Purgatech: Jess' Horror

Chapter Eleven

Jess sunk down to her knees. Digging her fingernails into her skin through her jeans, she howled like some rabid beast until her throat went raw. Surely someone would hear her. Surely someone would come.

When she finally stopped, the room was silent, still. The wind screeched as it scraped across the exterior of the house, almost as though it was echoing her own screams.

She sat there for a long while, listening, hoping to hear even the tiniest peep from her best friend coming up from the dark stairwell. But there was nothing.

She didn’t know what to do, or if she even had the strength to move, but a tiny voice in the back of her head kept whispering.

Go to her. She needs you. Go to your friend.

Somehow, she managed to crawl forward in the darkness, not stopping until her hand hit something hard. It was her phone. She could use it. To help Erica. To call someone.

Her hand trembling so violently, she snatched it up, almost dropping it before she was able to activate the flashlight app. With the bacon lit, Jess slid forward until she was belly on the floor. She was afraid of what she would find but she had to know. She had to see.

She slid her arm out until the flashlight illuminated the stairwell. There, in the bright white beam from her phone, the white beam of light brought the reality of the situation into focus.

The crumpled body of her friend was stuck at the bottom of the stairs. Her arms were turned up at an impossible angle. Her mouth was frozen open in a soundless scream. Her eyes, half-closed, stared up to the ceiling blankly.

Jess squeezed her eyes shut. A cry choked in her throat as she slumped to the floor. She felt the contents of her stomach swirl and threaten to spew from her throat. Somehow, she managed to stifle the urge, then opened her eyes and looked back down at her friend.

"Er-erica?" Her voice cracked. The words came out so soft, that Jess wasn't even sure she'd said anything at all.

"Err-bear? Can you hear me?"

The longer Erica was silent, the more Jessica felt the urge to vomit. She desperately wanted to go down there and help her friend, but she was scared; not of what sent Erica flying over the edge. But of what she would find at the bottom of those stairs if she went down there and pressed her fingers to Erica’s throat.

What if she found nothing at all? No pulse? What if she laid her head on Erica’s chest and heard nothing, no heartbeat?

"Erica? You have to talk to me now. Tell me you're okay. Just say something!"

Jess held her breath and waited. Fear built within her, rolling up from the pit of her stomach and settling in her chest. Intertwined in the sickening fear was anger. Anger that this had happened, angry that Erica hadn't been more careful. Angry that Erica had tagged along with her in the first place. This was Jess's thing. This was her belief, her adventure. Why did Erica have to insinuate herself into the experiment like everything else they did? Why was she always there?

Jess shook her head. How could she be angry at her friend at a time like this. She was the one who would recruited Erica to come along with her. She hadn’t exactly tried to talk her out of it. What was with her sudden anger at Erica when she needed her most?

Jess suddenly scrambled up onto her knees. Her thoughts didn’t make any sense. It was like something…or someone…had taken over. She grabbed her cell phone and stood up warily, her knees threatening to buckle under her. But she couldn't just leave Erica down there to fend for herself. There was no one else up here. She was the only one who could help her.

Jess activated the flashlight again and spun around, feeling momentarily dizzy. She waited a few moments to get her bearings and then decided it was time to get the hell out of this creepy attic and find some help.

She used her phone to light the way across the room to the wall closest to her. She panned the light along the stone and wood panels, looking for one of those light fixtures Dylan had pointed out on the tour of the house. He said there were cameras fixed inside. If she could find one, she could get their attention.

She scoured the short wall then followed the long wall but found nothing. Along the other wall she looked but still, there was nothing. No lights. No light switches. There were no windows in the room except for a small round window in the center of the peak of house’s gable.

Jess hoisted herself off onto the bed and steadied herself on the lumpy mattress, but the window wouldn’t budge. She shoved her phone into her pocket and then reached up, slamming her fist against the window. If they were really watching 24-7 like they were supposed to, they should have been here by now. A cold blast of air sent shivers to the back of her neck.

