Save Me

Sasha Tracer was punching out numbers in the company’s budget spreadsheet when the power went out in Manhattan. She looked at the black screen she had been working for hours and hadn’t saved in disbelief.

“No, no no noooo! Are you kidding me? That was due tomorrow morning!”

“I told you to save more often Sash. But you did you listen?”

“Shut up Jonathan, I’m not in the mood.” Even in pitch blackness, Sasha could picture Jonathan’s fat, smug face looking at her from behind wall of the cubicle across from her. He made her boring job nigh unbearable. Jonathan always had to prove that he was better than everyone. He thought it made him more desirable to women. And everytime he proved he was, he would give Sasha a creepy eyebrow waggle. His attempt at flirting. But it just made every woman in the office uncomfortable. Except for the receptionist, who actually found his annoying habits desirable.

“Hey now, don’t be like that. You know I’m right.” His voice was as unsettling as ever.

“The backup generator should have kicked in. Sorry, I expected something to be decent at this shitty job.”

“Even if it did kick in, you still would have lost everything in the time it took to turn on. All you had to do was press a few buttons and you would have been fine.” Sasha’s face began to burn with anger. She thanked Vishnu that it was too dark for him to see her face flushed. It would have just encourage him more. Sasha heard a rolling chair roll closer, felt a rough hand slide itself onto her knee and begin to make its way up her leg. “It’s ok Sasha, I can help you get back to where you were after the power comes back on.”

Sasha’s chair scraped against the tile floor as she shot up. “Well I guess I better go get that generator up and running then huh?” Every fiber of her being wanted to smack his hand away, and spit in his arrogant face. But he was the son of the head of the company. One word from him could get her fired. And while she did loathe this job, she loathed being on the street and starving to death more. “You’d think a rich company like this would be able to hire someone to do this for us. Or a backup generator that actually works.”

“You know, most companies don’t have backup generators in their buildings.” Sasha clenched her fists. It was a miracle she hadn’t punched Jonathan in the throat already.

Luckily for Sasha, she had a small flashlight as a keychain on her wallet. As well as a bottle opener. She claimed it was because she liked to always feel prepared, which was ironic considering she was currently trying to fix an old beat up generator for not being prepared.

The battery powered generator somehow had accumulated grease and oil over the years. Cobwebs hung off it at every angle. Dents and scratches plagued the machine. It made sense to Sasha why they had put an electronic lock on the generator room now. She had no idea what people were doing in here that caused this much damage and she really didn’t want to know.

Sasha slid underneath the rickety machine and pried open a panel, powdery with rust and dust, holding her tiny flashlight in her mouth. A cloud of dust puffed in her face, and several writhing insects scurried deeper into the generator out of fear. Gross. Tentatively she reached inside the belly of the generator to pick at its insides.

She shoved wires to the side, struggling to see deeper into the machine when a bundle of the wires came loose and fell out. They landed on her chest, covered in spider webs and various imprisoned insects. Sasha jolted up out of instinct and banged her head. She clutched her head with one hand and chucked the wires away with another, banging that hand on the generators supports. She clenched her entire body trying to suppress her yelp of pain. If Jonathan heard her, she would never hear the end of it.

Sasha crawled out from under the generator and scoured the ground for the wires she threw. Considering how easily they fell, they were probably the problem. As flashlight still in mouth, she felt around and searched with the small beam of light, when she came across some scuff marks on the floor. They made a perfect curve, and ended at the back wall where the generator was connected.

She looked the wall over curiously and knocked on it with her non injured hand. Hollow. Sasha got a little excited. She had always dreamed of having a secret room behind a sliding bookcase, but sliding wall would do though. She shoved on the wall with all her might until she collapsed to the floor exhausted. Through heavy breaths she chuckled. She thought of herself as foolish. Of course there wouldn’t be a secret passage behind the wall. That was only a thing in movies and books. Besides, what would her company office building need with a secret passage?

Sasha smiled at her own childish wonder and looked over at the generator to get back to work then noticed something. Her flashlight that had fallen on the ground during her vain attempts to move a wall was shining right behind the generator. The light perfectly shone upon a big red button hidden right behind the generator, her childish wonder filled her once again as she scrambled to press it. The wall and the generator slowly turned 90 degrees. The sound of heavy brick on a tile flooring filled her ears. A tight passage was revealed. Excitedly, Sasha swiped up the flashlight, stuck it back in her mouth, and started shuffling sideways down the passage.

Sasha’s chest and back scrapped against the wall making the journey through the passage a very uncomfortable one. The passage reeked of mold and mildew, but the amount of spiderwebs had gone down significantly since the generator. The path itself was made of wood and brick. The way it was shaped it seemed like Sasha was in between two different rooms. It was quite the space efficient passageway.

