now shone only cold white and grey light, the curtains faded into grey and hanging in torn tatters.

Sarah remained in shock and disbelief at the hideous scene before her, her body rigid where she stood, her muscles shuddering with the blow of the sudden hideous surprise. She had spent the last ten years seeing corpses on the streets, as well as this exact scene only a short while ago. Yet, seeing the glorious human like picture before her and almost being part of it, it all seemed so personal to her, as though she knew who the birthday party was for, and knew all of the people here. Then, seeing people that you know suddenly die and decay on you, right before your eyes, it was enough to send you half crazy.

Her legs began to quiver, she clamped her hands tightly over her mouth, the stench of fresh death and decay thick in the air as it fought its way into her nasal passages.

Oh, god, what’s going on here? Get me the fuck out of here!

Yet, with the unbearable grief raging like a storm inside her, and to hear her own thoughts screaming inside her head for an answer, she forced self-determination onto herself, mentally tearing away the coward inside her and taking a stand against everything she was witnessing, her courage and determination not to submit her only weapons.

She lowered her arms away from her mouth and held them out a few inches from her sides, her hands tightened into strong fists, her eyes narrowed into a look of pure hatred and ferocity.

I will not submit to all of this shit! Sarah screamed. Her mouth and lips flapped silently with the absence of her words, realising that they were raging inside her mind. She carried on regardless.

I don’t give a fuck what you’re trying to show me, here, I don’t give a damn what you want from me, or who the hell you are. All I want is for you to stop invading my goddamn mind with these visions, its like your digging into it with a fucking drill. I wanna’ see my father, that’s all I want from you, whoever the hell you are, where the hell is he, huh, is he behind the damn corpses, or something? Where, tell me where he is, NOW, TELL ME, NOW!!!

Her raging mind and ferocious questions blinked out of her head suddenly as her field of vision began to cloud over with a blackened fog, obscuring everything in sight, drowsiness consuming her entire body, her limbs beginning to waver until complete sleep washed over her entirely.

Sarah awoke with a splitting headache on the floor of the café, her vision was still blurry, it was hard to make out her surroundings. She felt the cold floor beneath her and registered that it was definitely tile. She reached for her head suddenly and groaned as the acute pain of the headache buzzed inside her skull like a trapped insect. She remained still as she leaned a few inches from the floor, carefully listening to the soft humming of the tape machines playing dead static, ensuring that she was where she thought she was.

Thank god, that place was giving me the creeps. Whoever those damn sons of bitches are over there, they robbed me out of an answer. If only I could get my hands on them.

She reached out across the floor to pick herself up when she felt something thin and what felt like plastic, rising from the floor and upwards.

What the hell is this? Where’s William, he should be here helping me, the guy usually does?

Why the hell won’t my damn eyes clear up?

She groped further around the floor like a blind person as she struggled to find where she was. Moving her hand just a few inches more to the left, she could feel a thin soft material, hanging downward toward her. She reached up and felt large holes in the material. A quick feel round made her realise that she was sitting underneath a table in the café, registering it as fact when her vision finally cleared.

What the hells going on, why am I under here? Did William put me under here, why for gods sake? And where the hell is he?

She brought herself up on her knees and crawled out from underneath the table into the main café area. She hesitated for a moment before standing up, sensing that something wasn’t

right. She held her breath for a moment so as not to give off her presence to anyone who might be here. She looked all around her for any sign of anything wrong. She looked to the right and saw the sheet that covered the corpses lying across the table. She looked to her left and saw the counter, no one was behind it.

Still, someone could be in the kitchen. I’m not taking any chances, whoever the hell it might be.

Apart from the obvious sign that William was nowhere to be seen, everything else was as it was before. Then, a terrible thought came to her.

What if the scientists had found us, somehow, kidnapped William and took him somewhere, or killed him. But, then, why didn’t they take me, I’m the one they really want, not him?

She stood up from the floor and looked all around her, desperate for any sign of William anywhere, his coat, pants, anything that even hinted that he was there or that was his. She looked outside at the front of the café and saw the old rusted car they had used to get here, still gathering dust, the fog gently lapping it constantly with its freezing talons.

Her heart began to pound with panic and dread as her head filled with imagined scenarios of what could have happened. Yet, with all the terrified pondering, one scenario stuck that seemed like most likely one.

It must have been the fucking scientists, those fuckers. They’ve took him, took him to kill him. I’m gonna’ fucking get them, I swear whatever they’ve done to him, they feel it from me ten times over.

However, while she was prepared to take whatever revenge necessary on them to get William back, she still had to figure out where they were.

It’s gotta be the Town Hall, there’s nowhere else they’d go. The Telephone device is there, there’s no way they’d abandon it. Its gotta’ be there.

She began to walk out of the café toward the front door, ignoring taking her provisions with her, a singular drive and desire hypnotised her, beckoning to her to do what she had to do.

She jerked her body around, suddenly as the tape machines behind her buzzed into life, scratchy and bizarre sounds filled them almost deserted room. Sarah had no patience anymore with these voices, she regarded them now as nothing but dead liars, stringing her along with empty promises and answers to her questions.

“Look,” she shouted at the top of her voice at the machines. “I don’t care anymore what you have to say to me. You’re nothing to me but dead voices, I don’t want anything from you anymore. As far as I’m concerned you can-” ‘Teacups.’ A high and excited singing voice said over the noise. ‘Teacups and roller-coasters and horses and carousels.’

‘The amusement park, Sarah,” another voice said immediately, this one more serious sounding. Sarah had been to dazed by repeated shock and fear to bother registering that it spoke her name “Your husband is here. Find a man and fun and excitement in everyone’s pride and joy. William has moves on the dance-floor.’

The voices ended and the recognisable static returned. Sarah stood were she was, her mouth open as an idea suddenly came to her.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Sarah jumped into her car and sped away from the now deserted café doing over 90mph, tearing through the thick smoky canopy of fog that encircled her like a silent, formless attacker. The engine grinding a little with signs of old age. The door on her side swung violently in and out of the rushing air, Sarah was too be busy concentrating on the cryptic words spoke from the tape machine to worry about it.

‘Teacups, roller coasters, horses and carousels.’ It’s gotta be the theme park, that shabby little amusement just outside the city. They said my name, as clear as a bell, they’re trying to tell me that he is there, he must be.

The other statements made by the mysterious voices were a little cryptic and hard to fathom.

The stuff about finding fun and excitement sounded a lot like a commercial, dazzling the viewer with gorgeous images of the sun, sea and sand, beckoning them to come and pay and visit, as well as a hefty admission fee. But, the statement about finding a man there, it couldn’t be anyone else but William. She knew she could be overreaching herself with that and taking on what might be false hopes, but she had no choice but to think of it that way.

The husband she chose to put in the corner till later, as well as William having moves on the dance-floor.

She gave a brief thought to the reliability of these voices. Just as they were coming through, she had told them to shove up and stop irritating her with their lies. But, now, she was hanging on every word they said to her, believing every syllable as though it was the gospel truth. She had no more reason to trust these voices entities more than the last, except of course for the terrified voice of the little girl, Amy. She quickly crossed herself as she thought of her.

But, after all, in the end, she had no other option but to trust what the entities had said, there was no other direction to go instead of this blind alleyway that might lead to what she wanted, and until she knew for sure, she had to hope and pray that they were speaking the truth.

It seemed a little hard to believe, or even understand why the scientists would have took him to the amusement park. As far as she could tell, the Telephone device in the Town Hall was everything to them, the root of all their hard work and concentration, everything else was worthless, they’d even pray to the thing if they saw it as a god. Of course, she had no real evidence that it even was the scientists that had took him from the café, it was just assumption. But, it seemed very unlikely that he would go outside into the street for a look round the deserted stores and leave her in her vision all alone. She knew that he cared a great deal for her, her safety and well-being he regarded much more than his own. Maybe, he loved her, after all, no one would risk their life to save yours, regardless of the danger they would face, without caring very deeply about you.

Perhaps, it was just Sarah’s deep desire to be loved again, to be with someone again that she really cared about and to have their strong beating heart close to her own frozen and extinct heart. She felt a little afraid to realise the fact that she might need someone in her life, not just to face whatever hell had been forced upon her in the last few days, but to have someone in what might remain of her own life. Someone to comfort her and give her support in the questionable years to come.

She preferred to think of that imagined life in those words rather than say the three little

words even to herself. She wasn’t the one for that kind of thing in the past, regarding it merely as an insufficient tool of survival. But, the presence of William around her and his efforts of protecting her were starting to make her come round to that way of thinking, but the words themselves she couldn’t handle right now.

She had lived alone in the world in complete solitude for ten years among the dead and the sub-human class of survivors that skulked around the city like animals. Existing only to survive, becoming a mere walking food eating machine, locking away whatever feelings and emotions she had deep within her soul and throwing away the key, allowing her heart to gradually fade away and disappear. But, not anymore, that life was gone, now, and she now had someone that she could spend her life with somewhere in this dead world. All her cards rested on him being alive and safe. Without him, there would be no one, and the mysterious, bizarre and alien world of the afterlife would be the only option to hopefully escape from everything evil that had seeped into her life.

The rusty old car she drove spluttered steadily down the streets of the city as she searched for the road out of town, streets with rusted and faded signs bearing their names once remembered and cherished by everyone that knew and saw them nearly every day like old friends, now sat forgotten and unappreciated as they crumbled more and more into the dust of yesterday. The occasional twitch of a curtain and the flickering of a dimly watt light bulb in a dusty old building signalled that some nameless and faceless survivor was behind them, peering out at the sound of Sarah’s car shooting past, their forgotten souls reaching out for her companionship.

