The Final Purge

Chapter 4: Janitor Duty in the Breakroom

"If she dies, we are trapped here forever."

Arthur stared at the monitor. The feed showed Ulya pressing her back against a reinforced glass partition while the creature paced in front of her. It was a mass of shifting, oily flesh, its movements jerky and unnatural. Arthur looked at the door, then back at the screen. His hands gripped the edge of the security console until his knuckles turned white.

"She has the codes," Arthur said, his voice flat. "If we go, we die in the lower levels. If we stay, we starve. We go."

"Are you insane?" Cochos hissed, backing away toward the corner of the room. "Look at that thing! It is a Hunter-class specimen. It will rip you apart before you even take a step."

Arthur ignored him. He grabbed a heavy wrench from the maintenance kit beneath the console and shoved it into his belt. He checked the display again, mapping the shortest route through the ventilation shafts. It would take them directly above the lab.

"Stay here if you want," Arthur said. "But the drones will circle back. This room is a death trap in ten minutes. I am moving."

He kicked open the maintenance hatch near the floor and crawled inside. The dark tunnel smelled like burning rubber and stale grease. He could hear Cochos scrambling behind him, his breathing ragged and fearful. They crawled for what felt like hours, navigating the narrow maze until Arthur reached a vent cover directly above the lab floor. He peered through the slats.

Ulya was still holding her ground, though her shock-baton was sparking violently now. The creature let out a low, vibrating growl that shook the very dust from the ceiling vents.

"Ready?" Arthur whispered.

"I am going to die," Cochos whimpered.

Arthur didn't wait. He kicked the metal grate free. It fell with a loud crash, drawing the beast’s attention upward. As the creature looked toward the ceiling, Arthur dropped down, swinging his mop handle like a club. He didn't aim for the beast’s core. He slammed the blunt end into its sensitive, exposed ocular cavity.

The creature shrieked, a sound that deafened them both. Arthur landed on his feet, his knees buckling under the impact. He shoved the mop handle into the beast’s flank, using the leverage to push himself toward Ulya.

"Get up!" Arthur yelled, grabbing her arm.

Ulya stared at him, her eyes wide with shock. She blinked, shaking off the paralysis of fear, and scrambled to her feet. "The codes! I have them, but the terminal is locked!"

"Then we run!" Arthur shouted.

The creature recovered, its body fluidly reforming as it lunged. Arthur slammed his cleaning cart into its path, the metal frame colliding with the beast’s side. It skidded, hampered by the heavy mop and buckets attached to the frame. They sprinted for the elevator doors at the end of the hall. Arthur punched the call button repeatedly.

The elevator pinged, the doors sliding open to reveal a cramped, empty cabin. They dived inside. Arthur smashed the button for the upper floors as the creature slammed into the closing doors. The metal buckled, the beast’s claws shredding the exterior surface of the elevator cabin.

"Get back!" Ulya screamed, backing into the corner.

The creature didn't stop. It began to force the doors open, its fingers wedging into the gap, slowly widening the metal panels.

Arthur looked at the ceiling of the elevator. He saw the maintenance hatch, but it was bolted shut. He looked at the control panel. He grabbed his wrench and hammered it into the panel casing, yanking out the wiring.

"What are you doing?" Ulya cried.

"Killing the momentum!" Arthur shouted. He jammed the metal wrench into the door tracks, pinning the doors in a half-open position. Then, he grabbed the emergency braking lever and yanked it with his full weight.

The elevator jerked violently, the cables screaming as the emergency brakes locked into place. The sudden deceleration threw them against the back wall. Outside the gap in the doors, the creature was caught off guard by the abrupt halt of the cabin. Its head was pinned between the sliding doors and the floor level.

The mechanism strained, the motor groaning under the pressure of the beast’s bulk. Arthur saw his chance. He grabbed the maintenance rod from the side of the door and shoved it through the gear teeth of the retraction unit.

The elevator groaned. The floor beneath them buckled. The beast let out a final, ear-piercing screech as the sheer force of the closing doors, combined with the locked elevator mechanism, crushed its skull against the concrete ledge of the hallway.

Black, viscous fluid sprayed into the cabin, covering them in a foul-smelling mist. Then, the power flickered and died. The cabin lurched one final time, tilting at a sharp, sickening angle.

"Arthur?" Ulya whispered in the sudden darkness.

"I am here," Arthur grunted, trying to stand, but the floor was no longer level.

He moved to the door, peering through the gap. They were not at a floor. They were dangling in the dark, vertical expanse of the elevator shaft, suspended between the tenth and eleventh levels. The cabin rocked gently, the cable above them straining with every movement.

"We are stuck," Cochos said from the back of the cabin.

Arthur reached out to touch the side of the elevator, but his hand found only cold, empty air. The cabin had shifted off its tracks. With a sudden, metallic snap, the secondary support cable sheared through. The entire elevator dropped a few inches, hanging now by a single, fraying wire.