Arc II, Chapter 34: The Doctor’s Visit

I carefully scanned the area ahead, making sure to keep the mental image of Isaac in my mind so that I could see which way he was being taken.

A flood of self-doubt and shame moved over me as I began contemplating how my plan had failed that badly. Was it Cassie’s Foreboding Signs trope that did it? Perhaps her vision predicted my demise, but then when Oblivious Bystander countered it, Carousel was robbed of its victim.

Was that it? Had Carousel attacked Isaac because I had avoided my fate in a way that wasn’t satisfying to the audience?

It felt possible, but this was too soon. There were better ways for Carousel to send that message, ways that didn’t take so much guesswork.

As I stumbled blindly through the darkness, I couldn’t quite put my finger on what had gone wrong. I walked faster. I needed to keep Isaac in range on the red wallpaper.

“Hello? Officer Willis?” I cried out. I had to keep up the appearance that I was just lost, that I had no idea what had just happened. In the darkness, the audience wouldn’t know that I was wandering around with a purpose.

Then, I saw something that gave me pause.

Ahead of me in the darkness in the same direction that Isaac was moving in, I could see something else.

There was something else on the red wallpaper that I could only get a glimpse of for a split second at a time.

It was too dark for me to see with my eyes, but still, I saw some other being on the red wallpaper. That didn’t make sense. I had to have a visual on enemies to read the red wallpaper most of the time.

As best as I could figure, Isaac was being carried, but someone else was in front of him that I could not see clearly.

I stared intently ahead as I moved through the dark tunnel. I listened, but the sound of the water was too loud to hear anything.

The whole time, I was still being followed.

Whatever was about to go down, I wasn’t going to have many options. I powered on.

Soon, I figured out what I was getting glimpses of on the red wallpaper. I knew deep inside the moment I saw it, I just didn’t want to believe it.

It was Bobby.

It took a moment for me to get a good look.

Bobby was moving ahead of Isaac. Was he a prisoner or… No. His Captured status wasn’t lit.

I checked his other stats. He was Mutilated, as Cassie had said. I had no idea what injuries he had, but I knew his Infected status also was not lit. That meant he wasn’t being controlled. Whatever he was doing, it was of his own volition.

I hurried ahead, running through the checklist of what I had to do.

I needed to get a look at whatever enemies we were dealing with. I needed to somehow resolve Cassie’s vision of my demise. I had to figure it all out.

There was light up ahead.

On-Screen.

I exited the dark corridor I had followed them down and found myself in a larger room where many tunnels converged, their overflowing streams all met and fell down a deep shaft. Right there, in the middle of it all, was what I assumed to be a water treatment station that had been abandoned some time ago, looking beaten up and taken over by nature. The walls were crumbling and covered in moss, and the pipes were rusty and twisted everywhere. The windows, however, were clean. The walkways were swept clear.

Isaac, Bobby, and whoever had been carrying Isaac were already in the building somewhere before I got a good look.

Was Bobby helping the enemies?

The lights on inside allowed me to see that there was a bunch of weird lab equipment with bubbling vials and beeping machines. It was clear Halle turned this place into his secret lab, but there wasn’t a soul around, just the thunder of water dropping downward and a faint sound above….

Calliope music.

We were near the Centennial Celebration.

I had to get to Isaac, but first, I needed to deal with whatever was following me.

One more step into the light.

“Hello?” I cried out.

No answer.

Time to investigate the creepy abandoned building all alone.

Another step out of the darkness. Whatever was behind me would soon be visible, if only faintly.

My character would be none-the-wiser about what was about to happen. I tried to convey my nervousness, the fear of a man who wandered too far into the dark.

I turned around.

A figure moved out of the shadows behind me, seemingly gliding over the concrete walkway. I hadn’t been able to hear him before. He wasn’t walking, he was scooting along behind me.

He was a small man, or at least he had once been. His skin was pale and moist. His mouth was wide, his black hair greasy.

His arms were longer than they should have been. He lay atop a small wooden platform—just a few planks of wood nailed together with some shopping cart wheels bolted underneath. A blanket was his only cushion from the rotten wood.

He couldn’t walk because his legs were a deformed mess, but the look in his eye told me he was angry at my presence. Angry I was there; angry I could see him. His legs were long and thin, their deformity so gangly. I hadn’t heard his movement because the wheels on the concrete blended so well with the rushing water.

He pushed himself toward me on his little cart. He was much faster than he looked like he could be.

I found myself unable to move in any direction except to back away haphazardly, my eyes fixed on the malformed person before me.

My wits didn’t return until I took a step and almost missed the floor—the shaft where the water emptied into was behind me. I had almost fallen off the edge.

I reached out for something to help me balance myself, but there wasn’t anything. The rail in this area had been broken or rusted out decades ago so when I put weight on it, it gave in immediately.

I tried to use it to pull myself back up, but I could feel the rail bending, ready to break.