Sasha shuffled down the passage for what felt like an hour before it led to a small rickety old wooden room. The stench of mold was much more powerful here, and the entire room seemed to creek as Sasha took a step onto it. Looking in front of her, the room seemed moderately bare. The only furniture was a desk with an old dusty book on it. Her attention was immediately drawn to it, and walked over to inspect it before looking at anything else.

With a huff, Sasha blew a thick layer of dust away from the leather bound book. The cover read ‘processing’. Flipping it open, a few pages scattered onto the ground. They were torn and molded into disuse. The pages inside the book all read something similar. Each one had a table drawn into it split once right down the middle. In the top boxes, there were the words ‘number’ and ‘status’. Underneath were various combinations of numbers and ‘deceased’ next to each one.

Sasha slammed the useless book closed and took a few steps back, looking at the back wall which appeared to have scratch marks all up and down it, with some dark liquid soaked deep into it. She didn’t have long to inspect it however, as Sasha’s heel was met with empty space. Quickly, she shifted all her weight onto her other foot, which caused the plank she was standing on to break way. A scream struggled to escape her mouth as it was holding onto her only source of light. Sasha fell into the darkness below.

A thick cloud of dust surrounded Sasha which made it harder for her to catch her breath after the fall had winded her. Her flashlight lay beside her, destroyed. Sasha groaned. Slowly, she picked herself up, wincing with pain.

Dusting herself off, she looked around. The wooden room she was in was suspended a few feet above her, held up by thick wooden supports. A broken wooden ladder hung from an opening in the floor of it, now bigger thanks to Sasha. The area around her was mostly concrete, lit by a single opening that had a mirror to angle natural light into the room. It was a room built around the foundations of a nearby building. The floor was littered with various papers covered in a thin layer of dust. A single doorway led out. Seeing no other option, she tentatively walked through the doorway into another darkened hallway.

Running her hands along the wall for support, Sasha stumbled her way through the hallway until she eventually came to a heavy metal door. Fumbling around she found the latch and heaved it open. The door ground against the cement floor, echoing throughout the hidden area. The smell of rotting meat came pouring out.

Sasha outstretched her hands to feel her way around, when she stepped in an unknown liquid, causing her foot to slip. Instincts took over and she flailed her arms to find something to grab. Her hand found something and squeezed it, causing it to squelch. She gagged and immediately started rubbing away whatever got on her on her pants. A chain clattered, swinging back and forth. Shivering, she pressed on.

Her hands brushed against more of whatever she grabbed earlier. The smell of copper mixed in with the rotting meat, creating an unmelodious stench. Sasha’s stomach churned at the possibilities of what was in this room. Flies buzzed about as she bumped into hunks of mystery meat. Her clothing became more and more moist as she shoved the meats away, only to have them swing back and hit her.

Shivers ran up and down her spine telling her to get out of this situation, and fast. She started pushing through the meats faster and faster. Panic began to rise, intruding her thoughts. Barging through the meats, she slammed into a metal corner. She leaned against it, wincing in pain. Her breathing had become ragged. She just wanted out.

Suddenly, lights turned on blinding Sasha. Muffled talking could be heard. She blinked and stood up straight. Finally, her eyesight returned to her fully. She had wished it hadn’t. Right in her face was another, human, face. Slack jawed and eyes glazed over. Dried blood clung to the side of their face. Shaved bald and beaten so viciously that any significant facial features were gone.

She had to force herself not to hurl. A door could be heard opening. Discovering that the metal corner she had rammed into earlier was a metal cabinet, she jammed herself inside quickly. She managed to shut the door shut, just as the other opened up. The muffled talking became audible.

“I’m telling you I heard something.” The voice was strident and whiney. The breaths in between waiting a response were shaky.

“And I’m telling you, you imagined it. You gotta get off that stuff it's making you lose it.” This voice sounded somehow familiar, but Sasha couldn’t place it.

“It’s to help me sleep. The doctors prescribe- Look!” A pause as they pushed aside the bodies. “That door hasn’t been opened in years. I told you I heard something!” It sounded as if someone were flailing for as the first voice wheezed.

“Shut up! If that door is open, then it means somebody has gotten in. We have to find them before word gets out about what’s going on down here. Go to the old processing room and guard the exit. Now!” The second voice seemed annoyed by something. The first voice panted as they scurried away, and shut the metal door Sasha entered through. As soon as the footsteps of the second voice stopped behind the other door and closed it, Sasha quietly made her way out of the cabinet.

Keeping low, Sasha looked around at her newly lit surroundings. Human bodies of various races and genders hung from chains like a giant meat locker. Every single one had purple bruises and welts on them. Some were missing limbs, and others were stripped of their skin. Blood covered the floor and dripped down from the bodies. She paused, a horrifying thought occurring to her. Looking down at herself, she saw herself covered in blood.