Sarah eventually ended up on the only road to take her out of the city and into the faded and featureless hills beyond.

It was strange to be leaving the city, after so long being held within it like a consenting prisoner, constantly breathing in the same toxic fumes from the cars and seeing the same people pass by her windows every day, like a ghost constantly repeating the same pattern over and over. She never had any real reason to leave, everything within the city itself was everything she ever needed. Her groceries were always bought from the same supermarket, her job was only a few blocks from were she lived. She never felt the desire to spend some time abroad in a relaxing holiday, even with the steadily growing tension all over Europe that eventually led to the third and final world war. She always felt secure and protected inside her small but precious life, glad that their was virtually nothing outside of it that would hold her back with emotions or deep feelings. She started to wonder whether she had done the right thing by severing any family ties and ensuring no new ones ever came about. She guessed that she had missed out on many things in life, ignoring the really important things. But, in the end, it was already too late to grab them and experience them.

The bridge she drove across was bone dry and made completely out of wood and rope, but perfectly secure. Her tires made a dull grinding sound as she slowly drove over them, her headlights barely piercing the thick fog that surrounded her. In all the years she had used it or just briefly noticed it as she drove by it, there was never an accident when someone drove or walked over it.

Except for the time when the car went over the side in the dark because their lights weren’t working. She thought with a sigh, casually wondering whether their ghost too would come through on her proverbial aerials. She laughed at that statement, despite knowing the stigma

attached to it.

The overcastting shadow of the deserted and silent city disappeared behind her in the fog, the ownerless dust covered clothes that incessantly blew through every street were now reduced to nothing but a sad memory, the shady and smoky looking skyscrapers were the only thing left of it to be seen, giving them the appearance of tall tombstones rising into the air from a great city of the dead. Sarah let her shoulders go loose as she exhaled a deep breath of air, as though feeling the weight of some great pressure suddenly leave her. She had a feeling what it most likely was, but wasn’t really sure why it would be a burden to her.

She left the bridge and emerged onto a long dirt road that ran straight forward to the darkened horizon up ahead, and onto what she called ‘the eternal beaches.’ All around her was the same flat landscape of sand mixed in with the occasional small body of water from the cold dead ocean beyond. At the far left side of where she drove she could see small sand hills with a thick blanket of tall and sharp blades of grass blowing slowly and silently in the breeze, the talon like edges of the fog seemed to claw at them in hatred. At occasional points on the road, she met up with long abandoned cars slowly rusting in the cold air, their long dead occupants slumped in the drivers or passenger seats, or countless people in the same car, clumped together like sardines. These were the people that saw the plague coming toward the city long before those less fortunate saw it and struggled to leave for safety, not realising in their abject terror that the invisible virus could reach them wherever they were, regardless of how fast they tried to flee.

Sarah looked around her at the cold, dark expanse of nature, suddenly feeling a slight tug of fear inside her, her stomach turning ever so slightly. It was a little scary driving down a road with virtually no sign of anything human around her. Living in the city alone all these years didn’t make her terrified like the others, the tall skyscrapers, the small stores and the many streets with family houses were all a kind of security blanket to her. The fact that she hardly ever saw another person didn’t matter, living in the city, no matter how alone she was gave her the ability to ignore what had happened to the world, and carry on pretending that her life hadn’t changed in the slightest, imagining that everyone worked in the high skyscrapers or were always in the back room whenever she went into a small store for food, or occasionally imagining that she spoke to someone who she couldn’t see but could imagine was their talking and listening to her. But, here, on this bed of sand, everything looked so much different. She no longer had the comfort of the buildings to make her think the war never happened. Here, nature seemed so empty of anything living, no animals grazed it looking for food or a mate, no people rested in a certain place for a picnic or make sandcastles for their children. Here, all of that was gone, and the reality of it stuck in her throat with a painful stabbing feeling. She ignored these uncomfortable feelings and concentrated on the road.

She sped along further and further up the cold featureless road, her eyes fixed on the horizon lying out of sight. She kept her eyes peeled for the amusement park, not exactly sure where it was. After a couple of miles, she wondered whether she had missed it, though it would be hard to miss a large structure against a flat landscape. She started to look from side to side, at the hills on the left for the tiniest sign of the roof of the park, to the right in the beginnings of the ocean.

Where the hell is it? I know its around here, I’ve seen it before.

Then her eyes flashed as she peered through her right had window, quickly pressing her foot

on the brake pedal, her fingers tightening on the hard leather of the steering wheel. The tires on the right side sank into a ditch slightly as she stopped, but it didn‘t matter now, she had her bearings. She wound the window down and looked out, her hands gripping the outside of the door.

There, just under a mile from where she was lay the building in question, sitting silently on the sand, silhouetted in the dim light, the almost unnoticeable flags waving in the breeze.

She looked long and hard at the building, the imagined picture of William burned inside her, and the picture of what she would do to the scientists when she had the chance burned even more. Her eyes screwed up into an expression repressed anger. She had always feared this place as a kid whenever her and her father drove by it. Seeing it sitting in the darkness, the joy and laughter that was once rife through it in the day was gone, replaced by something similar in appearance but different in motivations. It scared her so much that she always turned her head away when they passed it, refusing to ever peek, even when her mind screamed for her to do. It always seemed an unnatural place when it was empty and silent, the same way a library or a subway was when no one was around.

Looking at the structure in the dark now as it was partly obscured by the fog that seemed to follow her, she got the sense that something else was inside. Something other than William and the scientists, something that seemed alive, but wasn’t, or maybe some secret lodged inside it, wanting to be free. But none of that was important to her, whatever mysteries from the beyond were here, she didn’t care about them, the only thing that mattered right now was getting William out of there, and hopefully taking swift and brutal revenge on the scientists, even if William himself begged her not to.

She sat back in her seat and put pressure on the gas pedal until the car began to move out of the ditch and straight toward the lonely black structure ahead.

About twenty minutes later, Sarah reached the grief stricken outskirts of the amusement park and stopped the car, mere inches away from the ramshackle pieces of wood that were once the entrance. The musty and dilapidated remains of a ticket booth stood silent and derelict to the right of the car, the feeble remains of a faded yellow flag flapped in the wind suspended at the top of the booth.

Sarah remained in the car with her hands resting on the steering wheel, looking slightly open mouthed at the park in front of her.

It was strange, unreal and slightly disturbing to see the amusement park so empty and lifeless like this, devoid of people or any kind of activity anywhere, most of the colour dissipated from the large tents and small wooden buildings, hideous musty old corpses littering the area, the faded remnants of deflated balloons and rotted popcorn still in their lifeless hands, their long-dead children still in their protecting arms as they once struggled to keep from the sweeping plague. A thick carpet of fog covered the surrounding area, suddenly awakening a deep sense of foreboding.

The uncomfortable feeling of unease steadily grew and grew inside Sarah as she bore witness to this unnatural scene, her fingers began to quiver slightly, gently thudding against the hard leather of the steering wheel. The picture before her in all its hideous overtones seemed to scream with a childlike voice inside her head, begging her not to go inside, or even get out of the car. The voice of despair was joined by another voice from within herself, the rational and somewhat cowardly side of her that ordered her not to leave her present position, to stay

inside, get the engine running again and get the hell out of here, ignoring any thoughts of William’s safety and choosing self-preservation over the possible sacrifice of her own life.

The allied voices screamed into her ear, loud enough that they might just as well have been real people in the car with her. She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head downward enough so that the entrance to the park was just within view, she tightened her grasp on the steering wheel until her fingers went white, clenching her teeth beneath tightened lips, her own quiet yet immensely powerful will speaking to the other voices.

I won’t walk away from this, no way in hell will I do that. William is in there, he needs my help. And they’re in there, too, those that made me like this. I have to get my revenge, and I have to understand all of it.

She remained in the car for a few moments while she composed herself, drawing up enough power of her own body to leave the car and get out there and start looking. She gave one last tight grip of the steering wheel and immediately exited the car, slamming the door shut behind her and climbed over the rotted pieces of wood.

The intense cold suddenly took a tight grip around her when she stepped inside the park, an icy cold that ran to her bones and made her nerves tremble with unease. She stood rigid, unable to move, her arms instantly covered her chest, her body twisting round itself as it struggled in vain to shake off this unnatural embrace.

No, I will not be held back by some freakin’ wind and cold air.

She walked on into the fog-choked amusement park, careful not to step on any of the corpses, undeterred by the uncomfortable weather, her arms hanging free by her sides, making no attempt to instinctively protect her.

She took careful steps as she walked, unsure of what exactly she would step into if she wasn’t careful. The fog that surrounded her refused to dissipate, cloaking her in fluffy-white talons and a strange kind of moistness. Suddenly, in the space of only a few seconds, the fog began to dissipate, vanishing away before her eyes as if it had never been there, as though the air itself was absorbing the fog into itself. Sarah stood her ground as she watched the interesting and unusual spectacle, the intense cold still forcing to shield her chest. Finally, the fog lifted, or rather simply vanished into thin air, replaced by a sudden and rather disturbing shroud of darkness that bathed the entire amusement park, and everything within view, in a disquieting stillness, the only movement anywhere that was left was the slow wavering of the surrounding large tents, the small reddened and dusty flags, and the thin layer of sand that covered the floor.

Sarah looked all around at this strange new environment she had suddenly been thrown into, her lips partly open, she struggled to keep herself and not descend into total, or even slight fear.