The window. It had opened.

The heaviness in the room seemed to instantly dissipate. Jess used both hands to pull herself up so she could see out the high window. She was on her tip toes and could just barely make out the exterior drive. It was dark outside now, and only pale lantern light lit the drives up to the front of the house. But there was no one else out there. No one stirred, not even the security guards that Dylan had assured her were on-site at all hours.

Jess didn’t care. She tilted her chin up and rested it on the ledge.

"Hello!" she screamed. "Is anyone out there? Can anyone hear me?"

She waited but there was no response. Her heart hammered in her chest like an oncoming freight train.

This time she pounded her fist on the window a few times. "Hello! It's me, Jess! We're up in the attic! Erica has been hurt! Stop shoveling powdered donuts in your face and send someone up here! Now!"

A loud thumping on the door at the bottom of the stairwell made Jess lose her footing. She lost her balance, scraping her palms on the stone ledge but she didn’t care. She sunk down onto the bed and then spun around, pushing herself up and bounding toward the door.

"Hello!” she shouted. “We need help!"

She almost made it to the top of the stairs before she felt an intense force in front of her. She slammed against it like it was a brick wall. She went flying back, slamming onto the floor with a thud. She slid across the floor until the top of her head slammed into the far wall. She clutched at her chest, the wind knocked out of her. She clutched at her throat, trying to catch her breath. She pitched over to one side, gasping, choking back tears.

The pounding on the door sounded again. Jess shook the shock off before mustering every ounce of energy she had and pushed herself up onto her knees.

"We are in here! Someone's been hurt we need help!"

"Well then open the damn door than!"

It was Rob. Probably the last person Jess wanted to see right now but at least it was someone.

Jess crawled to her feet and took a few steps toward the stairwell but stopped herself. She didn't know what had happened but something was trying to keep her from going down those stairs.

She stood there, her head woozy from the fall, and clutched her hoodie around her with frozen fingers, shivering. The room had dropped about 10°.

"The door’s stuck,” Jess shouted. “We can't get out."

The door handle rattled. Something thumped against the wood.

Rob’s muffled voice came from the either side of the door. "We got a problem because I can't bloody well get in there."

Jess could feel the creeping sensation of cold invading her thin sweater. Maybe it was just the window, the breeze circulating in the room that had been sealed tight for who knows how long. But something in her mind whispered to her, nagged her. This was a different kind of cold. It was deeper, more invasive. Like it was seeping into her bones.

"What the hell's going on up there?" Rob called from the either side of the door.

"I told you, Erica’s hurt! We can get the door open."

"I know that. What I mean is…my Purga-thingy is going insane."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean…it’s beeping like crazy. There's something in there with you."

Jess's stomach dropped. The cold air had enveloped her completely now. She couldn't move.

That's when she heard it. It wasn't exactly a voice but rather the faintest whispering that she couldn't make out.

No no no. Not like this. Don't do this to me, don't did not right now.

The sound continued to swirl around her and made her feel dizzy. She felt like she was going to throw up. But it continued, starting as a tiny whisper and then growing into something that even when she clasped her hands over her ears she could still hear it. It was like it was invading her body, seeping directly into her brain, making her unable to shut out the sound.

"I hope to hell you're recording this!" Rob said through the door.

"How the hell can you think about that right now!"

"Isn’t that why we're here? To investigate this crap?"

The skin on her arms goosebumped at the sound. She couldn’t take it anymore. She bolted over to the bed where she’d left her pack earlier. She rifled through it in the dark, managing to find the pair of Purgoggles. Somehow, she managed to still her shaking hands long enough to snatch them up, slide them over her head and press the goggles tightly to her face with both palms. She slung the bag over her shoulder with the other gear.

She tapped the button on the side and after a few seconds, everything in front of her had a pale green tinge from the infrared display. She held onto the bed post as a way to anchor herself in the room. It was like a touchstone, a solid security blanket that grounded her. She took a deep breath and decided that she had to get down to Erica one way or another and get out of this room.

