Prodigy Eternal (book 2)

Chapter Twenty

“Did you see that?!” Aris shouted. Something in the distance had caught his attention.

“What?”

“Over there, I saw something moving.”

“Are you sure?”

“I think it was a person. I saw something enter that building over there.”

“Aris, you’re freaking me out,” Alex said in an anxious tone. “Was it a zombie or some kind of monster?”

“Tough to say,” Aris replied with his gaze still transfixed on the area where he saw the movement. “Could have been anything, even my mind playing tricks on me. Come on, let’s go check it out.”

With reluctance, Alex followed closely behind. Her eyes darted in every direction as she was paranoid something would jump out at her. Despite being in a sea of people, she felt vulnerable. If something were out there, being still would provide them the best cover since it would allow them to blend into their environment.

With a laser-like focus on the building ahead, Aris picked up his pace and started weaving through the motionless pedestrians.

“Aris, you’re running too fast!” Alex called out, trying to keep up with a heavy bag on her back.

Aris slowed down to allow Alex to catch up and together they cautiously approached the building where the movement was spotted. Without saying a word to each other, the two stopped just outside. Aris put his finger to his lips to indicate to be quiet, then gently pulled open the door.

They entered the building and were immediately blasted by the cold air from the air conditioning that was escaping the lobby. Sparkling brass and polished marble decorated the interior along with expensive furniture and a very large chandelier that dangled from the high ceiling. There were panels of tinted glass surrounding the exterior, which did their part to block out the sun. Scattered around the room, people in business attire stood still like someone had pressed pause on a movie. As they made their way to the centre of the lobby, there was an indeterminate humming sound.

“Do you hear that?” Aris whispered.

They listened carefully for a moment as Aris tried to follow the sound. “Over here,” he said, dashing across the foyer. The sound grew louder the closer they came to the elevators. “There!” Aris said in an excited tone, pointing to an elevator that was moving. “See, I wasn’t just seeing things. Something entered this building and is now in that elevator.”

They watched the panel to see what floor it stopped on. The elevator climbed up to the tenth floor, then stopped. They put their ear to the elevator to listen, but they could not decipher the sounds.

“Did that sound like some kind of monster exiting an elevator to you?” Aris asked.

“Not sure,” Alex replied. “Maybe we should get out of here before something bad happens.”

“You’re not afraid, are you?” Aris asked.

“Of course I’m afraid,” she said. “ ‘Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.’ ”

“Who said that?”

“Nelson Mandela.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Shocking.”

“Okay then, we need to triumph over our fear,” Aris said.

“So you’re afraid too?”

“No comment.”

Alex entered a vacant elevator and waited for Aris to get in.

“Alex we should take the stairs,” Aris suggested. “We don’t know what’s on the tenth floor and taking the elevator may give away our position. Taking the stairs will enable us to sneak up on this thing better.”

“Good thinking.”

Alex was a bit out of her element when it came to strategy. Fortunately, she could rely on Aris in this respect since he was the self-proclaimed gaming expert and seemed to know what he was doing.

“What do you plan to do if we encounter this thing?” Alex asked, as they climbed the stairs.

“For now, this is a reconnaissance mission. If it becomes a combat situation, we’ll have to coordinate our efforts and utilize our surroundings.”

“What the heck does that mean?”

“We’ll fight the beast together with what’s available.”

“Fight the beast?” Alex recoiled. “Shouldn’t we get some weapons?”

“Don’t worry, I always carry a stun gun with me,” Aris said, pulling a small device out of his pocket.

“Great, but what about me? I don’t suppose you carry two of those?”

“Sorry, you’ll just have to stay behind me.”

Climbing up the cement stairwell, they eventually reached the tenth floor. Aris opened the door a crack and looked out, but could not see anything worthy of mention. The office was completely dark as if someone had cut the power to the lights. Aris waited a minute before fully opening the door and slipping through. Alex followed closely behind.

While in a crouched position, the two hid behind a wall. They both readjusted the wraps to cover their faces, but removed their eyewear. On the other side of the wall was a wide open space filled with desks, chairs, and motionless office workers. For some reason, it was even creepier than the stationary pedestrians on the street. Aris poked his head around the wall and saw some movement coming from the far end. Although he could not see clearly enough to identify the shadowy figure, he noticed there was a computer in use. Glowing orbs were arranged in a manner indicative of someone hacking into a network.

“Something’s in there,” Aris whispered.

“Something or someone?”

“I don’t know, I can’t see it.”

“What do you want to do?”

“We need to get closer, follow me.”

Aris stayed low to the floor, hidden by the shadows, as he scurried down the aisles of the office. He was nervous, but tried not to let it show. Alex had entrusted him to be the leader and was relying on him to keep her safe. As for Alex, she was confident in her martial arts abilities to the point where she could adequately defend herself, but even then she was up against the unknown. Whoever, or whatever, was in that office may be more than her skills could handle.

When they arrived at the spot in the office where they had seen the figure, Aris poked his head up. Inexplicably, the figure had vanished. Aris signaled for Alex to remain where she was as he wanted to get a different vantage point. He snuck around to the other side of the cubicle only to find nothing but several glowing orbs. As Aris tried to determine what system the orbs represented, a large man tackled him to the floor and began to hit him repeatedly. Aris could not budge as the powerful man held him down. All he could do was cover up and protect his face.

Alex heard the commotion and immediately sprang into action. Leaping over a cubicle divider, she saw Aris on the floor getting pummeled. She dove on the mysterious man’s back and tried to secure a choke around his thick neck. The man stood up straight, and with ease, peeled her arms off of him. With great force, he flung Alex nearly ten feet until she crashed into a wall. The impact caused the wall to crumble and left Alex gasping for breath.

By now, Aris had risen back to his feet, but was badly hurt. He reached for his stun gun, but fumbled with it just before receiving an unexpected blow to the side of his head. He staggered back in a daze, and before his eyes could regain focus, he was scooped up and slammed on top of a desk. The pain was crippling as Aris felt like every bone in his body had been fractured. Then he heard the sound of pulsating electricity echo throughout the quiet office. The man collapsed to the floor and convulsed as 25,000 volts of electricity coursed through his body.