Come on, now, you coward, get a hold of yourself. I don’t know what the hells going on around here, but you’ve already been through a lot. A little night time walking never hurt you before, and those no way in hell its gonna’ hurt you now. Get going.

She started to walk forward again, further into the park, listening out for any kind of shout, or god forbid, a scream. Because of the sudden descent of darkness, she was forced to concentrate on whatever she looked at. But, thankfully, it wasn’t so dark that she needed a torch.

She walked along the deserted amusement park with slow careful steps so as not to make

much noise, lest she had to hear something important that would pass her by. Her footsteps made loud scraping noises as they dragged themselves across the sand covered floor, it made Sarah shudder with a sensation that someone was walking over her grave.

Stop saying that damned phrase to yourself, can’t you say anything else?

Her arms hugging to her chest tighter, she timidly walked past the small multicoloured striped huts on the right, once used for medium priced games such as target practice, coconut throwing, glass breaking, and other cheap and pointless things. Sarah chose to ignore them and carry on, refusing to waste any more time on pondering and pointless nostalgia.

Bang.

Sarah almost bolted out of her own skin as she heard a loud cracking sound going off right next to her, her arms and legs instinctively twisted around her as a mode of protection. With widened eyes, she looked to her right and noticed that one of the plastic rifles in the hut beside her was tilting upwards toward the sky, a faint trace of smelling smoke wafted from the end.

Sarah simply regarded the strange, frightening and sudden occurrence as nothing more than a cheap gag, preferring not to give it the most obvious answer.

With a slightly annoyed expression, she continued along the park area and up into a children’s play area. Surrounding the bottom end of the entrance was a rotted wooden fence shaped like the outline of petals on a flower, a small gate in the centre of the fence bore a faded metallic sign with ‘ENTER’ written on it. Hanging above the fence was a large unusually shaped sign with fading colours with ‘CHILDRENS HAPPY TIME’ screwed into it with bolts and large metallic letters.

Sarah stayed by the fence and looked inside the structure but saw only darkness, no indication of anything inside. A strong gust of breeze briefly blew her clothes to one side, as though silently pushing her on. She wondered whether to go inside, and whether it was intelligent to stay where was or go and look somewhere else in the park. The trouble was, she had absolutely no idea where the hell William was inside this place, if he was even here at all. She had no hard proof either way, he could be here, he could not. It scared her to think so, but this very important decision of just being in here and looking around was an enormous gamble, indeed she was gambling with William’s safety and probably even his life. She literally sat on the fence of the play area staring into the black oblivion inside, deciding whether or not to push on, leave the park altogether, or to look in another part of the amusement area.

I hate to say it, but I could certainly do with those taped voices right now. They’d probably have more luck finding William than I have right now. Its funny, though it sounds crazy to hear myself say it, but I swear I can feel something pushing me inside here, forcing me to go inside. I don’t think I can feel it pushing me anywhere else around here. I guess it could just be my imagination, but . . . I don’t know.

She got off the fence and looked inside the children’s play area again, feeling the strange pressure on her back that told her to continue. Barely a moment passed when she jumped over the fence and landed on the soft and tenuous wood beneath her feet. She steadied herself when she landed and carried on into the darkness.

Her breath grew more and more rapid and intense as she walked further and further into the featureless void, reaching out with her hands to feel anything that she might recognise, or at least, hang onto and get her bearings. All around her was darkness, featureless, inky black

darkness that swallowed her whole, the only clear indication of where she walked were the hard sounds of her footsteps on the hard wood floor. Her heart raced, filling her arms and legs with rushes of adrenaline, beckoning and begging her to turn around and leave this place, yet her mind was raging only with doubt and slight anxiety. She had lived to long to be afraid of the dark, or things that might be there but on the other hand may not. She knew she could keep control of her senses and her own mind, but her body and her natural instincts were something else entirely, and could only hope they would serve her and not decided to work off their own initiative. Hoping for the best, she continued further down into the darkness, her arms and legs stretched out around her, like a spider crawling across its web.

Her footsteps suddenly became awkward as she walked, stumbling from side to side as they struggled to gain some steady contact with the ground.

What the hell is it now? She grumbled to herself, tired of all the things that seemed to be holding her back.

She stopped in her tracks and positioned her legs about a foot apart, her arms stretched out wide enough till she felt the strong smooth wood against her fingers. She moved her hand around the wood slightly, realising that the shape seemed angled, not straight as she originally thought. She shuffled her feet from side to side and felt the exact same thing, smooth hard wood in an angled shape.

What its this, what the hell am I standing in?

She broke away from her fixed position, careful not to fall over and began to feel the entire structure all around her, checking everything within reach. She scanned the whole surface structure with her hands, creating an imaginary shape in her mind. After much analysis and pondering, she realised that she was inside what would pass as a kind of ride, an amusement to children. Something that she didn’t have a name to, but could tell that she was inside a long tube-shaped wooden structure that at once upon a time would have revolved round, the person inside having to grab hold and keep steady to avoid from falling.

She knelt down onto a stable part of the tube and slowly pulled her hand away from the wood, feeling the hint of a smile on her face.

Oh, yeah, I’m sure it was a great ride for the kids, but it doesn’t do anything for me.

Realising she had wasted her time, she stood up again and carried on waling through the darkness encrusted tube and out into the open air, not knowing exactly whether she was outside or more or less inside, but could still feel the cold breeze brushing past her face. She embraced her chest tightly and looked all around her, desperate for anything that might resemble human presence around here, living human presence.

Come on, Will, where the hell are you? God, if only you could give me some kind of sign.

Her eyes shot up suddenly wide open as a strong electric light suddenly came on from somewhere, filling the immediate area with dazzling light. Her heart began to pound heavily inside her chest with the strength of a jackhammer. Her sight darted from one side to another as she made sure that no one was behind her or to the side of her, the sudden flicking of the light filled her senses with a strong presence. Yet, there was nothing and no one around her anywhere, aside from the rotted corpses lying on the ground outside. Her eyes followed light, drawing her sight up along where the light was brightest, until she saw that the light was indeed coming from an overhanging electric light bulb. She hurriedly wiped her hands clean as they began to pour with nervous sweat, unable to tear her frightened gaze from the bulb.

There was absolutely no way in hell that the light bulb would have been able to work, the power was extinct everywhere in the city, everywhere in the world. Even if it was a generator, she’d have been able to hear it droning miles away. And the scariest fact of all, it had switched itself on when she had asked for a sign from William. She immediately drowned out any hint of thought that the light was William’s doing, his deceased spirit to be precise helping her out.

“Well, thanks for that, whoever the hell you are.” She said speaking aloud to anyone or anything that may be listening, hoping to god that if there were someone there they wouldn’t answer back. She would certainly prefer and like to believe that there was some natural or simple explanation for the light coming on of its own accord, but there was no reason other than the one that burned inside her heart and mind.

Again clutching her chest, more tightly this time, she continued along the immediate area, not entirely full of gratitude for being able to see everything.

She looked around and saw that she was indeed still inside the children’s play area, immediately seeing all of the lonely and slightly creepy looking rides and amusements around her. The entire immediate area was situated inside a large wooden structure that housed all of the various things inside. The air was musty, the typical smell and feeling of old wood rotting away into nothing. To her right was a fairly large merry go round and see-saw, mysteriously unaffected by the onslaught of the plague that had turned almost anything made of wood into sawdust. A few yards ahead was a large punching bag hanging from a rusted hook, large holes had been tore out of it, the musty and dirty looking fluff hung out in great chunks. Sarah looked further ahead and saw that there was a second level to the room. An assembled collection of human sized wooden cylinders hung from the ceiling, hanging a few inches from the ground. Barely a second after she had seen them did the cylinders start to rock violently back and forth, banging into each other with a loud hollow wooden sound, great amounts of dust long settled began to escape the cylinders and fell slowly onto the first floor. Sarah’s only reaction to this was a sharp turn of her neck in the correct direction. She had grown fairly used to these strange things happening around her, far from being frightening, they were just annoying and pointless.

She turned to leave through the large open door to her left when she saw something being thrown right at her, immediately darting to the side and falling to the floor.

“Shit!” She said aloud as she hit the hard floor, quickly sitting up and scanning the area for whatever it was that came at her. She quickly noticed it lying on the floor amidst a collection of dusty old green blankets. She walked over to it and picked it up, realising that it was nothing but a broken piece of concrete.

Yeah, but who the fuck threw it at them me?

She ran as fast as she could to the open shutter and looked outside from one direction to the next, fully expecting to see either the scientists or hopefully William trying to get her attention. But, no matter how hard she looked she saw nothing but the eerie and deserted amusement park, bathed into almost perfect blackness, the silhouetted shapes of the surrounding buildings sitting silently in the cold air.

She looked down at the piece of concrete in her hand and immediately let go of it, retracting her hand back to the comforting embrace of her other hand, the frightening thought of what might have been holding it and what might still be around her even now sent shivers down

her spine.

Jesus, Will, are you even here, or is it just the dead that’s here with me?

She started to wipe the few flakes of dust from the concrete off her hand when at the corner of her eye, she noticed another light switch flicking on and off. Waiting a moment to calm herself, she looked up and saw that it was inside a building exactly opposite to where she stood. She could tell even from being so far away that the building was used to house a large dance floor, remembering it from the pictures in the brochure that her father showed her when she was a kid. Even as she looked at the lonely building, the light continued to switch itself on and off, waiting for a single moment before switching from one to the other. But, no matter how hard she tried to see closer, she couldn’t see any sign of people or anything that might suggest someone’s presence inside, but, she didn’t have the desire to search anywhere else, at the moment, that was the only place that she might find what she was looking for.