Sasha heaved her dinner all over the floor. Her body was shaking from head to toe. She clenched her stomach to try and keep herself from vomiting again. She stared at the door the second voice exited through teary eyes terrified of it opening again. Her body felt weak and she wanted to collapse to the floor and cry. But sitting in a pool of blood and vomit would only make things worse. She started sobbing as quietly as she could.

After finally getting ahold of herself a little she stood up. Sasha decided against going through either of the doors. Looking up, she saw an air vent. Hanging just a little ways away was a sturdy looking chain hooked into a body. I’d rather climb a body than become one. She thought to herself grimly.

The body was wet with blood. It was missing all four of it’s limbs, which made it hard to get a purchase on with her feet. She had to reach up to grab the chain and hoist herself up causing her face to brush right up against the body. Her arms felt like jello. She struggled to raise herself high enough for her feet to get ahold of something. Her face slowly rubbed against the body the entire time until she was cheek to cheek with it.

Forcing down vomit, she got a foothold and scrambled up the chain as quickly as she could. The chain jangled loudly. Adrenaline began to surge through her. Getting as high as she could, Sasha kicked down the vent grate and scrambled inside. She closed the grate behind her just as a door burst open. Sasha slowly and quietly inched herself further into the grate. She left the horrid room behind, listening to the yelling of a man searching for her.

Crawling at a snail's pace, petrified to make a sound, She made her way through the air vent. She passed an opening into a hallway filled with people talking about what they planned to do to the intruder if they were the ones to find them choosing not to listen what they had to say. Finally she came to a room that had no one moving around or talking inside. She peered inside.

The room was expansive. It filled Sasha with wonderment how all of this fit underneath her office building without anyone knowing. Inside was a multitude of operating tables. For each table, there was a large cylindrical glass tube filled with a green liquid. Inside were figures that were disfigured. She couldn’t tell which were human, and which weren’t. Dread filled her as she considered that they might all be human. Each one was different. Many had extra limbs or were bigger than normal. Others, much smaller than normal.

Just as She brought her foot back to kick open the grate, two different doors opened. Sasha realized now why she had recognized the voice from earlier. Jonathan walked through the door and right up to a woman that had entered through another. “We have searched A wing and B wing. C and D are currently being searched.”

“Excellent. And are all exits blocked?” The woman shook her head.

“No sir. We are working on it.”

“Well work on it faster! That should have been the first thing you did. This is why I told my father I should pick the recruits. Useless!” The woman winced as he yelled and nodded hurriedly.

“Yes sir. There’s something else sir. There are test subjects in Wing D that are acting up and we are having troubles putting them back under sir. We need your authorization to dispose of them.” Jonathan gave a heavy sigh and gestured towards a third door.

“Well lead the way then.” The two walked to the door and opened it up. Several locks could be heard clicking into place.

Sasha opened up the air vent and carefully lowered herself down. She collapsed on the cold ground, and stared up at the ceiling, panting heavily. She felt drained. Her creepy coworker worked in a secret basement that hung human bodies to dry. Not to mention, his father, the head of the company she worked for knew about it. Was the company just a front for this entire thing? If so did that mean the taxes and budgeting she did for them help them keep this whole insane operation running? She shuddered at the thought.

A quiet whimper could be heard. But it wasn’t Sasha. She shot up, and looked around. The whimper came from the center of the room. Hesitantly, Sasha stood and made her way over to the sound. As she passed by an operating table, she grabbed an scalpel and brandished it as her only means of defense.

In the center of the room was a large cart with bodies and severed limbs piled high inside it. The whimpering came from inside. Sasha held the scalpel at the ready. Dragging a body to the side she revealed a teenage boy. He had nothing on him except for two pair of handcuffs. One tethering his hands, and the other his feet. Tears streamed down his face as he looked up at her with big brown saucer sized eyes that conveyed youthful innocence. His lip quivered.

“It’s okay. I’m not one of them.” Sasha lowered her scalpel as she said this. The boy let out a sigh of relief, and broke out into silent tears. Sasha sat there staring at him, still in shock about everything that was happening.

The boy struggled to regain his composure. Whipping tears from his face with his hands, he looked back up at Sasha. Bruises covered his muscular body. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on him, which was unsettling. Through tears he gurgled out a single word. “Help”

Sasha gave him a hand and helped him out of the cart. He didn’t need much help though. The boy was unnaturally strong. He shrugged off full grown adult bodies off him with ease and hopped out holding her hand with the strongest grip she had ever felt. Sasha took a step back. A little afraid of the boy.

