Sneaky pic of the prep for our summer show displays at Uni :)
Beth's POV
"What have we got?" I ask as I arrive on scene, running up to Dad.
"Firefighter says some kind of chemical leak. Apparently there's a few idiots who ignored the alarm, trapped on the 14th floor."
"His words?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
He smiles. "Yeah. Two of his firefighters are in there as well."
"OK," I say, looking around. "Oh here we go..." I mutter.
"Sorry, sorry - I got here as soon as I could," Stephen says, reaching my side.
Stephen and I are...complicated right now. I can't completely blame him for what happened between himself and Helen - she's a manipulative person and I don't know the full story - I just wish he'd have straight up told us what was happening when it did. It could have changed how the last 8 or so years have been...
"Everything alright?" Dad asks, glancing towards him.
"Yeah, everything's fine."
Dad seems convinced but I'm not, though I choose not to say anything. There's time for questions later.
They walk forwards and I quickly follow, not before Jenny speaks up. "Where are you going? What am I supposed to do?"
"You'll think of something," Dad calls back and I laugh, turning around to give her an apologetic look.
As we head inside, Dad and Stephen head straight for the stairs. Fourteen flights - seriously?
After a few flights, I sigh. "If there's no fire, won't the lifts be safe?" I ask, trailing behind slightly.
"We can't take that risk," Dad tells me as Stephen opens a door to one of the floors. Smoke begins pouring through and he quickly closes it again. I cover a hand over my mouth as I cough, trying to minimise the polluted air I breathe in.
"It smells like sh- something rotting," Stephen comments.
"Their version of the Earth's atmosphere," Dad says. "It's probably Pre-Cambrian. It's high in sulphur and carbon dioxide."
"So what do we do?" I ask.
"Help, help!" A woman screams and all of us turn to the door. Of course she had to be through there...
The other two immediately run off, and I quickly follow to catch up. The fog is thick and I try hard not to breathe too deeply which makes me light headed but I keep pushing through.
"Are you alright?" I hear Dad ask as I catch up to them.
"There's something inside the fog," she says, terror etched across her face. She's kneeling on top of a table, an axe in her hand. My eyes follow where she's looking and a worm-like creature appears.
"Give me your axe," Dad yells and without hesitation, she throws it. "Beth, get on the table." I know now is not the time to question him so do as I'm told. "Alright, come on," he tells the firefighter. She looks scared out of her mind and I don't blame her. "Do your job," he says, handing her back the axe. "Get us out of here."
As she grabs it, she yells at us to run. Stephen gives me a hand to help me off the table but I ignore it, jumping down and running ahead to Dad.
As we try to shut the door to the stairwell, a creature grabs the firefighter's leg. Stephen and I grab her, trying to pull her away as she kicks at it but it won't let go. Dad's about to hit it with the axe when all of a sudden it goes still.
"It's dead," Stephen says, frowning.
"What just happened?" I ask, looking towards Dad.
"I'm not sure. But I think it might be from even further back than we thought. The oxygen in our atmosphere must be like poison to it, so it can't breathe outside the fog," he explains. "We've got to clear it."
"They said there was a fire in the server room on the 15th floor, but there wasn't," the woman speaks up. "Just this fog. And something glowing."
Dad stands up, a smile on his face. "The anomaly." She looks even more confused now.
"It's a long story," I tell her, smiling lightly.
Dad turns to me. "Get onto to Connor. Tell him to think of something." I nod, running off back to the stairwell but Dad speaks again before I can disappear. "Beth!" I turn back to him. "Take her with you." He points to the firefighter we saved.
I nod. "Come on."
"But there's still people trapped up there."
"I know," Dad tells her. "You've done enough. Go on."
She passes him the axe. "You keep it. You might need it."
"Alright, thanks."
With that, I turn back to the door that leads to the stairs, holding it open until she catches up.
"Let's go."
"Stick to the stairs and stay out of the fog on your way down!" Stephen yells after us.
As we make it outside, Jenny immediately walks over and I know she wants to say something but chooses not to in front of the firefighter.
I step away from her and quickly call Connor.
"Beth, yo."
"Connor, we have creatures that can't breathe outside of the fog that's swamped this building. We need you to think of a way to get rid of it."
"On it."
With that, I hang up, and just as well because over walks Jenny.
"What the hell is going on?" she asks.
"Can it wait?"
"No. Your dad won't answer his phone and I can't get Stephen either."
I look up at the building, imagining them heading through the fog. My eyes move back to Jenny. "They're a bit busy."
"Then I'm going up," she says, moving towards the building.
"Wait, what?" I move to step in front of her.
"Move out of my way, Beth."
"Your job's down here, let them deal with it."
She crosses her arms over her chest. "Well I can't do my job and create a cover up until I know what it is."
She walks off, her phone now to her ear and I sigh, walking forwards. This woman's going to be hard work.
"Beth!" a voice yells and I turn around to see Connor and Abby running in, two leaf blowers in hand.
"Well that's definitely something," I say, running for the stairs. "Come on!"