William. God, I hope its you in there, I hope that’s your signal saying that’s were you are.

Dear god, let me get it right, let me find him safe and well then we can get out of these nightmare.

Fixing her gaze on the building, she started to run across the sand covered floor, still watching the light go and off as she came closer and closer to the staircase leading up to the door. She ran up the wooden steps, registering only for an instant that they may collapse and stopped when she realised that the door in front of her was covered by a strong wire mesh fence. She instinctively brought her hands up in front of her to stop herself hitting the fence, and stopped dead in her tracks. She peeked through the small holes in the mesh and noticed that the light from inside had switched itself off suddenly, leaving behind only a pitch-black dance floor. The only thing she could see was the deflated remnants of a single balloon lying on the floor near the fence. She held her breath as hard as she could and put her ear against the wire mesh, hoping to hear anything from William inside. But, all she heard was the awkward and struggled sounds of her own breathing.

Gritting her teeth tightly, she began to pull hard on the wire mesh fence, trying her hardest to pull it away and get inside. Then, she looked down as she saw the problem. The lock was still attached and looked like it only needed to be unhooked and the door would open. She unhooked it and pulled on the door, it came away easily. She shook her head and stepped inside, quietly closing the fence behind her and began to walk further inside the dance hall, still seeing nothing but an intense blanket of darkness and shadows. For a brief moment, she swore she could hear at the edge of her awareness the sound of a car driving by outside the amusement park. She ignored it, realising it wasn’t important.

Her footsteps echoed on the hard wood of the dance floor, bouncing off the surrounding walls around her, indicating that the room was bigger than she imagined. Her feet ran into discarded remnants of twisted pieces of paper that she guessed were used in some celebration sometime in the past. She looked up and saw the vague image of an overhanging paper-made box hanging from the ceiling, the long paper straps hanging down from it blew in the breeze.

It was only until she came about halfway into the dance-area that she realised she was in the heart of absolute darkness, standing her like a sitting duck. The fear and agitation immediately began to surge inside her like an erupting volcano, ready to burst into uncontrollable terror. She embraced her chest as tight as she could and stood her ground, unwilling to go any further, her legs and arms shaking with growing fear, the faintest of tears

began to fall from her eyes.

Oh, shit, oh, Jesus Christ, William. Where the hell are you. Please god, help me get out of here.

Her entire body suddenly went cold and frigid when she sensed the strong presence behind her, and the overwhelming and uncomfortable feeling of being watched with piercing eyes. A piece of discarded paper brushed past her ankle causing her to quickly take in a deep breath of air. Her lips began to quiver, her breath was stuck inside her throat, unwilling to come out.

Oh, shit, who . . .who the fuck is that?

Slowly, she started to turn round, moving only a quarter of an inch each time, until she came face to face with the inky blackness and the white, shadow obscured grinning face sitting on top of the unmoving figure in front of her. She stopped in her timid movements as her scared panic stricken eyes stared intently into the frozen figures evil-like eyes.

She hardly made a movement when the lights hanging above her suddenly came on, bathing the whole dance floor, aside from the section on the opposite side of her in harsh bright light, her eyes still on the figure in front of her. She stepped back a step when she realised who it was, a dark sense of foreboding shooting through her veins like electricity.

“I’m glad you could finally make it, here.” Came Oswald Richardson’s terrible unfeeling voice, echoing around the large room.

Sarah didn’t make a sound in reaction to his presence, her heart and senses blinded by repressed rage that struggled to break free, yet somehow being forced backwards. She looked round and saw the assembled group of the rest of the scientists standing a few yards behind Oswald, their faces awash with expressions of hopelessness and utter defeat, their vague glances at Sarah made it seem like they hardly even recognised that she was here. A small wave machine on a small metallic table sat a few yards ahead, a thin horizontal green line stretched from one side of the darkened screen to the other.

She looked on hard and unrelenting at Oswald’s sinister expression, his mouth angled into a fierce creepy grin, his cold eyes piercing her very soul. His face was cracked with a multitude of wrinkles, giving him the appearance of a broken mirror. His clothes hung loosely from his thin, gaunt body, constantly letting off a thick stench of strong body odour. The stench caused Sarah to recoil backwards, holding her nose tightly within her hand. Moving aside, her sight wavered to the slumped motionless figure of William on the floor behind Oswald, his hands and feet tied up with rope. From where she stood, she couldn’t tell whether he was alive or dead.

Her hate-filled eyes darted back to Oswald’s smug expression, she clenched her teeth tightly and ran towards him, shouting loud into the air, stopping suddenly with a slight slip of her feet when she noticed the small revolver in his right hand pointing right toward her. The sudden surprise caused her to fall to the floor, her every muscle bulging with repressed rage and adrenaline.

“Easy, there,” Oswald said. “We both know that that’s not a very intelligent thing to do now, don’t we? If you carry on like that, then my precious little specimen would be full of bruises, and we can’t have that, can we. Get up, now!” He said in a sudden sharp tone, his smug expression quickly changing to nothing.

Sarah followed his demand and stood up, purposely taking her time, Oswald’s revolver following her all the way.

“What the hell did you to him, you piece of shit.” Sarah demanded with a low hateful tone.

Oswald smiled, the same way someone does when explaining something only they understand to an ignorant individual.

“Oh, don’t worry, he’s alive, we just had to make him docile for a while, just enough for us to take him here and tie him up. You like the place we’ve chosen?” He asked extending his arms out. “Its an absolutely perfect place to end the experiment, and end my time on this dead little world. We took some time deciding where we should end it, all of us had different ideas of where it should be, but I, I was the one who decided on the amusement park. Its perfect don’t you think, a place that saw people, families, lovers come and go, enjoying themselves on the fun little rides. And then, that terrible unfortunate day of the plague when all of these happy families died so horribly, still clutching to the tiny little dead hands of their children. Oh, what a pity, ha, ha, ha, ha!!”

The rage inside of Sarah’s body was close to bursting as she listened and watched his maniacal laughter roaring high into the ceiling, the hand with the revolver shaking, while the other hand that was holding his stomach struggled to stop his sides from cracking. She was so close to bursting, bursting with the intensity of a large nuclear bomb, or a huge erupting volcano.

Go on, kill the bastard, rip his fucking head off. Who gives a shit if you’re shot, who cares if it hurts, William’s in danger. But, while her senses and humanity told her to fight, her instincts and inner voice of her physical body forced her back. Yet, in the midst of such chaos and confusion and desires of revenge, the small child-like voice of curiosity raised its small head. She calmed herself down enough to ask him: “What the hell do you mean the end of the experiment, and what the hell do you mean by ‘specimen.’”

Oswald in turn calmed himself down and retrained the firm position of the gun back onto Sarah, his cold eyes staring hard at her as a strong serious expression took over his face. He sighed deeply before talking.

“The end of the experiment is what we have all been waiting for, waiting all these years for it to come about, for the window of opportunity to come about and give us all this unique chance, and I must say, it’s a chance of a lifetime.”

“Huh, what damn chance?” Sarah asked sarcastically.

Oswald’s fingers held tighter to the revolver, his head lowered a little, his deep cold eyes staring harder into her. “You’re not one us, you never deserved this chance, because you’re a specimen, you can’t understand. But, your presence here will of great importance to us. You being here will finally allow us to unlock the door to that glorious world beyond, then we can finally leave this pathetic world behind and join something far beyond anything we could ever have imagined, everything that was unknown and mysterious before will be secondnature to us. I don’t know why the morons who discovered the voices in the first didn’t chase something like this up. It would have created a better future for all of us. And best of all, we don’t have to lift a finger to do any of this, we don’t have to sacrifice you or any of that primitive junk, your mind alone will do it all for us. Haven’t you figured it out yet, the reason why you have this bizarre and strange ability in the first place? That was the reason why we wanted people to use the Telephone device. We wanted somebody to use it and have a direct mental link to the other side. And then, just like that, you came along, and we didn’t even

know you existed. Its funny how things turn out, isn’t it?”

The mammoth-ness of all of this weighed down on Sarah and refused to give in. She sank down onto the floor, her hands lying lifeless beside her in awkward angles. Was it all true, had she been used not just by the scientists, but by the world beyond that constantly invaded her mind? How could it all be true, how could something like this be possible? Why would the spirit world offer something like this to these people? She felt slightly betrayed by the voice-entities that constantly came through on the tape machines, betrayed by what they told her as fact. She knew that the voices were never on her side as far as she was concerned, she always regarded them as intruders into her life, visitors that weren’t welcome. Yet, the strong feeling of treachery swept over her with a cold remorseless feeling.

“You finally understand it now?” Oswald said looking down at her with an unfeeling gaze.

“You were just a tool in our plans, someone we could use to get what we wanted.”

Sarah began to pant heavily, expelling her breath through her nostrils and mouth filled with gritted teeth, the same way a predator would breath just before going into battle with another of its kind. She slowly picked herself up and stood rigid in front of Oswald, the faintest of tears and deep sorrow evident on her angered and hateful face. She looked over at the other scientists with a scornful glance, hoping that her hatred could be felt by them as she stared intently at them. Their hopeless expressions barely registered her anger.

“So, these pathetic looking sons a bitches are supposed to be the ones who’ll join you in this fucking stupid plan. They look like they don’t give a flying fuck!”