As she turned her head from one side to the other, the furniture in the room took on a dark silhouette, but otherwise, everything looked normal.

She let go of the post and took a step forward. When she looked back down at the post could see the red imprint in the pace where her hand had been, the residual heat where her hand had been. At least she knew the goggles worked.

With each step, she glanced from the left side to the right, sweeping the room to see if there was anything in front of her. The cool wash of relief flooded over her when she didn't see anything strange.

"What's going on up there? You still alive?” Rob called.

"I’m making my way to you."

"Well, hurry it up."

"You do realize there are no lights up here, right? It's pitch black!"

Just then, Jess heard a gurgling sound from the foot of the stairwell. The cold rush of adrenaline flooded her system, making her shiver. Then the thought…maybe there really was something else in there with her. But then it hit her. It was Erica. She was waking up. She was down there, injured, alone. But she was alive!

"Erica! I'm coming for you!"

Jess suddenly strode forward, defiantly prepared to face whatever had tried to stop her from going to Erica before.

But before she could even get to the top of the stairs, something appeared in the display on her goggles, just out of the corner of her eye. Jessica stopped mid-stride, gasping. Whatever it was darted out of view and then it was gone.

Did she really see something? Or was it just her eyes trying to make sense of the darkness?

Something sounded behind her, that same scratching of tree branches she’d heard the other night outside her room. But she had just been at the window. There were no trees in the front of the house. Something else made that noise.

She edged forward, clutching her phone in one hand.

"Hello?" She said softly. "Is there anyone in here with me?"

It wasn't like she expected to hear a response or anything. In fact, she hoped she wouldn’t hear anything else. But something shifted in the room and just ahead of her, a dark shadow zipped past out of her periphery vision.

She heard the whispering again. It swirled around her head making her dizzy. But she gritted her teeth together continued forward.

The words were all jumbled together, so soft that she couldn't make them out and yet they sounded so far away.

"Are you doing that, Rob?" she called out.

"Doing what? How the hell can I be doing anything when I'm out here and you’re in there?"

The whispers continued and only got louder as Jess moved toward the stairwell. They swirled around her, enveloping the room until they were so loud, they seemed to suck all the air out of the place. Jess gasped, clutching at her throat, spinning around, trying to find a pocket of air. She stopped, staggering backward at the unmistakable shape of a woman standing in front of her.

They did this to me, and they're going to do it to you, too.

Jess shook her head, her mouth hanging open but she couldn't muster a single word.

Soon you'll be stuck here like me.

Jess shrieked, swinging her arms in front of her as if she could hit the person in front of her but her arms just swung through the air wildly.

The voices became so loud now that Jessica was sure that her eardrums would burst and the blood would seep down.

She cupped her hands over her ears trying to block out the sound but it was of no use. She felt a distinct pop in intense pain when she pulled her hands away, they felt wet. She shoved her hand into her pocket where she’d shoved her phone earlier. The beacon was still lit. When she held it up, the beam illuminated the blood on her palm.

Unable to stop herself any longer, her survival instinct kicked in. She bolted down the stairs nearly tripping over her own feet and landing at the bottom where Erica still lay motionless. But the moment Jessica landed, Erica's head snapped to the side her eyes wide and her lips moving. The whispers were coming from her. Her eyes looked at Jessica they were dead, no emotion no recognition and her mouth continue to move,

“You'll be stuck here like me. Forever. You can't get out. You're going to be stuck here like me forever.”

Jessica leaned as far away from Erica as she could get, almost skittering back up the stairs, even though that was the last place she wanted to go. She could hear pounding on the other side of the door again. The door handle rattled, the door shaking. When it finally swung open, Jessica didn't care anymore. She bounded over her friend, scampered out into the hallway, crying, heaving as she hyperventilated. She clawed her way along the carpet to the opposite side of the hallway and collapsed into a heap on the floor.