"You guys just took your time," Dad says, staring at Connor and Abby.
"Ever been to a garden centre on Friday afternoon? It's a mad house," Connor says and I can't help but laugh at the thought of them running around a jam packed building with two leaf blowers.
"Leaf blowers, that's a good idea," Dad tells them and Connor smiles like a kid on Christmas...I swear anything will make him happy.
"Where's Stephen?" I ask, suddenly noting his absence.
"We got separated."
Well that can't be good, I think to myself.
Using the leaf blowers, we make it to the 15th floor and find the people. Now we're guiding them back down through the stairwell.
"I think we're alright now," Connor says, but suddenly one of the worms comes down from the ceiling, encasing itself around Connor's head.
"Connor!" I scream, jumping forward, but Dad grabs an arm and pulls me back. Once he's sure I won't move, he steps forward with the axe and swings it at the worm, narrowly missing Connor's head.
"Are you alright?" Dad asks.
Connor takes a deep breath. "Yeah. I've never been swallowed by a giant worm before, but it's all a learning experience"
Dad smiles. "Yeah, it could have been worse. It could have been a lot worse."
As we reach the ground floor, the woman we rescued grabs Dad's arm. "Who are you people? What happened up there?"
"I'm sorry.I wouldn't know where to start," Dad tells her before walking off and taking me with him. We meet Abby and Connor by the building's front desk.
"We've got to find Stephen and get him out," Dad says.
"Right, and how are we gonna do that?" I ask, crossing my arms.
"The fog's coming from the anomaly on the 15th floor. The worms can't breathe outside the fog," Dad tells us, more for Connor and Abby.
"So we have to get rid of the fog?" Abby says.
"Yeah."
"Can't we just open the windows?" Connor asks and I laugh. Trust Connor to say that.
"None of the windows open because the entire building is temperature controlled."
Connor sighs. "Progress. What's the point?"
"What do we do?" Abby asks, ignoring Connor.
"All we need to do is heat up the air, and it'll expand, and push the fog right out through the ventilation system, right?" I ask as I think it through in my head.
"Unfortunately, the temperature is controlled from the server room on the 15th floor."
"Of course it is," I mutter. "It's gonna get seriously hot in here."
"We're going up there, aren't we?" Connor questions.
"No, you're going up there. I'm gonna look for Stephen. Beth, you're coming with me."
I smile. Thank god for that.
"Let me help. I want to do something," Jenny says, coming over.
"Okay. I want you to go and bully a few traumatized bystanders, and then I want you to come up with some spin to just smooth all this away."
Jenny crosses her arms over her chest. "You don't approve of me, do you?"
"No, I used to think you were really something. But you're not that person."
"Am I supposed to understand that?" Honestly Jenny, I don't think any of us are.
"No, I guess not," Dad says.
My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out to see Stephen's caller ID. "Dad," I say as I answer. "Stephen?" I put it on speaker.
"Beth, hi. I'm on the 13th floor, don't know exactly where. Tell your Dad to hurry up," he says.
"What are you waiting for? Come down," Dad tells him.
"Yeah, a bit of a problem with that."
"We're coming up to you," I say, hanging up and grabbing a leaf blower. "Come on," I tell Dad.
"After everything's Stephen's done, you're still willing to risk your life for him?" Jenny asks Dad.
"Meaning what?" he asks.
"Lester asked me to assess everything that might interfere with the team's efficiency. I thought Steven's affair with Helen would've come into that category." She looks towards me. "For the both of you."
"So, he's sent you here to spy on us?" Dad asks accusingly.
"I prefer to call it management appraisal."
"I'd call it bullshit..." I mutter.
"Beth," Dad warns before looking back at Jenny. "You think I should leave him up there to die because of what happened with him and Helen?"
"Some people would," she says.
"Would you?" I ask but she ignores me.
"I'm not one of them," Dad says, pulling me closer to him. "And neither's Beth. Whatever problems we've got with Stephen, we can sort them out for ourselves."
"Cutter, you're the team leader. We can't afford to lose you. The most sensible thing would be to let Steven fend for himself."
"Not happening," I say, running off. I don't need to hear her trash talk.
Once we reach the 13th floor, it doesn't take long to find Stephen.
"You took your time," Stephen says.
"Well, you will run off on your own," Dad responds. There's a small smile on his face.
"The fog's lifting," I say, looking around. "It's working."
Eventually, after getting the situation under control, Dad, Stephen and myself are sat outside on the steps, covered in crap.
"Do you ever wonder if what we're doing is right?" Stephen questions. "Maybe the anomalies have a purpose. Maybe we should stop fighting, and face them."
"What? Just stand back and do nothing?" Dad asks.
"People should know what's happening. 'Cos we're gonna need to prepare for whatever comes next."
"Yeah, but how do you prepare for a world where evolution is going mad? We have to fight to try and maintain some kind of natural order."
"Does anybody really know what the natural order is anymore?"
Dad gets up and walks away, while Stephen turns to face me. "Helen probably does," I mutter before getting up to join Dad.
Well...I'm not entirely happy with this chapter, but it's up!