Oswald looked at her with genuine confusion. “What do you mean, you mean you think they are the ones I’m talking about when I say ‘us?’ Oh, no, sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong idea there. Those pathetic weaklings did indeed help me once, but only for a brief time, only to set up the equipment in the Town Hall. No, you haven’t met or even seen the people I’m talking about, and there’s no reason why you should. They’ve been hiding, you see, hiding in the shadows of the city, waiting for me to give them the signal to come and join me. Oh, they’re special people, people to strong to be affected by the plague, too strong, too good and too full of ambition and great dreams to be held back by your pathetic people. Well, seeing as you’ve helped us in all of this, I suppose it would be gentlemanly of me to introduce you to them, they really want to meet you.”

Oswald then walked backwards toward the darkened half of the dance floor, his gun fixed onto Sarah, his gaze at her position not relenting for a moment. The other assembled scientists stayed in their fixed places, all with downtrodden expressions, like a slave staying always were it is told to after being long since beaten into submission. Sarah looked down at William’s lifeless body on the floor, his face lying flat against the hard wood. Looking closely, she could now see that he was breathing, he was definitely alive. She leaned her upper body closer to him, still glancing at Oswald as he ventured backwards further, she whispered to William loud enough hopefully only for him to hear.

“Its okay, Will, don’t worry, we’ll be out of here soon.” She hoped he heard her and that her words brought him some kind of comfort, because they didn’t bring her any.

She returned back to her original position and looked back at Oswald who had now stopped in-between the harsh bright light and the inky blackness and seem to be fiddling with a small fuse box, the revolver still in his hand and still pointing squarely on her. After a few moments of watching him screw around with the small electrical components, he moved away a little

from the box on the wall and kept his hand resting above a small handle that pointed upwards. He looked on at the ocean of darkness around him with an unfeeling grin.

“Look here, now, all of you,” he said to Sarah and the others who barely made a response.

“These people here now are your future rulers, the ones who will rule all!”

He pressed his hand down on the lever and the lights on the other side of the dance-hall came on and Sarah and the other scientists looked on in horror.

There, on the other side of the dancehall were a collection of heavily decomposed human corpses, all reduced to nothing much more than skeletons. Ranging from male to female, all sat around a long dusty cobweb covered table covered with cutlery and empty plates. All were fixed into various positions that gave the haunting impression that they were still alive underneath their fading strands of white hair, and behind their empty inky black eye sockets.

A few of them were leant forward in their seats, their smooth darkened index finger pointing to another corpse on the opposite side, as though engaging in silent conversation. One of the female corpses held a small teacup in its shiny hand, its little finger cocked in a delicate fashion. The female corpses were dressed in smart dark coloured evening wear with long skirts and their perfect white head of hair arranged in a certain style. The male corpses were dressed in dark grey suits and ties with dark brown shoes on their feet.

Oswald Richardson remained stood beside the small generator box and looked on at the macabre spectacle with a great smile. The other scientists retched in horror and shock at what they saw before them, Sarah simply began to laugh out loud, leaning backwards and forwards in hysterical laughter. Oswald immediately turned his head toward her scowling, instantly raising his revolver to her again, yet she carried on regardless, unable to keep in the great humour she felt over the whole thing.

“Shut up, you bitch!” Oswald spat at her through gritted teeth. “How dare you fucking laugh at them, you should show some goddamn respect!”

“Ha, respect!?” Sarah replied in-between frantic giggles. “What the hell do you mean by respect, you crazy son of a bitch. These people are dead, dead for years. You do know that don’t you?”

Oswald narrowed his eyes as he regarded her in his sight, his fingers around the trigger began to tighten, the grip of his shoes on the floor gripped harder as he pushed his feet further into the ground.

“How can they be dead, you stupid bitch, can’t you see that they’re alive, they’re even talking to each other in front of you, attacking your stupid small petty mind with their clever thoughts and superior minds. Like I told you before, they’re superior to all of you, superior in ever way.”

Sarah ceased her hysterical laughter and calmed herself down, yet still unable to hide the slight tugging of the side of her mouth. Her eyes glanced over from Oswald’s angered expression to the corpses assembled around the table.

“Okay, then,” she said smugly. “Go on, go and tell them that I don’t think they’re alive, ask them what they expect to with me.”

Oswald smiled, much to Sarah’s surprise, turned and looked at the corpses.

“Well, go on then, my friends, tell her that you truly are alive, and not dead like this stupid bitch say’s you are.”

As fully expected, not a single sound of life came from the large fragments of decayed matter,

no slight hint of movement in any of their preserved limbs, no slight sound of speech was uttered from their lipless mouths, nothing but the same recognised before of dead people.

Sarah looked away from them and at back at Oswald and saw that he still continued to stare at them with a large grin on his face and laughing out loud a little as though from some silent joke, his very behaviour seemed to show that to him they were alive and talking to him.

Jesus Christ, what the hell’s happened to this guy. He’s gone goddamn crazy.

Oswald turned back to face Sarah, a smug expression on his face. “You see, theirs your proof, they spoke to me, they turned their heads and looked at you. What more proof do you need?”

Sarah remained stood in her spot and breathed in a great breath of air. She decided not to continue with pushing Oswald for further proof that they were alive, going any further may antagonise him and cause him to start shooting.

“What are you gonna’ do with me now that you have me?” She hoped this question wouldn’t cause him to crack.

Oswald reached inside his pocket and pulled out a small dusty very old looking gold pocket watch. He pressed a button on the top and the cover over the face came open revealing the ticking hands. He looked at it for a moment and then looked back at the bodies around the table.

“What do you think?” He said to them. “Do you think we have time, do you think she should now exactly what’s going to happen? Yeah, why not, why not.” He put the watch back in his pocket. “I think it would be honest if at least someone else besides us knew the whole facts, like just before they die of course.”

His last statement was so matter of factly spoken, it was almost shocking.

Oswald walked over to William’s unconscious body and kicked him hard in the stomach.

After a few moments, William began to awaken with deep groans and slight moans of pain. “leave him alone you son of a bitch!” Sarah shouted instinctively beginning to run to his aid, but immediately stopped as Oswald raised his revolver.

“But, I want him to be awake for the grand finale, to see what’s left of this pathetic little world go up in smoke before his eyes and see us become something greater.”

After a few more kicks, William was awake, immediately jerking back when he realised he was being kicked, trying in vain to untangle himself from the rope.

“Get the fuck off of me, you fucking freak!” He shouted to Oswald, tugging harder and harder at the vice like grip of the rope around his wrists. Despite the scene happening before her, Sarah was relieved to see William awake.

Oswald smiled and began to walk away from William towards the table of corpses, waving the gun in his hand side by side as he walked. William immediately froze when he saw them and shuffled backwards, looking up at Sarah with a mix of confusion, anger and fear. A slight hint of relief could be seen in his eyes when he saw Sarah beside him.

“You don’t have to be so rude, you know.” Oswald said. “I was only gently rousing you. Oh, and don’t worry about the rope, you won’t need it much longer now. Now that your beloved Sarah is here, we can begin.”

“Begin what!” William shouted up at him, constantly trying to run at him, but being held back by Sarah.

Oswald reached the table of corpses and stood at one end looking at Sarah and the other scientists, his arms crossed over his groin, the revolver hanging from his hand, his legs parted

as though prepared and ready for something to arrive.

“Now you will all witness the greatest thing ever to happen to the whole human race. Now is the time for us to cast aside our physical form and ascend to something far beyond anything we could ever imagine. Now we will be gods!”

Sarah continued to hold on tightly to William while constantly struggled to break free, his eyes fixed onto Oswald’s smirking face, overrun with an insatiable blood-lust. The scientists on the other side of the dance hall cowered in the semi-darkness, embracing each other tightly with their shaking bodies, a childlike fear in their faces hinted at some terrible ordeal to come, yet none of them had any idea of what would happen, if anything.

A few agonising moments of complete silence passed by everyone in the large room, a silence so terrible and unbearable it seemed to bring physical pain to all, tightening in their stomachs like a powerful vice. Sarah tried her best to ignore it, concentrating her mind on Oswald and constantly glancing from one side to another, seeking whatever it was that may or may not be here. Oswald passed the uncomfortable seconds by constantly tapping his revolver against the top of his leg, leaning his head from side to side as he waited patiently for the whatever unknown thing he waited for. The large wave machine continued to resonate a low humming tone, the green line on the screen unwavering from the perfectly straight horizontal line.

William motioned for Sarah to lean in closer to him and brought his mouth close to her ear, her eyes still unwavering from Oswald’s tall thin figure.

“Listen,” he said with the quietest whisper. “We can rush this asshole right now, I don’t think he’ll expect any of us to do anything. You distract him and I’ll rush him and get the gun out of his hand.”

“No.” Sarah said flatly.

“What do you mean ‘no.’ What the hell are you waiting for? lets get the son of a bitch while he isn’t looking.”

“No, I said. I wanna’ see what’s gonna’ happen. I can feel something happening in here, and I wanna’ find out what it is.”

Suddenly, without any kind of warning or even a fraction of sound, a strange light green blurry light appeared in the air, in the centre of the dance-hall, glowing brightly like a firefly, attracting the attention of everyone in the room like moths to a light-bulb. The glowing became more and more intensified as it grew in size, more and more, burning brightly like the sun with unrelenting power. The light grew to the size of a large framed picture, streaks of light peeled away from the mass and disappeared almost immediately, like solar flares escaping from the sun. Everyone shielded their eyes as the glow became too unbearable to watch any more, and covering their ears against the strong feedback like sound that grew quickly in volume all around them.

Oswald made no attempt to shield his eyes and ears, staring deep and hard at the powerful green light, his mouth open wide and his lips quivering, the same way someone would look at a miracle appearing before them.