Just as Sasha was opening her mouth to reply to the boy, she heard a lock on one of the doors click open. Her heart began to race as the second lock clicked open. She looked at the boy who had the same terrified look as her. Sasha let go of his hands. He outstretched his arms, showing his cuffs to her, gesturing with his head towards them. Sasha took one last look at him, shook her head, and ran towards the air vent.

The boy screamed after her. He tried to hope to the air vent as well, but lost his balance and to the floor with a smack. Meanwhile Sasha kept running faster with every lock that clicked open. She made it to the vent, and with every last ounce of strength she had left, hoisted herself back up and slammed the grate shut. One last time, she thanked Vishnu.

Ignoring the boy’s wails, Sasha once again silently made her way through the air vent. Who knows what he would have done if I had let him go? He was scared and desperate. I could have died if I let him go. She justified. Besides, there probably wasn’t enough time. No point in us both getting caught.

Each opening she passed, yelling could be heard. Papers were hurriedly being put away as others searched around. Every now and then a series of gunshots erupted. Followed by the sound of bodies slumping to the floor. When she passed an opening where the gunshots came from, bodies similar to those in the test tubes were peppered about the floor. Blood still flowing from the bullet holes. Sasha moved faster with every opening she passed, anxiety rising in her. She had no idea how she was going to escape, but she knew that she couldn’t stop moving.

As she got further along, the sound of people became less and less frequent. Finally, Sasha got to the end of the vent system. Looking out the last opening, she saw an empty room with papers scattered all around, most of them caught up in one of the many puddles of blood. Sasha exited the air vent tentatively. There were two doors with thick glass windows connecting this room with the rest of the compound, showing that the adjoining rooms were also empty.

Sasha snuck her way to the door leading away from the heart of the compound. The lights in the room were turned off. She peered inside. The beam of light landed on a fire escape ladder. A way out. Sasha fell to the ground, laughing with relief. Her entire body was shaking, and sweat was pouring off her. She was exhausted both physically and mentally. But it was almost all over. She swore that she would never explore her workplace again. That thought reminded her that she would need to find a new job after this. She got up, and slowly opened the door. I never want to see this company again. The door swung open with a creek. She took one step through the door when a hand lunged from the darkness, and yanked her inside the room.

The lights to the room flicked on. As Sasha’s eyes adjusted, she noticed several figures standing around her looking at her. The first face her eyes adjusted to see, was the teenage boy’s. A collar had been put around his neck. A familiar voice spoke.

“Oh Sasha. You had to try and fix that generator didn’t you? I thought you’d give up after an hour or two and go back to sulking at your desk. But instead you nosed around and found the old entrance. I told father we should have sealed it up as soon as we stopped using it, but he wanted to wait until the end of the quarter so we could hide the cost easier. Now look. We have to kill one of our lovely employees.” Sasha shuddered, struggling to escape the grasp of the person holding her down behind her. She looked back at the boy.

“You told them?” Her voice was filled with betrayal.

“Yes Sasha. We told him that we wouldn’t gut him if he told us where you escaped to. Good thing too. We don’t have enough people on staff right now to cover all the exits.”

Anger washed over Sasha. She lurched forward and spat at Jonathan’s face, landing right on his glasses. If she was going to die, might as well do what she always wished she could do. Jonathan laughed a high, maniacal laugh. He wiped the spit away with his sleeve and pulled out a scalpel from his pocket. Sasha starred him dead in the eye. If this creep enjoyed causing fear, she wanted make sure he got no pleasure from killing her. She wanted to make sure he saw her in his nightmares.

Jonathan turned and stabbed the teenage boy in the throat. The boy gasped for air. He reached for Sasha, seeming to mouth one word. ‘Help’. Jonathan chuckled, looking back at Sasha. “Tut tut Sasha. What did I tell you about saving things?” He burst out laughing, walking slowly towards her threateningly. He grabbed her face with one hand, looking it over. Sasha kept staring him down.

“Do it, you pig.”

“Oh my. You always were a feisty one. But if you’re asking me to kill you, I got other news.” Sasha’s expression became more confused than angry. “We lost a lot of wonderful specimens thanks to your little field trip. You’ll make a fine replacement.” Dread filled Sasha. Jonathan snapped his fingers, and the other abhorrent people surrounding her, dragged her out of the room. Sasha screamed and thrashed with everything she had, but she was already so spent. Helpless, they dragged her away.

They brought her to an operating table, and strapped her down. She looked around, desperate for a means of escape. But all she could see was her fate. Experiments in their test tubes, and used up bodies littering the floor. Jonathan pulled on gloves and held the scalpel in his hand. Sasha struggled, filled with panic and fear. She let out a blood curdling scream as the blade began cutting into her.

“SOMEBODY! SAVE ME!” Sasha’s screams almost drowned out Jonathan’s cackling of glee as he continued to tear into her.