Rustles

Part 2

She was just leaving when Shooter returned with bottle of water and a packed sandwich. She blocked his way on the doorway.

“Why did you bring her here?” she asked him, “There’s nothing wrong with her that she can’t do at home!”

She pretended she didn’t hear, but it was hard with blooming blush rushing up her neck.

“She heard Scott!”

“That’s impossible, the vocals deform, there’s nothing left of them after…” she gasped. “She heard her in the tunnel?”

He nodded. She looked at her over her shoulder and stared at her.

There is nothing better than to be the eye candy when you don’t want it, she thought and smiled back, despite dreaming of skipping the politeness and reminding them that she also had rights. Right for a lawyer or for a good night sleep – either one they chose, it would end up somewhere with a bed.

He pushed the woman doctor to move and she left, still staring at her openly. He handed her the salami sandwich and sat in the purple chair on her right.

“Thank you.” She quickly unwrap the bread and sank her teeth in it.

“While you eat, you listen,” he began. “We don’t take oaths or swear on Bible for eternal silence around here, but we keep our secrets like no one else in the world. Do you understand me? In spite of what I said before – we don’t play games and we do shoot people. Doctors here might have other opinion, but me and my associates, we shoot on orders and we don’t pick sides.”

She felt the eerie vibration under the floor, the same she had felt on the street before the creature ran past her. She stopped chewing and looked under her before raising her eyes up again.

“Is that clear?” he finished.

She took a good look at him, his pose, the Evian water between his fingers and the relaxed pose. He had ditched his jacket. He really didn’t hear the things under his feet?

She nodded, realizing she hadn’t responded yet. The vibration under her feet got stronger and closed in. She pulled her feet off the ground and looked on the old carpet. The thing was right under them, yet he didn’t even move!

“What is your name?”

She didn’t answer.

“What is it?” He looked at the floor for a moment, before grunting and stamping the feet few times. Whatever it had been, it reacted by running away.

She let her feet down again. “I thought they attacked if you even move?”

“They do, but not here. They can’t get out from their room.”

“Oh. So they have a room…” she filled her mouth with the next bite and pressed down another shiver as the next rustle went past her ankle.

“What’s your name?”

“Margaret Jakobs.”

“Have you had any contact with this project before, miss Jakobs?”

“Don’t call me that, it sounds ugly.” She finished the sandwich. “And no, I haven’t had any contact with this or any other projects like this before. I work in a bar downtown and serve drinks, with occasional snack and salted nuts.”

“Then how should I call you?”

“A guest.”

“Not a chance. Answer my questions.”

“You like shouting orders, don’t you?”

“I said you before – we don’t play games! Answer the questions!”