“Yes, that’s it.” Oswald whispered to the light with a snake like hiss. “Grow, grow, grow.

Become stronger, engulf me in your great light, embrace me with all of your power.”

He reached out his hand to the light until it was completely engulfed, drowning it in liquidlike luminous green light, turning his hand from left to left and twiddling his fingers around

as he felt the warm fuzzy feeling on his skin.

Everyone but Sarah turned away from the incredible light, their hands clasped tight over their eyes wasn’t enough to shield, forcing them to turn their sights to the darkness in the corners.

Sarah stared unrelentingly at the light, forgetting all notions of blinking or even feeling the pain of the light on her eyeballs as they filled deep with lime green light, eradicating the blood filled veins and black iris from view. She released her hold on William as all thought of holding him back was purged from her senses, allowing him to shuffle away to the apparent safety of the darkness behind him. Sarah stood up high and walked zombie-like toward the light, unable to tear her gaze away, yet at the same time not wanting to, her arms waving back and forth at her sides as all strength and free will left them.

She walked on more and more toward the ever intensifying light, staring hard into it, Oswald made no indication that he knew she was there, or even that he knew anymore that anyone was around him, his attention focused solely on the green light in front of him. But, it wasn’t the light itself that had caught Sarah’s attention, she saw beyond that, far beyond. Looking hard into the incredible brightness, she could see figures, figures of people engaging in everyday activities, walking down streets, talking to each other, dancing in black dresses and suits. Yet the whole blurred images that flashed by her like instant pictures in a bright flame seemed strange, strange in the way that the sights before her were not ordinary. She couldn’t pick it out at first, but then it hit her. No-one was smiling, their was no indication of emotion in their faces, no life at all, except for an unflinching corpse-like expression of blackened lips and eyes staring blankly out from a pale flaky lifeless face that was almost completely white.

Then, from out of the myriad number of figures that seemed to swell inside the tiny space that the light provided, Sarah could something else, something that she recognised, something that she had seen once that was full of life. It was a figure, a figure eclipsed in darkness as it became surrounding by the assembled collection of dancing corpses. Its head was leant forward toward the ground, its shoulders being held up solidly like a rock.

Sarah smelled up instinctively as a smell passed below her nostrils, very quickly and suddenly, like a smell that had all but faded from memory. She sniffed in as much as there was, her mind racing to find an answer to identify it and understand it. It was thick and had a rough aroma to it, like something old, something like . . . Leather, it was the unmistakable smell of leather, old leather like on old edition books.

Father?

A tear ran down from her right eye as the smell, the sight of the familiar figure and the small collection of fuzzy memories like blurred photographs merged themselves together creating a feeling of ease and contentment, as if all the pieces in some strange and unfathomable jigsaw puzzle had suddenly come together after so long rearranging them to find the correct overall image.

Sarah slowly extended her quivering hand out into the light alongside Oswald’s, feeling the calm warm embrace tickle her skin like tiny pin-pricks. But, she knew that this wasn’t the feel of the strange electrical feeling of the glowing light, it was something else, something more down to earth, something like the warmth of another person she trusted holding her tightly.

Sarah’s quiet and peaceful moment was shattered suddenly as she fell backwards toward the floor, landing hard with a loud thud, the warm tingly feeling on her hand had disappeared

quiet suddenly. She shook her head to get her wits together and opened her suddenly sore eyes to the sight of the shadowy hard wood floor, realising suddenly that the strong green light wasn’t reflecting as it should have been doing. She turned her head sharply to the right over her shoulder and saw that the green light had indeed disappeared, leaving behind not a trace that it was ever there, replaced by the cold dark interiors of the dance-hall.

No. She uttered quietly to herself.

She looked further to her right a little as she saw a long white object standing beside her. She looked up and saw the anger and hatred riddled face of Oswald Richardson, looking down on her with incredible contempt pouring out from his eyes.

“You stupid, pathetic, bitch.” He whispered. “You stupid, fucking, pathetic little bitch!” He suddenly raised his left leg up in the air, ready to force it hard on her, out of quick instinct, Sarah recoiled, shielding her face and head in her hands. Oswald with a great surge of power, forced his foot down through the shadowy air toward her then suddenly darted away from her toward the floor as a darkened shape suddenly leaped onto him like a rabid dog.

Sarah slowly removed her hands from her face and looked up, constantly blinking to remove the blurriness from her eyes and saw the two figures of Oswald and William scuffling wildly on the floor, constantly exchanging punches and kicks, Oswald occasionally attempting to bite him, both of them uttering strong curses like acid from their mouths.

Sarah’s thoughts shouted and screamed for her to help William, but every nerve and ounce of free will in her body had left her along with her conscious mind, leaving behind a dead husk haunted by rambling and lost thoughts.

Oswald and William continued to fight to the death, until Oswald clasped both his fists together and tore them through the air toward William’s face till they came into sudden bonecracking contact forcing William to the ground beside him halfway between consciousness and a deep coma, groaning with great pain.

Oswald quickly scrambled on the floor as he sought to stand up, his hands and face awash with blood and gashes. Eventually, he stood on his own two shaking feet, wavering from side to side as though he was about to fall over. He slowly lifted his head up to face Sarah who by now was drawing back all her wits to her mind and looked at her with the most contempt and hateful expression she had ever seen.

“Guess your stupid fucking plans have screwed you over, asshole.” Sarah smiled as the words poured from her lips, all fear and timidness that she felt before of Oswald were gone, leaving behind an irrepressible deep feeling of revenge that made her shudder with excitement at the thought of exacting it.

Oswald didn’t respond at all to her words as his whole upper body wavered from side to side as the ounce of free will and inner strength to simply stand up poured from him like blood from an open wound. With a quick scowl at Sarah, he turned to run, blindly firing off a few rounds into the empty air, Sarah immediately ducked for cover and quickly shuffled over to William’s moaning body. After the shots fired and their ear cracking ringing disappeared into silence, she looked up and saw the ghostly figure of Oswald running, or rather shuffling into the darkness of the outer edges of the dance-hall through a small open door into an adjoined room, dragging his left foot behind him until he disappeared into the shadows.

Sarah looked to the left and saw the group of huddled scientists in the corner embracing each other in a state of great fear and terror, whimpering like children. She looked down to the

floor at the messy shadowy figure of William as he struggled to come back to his senses rocking from side to side on his back with deep long moans.

“William,” she said aloud. “William, for gods sakes, do you hear me, its me, its Sarah. Wake up.”

William responded with yet more moans as he struggled to find which way was up. Sarah had no patience to wait for him to wake up himself and quickly responded with a few hard slaps on his face causing him to moan in sudden pain and wave his hands frantically in the air as he futilely tried to fend off his unseen attacker.

“Get off, get off of me!” He shouted before quickly sitting it up in one sharp sudden movement. He quickly turned his head from side to side as he looked for something before turning and seeing Sarah knelt beside him. He blinked his eyes and shook his head a little.

“Sarah,” he said in the lowest whisper. “What the hell was that, what was that weird green light.”

Sarah sighed and looked deep into his eyes, stroking his messy hair with her fingers. “I don’t know,” she responded. “But whatever it was, I think it helped me fight my demons and told me something I’ve wanted to know for a while now.”

William leaned closer to her, staring harder into her eyes that had unusually seemed to gather a few hints of age in the space of the last few minutes. “What was it that you wanted to know.” He whispered, preparing himself for what seemed like to him would be a great answer. But, Sarah simply looked on into his questioning eyes, smiled and patted him on the shoulder. “It doesn’t matter, now, its all finished. All except for one more thing. Oswald. He has to die. He’s brought us all nothing but pain and misery. He said he wanted to break free from this world and become part of the great unknown beyond. Well, I don’t know about you, but I won’t disappoint him.”

William raised his hand up toward Sarah’s cheek and rubbed it delicately before leaning in and quickly kissing her. “Neither will I.” He said. “That bastards gonna’ die.”

After a brief nod from the both of them, they helped each other up from the floor and began to walk toward the silhouetted doorway at the other side of the hall in pursuit of Oswald.

They stopped suddenly underneath the doorway as William noticed something lying on the ground.

“It’s the revolver,” he said with great surprise and happiness quickly picking it up and holding it tightly in his hand.

“Let me take it.” Sarah said extending out her flat palm. “Its me that must do this.” William sm led a little and nodded before placing the gun in her hand. She gripped the handle tightly and the two of them ran into the darkness behind the door.

They stopped suddenly as they entered the adjoined room, their footsteps scraping against the hard feeling floor. Sarah kept a tight hold of the revolver and the two looked around the room.

The lights were out in this room and no light from the previous room seemed as though it

could shine through into here. They could make out vague shapes through the perfect darkness, shapes that seemed to suggest cars, trucks and other kinds of transport equipment lining the walls all around the apparently small room. Numerous small boxes were dotted around in various places, but apart from those things, Oswald was nowhere to be found. He briefly considered the possibility that he could have found a way out of the room from somewhere else and was right now running across the open sandy floor outside, but then realised that they would have been able to hear him running, choosing to consider that as fact rather than think about anything else.

William began to shiver a little with unease at not being able to see anything, or even see Oswald anywhere, he couldn’t shake the disquieting feeling that he was sitting up high somewhere in here, watching them both closely and waiting for his moment to strike. Sarah simply stood her ground and slowly scanned ever inch of the room that she could see, holding the revolver firm in the air in front of her.

A feeling of eternity that really only lasted a few moments passed between them as they considered numerous possibilities of Oswald’s whereabouts and thoughts of whether or not to just leave and get the hell away from here.

