The Sanctuary of 17B

Chapter 2: Knock, Knock, Knife

The heavy banging rattled the wooden frame of the door, vibrating through the dark apartment.

"Who is it?" Dimas yelled, clutching the hollow metal mop handle with white knuckles. "Stay back! I'm armed!"

"Dimas! Oh my god, please open up!" a woman's voice screamed from the hallway. "It's Alina! From 3C! Please let me in!"

"Alina? What are you doing out there? Why aren't you in your own place?"

"The fog is leaking into my apartment! My front door has a massive gap at the bottom, and I could see the grey mist sliding across the floor like snakes! And the power is out everywhere! Please, Dimas, my head is starting to throb!"

"Wait, don't move. Let me look through the peephole first."

Dimas pressed his eye to the glass peephole. Under the sickly corridor light, Alina stood pale and shivering, holding a knife and a can of peaches.

"Why do you have a knife, Alina? Are you trying to rob me?"

"Are you serious right now? I found it in my kitchen! I brought it for self-defense because there was something in the stairwell! I heard it crawling!"

"What did you hear?"

"It sounded like giant fingernails scraping against the concrete! It was terrifying, Dimas! It was coming up from the lower floors!"

"You have to drop the knife. I am not unlocking this door for someone holding a weapon."

"Are you crazy? What if that thing comes up the stairs right now? I'll be completely defenseless!"

"Then we're both staying right here. I'm not risking my life. Drop the knife, or find somewhere else to hide."

"Fine! Look! I'm setting it on the floor right by my feet! See? I'm putting it down!"

She bent down, sliding the knife across the floor.

"There! It's gone! Can you open the door now? Please?"

"Not yet. I need to make sure you're actually sane. I just saw Mr. Hendra outside. He didn't even know his own name. He forgot his wife. If you've inhaled that fog, you might be losing your mind too."

"I am perfectly sane! Ask me anything! Just hurry, please!"

"Okay. What's my full name?"

"Dimas Arga! You're twenty-two, you live in unit 3B, and you play video games until five in the morning! You scream at your computer screen so loudly that I can hear you through the walls!"

Dimas flushed in the dark. "Okay, that's accurate. What about you? What's your name? What do you do?"

"Alina Sokolova! I'm twenty-four, I'm a freelance illustrator, and I moved here six months ago! My rent is due next week, my mother lives in Surabaya, and my childhood dog was a golden retriever named Bima! Is that enough for you?"

"What about the landlord's name? Do you remember?"

"Mr. Siregar! The guy who always wears those ridiculous gold rings and complains about our trash! Dimas, please... my head is starting to throb. The air out here... it smells like copper."

"Like old pennies?"

"Yes, copper! It's leaking in through the hallway vents. Every time I breathe it in, it feels like... like my brain is getting heavy. Like an eraser is wiping things out."

"What are you forgetting? Tell me right now!"

Dimas pressed his ear to the wood.

"I'm trying to remember my laptop password. I use it every single day, Dimas. But right now... I can only picture the first two letters. The rest is just... blank. It's like looking into a deep, empty hole. If I stay out here any longer, I'll forget who I am. I know it."

"And what did you eat for breakfast today?"

"What? Why does that matter?"

"Just answer me! Memory loss usually starts with short-term stuff!"

"I had instant coffee and some stale biscuits! That's it! Dimas, please, my forehead is burning. It feels like someone is pouring hot wax into my ears!"

Dimas stared at the bolt, calculating. Her mind was still working.

"What's in your other hand? The yellow thing."

"It's a can of peaches. A giant tin. It has sugar, Dimas. It has syrup. If the water stops working, we can drink the syrup. It will last for years. I will give it to you. All of it."

"You'll give me the whole can? No tricks?"

"Yes! You can have the entire thing! Just let me inside where the air is clean! I don't want to become like the people downstairs. I saw Mrs. Ani, Dimas. She was just... standing in the lobby, staring at a blank wall. She didn't even blink when I ran past her. She looked like a hollow shell."

Dimas felt a cold dread wash over him. "Mrs. Ani too? She was fine this morning."

"Nobody is fine! The whole building is going quiet, Dimas! It's so quiet out here! Except for... except for that scraping sound. It's getting closer. I think it's on the second floor now!"

"What did you see from your window before you ran out?"

"The streetlights went out, but right before they did, I saw... things. Huge shadows moving through the fog. They looked like people, but they were too tall. Their arms and legs were stretching, Dimas. They were walking like spiders."

"I saw them too. From my balcony. I thought I was hallucinating. I thought there was a chemical leak or something."

"It's not a hallucination! One of them was standing right outside the lobby glass when I ran up! It was pressing its... its face against the glass. But it didn't have a face, Dimas. It was just a smooth, grey surface where its eyes and mouth should be."

"Oh god. Are you sure?"

"Yes! I've never been more sure of anything in my life! I ran as fast as I could up the stairs, and that's when the power cut out completely. Everything went pitch black, and then I heard the scraping on the concrete below me."

"How many flights up do you think it is?"

"I don't know! It sounded like it was on the first floor when I reached the third, but it's moving fast! Please, Dimas, we're wasting time!"

"Is your phone working? Did you get any signal?"

"No! The signal vanished ten minutes ago. Right after the blackout. I tried to call emergency services, but there was just this high-pitched static. It hurt my ears."

"The sirens went off too. The broadcast told us to seal the windows. It said not to help anyone outside."

"But I'm not outside! I'm your neighbor! We've lived next to each other for six months! Are you really going to let me rot out here because of a stupid broadcast?"

Dimas stared at his hands. If the hallway air was contaminated, it would seep in anyway. An ally with food was better than waiting alone.

"Okay. I'm going to open it. But you have to do exactly what I say. Do you understand?"

"Yes! Anything!"

"When I open this door, you step inside immediately, and you don't touch me. You leave the knife. You bring the peaches. And we slam this door shut and lock it instantly. Got it?"

"Yes, I understand! Just open it!"

"And if you try to grab my weapon, I will use it. I'm not trying to be cruel, Alina. I'm just trying to survive."

Dimas tightened his grip on the metal pole.

"I know, I know! I don't want to fight you! I just want to be safe! Please... my knees are shaking. I can barely stand."

She leaned heavily against the wood.

"Okay. I'm unlocking it now."

He grabbed the lock, taking a deep breath.

"Hold on to the peaches. Don't drop them."

"I've got them. I'm holding them tight."

"On three. One... two..."

"Three!"

With a heavy click, Dimas turned the lock and cracked the door open.