Breathe

Part 2

The roads were a problem. Each year they became more broken. It was just sheer luck we only encountered two fallen trees along the way and both those were easy to drive around. We made very good time, all things considered. The source of the smoke was a warehouse just north of Caloundra. As we drove closer I turned on my air tank, donned my mask and goggles and earphone. I switched my radio on and Jill pushed her earphone into her ear.

I said, "You stay in the car. I'll check it out and make sure it's safe."

"Okay," she said into her mask while pulling its straps over her head. Her voice sounded tinny in the receiver in my ear.

The warehouse was large and gray and I couldn't see any windows, so I pushed my goggles up onto my forehead, pulled my bag up onto my lap and got my torch out. I was about to put the bag back down and on impulse grabbed my Swiss Army penknife too and pocketed it, then dropped the bag to the floor again.

Jill nodded, her mask and goggles on, ready for me to open the door.

I pulled my goggles down again, donned my hat and gloves, and got out of the car as quickly as possible so as to minimise loss of its oxygen.

As I approached the warehouse I could see the main large door had been welded closed. That might be a good sign. Perhaps someone had tried to make it airtight. It was hard to tell how long ago the welding had been done. With very little oxygen left in the air iron didn't rust very quickly anymore. I explained my observations and thoughts to Jill over the radio while I looked for another door. There was an alley beside the warehouse and an old car was parked halfway down the alley beside a smaller door. Time was pressing so I trotted down to the door and tried it. It was unlocked so I opened it just enough to slip in and closed it carefully behind me. I flipped up the filters on my goggles while looking around the dim interior and pulled my breathing mask down for a moment to cautiously sniff the air. Rich carbon dioxide stung my nose so I replaced the mask again, telling Jill.

The smoke was probably coming from a room at the back so I strode quickly to the back door and tried it carefully. It was unlocked so I opened it slightly intending to slip quickly in, but what I saw made me shut it again quickly, but gently, quietly, and back away from it in horror. In whispers, I described what I'd seen to Jill. About five or six meters away from the door a large man had been facing away from me cutting up a human body hung from hooks, while on the floor near the door a woman in a shapeless, dirty, gray dress lay tied up, and on the other side of the man was what looked like some kind of stove, on which meat was sizzling and sputtering. Jill pleaded with me to leave, but I couldn't.

"If that woman is alive I can't leave her to a cannibal."

Jill sounded more upset than me, "But what can you do? If he's big you could be hurt or even die. Please don't. You don't even know if she's alive. You might be risking your life for someone who's already dead. Now is not the time to be a hero."

I sighed. I could feel it happening to me. When I'm in an emergency it feels like time passes more slowly for me and I become very calm. I said to Jill, "If not now, then when?" I used the torch to look around the large, dark, dusty warehouse for something I could use to keep me safe. My penknife wouldn't be much use as a weapon. There did't seem to be anything. I was wracking my brains for some kind of plan and coming up as empty as the warehouse interior.

It would be too dangerous to engage him directly. There was only one thing I could think of, so I came back to the door, carefully, quickly opened it just enough to slip silently inside, then immediately, quietly, closed it again behind me.

The man still had his back to me and was still busy with his gruesome cooking. There was a diving mask and aqualung tank on the floor near the door. It must have been what he used to come here.