Then, without warning, a powerful beam of white light pierced the almost perfect darkness, blinding them both and forcing them to shield their eyes. Sarah brought her hand up within touching distance of her face and peered as much as she could through the tiny gaps inbetween her fingers. Looking hard at the light and taking in enough before the tingling pain forced her to look away again, she could tell that the beam of light was separated in two sources of light, both emanating from the same source.

Realising what was happening, she lowered her arms from her face and pointed the revolver straight toward the beams of light, trying her hardest to see properly through her almost completely closed eyes.

“Alright,” she shouted as loud as she could. “Get the hell out of there, if you can’t tell from there, I’m holding your revolver straight at you. Come out of that fucking thing and step into the light so I can fucking see you when I shoot you!”

“What, what is it?” William asked shuffling toward her in a crouched position, his hands almost covering his entire face from the light. “Is he over there? If he is then shoot!”

But, before she could fire off a single round into the powerful light, the engine of whatever it was suddenly started up, roaring and grinding with ferocity and power, the strong smell of the smoke from the exhaust began to find its way to their unwelcoming noses. The vehicle began to move forward toward them, slowly at first and then with ever increasing speed. William retreated backwards toward the box covered wall behind him, Sarah protected her eyes with her left hand while trying to keep the revolver steady in her other hand. Taking a quick guess at where she was aiming, she fired off a couple of rounds then ducked for cover with William as the vehicle approached further and further. The sudden cracking sound of the bullets reaching what sounded like a metallic target rang through the room, bouncing off the walls and darting in all directions.

Sarah carefully moved her hand away from her face and looked at the vehicle, realising that the shots she fired had knocked out the powerful lights of the vehicle. She peered in closer at the semi-darkness at the approaching vehicle and saw that it was a forklift truck, the silhouetted driver sat up high in his seat with greatly hunched shoulders, his hands holding tight to the levers and controls as he moved further and further toward them both.

“You’re a fucking bitch!” Said Oswald as his venomous and high pitched screaming voice bellowed out from his tall lean figure, Sarah could hear it clearly over the ceaseless droning of the forklift’s engine.

Suddenly finding the strength to tear her fearful sight away from the ever approaching immanent death, she looked down at the floor in front of her and saw that it was a mere few

feet away from them both. In the fraction of an instant, she had decided what she would do to finally end it.

“William, William!” She shouted to his hunched and cowardly looking figure in the corner next to her. “Get the fuck out of here, now!”

William was too frozen with shock and fear for him to even register that she had said something, his mind focused on the immanent danger that steadily approached. Not wasting a second, Sarah took a tight hold of both his arms, then summoning up enough strength, she picked him up off the ground and threw him as far as she could across the room into a pile of boxes, well away from where she was. She looked back at the forklift which by now was almost touching her with the long sharp pieces of metal that stuck out like knives out the front of it. She raised her head and looked hard at Oswald’s shadowy figure, an expression of a ravenous appetite to kill in his wild eyes, saliva dripping like water from his hissing mouth.

“Die, you bitch, fucking die!!” He screamed.

Sarah gritted her teeth as the long pieces of sharp metal began to dig themselves into her skin, piercing it and drawing blood. With quivering hands and a rush of tears from her eyes, she raised the revolver up toward Oswald’s shadowed body and began to repeatedly pull the trigger, firing off shot after shot at him. His whole body was thrust backwards as the heated small pieces of metal tore through his soft body, an ear-piercing shriek of pain filled the darkened air around them as washes of blood swept across the cold steel of the forklift like a raging waterfall.

The thunderous gunshots ceased as the barrel became empty, proceeded by quick clicks of the trigger which gradually became slow and steadily quieter until the revolver fell with a thud against the hard concrete floor.

William groaned as he slowly regained consciousness, stopping suddenly with a grunt of pain as he felt where he landed against the boxes. He scraped his shoes against the floor as he

brought himself up to a standing position, his head feeling a little dizzy. His whole body shuddered suddenly into a defensive position as he remembered what was happening, then he saw the forklift truck lying still facing the wall, the grinding engine still continuing and belching out black smoke. He looked at the drivers seat and immediately noticed the silhouetted still figure slumped in the seat over the controls. William jumped up at the figure and quickly saw who it was when he turned their head, as well as noticing the numerous collection of bullet holes in his torso. He put a finger onto Oswald’s neck as he felt for a pulse to be on the safe side, he sighed with relief when he felt none.

His head slowly raised itself upwards as he noticed the strange shape of something directly in front of the forklift. A sudden tense feeling of fear and surprise took a tight hold of him when he saw what it was. He jumped down from the forklift and ran toward the sitting figure of Sarah in-between the forklift and the wall, then recoiled in horror as he saw the blood that covered her whole body, the walls and the sharp metallic forks that were embedded deep into her body.

“Sarah, no, Jesus Christ, god, no!” He screamed as he beheld the horrid sight before him. He fell forwards onto his knees and reached for Sarah’s head and moved it round so it faced him.

Her eyes were closed, her mouth open a little and a few splatters of blood underneath her chin. William began to cry. He pulled as much of Sarah’s body as he could away from the forks that stuck her to the wall and embraced her cold body, feeling the icy chillness of her cheek against his and sensing her lifeless arms that hung at his sides. He held tightly to her body, unwilling to let go. The strong rapid beat of his heartbeat feeling muffled against the heavy hollow of Sarah’s torso as it lay over his.

“Sarah!!!” William screamed into the air as torrents of tears fell from his stinging eyes onto Sarah’s cold unflinching cheeks.

Chapter Thirty-Four

William made not a sound as he carried Sarah’s lifeless and bloody away from the forklift truck and out of the room, out rightly refusing any kind of help from the other scientists, aside from ordering one of them to reverse the forklift away.

William walked rather slowly as he carried her body, the scientists watching him go without making a single sound, not knowing what they were in his mind right now. He continued on, forcing himself to keep his gaze fixed on what was in front of him, rather than having to look down and see her pale face, drained of blood, the few spatters underneath her chin, her eyes closed off forever to life. He could sense the obvious lack of life inside her, the spark of existence, the endless perpetual motion of her countless organs inside her body. All of that was gone, forever, replaced by a hollow feeling, a sensation of emptiness, like carrying a large box and being able to sense that it was empty.

Not knowing exactly why, William forced back the tears that welled up like a raging ocean wave deep inside him.

Once he was a safe distance away, the scientists walked out themselves, carefully making sure not to distract him or make him irritant as they all entered the main dance- hall.

The hall was beginning to light up now, the pasty featureless whiteness of the early morning sky began to throw its pure white light across the hard smooth wood of the floor, a few squeaks and creaks of the expansion of the wood could be heard as the light brought them to life.

William walked up to the edge of the dance-hall and stopped as he reached the wooden fencelike structure that stretched from side of the room to another. He looked out over the horizon of blank, featureless sand and sand dunes, mixed in with the occasional small puddle of water. The thick ghost-like fog appeared yet again, drifting silently across the shadowy dunes

in the distance, accompanied by the whistle of the wind and the constant stillness in the air.

William looked past all of this, past the dunes and stared unrelentingly into the pure white sky hanging above. He began to cry, and then looked down at Sarah’s lifeless body in his arms, her head resting in the palm of his hand, her blood streaked arms hanging like pieces of string down to the floor. The scientists stayed away from him, whispering to each other of what he was doing and what would he do to them. William simply stood his ground, staring hard into Sarah’s closed eyes.

The group stood silently around a large object that seemed to hover above the ground in the old lakeshore Graveyard on the edge of the city, the icy cold breeze brushed past their quivering fingers and bare hands, the dense fog obscuring the bottom half of their bodies.

Weeds and vines poked out like withered hands and bony fingers from the dusty, un-kept ground, gravestones and monuments of people long dead stood like meaningless pieces of rubble that were slowly crumbling to nothing, the few that still survived were almost engulfed by the thick concentration of simple wooden made gravestones of those killed in the plague that had the good fortune to be properly buried before everyone everywhere had died.

The gravestones were awash with quick-made messages and names written in pencil and highlighter pens, decorated considerably with small toys, friendship bracelets, rings, necklaces, baby-sized shoes and fading photographs of children, babies and fully-grown adults, their faces fixed forever into expressions of joy, happiness and contentment. The engraved names and special messages of the older gravestones were all but gone completely from sight. Young and old, rich and poor, none of it made any difference, everyone’s monument here, shared the same indiscriminate wrath of the passage of time. William looked on in complete silence with a saddened expression on his face as he watched a couple of the scientists slowly lowering Sarah’s specially chosen and well-polished coffin into the specially

made hole in the dusty old graveyard with long pieces of rope, the rest stood by a few feet away and watched with dirty shovels in their hands, nervously keeping an occasional glance at William.

None of them really wanted to be here with him, or be in the same presence as him. They all wanted to help in Sarah’s burial, to lay her to rest, even though he made them help regardless of what they thought or wanted. They all hoped that William didn’t hold them in ill feeling or worse still blamed them for her death and planned to take revenge, though they wouldn’t really blame him if he did suddenly jump from where he was and try to strangle them to death. They all hoped and prayed that he knew what they knew, that everything that happened to him and Sarah wasn’t their fault and that they were forced to do it under Oswald’s maniacal and life-threatening demand. They made sure not to give off the impression that they were all simply victims in all of it and didn’t deserve any kind of punishment, more that they were people that had done wrong, but wanted to be punished, wanted to find the right path to be better than they already were.

