Floor 22

Chapter one|Floor 22

4:30 PM
It was an odd day for Mark Hendrickson. Mark was feeling sad and angry because of a break up between him and his girlfriend. He couldn't work properly at his normal business job where he sat at a desk and sorted files and wrote documents all day. Every morning he woke up and went to work in his dark grey, blue suit and tie.
At 4:30, thirty minutes before the normal 5:00 that he got off work. Mark walked past his bosses office, turned right and headed down the hallway to the elevators. He walked up to one of them and pressed the down button. He waited and as time passed the elevator finally made it from the ground floor all the way up to his floor. He entered the elevator and headed to the ground floor. The elevator dinged at every floor that was passed with an electronic like ring. He got to the 27th floor as the elevator then paused. Mark thought to himself that someone was going to bored. The elevator doors slid open and a man with dark brown hair wearing a beanie as well as blue jeans and a blue striped button up shirt entered. Mark looked at the man curious as to why he was sweating. 

"Long day?" Mark asked the stranger. The man didn't respond right away as he was staring at the floor counter, he seemed anxious. 

"Sir? Is everything okay?" Mark asked the man. The man looked at him shaking his head. 

"Oh yes, sorry I'm in a rush. My uh... friend called me to his floor saying he wanted to uh... tell me something." Mark looked at the man suspiciously but quickly shrugged it off, thinking it had to do with something more personal. The elevator stopped at floor 22 and the man ran out and left down the hall. Floor 22 was used for storage and Mark believed the man didn't look like he belonged in storage. Before the elevator doors closed Mark stepped off and looked down the left hallway. He saw the man swiftly open a door and enter the room. Mark quickly walked over to the door and held his closed fist up to the door to knock but he didn't. He had a strange feeling about what the man was doing up here. Mark looked down the hallway to the where the elevators were then looked down at the door handle. Mark then grabbed the door knob and slowly opened the door. He entered the storage room quietly and looked around. It was empty, no boxes or equipment, nothing. Mark seemed curious as to why the storage room was empty. Then he heard the man walking towards him from around the corner to his right. Mark quickly ducked into a room to his left, and set his back against the wall, still standing. The man walked to the entrance to the storage room then looked into the room where Mark was hiding. Mark closed his eyes, hoping the stranger wouldn't enter. The man's footsteps were getting louder and closer to the room which Mark was hiding in. Mark jumped as the mans phone started to ring. He heard a tap and the man spoke 

"Hello?" 

Mark tried to listen to the phone call but couldn't hear the person on the other sides voice. "Yes I am here, Sir." The stranger said into the phone. "No I wasn't followed." He continued in response to something the other person said. "I will be ready in ten to fifteen minutes, Sir." There was a pause of silence and slight mumbling coming from the phone. "Yes, Sir." The stranger said and tapped his phone, hanging up. The man walked away from the room Mark was hiding in. Mark exhaled, not realizing he was holding his breath. He then proceeded to silently exit the room and walk following the man deeper into the room. He turned the corner and headed into the main area of the storage room. Mark looked around where he saw multiple guns placed around, waiting to be used. Sniper rifles, pistols, shotguns, automatic rifles, all of them. Mark couldn't believe what he had walked into, he turned and headed to the entrance of the storage room. He grabbed the door knob and opened the door accidentally slamming it when he exited.

"Who's there!?" Mark ignored it and ran down the hall. Mark then heard the man step out of the storage room and into the hallway. 

"Stop right there!" The man yelled. Mark yanked his phone out of his pocket so fast that he almost dropped it. He opened it and quickly dialed 911. As he put the phone to his ear to listen for the operator, Mark heard a loud bang that he had heard only on tv and in movies. Mark kept running but felt a tingling sensation in his lower back. Mark used the opposite hand that wasn't  holding the phone to grab that area. He felt a strange liquid on his hands. He kept his phone to his ear with his right hand still waiting 

"911 what's your emergency?" Mark heard from the other side of the call. Another bang from behind him and Mark froze. Mark couldn't feel anything in his body. 

"Hello?" The operator said. Mark couldn't say anything. He only let out a slight groan as he collapsed to the ground. 

"Hello!? Are you in trouble?" The operator said. The stranger shot two more times into Marks dead corps to make sure he was dead. 

"I will track your call and send a police cruiser!" The operator said as the stranger shot the phone, ending the call and destroying it. The man walked back to the storage room filled with guns, leaving the dead corps in front of the elevators.