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Part 1-10: Halls
Inside, it was dusty and smelled like mold. The side door opened into a stairwell, which we took to the second floor. The layout was the same on pretty much all levels: offices of various sizes ringed a circuitous, rectangular hallway. In the middle of the rectangle were the elevator banks, flanked by the washrooms. Deluxe suspected that any server equipment would be in rooms close to them.
So, that’s where we snooped. Dack kept the light pointed at the ground so it didn’t bounce around. It turned the hallways into endless, inky tunnels. Had I been alone, it would have been freaky to say the least. But it was hard to feel worried with three other people clomping around.
Most of the furniture was gone save the occasional heavy desk, so everything looked the same. None of the doors were locked. We fell into a somber routine: pop in, shine light around. Deluxe consults technology, shakes her head. Repeat nine or so times per level then go up staircase.
By the time we finished floor four, Fergus was almost done his beer, and had taken to humming to help break up the monotony. Deluxe was usually a reliable chatterbox but she was consumed by her tablet. She pecked at it and twisted knobs on the side with increasing frequency as we failed to uncover evidence of anything capable of causing rogue signals. Not that I knew what I was looking for.
“How tall is this place?” I asked, as we climbed up more stairs.
“Ten? Eleven storeys?” said Dack.
“Shoulda brought more beer,” said Fergus, and yawned. He started to hum In The Hall Of The Mountain King as we came across a door with a peeling five painted on it. It groaned open and the now-familiar arrangement of offices and empty fire extinguisher holes greeted us.
Only, I felt uneasy now. It was that inexplicable notion that someone else was there. The others trudged on.
“Guys?” I said.
They turned. Fergus bopped on his heels as he hummed.
“What’s up?” said Dack.
“There’s something…” That pressing feeling crawled all over. Dack angled the light up so we could see more of the hall, but it was empty.
“Nothing here,” said Deluxe, nodding towards her tablet.
“Ferg, you’re creeping her out with your soundtrack,” said Dack.
Fergus wiggled his fingers like he was casting a spell, grinning, but he stopped bopping and humming.
Except the humming continued. His voice—not an echo at all—came from around the corner of the hall. He slapped his hand over his mouth. Dack lifted the light even higher, revealing nothing but the bend. The humming went on.
“Hey!” said Dack. “Who’s there?”
No answer, only the tune.
I stormed forward, and snatched the light from Dack’s hand. My plan, I think, was to round the corner and bash Willy’s face in with the blocky torch. Get it over with, and fast, because this was getting foolish now and I was tired, mad, and scared.
“Alena, whoah!” someone said, but it was too late.
I rounded the corner and stabbed the light beam down the hall.
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