The two scientists finished lowering the coffin deep into the hole till it softly rested on top of the bone-dry earth. They carefully lifted the rope from the grave and dropped it a few feet from the grave. The scientists lowered their heads a little, more out of respect for William that actual praying. They occasionally glanced upward at him as they waited for him to tell them to start filling her in. But, he simply stood beside the grave, unflinching and unmoving, not making a single fraction of movement, he simply stood there and gazed down with a blank pale expression at the polished and varnished coffin in the darkened grave.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternal and agonised wait from the scientists as they wondered what would happen next, William motioned with his hand for them to fill in the grave. They all immediately followed his order and each one of them picked up a shovel and began to fill in the grave with dry ash-like soil and dirt. William closed his eyes for a moment

and walked away toward the rickety and rotting picket fence that circled the graveyard, the scientists watched him go and exchanged a few whispers.

William stood by the fence, his left hand resting on one of the pickets, his eyes resting on the large four-wheeled car a few feet away on the other side of the road, partly obscured by the fog that drifted silently across it like a veil.

A deep surge of anger and hatred burned fiercely inside him, it gradually grew and grew in power and intensity and he knew it wasn’t a blind anger that was directed to anything or anyone. He knew full well who it was directed to.

But, no matter how much his mind screamed to him to do it, telling him that it would remove the splinter of pain and anguish and resentment from him and would make him feel a lot better, the tiny spark of free will still managed to find a foothold in his head as all around him demons chewed away at his senses. He knew full that everything that had happened wasn’t their fault, that they were under Oswald’s merciless tyrannical demands. He had worked under Oswald too, he had seen over the years that he knew him how far he would go to get everything he wanted exactly how he wanted it to be. Yet, despite everything he had watched him do, he never once imagined that he would kill, maim and destroy to get something. He supposed that he must have gone insane never being satisfied by what he had, even after the things he had done to get them. In his mind, he imagined that the world of the dead would somehow offer him immortality, absolute power, freedom from the world and everything that had held him back in the past, all of it made him snap and go over the edge.

William resisted the temptation to feel sorry for Oswald and regard as someone who was suffering. Perhaps, in his own way after he went mad, he was in some way feeling pain what with his mind completely lost all sense of civilised behaviour. To an ignorant person, that would most likely be completely true, but William knew him before that had happened and he knew he wasn’t a person who deserved to be sympathised over and felt sorry for.

He thought back to the moment he died, when just before she died, Sarah had summoned up enough strength to shoot at Oswald just before she died. He found himself feeling a little wronged by Sarah, feeling that he somehow deserved to kill Oswald himself rather than her after all that he had put him through. But, he thought of the pain that Sarah was going through that he could only imagine. She was somehow cursed with the ability to see and communicate with the spirits after listening to The Telephone and had to endure it while searching for the spirit of her father through the myriad of voices and spirits that continually screamed messages to her, driving her mad with fear and unending noise and interruptions.

He knew that whatever he was feeling about the act itself, Sarah was most likely the one who really deserved to kill Oswald.

He turned round and watched as the scientists continued to fill in Sarah’s grave, their long white coats thick with dirt, sweat and stains gathered over the past few days.

William watched them as he wondered what to do with them. He knew he wasn’t going to hurt them or take any kind of revenge, nothing would come of it anyway. He imagined that they probably wouldn’t want to stay in the city and wanted to get away somewhere and forget all of this that had happened. William wasn’t sure whether he would go with them, he wasn’t sure of anything anymore, his mind overlapped and changed shape as it struggled to put itself in correct order. He decided to let what he would do next lie for the moment as he pondered it himself.

The scientists finished filling in the grave and relaxed themselves on top of the shovels in their hands, slowly exhaling and inhaling to gather their strength back. One of the female scientists stood behind the small monument of the grave and read aloud a burial passage from a small withered edition of the Bible. William walked toward the grave and they all immediately shot back up to a sharp and erect standing position, keeping their worried eyes fixed onto Williams face. William inspected the grave and then glanced over to the makeshift

gravestone at the head of the grave. No one had the know-how or skills to carve something out of a marble or stone monument and so decided to use a few pieces of reject coffins. A message was scrawled awkwardly into the hard polished wood of the monument:

HERE LIES THE BODY OF SARAH GAELOCK ‘A ROSE THAT WAS SHRIVELLED AND HARD TO GROW IN LIFE NOW BLOSSOMS AND BLOOMS IN FULL COLOUR AND BEAUTY OVER A WALL, PUSHED ON BY THE KINDEST AND BRIGHTEST LIGHT OF ALL.’

Another message was etched underneath, William smiled with pride as he read it to himself.

SARAH WAS NOT LOVED BY GOD, BUT NOW, THE LOVE OF HER FATHER SUSTAINS HER.

William looked up as he saw one of the scientists break away from the huddled and nervous group and tentatively step forward, an obvious shaking of his shoulders could be seen. He recognised them immediately as Sol Neaps. He had obviously been pushed into talking to William by the rest of the group, possibly because they couldn’t stand to wait any longer for what they imagined was inevitably going to happen to them.

“Erm, sorry, but,” he said through a quivering mouth. “But, what do you plan to do with us. I know we don’t, um, have any right to be just let off, but we’d just like to know what you intend to do to us.”

William gave a slight smile at the corner of his mouth and looked back down at Sarah’s grave.

“Go on,” he said simply in a quiet tone. “You can go, I’ve nothing against you, I know it wasn’t your fault. But, right now, I think I want to be alone. So, you can just leave to wherever it is you’re planning to go.”

The scientists looked at each other in a mixture of stunned silence, hope and nervousness. A few were ready to simply run as fast as they could before he changed his mind, but they remained when they saw that Sol was still stood beside William.

“Are you sure you won’t come with us,” Sol asked. “We were planning on getting the hell away from here and settling somewhere where there might be more people. You’re welcome to come with us if you-” “No, that’s okay.” William said suddenly. “You can go on, I’m gonna’ stay here. Thanks for the burial and what you said.”

Sol nodded, as well as a few others who desperately wanted to get away quickly.

Sol gave William a quick wave as he walked backwards and followed the other scientists as they walked out of the graveyard and onto the ground before slowly disappearing through the thick veil of fog.

William breathed in a deep sigh as he watched them disappear completely from sight then looked back at Sarah’s grave. He reached into his pocket and took out a small cardboard cutout of a pink Cadillac. He smiled a little at the sight of it and placed it on top of the mass of dirt that covered her coffin. He looked back up and noticed the long rope use to lower the coffin that lay beside the grave settling beside a tall withered old tree. He walked over and picked it up and began to study it, wondering how best and how quickly to make a noose from the rope.

He looked up at the featureless milky-white sky and with his last thought he said:

We don’t belong here, now. This world belongs to the dead.

Chapter Thirty-five

2 Weeks Later

The inner chamber of the Town Hall is silent, now. The ghostly figure of the fog slowly seeps its way into the building like a pest burrowing inside a dilapidated structure.

The once incessant ticking of the small clock above the Telephone device now hangs silent and unmoving. The once constant gentle humming of the mass of generators in the cellar is now dead, the fuel long since run dry. The multitude of recording and computer equipment in the small room now lies still without power, the electrical surge that once ran through its veins giving it life now exhausted, the long lengths of recording tape now lies in piles on the cold stone floor slowly gathering dust.

A sudden rush of wind breaks the still silence as it breaths its way through the small stone openings high up in the walls, blowing a large group of dark brown dead leaves across the floor, a thin layer of dust gets caught up in the breeze, the countless tiny grains of dirt wrapping themselves like a mini tornado around the leaves.

The large collection of leaves, with the helping hand of the breeze, slowly began to rise up from the floor and moved up slowly toward the ceiling, briefly brushing against the dead pieces of machinery that made up the Telephone device, the long tube shaped pieces of metal, the countless series of multicoloured wires, the small wave machine and the Telephone machine itself, all dead, the great surge of electricity now extinct from its systems.

Suddenly, without any kind of warning, the small round dial on the Telephone machine slowly began to turn around and mark out certain numbers as though moved by unseen

fingers. As each number was chosen, a small ringing sound emanated from the machine indicating that it was on and working.

The numbers constantly and slowly continued to be marked out, slowly creating a huge Telephone number that seemed to go on forever. Then, a sudden strong gust of wind blew across the Telephone device and knocked the receiver from its fixed position, allowing it to hang by its long twisting wire from the device and slowly waver from side to side.

A low sounding crackle of power emanated from the earpiece of the receiver, crackling like a distorted radio transmission. After a few moments, the crackling began to subside, replaced by quiet, almost silent sounding multitude of voices lost in indistinct banter. Then, a much stronger voice began to permeate through the others, as though trying desperately to break through and be heard. Slowly, the voice quickly gathered in strength and audibility until finally it was loud and clear.

‘Father.’ Came the speeded up and high sounding voice of Sarah Gaelock as it bounced around the huge and empty room.

Then, along with Sarah’s, another voice suddenly appeared alongside hers, equal in strength and audibility. It was a male voice, low and deep in sound, but equally speeded up with Sarah’s at the same pitch.

‘We all turn.’ Came William’s unmistakeable voice immediately after Sarah’s. The two voices continued to speak the same things over and over like a broken record.

‘Father.’ . . .’we all turn’ . . .’Father.’ . . .’We all turn.’

The two voices continued to repeat the same statements over and over, joined in the background by the muffled sounds of countless other voices, until both of them slowly began to die down in audibility until finally both fell silent and the tiny crackling sounds from the earpiece stopped altogether and the receiver continued to waver silently from side to side.

The End