When the elevator doors opened to the storage floor, Hunter rolled the chairs with a firm push, letting them stop haphazardly to the clean end of the room. Hunter trotted to the window overlooking the city street and peeked through one of the closed Venetian blinds. He watched as a large white van passed underneath, turning the corner leading to the freeway.
Hunter glanced over at the far end of the storage room, where the wall of boxes stood. To the right, where the boxes ended, he could see a large surge protector strip plugged into the wall. Curious, he crossed to the bank of heavy boxes and started to wiggle a column apart from the others so he could see past them.
It was a control deck, he could see: an elongated corner desk with four… five.. six small, old-style television screens. This room must have been the security department, Hunter reckoned. Encouraged, Hunter wrestled with a few more stacks of boxes until he could forge a path towards the desk. Hoping for the best, he flipped one of the televisions on.
It took a moment for the machine to warm up, but eventually a picture of static came into view. Hunter quickly flipped all the TVs on and let them get to the point of displaying static. Next step, Hunter thought… figure out how to get the security cameras on. He let his hand snake around the first television set he could reach, into the recessed cabinetry, until it hit upon a series of dials. He turned it one click to the right. The TV picture changed immediately to an image of the hallway adjoining Kahn’s office.
Yes! Hunter immediately began pushing the other columns of boxes aside to give him more room to maneuver. In doing so, the top box from one stack toppled over, and a bunch of smaller black boxes crashed to the floor.
Ignoring them for the moment, Hunter was able to reach to the control dial for each television, turning them until he was able to select a range of cameras - two from the hospital ward, one from the hallway Kahn had used to lead Hunter to the hospital ward, and another from the reception area looking toward the front entrance. He looked at his options for the final camera. Dr. Kahn’s office came up first. A good idea, Hunter reasoned, but I’d better look further. Clicking the dial a few more times, an area Hunter had not yet seen came into view: another carpeted area, obviously intended for some other purpose, but this one filled with a doctor’s exam table. He recognized it as the one he’d sat on getting his so-called “vaccination.”
But this room was laid out differently. There were several minifridges against one wall. There was a table laid out with instruments and devices he couldn’t recognize. Hunter figured this one would be more important that Kahn’s office.
He knelt to the floor to examine the desk area. There were two areas for chairs to be kept, which were occupied by boxes. Next to each, a locked cabinet door. He put his ear to one door and could hear a very faint hum. More equipment, but what?
Jumping to his feet, he scanned the walls of the empty security office. On the wall next to the elevator door was a bulletin board with a cup. He ran up to the bulletin board and examined the cup. Inside was a bevy of push-pins and paper clips.
He checked the flip-clock mounted above the bulletin board. It flipped from 12:59 PM to 1:00 PM.
He took a few paper clips and rushed back to the equipment console. Unbending the wire clips, he started working to jimmy the cabinet door open. It took a few minutes, but he was able to get the lock disengaged. He flew the door open. Inside, he found three videotape recorders, marked 4-6.
Tapes. He scrambled on the floor towards the black boxes he’d knocked over. Opening one, he saw a large videotape cassette. He peered through the plastic window of the cassette, and saw the tape had never been used. He grabbed two more of the cassette cases and hurriedly set each one into a machine, jabbing the ‘Record’ button once the tape loaded. A red light illuminated on the recorder and began blinking, indicating recording had started.
He picked up the paper clips and began working on opening the second cabinet.
A chime sounded, startling Hunter, who looked towards the source - the clock. It was 1:30 already. In order to get the patients’ food set up by 2, he’d have to get back downstairs now. Maybe he could get back to the other machines later. He switched each TV monitor off and closed the cabinet doors to muffle the recorders’ noise. He did his best to get the boxes set back up the way they were, then rushed downstairs.
Hunter had his cart loaded with six trays, each containing a single-serve container of cereal, an apple, and a heated container of instant macaroni and cheese. Taking a deep breath, he backed into the door leading to the hospital ward.
Beginning at the far end of the room, Hunter crept next to each bed and gingerly placed a tray of food on the serving table. At first, he did as instructed and avoided opening the curtains. Then, as he approached the third occupied bed, he looked up and realized the camera pointing at the bed had its indicator light blinking. It was recording!
Being as quiet as possible, Hunter slowly drew the curtain back. Laying in this bed was a woman, likely in her forties, sleeping deeply. They were likely all drugged to stay asleep during Kahn’s absence. Hunter slowly picked up her right arm to examine it. Instead of skin pigmented like the rest of her body, this arm was as green as grass, and textured like alligator scales. The discoloration and started at her bicep and got stronger as it moved down her arm, where at about the crook, the scales began. Her hand was forest green, with skin exactly like a gator… and claws where the fingernails should have been.
Hunter shuddered. This was exactly what the file he examined in Kahn’s office described.
Alex. He had to see if Alex’s file was as accurate as Mrs. Robinson’s.
Remembering the time limit he faced, he quickly set Gilda Robinson’s arm back to her side and pulled the curtain back. He hoped that camera had picked up enough detail of her mutated arm.
He made his way to the last bed, dutifully placing food trays along the way. Rather than open the curtain, he decided to just peek his head behind it.
Alex lay there, also heavily sedated. His olive-skinned chest was clearly visible… as was the purple, baseball-sized growth over his right pectoral muscle. It throbbed violently, veins protruding and inflamed.
Hunter had to suppress the urge to retch. He looked directly at the camera facing Alex’s bed. While the camera’s light was on, it was not blinking. It would not be recording.
As he heard the air lock of the doors down the hallway activating, he knew Dr. Kahn had returned. He hurriedly gathered his serving cart and bustled it back into the kitchen area.
Walking back towards the office corridor, Hunter went over the things he had just done. The security tapes will be great evidence, he knew. The tapes had been marked for 12 hours of recording time. And if nothing else, he had Mrs. Robinson’s arm on tape to satisfy the proof requirement of the scroll.
He needed to get some for Alex, though. If he couldn’t get the camera pointed at his bed to record, he’d need a backup idea.
Hunter needed to find Alex’s old desk.
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